Rebirth 99 to become a car giant

Chapter 421 Things are getting serious, C-NCAP Media Gate!

With the increase in car ownership, more and more people own cars.

Naturally, more and more people are paying attention to car safety.

When it comes to car safety, there is certainly no way to avoid the topic of vehicle crash testing.

From a global perspective, every country and region has its own crash test.

For example, Europe's E-NCAP, Japan's J-NCAP, America's IIHS and NHTSA, etc.

For China, it is the most famous C-NCAP test.

However, although C-NCAP is well-known, not many users understand its rules and collision standards.

China's C-NCAP crash test started in 2006, which is actually relatively young.

It is said that in the beginning, human beings are inherently good.

It stands to reason that C-NCAP, which is still relatively young, should be relatively upright in its work.

But a program broadcast on China Channel this evening revealed a layer of darkness.

"Mr. Cao, yesterday China Channel's "Economic Half Hour" broadcast the content of 'C-NCAP Truth', which questioned the fairness of their safety standards and revealed a lot of inside information. Early this morning, this The matter has already been trending on Weibo.”

The next day, as soon as Cao Yang returned to the office, Mi Ying compiled the latest industry news.

"Um?"

"Is Huaxia Taiwan challenging the China Automotive Center?"

Cao Yang was stunned for a moment.

C-NCAP is not a private organization. Now that China Channel is targeting C-NCAP, this story is interesting.

"Yes, reporters from China Channel have exposed a lot of C-NCAP's inside stories through undercover and other methods."

"One of them is the Passat of Volkswagen in Shanghai that spent money to buy C-NCAP results."

As soon as Mi Ying said these words, Cao Yang immediately became interested.

Can it still be related to Passat?

That would be interesting.

"Purchase it with money?"

Cao Yang grasped the key point immediately.

However, Mi Ying also immediately added: "There is no direct broadcast evidence for this, but there is a picture of the crash test. According to the results of this picture, there is definitely no way to obtain a five-star collision result, but the final announced situation is a five-star .”

"So many people on the Internet think that Shanghai Public Relations is spending money on public relations."

Mi Ying is naturally very aware of the grudges between Nanshan Group and Volkswagen.

So when I spoke, I immediately mentioned Cao Yang's points of interest.

"In addition to the China Channel report, have other media followed up?"

"Yes, this matter became a hot search topic early this morning because many print media's official Weibo reposted this information from Huaxia TV."

"Now the China Automotive Industry Center behind C-NCAP is already in a whirlpool."

"I just don't know how they can explain these things."

"Car safety is a matter of vital interest to every consumer. If someone is really caught behind this, it is estimated that China Automotive Center will be in big trouble this time."

"As for the people of the Magic City, they will definitely be embarrassed again this time."

"Someone has even resurfaced the news about Passat hitting Passat that we did before."

After Mi Ying said this, Cao Yang felt that it was necessary to call Yu Yu and tell Autohome not to miss this opportunity and make a good deal with Volkswagen.

Action is worse than excitement.

Thinking of this, Cao Yang immediately picked up his cell phone and called Yu Yu.

"Yu Yu, about the truth about "C-NCAP" reported by China Channel, Autohome can do a special report to make this matter bigger."

"This time, China Television has come forward to support everyone. We can be bolder in our words. Anyway, China Television will help take the blame in the end."

“As a scientific research institution and a non-profit organization, China Automotive Research Institute issues C-NCAP automotive safety star rating certifications to major domestic automobile manufacturers through commercial means such as selling data.”

"It can be said that I am a referee and an athlete at the same time."

Cao Yang is very confident in the collision performance of various models of Xingchen Motors.

However, these gaps cannot be fully reflected in C-NCAP.

Just like the Passat, they also get five-star reviews.

There is also a Camry and Teana, which do not use hot stamping parts, and can also receive five-star reviews.

It seems that the crash safety performance of these cars is no different from that of Yangwang and Xingtu.

In fact, if you really touch it, you will find that it is not on the same level at all.

Cao Yang has already had opinions on this.

Now that Huaxia TV, the big brother in the media industry, has jumped out to overturn the table, Cao Yang will definitely applaud and support it.

"Mr. Cao, this matter is indeed a big deal. Many car companies are paying attention to this matter."

"I will organize a group of people today to analyze this issue from all angles."

"Then let's see if we can expose the true face of C-NCAP and force them to make some changes."

Without Cao Yang's reminder, Yu Yu had already realized the value of this news.

Now that the boss pays so much attention to it, he will go all out even more.

As a person in the media industry, being able to expose some shady stories and bring some real changes to the automobile industry is definitely very memorable and worthy of her efforts.

She didn't want to give up completely for five buckets of rice.

She also has some pursuits and ambitions.

Soon, starting that afternoon, several related articles appeared one after another on Autohome.

On the second day, a special topic was formed.

"How safety evaluation gives stars to cars"

"c-ncap is neither a national standard nor an industry standard, but it is an enterprise standard set by an enterprise itself"

"Companies can buy stars by spending money"

"C-NCAP is more suitable for China's national conditions? I'll smash the face of the "Five-Star Wholesale Department" first!"

