Rebirth 99 to become a car giant

Dr. Hassan is the head of the quality management department of Modu Volkswagen.

Originally, he had stayed in China for so many years, achieved a promotion in rank, and was preparing to return to China to further enjoy the days of promotion and salary increase.

However, the plan cannot keep up with the changes.

Pictures and videos about the serious deformation of the A-pillar after the collision between the Passat and the Geely Emgrand have been widely spread on the Internet.

It was obviously a car accident that happened yesterday, but today it seems that the whole network knows the news.

Various news related to them have been trending on Weibo, and many of them have already been on the trending searches. # Volkswagen Passat A-pillar broken # # Volkswagen Passat is not as good as Geely Emgrand # # Volkswagen Passat crashed into a mess # ...

The news pierced Hassan's heart like a sharp knife.

"Hassan, what's going on?"

"Why did the Passat perform so poorly in the collision?"

"Is it a design problem or a manufacturing quality problem?"

Von Del, the general manager of Volkswagen Huaxia, called Hassan himself early in the morning.

This situation is obviously a bit beyond their imagination.

It stands to reason that Passat has fully considered the issue of body strength during the model development stage.

A simple collision, the A-pillar should not behave like this.

It can be clearly seen from the picture that the A-pillar on the driver's side of the Passat is obviously bent, and the steering wheel is deflected due to excessive intrusion.

This is simply slapping Volkswagen in the face.

No wonder Vondel was so angry.

"I also feel a little strange now. I have just checked the relevant drawings. The tensile strength of the steel plate of the A-pillar reaches 590MPA. Normally, such a serious bending should not occur."

"I have urgently arranged for people to go to the welding workshop and the production site of the A-pillar supplier to see if I can find the reason."

Hassan is now also a big head.

Such an obvious problem, if there is no reasonable explanation, things will definitely not be so easy to pass.

But what is even more troublesome is that no matter how Volkswagen explains it, the impact of this matter is difficult to eliminate.

"Give you 24 hours, you must give me an accurate and real reason, we can't let this matter ferment."

Vondel knew there was no point in questioning Hassan now.

We can only ask them to investigate clearly first.

...

"As one of the first medium-sized sedans Chinese people came into contact with, the Shanghai Volkswagen Passat has always been a representative work of domestic family and business sedans, and has been favored by a considerable number of users for a long time."

"However, it is such a 'magic car' that has been driven into thousands of households, but its quality problems were fully exposed in the latest collision accident."

"According to the video footage of the collision scene, the Emgrand's A-pillar did not deform significantly when it collided with the Geely Emgrand."

"But the A-pillar of this Passat was severely bent, and the roof was deformed together. The structure of the car body is worrying."

"..."

"In addition, according to data from a third-party car complaint platform, Passat's reputation among car buyers is not satisfactory, and its user satisfaction is only 1.6 points (out of 5 points)."

"The main problems of the complaints focus on power components such as transmissions, engines, and steering systems."

"Complaints from the strength of the bodywork were relatively few in comparison."

"I have to say, this is also an irony!"

A headline news on Autohome quickly spread in the auto circle.

The pungentness of his writing and the irony of his words made the marketing personnel of various car companies feel terrified.

"Editor-in-chief, this Autohome is trying to offend the people of Shanghai to the death."

"In my impression, the cooperative relationship between Volkswagen and Autohome in the past seems to be pretty good."

Netease Auto Channel, Lin Jiayan looked at the articles published by competitors, and was quite emotional.

She didn't even dare to write such an article that offended the OEM.

I didn't expect Autohome to publish it on the headlines.

Could it be that the other party is really a media person who pursues the truth?

Not like it!

Shouldn't all crows be the same black?

"Autohome often has its own unique rules when doing things."

"If we think it's weird, there's probably a reason behind it that we're not aware of."

"Any media will be very cautious in publishing such news."

"This is definitely not something that a certain editor can do casually."

Fang Dawen is quite familiar with the style of the competitor of Autohome.

Although he couldn't figure out the reason, but looking at the essence through the phenomenon, he was able to grasp the key point.

"Then shall we follow suit and evaluate this matter?"

"Just now, the sales staff of Modu Volkswagen have contacted us, and they want us to help post some explaining articles."

"Should we sell this favor?"

Although there are many pictures and comments about the collision between Passat and Geely Emgrand on Autohome and various forums and Weibo.

