January 7, Tesla's "Iron Man" came to Shanghai Lingang to stand for its new car in its Chinese factory. On the same day, SAIC's MG held a media communication meeting at Anting Motor City. When asked if there were any wolves worried, MG's answer was: "They are wolves, we may not be sheep!" When Tesla entered China, MG was also carrying out internationalization, and its sales volume and sales areas became the leader in Chinese automobiles entering the international market. From a certain perspective, MG is the "leading wolf" of China's automobile industry, and its momentum to enter the overseas market is not weaker than Tesla. In the context of globalization, the "going out, inviting in" in the automotive industry is becoming more and more frequent. A strong brand like MG can undoubtedly make the overseas market exclaim: "The wolf is coming!" The words "Toward the center of the world" are written on the background board of their communication meeting. After decades of rapid economic growth in China, it may be time to brew China's own "Tesla".
Going to the center of the world - MG's "Ambition"
Just a few days after the MG communication meeting, two new energy models of MG were unveiled at the Singapore Auto Show. Just a month ago, SAIC Group just signed a cooperation agreement with Singapore Eurokars EV Pte Ltd. This means that MG MG will officially enter the Singapore market. MG MG's flagship showroom in Singapore is currently under construction and will be opened to the public in the first quarter of 2020. The first model to be launched will be the plug-in hybrid SUV MG eHS. Some media say that its innovation capabilities are spilling out around the world. As a financial center in Southeast Asia and even Asia, Singapore has high market activity and high consumption levels, and has a very high entry threshold for automobile products. In recent years, it has actively encouraged the use of clean energy, and the demand for new energy vehicles has grown rapidly. As the "European strict selection of global quality plug-in hybrid SUVs", MG eHS has opened up new markets with the same high-quality and leading new energy technology worldwide and stood in the center of Asia.
This is actually just a microcosm of MG's rapid "expanding territory" in recent years. MG is everywhere from Southeast Asia to South Asia, from Middle East to Europe, from South America to Australia. Not only do we have to stand in the center of Asia, MG has even shouted the slogan of standing in the center of the world.
MG has such a high goal, but it is not "patterned to the head". The beautiful report card is enough to support SAIC's "MG Dream". In 2019, SAIC Group sold 350,000 vehicles in complete vehicles and overseas sales, a year-on-year increase of 26%, accounting for 33% of the total overseas sales of Chinese auto companies. It can be said that "for every 3 Chinese cars sold overseas, one is on the car!" SAIC Group has won the overseas sales championship for four consecutive years, and globalization has continued to accelerate. Recently, the People's Daily released the "2019 China Brand Development Index 100 List", SAIC Group ranked third, becoming the only automobile manufacturer among the top ten companies, relying on its strength to "sell the ranking". Let’s look at MG’s performance: the total sales volume in 2019 was 298,000 vehicles, ranking first in sports car brands for three consecutive years, of which overseas sales totaled 139,000 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 90%, ranking first in China’s overseas sales list. Its new energy vehicles have entered the overseas market and "grabbed" Europe, with outstanding results, with annual sales exceeding 14,000 vehicles. It is worth mentioning that the MG ZS series has a star-like temperament, with annual overseas sales exceeding 60,000 vehicles, ranking among the top in the UK, Thailand, the Gulf, the Middle East and other markets. It is well deserved to be a "global hot SUV" and successfully completed the world's first 100-kilometer acceleration and deceleration challenge on the aircraft carrier deck, which took only 6.1 seconds; the MG HS/EZS two cars won the European five-star safety together, breaking the international safety certification record of "Made in China" and setting a new milestone in MG's globalization strategy. MG 6 car series, representing the Chinese national team and the British national team, went to the FIA "Auto World Cup" and won the fourth place. Up to now, MG has sold well in more than 60 countries including developed markets such as the United Kingdom, Norway, the Netherlands, Germany, Australia and New Zealand.It can be said that to a certain extent, MG has entered the center of the world stage and its brand has been upward in all dimensions. It is actually the "primrose" in the winter of the auto market. With its hard-core strength of "SAIC's new four modernizations", it has rewrite the global automobile industry structure.
Quickly layout seven large-scale markets - MG Speed
Roman was not built in one day. SAIC's overseas journey can be traced back to the beginning of this century. As early as 2003, SAIC had a series of overseas mergers and acquisitions and investments. In 2008, SAIC specially established an overseas business department. In 2011, SAIC formed an international business preparation group and transformed into an international business department a few years later. It is precisely the way to put internationalization on the table and become an important part of SAIC's "new four modernizations".
