Dr. Hassan is the head of the Quality Management Department of Modu Volkswagen.
Originally, he had been in China for so many years, achieved promotion in level, and was about to return to China to further enjoy his promotion and salary increase.
However, the plan cannot keep up with the changes.
Pictures and videos about the Passat's car accident with Geely Emgrand and its A-pillar being severely deformed after the collision have been widely circulated on the Internet.
It was obviously a car accident that happened yesterday, but today it seems that the whole Internet knows the news.
There are many news items related to them on Weibo's hot searches.
#Volkswagen Passat A-pillar broken#
#Volkswagen Passat is not as good as Geely Emgrand#
#Volkswagen Passat was hit in a mess#
…
This news was like a sharp knife piercing Hassan's heart.
"Hassan, what's going on?"
"Why does the Passat perform so poorly in a collision?"
"Is it a design problem or a manufacturing quality problem?"
Vondel, general manager of Volkswagen China, personally called Hassan early in the morning.
This situation is obviously beyond their imagination.
Logically speaking, Passat fully considers the issue of body strength during the model development stage.
After a simple collision, the A-pillar should not behave like this.
It can be clearly seen from the picture that the A-pillar on the driver's side of the Passat has been significantly bent, and the steering wheel has deflected due to excessive intrusion.
This is simply a slap in the face of Volkswagen.
No wonder Vondel was so angry.
"I feel a little strange now. I just checked the relevant drawings. The tensile strength of the steel plate of the A-pillar reaches 590MPA. Normally, such serious bending should not occur."
"I have now urgently arranged for people to go to the welding workshop and the production site of the A-pillar supplier to see if the cause can be found."
Hassan also has a big head now.
For such an obvious problem, if there is no reasonable explanation, things will definitely not be easy to resolve.
But what is even more troublesome is that no matter how Volkswagen explains it, the impact of this matter is difficult to eliminate.
"Give you 24 hours, you must give me an accurate and true reason. We cannot let this matter ferment."
Vondel knew there was no point in questioning Hassan now.
We can only let them investigate clearly first.
…
"As one of the first mid-size cars that Chinese people came into contact with, the Volkswagen Passat has always been a representative work of domestic family and business cars, and has long been favored by a considerable number of users."
"However, it is such a 'magic car' that has been driven into thousands of households, but its quality problems were exposed in a recent collision."
"According to the video footage of the collision scene, there was no obvious deformation of the Emgrand's A-pillar when it collided with the Geely Emgrand."
"But the A-pillar of this Passat was severely bent, and the roof was deformed as well. The body structure is worrying."
"..."
"In addition, according to data from a third-party car complaint platform, Passat's reputation among car buyers is not satisfactory, and its user satisfaction is only 1.6 points (out of 5 points)."
"The main complaints focus on power components such as transmissions, engines, and steering systems."
"In contrast, there are fewer complaints about body strength."
"I have to say, this is also a satire!"
A headline on Autohome quickly spread throughout the automotive industry.
The pungency of his writing and the irony of his words made the marketing staff of various car companies tremble with fear.
"Editor-in-Chief, this Autohome is trying to offend the people of Shanghai to death."
"I remember that the previous cooperative relationship between Volkswagen and Autohome seemed to be pretty good."
On the NetEase Auto Channel, Lin Jiayan looked at the articles published by her competitors and was quite emotional.
She didn't even dare to write such an article that offended the OEM.
Unexpectedly, Autohome was actually announced on the headlines.
Is it possible that the other party is really a media person who pursues the truth?
It doesn’t look like it!
Shouldn’t the crows all over the world be equally black?
"Autohome always has its own unique way of doing things."
"If we find it strange, there's probably a reason behind it that we're not aware of."
"Any media would be very cautious when publishing such news."
"This is definitely not something that one editor can do casually."
Fang Dawen is quite familiar with the style of Autohome, a competitor.
Although he couldn't figure out the reason, he was able to grasp the key by looking at the essence through the phenomenon.
"Then do we want to follow suit and evaluate this matter?"
"The sales staff of Modu Volkswagen have just contacted us and want us to help send some explanation articles."
"Should we sell this favor?"
Although there are many pictures and comments about the collision between Passat and Geely Emgrand on Autohome and various forums and Weibo.
However, the car channels under various portal websites did not draw conclusions easily.