However, the car channels under various portal websites did not draw conclusions easily.

This kind of thing that offends customers must be cautious.

Basically, you only need to carefully observe a certain website. If the other party publishes negative news about a certain brand every now and then, it is likely that this brand has not advertised on the platform.

This is intentional, it is a special means of advertising.

"I'm afraid it's not that easy to clean up this matter."

"Especially Autohome is biting this thing now."

"I guess Geely will certainly be behind the scenes."

"Even some other self-owned brand car companies will be happy to see the success and help push behind it."

"In this case, we don't want to write our own opinions, otherwise we will be easily attacked by netizens."

"You tell the people in Modu to send soft texts, and we can help distribute them."

"In this way, they can't blame us."

Fang Dawen handled this problem very flexibly.

Anyway, the problems are all in the hands of the people of Shanghai, and they are happy to see the results to a certain extent.

After all, the more things in the auto circle, the easier life for these auto media people will be.

Otherwise, there would be no good news every day, and netizens wouldn't bother to watch the car channel.

...

"Mr. Li, the 4S shop reported today that the number of customers consulting our Emgrand models has increased significantly compared to the past."

"It seems that the impact of this car accident is much greater than we imagined."

Peng Lin was in a very good mood at this time.

Emgrand is now a popular model of Geely Automobile. What kind of new record this year's sales performance can create depends on the performance of Emgrand.

Before that, he also felt that it was an appropriate choice to launch high-configuration models using hot stamping parts.

Don't worry about it now.

This money is very valuable.

"It seems that this method of creating a car accident scene is more convincing than the crash test in the laboratory of China Automotive Industry Corporation."

"In the future, the after-sales service department must pay more attention to car accidents related to our own models."

"The more realistic scene, the publicity effect will definitely be better."

The car accident of Emgrand and Passat this time was, after all, artificially created.

It is certainly impossible for the personnel on the two vehicles to allow damage.

Even after a car accident, the scene was quickly dealt with.

Even if the people of Shanghai want to go to the scene to confirm, there is no way to see the real scene.

"Well, I will arrange someone to communicate with the insurance company, and ask them for some good materials for publicity in time."

"However, this incident has also taught us a lesson. If other models that do not use hot stamping parts are also targeted by others, it will be very detrimental to us."

After seeing the power of this "car accident", Peng Lin was naturally worried that one day he would fall into a passive situation.

"Newly developed models in the future will use hot stamping parts."

"As for some models that have been sold or are currently on sale on the market, I don't think there is any need to worry."

"Consumers bought our models at half the price of joint venture models, and they have already accepted some gaps in their hearts."

"So even if the photos of the real car accident are not ideal, the lethality is not that high."

Li Su was very sober.

Some worries, nothing to worry about.

"It's true. It seems that this move is the most effective against joint venture car companies."

"If we can compare the same foreign models together and find that the situation at home and abroad is completely different, will the effect be better?"

When Peng Lin said this, Li Su couldn't help but his eyes lit up.

It seems that this matter can be done?

Of course, it is definitely inappropriate for Geely to come forward on its own.

But you can push it and let some auto media come forward.

As for the cost in the middle, Geely Automobile can sponsor through the model of advertising fee.

This trick is completely feasible, right?

Soon, they began to arrange this matter.

At the same time, Cao Yang in the Nanshan Group was also paying attention to this matter.

"Mr. Cao, Geely Automobile has made a move."

Mi Ying quickly sorted out the news on the Internet for Cao Yang.

Among them, the content of the collision between Passat and Emgrand is naturally the most conspicuous.

"The A-pillar of this Passat is really disappointing. It has been bent like this."

"It's even more exaggerated than I imagined. No wonder the guidance on the Internet is so effective."

Cao Yang was in a good mood looking at those pictures.

North and South Volkswagen began to remove Nanshan Group from the supply chain.

This matter is no secret in the automotive industry.

Many people are waiting to see the reaction of Nanshan Group.

Although it is difficult to prove that it has anything to do with Nanshan Group.

But after Volkswagen broke up with Nanshan Group and started to get into trouble in China, the relationship here will make everyone think about it.

In particular, it is no secret that Autohome is an industry of Nanshan Group.

Now that Autohome is on the front line of reporting this news, it is worth pondering what is the reason behind it.

"I also just called President Guo of Huaqiang Factory and asked him what he thinks of the result of this collision."