"C-NCAP Encounters "Media Gate""

"C-NCAP: Still going its own way on the cusp of the storm"

"You want both, but you are shameless!" A brief discussion on the operational logic of C-NCAP"

…

As soon as various articles came out, this matter became a big deal.

"Mr. Cao, although I don't know how this matter will end in the end, I would like to thank you on behalf of Huaxia TV."

As this matter continued to ferment, Xia Hong, the deputy director of China Channel, personally called Cao Yang.

The C-NACP incident was exposed by China Channel.

It can be said that Huaxia TV is at the forefront of this matter.

Most car companies in the automobile industry do not dare to express their opinions easily on this matter, let alone stand up to support Huaxia Taiwan.

This makes Huaxia TV's situation a little embarrassing.

It's like you uphold justice for others, but others think you are troublesome.

This feeling is definitely very uncomfortable.

But Autohome stood up.

Behind Autohome is Nanshan Group and Xingchen Motors.

It can be said that this support is very meaningful to China TV.

Leading companies in the industry have all stood up to support China Channel, which can be considered as proof of China Channel's innocence and fairness.

"Xiaxia TV, C-NCAP is not only a profit-making organization, but also bears the responsibility of an independent evaluation agency. The vehicle safety collision results produced cannot be objective and fair. I think China TV should expose them."

"In this matter, our Nanshan Group definitely supports Huaxia TV."

"Unless China Automotive Research and Development Corporation makes changes on its own, this matter will not be over."

This is already the case, so of course Cao Yang's attitude must be firm.

And this can be regarded as selling a favor to Huaxia TV.

It's not easy to make Huaxia TV owe you a favor.

"As a subsidiary agency of China Automotive Research Institute, its main responsibility is to assist the government in carrying out automotive industry standards and technical regulations, product certification testing, quality system certification, industry planning and policy research, information services and soft science research."

"This kind of scientific research institution, which is like a state-owned enterprise and a public institution, is China's only technical focal point for the automotive industry and a technical support institution for the competent authorities."

"But they do a lot of profitable business, and there is absolutely no way to ensure fairness."

Xia Hong explained Huaxia TV's point of view to Cao Yang.

China Television dared to expose C-NCAP on the "Economic Half Hour" program so boldly, and it was obviously confident.

They don't mess around either.

This time, truth is on the side of Huaxia Taiwan, so it gets bigger and bigger.

"Yes, you are absolutely right."

"Although China Automotive Research Institute is not attached to any automobile enterprise group vertically, it has close cooperation with almost all OEMs horizontally."

"In addition to accepting a large number of new product certifications entrusted by the government every year, they also accept commercial cooperation projects contracted and entrusted by many enterprises. In this case, their neutrality in doing things cannot be trusted at all."

"A new model may only have a three-star rating originally, but after entrusting other business cooperation projects worth 10 million yuan to China Automotive Research and Development Corporation, the result may become a five-star rating."

"I have heard of this kind of thing before, but no one has dared to offend China Automobile Research Institute easily."

"Even if Nanshan Group's influence in the automobile industry is not low, to be honest, if Huaxia Taiwan didn't expose the matter this time, we wouldn't be able to jump out and deal with China Automotive Research and Development Corporation."

"Otherwise, the other party will definitely give us little shoes to wear in the future."

"Things like failing to pass various tests or setting high thresholds for various tests can happen at any time."

"At that time, it is likely to cause huge losses to Xingchen Automobile."

Xia Hong took the initiative to call. Cao Yang naturally wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to complain, and also told the other party that he supported Huaxia TV and was taking a big risk.

"Don't worry, if Xingchen Motors is targeted for this matter in the future, our Huaxia TV station will definitely stand up and support you."

"Besides, as Xingchen Automobile is the benchmark in China's automobile industry, I believe they don't have the guts to deliberately mess with you."

"If this is really the case, you don't need to take action yourself, Lingnan Province can tear them apart!"

Xia Hong was not trying to fool Cao Yang.

But she really felt that China Automobile Research Institute did not dare to deal with Xingchen Automobile.

If China Automotive Research and Development Corporation was a company, Xia Hong would still be worried about others jumping over the wall in a hurry.

But as an institution that exists like a state-owned enterprise or a public institution, she has no worries at all.

Everyone wears shoes, but they don’t dare to take them off easily.

"Xia Tai, with your words, I feel more at ease!"

"Autohome will definitely insist on exposing this matter to the end and stand with China TV!"

After basically achieving their goal, Cao Yang made another guarantee before both parties hung up the phone.

However, due to the exposure of China TV and Autohome, this matter soon became more and more troublesome.

C-NCAP has been criticized by many netizens and car owners on major websites.

"Sure enough, all kinds of propaganda from car companies are unreliable."

"This is too disgusting. Could the crash test be done better by spending money?"

"I'm very curious whether the Elantra I drove really has a five-star rating?"

"Excuse me, what kind of cars do the employees of China Automotive Research Institute drive? Aren't you afraid of cheating yourself?"

"Find a notary office, bring several major car series together and bump into each other, and you will know what is there to talk about."

"Looking at C-NCAP and looking at other crash tests, I want to curse!"

