Traditional car companies digital transformation first battle lost, delivery cycle crushed by the new forces?

Digitalization is a general trend, which has long been an unquestionable *** knowledge in the automotive industry.

But the vast majority of car companies in the digital, intelligent transformation, often focusing only on the hardware level, such as automated driving technology, digital factories, automotive software R & D, etc.; and in the user experience is closely related to the marketing level of the lack of investment.

This has resulted in a number of veteran companies directly lost in the intelligent "starting line" - in the opening stage of the delivery process digitalization, that is, by Tesla and other latecomers mercilessly hanged, brutal crushing.

Tesla delivery cycle crushed traditional car companies

First is the length of the delivery cycle.

Most car companies think that as long as the owner signs the order, it means everything is safe. The delivery process is also related to the user's experience of buying a car, because the delivery cycle is too long, resulting in the "cooked duck flew away" situation is not uncommon.

For example, BYD Han, which has been highly praised by users since its launch, has won many orders. Unfortunately, due to capacity constraints, the number of orders actually delivered has been very limited, resulting in a long wait for most users.

"If we don't get the goods again, I want to return the order." Many BYDH owners are complaining because of the delay in picking up their cars.

FirstElectric.com, in contacting a number of BYD New Energy dealers in Beijing, found that except for the BYD Han, all other models are available in stores. Among them, the delivery cycle for the Han DM is more than 1 month, while the Han EV takes longer 2-3?months.

This is in stark contrast to Tesla's delivery performance.

A few days ago, according to foreign media reports, Tesla launched in March last year, Model?Y, in the first quarter of this year has begun production and delivery to consumers, after nearly half a year of production, the production efficiency of this electric car has also been significantly improved, the delivery time is greatly reduced.

Tesla's official website shows that in the U.S. market, consumers who book the Model?Y now are expected to have it delivered in 2-4 weeks, two weeks shorter than the previous 4-6 weeks. That means North American customers ordering cars now will be able to receive them before the end of the third quarter.

Media reports have linked Tesla's production ramp-up to a casting machine that was recently put into service at the Fremont plant. on Aug. 24, Tesla China released information about Model?Y production in the media, with a statement that said the giant casting machine had been put into service at the Fremont plant. Installation of the GA?4.5 production line, which is dedicated to the production of the Model?Y?model, was also completed at the plant.

The accelerated delivery of the Model?Y? models coincides with a two- to four-week lead time for the Model?3 in North America.The reduction in production time for the Model?3 can also be attributed in part to the Model?Y?'s new stand-alone assembly line, as production of the Model?Y? now doesn't tie up the Model?3's production line.

Delivery times for the Model?S and Model?X range from 5 to 14 weeks, depending on region.

The delivery cycle of the new car-making forces is clearly available

When the first electric network tried to search for information on the product delivery cycle of various car companies, it opened the official websites of traditional car companies and new car-making forces to find out that the official websites of Guangzhou Automotive New Energy (GNRE), BAIC New Energy (BNE), and other traditional car companies did not have an "online customer service" function. Even if there is customer service, such as BYD New Energy, when asked about the specific delivery cycle of a particular product, the answer is surprisingly consistent - "this question we can not answer", or "we do not understand the specifics, please consult your local dealer for details. Please consult your local dealer for details."

New car makers almost invariably have customer service on their websites, and are quick to answer questions about their products' lead times.

Some customer service companies can even clearly give the different appearance, range, version of a model of different delivery cycle. For example, Xiaopeng Automobile. In response to the first electric network proposed G3?520 version, customer service first gave a rough delivery interval of 2-10?weeks; later added a detailed explanation of "520i?Premium version of all models of the cycle of ?8-10?weeks, 520i Intelligent version of the top of the black gray cool gray is ?2-4?weeks.

In fact, in addition to online customer service?24?hours a day to receive customer inquiries, Azera, Xiaopeng and Ideal all have specialized customer service end APPs, where the delivery cycle of different models is clearly available.

(The version page of ES8 in the APP of Azalea)

According to the incomplete statistics of the first electric network, the product delivery cycle (from the date of order) of Tesla (China market), the new car-making forces and different car enterprises is shown in the following table:

Online ordering, the delivery process is transparent

A simple delivery problem can reflect the different existing survival logic and marketing concepts of car companies.

Despite the fact that all the traditional car companies are shouting "digital transformation" every day, very few of them have actually implemented it into the whole chain of production, sales and delivery.

As far as the marketing model is concerned, the vast majority of traditional car companies still use the "large-scale wholesale + fixed stores retail" model when marketing new energy vehicles, i.e., from the enterprise itself rather than the real needs of the users, to independently decide on the production capacity at each stage, and then transfer the distribution pressure to the downstream, by the Distributors and stores to carry the risk of pressurized goods and warehouse for the enterprise, as well as the high cost of rent and manpower.

