For Chen Si, who used to be the project team leader of the strategy department of Audi ag China Group and has now been appointed as the Chief Customer Experience Officer, the transformation of the traditional OEM and the construction of the new sales company's project team are a thorny but full of expectations.
Chen Si, Chief Customer Experience Officer of Volkswagen (Anhui) Digital Sales & Service Co., Ltd.
There is no victory or defeat in the cultural conflict between old and new automobile manufacturing.
"When Jetta and Santana were on sale, everyone bought the first car at home, which should be like this. Now many users have bought the second and third cars at home, and they must have their own ideas about what the car should look like. "
This passage represents that the automobile market in China is undergoing a transformation from product-oriented to user-oriented. In Chen Si's view, completing this transformation is the key for traditional OEM to move towards user-oriented enterprises.
"Many traditional OEMs still follow the thinking of engineers. For example, when designing an SUV, many traditional OEMs first think of size (level), power and off-road performance. Especially when designing a full-size SUV, they often compare with seven other competing products on the market. But in fact, Li ONE or Weilai ES8 are both six-seat SUVs that are selling well now, and they are more popular. There are few seventh people in China families, but the six-seat layout can make each occupant sit more comfortable. "
Seven to six seats is not a major or difficult change, but it is more suitable for most China families. This is also a microcosm of the difference between engineers' thinking and users' thinking.
In today's China automobile market, almost all traditional OEMs are performing similar "cultural conflicts between old and new cars".
"Car companies don't have to deliver a perfect product, especially at the software level. Internet gameplay with small steps and quick iterations has advantages; Executives should directly participate in user communication, have a more people-friendly image, and reduce their dependence on third-party voices. Many practices and thinking are impacting the traditional car-making culture. "
Of course, conflict does not mean denying the traditional car-making culture. Strict quality control and excellent mechanical quality will never go out of fashion in a car.
In the conflict and integration of the old and new car-making cultures, what the traditional OEM should do is to learn from others, and on the basis of inheriting the inside information, it will become more like a new car-making enterprise in China from product definition to operation mode.
Luehrmann, chief technology officer of Volkswagen Anhui, once said, "In the past, we all developed prototypes in Germany and then brought these concepts and models to the China market. Now we are taking a completely different path to develop and launch local models in China that meet the needs of China consumers and locals. "
Become comrades-in-arms with dealers and friends with users.
The change of thinking and culture is the basis of change. But for Chen Si, the more important task is how to find the best technical route to serve customers in the project team set up by the new sales company.
"Both traditional OEMs and new forces are exploring the most effective marketing methods. At the same time, it can be said that they are constantly trying to make mistakes in resource investment and efficiency. The one-to-one service model of sales staff widely used in the new OEM is a very effective means of customer marketing, but at the same time, such resource investment can not support the next level of annual sales (65,438+10,000, or even more than 200,000). "
As soon as potential customers appear, the sales consultant will add WeChat and then build a group. This is a very traditional way of communication, with limited efficiency and easy to scare away customers. Later, AI customer service appeared, and many car companies also used it. However, there are few problems that can be solved by AI alone, which is easy to cause customers' displeasure.
"The real positioning of AI should be an observer and recorder, extracting a user's real demand point from complicated data, making the work of sales consultants more targeted, and finally giving customers a feeling of just meeting their needs without being overly disturbed."
"This is an opportunity for traditional OEMs. How can we cooperate with distributors to provide customers with the best experience by using the latest AI technology, which may be a useful exploration for future marketing models. "
The use of AI is only the tip of the iceberg of digital marketing. In Chen Si's view, digitalization should ultimately be result-oriented, not superficial.
"In the future, OEMs need to empower more dealers in digital marketing and user operations, so that both sides can become closer comrades-in-arms and jointly explore the market. The relationship and management mode between Didi's city manager and CP/DP are worth learning from traditional OEMs. In the future, it is more important that the regional personnel and dealers of the main engine factory really go among users and listen to their needs. Digitalization is just a means. "
In addition, in the digital age, the way to communicate with users cannot be static, because the communication and information contact habits of the new generation of users are completely different.
"As a new generation of car buyers, Generation Z has several group characteristics: social fear, Internet aborigines, accepting imperfections but not accepting deception; They rarely expand their social circle in order to make friends, and the circle of interest is the most effective way of contact. "
In Chen Si's view, the future marketing will revolve around circles. "Online content is more accurate for people in the circle, and offline stores can become a gathering place for users in the circle. For example, organizing an e-sports live broadcast, different regions can have different characteristics; Users can also participate in the strawberry music festival together without visiting the factory. In short, everything will be closer to the user's life more accurately. "
Three key points: technology, resources and talents.
Combining the promotion of the previous capital increase project of Jianghuai Volkswagen and the formation of the project team of the new sales company, Chen Si believes that a traditional OEM needs to pay attention to three points: technological innovation, competition for upstream resources and continuous introduction of talents.
First of all, technological innovation will lead the future direction of the entire automobile industry, the most important of which is autonomous driving, which will really bring about the liberation of productivity. "Maps, lidar and big computing chips are all resources that all OEMs need to grab in the future."
Secondly, electrification will push OEMs to constantly snatch upstream resources, including batteries and even mineral resources, which is also an important reason for Volkswagen to invest in Guo Xuan Hi-Tech. "For a 300,000 car, the battery value accounts for 1/4 to 1/3, and car companies definitely want to take the initiative in the value chain."
Finally, it is impossible to stay ahead for a long time without talents. "Emerging technical talents such as data engineers and chip engineers are recruiting, but traditional car companies cannot compete with Internet companies and even new forces and need to come up with more effective incentive mechanisms."
Write it at the end
The global sales volume of Tesla 202 1 is less than that of Toyota's110, and its market value is more than three times that of Toyota. The gross profit of bicycles in Weilai, Ideality and Tucki approaches or even exceeds that of many traditional OEMs. The competition in the future electric vehicle market is not only the competition of scale and production efficiency, but also the competition of business model and customer's mental occupation.
From the conversation with Chen Si, we know that the traditional OEM has begun to think and explore the road of change. This makes us look forward to the future performance of traditional OEM in the electric vehicle market.