The Age of Rebirth

Chapter 522 Let's Fight, Who's Afraid of Who?
Li Weidong frowned and asked, "Reduce the price, by how much?"

"According to the information we got from inside, SAIC Industrial Sales Corporation and Fangrun Technology System Co., Ltd. have conducted a month-long brand joint promotional activity in more than a dozen cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, including Qizhou."

"The content of the activity is that anyone who buys the latest Santana 2000 sedan can get a Founder Excellence computer worth 5000 yuan, and those who buy risk can get a computer worth 4000 yuan."

Xia Guoqiang glanced at Yi Weidong, and then continued: "Based on this, the prices of these three Santanas are almost the same as our mid-range products, and the pertinence is very obvious!"

Li Weidong groaned. There is no doubt about SAIC's operation. They are targeting Skoda and regard Skoda as a potential opponent. It seems that they have seen the threat of Skoda from this year's data.

The current car market is far from that of later generations, with a wide variety of brands and countless models. If you don't consider the very small number of imported car brands, the number will be even smaller.

Not to mention the brand, even if you add up all the models, there may not be as many brands in later generations. Even the famous Honda Accord domestically produced in later generations is only a pre-announcement. So far, there is no real Honda Accord on the road.

The high-end car brand that can be seen on the market now is the Audi just produced by the joint venture of FAW and Volkswagen. There are four cylinders and six cylinders, but it has only achieved production, and it will take at least six months from the time it is scheduled to pick up the car.

In addition to Audi, there are also the new Hongqi and Buick New Century that have just been launched, but the situation is worse than Audi. There is no market for the price, and no cars for sale.

Moreover, the price of these high-end cars is around 30. A six-cylinder Audi costs more than 40, and a Buick New Century costs 35. Even the worst Hongqi costs tens of thousands.

If you have this money to buy a car, you are generally not a small businessman, and you don't care about spending tens of thousands more on original imports.

Ordinary people want to buy this kind of high-end car, I am afraid that they have to think more about whether their pockets are so big?

With the current income of Chinese people, high-end cars are still a bit high-end, affordable, and not many people are willing to spend, so all major automakers are making efforts in the mid-to-low-end market.

The brands of mid-range cars are slightly more mature, and the brands are mainly the four major joint venture cars, SAIC Santana, FAW Jetta, Second Automobile Shenlong Fukang, which is the Citroen of later generations, and the other is the Skoda sedan of Qizhou Automobile Factory .

These three brands, each of which has its own sub-brand, naturally have three grades when buying things, so naturally there are ordinary, luxury and supreme models when taking a car.

However, the price generally ranges from 10 to 20, which is more in line with the current consumption capacity. Of course, it is more suitable for enterprises, institutions and some small bosses who have just become rich.

It is not difficult to see that three of these four cars are related to German Volkswagen, including Skoda, which uses Volkswagen's engine technology. Speaking of which, Dr. Kahn, the former president of Volkswagen, is a great contributor.

While cars of other national brands are still hesitating, Volkswagen has taken the lead in looking at the domestic market, and has cooperated with China to build factories, becoming the first person to eat crabs.

When other international brands saw that the first person to eat crabs was already full of oil, and when they wanted to enter, the public had already opened up the brand and formed a brand effect.

Even the Skoda Automobile invested and constructed by Li Weidong relied on the mature brand effect of the Volkswagen engine when promoting it, so that this new type of car was quickly accepted by the market.

As for low-end cars, they are domestic self-owned brands, or cars that cooperate with some foreign niche brands. The main representative brands are Xiali and Alto.

The current selling price is generally relatively low, mainly around 7 to [-] yuan. Of course, this price is not cheap. You can buy a small two-bedroom apartment in the suburbs of Qizhou.

But at this time, few people have noticed the difference between buying a car and buying a house.

It is said that a few years ago, a shopping mall opened in Shanghai, which added a lottery for shopping. It was for commercial publicity and a hit. Santana.

The winner of the first prize did not want the house, but the Santana for the second prize. Finally, after friendly negotiation between the two parties, the winner of the first prize added some cash and exchanged it with the Santana for the second prize.

