Wang Dianming, General Manager of FAW Car Sales Company, was interviewed by Sina.com.
Moderator: Hello, netizens and friends. Today, we are honored to invite Mr. Wang Dianming, the general manager of FAW Car Sales Company. We will give him an exclusive interview and ask him to give us a detailed introduction on the development of Hongqi brand and Hongqi car, which everyone cares about. Now our exclusive interview officially begins. Hello, Mr. Wang, welcome to Sina for an interview.
Wang Dianming: Thank you.
Moderator: FAW Car has a big news hot spot, that is, it cooperates with Mazda Company to produce mazda 6. Many people are very concerned about this project in mazda 6, so many people want to know what the future development path, development trend and status of Hongqi are, which are the concerns of many netizens. Many people are concerned about the future of Hongqi, a car with a long history, national characteristics and special political color, so today’s topic is mainly about this. We have noticed that Hongqi has launched a new navigator car this time. Can you give us an introduction about this car?
Wang Dianming: First of all, I am very grateful to the netizens for their concern about Hongqi Car. Especially on the first day of the opening of Shanghai Automobile Expo today, I am very happy and grateful to meet with the netizens on Sina. com to discuss the reality and future development of Hongqi Car brand. Just now, you mentioned that FAW Car introduced the product mazda 6 to the market in April this year. In other words, FAW Car has entered the dual-stage stage stage since January this year. After mazda 6 was put on the market, it should be said that it caused a very big response, and people called it Mazda phenomenon. In this case, people may pay more attention to the red flag.
As you said, the Red Flag car is a car with political color and a long history in China. People have great expectations for it and have deep feelings, so we are really moved by this. FAW Car, as the birthplace of China car industry and the cradle of China car, ended the history that China couldn’t produce cars in the past, and launched Hongqi Car, which was considered as one of the four largest cars in the world at that time. I think the existence of history puts forward a very important topic and shoulders a great responsibility for us today. This time, we launched a red flag pilot at the exhibition. In fact, we feel that we, as the red flag people of FAW, have made such a car that can reflect the brand image of the red flag as expected by users through our efforts. So we launched this car, which should be said to have attracted a lot of attention at the exhibition. In fact, it embodies the current red flag brand and the responsibility of maintaining the brand. For example, some people describe this car as having several characteristics. First, it is the longest car in China, which is longer than Audi A8 and so on. In addition, the configuration is relatively complete, and the internal configuration, including tri-band VCD, internal configuration and so on, is relatively complete; In addition, it is sold according to the order, not everyone who buys it sells it, but according to the user’s order. I think this should be of great significance to embodying the image of the red flag.
Moderator: I read the report that this model is 5.8 meters long, which is really long. Now there is such a problem. The price of Hongqi car has been from 150,000 yuan to 160,000 yuan, and the span is very large. This is very rare in the same brand and such a large market price space. So I don’t know the whole brand positioning and market positioning of Hongqi here. How do we grasp it here?
Wang Dianming: Actually, this is also very simple, that is, FAW Car pursues the concept of customer first and produces our products according to the needs of users. Hongqi car has a specific connotation. In the past, it was an official car, and it went from an official car to ordinary people’s families. From this perspective, most of the people who bought Hongqi cars were elites, successful people, outstanding elements in various fields of life today, or some leaders. We should meet the needs of users in different areas for Hongqi cars.
Moderator: Can we understand that the Red Flag brand covers three classes, one is high-level, that is, high-end commercial vehicles; Then there is the middle and high-end business car; Then there are some products facing the consumer level?
Wang Dianming: Probably, this is the architecture system of Hongqi brand. In this architecture system, like Hongqi flagship, the leader, Century Star and Mingshi are all sub-brands in the architecture system. Some of these sub-brands belong to brand builders and some belong to brand users. For example, Hongqi flagship, the leader of Hongqi’s launch this time, is to build Hongqi brand. Through its product technical content, its manufacturing technology and its configuration, For example, Red Flag Century Star and Red Flag Celebrities are sub-brands, which can promote the expansion of its market share through the influence of this big brand to meet some needs of social elites in these two fields.
