Watanabe Katsuaki originally only planned to stay in China for three or four days.
But because of Highlander's incident, his return ticket has been delayed twice.
The Japanese people working at Yangcheng Toyota and Toyota China Branch are under great pressure.
Especially those in charge of the sales field feel even more invisible pressure.
On the one hand, negative news about Highlander is flying all over the Internet.
The previous increase in price to buy a car was also brought up and approved.
The most troublesome thing is that after such a struggle, Highlander's sales dropped significantly.
2.7L is the best-selling version of Highlander, and the price of 3.5L is too high.
Not many people are buying the 2.7L Highlander now, so the sales data are naturally ugly.
"Last week, Highlander sales were less than 300 units?"
"Did it decline so much?"
Mulinsen's heart bleeds as he looks at the data compiled by Ma Hongjian.
"Now is the period when sales are most severely affected. Even the emoticons in QQ chat have some related emoticons."
"This has made many consumers who originally wanted to buy Highlander choose to wait and see, or consider other models."
"At Changan Automobile, the sales of CS95 in the past week are said to be much better than before, with a month-on-month growth of at least 20%."
"And this is when an additional price of 5,000 yuan is required."
"As for our Highlander, not only is there no price increase now, 4S stores can already give you premium products worth more than 10,000 yuan when you buy a Highlander."
When Ma Hongjian said this, Mulinsen's heart ached even more.
When I bought a car with a price increase of 20,000 to 30,000 yuan, the price increase did not go to Yangcheng Toyota.
But because cars are easy to sell, they hardly need to provide any sales funding support to 4S stores.
Now not only is there no way to increase prices, but discounts have also started to be given.
This difference between the upper and lower levels brings losses to the entire industry chain of more than 100 million yuan per month.
Not to mention the long-term impact on sales in the future, there is no way to calculate it.
"Toyota has decided that for the small number of consumers who strongly request to return their cars, they will buy them back at the price of used cars."
"For some consumers who are not so determined, we will provide a gift package of ten free maintenance sessions over five years."
"I hope that through these methods, the heat on this matter can be reduced as much as possible."
"Each 4S store will also restrain its employees to avoid further conflicts with Highlander owners."
"You should pay attention to whether there are any changes in the market after this policy is implemented."
Ma Hongjian was not surprised by this information from Mulinsen.
If things get serious, you will definitely have to spend money to eliminate the disaster.
It's the same truth behind all the hot news in the automotive industry.
Whether it was the "brake door" or "anti-monopoly" introduced by the United States, the final solution was to provide money.
What else to do?
"Tomorrow I will start going to 4S stores in various places in person to see what the actual situation is like on the front lines."
"But I think Chinese consumers are quite forgetful. Even if our 2.7L Highlander really can't climb up some special slopes, many people will still buy it."
"In the future, when we realize localization and the price is significantly reduced, the sales volume will have the opportunity to double."
Ma Hongjian's words were not only comforting Mulinsen, but also comforting himself.
Of course, although ordinary consumers will feel uncomfortable hearing this, it is still a truth.
Many hot-selling models have had problems, but in the end, they continue to sell well for various reasons?
Did the Accord wedding incident affect its current sales?
Anyway, there is no way to confirm the news that the car model has major problems, and it will eventually be forgotten.
That is to say, Volkswagen is unlucky after all, and the collision of Passat and Passat has been nailed to the pillar of shame.
As a result, Passat's sales have not increased even now.
…
"Mr. Cao, the popularity of Highlander on Weibo has gone down. The past two days have been filled with messy things in the entertainment industry."
"Toyota finally showed weakness to consumers this time, and things are slowly over."
Zeng Tingting is relatively clear about what happened in Highlander during this period.
The sales department even arranged for people to contact Changan Automobile people to discuss some publicity plans on the Internet.
"It's normal. It's been going on for more than a week."
"No matter how slow Toyota's response is, it still needs to take some action."
"Continuing to cause trouble will cause even greater losses to Toyota Motor, so it is inevitable to spend money to rectify the disaster."
"We don't expect that through this incident, Toyota's domestic sales will completely decline."
"Even if Highlander's sales have fallen sharply in the last week or two, it is estimated that they will slowly recover in a month or two."
"It's just that if they want to increase the price to buy a car again, I'm afraid it won't be so easy to go back."
Cao Yang was not surprised at all by what Zeng Tingting reported.
No matter what popular news is, it will eventually be replaced by more popular news.
Besides, strictly speaking, Highlander's matter is not particularly big.
It was just various coincidences and promotions that kept it popular for a week.
This has achieved Cao Yang's expected goal.
"The people at Changan Automobile are probably extremely happy that they achieved such a successful result in their first attempt."
"In the past few days, the sales of Changan CS95 have not been affected, but have actually become better."
"It seems that there is still a market for this kind of 7-seater SUV."
"Even if the third row can only seat two children, there are still many people who want it."
Zeng Tingting actually feels that there is no way to compare a 7-seater SUV like the Highlander with the Shengwang.
One is a medium and large SUV with a length of less than 4.9 meters, and the other is a large SUV with a length of 5.2 meters.
