Executives become anchors, robots take the field... How can car companies survive the resumption of work and production?

Author?|?Wang Hui?Lu Mengyi

"Happy Valentine's Day!" "Buy it at 666!" "Take one of SAIC Roewe!"...The barrage dominates the screen , gifts kept coming, and nearly 500,000 people interacted and liked online at the same time. This was the video live broadcast room of SAIC Roewe and MG on February 14.

The anchor sitting in front of the camera is called "Fat Tou Yu". He is not a fashion blogger or an Internet celebrity. He is Yu Jingmin, deputy general manager of SAIC Passenger Vehicle Company.

This is Yu Jingmin’s first time as an anchor. It has subverted the previous serious impression of state-owned enterprise executives and changed the communication path and user communication from offline to online.

To put it more broadly, this should also be the first time for car company executives.

Under the influence of the epidemic, not only SAIC Roewe and MG, but also many traditional car companies have started online marketing. In addition to live broadcasts and short videos, Moments, WeChat groups, QQ groups, etc., almost All marketing models based on the Internet and circles are used.

"After this live broadcast is over, we will continue to do live broadcasts. Please follow us and @us." Yu Jingmin said in the live broadcast.

After various local governments delayed the time for resumption of work, on February 10, February 14, February 18...at different points in time, local automobile companies and upstream and downstream enterprises in the industry chain gradually resumed work. Resume production. Online sales are an important part of this.

This is a helpless move, but it is also a new revelation under the epidemic. "On the optimistic side, the epidemic has prompted the entire industry to think more proactively about how to improve consumer experience." said an epidemic impact analysis report published by Deloitte.

Resumption of work and production under strict precautions

At 7 a.m. on February 18, in the final assembly workshop of Changan Automobile's Yubei factory, all staff gathered in the morning meeting room, with 2 meters between people. .

After undergoing strict epidemic prevention training for all employees and setting up "many checkpoints" such as personnel screening, transportation, and environmental disinfection, the factory's welding, stamping, painting, and assembly workshops have resumed operation. .

As work resumes across the board in extraordinary times, all-round protection of production areas and personnel is crucial. Will there be risks of epidemic prevention and control in the production workshops of car companies where people gather?

This tests the company’s sense of responsibility and core strength.

Strict epidemic prevention and control plans and epidemic prevention guidelines have formed a tight epidemic prevention network in the factory. Employees must pass through various "gates" when moving in the factory:

Factory At the door, epidemic prevention passes and employee ID cards must be checked, masks must be worn, and body temperatures must be measured; at the production site, all employees must pass safety and epidemic prevention training, equipment must be inspected, and safety hazards must be eliminated; in the employee canteen, "college entrance examination style" dining is provided, with time sharing Sit in different positions, widen the distance between front, back, left and right, and leave quickly after eating; factory areas, canteens, conference rooms and other places must be disinfected more than twice a day, leaving no dead space...

In Yubei The intelligentization of factories and equipment has also played a major role in epidemic prevention and control.

In the welding workshop, auto parts are automatically transferred on the production line. Unmanned logistics trolleys shuttle back and forth according to the routes drawn on the ground. Hundreds of robots dance in the vast space, and mechanical shaft motors "呲呲" keeps turning.

In this highly automated and intelligent factory, it is difficult to see more than three workers at the same time. The use of robots has increased the factory automation rate to more than 90%. The smart factory management platform collects 50 million pieces of manufacturing data every day, ensuring real-time online monitoring and early warning of equipment operation and quality information.

Changan Automobile’s work resumption model is the epitome of the automobile industry. A reporter from "Financial National Weekly" investigated and learned that at present, many companies such as Great Wall, Geely, Jianghuai, Dongfeng Nissan, etc. have resumed work and production under such strict prevention and control and intelligent production.

On February 13, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers held a press conference to disclose that currently, except for areas with severe epidemics, automobile companies in other regions are trying their best to resume work and production, striving to minimize the impact.

Build cars, but also make masks

After resuming work, will you build cars?

Not necessarily.

“What do the people need? Wuling makes it.” This is the slogan on the box of protective masks produced by SAIC-GM-Wuling Motors.

At the Liuzhou factory, the production line that originally produced SAIC-GM-Wuling automobile interiors has become 14 mask production lines, including 4 N95 mask production lines and 10 general medical protective mask production lines. The daily production The volume is expected to reach more than 1.7 million.

