Author | Wei Qiyang
Source | Insights New Research Institute
Wei Pai seems to have finally ushered in his "savior".
After deciding to attack the high-end smart new energy track and strategically abandoning the 20 million fuel vehicle market, Wei brand CEO Chen Siying positioned 2023 as the year of counterattack.
On April 13, on the eve of the Shanghai Auto Show, Wei brand launched the six-seat SUV Lanshan DHT-PHEV, which is "better than the 'best SUV within 5 million'" , and immediately ushered in a sales reversal.
The monthly sales volume of Wei brand in May was 5,770 units, an increase of 128.9% year-on-year, and the sales volume in June was 6,602 units, an increase of 14.4% month-on-month. Most of the sales volume was provided by the new car Lanshan.
You know, in the first quarter before this, the cumulative sales of Wei brand in three months was only 3403 units, a year-on-year drop of 76.18%.
Strike while the iron is hot, Wei Brand launched the new Mocha DHT-PHEV model on June 1. According to official information, the new Mocha is scheduled to be launched for only 7 days, and the order volume has exceeded 10,000, which has great potential for explosive models.
The start of Wei Pai's transformation is not bad, but from the overall perspective, can Wei Pai have the last laugh and complete the set transformation goals?
01. Forced to transform, Wei Pai still has a long way to go
Counting it, this is already the second transformation of Wei Brand. Like the previous transformation, it is a forced transformation due to poor sales of Wei Brand.
Founded in 2016, Wei Brand was the first high-end brand launched by Great Wall Motors. The market background at that time was that the domestic SUV market was in a period of rapid growth, and the Haval H6 took the lead, occupying the top spot in SUV sales for a long time. In order to express his expectation for the Wei brand, Wei Jianjun, chairman of Great Wall Motors, "gambled" on his surname and named the brand.
Wei brand adopted the naming system of "VV+number" at the beginning, and launched three models of VV5, VV6, and VV7 successively. The sales volume in 2017 and 2018 was 86,000 and 139,500 respectively. The price range of 150,000 to 200,000 yuan has basically gained a firm foothold.
At the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2017, VV5 was even rated as one of the "Five Most Successful Auto Shows" by the German weekly Focus magazine together with Porsche 911 GT3, Audi Aicon concept car, and Smart EQ concept car.
However, the rising momentum of the Wei brand did not continue, and sales have been declining year after year. From 2019 to 2021, the sales volumes were 100,000, 78,500, and 58,300 respectively. At the end of 2021, the sales of the Wei brand accounted for even Less than 5%.
In 2021, Great Wall Motors was forced to make the first strategic adjustment, determined the brand positioning of "a new generation of smart cars", and decided to transform to the direction of new energy. In terms of products, it introduced coffee smart platforms and smart hybrid DHT solutions , and completely abandoned the VV series models, and instead launched 3 models named after coffee - Mocha, Macchiato and Latte.
However, after the product was renewed, the sales volume still did not improve. In 2022, the cumulative sales volume of the Wei brand was only 36,400 vehicles, which continued to drop by more than 30% year-on-year. As a comparison, BYD will sell 1.86 million vehicles for the year of All in New Energy in 2022, achieving an impressive record of 208.64% year-on-year growth.
Maybe it was too much stimulation from BYD. Great Wall Motors carried out a very big reform at the end of 2022, and made adjustments to its six brands. Energy brand transformation, in the future all Wei brand products will be equipped with two core technologies of long-range PHEV and advanced intelligent driving.
Then, at the beginning of 2023, Chen Siying, the deputy general manager of the former Lynk & Co Auto Sales Company, was introduced to serve as the CEO of Weipai and the general manager of tank brand marketing.
The current sales of the two new cars launched this year, Lanshan and New Mocha, are quite satisfactory. The transformation of the Wei brand has shown some results, but it is still far from being positioned as a "high-end smart new energy brand", and it is far from the time of celebration.
02. Sales are important, but not all
For Wei Pai, there are two main dimensions for judging the success of transformation.
One is sales volume. Any brand talking about transformation regardless of sales volume is playing hooligans. No matter what the direction and path of transformation are, it will eventually come down to the commercial essence of "making money". Whether or not "making money" is based on a certain sales volume Yes, without sales, everything is out of the question.
One is the premium brought by the brand image, that is, the "high-end" positioning set by Weipai at the very beginning of its establishment.
From the current point of view, the sales volume is not considered a success. In terms of brand building, Wei brand has returned to the old road of cost performance that Great Wall Motor relied on to start its business.
Why do you say that? The conclusion can be drawn by comparing Weipai Lanshan and Ideal L8 together.
Both cars are large six-seat SUVs for family use, and space is the main selling point.
The length, width and height of Lanshan are 5156/1980/1805mm, and the wheelbase is 3050mm; the length, width and height of Ideal L8 are 5080/1995/1800mm, and the wheelbase is 3005mm.
Generally speaking, the ideal L8 is slightly wider, and the Lanshan is slightly longer. In terms of appearance and size, the two cars are at the same level.
