New choice for the public during the epidemic: new energy strategy remains unchanged, increasing digital marketing coverage

Liu Xiaolin/Text? On February 27, Volkswagen CEO Diess published his second Weibo post, telling everyone that he went to the Chinese Embassy in Germany to meet with the ambassador and exchanged views on China The epidemic and Volkswagen's resumption of work and production in China, and said that "there is no winter that is insurmountable, and there is no spring that will not come." Ten days ago, on February 17, Diss officially registered Weibo and released the first Weibo post - "Come on for Wuhan! Come on for China! Volkswagen Group will, as always, stand with the Chinese people." Both Weibo posts are related to the epidemic in China. Diess, who is far away in Germany, used this action to convey the Volkswagen Group's constant concern for China.

Not only did Diess use various methods to emphasize Volkswagen’s determination to fight the epidemic together with the Chinese government during this epidemic, on February 8, Volkswagen Group (China) CEO Feng Sihan posted a personal LinkedIn message The platform called on the world to work together to defeat the epidemic, "Listen to China and look at China with an open mind. What we want to fight is the virus, not the victims." At the same time, Volkswagen and joint venture car companies quickly donated 120 million yuan to epidemic prevention and control.

This epidemic has become a demonstration of the close relationship between the public and China. This relationship is also shown in the two most convincing data: In 2019, Volkswagen sold 4.23 million vehicles in China, accounting for 38.6% of the Volkswagen Group's global sales of 10.97 million vehicles. Among them, the Volkswagen brand delivered 3.163 million vehicles in the Chinese market, accounting for 50.38% of the total global sales. Secondly, the 2019 financial report just released by the Volkswagen Group shows that the two joint ventures contributed 4.4 billion euros in operating profits to Volkswagen in 2019, accounting for 25.88% of Volkswagen's annual operating profits. Obviously, although China's auto market has experienced a sharp decline due to the domestic market cycle, a quarter of the Volkswagen Group's profits still come from China.

Because of this, as the multinational car company with the highest sales volume in China, Volkswagen has also been significantly affected by the epidemic. It has launched various risk plans, actively resumed work and production, and used digital measures to ensure market services. This is also a problem that the two joint venture companies have been focusing on over the past month or so.

"Our business is gradually getting back on track and we are actively preparing for the full resumption of the production system. Currently, each factory in our joint venture is gradually resuming production as planned based on the actual production situation."? Volkswagen Group (China) CEO Feng Sihan said.

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Although the epidemic occurred during the Spring Festival, for the automobile industry, the market is open year-round, and the demand for buying cars during the New Year also exists. Therefore, under normal circumstances, car company production lines will only have a short pause during the Spring Festival. However, the epidemic has directly led to the risk of a complete shutdown of automobile companies.

“When the epidemic broke out, we faced the dual challenges of delayed start-up of the nationwide supply chain and travel restrictions for group employees, so we made corresponding adjustments to our operations and production plans.” Feng Sihan said that in the face of When the public health incident suddenly swept across China, the public's first reaction was to start making adjustments to minimize the health risks of employees and the degree to which the production rhythm became passive.

At the same time, as a multinational car company that has been rooted in China for 40 years, Volkswagen immediately invested in the work of supporting epidemic prevention and control and fighting as a "car company belonging to the people". As of mid-February, Volkswagen and its joint ventures have jointly donated RMB 120 million to support the prevention and control of the new coronavirus, providing support including the purchase of protective equipment, medical equipment, medicine and other medical supplies, as well as medical care and treatment. .

After the phased resumption of work, Volkswagen has done everything possible to ensure that all employees have a safe working environment during abnormal times through temperature measurement, workplace disinfection, and distribution of masks and disinfectants to employees. .

On an objective level, the impact of the epidemic on the Volkswagen Group is also unprecedented. While many car companies have reported that delays in resuming work will cost hundreds of millions a day, Volkswagen is also facing the suspension of production in China. Huge losses.

Calculated based on the operating profit of its two joint ventures in China of 4.4 billion euros in 2019, Volkswagen's losses in China will exceed 4 billion yuan for every day of delay in resuming work.

In 2019, Volkswagen's two companies in China, FAW-Volkswagen and SAIC Volkswagen, continued to occupy the top two sales of Chinese car companies, with a total sales volume of 4.13 million vehicles. The latest sales data released by car companies in February show that as the best-selling brands, the models of FAW-Volkswagen and SAIC Volkswagen have followed the market and experienced a sharp decline of 80% to 90%.

The epidemic is a test of the corporate management system and the flexibility of emergency adjustments. In view of the unpredictability of the development of the epidemic, Volkswagen made adjustments to its market operations at the beginning of the epidemic. Since consumers are unable to go to dealer stores due to the epidemic, Volkswagen's brands and joint ventures have launched a number of measures to enhance online business capabilities. Among them, FAW-Volkswagen took the lead in launching six "heart" measures, including epidemic information push, 24-hour hotline and rescue, door-to-door pick-up and delivery, zero-contact maintenance and warranty extension, card and coupon extension, comprehensive disinfection and protection, and online car viewing. Cars, replacement assessments and many other epidemic care services. SAIC-Volkswagen focuses on solving the problem of going out during the epidemic, and actively promotes a series of innovative digital marketing models such as "cloud showrooms", "cloud car purchases" and "cloud services" to provide consumers with zero-contact online services.

“In order to alleviate the operating pressure of dealers, we not only innovated and brought live training courses to help dealers improve their online service capabilities, but also successively introduced a series of burden-reducing and loosening policies to solve dealers’ problems to the greatest extent.” Feng Sihan said that at the beginning of the outbreak, Volkswagen successfully launched online live training courses, covering about 90% of the dealer networks of SAIC Volkswagen, FAW-Volkswagen and Volkswagen Imported Cars, with 50,000 participants.

