Original link: https://www.latepost.com/news/dj_detail?id=1616
In the past, Great Wall left the impression to the outside world that there were many brands and products, and that “having more children is easier to fight”. Today, this product strategy is being replaced by “creating star products with meticulous care”. In order to concentrate the bullets, at the Shanghai Auto Show, Li Ruifeng, chief growth officer of Great Wall Motors, said that Great Wall has several new cars that have been SOP and are ready to go, and even delayed their debut.
From last year to this year, Great Wall initiated a reform in terms of organization and strategy. In August last year, Great Wall launched the “541” strategy, that is, under the concept of 1 Great Wall, build 5 middle offices, support 4 combat groups, integrate group resources, organize and improve efficiency. In December, Great Wall announced that it would merge the management teams of the four brands of Euler, Sharon, Weipai and Tank. Under the drastic reform, it is Great Wall’s determination to transform to new energy.
Last year, Great Wall sold a total of about 1.06 million vehicles, only completing 55.8% of the target sales. “Last year, the process of ‘squatting’ was relatively long.” Li Ruifeng said. But he said that Great Wall has a strong self-examination ability. “When our sales encounter many disputes, all employees of Great Wall Motor will calm down and reflect on our strategy.”
With the release of new products such as Wei brand Lanshan, Gaoshan, and Haval Xiaolong, Li Ruifeng said that Great Wall has reached the stage of concentrated branding, and after more core products are launched in September and October, he believes that Great Wall will usher in a new era. “Big Times”.
Li Ruifeng described the current Great Wall as “everything is ready, only the east wind is needed”. Dongfeng, on the one hand, refers to the “exquisitely carved” large single product that has really entered the market and become a hit. On the other hand, it is the consumer confidence of the entire auto market.
At the beginning of this year, the price war in the auto industry kicked off. Joint venture car companies and self-owned brands have been greatly affected, and Great Wall has not been immune to it alone. Li Ruifeng believes that if this price war continues, it will cause great harm to the entire auto industry.
“You don’t know how many companies, when they put forward the price with pride at the top, and when the people below exclaimed and applauded ‘wow’, how much blood bleeds in his heart, and he can’t even hold the cost of some things,” said Li Ruifeng. .
In Li Ruifeng’s view, car companies should find a balance between sales scale and profit according to their own conditions, and pursue “quality market share.” Because an enterprise needs to operate for a long time, it must be responsible to its upstream and downstream partners, employees, and shareholders. Only by making every link profitable can it guarantee the quality of the car and the promise to customers of “long-term service.”
If the pricing of automobiles is not rationally considered, without a sound business idea that balances the short-term and medium-term, blindly lowering prices will pose a threat to the survival of enterprises. “We applaud him now, perhaps for his ‘death’ in the near future.” Li Ruifeng said.
The following are the main points of Li Ruifeng, chief growth officer of Great Wall, in an interview with “Later Auto” and other media:
Risk Resilience of a 32-Year-Old Adult
He Xiaopeng, chairman of Xiaopeng Motors, said that by 2030, only eight car companies may survive. Li Ruifeng agreed with this point of view. He said that with the increasingly fierce competition in the auto market, survival of the fittest will inevitably happen, and it will happen at an accelerated rate.
This is why Great Wall should consider long-term strategies and does not support short-term blindly following price wars. Enterprises must operate healthily until 2025 before they have a 2030 strategy. “If the actions are deformed during this process, the business situation will be very poor, and it is impossible to reach that scale.” Li Ruifeng said.
In the face of market competition with new car manufacturers, Li Ruifeng believes that Great Wall still has many advantages. Great Wall has a history of 32 years and has accumulated a lot of experience in products, sales, production, supply, etc., while the new power has only been established for 7 or 8 years. “A 7-year-old child and a 32-year-old adult who has gone through various experiences have absolutely different ability to resist risks when facing a competitive market.” Li Ruifeng said.
Traditional car companies are transitioning to new energy sources. If the strategy is appropriate, he believes that they will not lose to new forces. It’s just that they haven’t turned around a few years ago, but today the situation is completely different.