Moderator: So, do we have some in-depth considerations on the specific brand segmentation positioning and product segmentation positioning? That is to say, Red Flag is our general brand, so just now it covers a wide range of market segments. In fact, every product has to target its market segments. Are we equal to having a market system created by a brand?
Wang Dianming: Yes, first, we should pay attention to the influence of Hongqi brand, and we should consider the needs of both high-level people and others. Secondly, from the cultural point of view, from the cultural trend of China, it can reflect these people’s own value in the process of career development and their social status. In addition, it can be added that the brand positioning of Hongqi, because it has independent intellectual property rights, can develop independent products, which shows that Hongqi car has the manufacturing strength and technology development ability to meet the needs of elites in these fields.
Moderator: The construction of a brand is inseparable from products and services, but almost all automobile products put services in a very important position, so how does Hongqi understand the word service?
Wang Dianming: I think so. In today’s market, the automobile market is very fierce, and the price competition of products is also very fierce. However, with the continuous development of the automobile market, the competition of products is becoming more and more similar, and the difference is getting smaller and smaller. The price competition is also limited. The profit space of enterprises and the profit in the field of intermediate sales and services are also limited, so it should gradually transition to the competition of services, and the competition of customers is the competition of products. Especially after we joined the WTO last year, it should be said that the requirements in the service field should be in line with international standards. It was also last year that our FAW Car launched a service project and put forward such a requirement of butler service throughout the country.
Moderator: What is butler service?
Wang Dianming: Butler service means that users just drive and we will serve. A sublimation of family service and active service is responsible to users. The meaning of the word "housekeeper" means that we should not only think of what the owner has thought, but also think of what the owner has not thought. We regard the user as the owner, and we regard it as the housekeeper. Last year, we opened a service department, and we recruited 50 people with good cultural quality, accounting for one-fifth of the head office. It is rare for any automobile brand to have such a large customer service staff. In addition, we lowered the price and adjusted it moderately. Thirdly, we especially pointed out that the first maintenance was 7,500 kilometers, and the first maintenance was free. Now it is from 750 kilometers to 25,000 kilometers. Every other 7,500 public vehicles will be maintained, from once to four times, and the car will be examined every time. Because the car system in our country has not been implemented, our behavior is the embodiment of being responsible to users. There are also free medical examinations for users to go home, as we did last year. These are all connotations of butler service. The headquarters allocated more than 1 million yuan for free car maintenance. In the past, it always encountered quality problems. In the past, it tried not to compensate when it was possible to compensate, but now it is possible to compensate if it is compensable. This is also the concept of Red Flag.
Moderator: Hongqi has invested so much in services. What do you think of the relationship between services and products?
Wang Dianming: With the increasingly fierce market, the competition for services is becoming more and more important. It is also an industry that sells services. If your service is good, there will be more repeat customers, and you will have a market, you will be efficient. Some people say what is an enterprise’s asset? I said that in a certain sense, customers are your assets. Because you have customers, you have a market, and only when you have a market can you have products, and only when you have products can you drive the whole business and production. So we did it in vain. For example, when Czech Leopard Company, a well-known research company in the Asia-Pacific region, surveyed companies in the automobile field in China last year, this company was a very authoritative company, and published some data. Our sales service ranked second among 16 brands, which was not easy. The satisfaction of service among 16 brands rose from 13 to 7, which was a great increase. I think users will recognize you as long as you show care and concern for them.
Moderator: With the launch of Mazda M6, there is a view that people are not only worried that the brand Hongqi will be put aside, but mainly produces this model of mazda 6. Many people are not clear about the development trend of Hongqi, but are very concerned about it. So, as a domestic brand with decades of history, what plans and ideas does Hongqi have for sustainable development?