To some extent, the epidemic has become a catalyst for Volkswagen to accelerate its digital marketing strategy. Feng Sihan said that this training gave dealers an in-depth understanding of the application methods of different social media platforms and how to create short videos and live broadcast content that better meet customer needs. In the future, Volkswagen will also strengthen online communication and business dealings with customers, and provide services such as online showrooms and door-to-door pick-up and delivery of test cars.

At the same time, the epidemic has also enabled Volkswagen to further see new opportunities in digitalization. "We know that digitalization is an important area that defines the future of automobiles. China is at the forefront of digital development, and Volkswagen has been accelerating digital transformation, especially for the Chinese market." Feng Sihan said that the key to automobile digitalization is to achieve interconnection, and for Providing more digital services to customers is also a major focus of the public.

While actively resisting the epidemic, Volkswagen has also begun to resume work and production within the scope allowed by policies, hoping to use its position in the automotive industry chain to drive the entire automotive industry chain, and then contribute to the recovery of the economy. Add boost.

Compared with other car companies, Volkswagen’s dual-supplier system has shown advantages in this epidemic. “Generally speaking, our suppliers are not exclusive.” The relevant person in charge of Volkswagen China revealed, This model of multi-vendor is the norm, not an emergency. According to sources from suppliers, Volkswagen’s parts inventory is the largest among domestic car companies and can last 1-2 months. This is also determined by its large new car sales scale.

It is reported that Volkswagen is currently making active preparations for the resumption of production. As some companies in Hubei gradually resume work starting from March 11, the problems of tight parts supply and low employee attendance rates will gradually be alleviated, and the resumption rate of the entire vehicle industry will also continue to increase.

The test of a critical period of transition

But for the Volkswagen Group, which is at a crossroads of "turning the ship around", the sudden outbreak of the epidemic in the Chinese market will inevitably give rise to The reforms that Volkswagen is implementing around the world bring challenges. China plays an irreplaceable key role in the process of the public's comprehensive shift to electrification, connectivity, intelligence, and enjoyment.

The Volkswagen Group’s 2019 financial report shows that Volkswagen’s operating profit increased from 13.9 billion euros in the previous year to 17 billion euros, an increase of 22.3%, and the net cash flow of the automotive business also increased from - in 2018. 300 million euros soared to 10.8 billion euros, with strong financial performance for the full year.

Compared with the sluggish financial performance in 2018, cash flow in 2019 has returned to normal, which is a signal that Volkswagen will launch a deeper transformation and accelerate the implementation of new strategies. After Volkswagen Group’s management structure adjustment in 2018 set China as a separate business area, the Chinese market is believed to determine Volkswagen’s future in the subsequent competition in electrification, intelligence and travel services. For the whole of 2019, China's new energy vehicle sales were 1.206 million units. Although it fell by 4% year-on-year, it still accounted for 56% of the global sales of 2.2 million units.

However, due to the impact of the epidemic, China's current automobile consumption has come to a state of slowdown. As the most high-profile and most thorough transition to new energy, and defines 2020 as an important node, how can we ensure that the car consumption throughout the year? Implementing strategic plans is also full of challenges.

On March 3, due to the cancellation of the Geneva Motor Show due to the epidemic, Volkswagen moved the new car launch event originally scheduled to be held at the auto show online, trying "cloud release" for the first time. Volkswagen used satellite signal transmission, and the picture, sound and translation of this conference were very smooth, becoming a sample of online conferences for car companies during the epidemic.

At this press conference, Volkswagen conveyed the direction of "promoting the electrification strategy forward" and launched the Volkswagen brand's first pure electric SUV-Volkswagen ID.4. According to the plan, the ID.4 will be launched this year. It will be the second mass-produced model based on the modular electric drive (MEB) platform after the ID.3. China will be one of its production locations. Ralf Brandst?tter, chief operating officer of the Volkswagen passenger car brand, said that Volkswagen will produce and sell this model in Europe, China and the United States.

The modular electric platform MEB put into production by Volkswagen Group in Anting and Foshan at the end of 2020 produces new energy vehicle parts. In 2020, Volkswagen plans to deliver 400,000 new energy vehicles in China, and by 2025, this number will increase to 1.5 million vehicles. By 2028, the Volkswagen Group plans to deliver 22 million pure electric vehicles globally, more than half of which will be manufactured on Volkswagen's electric platform in China.

Volkswagen is the first car company to commit to implementing the Paris Agreement and fully achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. With the release of two landmark products, ID.4 and ID.3, Volkswagen The group announced that it has formulated a series of plans to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions of its models by about one-third as early as 2025. Currently, Volkswagen is investing 1 billion euros to expand its hybrid model lineup while launching the electrification process of its models.

However, the electrification layout of multinational car companies in China has not been postponed due to the development of the epidemic. Since the Spring Festival, GM, Hyundai and other car companies have held domestic launch conferences for electric vehicles. Joint ventures Brand competition in the new energy field has begun as scheduled.

On the other hand, although the epidemic has affected normal production for more than a month, in the past month, the Chinese government has contacted the following to request local governments to cancel purchase restrictions, implement subsidies for new energy vehicles, and increase investment in the construction of charging piles. Support, this is believed to usher in a more favorable consumer environment for the automobile market after the epidemic is over.

In a sense, the increase in the number of "players" entering the game is a good thing, just as new energy vehicles receive policy preferences, and will help expand China's new energy vehicle market. "I believe that the impact of the epidemic on China's economy will be phased and short-lived, and the epidemic will not change the fundamentals of China's long-term economic growth." Feng Sihan said that Volkswagen is still confident in the Chinese market.

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