Under this model, once there is a new crown epidemic such as the "black swan" event, or the upper leadership due to misjudgment of the market situation, and decision-making errors, then the light will result in the supply of the products users need to lag behind, the user is not willing to buy the product but a lot of backlogs, the end result is that the customer because of the experience of poor and a large number of loss; and inventory is difficult to digest for a long time. A large number of loss; and inventory is difficult to digest for a long time may lead to poor capital flow or even break, jeopardizing the survival of the enterprise.

In the view of traditional car companies, its original marketing channels used to distribute fuel vehicles, widely distributed and mature development, should become a new energy vehicle "ready-made resources", but also save a lot of cost. But contrary to expectations, I did not expect, precisely these inherent resources and ways to bind their feet, paralyzed their nerves and sense of smell, so that the smart electric car market "new law of the jungle" blind.

Compared with the traditional car companies, Tesla and several new car-making forces in China understand the core of the Internet, and have consistently applied the concept of "the user is the king", thus subverting the traditional marketing model.

They no longer take for granted their "intuition" about the market and hastily set a large number of production targets, but rather "set production based on sales" by opening up the flow of data from users and mastering their potential purchasing needs before mass production; or adopt a customized production model, allowing users to choose from a wide range of models. Or take a customized production mode, allowing users from the model, version, battery to the appearance of the color, wheels, interior, keys and other details of the "personalized configuration", until the lock single completed, the factory began production.

(Tesla? APP? ES8 personalized configuration page)

Tesla and a number of new car makers such as Xiaopeng, Weilai and Weimar have adopted this kind of online direct marketing and offline experience.

Online marketing is mainly through its own brand APP or official website for car owners to choose and buy cars online.

"Tesla all network uniform price, no preferential no discount, buy a car just like buying a cell phone, the official website order deposit, waiting for matching vehicles, pay the final payment, and finally pick up the car to go." A Tesla owner said when sharing his car buying process, "And the deposit is refundable at the stage of car shopping, and you can also change models and configurations at any time, so the degree of flexibility is very high."

The new car-making forces in China have also almost all developed their own?APPs and are constantly upgrading their functions.

For example, at the beginning of the year, Xiaopeng Automobile announced that the APP digital service function was upgraded again, which can realize the onlineization of the Xiaopeng G3 from placing an order to signing a contract for processing to the delivery process. Users can handle, view and track the progress of the business in real time. Moreover, the progress of the whole process, including deposit payment, agreement signing, vehicle transportation and vehicle delivery, can also be viewed online. When the car purchase process reaches the corresponding node,?APP will automatically remind the owner of the progress and light up the content of the business process, and when the matter is processed, the next node will be automatically lit up until the delivery is completed, realizing a one-stop online service, so that each owner of the delivery node all know, reducing the anxiety of the waiting process.

These companies' offline marketing methods are also different from traditional car companies.

Tesla and the new car-making forces are no longer like traditional enterprises, in a location far from the city center to open a 4S store, but in the major business districts to open an experience store, to meet the customer to see the car, test the car, the whole process of ordering the car needs. This marketing model is able to effectively reduce the labor costs of car companies, the second is convenient for customers to enter the store experience, and the third is able to penetrate into a variety of life scenarios, for the brand in the invisible bring traffic and attention.

But don't traditional car companies have their own?APP?

Of course not. For example, Guangzhou Automobile New Energy Vehicle's?APP?also supports online car selection and booking, personalized configuration for the vehicle's appearance, interior, etc., and shows the delivery time in the booking interface, but one thing that is different from Tesla and the new car-making forces is that no user will choose to place an order directly on these APPs.

The fundamental reason lies in the fact that the product prices shown on the APP?APP of many traditional car companies are the official guide price, and the final booking price only deducts the subsidized portion, but when you buy a car in a store, you can additionally enjoy up to tens of thousands of dollars of discounts. For example, a certain car?APP?shows pricing of?15?000 yuan, but the store cut price is only?12?000 yuan, so that for first-time buyers, the need to download and use the?APP is lost.?

Conclusion

The "culprit" that kills the camel is never the last straw, but the pressure that is constantly being added to the limit.

Likewise, those deep-rooted veteran car companies, the early years of the "kingdom" - a huge user base will not disappear in a flash, but will be like the "hourglass". The company's "brand name" is the same as the "Hourglass", which is a little bit of detail that has been lost over the years.

So instead of Tesla being too powerful, these "dinosaurs" have failed to completely lower their stance in front of users before the end of the Cretaceous period, completely completing the "digital transformation".

This article was written by the author of AutoNavi, and does not represent the views of AutoNavi.