You must be careful about offending customers like this.
Basically, as long as you carefully observe a website, if it publishes negative news about a certain brand every now and then, nine times out of ten, it means that the brand has not advertised on the platform.
This is done intentionally, and it can be regarded as a special means of promoting advertising.
“I’m afraid it’s not that easy to clean up this matter.”
"Especially Autohome has taken a bite of this matter now."
"I guess Geely Automobile will definitely be behind it."
"Even some other independent brand car companies will be happy to see the success and help push it behind the scenes."
"In this case, we should not compile our opinions ourselves, otherwise we will easily be criticized by netizens."
"You tell the people in the Magic City Public and ask them to send you soft articles, and we can help distribute them."
"This way, they can't blame us."
Fang Dawen handled this problem very flexibly.
Anyway, the problems are all in the hands of the people in Magic City, and to a certain extent, they are happy to see the results.
After all, the more things happen in the automotive industry, the easier life will be for those in the automotive media.
Otherwise, there would be no good news every day, and netizens would be too lazy to watch the car channel.
…
"Mr. Li, today the 4S store reported that the number of customers inquiring about our Emgrand model has increased significantly compared to the past."
"It seems that the impact of this car accident is much greater than we imagined."
Peng Lin was in a very good mood at this time.
Emgrand is now Geely Automobile's most popular model. What kind of new record this year's sales performance can set depends on the performance of Emgrand.
Previously, he wondered whether it would be a suitable choice to specifically launch high-configuration models using hot stamping parts.
No need to worry now.
This money is very valuable.
"It seems that this method of creating a car accident scene is more convincing than the crash test in the China Automotive Center Laboratory."
"In the future, the after-sales service department must pay more attention to external car accidents related to our own models."
"The more realistic scenes will definitely have better publicity effects."
This car accident between Emgrand and Passat was, after all, caused by man.
It is certainly impossible for the people on both vehicles to allow damage.
Even after the car accident, the scene was quickly dealt with.
Even if the people in Shanghai want to go to the scene to confirm, they have no way to see the real scene.
"Well, I will arrange for someone to communicate with the insurance company and ask them for some good materials for promotion in a timely manner."
"However, this incident has also taught us a lesson. If other models that do not use hot stamping parts are also targeted, it will be very detrimental to us."
Peng Lin saw the power of this "car accident" and was naturally worried that one day he would fall into a passive situation.
"All newly developed models in the future will use hot stamping parts."
"As for some models that have been sold or are currently on sale on the market, I don't think there is anything to worry about."
"Consumers have already accepted some of the differences in their hearts by purchasing our models at half the price of joint venture models."
"So even if the real car accident photos are not ideal, the lethality is not that high."
Li Su was very sober.
There is some worry, but there is no need to worry.
"That's right. It seems that this method is the most effective against joint venture car companies."
"If we could compare the same models abroad and find that the situation at home and abroad is completely different, wouldn't the effect be better?"
When Peng Lin said this, Li Su couldn't help but his eyes lit up.
Does this seem like something we can do?
Of course, it would be inappropriate for Geely Auto to come forward on its own.
But we can push it forward and let some automotive media come forward.
As for the intermediate costs, Geely Automobile can sponsor through advertising fees.
Is this move completely feasible?
Soon, they started arranging this matter.
At the same time, within the Nanshan Group, Cao Yang was also paying attention to this matter.
"Mr. Cao, Geely Automobile has taken action."
Mi Ying quickly sorted out the news on the Internet for Cao Yang.
Among them, the collision between Passat and Emgrand is naturally the most eye-catching.
"The A-pillars of this Passat are indeed disappointing. They are bent like this."
"It's more exaggerated than I imagined. No wonder the online guidance is so effective."
Cao Yang looked at the pictures and felt quite good.
North and South Volkswagen began to eliminate Nanshan Group from the supply chain.
This is no secret in the automotive industry.
Many people are waiting to see Nanshan Group's reaction.
Although it is difficult to prove that the current incident has anything to do with Nanshan Group.
But after Volkswagen broke up with Nanshan Group and started to fall into trouble in China, the relationship between this will make everyone think more.
Especially since Autohome is an industry of Nanshan Group, this is no secret.
Now that Autohome is on the front line of reporting this news, the reasons behind it are also worthy of scrutiny.