"His analysis is the performance of Volkswagen Passat. It is very likely that the A-pillar is not made of 590MPA material at all."

"Otherwise, even if it collides with Geely Emgrand, which uses hot-stamped parts, there shouldn't be such a big gap."

"However, he also finds it strange. Generally speaking, the strength of the steel plate is designed to be relatively high for key safety parts such as the A-pillar."

Mi Ying's preparations are obviously not simply collecting news.

She has already started to think about the problem from Cao Yang's point of view, and confirmed some things in advance.

The secretarial work can achieve this level, and the general leaders are not willing to replace it easily.

"Forget it, this is something Volkswagen needs to worry about."

"We'll just wait and see the good show."

...

"What did you say?"

"The supplier secretly replaced the steel plate with a tensile strength of 590MPA with an ordinary steel plate with a tensile strength of 270MPA?"

Vondel looked at Hassan dumbfounded.

This confirmation result surprised him very much.

Has the supply chain management of Modu Volkswagen become so chaotic?

"Yes, we have found relevant evidence at the supplier's site."

"Although the other party is quibbling, it is the truth."

"Vondel, do we want to recall this batch of models?"

When Hassan asked such a question, he immediately stopped Vondel.

If there is a problem, normally it must be recalled.

But this time it was the A-pillar that went wrong.

This is a steel plate stamped part, welded to the body, and it is not so easy to replace.

Leaving aside the cost of replacement, few consumers can accept the replacement method alone.

Because it is necessary to disassemble all the parts near the A-pillar, then cut off the A-pillar, and re-weld the parts that meet the requirements of the drawing.

But the welding of body parts is very particular.

After your simple cutting and then welding in the 4S shop, the final strength must still be different from the design.

There may even be a situation where the strength is worse than no replacement.

At that time, if someone takes the model with the A-pillar replaced for a crash test, the results will be worrying.

However, it does not seem to be the solution if it is not recalled.

Things have gone viral on the Internet.

"Hassan, do you think it's better to recall or not?"

The problem is so difficult to make a decision, and Vondel naturally doesn't want to make a decision by himself.

So I quickly pushed the question back.

"this……"

"I will report first within the company to see how the company makes decisions."

Hassan was helpless.

He can understand things that Vondel can understand.

A recall is definitely not going to solve this problem.

But if it is not recalled, it seems to be a dead end.

Who else will buy the Passat of Shanghai Volkswagen in the future?

...

"Mr. Cao, the news about the collision between Shenhao and Passat on the Internet these two days is very lively."

"It seems that the Spring City Stamping Factory's introduction of the hot stamping production line provided by Nanshan Group is a very timely plan."

Of course, Zhu Zhengfeng had seen the news on the Internet.

Even when Tao Wen reported to him, he wondered whether this matter had something to do with the conflict between Volkswagen and Nanshan Group.

But no direct evidence was found.

Thinking that the Magotan of Spring City Volkswagen and the Passat of Shanghai Volkswagen are sibling cars, Zhu Zhengfeng is also worried that the Magotan and even other models will encounter similar situations.

So I made a special call to Cao Yang, wanting to test Cao Yang's tone.

"The tensile strength of hot stamping parts can reach 1500MPA, which is unmatched by other stamping parts."

"In the future, a large number of hot stamping parts will be used on the big red flag, which is also a good publicity point."

Cao Yang could probably guess some of the reasons why Zhu Zhengfeng called him.

However, as long as Zhu Zhengfeng didn't say this kind of thing directly, he would definitely pretend to be stupid.

"It is indeed true. The previous design of Dahongqi used 16-point hot stamping parts, but now it seems that several more can be used."

"When it's time to show it, it will be even more impactful."

Seeing that Cao Yang changed the topic to the big red flag, Zhu Zhengfeng had no choice but to follow along with a few perfunctory words.

However, everyone is a thousand-year-old fox.

After chatting for more than ten minutes, nothing meaningful came out of the chat.

It's just that after this incident, Zhu Zhengfeng's view of Nanshan Group changed a little.

In the future, I still don't want to make things difficult for others easily.

In case something completely unexpected happens.

"Mr. Cao, I feel that Mr. Zhu seems to be a bit suspicious of the collision between the Geely Emgrand and the Volkswagen Passat. Does it have something to do with us?"

Seeing Cao Yang hang up the phone, Zeng Tingting, who was reporting next to him, immediately interjected.