“Now it’s traditional OEMs competing with new forces with their car-making strength. With 32 years of car-making accumulation, our core technology reserves, forest ecology (Great Wall’s products and technology systems), vertical integration, and cost sharing under millions of sales , Globalized market layout, this heavy sense of system is completely different from the single volume and scale.” Li Ruifeng said.
From squats to jumps
Last year, the Great Wall Wei brand fully transformed into new energy, and took some detours in the process. Li Ruifeng said that Great Wall has carried out a high degree of self-examination. “Due to the lack of insight into new energy in the strategic direction, the impact of chips, battery supply problems, and the increase in the cost of battery raw materials, (Wei Brand) encountered many problems in the process of strategic transformation.”
But he said that this also provides valuable experience for the transformation of other Great Wall brands. “After this incident, we have a richer understanding of new energy.”
Now, after a series of adjustments and transformations, Li Ruifeng believes that it is time for the Great Wall to play its cards intensively. New products such as Wei brand Lanshan and Haval Xiaolong have been launched. In September and October, Great Wall still has a number of core products to be released. He believes that the “big era” belonging to Great Wall is coming.
To win the next battle, he believes that the Great Wall needs to do several things well. First of all, the brand must be stable, “stable and far-reaching”; second, the balance between sales and profits must be achieved between brands and products; Only self-made blood can do it.” Fourth, not only the Great Wall must operate in a healthy manner, but also the sales channels should develop in a healthy manner.
In terms of new energy, Li Ruifeng said that the Great Wall has formulated a clear strategy, and the technical advantages brought by the follow-up integration link will be popularized in various products. At present, many products already have SOP (Start Of Production, start mass production) conditions.
Li Ruifeng said that within the Great Wall system, each brand product has a different position, some are responsible for sales, some are responsible for profitability, and some are responsible for promoting the brand. For example, the Haval brand with a price range of 90,000 to 150,000 yuan shoulders the heavy responsibility of sales volume and scale, so it is necessary to “excessively invest resources” to ensure the success of the transformation and create a star single product.
Great Wall adopts different strategies for each brand. “Arrange the positions among the brands of each category in an orderly manner. Each brand has its own mission, and they will form a corner with each other to ensure the sales of Great Wall Motors.” Li Ruifeng said.
5 large and medium-sized platforms, 4 categories, and 1 Great Wall
In the past, in order to rejuvenate the organization, Great Wall developed each brand independently. But this has also caused some problems, “there is no connection between each other, the resource utilization rate is not high, the experience is not shared, sometimes the differentiation is too fast, and the company wastes too much resources.” Li Ruifeng said.
Therefore, from last year to this year, Great Wall has made a series of adjustments in organization and strategy. In August last year, it began to implement the “541” major reform of the organizational model. “5” is the five middle platforms of brand, channel, user, digitization, and sales service. “4” refers to the four major battle groups, namely, Weihe tank battle group, Ola and Sharon battle group, Haval and Great Wall pickup truck battle group, and overseas market battle group. In the concept of “one Great Wall”, realize systematic management. In December, Great Wall announced that it would merge the management teams of the four major brands of Euler, Sharon, Weipai and Tank.
In terms of specific implementation, Li Ruifeng said that at present, the research and development team of Weihe Tank is still independent, the marketing team in the sales team has been merged, the sales channel network department is together, but the city showroom and the supermarket are operated separately. Brand communication, product planning and marketing promotion, and user operations are independent of each other. Inside Great Wall, they are operated by two independent management teams. “We say 1.5 organizations internally.”
After the adjustment, he said that each brand still has the flexibility of independent management and management, and the group fully authorizes it. “The group empowers the sub-brands, provides resources and support, and provides ‘ammunition’. Wherever people say to fight, we will fight there.” Li Ruifeng said.
The organizational adjustment has been completed, but continuous improvement is needed to achieve a high degree of coordination and mechanism penetration, and the management model, talent echelon, and incentive mechanism can be effectively implemented. Li Ruifeng knew that the Great Wall still had many barriers to pass. “You can’t be blindly confident, there will be many difficulties in the process.”
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