SAIC's overseas development has actually only been officially put into operation for only four or five years, but its momentum is extremely rapid. As a pioneer of SAIC's internationalization strategy, SAIC MG MG's overseas development speed has increased like a rocket. In just a few years, MG has quickly formed 7 "scale" markets in the UK, Thailand, Chile, Australia and New Zealand, India, the Middle East GCC and other regions. In the UK, MG became the fastest-growing brand with a sales growth rate of 155.6%, with sales of over 10,000 yuan; in Australia, MG became the number one Chinese passenger car brand; in Thailand, MG ranked seventh in the passenger car market share, and in the first nine months of 2019, SAIC MG surpassed Japan's Suzuki, with a share of 2.5%, becoming the first Chinese automobile brand to break through the monopoly of Japanese brands in Thailand.
Judging from MG's performance statement, 2019 is undoubtedly a year of explosive development. On the one hand, MG models were updated in huge amounts last year, and a number of new cars such as the 2019 MG 6 20T and 50T, pure electric MG EZS, plug-in hybrid MG eHS, etc. rushed out to drive sales. On the other hand, the innovation of new energy and intelligent interconnection has been fully overflowing and has been sought after by the international market.
At present, MG's sales in seven large-scale markets have reached 10,000. Behind MG SAIC Group has completed the overseas industrial chain layout of three overseas R&D centers, three overseas vehicle manufacturing bases, 95 overseas parts bases, 12 regional marketing service centers, more than 500 overseas marketing service outlets, 4 overseas logistics branches and 3 ocean routes. SAIC has even opened a financial company in Southeast Asia. SAIC's full value chain overseas expansion will perfectly support MG's rapid development in the international market.
In 2020, SAIC plans to enter Europe with 2-3 cars and will expand the Singapore market, further radiate to ASEAN, and will also represent the "Chinese national team" to participate in the Dubai World Expo, becoming the only automobile manufacturing company participating in the exhibition at the China Pavilion. Zhao Aimin, Party Secretary and Deputy General Manager of Shanghai Automobile International Trading Co., Ltd., revealed that SAIC's overseas target in 2025 is 1 million vehicles. He said that this goal was not "that came up with a pat on the head", but was achieved through precision calculations. Of course, in order to achieve this "small goal", he also revealed that SAIC is very likely to continue to expand into other overseas markets, including African and North American markets.
MG's overseas model may solve the problem for the internationalization of China's automobile
In the past two years, the decline in sales in China's domestic automobile market has been a foregone conclusion. In the "cold winter" of the domestic auto market, many Chinese auto companies are seeking more overseas sales to balance domestic losses. On the other hand, in the process of China's industrial upgrading, it is the only way for China's manufacturing industry to go overseas to seek a broader market space. At present, it is not rare for Chinese brands to compete in the international market, especially in many industrial fields such as 3C digital, information technology, and artificial intelligence. A series of Chinese brands represented by Huawei, Xiaomi, etc. have strong competitiveness. However, the car brand has not been able to open up the international market before.
Therefore, under such a background, the frequent news of MG's success in overseas markets has a "phenomenal" significance. Its path to the central part of the world is of great reference value for Chinese automobile manufacturing and is worthy of repeated research and consideration. MG's successful overseas experience may become a key for Chinese automobiles to open the door to overseas markets.
Carefully analyzing MG's journey to sea is not difficult to find that there are the following major advantages or characteristics, which are worthy of industry attention.
The innate advantages of international brands
My Jue has an innate advantage of going overseas, which is the international gene of its brand itself. At the media communication meeting, when answering why MG's overseas sales reached 139,000, the first thing I mentioned was MG's brand advantages: "MG, as a century-old international brand, is very profound and very vital. Not only can the MG model itself make users excited and resonate, but its brand itself is also generally appealing in the global market. Overseas consumers have a psychological intimacy and identity for the MG brand itself."
MG is an old British car brand born in the 1920s. In its nearly 100-year history, sports and fashion have been its important brand genes and are well-known to the world. In 2007, SAIC took over the old brand and gave it a new life. Now it seems that the acquisition strategy of that year is very worthwhile. Because MG's own brand accumulation has helped a lot in its later overseas expansion, the local market does not need to re-understand the brand and has an innate favorable impression of the brand, which makes MG's acceptance in the overseas market much higher.
Another interesting thing about the MG brand is that its automobile manufacturing has paused, but the maintenance of the owner club under his brand has never been interrupted. Yu Jingmin attaches great importance to this user-centered brand gene. He said: "We must carry forward this brand well. It is precisely because MG is a global brand controlled by the Chinese, so we must enter the world and go to the center of the world."
system output - MG's hard-core strength for overseas Chinese
After the innate international brand, we also see that supporting MG is the endorsement of SAIC's overall strength. As China's largest automobile manufacturing group, on the one hand, it is recognized by the overseas market by its ability to speak with its strength, and on the other hand, its strong systematic output capabilities have laid a solid foundation for the operation of the international market.
