Kaiyi Automobile, which has not had a sound for a long time, has new news.
On April 19, some media learned from Kaiyi Automobile that Zhao Shiqian, former director of the marketing department of FAW-Volkswagen Sales Co., Ltd., joined Kaiyi Automobile as the deputy general manager of its sales company.
Zhao Shiqian is a "veteran" of the industry who grew up under the FAW-Volkswagen system, entered FAW-Volkswagen in 2001, has more than 20 years of industry experience, almost engaged in the whole process of automobile production and sales from process management, IT, production management, sales to marketing, and has served as the director of FAW-Volkswagen's eastern district, the manager of the western region of audi sales division and the director of the east China marketing department.
In 2016, Zhao Shiqian was promoted to the director of the marketing department of FAW-Volkswagen Sales Co., Ltd., responsible for the marketing and marketing of FAW-Volkswagen's new products.
In 2019, FAW-Volkswagen and Volkswagen China established Morse Zhilian Technology Co., Ltd., a joint venture, focusing on intelligent networking business and providing digital services for all of its Volkswagen and Jetta brand models. Subsequently, Zhao Shiqian was transferred to Moss Zhilian Technology Co., Ltd. as the general manager, and gradually moved away from the vehicle business of the main engine factory.
After all, as a supporting company of the main engine factory, Moss Zhilian is more responsible for "back-office" work, and will not be as concerned as the main engine factory. Whether it is from the weight of the work or the content, compared with the marketing work, doing supporting the main engine factory may also lack some attraction for Zhao Shiqian.
Therefore, Zhao Shiqian joined Kaiyi Automobile as the deputy general manager of the sales company this time, which can be said to be back to the mainstream vision and return to his "old line".
For Kaiyi Automobile, it also values Zhao Shiqian's experience in marketing.
Despite chery's technical support, as well as the financial support of Yibin State-owned Assets and Wuliangye, from the perspective of market performance, the development of Kaiyi Automobile has been unsatisfactory.
At the beginning of its establishment in 2014, Kaiyi Automobile was jointly registered and established by Anhui Jiangbei Development Co., Ltd., Chery Commercial Vehicle (Anhui) Co., Ltd. and Wuhu Construction Investment Co., Ltd., and was controlled by Chery Automobile Co., Ltd.
Subsequently, Kaiyi Automobile successively launched C3, C3R, E3, V3, X5 and other models, but the market performance is average, the data shows that in 2015, Kaiyi's annual sales were 24,000 vehicles, in 2016 and 2017, it was 37,000 vehicles and 41,000 vehicles, and in 2018, sales fell back to more than 24,000 units.
In 2018, Chery transferred 51% of its controlling stake to Yibin Automobile Industry Development And Investment Co., Ltd. (50.5% shareholding) and Sichuan Yibin Pushhi Group Co., Ltd. (0.5% shareholding, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wuliangye Group). Kaiyi's company name became Yibin Kaiyi Automobile Co., Ltd., transforming from an Anhui enterprise into a Sichuan enterprise.
However, Kaiyi Automobile did not transfer it because of the change of shareholders.
In 2019, Kaiyi Automobile ambitiously proposed an annual sales target of 60,000 vehicles, and at the same time, Liu Hongwei, a senior marketing expert of Chery Automobile, joined Kaiyi Automobile as the general manager of the sales company, responsible for the marketing, brand, sales, network and service operations of Kaiyi Automobile.
However, in 2020, Kaiyi Automobile sold 33,277 vehicles in the whole year under the support of the new car show industry. Although there are new cars on the market in 2021, the annual sales volume still fell to 20345 units, which is the lowest annual sales of Kaiyi Automobile since its inception. In the same year, Liu Hongwei also left Kaiyi Automobile.
It can be said that Kaiyi does not lack products, does not lack production capacity, what is missing may be brand power and marketing power, which is that Yibin City and Wuliangye Group without automobile industry background cannot help Kaiyi; the senior management team from Chery cannot help Kaiyi, because marketing has never been Chery's strength.
Therefore, Kaiyi can only look for help from the outside.
In October last year, Senior Marketing Expert Guo Deqiang joined Kaiyi Automobile as the assistant general manager of Chery Automobile Co., Ltd., the executive deputy general manager of Kaiyi Automobile Co., Ltd., and the general manager of Kaiyi Automobile Sales Co., Ltd., responsible for coordinating the marketing, brand, sales, network and service work.
Guo Deqiang has been working at FAW since 1990, and has successively held many positions in technology, project preparation, marketing, etc., with footprints all over FAW Toyota, FAW Hongqi, FAW Car, FAW Mazda and other brands, with rich and complete marketing practical management experience, and is known as the father of "value marketing".
It is not surprising that Zhao Shiqian, who is also under the FAW system, is now the deputy general manager of Kaiyi Automobile Sales Co., Ltd.
So, can the FAW team represented by Guo Deqiang and Zhao Shiqian bring some changes to the brand and marketing of Kaiyi Automobile? I'm afraid it's hard.
First of all, the problem of Kaiyi Automobile is not necessarily solved by marketing alone. Gao Lei, general manager of Kaiyi Automobile, once said very frankly: "Kaiyi is now a 'take-ism', we transplanted the original version of Chery's technology, and the current platform is very mature and will not be greatly changed." At the same time, it also said: "As a former subsidiary of Chery, Kaiyi inherits Chery's system guarantee, platform development and vehicle quality." ”
Therefore, the current model products of Kaiyi Automobile can find the corresponding "prototype" in Chery model products. This makes Kaiyi Automobile not only lack the core competitiveness of its own personality in products, but also can not get rid of the impression of "low-end version" Chery in the brand.
Secondly, the achievements of Guo Deqiang and Zhao Shiqian in the FAW system are also due to a certain extent because faw-Volkswagen and FAW Mazda brands and products have long been quite well-known, character tone and historical precipitation, and these companies have also been rich, which makes the team's marketing space more excavatable and more likely. Kaiyi is a new brand that has no precipitation at all, and from the perspective of financial strength, it may not be able to make the former marketing experts show their fists.
Different corporate cultures may also make parachuted executives uncomfortable. Over the years, we have seen many star executives who have left the traditional car companies, taking the past achievements, or starting their own businesses, or serving as managers of new forces, they have been given high hopes by the industry, but most of them have not been able to keep the aura above their heads.
Write at the end:
There is nothing wrong with using marketing to package and promote brands and products, but the premise is that your foundation is good, and you must have enough funds and time. Now the problem of money may be solved by Yibin City, but now Kaiyi's foundation is "take-ism" of Chery, and it does not do "major changes", and it is difficult to re-establish its own brand value and concept from it. Moreover, the time window is also a disadvantage for Kaiyi Automobile. Even if 10 Guo Deqiang and Zhao Shiqian got together, they might not be able to make the Kaiyi salted fish turn over.