Wang Dianming: This question is very realistic. First of all, I need to be clear about the FAW people. FAW broke ground in 53 years and was completed and put into production in 56 years. This July is 50 years. What is the value of the long and short historical process that FAW has gone through in the past 50 years? The first is to liberate the brand; The second is the red flag brand. The value of FAW is Jiefang brand, Hongqi brand, and the value of FAW people is also Hongqi brand and Jiefang brand. The reason why FAW can negotiate with international multinational companies on an equal footing in the extremely fierce market competition lies in the value of Hongqi brand and Jiefang brand. Therefore, Hongqi brand and Jiefang brand are the roots of FAW, and we can’t lose our roots in anything we do, and we can’t forget the value that Hongqi brand and Jiefang brand bring to FAW.
FAW Car cooperated with Japanese Mazda Company to produce mazda 6. It should be said that this is a normal manifestation of technical cooperation between multinational companies, such as internationalization of domestic market and economic globalization after China’s entry into WTO. We also want to continuously improve, expand and supplement the technology of FAW Car through the launch of this product with mazda 6 and cooperation with Japanese Mazda Company. We want to produce Hongqi Car, but we don’t rule out producing other brands of cars. And in the process of cooperation, we can complement each other in many ways. For example, some of their advanced production technologies, advanced management platforms and advanced management ideas, as well as our joint cooperation with them and the introduction of new marketing ideas in combination with the actual situation in China, of course, learning from the introduction of some of their technical platforms is not excluded here. Therefore, according to the idea that FAW Car, a national brand, is open to development, and we should learn from others, this kind of economic and technical cooperation should be normal, and it will not affect the future development of Hongqi brand.
Moderator: In your talk just now, the word technology was mentioned many times. Yes, technology is now emphasized as a very core issue in China automobile industry. I think the same technical issue is also a core issue that Hongqi must deal with well. Then, can you tell us what considerations Hongqi has in technology development and technology application?
Wang Dianming: This issue should be a comprehensive factor. The production technology covers a wide range, but I can generally say that China car has gone for 45 years, so Red Flag car has developed from scratch to now, and the whole technical content has been greatly improved. In the past, everyone knew that the red flag car was a car knocked out manually, but people were driving a big red flag. Indeed, according to the requirements of the current technology, we still have a certain gap, but after all, it represents the car made in that era, and it was a very advanced car at that time. So now we have launched a series of products, such as Little Red Flag Car and Century Star, whose technical platform has been greatly improved, because its manufacturing platform is the platform of Audi 100, which was also relatively advanced at the time of research and development. It is precisely because of this platform that we can develop the original Red Flag Celebrities Series, Century Star Series and Polar Star Series. We will speed up cooperation with international companies and introduce higher technology. And I think this work is in the midst of intense work. I tell you, it will keep some genes of many people’s imagined big red flag, and keep its genes. We will make the recognition of FAW Hongqi sedan and the recognition of its brand value by the majority of users get rich returns.
Moderator: This is really good news for the vast number of users. Let’s go back to the cooperation project with Mazda. Is it due to the consideration of capital operation and whether there are any factors in this regard? It is the introduction of foreign models to achieve good sales performance to obtain more funds, which also involves the issue of capital operation.
Wang Dianming: This question is answered from two aspects. The operating performance of the First Hongqi sedan in the past two years is also excellent. It is not that the market image of Hongqi sedan is not good and the market performance is not good, but it is good. For example, last year, we made three breakthroughs. To put it bluntly, we set a historical record, with the highest sales record reaching more than 26,600 cars. Hongqi cars never exceeded 20,000 cars. It was very, very difficult to achieve this achievement last year. In the first quarter of this year, we broke through the first quarter of the same period every three months, and sold more than 7,800 cars in the first quarter of this year. It is easy to break through 30,000 cars this year according to this progress. However, we don’t just pursue numbers, but do a good job in pre-sale and after-sale services. At present, Hongqi sedan has a very good evaluation in the industry, and everyone can see our performance from last year’s bulletin (because FAW is a listed company). Mazda, as I said just now, is a supplement to Hongqi car.
