Tesla is tough on Pinduoduo

“I am from Xianning, Hubei. I graduated from a technical secondary school. I have been a courier before. I have been working in Wuhan for 10 years and have saved some money. Being a courier is quite busy. It takes me a month. I send and receive nearly 5,000 express items, and more than 60,000 orders a year. I have been working for ten years and have always wanted to buy a Tesla. "

This is Tencent News "Shenzhen Net" on Tesla." After the Pinduoduo incident continues to ferment, an interview with the owner of the Model 3 who was refused delivery. From his words, we can clearly feel a hint of helplessness and sadness. Indeed, regardless of whether Tesla or Pinduoduo are right or wrong, under constant pressure from public opinion, consumers will ultimately suffer losses.

At this moment, let’s review the whole incident. On July 21, Pinduoduo platform merchant "Yimaiche" launched the "250,000 group purchase of Tesla Model 3" campaign, and clearly stated in the promotional slogan: "We have negotiated cooperation with the manufacturer, and the sale has been officially authorized." , "There are only 5 new cars, and installments are not supported and can only be paid in full online."

On the same day, Tesla immediately issued a statement on its official Weibo, claiming that it had not had any cooperation with Yimaiche or Pinduoduo regarding the group buying activity, nor had it had any cooperation with Yimaiche or Pinduoduo. We have not sold any vehicles produced by our company to Yimaiche or Pinduoduo in connection with this group buying activity.

On August 14, when a consumer in Wuhan, Hubei Province received a subsidy, completed all payments and picked up the car from Tesla who participated in a group buying activity, the latter believed that Pinduoduo or the merchant used the name of the consumer. Place orders and conceal true information, and refuse to deliver vehicles to Pinduoduo group purchase consumers. One day later, Tesla issued another statement regarding the "Pinduoduo group buying" incident: It has determined that Pinduoduo's group buying constitutes resale, supports consumers in safeguarding their legitimate rights and interests, and provides necessary support for customers to safeguard their rights.

On August 16, Pinduoduo stated that a car owner from Shanghai who also participated in this group purchase had successfully picked up the car and applied for vehicle insurance. So far, Tesla has rejected Hubei car owners, while Shanghai car owners have successfully picked up their cars. The different treatment has completely triggered heated discussions in the industry.

In view of this situation, Tesla responded again: Shanghai Pinduoduo group purchase car owners successfully picked up the car, and the entire process was placed by Pinduoduo using customer information. Tesla supports consumers who were misled by group buying activities and were unable to deliver their cars to defend their rights against the event, and will do its best to provide consumers with the legal assistance they need. At the same time, if consumers are willing to place orders again through Tesla's formal channels, Tesla will provide corresponding compensation for the resulting loss of time and energy to consumers.

On the Internet, opinions on the incident were quickly divided into "two factions." One party believes that if the contract is established, it will be illegal if Tesla unilaterally fails to perform, and the subsidy is "paid for" by the Pinduoduo platform. Tesla's interests will not be harmed in the transaction, so why not? The other side believes that even after Tesla made it clear that the event was not officially authorized, it still used its "brand effect" for promotions, which actually disrupted the direct sales model that the former had always adopted to a certain extent and undermined its trading rules. .

In the reporter’s view, Tesla has always controlled the pricing power of its own products. There is no doubt about this, and it also ensures that no matter where potential users are, all models purchased during the same period will enjoy the same price. Same terminal price. In this incident, Tesla's fault was that it unilaterally believed that the order was a resale without negotiating with the car buyer, and then canceled the transaction. This unreasonable and even slightly "arrogant" way of doing things aroused the dissatisfaction of onlookers and constituted a breach of contract to a certain extent.

However, it must be admitted that the emergence of Pinduoduo has indeed broken the original relative fairness and order. As it said in the statement, “Tesla has always adhered to the direct operation model because we believe in direct operation. The model is truly in line with the best interests of consumers. Under the direct sales model, no matter which Tesla store you enter, you will get the same price. A first-time car buyer will not be ripped off due to information asymmetry. You won’t buy products from unknown sources because of complicated sales channels, and you don’t need to go to different provinces to pick up the car in order to get the lowest price.”

After explaining the “crux”, I couldn’t help but ask. Are Pinduoduo’s series of operations illegal? Before elaborating, we first need to understand that Pinduoduo has always been an e-commerce platform that relies on huge subsidies to gain traffic attention, thereby gaining favor from capital and achieving profitability.

The vehicles sold this time were actually purchased from Tesla at regular prices by Pinduoduo and "YibuyCar", and then sold to consumers at a reduced price of 20,000 yuan. So on the surface, there is no "resale behavior" as Tesla's reason for refusing delivery.

But the essence is that Pinduoduo used such an "opportunistic" method and low cost to forcefully tie Tesla and earn 10% of the profit for itself, knowing that it had not obtained official authorization. High traffic and attention, which is exactly what it needs most at this stage. As for the follow-up, regardless of whether Tesla can deliver vehicles, Pinduoduo has successfully improved its platform positioning through a beautiful "side ball" marketing case.

This also explains why Pinduoduo was so "leisurely content" from beginning to end in this incident. Because it has left an established impression on most users of “selling vehicles at a lower than market price”. On the other hand, Tesla, which has always been in a "passive position", has to compensate several car owners who have suffered losses in order to calm public opinion while accepting the condemnation of some people who do not know the truth.

In fact, in addition to Tesla, well-known brands such as Dyson, Three Squirrels, Tencent Nintendo Switch, and Apple have all encountered similar cases of "colliding marketing" like Pinduoduo, and they have also It has never acknowledged cooperation with or authorization from the latter. As for the reason, it may also be related to the "low-end, copycat" image that the platform has always shown to the outside world.

From the perspective of Pinduoduo, whether it is the "tens of billions of subsidies" launched not long ago, or the recently announced "fake one, you will lose ten", and the way of "paying out of pocket" is lower than the market. Selling big-name To?C products at low prices reflects its ambition to "attack upwards". Perhaps the fundamental purpose is to attract more users from first- and second-tier cities to enter the "Fifth Ring Road" and take the high-end and boutique route.

It is foreseeable that in the future, similar examples such as "Group Purchase Model? 3" will still be common on this platform. This time Tesla chose to be tough on Pinduoduo, and the biggest winner seems to be the latter, which also made some onlookers realize what "the surface is doctrine, but behind it is business." As of press time, according to the latest news from Sina Finance, the car owner in Wuhan who was refused delivery and canceled the order by Tesla officials on the grounds of "resale" has successfully picked up the car with the help of Pinduoduo and has insured the vehicle. . Subsequently, according to information leaked by Weibo blogger "Not Zheng Xiaokang", Tesla issued another statement regarding the Wuhan owner who successfully picked up the car.

From this, we can’t help but lament that while Pinduoduo has gained a lot of attention, it has also won a “good” reputation. This wave of marketing methods is indeed clever. On the other hand, Tesla, which has always been slightly passive, still stands in the whirlpool of public opinion after compromising.

Text/Cui Liwen

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This article comes from the author of Autohome Chejiahao and does not represent the views and positions of Autohome.