2024 On August 30, 2019, the 27th Chengdu International Auto Show officially opened. At this Chengdu Auto Show, the iCAR brand not only brought a new member of the iCAR 03 family - iCAR 03T, but also the much-anticipated iCAR V23. On the first media day of the auto show, the iCAR brand held a launch conference of iCAR 03T at the booth. The new car has a guide price of 139,800-149,800 yuan. After the press conference, Mr. Zhang Hongyu, deputy general manager of Chery Automobile Co., Ltd. and general manager of the iCAR brand business unit, and Mr. Zhai Xiaobing, executive deputy general manager of iCAR Automobile Marketing Company, accepted a group interview with the media and shared some insights about the future of the iCAR brand with everyone. development. The following is a record of the group interview:
Media: I am very happy to have the opportunity to talk with Mr. Zhang and Mr. Zhai. It is understood that the sales volume of iCAR 03 is now very good and has exceeded that of 4w+. I believe this must be because the iCAR brand "makes cars for young people" The brand concept has a lot to do with it. How will iCAR continue to build a brand for young people in the future? And at what levels will new needs of young people be discovered?
Mr. Zhang: In the past year, our team has conducted a lot of research. We found that although there are many new energy products on the market, there are very few that can really get meet the real needs of young people. Although the needs of young people are constantly changing, what remains unchanged is that they always want products to be different and innovative. So we made up our minds not to adopt the homogeneous approach, but to use insight to meet the unmet needs of young people. This was our biggest motivation in the past year, and it is also where we think we have made some small achievements. With the achievement of 40,000 vehicles, I think this is the right direction.
Therefore, we are exploring this direction in depth. Since young people want to be innovative, changeable and different, they must hope that products and brands can demonstrate their emotional value so that their needs can be respected and satisfied.foot. During this year’s brand night and Beijing Auto Show, three series, 0 series, V series and X series, were also unveiled, allowing young people to learn from our This emotional value of finding him in the car.
Mr. Zhai: Yes, we used these three sequences to express iCAR’s insight into young people. Backed by Chery’s technology supply, we cleverly leveraged the advantages of large manufacturers to The ultimate, reduce costs and make friends with young people. At the same time, we make precise choices about the functions of our products. We are not far ahead of the technology or have comprehensive coverage of functions, but we allow different young people or people with a young mentality to find a product under our brand that they like. car.
Media: Thank you Mr. Zhang and Mr. Zhai for your answers. I would like to ask, what is the situation of our channel layout behind these 4 vehicles?
Mr. Zhang: The official launch of iCAR 03 was actually in March. At that time, all channels were still in incubation, and there were only 30 stores, but we went public. We sold more than 5000 vehicles in the first month, so under this circumstance, our channel development speed accelerated. As of today, the iCAR brand has been completed The establishment of 300 brand centers.
You can see that our entire team is doing it with a very sincere and pragmatic attitude. We are also working in two directions now. On the one hand, we will build iCAR into an ecosystem that young people like. Platform, entrepreneurship, lifestyle, etc., iCAR will help you satisfy it; on the other hand, iCAR invites young people to co-create products, your dreams, your exclusive customization, The things you develop that young people like can be put on the iCAR system. In addition to these two parts, iCAR will also be open to partners from the whole society, including automotive, lifestyle, boutique, modification, etc., as long as you are a partner that meets the brand tone of iCAR , we will jointly develop and create a more diverse ecology. In short, the brand will gather brand partners and young people with dreams with an open and diverse attitude, so that young people canPersonal value is demonstrated on the iCAR platform.
Media: You just mentioned that the iCAR brand attaches great importance to user feedback. We have also seen a lot of changes in the products of 03 and 03T. changes, do these changes take into account the opinions of users? How to choose?