Even though the difference is only more than 30 centimeters, when placed in the last row and the luggage compartment, the gap is huge.
Sometimes, she couldn't understand why consumers would buy such useless products.
This idea should also be the idea of many car company marketers.
Therefore, 7-seater SUVs are very rare in China.
However, starting from this year, as car companies such as Changan, Yangcheng Motors, and Great Wall have successively launched their own 7-seat SUVs, consumers will have more and more choices.
It is obviously impossible for Toyota's Highlander to live the good old days again.
Even Changan Automobile's CS95 cannot always be purchased at a higher price.
"When domestic consumers buy cars, most of the time they still have a lot of demand for family cars."
"When you go out for fun, it would be quite troublesome if you are checked for overloading."
"Even if the seats in the last row of a 7-seater SUV are not very user-friendly, at least they can be used in emergencies."
"The most important thing is that consumers like big cars, and this will not change for a long time to come."
"When the price is not too high, people will definitely buy a larger SUV."
Cao Yang combined his own experience of later generations and gave his own judgment with certainty.
…
While China's automobile industry has been busy for half a month because of the Highlander incident, some interesting things have also happened in the American automobile market.
Some time ago, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety of America announced the 25% offset collision results of 13 SUV models. Only one of them received an "excellent" rating, and most only received "passing" or even "poor" ratings.
And this SUV model is what Xingchen Automobile looks up to.
Naturally, Ford would not miss such a good publicity opportunity.
After all, although the car is branded as Xingchen Motors, all sales in the American market have been handed over to Ford.
The hotter the model sells, the more Ford makes.
Against the background of huge losses last year, mosquitoes are still meat no matter how small they are.
What's more, looking up is not a mosquito, but a big fat pig.
"President, as a result of this 25% offset collision, the Highlander's driver space has been greatly lost."
"The upper part has an intrusion of 25cm at the hinge pillar, the instrument panel has an intrusion of 20cm, and the lower part has an intrusion of 17cm at the hinge pillar."
"Before the steering column moves forward to the right, the dummy's head has almost no chance of contacting the steering wheel airbag and faces the hard structure ahead alone."
"At the same time, the restraints of the seat belts were insufficient, causing excessive displacement of the dummy's head and torso, further amplifying this hazard."
"And the Highlander's side air curtains also need a larger coverage area."
"According to the current situation, under an impact of this intensity, the driver's left hip will be greatly impacted, and his lower legs will not be able to escape."
"So the Highlander's 25% offset collision result is poor."
As the head of Toyota Motor North America, Tetsuaki Kobayashi just needs to report the situation encountered by the Highlander in the United States to President Katsaki Watanabe in a timely manner.
Especially what happened to Highlander in China some time ago, he also heard about it.
"Apart from our Highlander, are there any other models with worse performance?"
Watanabe Katsuaki felt a little heavy.
25% offset collision was something that no one paid much attention to in the past.
Now that the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is beginning to pay attention to it, many car companies are not yet ready.
"The performance of the BMW X5 is not particularly good."
"After the collision, the passenger's empty compartment was seriously intruded into the body structure. The left foot rest pedal was intruded 40cm away, the instrument panel was intruded 15cm, and the dummy's right foot was stuck in the empty compartment under the brake pedal."
"However, the BMW X5 restrained the dummy's forced movement during the collision very well, and its head hit the center of the steering wheel airbag, which was protected to the greatest extent."
"However, the X5's side curtain airbags are somewhat insufficient in covering the front row, and this Highlander is the same."
"Finally, the dummy data shows that in such a collision, the X5 driver's left calf will inevitably be injured, but the probability of injury to other body parts can be kept at a low level."
After Kobayashi Tetsuaki finished speaking, Watanabe Katsaki couldn't help but ask: "You just said that Star Car's looking-up performance is very good. How is it so good?"
As the president of Toyota Motor, it is impossible not to know about Xingchen Motors and Nanshan Group.
This is the one that has caused the greatest confusion to Toyota Motor among all automobile-related companies in China.
"The collision results show that after the collision, the various parts in the cockpit that are looked up are kept at a good distance from the space of the passengers in the car."
"The intrusion distance is 10cm in the lower part and 5cm in the upper part."
"In addition, the forced movement of the dummy during the collision was well controlled by the seat belt, and the dummy's head was always in contact with the center of the airbag until it rebounded, maximally protected by the airbag."
"The area of the side air curtains is large enough to cover the front area, which can effectively reduce the injuries caused by the collision between the occupants and the side structure of the car body, and the side airbags can also be deployed smoothly."
"Overall, looking up can reduce the probability of injury to passengers to a relatively low level in an impact of this magnitude."
Kobayashi Tetsuaki reported while observing Watanabe Katsuaki's reaction.
This result is definitely not what Watanabe wants to see.
"President, in fact, in this test, the body structure of most SUV models was not rated highly."
"Judging from the collision results, the passenger compartments of most of the SUV models participating in the test were damaged to a great extent like the Highlander."
"At the same time, because the vehicle usually has a rotational deflection movement after a collision, the occupant's head will move to the left front."
