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"great wall motors is not afraid of a decline in sales. most of the top ten automakers are losing money." in a live broadcast on september 12, wei jianjun, chairman of great wall motors, said, "great wall motors is not afraid even if its sales fall out of the top ten, because for healthy development, it is better to do less and have a lower market share than to pursue meaningless sales."

this is not the first time that wei jianjun has criticized the "sales-only theory." in august this year, when talking about the sales ranking of the auto industry, wei jianjun said: "what we need is a ranking under a consistent environment, such as ranking in terms of quality, consumer reputation, corporate favorability, profits, and tax payments. it can be a multi-dimensional and comprehensive ranking. what is the value of just ranking by sales?"

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public data shows that in august this year, great wall motors sold 94,500 vehicles, a year-on-year decrease of 17.21%; in the first eight months, great wall motors' cumulative sales were 745,400 vehicles, a slight increase of 0.4% year-on-year. however, in terms of performance, great wall motors achieved revenue of 91.428 billion yuan in the first half of the year, a year-on-year increase of 30.6%; net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was 7.08 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 419.9%.

"toyota's annual profit is 240 billion yuan, and great wall's profit is more than 60 billion yuan. why do they only sell for a fraction of theirs?" in response to this question, wei jianjun said frankly, "this situation is not caused by the bad auto industry or electric vehicles, but by the internal involution and malicious competition within the industry."

since 2023, competition in the domestic automobile market has become increasingly fierce, and the phenomenon of industry involution has become more prominent. this borderless and endless "involutionary" competition model is quietly breeding a series of worrying malignant effects. wei jianjun believes: "the current development of the automobile industry is indeed a bit chaotic. we must not do malicious, fraudulent, and deceptive things to users, or even take shortcuts through fraud and use unfair means to compete and deceive consumers."

in fact, the disorderly internal competition in the automotive industry has caused many auto companies to suffer losses or a significant reduction in performance. many listed auto companies disclosed in their 2024 semi-annual reports that "the price war in the new energy vehicle market has squeezed profit margins." "excessive price competition will only lead to a vicious cycle, making the entire industry lose a healthy development environment. if companies are not profitable, they will find it difficult to maintain for a long time." wei jianjun said.

previously, wei jianjun had made a sharp comment on the "money-burning" behavior of some car companies. "the long-term development of an enterprise cannot rely solely on external transfusions, but must have a strong self-sustaining ability. if an enterprise does not have the ability to generate income, it will not go far without making a profit. can it go far relying on capital? capital pursues not only stories and concepts, but also real profits," said wei jianjun.

regarding the authenticity of the financial statements of automakers, wei jianjun bluntly said, "i don't believe their financial statements are real at all." in august this year, wei jianjun also publicly questioned that some automakers in the industry were "cheating" and expressed his willingness to bear the audit fees to conduct financial audits for all automakers in the industry.

while wei jianjun talked about the chaos in the auto industry, there were also many doubts about great wall motors. intelligent driving strength is one of them. in response, wei jianjun said: "as early as ten years ago, great wall won awards for intelligent technology, and at that time, new car manufacturers had not yet been established. it is not only new car manufacturers that understand intelligence and digitalization better, great wall can also do it well."

at present, great wall motors' latest intelligent technology has developed to the third generation. the intelligent driving system coffee pilot ultra and the smart space system coffee os 3 are both first installed on wei's new blue mountain. it is expected that the new blue mountain full-scene noa will be available nationwide in the fourth quarter of this year.

in addition, great wall motors' lagging behind in new energy vehicles has been mentioned many times by the outside world. "it is a misunderstanding to say that great wall motors' electric vehicles are sold less and developed slowly." wei jianjun said that great wall motors did not attach much importance to subsidies and did not quickly make electric vehicles that were converted from gasoline to electricity, but invested in batteries, motors, and electronic controls, and also mastered the core technologies of intelligent driving.

great wall motors does not think that its products and technology are backward, but attributes the pressure on sales to "inadequate marketing". to this end, wei jianjun personally joined the game and did marketing himself, building his personal ip to increase exposure for great wall and promoting the transformation of great wall's marketing system.

when talking about participating in live broadcasts and speaking out on social platforms, wei jianjun said: "the times require us to step out of our comfort zone and adapt to the new era. as a leader of a company, interacting with consumers and listening to their feedback and suggestions is a must and something we must do."

wei jianjun believes: "the great wall wants high-quality traffic, traffic that is recognized and loved by users. even if it attracts a large amount of traffic, it will never be low-quality traffic created by relying on the internet celebrity effect."

at the chengdu auto show, a video blogger suggested that 360 founder and chairman zhou hongyi take a test drive after the launch of great wall wei brand's new blue mountain. wei jianjun directly refused: "we don't need zhou hongyi to take a test drive. traffic can't represent the value of a product."

"(great wall motors) must gain the trust and support of consumers through continuous innovation and high-quality services," said wei jianjun.

reporter|duan siyao edit|lu xiangyong sun lei du bo du hengfeng

proofreading|he xiaotao

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