fifty strings of music and splendor - written at the opening ceremony of the 50th qilu auto show
2024-09-07
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one morning in early summer of 1999, in an empty field outside the shandong sports center, a group of young people with a bit of immaturity gathered from several sparsely populated car markets in jinan city to participate in an outreach event called the "qilu auto show". they parked their commercial vehicles in grids framed by lime water on the ground, forming small parking lots. in front of these "parking lots", a background board was set up, a few test drive cars were placed, and a few tables and chairs were placed, and that was it.
at that moment, no one could know that just a few months later, the chinese automobile market would usher in an unprecedented violent eruption - starting with the year 2000, which became famous as the "first year of family sedans", a turbulent golden age for the automobile market began.
most of the young people who were busy at the provincial sports center became the backbone of the shandong auto market in the past 20 years. they shed their sweat and youth for the realization of the dream of cars for ordinary families, and also reaped rich rewards. the qilu auto show they participated in was like a seedling that emerged from the ground after the spring rain. it was not very eye-catching at first, but it contained extraordinary vitality. it has gone through the dust at the turn of the century and has been baptized for more than 20 years. its development trajectory is parallel to that of the shandong auto market, and its scale and influence have increased year by year. from the first to the tenth, twentieth, and thirtieth sessions... in the golden autumn of 2024, the 50th qilu auto show will be played.
the vigorous growth of qilu auto show is fundamentally due to its compliance with the surging tide of china's automobile industry. data shows that in 1999, when qilu auto show was first established, my country's automobile production was only 1.83 million units, accounting for only 3.34% of the world's total automobile production that year, ranking 9th in the world, and the penetration rate of private cars was less than 0.4%. ten years of hard work! ten years later, in 2009, china's automobile production ranked first in the world with an annual output of 13.79 million units, firmly occupying the top spot and has never been lost since then. by 2023, china's annual automobile production will exceed 30 million units, accounting for one-third of the world, and the penetration rate of private cars will reach 24%. in such a torrent of the times, qilu auto show was born in response to the market trend and opened up a vast world of its own.
the rapid development of the qilu auto show also benefits from the generous feedback from the qilu region. at the beginning of the century, the shandong auto market was one of the most prestigious regional markets in china. although it still had a certain gap compared with guangdong, jiangsu and zhejiang, it had already shown great consumption potential. shandong consumers have always been tolerant and enthusiastic towards various auto companies, and this enthusiasm is particularly prominent for national brands. as early as 2004, an article was widely circulated in the industry, with the title "he who wins shandong wins the world". the qilu region also lived up to expectations. with a huge population base and rising automobile consumption, it has been advancing rapidly. in 2007, it jumped to the top four in the number of automobile registrations in all provinces in the country, and won the runner-up in 2008. in 2009, at the same time as the chinese auto market topped the global throne, shandong also won the crown of the domestic regional market in one fell swoop. it has maintained the first place for several consecutive years since then, and it still ranks among the top three in the domestic auto market today. to a certain extent, the growth history of the qilu auto show is also a microcosm of the development of the shandong auto market.
the rising fame of the qilu auto show is closely related to its own positioning and operation model. looking back to the beginning of the century, various regional auto shows emerged one after another, all of which were based on the beijing and shanghai auto shows and took the international and large-scale display route. however, the qilu auto show is unique. as soon as it came out, it became known as the "auto fair". it has only one goal - to provide consumers with the most convenient and affordable car purchase platform. looking at the publicity of previous auto shows, from the initial "let's go to the qilu auto show to buy a car", to the later reputation of "buying a car at the auto show is cheap" deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, to "let car buyers find their favorite cars" after the exhibition entered the mainstream, its core goal and positioning have never changed or wavered, and "popularity and car sales" has become a resounding "golden signboard". in a subtle way, the qilu auto show has popularized automobile knowledge, cultivated automobile culture, and conveyed automobile concepts to consumer groups, so that the market has been well and orderly guided. "buying cars at auto shows" has become a traditional "custom" for generations of consumers. the role of the "auto show post-effect" in driving the auto market is even more immeasurable, and its huge influence and driving force in the field of automobile consumption in the province are clearly demonstrated. since 1999, nearly one million families have realized their dream of owning a car at the qilu auto show.
"the brocade zither has fifty strings, each string and each pillar reminds me of my youth." this line from li shangyin's poem is a metaphor for his life, recalling his lost youth. the qilu auto show, which will play a beautiful movement on the fiftieth string, is not just a review of the passionate years in the auto market, but also a milestone and a new beginning. electrification, hydrogen energy, autonomous driving, intelligent networking, low-altitude flight...
the flowers are so dazzling that the curtain of the development of the automobile industry is slowly opening in front of us, and the roads are winding forward and extending to the distant horizon. standing at the new starting point of the 50th session, the qilu auto show carries its own mission, sets sail again in pursuit of light, and heads towards an infinitely anticipated future!
(popular news·qilu one point han liang)
