The apology of the layman and the guidance of the insider has also become a hype


　　.

Blind sports injuries and car companies' impulse spawn bubbles

　　In all fairness, compared with speculative trading on the stock market, the new energy automobile industry is more willing to accept investors who invest real money in.

However, everything has two sides, and the massive influx of capital will also bring unexpected effects.

　　From an enterprise perspective, the "cross-border marketing thinking" brought by some investors has become an unacceptable "confusing behavior" in the automotive industry.

After all, when buying a car with a high enough price and a large-scale consumer product that may affect the life of the family, consumers will be more inclined to choose rational and prudent merchants.

From an industry perspective, the influx of capital will inevitably bring about a bigger bubble, and when the bubble finally bursts, the industry itself will still be injured.

　　The blind movement of capital: when an apology becomes a hype of Nezha's "self-destructive image"

　　If there is no "marketing expert" Peng Gang's wonderful remarks, Nezha Motors should still be a second-tier new car company that sells cars conscientiously and strives to catch up with "Wei Xiaoli".

In July of this year, Nezha Motors sold more than 6,000 new cars. Among them, Nezha V sold more than 4,000 vehicles, and it was also among the top ten in the industry.

Such a result is actually pretty good for a second-tier new car company with a weak foundation.

　　But the marketing expert hopes that Nezha will have greater exposure.

So there was the "Wu Yifan endorsement" incident that asked for a hammer.

Nezha Automobile made the top search headlines on Weibo as he wished, and then he and Nezha Automobile "half of the public relations team" were fired.

　　It is worth noting that Nezha Automobile’s shareholder 360 Company Weibo forwarded Nezha Automobile’s above statement and stated that the company has always advocated the mainstream values ​​of proactiveness and compliance with public order and good customs, and resolutely opposes the use of negative entertainment incidents for eyeballs and maliciousness without a bottom line. Hype.

　　Interestingly, according to industry insiders, Peng Gang was dispatched by 360 to Nezha Motors.

Prior to this, Peng Gang's "record" in the automotive industry was the planning of the "Battery Safety Commitment" event and the "Bitcoin car purchase" event of GAC Weilai.

The two major marketing events, of course, once pushed GAC NIO on the hot search, but the former made suppliers and partners unhappy, and the latter touched the regulatory red line. Moreover, after "a meal is as fierce as a tiger", GAC NIO Neither brand reputation nor market performance has been improved.

In the first half of this year, GAC Weilai only sold more than 100 vehicles.

　　But it was such a marketing expert who still entered Nezha Automobile in the form of an investor-appointed executive, became its "market leader" and directed another farce.

In fact, according to industry insiders, after Peng Gang took over the marketing business of Nezha Auto, some marketing concepts and operating methods were not recognized by the original team.

　　After the incident was exposed, the focus of public opinion was once on Peng Gang, who gave out strange remarks.

But with the disclosure of more detailed information, people found that the whole incident was more like a self-directed and self-performed game of chess, and the "half public relations team" including Peng Gang might be just a piece of it.

　　There is another person playing chess.

　　In May of this year, 360 took a stake in Nezha Automobile as a strategic investor and became its second largest shareholder.

At the time of the official announcement, Zhou Hongyi, the founder and chairman of 360, also got a new identity: the "product manager" of Nezha Auto.

According to the conventions of the automotive industry, the person who can serve as a "product manager" is often the person in a car company who has the deepest knowledge of a certain product.

Zhou Hongyi, who has just joined Nezha Motors, obviously thinks that he understands products better than many people in Nezha Motors.

But in fact, judging from some remarks released by Zhou Hongyi afterwards, the product manager's perception of the development of the automotive industry in the electrified era is somewhat different.

　　For example, "national smart cars less than 150,000 yuan" is the positioning given to Nezha by the new product manager.

I remember that after the FAW Group incorporated Tianjin Xiali into its subordinates, it positioned the latter as an "economic car production base."

Since then, "Xia Li", a smashing brand, has never gotten rid of its cheap and low-end positioning until it is delisted.

　　Of course, this may be due to Zhou Hongyi’s unique understanding of the high-end itself: “Today a car with more than 100,000 yuan, as long as you carry a sufficient battery density, you can also enjoy the same experience as a luxury car.” In Zhou Hongyi’s In the eyes of the electrification era, it seems that only the cruising range affects the definition of "luxury".

　　In addition, in order to defend his series of out-of-circle remarks, Zhou Hongyi also did not hesitate to "open up" friends and merchants in public.

Regardless of the content of the discussion, Zhou Hongyi and 360 Company have at least made public their influence on Nezha Motors.

　　After the Oolong marketing incident, 360, as the “second shareholder” of Nezha Auto, also forwarded Nezha Auto’s Weibo on the matter immediately, showing that 360’s participation in this matter is important. More than the average investor.

　　According to industry insiders, 360 participated in the operation and management of the company after participating in Nezha Motors.

The Peng Gang who caused the trouble this time was sent by the 360 ​​party to Nezha Automobile, trying to use his familiar Internet thinking to transform the product and marketing of Nezha Automobile.

　　But what did Nezha get?

