50 billion milk powder money, it is difficult for the public to catch the golden baby

2024-07-24

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According to incomplete statistics, Volkswagen Group (China)'s investment in Volkswagen Anhui has exceeded RMB 50 billion.

Judging from the existing information, both the public andXiaopengAll new models of the cooperation will be based on the CEA architecture and will be introduced first into Volkswagen Anhui’s Gold Label Volkswagen.

However, compared with the good channel network of thousands of dealers in both Volkswagen North and South, Volkswagen Anhui, although holding the best product planning of Volkswagen, is currently facing a situation where products and channels diverge. How to get rid of the situation of strong products and weak channels is a hurdle that Volkswagen Anhui, the "golden baby", must overcome.

This articleFirst published on Yiou Auto

author| Guo Huaiyi

Editor | Hao Qiuhui

In this summer, the movie "Catching Dolls" starring Shen Teng and Ma Li became a big hit. In the movie, Shen Teng and Ma Li played parents who spared no expense to arrange a "Truman Show" version of "Catching Dolls" for their children.

In the smoke-filled Chinese auto market, a claw machine game is also taking place for the public.

As the strongest venture capital city in China, Hefei has hosted the rebirth and rebirth of too many companies. From BOE and Changxin Storage in the early years toNIOMany companies have come back to life in Hefei. Today, Volkswagen Group (China) (hereinafter referred to as:Volkswagen China) also placed a heavy bet in Hefei, hoping to catch his own golden baby in Hefei.

On July 17, Volkswagen Anhui's first smart electric coupe SUV - ID. was officially announced to be launched. The new car has three versions: Pro long-range, Ultra long-range, and Max high-performance, with a price range of 209,900 yuan to 249,900 yuan.

As a new model under Volkswagen's pure electric MEB platform, the biggest difference between ID. and Volkswagen's previous ID. series electric vehicles is that this is the first new car to use the golden Volkswagen brand logo.

At the press conference, Yang Fang, CEO of Volkswagen (Anhui) Digital Sales Service Co., Ltd., explained the meaning of the Gold Label Volkswagen, which "represents our commitment to creating extraordinary and unforgettable golden moments for users. Through innovations such as dynamic aesthetics, scene intelligence, smart driving control, and gold label quality, ID. has created a new 'gold standard' in China."

As a new car, the ID. with a gold logo has clearly broken through the traditional design language of the ID. family. After the number of models has been reduced to 3 and a large number of configurations have been made standard for the entire series, Volkswagen Anhui's sincerity is also written on the ID.

However, ID. is still a car based on Volkswagen's pure electric MEB platform. Considering the market performance of Volkswagen's MEB platform models, the outside world is still relatively conservative about the future of ID.. For this reason, there is a voice that thinks that in the current fierce market competition environment, is it really necessary for Volkswagen China to launch a new Volkswagen brand?

"There are three thousand rivers, but I only take one scoop."

In an interview with Yiou Auto and other media, Yang Fang said that Gold Label Volkswagen is still a "baby", but the Chinese auto market is large enough that as long as a new brand can find its target customers accurately, it will definitely find a place in this market. "So we believe that if we find our own positioning, we will be able to meet the needs of consumers, so we launched this new brand naturally."

As a company in which Volkswagen China holds a 75% stake, Volkswagen Anhui has been regarded as Volkswagen's "own son" by the outside world since its inception.

According to incomplete statistics from EoAuto, Volkswagen China has invested no less than 50 billion yuan in Volkswagen Anhui since investing 4.52 billion yuan in JAC Group in 2020. The advent of the Gold Label Volkswagen has made Volkswagen Anhui's product tone higher than that of the North and South Volkswagens.

Volkswagen Anhui carries too many expectations of Volkswagen in the Chinese market. Against this background, the launch of ID. is more like a "pledge", and Volkswagen Anhui's real card is still in 2025, which is not far away.

The favored "baby"

"Before 2026, we will launch another four new models." When talking about future product planning, Yang Fang gave the outside world such a number, but he did not explain the specific situation of these models.

According to information obtained by e-Auto, before 2026, two of Volkswagen Anhui's product matrix will be models jointly developed by Volkswagen and Xiaopeng Motors, both of which will reach Class B; the other two pure electric products will be Class A+ pure electric vehicles.

It is worth noting that before 2026, the new cars of SAIC Volkswagen and FAW-Volkswagen will be concentrated in the A-class market, which will create a distance from Volkswagen Anhui.

Coincidentally, just five days after the ID. was launched, Volkswagen Group and Xiaopeng Motors signed a new joint research and development agreement. According to this agreement, from 2026, all pure electric models produced by the Volkswagen brand in China will be equipped with the electronic and electrical architecture based on regional control and quasi-central computing - CEA, including models developed based on the new CMP platform and MEB platform models planned to be launched in China in the future.

Compared with the current electronic and electrical architecture of the MEB platform, the CEA architecture built in cooperation with Xiaopeng Motors will effectively solve software problems.

Because the CEA architecture will replace a large number of electronic control units with three highly integrated regional controllers for the left, right body and center, significantly reducing the number of control units in a single vehicle by 30%. This can not only significantly reduce costs and the complexity of the operating system, but also improve computing performance and safety at the same time.

In addition, thanks to the efficient central computing platform and powerful computing power, complex functions such as advanced automated driving assistance can be integrated into the architecture more quickly and conveniently. At present, as a key party in the cooperative development, CARIAD China is working closely with Chinese technology companies such as Horizon Robotics and Thundersoft to jointly develop cutting-edge advanced automated driving assistance systems (ADAS) and smart cockpit functions, which will empower vehicles equipped with the CEA architecture.

