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netcom interview 2024 should have been the tenth anniversary of many new forces, but only the few we can name will be able to celebrate their tenth birthday.

born in 2014 when new car-making forces were just starting out, kaiyi automobile caught up with the tide of changing times in the automotive industry and experienced the difficult period of the epidemic when the whole society was shut down many times. kaiyi automobile, which is also celebrating its tenth anniversary, cannot be regarded as a new force in the strict sense, but it has the same tenacity as the new forces.

the "relocation of the capital" to yibin, known as the "first city along the yangtze river" in 2018, became an important turning point for kaiyi automobile.

yibin, a historical and cultural city with a 2,200-year history of city construction, a 3,000-year history of tea cultivation and a 4,000-year history of wine making, has witnessed countless historical changes and civilization evolutions.

today, it is witnessing the rebirth of kaiyi automobile, which has launched a new energy strategy.

as the deputy general manager of kaiyi automobile and the general manager of the sales company, the video of he yongping shouting to competitors "come and fight if you don't agree" has become popular. in his rough but reasonable words, he expressed his confidence in the quality and strength of kaiyi automobile, and also expressed his anger at being slandered by competitors.

in an in-depth exchange with netcom news that lasted more than an hour, he admitted that kaiyi automobile has had a difficult time in recent years. although new products are launched every year, the gap between it and the leading companies in the industry is still quite obvious.

at the same time, he admitted that kaiyi automobile is aware of this problem and is working hard to improve it. it is accelerating improvements in product research and development, marketing innovation, and customer service, striving to let users feel kaiyi's efforts and sincerity in building cars.

promoting the volume culture is only to gain user recognition

some people say that it is difficult to work in sales, and it is even more difficult to be a leader in sales; others say that state-owned enterprises do not have much pressure, and instead of working yourself to death, it is better to take your life easier.

perhaps because he often works until midnight and is the first one to enter the office the next morning, he yongping has a lot more white hair on his head in the two and a half years since he joined kaiyi automobile.

“in fact, the pressure is still very high.”

he confirmed that there is indeed great pressure in the work, and told chinanet that as the head of the department in charge of the area, his performance, his culture, his attitude towards work and his values ​​will affect everyone. if he just wants to lie down, then the company will have no hope at all.

in the view of many industry insiders, 2020 is the first year of the development of china's new energy vehicles. in this year, ideal auto and xpeng auto successfully joined forces with nio on the nasdaq in the united states; in the same year, kaiyi auto's first product after the "capital relocation" was officially put into production.

in the same year, "卷" began to quickly become popular in internet language and became one of the top ten internet buzzwords and top ten hot internet terms in "language and character weekly" in 2021.

from becoming a buzzword on the internet in 2020 to being widely used in the business field in 2023, the meaning of "volume" has gradually become difficult to determine.

li yunfei of byd believes that "volume" can promote competition among enterprises and enhance their healthy development, thereby enabling the industry to progress rapidly; yang xueliang of geely believes that "volume" is a derogatory term that will bring about unfair competition and cause chaos in the industry.

"it's unclear whether you can win by rolling or not, but lying flat is definitely not an option."

in he yongping's view, the ultimate competition among enterprises is for users. if they want to gain users' recognition, there is still a lot of work to be done and they cannot avoid competition.

from the perspective of corporate management, he yongping also sees it very clearly. he said frankly that a company with ten years of history must have some accumulation, including good points and bad points. kaiyi automobile must cut off the bad points and continue to promote the good points. at the same time, we must learn from the industry, learn from the excellent, and learn from excellent automobile brands, using their excellent management tools, management methods, corporate culture and operation logic to help kaiyi automobile quickly improve its management and operation capabilities.

rolling prices, rolling technology, rolling services, rolling bosses... in the increasingly competitive chinese auto industry, companies are scrambling to redefine "rolling" and are starting to use it as a marketing gimmick.

the "roll" advocated by he yongping is more like rolling up professional spirit and work values, pulling the chaos of the roll back to the right track of hard work, and thus achieving real success under long-termism.

challenging competitors comes from confidence in products

"which brand, whichever attacks our opponent, dares to question the quality of kaiyi, i formally issue this challenge and ask their general manager to accept the challenge. we will each drive a car of our own brand and find a closed test site. whoever steps on the brakes is a grandson, and whoever turns the steering wheel is a grandson. let's have a live broadcast collision and see who wins."