Sometimes, the authorities are in the dark, but the bystanders are clear.

Zeng Tingting, who had heard the conversation between Zhu Zhengfeng and Cao Yang, could clearly feel the other party's intentions more clearly.

"I heard that in the 4S store of Shanghai Volkswagen, some car owners have already started pushing their cars and defending their rights."

"In Geely's 4S store, there are many more customers."

"In this case, Autohome updates several reports on this topic every day."

"Whether it's Zhu Zhengfeng or the others, there must be some doubts."

"However, there is no evidence for their suspicion, and it is not necessarily a bad thing for us."

"So don't worry about it."

Cao Yang was quite open to it.

Showing your fangs appropriately is actually not a bad thing in business development.

Otherwise, everyone will think you are easy to bully, then you will be in trouble.

"Well, now it is estimated that many car companies have also seen that the influence of Nanshan Group after owning Autohome and Weibo is not what it used to be."

"When you cooperate with us in the future, your attitude should be better."

As the head of the sales department, Zeng Tingting is naturally happy to see the success.

Otherwise, I would go to see Party A every day as a representative of Party B, and I would be humble and respectful when I saw the most ordinary employee of the other party.

That feeling is obviously not very good.

And at this time, Yu Yu, the editor-in-chief of Autohome, called.

"Hello!"

Cao Yang was a little curious about what Yu Yu wanted to discuss with him at this time.

"Mr. Cao, people from Geely Auto contacted me just now, hoping that Autohome will take this opportunity to push Passat and Emgrand to do a crash test at the China Automotive Industry Center."

"At the same time, let us find a way to import a Passat from the United States or Germany, and then conduct a crash test with a domestic Passat."

"This job is a bit sensitive, do you think we should accept it or not?"

Although the daily operation of Autohome has been handed over to Yu Yu.

However, she was able to figure it out, knowing that the key issues should be consulted with Cao Yang.

"Auspicious moves so fast?"

"It seems that their plan this time is doing well."

After Cao Yang heard this, he was really a little surprised.

Crash test of Emgrand and Passat.

Passat and Passat crash test.

If the result is really as predicted by the lucky people, then this topic will definitely be on the hot search again by then.

And their Emgrand must be the biggest beneficiary.

Even Autohome can take this opportunity to further develop some car testing projects in the future.

In the future, this may be a blockbuster product of Autohome.

When many auto media in later generations conduct tests, they are very methodical.

These tests, to a certain extent, have made a great contribution to advertising costs.

"The people of Geely Automobile should have invited people to post on the Internet this time, and the popularity of this topic has remained high."

"It is estimated that the Volkswagen people are going to die of anger."

"Mr. Cao, the enemy's enemy is our friend."

"I think we can help Geely Automobile."

Yu Yu stated his proposal very clearly.

In this way, there is no need to embarrass Cao Yang.

You let the leader make such a decision, and after suggesting it to you, ask the leader to admit such a decision.

Although the result is the same, the meaning is completely different.

If you don't pay attention to this point in the workplace, you probably don't even know when you will fall out of favor.

"This belongs to the daily business of Autohome, you can decide for yourself."

Cao Yang is also a veteran now.

Although this kind of thing is not afraid of leaking out, there is no harm in being cautious.

Anyway, with Yu Yu's intelligence, he must know what Cao Yang meant.

The purpose of her phone call has been achieved.

However, Geely and Autohome are in action, and Volkswagen is not sitting still.

"A-pillar deformation ≠ poor safety!"

"The body structure has been specially designed so that the A-pillar bears and breaks down most of the impact force."

"The higher the strength of the car body, the better. The combination of soft and hard is the safest."

"Pasat's wood grain patches + chrome-plated bright strips + diamond-shaped stitching leather seats outline a luxurious and noble texture."

...

Various articles began to appear in the car channels of various portal websites.

Volkswagen apparently does not intend to recall the Passat this time.

Mainly there is no way to recall.

In this case, it is natural to think about how to restore it.

However, their claims are far-fetched, and naturally they are easily refuted by "netizens".

Different opinions are arguing on the Internet, and the news about the collision between Volkswagen Passat and Geely Emgrand has been on the hot search for more than a week.

It wasn't until new melons came out that the heat dropped slightly.

However, the sales of the Passat of Modu Volkswagen are declining at a speed visible to the naked eye.