Zephyr Honda.
Although the first model was just launched last year.
However, the first CRV was a hit. If the price was not increased by 20,000 to 30,000 yuan in a 4S store, the car would not be available at all.
This makes the employees of Westwind Honda live a very comfortable life.
Especially those in the sales department are treated like uncles by the people in the 4S store.
If I send you a few more cars to the store this month, you can earn hundreds of thousands more.
On the other hand, if you still can't get the car, consumers will have to wait several months for delivery after placing an order. It is estimated that they will turn around and go to other 4S stores to buy cars.
However, tonight, the leaders of Xifeng Honda's sales department are still working overtime in the company.
This is a very rare thing.
"Minister Arakawa, you have watched this video several times. I want to confirm that the body strength of the CRV developed by Honda is really not as strong as that of Great Wall Motors' H6?"
Although everyone's ultimate goal is the same, Liu Wensheng, as the deputy director of the sales department, still feels that he needs to understand the situation before making the next step.
They have seen the articles related to the crash tests of the Great Wall H6 and Honda CRV published on Autohome and various portal websites.
There are even a few people specially arranged to keep an eye on various portals and forums to see if any more hot topics emerge.
"Bu Liu, I also called the project leader responsible for CRV body design at Tochigi Research Institute on this issue."
"If we simply compare the material strength of the parts that Great Wall Motors has announced, our CRV is definitely not as good as others."
"After all, hot stamping parts are only used in a few high-end luxury models in Europe."
“Parts made with this technology have unique advantages in terms of body weight reduction and strength improvement.”
"But because the technology is not very mature, it has not really become popular on a large scale."
Ichiro Arakawa's words made Liu Wensheng's heart plummet to the bottom.
Although he believes that Honda can definitely find various reasons to show that there is no problem with the CRV's safety performance.
But as long as Great Wall Motors seizes the high strength of hot stamping parts to promote them, they will be very passive.
After all, the performance of hot stamped parts is there, and no one dares to deny it.
"Not only did Great Wall Motor copy our CRV, but now they are criticizing us and saying that our safety performance is not good enough."
"Can Honda consider suing them?"
"This can at least muddy the water first?"
Liu Wensheng felt very aggrieved.
After more than a year of good times, now they are suddenly gone.
He must not be able to accept it.
"This work is already being prepared, and Great Wall Motors will be formally sued soon."
"But how to deal with the situation on the Internet is the main task now."
"Otherwise, I estimate CRV sales will decline significantly this month."
As soon as Arakawa Ichiro said these words, everyone fell silent.
After a while, someone finally suggested: "Can we question the rationality of this test first?"
"Then I will promote a concept to everyone, that is, the stronger the parts of the car, the better."
"We can even arrange for some people to question the H6 model participating in the test. It may be specially made by Great Wall Motors."
"In other words, the CRV that participated in the test was tampered with."
"Anyway, we can't let this fact hit us."
“This proposal is not impossible, but many consumers may not agree with it.”
"Or let people contact various platforms and increase advertising investment. The premise is to stop them from promoting this matter."
"After a few days, the heat of the matter subsides, and naturally it won't matter anymore."
…
Someone started the conversation, and other people who attended the meeting also expressed their opinions.
However, Ichiro Arakawa and Liu Wensheng were not very satisfied with everyone's suggestions.
"If we argue with Great Wall Motors on this matter by ourselves, it is probably very difficult for us to have a chance of winning."
"For us, if we don't win, we lose."
"So can we respond in a different direction?"
Liu Wensheng was not satisfied with the plan proposed by the people below, so he directly stood up and expressed his thoughts.
As soon as he said this, everyone immediately turned their attention to him.
"We should be able to understand the main usage of body materials of various OEMs such as Spring City Toyota, Spring City Volkswagen, Modu Volkswagen and Modu General Motors."
"Except for Great Wall Motors, which has started to use hot stamping, other car companies' mass-produced models probably have not yet used it."
