AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)09/17 Report--

On September 15, 2022, the 36th Dahe International Auto Show (hereinafter referred to as "Zhengzhou Auto Show") was held in Zhengzhou International Convention and Exhibition Center. There are "Automotive Industry concern Network" netizens to contribute, on the same day, there are many ideal ONE owners to the scene to protect their rights. The video shows that the words "leek" are affixed to the front windshield or window glass of these ideal ONE models, with the words "unscrupulous car companies harvesting old customers" at the bottom, while a handful of leeks are also placed on the hood of activist vehicles, suggesting that the ideal car "cuts leeks".

At the beginning of this month, it was revealed that the ideal L8 will be launched in November. Although the series are different and the names are different, the ideal L8 can basically be the replacement model of the ideal ONE by default. Before launching the ideal L8, the ideal ONE will gradually withdraw from the production line, which means that the ideal ONE is about to stop production, although the after-sale maintenance and quality assurance service will not be affected by the suspension of production. However, many ideal car owners who have just mentioned new cars think they have been deceived because they could have waited a few more months to mention new models, but because the ideal car did not disclose the new car information in advance, they bought "out-of-print cars." in order to express their dissatisfaction, these ideal car owners launched complaints on major websites, and incidents of safeguarding their rights broke out in many places across the country. At present, the protection of the rights of ideal ONE owners has not been calmed down, and the holding of local auto shows has also become a new protection place for ideal ONE owners.

"ideal ONE false propaganda deceives consumers", "ideal unscrupulous car companies deceive consumers", "there is an ideal ONE between ideals and routines", "cyclists talk about their feelings with ideals, but ideals treat them as fools" … A large number of ideal ONE owners hang rights slogans on their cars. This is the most serious product public relations crisis since the establishment of ideal car.

According to Automotive Industry concern statistics, as of press time, the number of collective complaints about ideal cars in Black Cats has reached 1813. An ideal car owner said: the car was booked on August 6th and picked up on August 9, and the issue of vehicle price was also passed through the sales gap. Sales said that the ideal brand vehicles were all directly operated by the manufacturers, and there was no problem of preferential or price reduction. It also made it clear that the ideal ONE would not stop production or reduce prices in the past two years, and guaranteed that there was no price difference in the national price.

Subjectively, the new car listing plan belongs to the commercial decision-making plan and trade secrets within the car, the automobile mainframe factory does not have the obligation to be forcibly informed, and the price reduction sale is also the right of the main engine factory. Objectively, the update iteration of automotive products is a normal thing, and the new car is bound to improve in all aspects such as product strength and configuration. There is nothing wrong with an ideal car, either subjectively or objectively.

The new power car companies pay more attention to the pursuit of corporate capital value, while ignoring the vital interests of users. Take the ideal ONE event as an example, at the launch conference of the ideal L9 on June 21, the ideal car could have revealed the listing plan of the ideal L8, and it was up to consumers to choose whether to purchase the ideal ONE or the ideal L8, and then launched the ideal ONE-related car discount in September, and completely pulled out of the product line after the launch of the ideal L8 in November. This is the ideal car is relatively appropriate and standardized operation ideas. However, due to delivery concerns or protection based on ideal L8 product information, ideal cars did not reveal the news of the launch of the ideal L8 until September, and it is naturally difficult for car owners who have just mentioned the ideal ONE to accept the news because they are buying models that are about to be discontinued.

The ideal sales staff is also set up by the ideal car, not only the car owner does not know that the ideal ONE is about to stop production and replacement, even the ideal sales staff is also in the dark. Under the traditional 4S store sales mode, the dealer is not under the management of the mainframe factory, the dealer can set the price freely and reasonably under the guidance of the manufacturer, and the mainframe factory has temporary changes, such as the increase in the cost caused by the rise in the price of raw materials. can be balanced through price adjustment. Under the direct operation mode, the direct operation stores are directly managed by the main engine factory and implement the national unified retail price, which, to a certain extent, has less price fluctuation and is more in line with consumers' car purchase habits. Generally speaking, the mainframe factory will post the relevant information on the official website at least a month in advance, and then transmit the relevant information to its direct stores, such as the increase in the price of raw materials. However, in the direct operation mode, the commitment of the front-line sales staff is equal to that of the mainframe factory, and there is obviously no unified information channel between the sales staff of the ideal direct operation system and the headquarters. the product life cycle and pricing cycle are not communicated to front-line employees at the first time, which is also the problem of public opinion of ideal car this time.

As the driver of the direct operation mode, Tesla triggered more similar incidents. On September 16, Tesla launched a new car purchase, and the Model 3 and Model Y delivered before the end of the month can get an insurance subsidy of 8000 yuan, which can be directly used to reduce car prices, and this has also caused many Tesla car owners' dissatisfaction, quickly establishing rights protection groups, and even going to offline stores to protect their rights.

Some auto analysts said that although the replacement of models is common, there must be a good balance between updating the product sequence and maintaining the feelings of old car owners. If there is no good communication and coordination, abrupt price adjustment will also have the risk of losing its original brand positioning and brand premium power. At the same time, it will cause some harm to consumers who used to be brand supporters, brand trust will plummet, and even push their potential customers further and further.

As of press time, the ideal car has not yet made a statement about the rights protection incident, which may also be the reason why the rights protection incident is becoming more and more serious. In fact, there is nothing wrong with the ideal car. As mentioned earlier, whether it is price reduction or product change, it belongs to the strategic category of enterprise development. you can choose to reduce the price or not, and you can choose to inform or not to inform, but it is different from the conventional development mode of the automobile industry. it does cause strong controversy, to some extent, it has caused losses to the brand reputation, and other consumers who are interested in buying cars will also choose to wait and see. After all, no one wants to be a "leek".

Welcome to subscribe to the WeChat public account "Automotive Industry Focus" to get the first-hand insider information on the automotive industry and talk about things in the automotive circle. Welcome to break the news! WeChat ID autoWechat