From knock-off old-man's electric vehicles to industrial giant

Chapter 88 Incredible Customer Conversion Rate

The sales staff and managers of the nearby 4S stores all shared similar ideas.

Over the years, this automotive industrial park has been sustained by these traditional, seasoned veterans and a joint repair shop.

Some of the mobile shops next door, belonging to car brands, went out of business after a while, and some even went bankrupt altogether.

but.

This idea only lasted for a short two weeks.

In the first few days, this Xingchen Auto brand store launched a wildly popular "giveaway of eggs" campaign.

Test drive and get a free thermos or umbrella?
No, just walk into the store, check in, and spend at least fifteen minutes looking at the car to receive a free gift!
A few more days passed.

More and more people are coming to claim the "free benefits," and those who come to the auto park to buy gasoline cars are being drawn to the store.

Then something very strange happened.

At this Xingchen 4S store, the number of display cars outside the door is gradually decreasing.

They sold out right before our eyes!
The next day, another twenty or so delivery trucks arrived, and several were immediately ordered by customers as soon as they got to the store.

"Holy crap... what kind of incredible customer conversion rate is this?!"

The sales managers at Geely and Changan 4S stores stared wide-eyed, their eyes bigger than a cow's!
He looked puzzled.

Has the market trend changed recently, with consumers showing greater enthusiasm for entry-level cars?
It's true that cars priced at 50,000 yuan are good for high sales volume.

But it seems... the sales volume didn't reach that level!

Realizing something was wrong, they quickly took action!

They also launched an "egg giveaway" campaign.

Branded umbrellas, water bottles, aromatherapy pendants... all given away free with a test drive in-store.

This measure has been very effective.

The number of customers in the store immediately increased.

But what's alarming is that... the actual number of car sales did not increase, and even decreased.

This Geely sales manager watched helplessly as a customer test-drove a car at their store, received a free gift, and then went to the nearby Xingchen Auto Store to pay for it.

Finally, he couldn't hold back any longer and asked as the other person walked past the store:
"Dude, you just picked up our test drive gift, why did you suddenly order from another company?"

"Uh... let's put it another way. Just because I test drove a car at your store and received a prize doesn't mean I'll definitely buy a car. Isn't this a voluntary event?" The consumer paused for a moment before responding.

"No, what I mean is, our cars are actually pretty good too. What did you see in this no-name electric car?" Geely's sales manager thought for a moment and then asked patiently.

"This car is beautiful."

"But we're a traditional, well-known brand, and our service and after-sales support are very stable..."

"I know, but this car is really good-looking, don't you think?"

"Friend, for this kind of emerging brand, appearance design doesn't represent everything..."

"Yeah, but this car is totally my type, and I can afford it."

"Can we not talk about the exterior design?"

"Sure, this car doesn't run on gasoline, the car registration service fee is only 400 yuan, there's no mandatory loan or insurance, and it even has a large entertainment screen and reversing camera like the high-end models. Can you do that for 50,000 yuan?"

"...How about we get back to talking about the exterior design?"

……

After a series of questions and answers, the sales manager was completely exasperated.

Let alone 50,000.

These are low-end cars costing 80,000 or 100,000 yuan. It seems that unless you opt for the optional extras, a reversing camera is not standard.

In fact, he also suffered from the big corporate disease, thinking that his traditional brand could have any credibility with consumers based on its corporate image.

In reality, cars costing tens of thousands of yuan are considered by ordinary people to be the least religious.

As long as the price-performance ratio is good, I'm willing to buy a car for the elderly, let alone a car in this price range.
Moreover, the consumers had already searched online.

This Xingchen Auto has a decent online presence; you can easily find detailed review videos from car reviewers. The reviews are well-organized and logical, and coupled with the strong product capabilities, it's enough to make someone want to buy it.

……

Throughout September, the Star Mini performed exceptionally well in the offline market.

They swept through the entry-level car market like a whirlwind, creating chaos! "Mr. Xu! Good news..."

"In the first half of the month, we sold a total of 5,000 cars, which exceeded the total sales of last month. We expect that this month, we will likely be able to break through 12,000 cars!"

Yu Nian brought this exciting news.