According to data from the Travel Federation, Nezha’s sales volume in July this year was 6,011, a year-on-year increase of 392%. At the same time, the cumulative delivery volume in the first seven months of this year reached 27,100, making it a new car manufacturer second only to "Wei Xiaoli". .

Moreover, compared with the previous Nezha Automobile's excessive reliance on the sales structure of online car-hailing vehicles, the proportion of personal user deliveries of the brand in July this year was close to 90%.

This means that Nezha's sales structure began to tilt from the B end to the C end.

　　However, when the proportion of C-end sales has just begun to increase significantly, Nezha Automobile’s marketing oolong that damages its brand image is bound to have an adverse impact on the choices of individual consumers.

　　The 360 ​​company behind Nezha Automobile’s unsuccessful marketing hype is to blame.

This also proves that investors from outside the industry cannot accurately grasp the spreading laws of such bulk consumer goods as automobiles. Forcibly copying them can only be the harder they are, the more counterproductive they are.

　　Cars are a major consumer product. Even a Nezha car of 150,000 yuan is equivalent to the price of dozens or even hundreds of mobile phones. I must also bring some respect.

　　The impulse of capital: If Xiaomi doesn't build a car, does it have hundreds of billions of cash to buy wealth management?

　　Unlike Zhou Hongyi, who couldn't wait to participate in car building and car sales, Lei Jun entered the stadium earlier, but his movements were a lot more stable.

Since the official announcement at the end of March, Xiaomi's car-building project is still recruiting people and selecting locations.

On August 16, it was just announced that the headquarters and factory of the Xiaomi car project will be located in Beijing.

　　In fact, when it comes to ample funds, Xiaomi, which has a deep influence on 360's entry and construction of cars, is really not bad money.

At the press conference at the end of March this year, when Xiaomi founder Lei Jun announced his plan to build a car, the big screen showed a solid foundation of Xiaomi Group's "cash balance of 108 billion yuan".

The next content still revolves around funding: 10 billion US dollars investment in 10 years, an initial investment of 10 billion yuan...

　　This allows people to see the driving force of capital while paying attention to Lei Jun's personal aspirations.

Common sense of economics tells us that the more than 100 billion yuan in cash on Xiaomi's account requires a good investment target to create more wealth for the company.

"If you don't invest, is it possible for Xiaomi to buy wealth management products?" A financial industry person said with a smile.

　　As for investment, “car building” is exactly what capital sees as the outlet industry, just like the Internet boom that Xiaomi leveraged to take off back then.

In fact, Xiaomi has already made advance arrangements in the automotive industry by investing in related companies.

Kay Lide, a supplier of on-board maps, and PATEO, a supplier of car and machine systems, are all investment targets of Xiaomi; Shunwei Capital, founded by Lei Jun, has also directly invested in two vehicle manufacturers, Weilai and Xiaopeng.

This time, he personally went to build a car, which is also the result of pursuing more investment interests.

　　The automobile industry, especially the new energy automobile industry, has long been recognized as an outlet industry.

This year is the first year of "carbon neutrality" and "carbon peak", and the automotive industry must rely on new energy vehicles to achieve carbon peak and carbon neutrality.

　　At the same time, many favorable policies are also being brewed: speed up research on core technologies, support research and development and industrial applications such as automotive chips and operating systems; launch a new round of new energy vehicles to the countryside, accelerate the construction of charging and replacement infrastructure, and encourage replacement Electricity; optimizing the industrial development environment, deepening the reform of decentralization, management and service, orderly opening up OEM production, and so on.

　　In this context, the new energy vehicle sector, which has been favored by investors, has become more active.

In early March, the three listed companies of Weilai, Xiaopeng, and Ideal among the new forces ushered in a round of rising prices.

In the short two trading days between when Xiaomi officially announced the car and the holiday market was closed, Xiaomi's stock price also rose by 3%.

The “outlet” attribute of new energy vehicles is even clearer than when new forces for building vehicles first appeared on the scene a few years ago.

　　It is no wonder that in Zhou Hongyi's view, capital from the Internet industry has entered the field of car manufacturing, not too much, but not too much.

　　But the influx of capital has also caused the "new car" bubble to be blown up.

In fact, domestic auto sales have fallen for four consecutive years as more capital is pouring in.

After reaching a peak of nearly 28.88 million vehicles in 2017, it gradually declined to 25.31 million vehicles in 2020.

It is reported that the country's automobile production capacity exceeds 35 million, which means that there were 10 million idle production capacity that year.

The situation of idle capacity is particularly prominent in some areas with active capital.

Previously, a document from the Jiangsu Provincial Development and Reform Commission showed that the utilization rate of automobile production capacity in the province has been declining year after year, from 78% in 2016 to 33% in 2020.

According to industry analysis, it is the blind pull-up of the new energy vehicle project that has lowered the capacity utilization rate, and the resources behind it are idle or even wasted, which can be imagined.

At the capital level, the "car-making" bubble will only get bigger.

　　Does capital know how to build cars?

This issue is not important anymore, capital only needs to understand investment.

But investment must also avoid blindness and impulse.

After all, car making is an industry, with its inherent laws and rules, blind "innovation" will only be counterproductive, and excessive investment is an unbearable burden for the industry.

　　Text/Yang Zheng