"Oxcart Survey" North-South Volkswagen ID.4 got off to a bad start. What's the problem?

The people who know China consumers best have become acclimatized.

According to public data, Volkswagen ID.4 has a bad start in the China market. Sales of SAIC Volkswagen ID. 4x3-May were 625, 922 and 847 respectively, and the sales volume actually decreased in May. Faw-Volkswagen ID.4 CROZZ is also not optimistic. The sales in March and April were 400 vehicles (about) and 722 vehicles respectively, and the data in May is unknown.

Long-term hovering in three-digit sales performance is really terrible for the public who are good at making explosions. You know, ID.4 is Volkswagen's first strategic product in the era of electric vehicles in China, and its importance is self-evident. Both North and South Volkswagen have planned sufficient production capacity for ID. For the series of products in Anting, Shanghai and Foshan, Guangzhou respectively, SAIC Volkswagen has set the annual sales target of ID.4X 202 1 at 50,000-60,000 vehicles. Now it seems a lot of pressure.

It is comforting that Volkswagen ID.4 made a good start in Europe, ranking first in the sales list of new energy vehicles in April with 7565 vehicles.

However, the sales volume in Europe is of little significance to the China market. Chinese and European consumers' preferences for new energy vehicles are obviously different, and the European market is relatively traditional and conservative, with insufficient competition. In addition to Volkswagen ID.4 and ID.3, the top-selling cars are maverick PHEV, XC40PHEV, Renault Zoe, peugeot 3008PHEV, Hyundai Kona, Audi e-tron and Volkswagen Up! Nissan leaf, etc. None of them can be shown in the China market.

Someone defended ID.4, saying that Tesla and Wei Xiaoli's new forces sold only a few hundred units at the beginning of delivery, but the new forces at the head had a large order at the beginning of delivery, mostly limited by production capacity, while Volkswagen's ID.4, how many orders? The official did not disclose it. What's more, compared with 3-5 years ago, today's electrical appliance market is mature enough, and consumer education has been initially completed.

In order to further understand the real sales situation of ID.4, Niuche.com specially visited many 4S stores in Beijing and Shanghai. It has been confirmed that the delivery of ID.4 new cars is really small. On the one hand, the new car has just come on the market, and there are few marketing activities of manufacturers and insufficient sound volume. On the other hand, the manufacturer (March-April) debugged the software of ID.4, so the car could not be delivered.

When asked if ID.4 was troubled by chips, many sales managers of North and South Volkswagen 4S stores denied it. At present, the delivery cycle of ID.4 is 2-3 weeks, and individual colors or configurations (AR-HUD) need to wait 4-6 weeks. However, the optional accessory Harman Kardon Audio is really affected by the chip. "Don't choose Harman Kardon, you can't send it out." In addition, don't choose a heat pump unit. "Due to the influence of Germany, it will take three months."

Why wait 2-3 weeks? The answer given by the sales consultant is, "ID.4 is ordered online. It takes 2-3 weeks from fitting, configuration and matching to the new car off the assembly line and transportation, and the waiting time is not long." This also shows that FAW-Volkswagen and SAIC-Volkswagen have no delivery pressure, but the pressure should be on the sales side.

Agency system: ideal and beautiful reality

The agent system of Volkswagen ID.4 testing water may still need to be explored.

At present, there are three domestic automobile sales models, namely authorized dealers, direct sales and agency system. The core difference between the three modes lies in who will bear the channel cost: under the traditional authorization mode, dealers bear the cost of construction, management, operation channels and car purchase; The direct mode is entirely borne by the OEM, which is the other extreme; ID's main proxy system. Series connection is between the above two modes. The OEM uses the existing dealer network to sell cars, and dealers don't need to buy cars or store them, earning commissions for in-store operation, test drive, delivery and after-sales service.

The advantages of agency system are obvious. For manufacturers, it can be interconnected with consumers; For dealers, reduce inventory costs and ease cash flow pressure; For consumers, the national price is unified, so there is no need to worry about the car being slaughtered or bargaining.