A few years have passed, and the 18 Santana has become a second-hand car. It is estimated that the value is not tens of thousands of dollars. Although the 20 house has become old, the price is already 40.

Of course, in Li Weidong's view, this matter is suspected of being a big hype. Even the owner of the mall thinks that a mall and a house are not enough to attract attention. Wouldn't it be more sensational to let them exchange it?
Despite this, there are still many owners who are not short of money in China, and they have made a significant contribution to the sales of cars. In five years, China's car sales have increased significantly.

From 95 vehicles in 31, five consecutive years of rapid growth, to now, the annual sales volume has successfully doubled.

According to statistics from the China Material Distribution Center, the sales volume of small cars last year was 66 units. Although the sales volume of mid-range cars has declined due to the strength of the low-end market, the proportion is still as high as 60%, or 40 units. about.

However, the gap between mid-end car brands is relatively large. Santana is the first to be introduced, the most mature technology, and the most recognized brand. Naturally, the sales volume is also the highest, reaching 19.08 vehicles.

The second is Skoda, which has the shortest construction period. Last year, it sold 8.5 vehicles, followed by Jetta with 7.64 vehicles, and finally Shenlong Fukang with 4.38 vehicles. The rest are some imported vehicles or other brands.

Santana's sales are already far ahead, occupying half of the market, and it should be the most secure on Diaoyutai.

But looking at their sales changes over the past few years, I'm afraid they won't be so optimistic. It's definitely not Santana who works for Diaoyutai.

The year before last, that is, in 98, the entire domestic car sales volume was 58, and Santana itself accounted for 21.3, basically accounting for half of the domestic cars.

But in 99, with the completion of the construction of Skoda's factory building and the start of full production, a large piece of fat was torn from Santana's mouth abruptly, which miraculously caused their sales to decline.

This is the first year in which sales have declined since SAIC and Volkswagen cooperated. Such data has to make their management feel a sense of crisis.

Moreover, Skoda's production capacity of 15 vehicles was completed in the second quarter of last year. That is to say, for Skoda, the sales of 8.5 vehicles may be the limit of production.

Based on this calculation, the sales volume of this year will definitely increase greatly. Santana has to be anxious and must find a way. He has not thought of a good way, but there are many bad ideas. This is a price cut in disguise.

The market is so big, if one party lowers the price, the other party must also lower the price if they want to occupy the market share. This will inevitably form a price war, and price wars are more popular now.

In the past, there were color TV sets, and several domestic manufacturers united to cut prices, put down all foreign brands, and drive them out of the domestic market, which was already a victory.

But the greed is endless, and it was confiscated in the end. After the Great Patriotic War, there was still an internal war. There was a posture of swearing not to give up until the opponent was killed, and there were endless tricks.

Several major color TV manufacturers are in full swing. The boss of Changhong TV thought I bought all the color picture tubes, so that you have no stock and can only buy expensive imported ones.

I will give you a bottom-up first, and then lower the price to add fuel to the fire. After this series of calculations, I don’t believe that you can still survive. The future color TV market is not all my Changhong’s world, and truly realize Changhong.

It’s just that the ideal is full and the reality is very skinny. Now that this battle is basically coming to an end, it is estimated that Mr. Changhong’s chairman is about to announce his resignation!
In addition to color TV sets, there is also a DVD market. Now PDAs are also starting to compete on price, and Tsingtao Brewery is doing the same.

Buy factories everywhere, go to other people's sites, first buy a brewery, and then fight a price war to kill the peers, so as to form a monopoly market in some areas.

Anyway, in the past two years, the words of price war have been posted everywhere in the country. With ready-made examples and ready-made operations, Santana has followed suit, and it is very easy to fight a price war.

And for this result, Li Weidong is not surprised at all, and in fact, the first two years after China's accession to the WTO was indeed the time when the domestic price war was the most intense.

In his previous life, he remembered that when he wanted to buy Xiali, he lowered it several times a year, from [-] at the beginning of the year, first to [-], then to [-], and finally to [-].