"Then we only need to prove that CRV's body materials are not worse than those of its peers, or even better than those of its peers."
"The pressure placed on us will be reduced a lot."
"To put it bluntly, we need to change this matter from a dispute between Zephyr Honda and Great Wall Motors to a dispute between Great Wall Motors and the entire automobile industry."
"At that time, each OEM will put pressure on all media and handle this matter in a low-key manner."
"What we want to achieve can basically be achieved."
I have to say that Liu Wensheng's idea is still very special.
Although it seems a bit shameless, the effect is definitely good.
If this continues, even if Zephyr Honda is ultimately unable to prove that its CRV has better safety performance than the F6, its reputation will not suffer a particularly big drop.
Combined with the promotion of popular science knowledge such as the comprehensive judgment of automobile safety, this level will most likely be passed.
"If you don't have any other ideas, just follow Bu Liu's idea?"
"Let's work hard tonight and write out all kinds of soft articles, and ask various websites to help send them out early tomorrow morning."
Ichiro Arakawa thought Liu Wensheng’s idea was a good one.
So I immediately stood up and expressed my support.
Although it's already ten o'clock in the evening, I don't usually see anyone working overtime. I don't think anyone would have any objection to working overtime today.
…
"Ma Sang, go and ask around and see if Geely Emgrand uses hot stamping to form parts?"
These days, the Internet is full of news about the collision between Great Wall Motors H6 and Honda CRV.
As long as you are in the automotive industry, no one will not pay attention to this topic.
Due to Xifeng Honda's saucy operations, this topic slowly spread from Honda and Great Wall Motors to the competition between mainstream joint venture car companies and Great Wall Motors.
The first model of Yangcheng Toyota is CAMRY, which logically has nothing to do with CRV.
But the Geely Emgrand, which has just been launched, is completely designed according to CAMRY.
Although the company was only established last year, the domestically produced CAMRY will not be launched until next year.
However, as the deputy sales director of Yangcheng Toyota, Mulinsen is still very worried that Geely Auto will follow Great Wall Motors' example and drag Emgrand out to collide with CAMRY.
Especially when CAMRY is launched next year, if Geely conducts such a crash test, things will probably be completely messed up.
Although this approach is equivalent to the two companies breaking up, under normal circumstances, it would not go to that extent.
After all, the domestic automobile market is still growing, and everyone's life is still good.
However, don’t be afraid of ten thousand, just be afraid of the unexpected.
If something like that really happened, Mulinsen felt that his heart would tremble.
"Judging from Geely Emgrand's publicity, the topic of hot stamping was not mentioned."
"If they really use this technology, there's no reason not to publicize it."
"Especially now that Great Wall Motors has made the topic of hot stamping popular, Geely has no reason to hide it."
Ma Hongjian's analysis did not reduce Mulinsen's worries much.
"Our CAMRY will not be launched until next year. Within this year, if Geely upgrades the body materials of Emgrand, wouldn't we be passive?"
The more he said this, the more likely it seemed to Mulinsen.
No, I need to communicate with the Toyota representative to see how to deal with this situation.
…
"Mr. Yin, according to the feedback from the 4S store, many customers have been asking whether our Tiggo uses hot stamping technology recently."
“Some customers even heard that Tiggo did not use hot stamping technology and immediately lost interest in continuing the conversation.”
"I feel like this is not the way to go."
"Is it possible for the research institute to consider urgently changing the materials of some parts on the drawings to hot stamping materials?"
As the sales director of Chery Automobile, Wang Ze was originally in a good mood this year.
Because in the first quarter of this year, Chery Automobile's sales increased by 30% year-on-year.
April is about to pass, and sales are also very good.
However, the crash test of Great Wall Motors' H6 and Honda CRV immediately pushed many SUV models to the forefront.
In particular, both Tiggo and H6 borrow the appearance of CRV, so everyone likes to compare them together.