The shortage of protective clothing, masks and other anti-epidemic materials is an urgent problem that car companies and suppliers need to solve. Many companies have started overseas procurement or found branch offices to help coordinate, but "water from afar cannot solve the problem that is close by" "Thirsty", so the car-making production line was transformed to produce masks.

From what the reporter learned, SAIC-GM-Wuling, BYD, GAC, etc. are all starting to design and manufacture protective material production equipment, and the main supply targets are those on the front line of the epidemic. In prevention and control areas, the remaining portion will be supplied to itself and some companies in more urgent situations.

Everyone in the industry is like a mountain. Although I am not a professional in this industry, unexpectedly, the research and development and production efficiency of car companies are really not low when they switch to producing masks.

“Drawings are produced in 3 days, equipment is produced in 7 days, and products are produced in 10 days!” Zhao Changjiang, general manager of BYD Auto Sales Co., Ltd., said on Weibo. Time is tight and the task is heavy. From automobile manufacturing to mask production, automobile companies are racing against time to carry out technical research.

The Ninth Business Unit of BYD Electronics is undertaking the BYD mask project. It has its own factory buildings and medical device system certification. It plans to achieve a production capacity of 5 million masks/day and 50,000 bottles/day of disinfectant by the end of February. .

GAC took 14 days to complete the production of masks:

On February 7, the GAC Parts Technology Center sent engineers to Dongguan to learn the technology and production processes related to mask equipment. Research;

On the 9th, the first mask production line prototype was completed;

On the 10th, the first protective mask production equipment was assembled and debugged;

20 On the same day, 5 production lines were installed and mass production started.

“The entire industrial chain of the automobile industry, including upstream parts production and downstream services, is huge. We need to work together to achieve normal production. As a state-owned enterprise, we should indeed be more responsible. ." said Zeng Qinghong, Chairman of GAC Group.

Car sales are temporarily online

Under the restrictions of epidemic prevention and control and logistics and transportation, these production measures of car companies are naturally extraordinary measures, and challenges still exist. It will still take some time before large-scale normal operation.

A person from a car company said, "All the parts and components required for the production line will not be in place in the short term, and it is impossible for all workers to return to work immediately."

This is the case on the production side. On the sales side, the uncertainty brought about by the epidemic requires even more cautious responses. The online sales that Yu Jingmin participated in have basically become the regular model for car companies during the resumption of work:

Ola launched a creative cloud car purchase model of "Fancy Explanation in Six Cities Dialects", Geely launched an online group purchase activity, New car-making forces such as NIO and WM Motor have taken online marketing to the end. They not only conduct online live broadcasts on Tmall, JD.com, Douyin and other platforms, but also launch VR car viewing, online car selection, and door-to-door test drives. Waiting for some new services.

A person in charge of WM Motor told the reporter of "Financial National Weekly" that WM Motor has multiple uninterrupted live broadcasts throughout the day, and has also launched a "WM Direct Purchase" model, which can be purchased one-stop on the official website When buying a car, except for the necessary offline pick-up and test drive, all other steps can be completed online.

Not only car sales, some previously planned offline new car launches have also been temporarily moved online.

Changan Automobile plans to debut UNI-T at the Geneva Motor Show in March this year. Domestic media were originally invited to witness the entire event, but now, it has been changed to a domestic online live broadcast.

Ford China Vice President of Public Relations Huo Jing even wrote in Moments, “After the COVID-19 epidemic, have we realized that spending so much money on an offline press conference is really unnecessary? ? Online publishing is better or even more effective?"

However, Pan Helin, executive director of the Institute of Digital Economy at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, does not agree with this view. In his opinion, Che There are still many pain points for enterprises to develop online models.

“Consumption habits in the online car purchase model require a certain cultivation process. In addition, the experience and aspects that the current technology can provide are still in their infancy. Although saving customer resources will be helpful, If door-to-door test ride services are provided, the corresponding business costs will also increase," Pan Helin said.

Dealers are also in the same boat

In addition to the efforts of the car companies themselves, car dealers also need to support each other and tide over the difficulties.

Survey data from the China Automobile Dealers Association shows that as of 16:00 on February 14, the 65 auto dealer groups monitored and surveyed by the association totaled 4,222 4S stores, with a comprehensive resumption rate of only 8.55.