There are still many people defending their rights and making troubles. Anyway, it is very lively. There are only things you can't think of, and there is nothing I can't lower.

It's just that Li Weidong still didn't buy it in the end. Business boss, is it reasonable for you to buy a car for less than [-] yuan?

Now that this has happened to him, the feeling is different. Based on the annual production of 1000 cars, every reduction of [-] yuan is equivalent to a loss of [-] million yuan in profits.

Originally, the profit margin of making a car is quite high, and it can't stand such a toss, and every penny reduced has to be multiplied by 10, which is all his profit.

It's no wonder that Xia Guoqiang came to Li Weidong, he didn't dare to make a decision on this matter, how much money he made for the company, even if he sold him, it wouldn't be enough to pay for it!
But now others have made moves. Although they only target Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, these cities are the cities with the strongest consumption power in China. It is a sign to win these cities.

Li Weidong thought about it for a while, and this matter is inevitable, and the current price is indeed a bit too high. Of course, the cost of auto parts in this period is also relatively high.

Domestic parts factories are not very mature, and many key parts cannot be produced domestically, so they must be imported from original factories. This has created a certain monopoly and is also the main reason for the high cost of joint venture vehicles.

If the external sales price can be lowered, the cost of the company's products can be reduced, which is also a way for the company to develop.

However, Li Weidong still asked: "How did the other companies react?"

Xia Guoqiang said: "As far as I know, after getting the news, Jetta is also holding a meeting to discuss countermeasures. It is said that the price will be reduced by 3000 yuan, but so far, there is no news that it has been approved."

Seeing that Li Weidong didn't speak, Xia Guoqiang sighed and said, "It seems that this war is inevitable."

Santana, who has the largest sales volume, has to do this kind of thing that kills 1000 enemies and loses 800 in order to keep sales. How can you not fight if you want to?

Li Weidong decided: "Let's fight, who is afraid of whom! The cost of the three state-owned enterprises can still be lower than ours, so you aim at Santana, and we will lower the cost a little bit more than him!"

Xia Guoqiang had a bitter look on his face. Could it be the same? He is a state-owned enterprise, so he is not afraid of losing money. The price reduction not only protects the share, but also saves face.

Li Weidong decided to lower the price, but the reduction was all profit and his own money, but the boss didn't care anymore, and Xia Guoqiang couldn't say anything, although he would also reduce the bonus because of the reduced profit, but compared with the reduced profit , the little is the big witch.

Moreover, Li Weidong's decision will inevitably bring about some changes in the auto market, and no one will be alone in the price war.

Xia Guoqiang left with Li Weidong's order. He wanted to go back and convene a meeting with the sales department to formulate various plans. The price reduction must be good and standard. Otherwise, wouldn't it mean that anyone can sit in his position.

After Xia Guoqiang left, Li Weidong received calls from several relevant departments, all of whom expressed concern about his interview and suggested that they could do it for them if necessary.

Li Weidong doesn't doubt the purpose and starting point of these people, but their real views are not that serious, let alone owe others favors for these trivial matters.

It is said in the movie that the debt of favor is the hardest to repay. Even so, Li Weidong thanked them one by one and politely refused. He always believed that the Internet would make people forgetful.

Sure enough, the matter of Li Weidong's exclusive interview gradually calmed down after a day or two of fermentation. It's not that everyone didn't discuss it, but that everyone had better topics to discuss.

There are hotspots on the Internet every day, and there are many hotspots that can be hyped, and after so many days, Li Weidong, who is the party involved, did not come to clarify, the topic lost the basis to continue to hype, and everyone lost patience. No normal person will continue to dwell on a question that is doomed to have no answer.

After Li Weidong was free, he also began to participate in the company's reform. After all, these newly formed departments and special committees are a way to realize his ideas. If they are completed as soon as possible, he will be completely relieved.

After participating in several reporting meetings of consulting companies, Li Weidong's impression of them has changed greatly. It turns out that he just thinks that these people have nothing to say, and their practical ability must be poor.

But after these few meetings, Li Weidong saw what an international consulting company is, and how can they survive?

(End of this chapter)