At the end of 2019, MG HS and pure electric MG EZS won two "European five-star safety" and one "Australian five-star safety". MG HS became the first SUV in China to obtain "double five-star" safety in Europe and Australia, and the pure electric MG EZS became the first pure electric small SUV in Europe with Euro NCAP five-star safety. Many SAIC MG MG models also meet strict European standards such as REACH, E-MARK, ECE R100, etc. Behind these "compliances" are the strength of MG and SAIC in the automobile manufacturing industry. These strengths have best endorsed SAIC Group for deepening its European market.
On the other hand, as mentioned above, SAIC's global industrial chain layout has basically been formed. This means that MG's overseas trip has got rid of the simple export trade model, but instead has a "one-stop" systematic overseas trip model. From R&D design to manufacturing, to sales and after-sales service, it can be directly completed overseas, and even provide automobile financial services overseas.
order delivery cycle in Europe is usually two months, but MG can deliver within 2 weeks. This is because SAIC's independent logistics are exported overseas simultaneously. In South America, although the "general agent" is used in the business model, SAIC has independently established a complete marketing system in South America. "The entire value chain is going out at any cost!" Zhao Aimin said that the systematic output is to allow SAIC users in every corner of the world to fully enjoy a high-quality consumption experience. It is the systematic process that spares no expense to allow MG to provide full value chain services in the international market, and users can get a perfect consumption, use and after-sales experience, providing guarantees for it to quickly open up overseas markets.
Differentiated competition - MG's ace going overseas
If MG's going overseas is a deck of cards, then differentiated competition is undoubtedly the ace in MG's hand, and it is the most effective stepping stone in many overseas markets.
When communicating with the media, Zhao Aimin and Yu Jingmin mentioned the keyword differentiation many times. MG's differentiated competition is reflected in almost any link in the industrial chain. MG faces a technical problem of matching charging piles when promoting new energy in Europe.MG used 4 employees and completed the adaptation of 95% of European charging piles within 2 months. European and American companies need to spend more than twice the manpower and time, and can only complete the adaptation of about 80% of the charging piles. Yu Jingmin believes that faster and more will lead to differentiation and will win in fierce competition.
In addition to the differentiation in efficiency, MG's more differentiation on the international market stage comes from both new energy and intelligent interconnection. After the "first pure electric SUV that meets European standards" MG EZS was launched in China in March 2019, it has successively entered Thailand, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Norway, Singapore and other countries. The orders are booming and quickly ranked among the best-selling pure electric cars in the UK. After setting a record for a single shipment scale of 500 ocean freighters, it exported more than 10,000 vehicles in Europe with a single model, setting an astonishing record for China's new energy vehicle export countries. It ranks first in sales of international brand pure electric SUVs for several consecutive months, of which the monthly sales in December reached nearly 5,000. The rapid feedback from MG EZS has caused active reports from European media. Auto Motor Sport magazine, the largest professional and authoritative media in Germany, commented: "This Chinese car is almost comparable to Volkswagen." Subsequently, the "first plug-in hybrid SUV to go overseas" MG eHS was launched in November, also winning the introduction of high-end new energy markets. MG new energy models have made rapid progress around the world and entered Europe in a large scale, driving SAIC MG new energy vehicle overseas sales in 2019, with the continuous growth of orders.
In Thailand, MG became the first intelligent connected car to provide Thai voice interaction in the local market. Use "Savardika" to awaken the magical "magic" of the car to assist MG to break the monopoly of Japanese cars in the local area. Not only that, it also made famous European bloggers jealous and asked on social media: "Why, there is no such car in Europe?" In 2019, SAIC MG MG and Bosch jointly released L2+ autonomous driving technology at the Frankfurt Auto Show in Germany, quickly applied to mass-produced cars such as the new generation of MG ZS; the second-generation EDU was successfully mass-produced, and such things allowed car owners to try world-class technology the fastest, and also allowed SAIC MG MG to write world-class speed again.
The new energy and intelligent networking technology advocated in the "New Four Modernizations" strategy has already made MG taste the sweetness in the international market. "It is SAIC's 'New Four Modernizations' strategy that has brought rapid development to MG. It can also be seen that China's automobile industry has come to the forefront of the world." Yu Jingmin bluntly stated that many of MG's technologies are already at the world's leading level. Differentiated competition led by new energy and intelligent connected technologies may be the trump card that will help MG open up the market for a long time in the future. SAIC's innovative capabilities in new technologies and new experiences will inevitably be accompanied by MG's spillover to the world.
Localization integration - the last piece of MG's overseas puzzle
has a brand, system and innovation. What else should MG's overseas?