According to information obtained by e-Auto from multiple channels, the first Volkswagen brand model using the CEA architecture will unsurprisingly be produced in Volkswagen Anhui.

Whether it is product level or CEA platform launch plan, Gold Label Volkswagen is the preferred one.

In addition, the models jointly developed by Volkswagen and Xiaopeng have been significantly accelerated, and the biggest beneficiary will be Volkswagen Gold Label.

Media reports say that a car model jointly developed by Volkswagen and Xiaopeng has completed the body-in-white production line. According to the situation in the automotive industry, it usually takes another year from the body-in-white production line to the formal large-scale mass production.

If the current pace continues, the first product of the cooperation between Volkswagen and Xiaopeng may be released in 2025. However, according to the original plan, the model jointly built by Volkswagen and Xiaopeng is expected to be released in 2026. Now it seems that the progress is one year faster than expected.

Whether it is car models or CEA architecture, the speed of cooperation between Volkswagen and Xiaopeng is accelerating, and the senior management of Volkswagen China seems to have anticipated it. The so-called 2026 plan now seems a bit like a smoke bomb.

Last November, at a media communication meeting in Hefei, a media asked Volkswagen executives:Xpeng G9It is a mature product that has already been launched on the market. Why does it take another 36 months for the cooperative product to be launched, and it has to wait until 2026?

"36 months is just an estimate, it will be faster." Just after Volkswagen Anhui CTO Luermann answered this question, Volkswagen China Chairman and CEO Bared emphasized again:

“It will definitely be faster. 36 months is for a brand new platform, but if there is a platform foundation, it will definitely be faster.”

The faster the cooperation between Volkswagen and Xiaopeng progresses, the earlier Volkswagen Anhui will launch its product offensive. However, in the increasingly dazzling Chinese new energy vehicle market, Volkswagen Anhui needs to solve more than just products. The challenge of channel construction will only be greater.

Good wine needs no bush

"We have adopted a strategy of steady and healthy development."

When talking about the channel construction, Yang Fang said that in the early stage of listing, Volkswagen Anhui's sales outlets will cover about 20 cities, with a total of about 40 sales outlets. By the end of this year, it will cover 35 cities, with about 70 sales outlets. In terms of sales model, Volkswagen Anhui will adopt a mixed sales model combining direct sales and agency.

With the rise of new Chinese car manufacturers, the direct sales model has long been known to the public. However, the return of the agency system is somewhat unexpected.

Unlike traditional dealers who directly purchase vehicles from car companies and then sell them, in the agency model, the ownership of the vehicle is still in the hands of the car company, and the dealer only provides the 4S store site. If the vehicle is sold, the dealer will share the profits. In other words, the car company puts the new car with the dealer - consignment.

CEO of Volkswagen (Anhui) Digital Sales Service Co., Ltd.

Yang Fang

When the ID. series was first launched on the market, Volkswagen and its joint ventures promoted the direct sales + agency system in China, but eventually abandoned it. The sales model of the ID. series electric vehicles returned to the traditional dealer model.

Compared with the previous experience of direct sales + agency system in terms of "quality", the "quantity" of Volkswagen Anhui channel should be paid more attention.

"In the era of fuel vehicles, the total number of dealers of SAIC Volkswagen and FAW-Volkswagen exceeded 2,000. This allowed some Volkswagen products to increase sales by relying on the huge dealer network even if the product strength was not outstanding. Perhaps only Volkswagen andWuling"A source close to the Volkswagen joint venture once commented to Yiou Auto on the importance of dealer network and number of channels.

At present, the number of dealers of SAIC Volkswagen and FAW-Volkswagen is still more than 1,000. In contrast, the channel construction of Volkswagen Anhui is not only long, but also faces additional risks.

According to EoAuto, among the dealers of Volkswagen Anhui, there are already dealer partners of both Volkswagen and South Volkswagen, which makes the emergence of this situation particularly delicate, because in the history of Volkswagen China, there have been cases of dealer rebellion.

In November 2016, when SAIC andAudiAfter the official decision to establish the second joint venture company, SAIC Audi, in China, dealers of FAW-Volkswagen Audi issued a collective statement in February 2017 opposing the cooperation between Audi and SAIC Group.

Under the collective resistance of dealers, SAIC Audi's channel model has been difficult to implement for a long time. It was not until December 2020 that SAIC Group, FAW China and Audi finally reached an agreement: SAIC Audi's products will be sold through the existing Audi investor network, and after-sales service will be carried out based on Audi's existing network.

But at that time, Audi only established FAW-Volkswagen Audi in a joint venture with China FAW, so the "existing Audi investor network" in the agreement actually refers to the dealer investors of FAW-Volkswagen Audi.

Coincidentally, because it is difficult to surpass FAW-Volkswagen Audi in channel construction, SAIC Audi chose to build direct-operated stores at its own expense. Even if FAW-Volkswagen Audi dealers joined SAIC Audi, the initial sales model was also the agency system.

Direct stores + agency system, the situations of SAIC Audi and Volkswagen Anhui are very similar.

But Volkswagen Anhui is still lucky. After all, the dealers of Volkswagen South and Volkswagen South did not launch a collective attack to boycott SAIC Audi like the FAW-Volkswagen Audi dealers did in the past.

However, considering that the dealer partners of Volkswagen South and North have already joined Volkswagen Anhui, Volkswagen Anhui still needs to be cautious and how to expand the scale and speed of channel construction as much as possible without stimulating the dealers of Volkswagen South and North to wait for the new car offensive of the CEA platform.。

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50 billion milk powder money, it is difficult for the public to catch the golden baby

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