However, North and South Volkswagen and dealers don't seem ready yet.

Oxcart. Com visited a number of 4S stores and found ID.4X and ID. Curly hair was placed in the innermost corner of the exhibition hall, submerged in the "vast sea of cars", and there was no price reduction promotion led by 4S stores, which was not the focus of the exhibition hall and did not attract much attention.

FAW-Volkswagen and SAIC- Volkswagen's 4S stores have set up exclusive sales consultants for ID.4 Most of them come from the fuel car sales consultants in the store. From the communication, it is found that most of them don't know much about ID.4. When introducing products, they usually emphasize the endorsement of the popular brand of ID.4, which has a solid battery life and a large space.

Sales consultants still give people a good "popularity" and feel like buying or not. Anyway, there is no shortage of customers, and I haven't even received a return call. "They (sales consultants) have a very mature customer relationship with fuel vehicles, and they must start from here. Many people don't want to come. If ID.4 doesn't sell well, go back and sell fuel cars. " Most of the ID.4 sales consultants I met during my visit were not "eager to sell" and felt more like "waiting for him".

In addition, we know that FAW-Volkswagen and SAIC-Volkswagen have not established an independent ID telephone customer service system. The series of 4S stores. Relying on the original system has hindered the new customers of ID.4 to some extent.

I called Beijing FAW-Volkswagen 4S store as a car buyer, but I didn't contact the exclusive consultant of ID.4CROZZ A fuel vehicle sales consultant left my phone number, and there was no follow-up after many days.

Directly connected users, just saying.

The main engine factory, which has the initiative, goes out of its way to talk about directly connecting users, which may make the landing work fail.

Executives of the two joint ventures of North-South Volkswagen have also publicly expressed similar meaning many times. "In the distribution mode of 4S shop agent system, the OEM and customers are directly connected, so we should pay attention to the voice of China consumers." I saw the opposite.

After downloading and registering FAW-Volkswagen and SAIC- Volkswagen apps, I didn't receive any phone calls and text messages within half a month, but the new forces representing Tesla, Weilai and Ideal continued to "harass" me from time to time for many years, and the customer service was very good. When I first registered on the applet, I received customer service calls and WeChat friends at the first time.

Maybe it's because I didn't place an order, but should prospective car owners who are anxiously waiting for delivery pay more attention? A car owner who ordered ID.4X to install L2+ automatic driver assistance system mentioned, "It was promised for 2-8 weeks at first, but there is still no news in the tenth week. The official ID customer service is equivalent to a repeater,' We recorded it, help with feedback, and we'll let you know when the results are available'. Can such customer service support the investment of SAIC Volkswagen MEB 65.438+07 billion? "

On the official channels of the two joint ventures (SAIC- Volkswagen ID. Hub applet, FAW-Volkswagen APP), I didn't see any compensation scheme they provided for the waiting car owners.

At the same time, on the two platforms directly connected with users, the user activity is very low, and the life content of the circle of friends still stays two weeks ago, and it is rare to see the car-picking diary of the owner of ID.4CROZZ or ID.4X or share it with the car.

BYD, GAC Ai 'an, BAIC New Energy, Weilai and Tucki were already gearing up in the annual bidding war of Beijing Automobile at the end of May this year. The weekend promotion in the garage and the test drive with the label have been in full swing, and I am busy getting more indicators.

As far as Volkswagen ID.4 is concerned, "the excitement is theirs, and I have nothing". Without the instructions of the manufacturer, the Volkswagen 4S shop under the agency system is tied behind one's back. A sales consultant mentioned, "Our store has not done activities such as new car tasting, and there are no discounts and gifts, otherwise the manufacturer will cancel our authorization."

According to public information, there are 39 and 30 FAW-Volkswagen /SAIC- Volkswagen 4S stores in Beijing respectively, among which there are as many as 26 ID.4CROZZ and 20 ID.4X agency stores, accounting for a large proportion. However, according to public data, in April, the number of ID.4CROZZ insured in Beijing was 106, ID.4X was not in the top 20 list of pure electric SUVs, and less than 26 vehicles were insured.

