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tencent news "high beam"

author | ao dun

editor｜liu peng

saic-gm, the first automobile company in the history of china's automobile industry to reach the "million level", is going through a big test.

in mid-september, two completely different august sales data of saic-gm appeared on the market: according to saic group’s production and sales report, saic-gm’s sales in august were only 14,300 vehicles, a sharp decrease of 82.8% year-on-year; however, saic-gm’s official data showed that its sales were only 14,300 vehicles. terminal sales were 50,600 units, a month-on-month increase of 8.1%. the difference between the two data is as much as 35,000 vehicles. this difference has aroused heated discussion in the industry.

the seemingly "big ups and downs" in sales volume reveal the challenges saic-gm faces and the self-rescue measures it is taking.

"indeed, there are some problems in our system." on september 23, inbuickbrandGL8at the communication meeting for the family's 2 millionth vehicle to roll off the production line, lu xiao, general manager of saic general motors, who has only been in the new job for just over a month, did not shy away from talking about the current challenges and external doubts. he explained that from the beginning of the year to august, saic-gm's destocking volume had exceeded 140,000. "both shareholders also asked us to relax and start with a light load."

(lu xiao, general manager of saic general motors)

saic-gm clarified that the above-mentioned 14,300 vehicles are wholesale sales, and terminal sales in august actually exceeded 50,000 vehicles, mainly contributed by existing inventory vehicles. it is expected that retail terminal sales will still exceed 600,000 vehicles this year. xue haitao, deputy general manager of saic-gm, who also just took up his new post, further explained that last month alone, about 35,000 vehicles were removed from inventory at dealer terminals. “relatively speaking, the overall inventory of dealers is not too high, but there is still inventory pressure. ".

although the new management was appointed at a critical moment, the "lu xue" combination still set a challenging goal when it made its first public appearance: saic-gm plans to launch a comprehensive market counterattack in 2025.

the new management reflects that saic-gm "has symptoms of indigestion"

after the "major shakeup" of top management, saic's joint ventures launched a strategic reflection and high-level adjustment with unprecedented determination and intensity.

as far as saic-gm is concerned, saic has mobilized the top technical and marketing talents in the system to deal with current problems. lu xiao was once the executive deputy general manager of the pan-asia automotive technology center (hereinafter referred to as pan-asia), a joint venture between general motors and saic motor. he once led the buick,chevrolethe is the leader of chinese technology in the research and development of various models of the brand; xue haitao once served assaic-gm-wulingthe general manager of the sales company is recognized as a young car marketer in the circle, also known ashongguang mini ev、wuling bingothe driving force behind other popular models.

(xue haitao, deputy general manager of saic-gm)

it is not difficult to see from the background of the "lu xue" combination that the most difficult problem facing saic-gm is not how to deal with external competition, but to sort out the internal system, that is, to adjust the product structure and sales strategy.

2023 is the year when joint venture brand sales have suffered the most serious decline. saic-gm's cumulative sales are 1.001 million vehicles, a year-on-year decrease of 14.45%. compared with the performance of over 2 million in 2017, it is nearly "cut in half" and has returned to the sales volume of 2014. specifically, among its three major brands, chevrolet sold 169,000 vehicles, buick sold 517,000 vehicles, and cadillac sold 183,000 vehicles throughout the year.

"i have been thinking and summarizing why we have so many cases of defeat." lu xiao reflected from the product layout level and said that in the past, joint venture brands still had some halo, and the product development speed was relatively less urgent. "we were not so anxious to develop for plug-in hybrid or extended-range products, we believe that pure electricity is the ultimate solution, but unfortunately it backfires."

at the sales and marketing level, lu xiao believes that the saic-gm system "has symptoms of indigestion."

"no matter if we are with our brother unitssaic volkswagencompared with others, or compared with other brands, saic-gm's products are definitely not bad. the problem is that they failed to explain the products well or thoroughly, or they did not set the pace correctly. "in his opinion, saic-gm did not find the right target group at the product definition level, nor did it do a good job in marketing to bring the product directly to the user level, "resulting in today's somewhat passive situation."

in the first half of this year, saic-gm's financial performance was not optimistic either. saic group's semi-annual report shows that saic-gm's operating income in the first half of the year was 32 billion yuan, down about 50% year-on-year, and it suffered a net loss, with the loss amounting to 2.275 billion yuan. during the same period last year, saic-gm's net profit was 528 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of approximately 77% this year. the direct reason was related to the sharp decline in sales.

xue haitao reflected on and sought methods from the sales channel and dealer management levels. he believes that saic-gm's forecasts of market segments, production structure, varieties, and color plans were not that perfect, which resulted in a lot of unreasonable inventory and structure.

in addition to the refined layout of the sales network, xue haitao attaches particular importance to dealer management. "a dealer once told me that the only thing he cares about is the distribution strategy, because it is his pocketbook." in his view, opening up the planning chain from end consumers to dealers and then to the headquarters can truly meet terminal needs, and if this is done well, billions of dollars in costs will be saved a year.

saic-gm has tried to transform and catch up, but compared with independent brands and new power companies, its approach is slightly traditional and slow to achieve results. xue haitao is trying to break through the dilemma from the organizational structure level. currently, saic-gm's marketing department is promoting the breaking down of internal barriers. each core product has formed a combat team. the marketing level links marketing, communication, public relations, placement, and regional strategies. everyone is responsible for the results.