he yongping's words are like a parent protecting his child. when you see your child being slandered and suffering injustice, the determination to fight back at all costs cannot be faked or performed.

born in pingchang, sichuan, he yongping inherited the fine spirit of the old revolutionary counties in the sichuan-shaanxi soviet area, and formed a tenacious, hardworking and brave character in difficult circumstances.

he told netcom that he was improvising during the live broadcast. he said this because the host asked users whether they had any concerns about kaiyi's quality and safety besides its relatively weak brand.

such a question was very objective, but it also hurt his heart.

according to him, employees of kaiyi 4s store often encounter smear campaigns by staff from other brands' 4s stores next door when communicating with users on a daily basis. the other party often slanders their store with negative remarks such as the brand is not strong or the quality is poor.

in response to this, he yongping, the manager in charge of sales, asked the stores to "respond to the challenge" calmly and said that he would also fight with "equal" opponents.

his determination to fight back comes from his understanding of his own products and his confidence in the quality of his products.

the "storm video" came from the live broadcast of the launch conference of the new car kunlun idh of kaiyi. for this car, he yongping has a very clear target user.

"kaiyi is a car that ordinary people can afford, targeting 70% of ordinary people, not the upper class." he said, "this car cannot match all user groups, for example, those who like to pursue advanced technology, like the part that we talk about far ahead, or the elites in beijing and shanghai, it is actually not suitable."

he said that the product positioning of kaiyi kunlun idh is for ordinary families, which may be teachers, nurses, doctors, or even user groups doing small businesses in urban and rural fringe areas. they pay more attention to the cost-effectiveness of the vehicle.

from the perspective of car purchase users, this medium-to-large suv with a seven-seat layout is equipped with a plug-in hybrid system consisting of a 1.5t engine and p1+p3 dual motors, as well as catl lithium iron phosphate batteries. this fuel-efficient "big guy" is only priced at the 100,000-level. compared with the toyota highlander and byd tang, which are also "big guys", the kaiyi kunlun idh is the best choice for pragmatic users.

as for the profit and loss issues faced by such pricing, the straightforward he yongping did not shy away from giving a frank and positive answer: "many people ask whether we will lose money. we will lose money. because we need it. this is how competition works."

in he yongping's pricing logic, if the product strength is equal, the better the brand, the higher the cost of the car the user pays. he gave an example: "porsche, volkswagen and audi are on the same production line. porsche's macan, audi q5 and volkswagen tiguan are on the same platform. one sells for 150,000, one sells for 350,000, and one sells for 550,000. if you like this logo, you have to pay for it."

admittedly, the kaiyi brand does have the shortcoming of insufficient brand power at this stage. as for kaiyi’s current pricing, he believes that it is precisely because of the lack of brand awareness that the price can be set so low.

"we will lose some money if we can. almost everyone in this industry loses money now. it's just a matter of how much."

although he has temporarily "admitted defeat" in terms of pricing, he has not given up in terms of product strength. facing the camera, he said bluntly: "if this car is under chery's parent brand, byd, changan or other brands, and it is equipped with its logo, it will immediately increase the price by 50,000 yuan, at least 50,000 yuan."

expansion channels accelerate layout in the most suitable way

“those who pursue profits are wise, and those who seize opportunities win.” since ancient times, businessmen have always been able to use their keen sense of smell to discern market opportunities and capture those industries and business opportunities with potential.

in the era of fuel vehicles, many auto dealer groups made a lot of money by entering the market early and choosing the right brands. however, as the wave of new energy vehicles continues to rise, their lives are getting worse along with the slow-moving automakers.

in october 2022, rundong auto went bankrupt and delisted; in february 2023, zhejiang zhongtong holdings went bankrupt and ran away; in june 2023, pangda group delisted; in march 2024, many 4s stores in guangdong yongao closed; in august 2024, guanghui auto delisted...

with the slow transformation of joint venture cars, the continuous weakening of product advantages, and the direct sales model brought about by tesla, car dealers can no longer make money easily as they did in the past. this has caused many bosses to choose carefully and act prudently.