Monthly sales have exceeded 10,000 units!!

All things considered, that's over 100,000 units sold annually. This is quite different from old-age vehicles; this company ranks among the top new energy vehicle manufacturers nationwide!

Upon hearing this.

Xu Yi became slightly nervous and quickly asked, "How is the factory's production capacity adjustment going? Is it keeping up?"

"The factory is working at full speed to keep up with demand. The time from ordering a car at the store to waiting to pick it up will not exceed twelve days. For nearby provinces, the delivery time is reduced to about seven to ten days."

Yu Nian immediately responded.

This speed is considered very fast.

Although their factory's maximum production capacity is 200,000, it takes time to get it running from the preheating stage to full capacity.

This is also what Xu Yi is worried about.

Compared to the traditional model, the direct-sales model has many advantages, with efficiency being almost drastically superior, but it has one major drawback.

That means before the scale is established, production capacity must race against time!
In the traditional dealership model, factories can first mass-produce vehicles and sell them directly to dealers, allowing dealers in various regions to pick up large quantities of goods and use them as "storage warehouses".

However, this is difficult for Xingchen Motors' direct-sales hybrid model.

Because half of the directly operated stores were expanded by them with their own money, it's like they used cash flow to stockpile some production capacity in advance. The other mixed directly operated stores won't have many cars in stock.

and so.

In the first month after the launch, in order to avoid the risk of inventory backlog and cash flow problems, only half of the production capacity could be opened. Only with the actual rapid growth of orders and the rapid expansion of stores could the production capacity be gradually increased to the maximum.

Xu Yi was no longer worried about his own factory, and then asked a crucial question.

"What about the Vaillant battery factory? Can its battery production capacity keep up with demand?"

Yu Nian took a deep breath, then gave a wry smile: "Vanilla's production capacity is almost at full capacity too..."

Currently, with the Star Mini producing 10,000 units per month, the demand for battery packs is enormous.

Meanwhile, at the Weineng battery plant, after a round of capacity expansion, the total capacity has just exceeded 2GWh, and it also has to handle a portion of the passenger vehicle orders.

This production capacity is currently considered to be at the mid-level of second-tier battery suppliers in China. If it were a third-tier battery supplier with a total production capacity of less than 1GWh, it would be impossible to meet the needs of Xingchen Motors.

of course.

Xingchen can also choose to cooperate with multiple battery suppliers at the same time. After all, the current A1 battery cells are not difficult to produce and have flexible production capacity. In addition, there is also an independent battery plant waiting to be built.

"Fortunately, Vaillant's new plant is mostly completed and will soon be able to open up more battery production capacity, which should be able to keep up with the upper limit of our factory's capacity," Yu Nian said.

After saying this, he himself felt extremely regretful.

At this rate of sales growth, their production capacity will probably soon be fully utilized, delivering more than 16,000 units per month!

But now it seems that the market potential for mini cars is simply astonishing!
Breaking the monthly sales mark of 20,000 units is absolutely no problem.

However, their production capacity could not keep up.

This is the difference between the car market and the elderly care vehicle market.

Even if you create a blockbuster model that is unbeatable in its price range, it is very difficult for a single car company brand to monopolize the market share or squeeze other car companies out of business.

Based on the estimated total market size of microcars, it would probably be no problem to accommodate several car brands at the same time.

Seeing Yu Nian's pained expression, Xu Yi was at a loss for words, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

Their current order volume is far from enough to warrant anxiety.

After all, he had personally witnessed the explosive moment when Thor unveiled the SU7.

In one night, an incredible 200,000 orders were placed, but due to production capacity limitations, only 10,000 units could be delivered each month!

This is what you call extreme pain!
"It's already good enough. Our production capacity hasn't reached its limit yet. Let's get the production of A2 battery cells in place as soon as possible. Then the profit of the whole vehicle can be increased by a lot, which is no worse than increasing production capacity!" Xu Yi waved his hand.

The development of the "A2 battery cell" has now reached its final stage.

This is their first battery technology developed entirely in-house, possessing a complete technology chain and patents.

To proceed with mass production and meet the massive supply demands of their Star Mini series, Vaillant will have to adopt an OEM manufacturing model.

(End of this chapter)