"I have found that the popularity of pickup trucks in the United States, Europe, Southeast Asia and other countries is very high, and the models are quite fashionable and generous. I think it's a market with a lot of potential. ”
If wei Jianjun, chairman of Great Wall Motor Co., Ltd., had not received much recognition for pickup trucks, a relatively niche automobile category with more restrictions in domestic regulations, many years ago. However, looking back at the past 2021, the cumulative sales of Great Wall pickup trucks in the world exceeded 2 million, becoming the only Chinese pickup brand to enter the "2 million club", and the sales of the great wall cannon exceeded 200,000 units on the second anniversary of its listing.
In the whole year of 2021, great wall pickup trucks sold 233006 vehicles worldwide, of which 43,599 were sold overseas, a year-on-year increase of 119%, ranking first in domestic and export sales for 24 consecutive years. In December 2021 alone, the global sales of Great Wall pickup trucks reached 25,033 units, with a cumulative sales of more than 20,000 vehicles in 16 months, of which the Great Wall Cannon sold 15,117 vehicles worldwide in December, with a cumulative sales volume of more than 10,000 in 18 months, and 127,940 vehicles sold in 2021, continuing to win the domestic pickup truck brand sales champion.
There is no doubt that 2021 not only confirms Wei Jianjun's prediction that "the pickup truck market has great potential", but also writes a strong stroke in Wei Jianjun's pickup story in the past thirty years.
The beginning of Wei Jianjun's pickup truck story goes back to the 90s of the last century.
In 1990, Wei Jianjun officially took over Great Wall Motors, when the debt of up to 2 million yuan of the Great Wall is far from the style of one of the leaders of its own brands today, how to quickly achieve a turnaround has become a top priority after Wei Jianjun took over.
After entering the agricultural vehicle and car markets, through market research, Wei Jianjun finally set his sights on the pickup truck market, which was rarely asked by brand car companies at that time, although it was not a big gamble, but at least it was another way of "sword taking the side", and this really became the starting point of Wei Jianjun's pickup truck story.
"What really makes the Great Wall stand is the decision to switch to pickup trucks, because the main focus of domestic large enterprises is on cars, making pickup trucks a marginal model." Therefore, I think this is a market with great potential, and pickup trucks of about 100,000 must be competitive," Wei Jianjun said confidently that year.
In March 1996, the first pickup truck model of the Great Wall - Deere officially rolled off the production line, with a price of 80,000 yuan, leather durable characteristics and other advantages, in just one year, Deer Pickup truck sold 1700 vehicles, and in the next two years became the domestic market sales champion, and in 1997 officially exported overseas, won the pickup truck market "Jetta" reputation.
The success of Deere pickup trucks has made Wei Jianjun more confident about the future of the pickup truck market, and a number of industry-leading practical models such as Sai ling and Saiku pickup trucks have been launched successively. When the pickup truck market demand towards "commercial-oriented, passenger complementary" change, Wei Jianjun and Great Wall Motors timely adjustment of the strategy, timely launch of Fengjun 3, Fengjun 5 and other affordable, stable and durable minsheng pickup truck models, to this day is still the benchmark model in the economy pickup truck, by 2018 Great Wall launched the high-end pickup truck Fengjun 7, the Great Wall has an unprecedented set of powerful pickup truck lineup.
"We don't have any special ability, that is, persistence, is to focus, to make the car building this thing clear, do it clearly, in order to make consumers satisfied." As Wei Jianjun said, even with the help of pickup trucks, the Great Wall continues to grow, and later the SUV models represented by the Haval H6 have become blockbusters, he still did not give up the original pickup complex, let alone stop his pickup story.
Thirty years of dedication and persistence have enabled Wei Jianjun and Great Wall Motors to accumulate rich experience and profound heritage in the pickup truck market.
With keen insight and accurate control of the market, in 2019, Great Wall Motors launched the Great Wall Gun model, which not only took the lead in creating the era of China's pickup truck 3.0, but also opened the era of China's pickup truck passengerization and globalization, and led the development of the market in category innovation. Thinking by category and expressing with brand, we have created the Great Wall pickup truck, which has ranked first in domestic sales for 24 consecutive years.
"The Great Wall pickup truck changes a lot every year, a small change in 3 months, and always maintains a sense of freshness, making this car very fashionable and foreign." Wei Jianjun believes that to a certain extent, Great Wall Motors has guided the demand for pickup trucks in the Chinese market. Indeed! It can be said that Wei Jianjun almost single-handedly pulled the pickup truck from the former tool car into the hot market.
Today, the Great Wall pickup truck has become the vanguard of Great Wall Motors to "win China and go global", especially in some areas with rapid economic development such as Africa and South America, the Great Wall pickup truck has been loved by local consumers with its own excellent product strength and super high cost performance.
For the development of China's own brand cars, the importance of the road to globalization is self-evident. And how to successfully go abroad, so that the world can appreciate the strength and style of more Chinese independent car brands, perhaps, Wei Jianjun's pickup truck story has and will continue to tell us the answer!
Mr. Sun Kun, founder of the media cluster of "Dialogue with Autobots", wrote a book——
Dialogue with senior executives of Chinese car companies
(Sun Kun, a veteran automotive media person in China; winner of the first prize of the Journalism Award; published the book "Dialogue with the Senior Management of Chinese Auto Companies" in 2010)