To sum up, under the agency marketing mode, the business concepts of FAW-Volkswagen, SAIC- Volkswagen and dealers are not innovative, and the organizational adjustment and business strategy adjustment are too slow. If the sales of new cars are not improved, dealers will not be able to earn commissions through related offline services and gain new profit growth points. The agent system of Volkswagen ID.4 testing water has a worrying prospect.

The logic of product positioning is questioned.

"Only distinctive products can create explosions," Jia, a senior analyst in the automotive industry, told Niuche.com.

The product positioning of Volkswagen ID.4 stays in the era of fuel vehicles. As can be seen from the official propaganda, ID.4 is developed from the concept car ID. CROZZ, the second production model based on MEB platform after ID.3, has all the advantages of ID. Family: spacious space, dynamic style, intuitive operation and full interconnection.

The American Consumer Report recognized the advantages of Volkswagen ID.4, "advanced chassis texture, precise steering, small turning radius and excellent quiet cockpit". However, Consumer Report questioned the prospect of this electric SUV. "The above advantages do not mean that they can be clearly locked by electric vehicle consumers."

In Jia's view, Tesla's success represents the thinking mode of Silicon Valley. Automobile has entered the era of electric-intelligence-interconnection, and evolved from electromechanical products to electronic products, which are consumer electronic products. In the era of software and hardware, great changes have taken place in research and development, manufacturing, sales and after-sales. Volkswagen's products have changed from traditional cars to new energy vehicles, but they need to be further changed to adapt to the changes in the market.

And the founder of SoCar product strategy consulting &; CEO Zhang Xiaoliang's view is more radical. "I am very clearly not optimistic about ID series and MEB, because at least in the China market, they are wrong from beginning to end. In the era of smart electric vehicles, the public has no deep understanding of industry changes. "

When asked that the intelligent experience and driving performance are not as good as those of Tesla, Weilai and Tucki, many sales consultants in 4S stores will emphasize the large space, vehicle handling and quietness of ID.4 "This is a means of transportation that takes you from point A to point B. Why do you need to play games on the pad with the big screen in the car? As for the autonomous driving promoted by Tesla, it is not in line with China's national conditions. "

After the test drive of ID.4, you will obviously feel that the public's definition of electric vehicles is different from that of the new forces. ID.4 is still "Volkswagen", which is moderate and has no shortcomings, but its design is average, and it lacks eye-catching intelligent configuration and performance experience.

Some insiders mentioned that domestic hot-selling new energy brands must have unique brand killers. Tesla has Musk's personal aura and automatic driving assistance system. Weilai's high-end image and customer service are deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Xpeng Motors built a moat with scientific and technological attributes and NGP assisted driving. When people mention ID.4, they will think of fuel trucks and Volkswagen logos on rotten streets.

As a matter of fact, not only the new car-making forces, but also brands from traditional car companies, such as Euler, Krypton, Fox, Lan Tu, Selis and Changan AB, are "finding another way" to create completely independent brand images. At all stages of R&D, production, sales and service, they try their best to break away from the shackles of traditional fuel vehicle thinking, and creatively solve the pain points of users from the perspective of real demand and the scene of intelligent electric vehicles.

Some people think that traditional automobile giants, including Volkswagen, Ford and BBA, are facing difficulties in transformation. "These added values that once made them prosperous are now becoming a stumbling block on the road of electrification transformation of some automobile companies."

Conclusion:

Volkswagen did not choose ID.3, but took the lead in introducing ID.4 for positioning compact SUVs. As the pioneering work of MEB platform, it can be seen that Volkswagen urgently needs to explore the world's largest new energy market. ID.4 can only succeed, and failure is not allowed.

However, Volkswagen is no longer the car brand that knows China consumers best. The poor start of Volkswagen ID.4 not only casts a shadow over the launch of products such as ID.3 and ID.6, but also directly affects whether Volkswagen's pure electric strategy is meaningful in China.