"I just called Mr. Guo of Huaqiang Factory and asked him what he thought of the collision result."
"His analysis is that the performance of the Volkswagen Passat is very likely that the A-pillar is not made of 590MPA material at all."
"Otherwise, even if it collides with the Geely Emgrand, which uses hot stamping parts, there shouldn't be such a big gap."
"But he also found it strange. Normally, for key safety parts like the A-pillar, the strength of the steel plate would be designed to be relatively high."
Mi Ying's preparations were obviously not simply collecting news.
She had already started to think about the problem from Cao Yang's perspective and confirmed some things in advance.
If secretaries can achieve this level of work, most leaders are not willing to replace them easily.
"Forget it for now, this is something Volkswagen needs to worry about."
"We'll just wait and see the show."
…
"What did you say?"
"The supplier secretly replaced the steel plate with a tensile strength of 590MPA with an ordinary 270MPA steel plate?"
Fondel looked at Hassan dumbfounded.
This confirmation result surprised him.
Is Volkswagen's supply chain management in this chaotic state?
"Yes, we have found relevant evidence at the supplier's site."
"Although the other party is making excuses, it is the fact."
"Vondel, do we want to recall this batch of models?"
When Hassan asked this, Fondel was immediately stopped.
If something goes wrong, normally it must be recalled.
But this time the problem was with the A-pillar.
This is a steel plate stamped part, welded to the body, and it is not that easy to replace at all.
Not to mention the cost of replacement, not many consumers can accept the replacement method alone.
Because it is necessary to disassemble all the parts near the A-pillar, cut off the A-pillar, and re-weld the parts that meet the requirements of the drawing.
But the welding of body parts is very particular.
If you simply cut it and then weld it in a 4S shop, the final strength will definitely be different from the design.
There may even be situations where the strength is worse than if it had not been replaced.
At that time, if someone takes the model with the A-pillar replaced for a crash test, the results will be worrying.
However, it seems that if we don’t recall, that’s not the solution.
Things have completely gone viral online.
"Hassan, do you think it is better to recall or not to recall?"
The problem is so difficult to decide, so naturally Vondel doesn't want to make the decision himself.
So I quickly pushed the question back.
"this……"
"I will report it internally first to see how the company makes decisions."
Hassan was helpless.
What Vondel can figure out, he can naturally understand.
A recall will definitely not solve this problem.
But if we don't recall, it seems to be a dead end.
Who else will buy the Volkswagen Passat in the future?
…
"Mr. Cao, the news about the collision between Dihao and Passat has been very lively on the Internet these two days."
"It seems that the Spring City Stamping Factory's introduction of the hot stamping production line provided by Nanshan Group is a very timely plan."
Zhu Zhengfeng has naturally seen the news on the Internet.
Even when Tao Wen reported to him, he even speculated whether this matter was related to the conflict between Volkswagen and Nanshan Group.
But no direct evidence could be found.
Considering that the Magotan of Spring City Volkswagen and the Passat of Modu Volkswagen are brother cars, Zhu Zhengfeng is also worried that Magotan and even other models will encounter similar situations by then.
So I made a special call to Cao Yang, wanting to test Cao Yang's tone.
"The tensile strength of hot stamping parts can reach 1500MPA, which is unmatched by other stamping parts."
"In the future, Dahongqi will use a large number of hot stamping parts, which will also be a good promotional selling point."
Cao Yang could probably guess some of the reasons why Zhu Zhengfeng called him.
However, as long as Zhu Zhengfeng didn't say this directly, he would definitely pretend to be stupid.
"Indeed, the Dahongqi design used 16-point hot stamping parts before, but now it seems that we can use a few more."
"When the time comes to display it, it will be more impactful."
When Zhu Zhengfeng saw that Cao Yang had brought the topic to the big red flag, he had no choice but to make some perfunctory remarks.
However, everyone is a thousand-year-old fox.
After chatting for more than ten minutes, nothing meaningful came out.
It's just that after this incident, Zhu Zhengfeng's view of Nanshan Group changed a little.
From now on, you should not easily get into trouble with others.
To prevent something completely unexpected from happening.
"Mr. Cao, I feel that Mr. Zhu seems to be a little suspicious about the collision between Geely Emgrand and Volkswagen Passat. Is it related to us?"
Seeing Cao Yang hang up the phone, Zeng Tingting, who was reporting next to her, immediately interrupted.