"If the seat belt cannot restrain the movement of the occupant's head well, and the airbag cannot cushion the movement of the occupant's head, it will cause great harm to the occupant."
"I think as long as the 25% offset collision is fully considered when designing new models in the future, these problems can be solved."
Kobayashi Tetsuaki's explanation did not satisfy Watanabe Katsaki.
But considering that in addition to looking up, the SUVs of other car companies also performed poorly, Watanabe is not easy to get angry.
But there is no need to mention the frustration in my heart.
With such a good crash test result, Ford will naturally not give up its focus on publicity.
There are pictures and the truth!
Even Ford Motor Co., in order to make American consumers believe what it said, even included information about one of its own underperforming SUV models in comparative promotional materials.
As a result, Zhanwang became popular in the American automobile market.
13 SUV models participated in the test, and only one was expected to perform well.
If this is not convincing, what is?
In addition, Upsight is sold through Lincoln's sales channels, and American consumers subconsciously think that this is another independent brand of Ford Motors.
In this way, consumers will have fewer worries when purchasing.
"Cao, I hope this month's sales will exceed 3,000 vehicles, and next month it is expected to exceed 4,000 vehicles, and even challenge 5,000 vehicles."
"Hurry up and arrange production and ship and transport it in advance."
Melgen, the vice president in charge of sales, called Cao Yang personally.
The only way to transport cars is by sea.
From Yangcheng to the United States, plus all the export and import procedures, a month was gone in a flash.
"Melgen, congratulations, Ford made a very right choice."
Although Ford is the best-selling car in the United States and earns the most money, it is definitely a good thing for Xingchen Motors.
After all, the more people look up to the export, the better the publicity effect will be.
According to this pace, the annual sales volume is expected to exceed 100,000 units this year.
That would be very powerful.
After all, this is a high-end luxury large SUV priced at more than one million yuan.
"Mr. Cao, congratulations, your Xingchen Automobile's production capacity is no problem, right?"
"The current sales situation should be much better than previously planned."
Melgen was in a really good mood.
Although sales of a few thousand vehicles are nothing compared to Ford's monthly sales of hundreds of thousands of vehicles.
But the money earned from selling one Upward is more than ten Mondeos.
In this case, the impact of looking at sales of several thousand vehicles a month is not small at all.
Especially since Mulally took office, he has been promoting increased revenue and reduced expenditure.
Looking up to the sales, it is definitely a very good open source project.
"Don't worry, even if I release the production capacity in the Chinese market, I will give priority to ensuring the supply of Ford vehicles. In the previous contract, I clearly promised that I would give priority to ensuring the supply of the American market."
Production capacity is obviously not a problem for Xingchen Motors now.
As long as Cao Yang wants to increase production capacity, he can directly change from single-shift production to double-shift production, and the production capacity will increase instantly.
If that doesn't work, just invest in some new production lines in the reserved open space to directly double the production capacity.
Not to mention the next few years, at least there will be no problem with production capacity in the past two years.
"The fact that Zangwang can stand out among various SUV models this time has a lot to do with its excellent collision performance."
“When consumers buy new cars, they still care very much about these features.”
"Of course, looking up to abundant power, rich configurations, and classic styling are also very key factors."
"Cao, I heard that you also have an SUV under development. I hope you can also consider the needs of the American market in preparation for its launch when the time comes."
"Before the unified global launch, a batch of vehicles will be transported in advance."
Melgen is now very interested in Xingchen Motors' SUV.
Although the performance of Ziweixing and Xingkong are also excellent, there is no way to compare with Yangwang in terms of sales.
Mainly in the field of sports cars, all American car companies have performed poorly, but consumers still prefer European car companies.
This will take some time to slowly change.
But SUVs are different. The SUV market in the United States is the largest in the world.
Consumer acceptance of this model is also relatively high.
Looking up has absolute advantages, and the market response will naturally be very good.
"According to current progress, Xingchen 4 will be on sale by the end of this year."
"At that time, I will ask the people in the sales department to contact you in advance and make arrangements for a unified global launch."
"Rather than looking forward to it, I think the sales of Xingchen 4 will be more worth looking forward to."
"Whether it is in terms of rich power configuration or stunning appearance, Xingchen IV is a product that I am particularly satisfied with."
Taking advantage of the fact that Ford Motor is now very enthusiastic to help sell Xingchen Motors products, Cao Yang naturally wants to draw a big pie.
As a very young car brand, it is very important to increase sales as quickly as possible.
Otherwise, there will be no sales and nothing you say will make sense.
Once Xingchen Automobile's global annual sales reach the level of 300,000 units, it will have initially established a firm foothold.
If it can stabilize above 500,000, it means it has a place among luxury car brands.
The subsequent performance is just the icing on the cake to see if I can do better.
Sure enough, after hearing this, Melgen's interest greatly increased.
He said that when he comes to China for a business trip next time, he will go to Xingchen Automobile to take a look at the situation of Xingchen No. 4 in advance.
The two then had a casual chat, and both felt very satisfied with each other.
After hanging up the phone, Cao Yang immediately called Yu Yu from Autohome.
(End of chapter)