Such a situation will have a considerable impact on car sales. The association predicts that if work can be fully resumed at the end of February, the annual automobile market decline is expected to be 16.5%; if the full resumption of work is delayed until the end of March, the annual automobile sales decline is expected to expand to 29.7%.

Even if work resumes, before the epidemic is over, the whole society is minimizing the movement of people. The passenger flow and sales of dealerships will be sluggish for a long time. If a dealer collapses during this period, it will have a negative impact on the entire vehicle market. The impact on factories and upstream suppliers will also be long-term.

The car companies certainly will not let this happen.

Since the outbreak of the epidemic, OEMs have continuously launched support policies for dealers and end users, and some manufacturers have broken the current "wall" and introduced support measures for dealers and users in Hubei. An anti-epidemic action of "saving others and saving ourselves" was launched.

Among the many measures, for dealers, the most direct and effective method may be to cancel assessments, speed up rebate payment, discount and interest-free, extend the repayment period, etc.

Dongfen Nissan’s measures to relieve pressure on dealers

“Working with dealers to fight against the epidemic, we will provide dealers with zero assessment policy support, exempt from monthly wholesale sales and Retail assessment. At the same time, it also provides financial support and extends the repayment period," the relevant person in charge of Changan Auchan told reporters.

Since January, the list of car companies and brands that have canceled assessments has become longer and longer: FAW-Volkswagen, SAIC Volkswagen, Volkswagen Imported Cars, Lynk & Co, Great Wall, Changan, GAC Honda, Beijing Hyundai, SAIC Passenger Cars, Jaguar Land Rover, Volvo, BMW, Audi, GAC Passenger Cars, Dongfeng Yueda Kia, BAIC Changhe, BYD and Haima...

Even if there is no clear proposal to cancel the February assessment Some manufacturers have also proposed policy directions such as "lowering February sales targets, relaxing business policies in February to the maximum extent, relaxing various assessment requirements" and "providing financial support such as rebate subsidies, interest discounts and interest rate reductions".

Winter is coming, can spring be far behind?

With the wave of auto companies resuming work, the epidemic has also brought new thinking about survival and development to the auto industry.

At the beginning of 2020, the automobile market is full of challenges. At the production level, it will still take time for the supply chain to return to normal production; at the marketing level, many car companies are adjusting or canceling their production and operation plans.

However, from a medium- to long-term perspective, many industry insiders are still confident about the future. "Looking at the long-term and macro level, the difficulties are temporary." Fu Bingfeng, executive vice president and secretary-general of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, said.

Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the National Passenger Car Market Information Association, believes that due to restrictions on bus travel and online car-hailing travel, and residents’ increasingly obvious demand for improved travel quality, the demand for private car travel will become Even more intensely, after the epidemic, car companies may usher in a small peak in sales.

In the context of gradual recovery, the new market situation and demand have also placed new requirements on the high-quality development of the automobile industry. The "Matthew Effect" of the entire automobile industry will become more and more obvious.

Automotive analyst Cao He believes that this year is an important year for structural adjustment. Some car companies cannot continue to do so, and the impact of the epidemic will accelerate this process.

The same is true in the automotive supply chain field. Fu Yuwu, honorary chairman of the China Society of Automotive Engineers, said: "Of the 100,000 parts companies we counted, about 80,000 are low-level duplications of construction. A large part of these will be eliminated."

Under the crisis, it is also a turning point to speed up industrial upgrading.

A Beijing Hyundai person told reporters that although it is currently facing the double test of the epidemic and the competitive pressure of the auto market's existing stock, from a long-term perspective, the intrusion of the epidemic will also have a negative impact on the company's technological competitiveness and management system. An in-depth test of strength will push companies to complete changes in product innovation, marketing models and other aspects faster.

The aforementioned WM Motor people believe that for car companies, the next step is to do refined operations, serve users well, and manage the company’s fundamentals well. This is also important for employees, users, suppliers, etc. The most responsible attitude in the field.

“Confidence is more important than gold. I believe that with the joint efforts of all parties, we will be able to survive this epidemic smoothly.” People from Dongfeng Nissan said that after the “cold winter”, those automobile companies that have been tempered will finally Spring will be ushered in.

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