Zhao Aimin's answer is localization. "In the process of internationalization, any group or any product must go through a process of close integration with local culture. It does not mean that good products can be sold well. This kind of cultural adaptability is the most difficult thing for us to go abroad."
In MG's internationalization map, there are many regions and countries with extremely complex cultural and political environments, such as the Middle East and India. In the Middle East, MG has grown rapidly in the past two years. But in fact, the complex geographical environment of the Middle East initially made the sales managers assigned by China unable to adapt. It was not until a professional manager with a local cultural background took office that MG became the best-selling Chinese car brand in the Middle East for two years. Coincidentally, when testing the Indian market last year, MG also hired Indian professional managers to lead Indian business. This allowed MG to win an overseas market "10,000-vehicle-level" and the supply of products is in short supply, so India is expected to become a super-large overseas market.
local integration is not only in business, but also in product adaptability."It is precisely because we have gone to more than 60 countries, with more than 500 outlets, and 'nervous endings' spread all over the world, so we can capture front-line information, such as the right-hand market, the left-hand market, developed regions, and underdeveloped regions. What are the different needs? In turn, it is mapped to our three technology centers, the center of the UK, the center of the United States, and the center of Tel Aviv, to influence our development to meet the needs of different regions around the world." Zhao Aimin believes that the more globalized it is, the more it can help SAIC's products localize. With a strong globalization system, MG's products are easily localized: increase the cooling capacity of the compressor with displacement in the Middle East to improve comfort; launch models equipped with i-SMART intelligent systems in Thailand to be the first to respond to Thailand's smart needs; and meet the requirements of children's locks for the rear seats in Australia.
often details determine success or failure, and details can also win trust. Zhao Aimin said: "We are now winning the market with global products. Whether our pure electric MG EZS, MG ZS, and MG HS are all developed global platforms, adaptively adjusting different markets. In this way, they feel that they respect this market and this customer, so they better win the trust of customers." The last and most difficult step in localization of
is cultural integration. "We always reflect the combination of football and MG vehicles around the more concentrated local culture, allowing him to experience the dynamic and sportiness of our MG." This is the fusion method of MG. In Saudi , SAIC cooperated with the AFC team Al Ahli , cooperated with the famous Champions League champion team Liverpool in the UK, and also sponsored the Krokolo football team in Chile in South America. MG will almost launch sports and entertainment marketing every time she goes to a new market, integrating local culture in sports. In addition to the
movement, MG has also seized various opportunities to integrate the brand into the local society. After hearing that Saudi Arabia opened up women's driving, MG seized the opportunity to launch a series of women's product packages, including pink interiors, other service gift packages, and driving environment creation, which deeply impressed local female users. MG in South America realized that young people in South America were pursuing European and American stars and pop music, so she invited Justin Bieber to hold a concert in South America. In addition, MG is also keen on carrying out public welfare marketing activities in various regional markets. For example, when the first car was launched, it launched a public welfare activity for girls out of school in India when it was launched, and received numerous praises in India.
Whether in India or Thailand, the Middle East, South America, or Australia, MG has targeted the MG brand to interact with consumers at different levels of local levels based on the pain points and difficulties that local people are concerned about in each market. Not only are conventional marketing methods such as trial rides, test drives, sales stores, etc., but also various forms of interaction methods. "In this way, the MG brand is always tied to the user experience, which is conducive to the establishment and improvement of the brand and increase sales." Let the brand constantly collide and interact with local culture, and let users feel the brand's respect for them. This is a localized way at the cultural level. Compared with visible product localization, localization at the brand culture level is often invisible, but it can truly integrate MG into local culture invisibly.
postscript
When this article was written, the new CES exhibition was held in Las Vegas. Xinhua News Agency commented in the report: Chinese companies displayed many innovative technologies and products in the fields of 5G, artificial intelligence, smart homes, electric vehicles, etc. at this exhibition, showing a rapid momentum of upgrading from "Made in China" to "Made in China". It is true that China's manufacturing is no longer the era when it relied on the advantages of cheap labor and relied on the replication of low-cost and low-tech content. On the contrary, China has been at the forefront of the world in the combination of traditional manufacturing and new technologies, and many successful brands have also been accorded the reputation of "made in China" in the international market. As the crown of industrial manufacturing, it is imperative for Chinese automobiles to go overseas, and the opportunity to go overseas is by no means simple and crude low-price competition, nor by one-stop export trade.Although MG's model cannot adapt to all car companies, their experience can at least show that under the current conditions of China's manufacturing, brand, and technology, the breakthrough of China's automobile journey to overseas lies in brand, system, and culture. Although this article is about MG today, I believe that MG will not only be the MG family who will successfully go overseas in the future.