Mr. Zhang: iCAR 03T is actually the result of our co-creation with users. All the little ideas you see are based on users. Users hope that we will increase the approach angle and departure angle, and raise the ground clearance. High, we hope that the car will show a tough style as a whole, and we choose to support it; but at the same time, we will also take our own thinking about users into consideration, such as the "ecological opening" we are doing. In addition, relying on the Chery system, iCAR has the ability to vertically integrate technology, quality, and supply chain, allowing us to effectively improve efficiency and reduce costs. Present different works in the same time. Therefore, in terms of business model, we are adhering to the "hot product methodology". Based on good thinking and technical foundation, we are more daring to make the ultimate choice.
Media: What do you think of the increasingly fierce competition in the 100,000 market? What is the competitiveness of iCAR?
Mr. Zhai: The issue of the 100,000 yuan market you just mentioned actually corresponds to the fierce competition in this market. We have had a hunch for a long time. We are very confident that we can make good products in the 100,000-level market.
Methodologically speaking, iCAR is a business model based on the "hit method", which assumes my success, and then carries out supply chain and technical routes to match the layout. According to this setting, backed by Chery's large system capabilities and With the advantage of scale, we vertically integrate a series of capabilities including technology, products, quality, and supply chain. I require all my partners to achieve ultimate efficiency. This is why we have been able to launch explosive products one after another in such a short period of time. The root cause of this product is also the core factor that supports the iCAR brand to remain competitive in an increasingly competitive market.
On the other hand, the insight mentioned earlier is that young people’s cars require new changes and differences, and the most important thing is to be able to demonstrate their emotional value. You have to give young people their unattended needs (satisfaction), make the ultimate choice.
Media: With the development of the brand, will the iCAR brand become a brand with many series in the future, each series having many models?
Mr. Zhang: Our goal is not to produce many cars in many series, but to help young people realize their needs through products. We are more pursuing uniqueness and compactness, rather than largeness and comprehensiveness. More models will be left to us. We co-create with our users and friends. On the basis of co-creation, we then make mechanism choices, control quality, and improve services.
Media: At the Chengdu Auto Show booth, I found that the iCAR brand has become younger. What changes have been made? This is why I discovered that iCAR also brought an ecological exhibition area, and discovered ecological products such as cat houses and bicycles. What will be the follow-up actions?
Mr. Zhang: Everyone should be able to feel that iCAR’s sincere young people make cars, which is different from other brands. I am a veteran of Chery. I have worked at Chery for more than 20 years. After coming here, what impressed me most is the user’s thinking. iCAR is to build cars for young people. We come from the heart We think about young people at heart and want to build cool and valuable cars for them. This is user thinking. Young people not only want to buy a car easily, but also want to use the car to express their personality and have their own social space.
You can see that iCAR has an ecological exhibition area at this auto show. You see, we turned V23 into a cat's nest. We and the electric bicycle BUXUS< /span> joint name, now "4+2" (four wheels plus two wheels) travel is very popular, so you can see that as long as you modify one trailer at the rear, basically the rest Just a few dozen kilometers can be left to our two wheels.
This is our ecology. We use high-frequency ecological products to bring traffic and satisfy the emotional value of young people. Many major manufacturers have done this in the past, because this kind of lifestyle is the life that young people want. In this way, the attributes of the brand, the attributes of the product and the attributes of life values are combined. iCAR is just the beginning.
Media: What is the future product planning of the iCAR brand? What's nextWhen will the new car meet everyone? Will the subsequent new cars have the same off-road style as the O3T model launched today?
Mr. Zhai: iCAR has always adhered to the brand concept of providing what kind of cars young people need. This concept also determines our future product planning. From today's square box-shaped 03 03T to even V23, they are all designed to satisfy young people's needs for poetry and longing for the distance.
On the other hand, the styles of 03 and 03T are also different. The 03 model focuses on exquisite technology, while the V23 is more focused on off-road style. Regarding the creation of iCAR brand products in the future, I think it will not be static, because the needs of young people or users are constantly changing. For this reason, we need to maintain a keen insight into the market and always understand the real needs of users.
For example, the Proving that it is a completely new species. Therefore, the future product planning of the iCAR brand must be determined based on market demand.
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Editor in charge: Zhou You