In terms of power, Wei Lanshan has two sets of powertrains. Among them, the high-end model "four-wheel drive long-endurance version" is equipped with a 1.5T+DHT+P4 plug-in hybrid system. The maximum comprehensive power of this powertrain system is 380kW, the acceleration from 100 kilometers to 4.9 seconds; the low-end model "two-wheel drive long-endurance version" has a maximum power of 243kW, and the acceleration from 100 kilometers to 9.8 seconds is slower.
Ideal L8 adopts extended-range power. The combined power of the front and rear dual motor systems is up to 330kW, and the acceleration from 100 kilometers to 100 kilometers is 5.5 seconds, which is slightly slower than the Wei brand Lanshan high-end version.
In terms of battery life and fuel consumption, Wei brand Lanshan WLTC has a pure electric cruising range of 180km, and its fuel consumption per 100 kilometers is 6.7 liters; Ideal L8’s WLTC has a pure electric cruising range of 168km, and its fuel consumption per 100 kilometers is 7.7 liters. .
In addition, although the comfort configuration in the car is not full of display screens like the ideal L8, it is equipped with a zero-gravity seat for the co-pilot, and the second row of seats is uniformly equipped with legs that the ideal L8 does not have. The support and the small table board still reflect the care in many details.
It is not difficult to see that the Wei brand Lanshan is superior to the ideal L8 in many aspects, especially the parallel mode of the hybrid DHT adopted by the Lanshan, which can not only allow the engine to directly participate in the drive, but also charge the motor to provide power indirectly, which is better than the ideal The extended range system is more advanced.
Considering various factors comprehensively, Wei brand Lanshan is at least at the same level as Ideal L8, but in terms of price, Ideal L8 is a bit higher.
The official price range of Ideal L8 is RMB 339,800 to RMB 399,800.
The two versions of the Wei brand Blue Mountain are priced at 308,800 and 273,800 respectively. Soldiers will match soldiers. The low-end version of Blue Mountain is 66,000 cheaper than the starting price of Ideal L8, and the high-end version is cheaper than the top version of Ideal L8. The price gap is even bigger, 91,000 yuan cheaper.
A big reason for this situation is that users are not sensitive to technology. They don’t care about the implementation paths of plug-in hybrids and range-extended hybrids, which are invisible and intangible. Is the watch good-looking, is the space big enough, is it decent to drive out...
The problem with Weipai is that the brand’s awareness in the market is not high. In the minds of many users, Weipai is just a Great Wall with a changed shell, and the current brand image cannot support an excessively high premium.
03, but asked about the future, the new car can not be the savior
Regarding the product and brand strategy of Great Wall Motors, some industry analysts summed it up as "category-driven".
For example, Great Wall’s original work, the H6, created the 100,000-yuan compact SUV category at that time; the subsequent launch of the new tank 300, created the 200,000-yuan hardcore off-road SUV category; The new energy home medium and large SUV category created by Ideal.
It must be noted that Great Wall’s category drive is very speculative. After the H6 became popular, it immediately promoted the independence of the Haval brand and launched a series of nesting doll models in batches; Into the "tank" brand.
Due to the lack of long-term planning, when the popularity of the category dissipates, or more competitors join the competition in this category, Great Wall Motors has to readjust. The current Wei brand is also facing this problem.
Wei brand Lanshan is benchmarking against Ideal L8. The category of new energy home medium and large SUVs seems to be gaining momentum, but only the Ideal family has really gained a foothold.
Wei brand launched Lanshan, and the marketing campaign said that it would compete head-on with the ideal, but the actual performance only proved that Wei brand has the ability to create such a model with good data performance in all aspects. If it wants to become a mainstream model, the follow-up is still It depends on Wei Pai's marketing capabilities.
However, looking back at the past operations of Wei Pai and Great Wall, it is difficult to be optimistic.
From Haval H6 to Haval H9, from Big Dog to Tank to Great Wall Cannon, these models, whether in terms of product positioning or naming, all accurately hit the user's cool point. This group of users don't care whether the technology is excellent or whether the fuel consumption is economical. It is the refreshing feeling of wanton galloping.
It's a pity that Haval made a "first love" and stopped production in less than two years; Wei brand made a coffee series, which is equivalent to forcing customers who used to wear T-shirts and jackets to change into suits and leather shoes. Blue Mountain, Mocha, latte, A coffee cart name like Macchiato is also hard to empathize with.
Euler's operation is even more confusing. With the help of products such as Haomao and Whitemao, a relatively successful female brand image was originally created. The subsequent launch of Ballet Cat and Lightning Cat was intended to continue to expand the user base, but it deviated from the original intention of the brand and overthrew it. Without the previous female positioning, the marketing money was spent, but new users did not buy it, and old users were hurt, losing their wives and losing their soldiers.
We can't change the past, and the transformation of Weipai has been smooth so far. What we are most worried about at present is that when the market competition intensifies, the internal chaos from Weipai and the Great Wall, especially when the market expansion is hindered, will come again. Repositioning, after all, the Great Wall has done this kind of thing, and it has done it more than once.
Then all the efforts will have to start all over again.