Moderator: As a listed company, what about FAW’s stock?
Wang Dianming: Yes, it rose from more than 4 yuan to more than 10 yuan.
Moderator: First of all, congratulations.
Wang Dianming: I am very happy to see the stock climb. Why? In recent years, the requirements of the securities market have become more and more strict, which is well known to all. The requirements have become more and more strict and the operation has become more and more standardized, that is, the operation of the securities and stock markets has become more and more in line with the laws of China’s market economy.
Moderator: And it is becoming more and more standardized.
Wang Dianming: It is becoming more and more standardized. In this case, the stock of FAW keeps rising, which I believe is not only a good thing, but also the vast number of users and consumers are full of confidence in the future when they see the performance of FAW.
Moderator: It is good news for investors and potential buyers of FAW.
Wang Dianming: That is, they have seen the reality of FAW Car and are full of confidence in the future. I always feel that we should trust the judgment of investors, because they have been tossing and turning over these years, and they are getting smarter and smarter, and their judgment on the market is getting closer and closer to the market.
Moderator: We just talked about Hongqi’s market strategy, Hongqi’s products, talents accumulated by Hongqi, business philosophy and service concept, as well as platform, technology, capital and capital operation. So, among these many operational elements, what is the core competitiveness of FAW Car as an enterprise?
Wang Dianming: When it comes to the core competitiveness of enterprises, it should be said that it is also a major factor, including development, platform, manufacturing, technology, human resources, system management, including system capabilities, and services.
Moderator: It is a comprehensive system combining software and hardware.
Wang Dianming: But I think with the development of car economy, brand should be the core factor of many factors. There are certain differences between Hongqi brand and other brands. There is no doubt that there are commonness and individuality between brands. Hongqi car has always been regarded as a car for national leaders and a car for citizens. Then when we develop, build and use this brand, we should also consider that it is the backbone and social elite in social and economic life, and these leaders equip them with cars, so brand building is very important. To this end, we have also done a lot of work, such as just now we said to launch the leader and expand the market share, because these aspects are complementary to each other. I want to have the image of the market, the image of the brand, and the market share at the same time. They are mutually supportive. For example, in order to build this brand, we launched the flagship, which is the builder of the brand, the leader of the red flag, and also the builder of the brand. Then we also launched the Red Flag World from 2000. The first generation of Mingshi, the second generation of Mingshi, and the third generation of Mingshi, including the son of Red Flag Century Star 2.4 Jufeng in March, and we will launch upgraded and improved products one after another in June. We have been working hard for the brand Hongqi and building the core content of enterprise competitiveness.
Compere: The core competitiveness of an enterprise will ultimately be reflected in its products. Finally, I would like to ask you to talk about what new products will be launched by Hongqi in the future and what kind of plans are there for new product development, which are also of great concern to the users and consumers of Hongqi.
Wang Dianming: It can be said that we are stepping up our work on the planning of Hongqi products.
Moderator: Can you give us some information?
Wang Dianming: As we have said before, we are developing a car with red flag DNA that is more in line with the needs of the red flag group, and this research and development is in progress. At present, we are also constantly meeting the needs of users. For example, we launched three models of celebrities and the son of Jufeng this year, and we will soon launch the Red Flag Pilot, as well as other products. For example, we have also launched other products to give you a message and confidence that FAW Hongqi people will not live up to the expectations of netizens and users, and we will constantly improve our product series and launch new products with the fastest speed.
Moderator: Thank you. I think the vast number of netizens will definitely have more understanding and knowledge of Hongqi Car, Hongqi Car and FAW Car when they see our exclusive interview with you, and at the same time, they will also strengthen their confidence in national brands and national brands in the automobile industry.
Wang Dianming: I hope that our automobile manufacturers, sales fields and users will care about national brands together. I think the red flag is not only the red flag of our FAW, but also the red flag of the Chinese nation, users and netizens.
Moderator: Thank you, thank you for accepting our interview.
(Editor:)