"for a company, it is often a long-distance race. we cannot look at the current situation from a static perspective. it is normal for us to take a nap occasionally or encounter some setbacks." xue haitao said frankly that saic-gm will internally keep reflecting and making adjustments.

in the next october, november and december, saic-gm will also introduce some dealer strategies to solve the inventory problem, so as to promote light sales in january next year. lu xiao said that saic-gm will take the cost issue seriously and optimize the design, but the most important thing is not to lose safety and quality in the era of internal roll-up, but to improve performance. "i have no objection to the roll price, but we should have a bottom line and provide the best solution to our customers.”

fighting "four battles", gl8 wants to seize the dad car market

a hit product that can hit the market is a powerful weapon to deal with the brutal competition in the market. during its glorious period of annual sales of 2 million units, saic-gm had hot-selling products in various market segments, such as the buick brand yinglang,lacrosse, gl8, chevrolet malibu,explorerand cadillac xts and midsize suvs XT5etc. were once common models on the sales list.

nowadays, except for the buick gl8 mpv model, which is still firmly in the top five sales rankings, other models of saic-gm have not appeared in major lists for a long time. on september 23, buick gl8 ushered in 2 million units off the production line. now it has experienced 6 new product launches in 25 years, and each generation of products has maintained a stable market share at that time. on the same day, buick opened up the "eight golden rules" for mpvs and launched the world's first new energy mpv concept car - ompv.

talking about the current situation and future strategy, lu xiao believes that saic-gm is still on the poker table and has more reason to sound the horn next year. "go to the position where it should be on the poker table and be in the market segments that should appear." our products appear.”

at the media communication meeting, the "lu xue" team said frankly that in the second week of taking office on august 9, saic-gm internally decided to fight "four battles" in just four days of preparation. specifically, the optimization and adjustment of internal systems and marketing channels accounted for two games, and the other two were the launch sales battles of the gl8 phev and cadillac xt5 models.

saic-gm hopes to break through the "big single product" strategy. lu xiao revealed that in the past two or three months, the market share of gl8 has quickly risen to the first place in the mpv segment. "we will definitely continue to consolidate this position in the future. our market share in the entire mpv field will not be low." at 20%”.

it is reported that the buick gl8 family’s cumulative terminal sales from january to august were approximately 60,900 units, ranking first in the domestic mpv segment sales. xue haitao revealed that the market share of the gl8 segment has been close to 17% in the past two weeks. as production capacity is gradually met, the share should become higher and higher.

"first of all, we need to have a big single product that can boost confidence in the channel and internally." xue haitao said that the buick gl8 phev launched this year is currently in short supply, with more than 30,000 orders on hand. so far, it has seen some success and there is more hope of victory, "eating every meal and fighting every battle."

the importance of gl8 to saic-gm is self-evident, but with the rise of domestic new energy mpvs such as denza d9, gl8's market position as the "biggest mpv" is gradually being challenged. to this end, in addition to adjusting channels and marketing strategies, saic-gm is also continuing to increase its investment in buick mpv family products.

the buick mpv family has four major product series: century century, the new gl8 lu zun phev, gl8 es lu zun, and gl8 land business class, covering the price range of 200,000 yuan to 700,000 yuan. xue haitao said that buick century will launch new models next month, the gl8 fuel vehicle will be upgraded and released in november, the gl8 classic phev model will be launched in march next year, and the new gl8 based on the latest concept car "organic eco-friendly residence" concept will be launched in october next year. listed.

"gl8 can't just do business. we must win more family users this time, and we will win more users of suv daddy cars. we will not shy away from having such ambitions." lu xiao said that saic-gm "blows the whistle" mpv is not the only clarion call for counterattack. next year, it will also launch pure electric, plug-in hybrid and extended-range models in the mainstream sedan market, and launch plug-in hybrid products in the suv market to face competition.

in order to prepare for the fourth quarter in advance, the new cadillac xt5 launched a limited-time price of rmb 279,900-339,900 when pre-sales began. it is reported that the car will be officially launched on september 28, and pre-sale orders are currently booming. in order to solve the problem of increasing production capacity, lu xiao specially sent a team to fly to germany to discuss with the supply chain.

"with the non-refundable deposit of 5,000 yuan for the order placed on september 22, the number of orders in one day was 232 units. it is still in the pre-sale stage and has not yet been launched, so the confidence of cadillac dealers has suddenly increased." xue haitao said , as long as the overall marketing, product, and dealer channel sales policies are taken into consideration, there are still great opportunities.

saic-gm is accelerating its self-rescue. what indicators should be used to measure this counterattack next year? lu xiao said that the most important thing is to get the business back to normal. specifically, the first step is to get the wholesale volume back to normal, followed by a more objective and fair market share, and finally the operating profit.