Small micro car leveraging the big market

SAIC-GM-Wuling can be said to be the king of micro-cars in China. It has set a record of selling a car every five seconds on average, with 1.32 million micro-car sales in January-November 2012, and annual sales are expected to exceed 1.4 million. Since 2006, it has been the champion of China's mini-car sales for six consecutive years. The market share increased from 11% at the beginning of the company's establishment in 2002 to 49% in September 2012, and the sales revenue increased from 3.77 billion yuan in the year of the company's establishment to 58 billion yuan in 2011. In the mini-car market, the first mention rate of Wuling brand reached 99%, and the brand premium formed compared with competing brands reached 4,000 yuan.

The biggest contributor to SAIC-GM-Wuling's success in the market is its main models: Wuling Zhiguang, Wuling Rongguang and Wuling Hongguang. Since its launch in 2002, the sales volume of Wuling Zhiguang has grown rapidly, with a cumulative sales volume of 2.16 million units in seven years. In 2008, Wuling Rongguang successfully developed the "big micro passenger" market, with a cumulative sales volume of 1.27 million vehicles in four years. In 2010, Wuling Hongguang opened up the compact business MPV market, and achieved an average monthly sales volume exceeding 30,000 units within 13 months of its launch.

"Listen to the voices of customers, produce low-cost, high-value cars that Chinese customers really need." Adhering to this concept, Shenyang, general manager of SAIC-GM-Wuling, led all employees to effectively integrate SAIC, GM and other major shareholders in the The advantageous resources at home and abroad have formed an independent innovation model of "focusing on me and integrating resources", and successfully leveraged the large market with small and micro cars.

Listen to the voice of the market

From 2009 to 2011, the mini-car market experienced a wave of peaks trough. In 2009, the state promulgated policies such as car going to the countryside and passenger car purchase tax preferential policies, and the overall sales of mini-cars increased by more than 60%. By the end of 2010, the "blowout" market had attracted nearly 20 car companies to produce mini-cars, and the market competition was extremely fierce. After New Year's Day in 2011, the situation of the mini-car market changed abruptly. According to the statistics of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, since the preferential policy of car going to the countryside was cancelled in 2011, the production and sales of mini-cars fell sharply, down 11.58% and 9.38% year-on-year.

SAIC-GM-Wuling, the "first brother" of micro-cars, also felt the coolness of the market. In April 2011, SAIC-GM-Wuling mini-car sales fell below 70,000. "What changes have taken place in the real needs of consumers must be grasped from the source of the market." Shenyang sent more than 80 director-level middle-level cadres to inspect the grassroots. He said, "The real experience is a thousand times better than what I said. Without notifying the dealer, I flew to any city by myself, found a hotel by myself, went to the market to see the products of competitors, and then went to our 4S shop to buy a car as a customer to compare and see how the situation was.”

After the inspection, a lively discussion was formed within the whole company. "The feedback is that the entire operating system is worse than we thought, and now it is supported by our original brand image. If we don't change, 2011 is likely to be the peak of our sales, and then we will enter an inflection point." Crisis awareness sounded the alarm for everyone.

These surveys also focused on a number of issues. For example, the supply of spare parts in some regions is relatively slow, which has affected the overall experience of customers; for example, the outlets in some regions have a situation of "hot sales and poor service", and the sales volume is increasing, but the meticulous service to customers is not enough and neglected. The client's situation happens again and again.

“This is a comprehensive review and review of the company’s overall operating system, and discovers the real needs of customers and the problems existing in the system.” Yang Jie, general manager of SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile Sales Company recalled, “We must stand from the perspective of customers. Looking at the problem, a slight change in a module in the system may bring a new feeling to customers."

Having insight into the changes in the market, the SAIC-GM-Wuling Executive Committee made a quick decision to adjust the product structure and increase the The output of hot-selling products has been improved, and suggestions for improving the after-sales service and dealer's marketing model have been put forward. After a series of reforms, the competitiveness of SAIC-GM-Wuling's entire operating system has been significantly improved. In December 2011, the sales of micro-cars exceeded 150,000.

Shenyang is willing to listen to the voices of its customers and is better at turning their voices and needs into actions. In April 2011, SAIC-GM-Wuling launched the sedan brand Baojun at the Shanghai Auto Show, "At the Shanghai Auto Show, the media and some potential customers have a lot of opinions on the interior. We gathered together and carried out 24 detailed improvements within 2 months. The results are obvious to all.” On August 9, 2011, the improved Baojun sedan was put on the market three months after it was launched, and the orders exceeded 10,000. As of the end of November 2012, the cumulative sales volume of Baojun 630 reached 80,000 units.

Jie Yang believes that only by listening to the voice of customers from multiple angles can we gain insight into the real needs of customers. "Our customers are mainly small businessmen and rural users. They are all folk masters. For example, they have provided good solutions for noise and vehicle design. Recently, we learned that some Wuling Hongguang car owners have used the engine independently. Converting to a turbocharger can significantly increase the speed and save fuel. These all provide useful ideas and directions for our future design."

In 2012, SAIC-GM-Wuling continued to communicate directly with customers. At the tenth anniversary celebration, the company invited hundreds of customer representatives, and also contacted customers through third-party research companies, and dealers continued to communicate with customers through Cheyouhui. The company headquarters has set up independent functional modules, and there are full-time marketing staff who have long-term contact and communication with various types of customers. "Everyone researches a place, and the whole graph that is assembled may be the real market situation." Yang Jie said.

