Reporter | Li Xiuhui Yan Yao
Image Source | Respondent provided
In May, the good news of SAIC on various "battlefields" overseas was constantly being passed back to China. Thousands of MG EZS are ready to be shipped in Belgium ports and are ready to be shipped to various European markets. SAIC South America is in full swing to conduct marketing activities for the "Sales King" MG ZS. The May Ramadan event in the Middle East market is very popular. In Australia, with the launch of the new MG HS, more dealers come to seek cooperation. On May 28, SAIC Pakistan's first MG HS was launched, and the new factory completed its delivery in just 9 months with the cooperation of all parties.
Behind the "hot" sales of SAIC overseas is the "strong" strength and tenacity of SAIC people who are striving around the world, and are engaged in relays and linkages between domestic and foreign countries, giving full play to SAIC's comprehensive advantages in the entire industrial chain, opening up new overseas markets, and continuously launching the SAIC brand, empowering domestic and foreign dual circulation .
Plant a seed in the new market
Pakistan The annual car sales are about 250,000 vehicles. Why did SAIC choose to make a move in this small-scale market?
"After we contacted partners to understand the local market, we felt that there was great potential, so we advised the leaders, why not plant a seed in the local area?" said Shen Weimin, secretary of the Fourth Party Branch of SAIC International. In this way, after gaining a full understanding of the market, SAIC's international territory has another country on the "Belt and Road".
As expected, this seed grows very fast.
Considering that local consumers have strong demand for high-quality vehicles, the Pakistani team first used 3,000 Australian versions top-end 1.5T MG HS to "test the waters" locally. The MG HS, which is sold locally at about RMB 250,000, is in short supply. Since January this year, SAIC Pakistan has sold 9,500 MG HS, and is expected to achieve sales of 20,000 units this year, becoming another "10,000-level" market in SAIC in the first year.
Pakistan's automobile market is in the "crazy expansion" seller market stage, and has been monopolized by three major Japanese auto manufacturers Suzuki , Toyota and Honda. The streets are full of old small cars such as CITY and Fit . The products are old and the quality control is not as good as those made in Japan. Shen Weimin said: "Now entering Pakistan is like when Santana entered China, products with good design and quality are simply popular in the local area."
In order to lay a basic marketing system before is offline, Zhang Deng and Zhao Jie of SAIC Pakistani Company did not even pass the Spring Festival, so they flew to the local area to warm up the market in advance. After the MG HS was launched, it was indeed "snatched up". Some consumers heard that the chip shortage storm may cause delays in delivery, so they went to the exhibition hall to express their determination to wait in line and never refund the money. Some people almost "fight" for this.
is on one side with a hot sales momentum and a busy construction site. Suez Canal incident delayed a batch of production equipment to arrive in Pakistan. In order to regain the progress of the project, whether it is the support team of SAIC Passenger Vehicle Nanjing Base or the "Batie" brothers of Pakistan MG JW Company, the partner, each gave up the May Day holiday and Ramadan vacation to race against time in the hot weather, in order to catch up with the time node when the first MG HS was taken off the line.
meets the exclusive needs of overseas models
In the immature Pakistan market, SAIC is "grabbing the land" at an astonishing speed. In order to open up a new situation in the fiercely competitive South American market, brand image and technical strength are indispensable.
To launch a new car in South America, it requires not only the long journey from China to abroad, but also the design and manufacturing process.
"Due to the different standards of each country and the different needs of users in different places, we usually have to carry out a lot of adaptability improvement work based on prototype vehicles." Zhao Chaoyang, project manager of SAIC Passenger Vehicles, gave an example, for example, electronic handbrakes are installed in China, "but users in some regions like the feeling of pulling handbrakes, and we develop mechanical handbrakes on automatic transmission models to meet customer needs."
In Chile , the competition among automobile brands has long been fierce. The compact SUV market, such as the Japanese and Korean, are strong competitors of SAIC's independent brand MG. Even so, the MG brand has gained a large number of orders and consumers' recognition with its excellent performance and excellent quality: in the first quarter of this year, the MG brand's market share in the local passenger car market jumped to third place, becoming the leader among Chinese brands.
The overseas market is flying, and the full support of SAIC Passenger Cars is inseparable from SAIC Passenger Cars. Zhao Chaoyang recalled: "Chile is a mountainous country, and the working conditions on the slope are far worse than those in China. "In response to the specific capacity requirements of overseas models, SAIC Passenger Vehicle quickly established a small team of 6 people, and developed in parallel through simultaneous EP verification. "We overcame problems such as sample processing and long vehicle durability test cycles, and finally completed the development of models for mountainous countries within 6 months, and increased the climbing capacity of this export vehicle by 20%. "
Domestic silver car sales are relatively low, but there are many users in the South American market who choose silver car. In order to meet market demand, SAIC Passenger Car has developed a blade silver body color exclusive to the overseas market on the domestic main sales models, and has encouraged local dealers to participate in color development and review. "In order not to delay the market progress of overseas models, we have compressed the paint debugging cycle from the original one-week round to three-day round of trial spray, review, and color adjustment, which ultimately ensured that all the models before overseas markets were displayed to local consumers in the silver color that customers liked the most. "Zhao Chaoyang said.
is the "big rear" on the front line
. In order to fully support the front line, in addition to SAIC Passenger Cars, there is also a "big rear" like SAIC International. At the end of April, Chen Minghua posted a photo of his other five colleagues at the airport on WeChat Moments. Their destination for this trip is Europe.
It is understood that there are a total of After receiving training, 15 SAIC International employees went to Europe, Pakistan, Mexico , Indonesia and other overseas first-tier markets. This group of talents is an urgent need for overseas companies since the beginning of this year. With the expansion of various markets, the demand for talents is very strong. Before the group of employees set off, SAIC International also held a pre-trip exchange meeting, one by one First, understand the actual needs of employees, and introduce them to the care and guarantee measures for overseas employees such as the "Huajie 24-hour hotline".
In addition to cultivating and delivering talents for the front line, SAIC also invited three foreign employees who have been working in overseas bases for a long time as expert mentors to "make up lessons" for the Pakistani team and share overseas "practical" experience in production, quality management, finance, etc.
SAIC Pakistan factory is the fourth factory established overseas by SAIC after Thailand, India and Indonesia. Zhao Aimin, Party Secretary and Deputy General Manager of SAIC International, said that expanding more production bases overseas and seeking new additions is an important part of SAIC's overseas planning during the "14th Five-Year Plan". This marks that SAIC can combine the characteristics of different overseas regional markets to provide global consumers with high-quality localized products and services, and continue to deepen its overseas markets.