Sometimes, the authorities are blind to the onlookers.
Zeng Tingting, who heard the entire conversation between Zhu Zhengfeng and Cao Yang, could obviously feel the other party's intentions more clearly.
"I heard that at Volkswagen's 4S store in Shanghai, car owners have begun to push their cars to protect their rights."
"But Geely's 4S store has a lot more customers."
"In this case, Autohome will update several reports on this topic every day."
"Whether it is Zhu Zhengfeng or others, there must be some doubts."
"However, there is no evidence for their suspicion, and it is not necessarily a bad thing for us."
"So don't pay special attention to it."
Cao Yang was very open-minded.
Showing your fangs appropriately is not a bad thing in business development.
Otherwise, everyone will think you are easy to bully, and that will be troublesome.
"Well, now I guess many car companies have also realized that Nanshan Group's influence after owning Autohome and Weibo is no longer what it used to be."
"When everyone cooperates with us in the future, their attitude should be better."
As the head of the sales department, Zeng Tingting is naturally happy to see the results.
Otherwise, as a representative of Party B, you go to see Party A every day, and you have to be humble and respectful when you see the most ordinary employee of the other party.
That feeling is obviously not a good one.
At this moment, a call came from Yu Yu, the editor-in-chief of Autohome.
"Hello!"
Cao Yang was a little curious about what Yu Yu wanted to discuss with him at this time.
"Mr. Cao, someone from Geely Automobile just contacted me. I hope Autohome will take this opportunity to push Passat and Emgrand to do a crash test at the China Automobile Center."
"At the same time, let us also find a way to import a Passat from the United States or Germany, and then conduct a crash test with the domestic Passat."
"This job is a bit sensitive. Do you think we should accept it or not?"
Although the daily operations of Autohome have been completely handed over to Yu Yu.
However, she was able to grasp it clearly and knew that she needed to ask Cao Yang for instructions on key issues.
"Geely moves so fast?"
"It seems that their plan this time is good."
After hearing this, Cao Yang was really a little surprised.
Crash test of Emgrand and Passat.
Crash test of Passat and Passat.
If the result is really as predicted by Geely people, then this topic will definitely become a hot search again.
And their Emgrand is definitely the biggest beneficiary.
Even Autohome can take this opportunity to further launch some car testing projects in the future.
This may be a hit product for Autohome in the future.
Many automotive media in later generations were very methodical when conducting testing.
These tests will make a great contribution to advertising expenses to a certain extent.
"People from Geely Automobile should have invited people to post online this time. The popularity of this topic has remained high."
"The people at Volkswagen are probably going to be pissed off."
"Mr. Cao, the enemy of our enemy is our friend."
"I think we can help Geely Automobile."
Yu Yu stated his proposal very clearly.
In this way, there is no need for Cao Yang to be embarrassed.
You ask the leader to make such a decision, and then ask the leader to admit such a decision after proposing it to you.
Although the result is the same, the meaning is completely different.
If you don't pay attention to this in the workplace, you may not even know when you fell out of favor.
"This is Autohome's daily business, you can make your own decision."
Cao Yang is now an old man.
Although this kind of thing is not afraid of leaking out, there is no harm in being cautious.
Anyway, with Yu Yu's intelligence, he must have known what Cao Yang meant.
The purpose of her call was achieved.
However, Geely and Autohome are taking action, and Volkswagen is not sitting still.
“A-pillar deformation ≠ poor safety!”
"The body structure is specially designed, and the A-pillar has to bear and break up most of the impact force."
"The stronger the car body, the better. The combination of soft and hard is the safest."
“The Passat’s wood grain patches + chrome bright strips + diamond-shaped stitching leather seats outline a touch of luxury and nobility.”
…
Various articles began to appear in the automotive channels of various portal websites.
Volkswagen obviously has no plans to recall the Passat this time.
Mainly because there is no way to recall it.
In this case, you naturally have to think about how to save it.
However, their claims are far-fetched and can easily be refuted by "netizens".
Different opinions are quarreling on the Internet, causing news related to the collision between Volkswagen Passat and Geely Emgrand to remain on the hot search for more than a week.
It wasn't until new melons came out that the heat dropped a little.
However, Volkswagen's Passat sales are declining at a rate visible to the naked eye.
(End of chapter)