in such an environment, there is actually a long queue of dealer applications for kaiyi automobile against the trend.

he yongping revealed that as of july this year, kaiyi auto has received franchise applications from 200 dealers across the country. previously, the number of first-level authorized channels of kaiyi auto has remained at around 200, and this number will increase to 300 by the fourth quarter of this year.

he was not surprised by this.

although he is just over 40, he yongping was already a veteran in the automotive industry before he came to kaiyi auto. he entered the automotive industry after graduating from university in 2006 and worked in many auto companies, starting from the grassroots level. at the age of 34, he became the general manager of a sales company.

during this period, he achieved the feat of opening 80 channels in one year, and also led a new brand to achieve an industry miracle of sales of 1 million vehicles in three years.

from his many years of experience in managing sales business, he knows that dealers on the front line are the ones who understand market changes best, just like a duck that knows first when the water in the river warms in spring.

he believes that dealers are well aware that under the current trend of consumption downgrade, the more cost-effective and cost-effective products will be more popular among users.

on the other hand, domestic brands have begun to show their strengths in terms of intelligent driving, performance and cost-effectiveness, while joint venture brands that were long sought after have now declined in the chinese market. in particular, the new generation of young users are increasingly embracing domestic brands without too many emotional factors interfering.

according to data from the china association of automobile manufacturers, from january to august 2024, sales of chinese-branded passenger cars reached 10.213 million units, a year-on-year increase of 20.4%; sales share reached 63.2%, an increase of 9 percentage points.

at the same time, he also pointed out that from the perspective of choosing a franchise brand, independent brands such as byd, chery, geely, changan, and great wall have undergone long-term development, and their dealer channels have become very stable, so latecomers have little chance of "squeezing in."

in addition, since joining a car dealership involves a relatively heavy asset investment, the brand chosen to join cannot be at risk of bankruptcy, nor can it be a "no-name brand", and the brand development must be in an upward phase. with so many factors superimposed, who can be chosen?

"if you count on your fingers and think carefully, it's kaiyi. this may be their last chance to join the domestic automobile industry and take advantage of the momentum of domestic rise and domestic going global." speaking of this, he yongping showed a confident smile.

in 2013, the first tesla experience center in china opened in beijing's parkview green, and the direct sales model began to appear in the chinese automobile market. many new forces such as nio, xiaopeng and li auto, as well as new car manufacturers backed by traditional car companies, have become followers of the direct sales model.

today, some brands such as xpeng motors and byd byd that want to establish their brand image while pursuing short-term sales have abandoned the full direct sales model.

from embracing direct sales in droves to returning to a semi-direct sales and semi-dealer model due to heavy pressure, which one is right?

in he yongping's opinion, there is no absolute right or wrong between the direct sales model and the dealer model. the direct sales model certainly has its advantages, but it will inevitably have a series of problems such as slow process approval mechanism and high costs. therefore, he believes that for the current kaiyi automobile, it is most suitable to mainly use traditional agency dealers.

even so, kaiyi automobile still has three direct-sale stores across the country, but its purpose is not to compete with dealers for users, but to collect information and demonstrate store services. at the same time, the direct-sale stores will also directly verify whether kaiyi automobile's understanding of users and products is correct.

"there is no absolute right or wrong. we should move forward in stages according to the brand development and target user groups." this is he yongping's understanding of the channel model, and it is also the optimal solution for kaiyi automobile in channel layout.

final thoughts

from brand being king to product being king, technology being king, and now traffic being king, car companies seem to be starting to make some distorted moves in order to sell more cars.

"carefully" copy and shout about self-development, and traffic and sales will come. but if the product is not strong enough, how long can such a "prosperous scene" last?

in an era where everyone has been suffering from traffic for a long time, he yongping believes that general traffic is not of much use to kaiyi automobile. instead of rushing forward recklessly, it is better to identify the target user group, provide them with the best cost-effective and quality-price ratio products, and continue to provide good quality services. this is the right path for kaiyi automobile to move forward in the long run.

based in sichuan and going global, we serve the target user groups well, let employees find a sense of home, and let users feel the warmth and satisfaction of the brand.

next, he yongping and the entire kaiyi auto team will move forward together in this direction and open a new chapter for kaiyi auto in the next decade.

(photo/text by zhuo lu)