Building core competencies

Wuling was the first company in China to focus on micro-car manufacturing. In 1998, Wuling Micro Car was already the national sales champion. However, since 1999, Changan has made continuous efforts in micro-cars and launched the innovative product "Changan Star", which quickly occupied the market and occupied the top spot in the micro-car market for 4 consecutive years before 2006. In 2002, after the SAIC-GM-Wuling joint venture was formally established, the three shareholders complemented each other's advantages. At that time, Wuling Zhiguang was launched, and it quickly opened up the market with the characteristics of "low cost of use, the strongest power among similar models, solid body, and good safety performance". In 2006, the annual sales volume of Wuling Zhiguang reached 300,000 units, which established SAIC-GM-Wuling's top position in the mini-car industry.

The loss of the sales champion has made SAIC-GM-Wuling realize the importance of insisting on building core competencies. Looking back now, there are two key core competencies of the company: innovation capability and marketing system capability.

Five years ago, when Changan and other competitors turned to car production, Shenyang, general manager of SAIC-GM-Wuling, adopted the strategic thinking of "one steering wheel, four wheels", that is, taking corporate culture as a "steering wheel" and putting excellent The integration of resources, human resources, technology and management innovation, and capital integration have led the company to fully develop the Chinese rural micro-car market, which is far from being satisfied, thus winning the opportunity for development.

In 2006, SAIC-GM-Wuling's R&D team appeared at the Tokyo Motor Show that year with the aim of learning to imitate Japanese mini-cars. But the direction of Japanese mini-car development has caused them confusion. Due to regulations, Japanese mini-cars take comfort as the future development direction, and the price is even higher than that of sedans. In China, this road obviously does not work. The R&D team of SAIC-GM-Wuling realized that "space" is still the main demand of Chinese micro-car users in the future through a full understanding of the needs of Chinese users, and proposed the concept of "big micro-customer". The upgraded new platform model "Wuling Glory". Subsequently, in 2010, in response to the needs of users for upgrading, a new concept product "Wuling Hongguang" was launched. Since January 2011, the average monthly sales volume of this car has exceeded 30,000 units, and the sales volume has exceeded 300,000 units within two years of its launch.

The key factor for SAIC-GM-Wuling to achieve impressive performance is not only innovative products, but also the establishment of a marketing system. While strengthening research and development of products, SAIC-GM-Wuling's sales channels are also gradually sinking. There are 3,800 sales and service outlets across the country, covering more than 90% of the country's prefecture-level cities, and the coverage rate in more than 2,000 administrative counties nationwide. 55%.

“We continue to innovate in channel management and creatively implement the “4S+2S” store model. By calculating market capacity, weighing competitors, our own situation and existing layout, we determine the number of agency dealers in the regional market Another example is to encourage powerful dealers to build stores in cities of different scales, and allow dealers to build and operate multiple stores of the same brand in one area, which can balance the short-term benefits and future benefits of dealers and meet the needs of dealers to expand and expand Strong desire. Now, we establish a win-win 'heart relationship' with our dealers, strengthen our service and training for dealers, and jointly create a channel system that has international service standards and makes customers feel friendly, and continuously improves customer terminal experience. ." Yang Jie said.

SAIC-GM-Wuling also excels in product planning capabilities. Zhao Shaoming, general manager of Shenzhen Guangwu Zhengtongda Automobile Trading Co., Ltd., which distributes Wuling mini-cars, when he first came to Shenzhen to open a store on July 29, 2008, Wuling's mini-car was "appealing to everyone". After four months, the Shenzhen store only sold more than 200 vehicles. Micro car. In 2009, Wuling Rongguang, a newly launched "big micro passenger", jumped up in sales in Shenzhen, and the overall sales volume of Wuling micro-cars reached 2,032 units. In September 2010, Wuling Hongguang, a compact commercial MPV, was launched in Shenzhen, and it was affirmed by customers. It received orders for 130 vehicles in just one month. From 2010 to 2012, Shenzhen Guangwu Zhengtong maintained an average annual sales growth of 20% of micro-cars. In 2012, it is expected to achieve sales of 4,800 vehicles. Wuling's market share of micro-cars in Shenzhen has risen to more than 45%.

Public information shows that the overall growth of China's mini-car market in 2012 was basically zero, and in 2013 it is expected to show a slight growth of 5%. In order to break the ceiling of market growth, SAIC-GM-Wuling has also begun to fully enter the sedan market while expanding the market share of micro-cars.

As early as August 9, 2011, SAIC-GM-Wuling released a brand-new independent passenger car brand Baojun, and based on the mature mid-size car platform provided by GM, it built the first new car of the Baojun brand, the Baojun 630. In 2012 In September, Baojun sold more than 10,000 units in October after selling more than 6,500 units in September. Lechi is also included under the Baojun brand. In the future, Baojun will become a new market growth point for SAIC-GM-Wuling. Shenyang said: "The launch of Baojun means that SAIC-GM-Wuling has begun to rely on the resources of the shareholders and the joint venture's own ability to integrate innovation to open a new era of 'both business and passenger development'."