"It's too late to change now."
"And theoretically, hot stamping technology is not necessarily required."
"I only need to use a thicker 590 steel plate, and I can still achieve the strength of hot stamped parts."
"After all, the strength of a part is not simply determined by the material, but also has something to do with the shape and plate thickness."
"Even some opinions on the Internet that refute Great Wall Motors are reasonable. The design of a car body is not just a matter of stacking high-strength steel plates. It is an overall structural design."
"I heard that the production efficiency of the hot stamped parts is very low, and the cost is definitely not cheap."
"Although in the long run, more and more models should use this technology, there should be a process."
"We can find a car model and try to install some hot stamping parts first, but if all of them are used in large quantities, we still need to consider it carefully."
"After all, Toyota and Honda have not yet used hot stamping technology. There are some reasons."
"Besides, the CRVs sold by Honda in the United States do not use hot stamping parts."
"They may cut corners in the Chinese market, but there's no reason to cut corners in the American market, right?"
Yin Chuan's reaction was relatively calm.
He is a high-tech person and has a relatively good understanding of many component technologies.
So I won't be completely messed up just because of some news on the Internet.
Of course, Tiggo is Chery Automobile's blockbuster model this year. Now that consumers have doubts, they must also find excuses to explain.
Otherwise, it will affect sales to some extent.
"That's true."
"I think if we refute it from this perspective, many consumers will agree."
"At that time, other car companies should also learn to promote this idea."
Wang Ze also knew that his company could not change the design plan immediately. At this time, he could only go to public relations.
Fortunately, the public relations this time is not so crude and messy.
This gave him a little more confidence.
…
"Bu Defan, it seems that the designers at the headquarters are very foresighted."
"Our new models that will be launched next year will all be equipped with hot stamping parts."
"As far as I know, this speed is definitely fast among joint ventures."
Dr. Hassan has been in China for many years and now speaks Chinese fluently.
Naturally, he also reads the content on the Internet.
"Indeed."
“When I first started, I thought hot-stamped parts were too expensive.”
"According to Benteler's feedback, the investment in one production line is more than 100 million yuan."
"The same B-pillar may cost more than 100 yuan for ordinary cold stamping, but it will cost 300 yuan for hot stamping."
"At that time, I was still hesitant to persuade the designers at the headquarters to give up using hot stamping technology in China."
“Fortunately, this proposal was not adopted in the end.”
Bu Defan was also a little lucky.
Although Volkswagen's current mass-produced models do not have hot stamping parts, they will be available starting next year.
Even the new generation Passat uses several more hot stamping parts than Great Wall's H6.
At that time, you can perfectly enjoy the wave of dividends brought by Great Wall Motors.
As for whether the sales of current models will be affected because they do not use hot stamping, he is not worried at all.
In the entire Chinese automobile market, only the H6 has hot stamped parts, and no others.
Should consumers be allowed to buy H6?
How can it be!
Volkswagen's Passat, Polo, and Santana are not market-oriented models like the H6.
There is no competition at all.
"I plan to go to the Yangcheng Huaqiang Stamping Factory next week to see if their hot stamping technology is really problem-free."
"If the verification is passed, then you can consider using a large number of hot stamping parts produced by Huaqiang Factory in the future, and the cost should be much lower than Benteler."
Dr. Hassan has been in China for so many years and has witnessed the growth of many Chinese parts and components companies.
Therefore, he does not particularly discriminate against local parts companies in China.
In particular, the hot stamping technology of Huaqiang Factory comes from Nanshan Group.
This made Hassan more confident.
"I'll go with you then."
"If we want to use their products, I want them to build a factory in Shanghai."
"Otherwise, transportation would be a problem over such a long distance."
"The most critical thing is that as far as I know, their current production capacity may not be able to meet our future needs."
Bu Defan originally did not attach much importance to hot stamping technology, but the situation is naturally different now.
(End of chapter)