"In the final analysis, the car manufacturers have to foot the bill for C-NCAP testing, and all the money has been spent..."

"Among the cars that have been crash tested, how many test cars and crash data have been bought by manufacturers at high prices?"

“How much does this center charge for crash testing?”

"China Automotive Research and Development Corporation refused to disclose all the crash test results on the grounds of commercial confidentiality. How did such a self-promoted safety evaluation end up giving the car a star rating?"

The sudden storm of public opinion not only pushed China Automotive Research and Development Corporation to the forefront, but also caused panic among some automobile companies.

"Welner, I suggest that the company remove the words related to 'five-star collision' in Passat's advertisements and stop stimulating consumers."

As the quality director of Modu Volkswagen, Dr. Hassan is very familiar with the C-NCAP situation.

Modu Volkswagen has many models, and basically every one of them has been subjected to crash tests or simulation tests of crash tests.

He has the answer in his mind as to which models have five-star capabilities and which models cannot even achieve 3-stars.

Of course, these things are the core secrets of the people in the magic city, and he will definitely not tell others easily.

But because he had the answer in his mind, he was full of anxiety about the development of public opinion on the Internet in the past few days.

It seems that one of the waves of public opinion is directed at the people of Shanghai and the Passat.

Due to the previous collision of the Passat, the sales of various models of Volkswagen Volkswagen have been affected to a certain extent. Among them, the Passat has fallen to the point where it is difficult to sell 3,000 units a month.

He is very clear about the causes and consequences of this matter.

He doesn't want everyone to be reminded of Passat's past story again because of the C-NCAP incident.

This is definitely not a good thing for the people of Magic City.

"Hassan, if we remove the relevant five-star description at this time, wouldn't it give people the impression that there is no silver in this place?"

"I'm worried that it will end badly when the time comes."

As the head of the sales department, Werner also knows what the actual situation of his products is.

But there are some things where you can’t find a good solution just by knowing the facts.

For the people in Shanghai, it is a bit difficult to ride a tiger now.

If everyone's focus wasn't on the people of Magic City, it might not be that serious.

But that's not the case now.

"Your concern is reasonable, but if you don't remove it, it will be more likely to cause people to attack."

"If our competitors jump out directly and conduct a crash test, the damage to Volkswagen's brand power will be huge."

"General Motors, for example, is under a lot of pressure now, but our two companies have been competing for the number one position in China's industry."

"What if someone behaves like the Nanshan Group and jumps out to disgust us?"

"Or if the Nanshan Group comes out to disgust us again, what should we do?"

When Hassan said this, Werner immediately felt guilty, "Hassan, it shouldn't be the case with GM."

"After all, both Mordu General Motors and Mordu Volkswagen are joint ventures under the Mordu Automobile Group, and Mordu Automobile Group will not allow Mordu General Motors to mess around."

Although he said this, Werner didn't have the confidence in his heart.

He is very clear about the difficulties General Motors is facing in the American market.

I heard it's going to go bankrupt.

In this situation, who knows what extreme things people will do?

"Modu Automobile Group naturally does not want to see infighting among its companies, but it is hard to say about General Motors."

When Hassan said this, Werner was also confused.

How should I make a decision now?

Forget it, leave the problem to the leaders to judge.

I am just the head of the sales department, and there are many people above me.

…

The public opinion on the Internet is so fierce. As China Automotive Research and Development Co., Ltd., which is at the forefront of the storm, it is naturally impossible to pretend that nothing happened.

Some reporters even directly approached Wu Wei, executive deputy director of the c-ncap Management Center, who was attending an academic conference in Geneva for an interview.

Reporter: “Will manufacturers agree with this star standard of yours?”

Wu Wei: "I hope that our brand will be recognized by the entire industry. This is also a common goal for everyone."

Reporter: “Can you give us a detailed introduction to the collision standards?”

Wu Wei: "C-NCAP's star rating is divided into three aspects of crash tests: frontal 100% collision, frontal 40% offset collision and side collision. Each collision has a full score of 16 points, totaling 48 points. In addition With an additional 3 points, the full star rating is 51 points.”

Reporter: "So this evaluation standard was formulated by you here?"

Wu Wei: "Yes."

Reporter: "Are there any other competent departments or other scientific research institutes involved?"

Wu Wei: "There is no direct participation. The main body of the formulation is the China Automotive Technology Research Center."

Reporter: “Do you think this star rating is reasonable?”

Wu Wei: "Whether the specific classification of the ratings must be very scientific, it's hard to say."

Reporter: "A test whose scientific validity is difficult to determine. Everyone seems to have agreed long ago to keep this little-known secret. As long as you don't tell me and I don't tell it, no one will know. It's like this tacit understanding." Next, a bunch of manufacturers who participated in the test will not publish the results if they are not good, or the published results will become very good. Is this reasonable?"

Wu Wei: “Our purpose is to promote car safety. It does not mean that we are doing it just to find fault with the company. The purpose is to promote car safety and encourage companies to improve their products, so the support of this company is very important. important."

Reporter: "This vision is very beautiful, but as far as I know, there are still many doubts about its testing procedures. For example, in the scoring system of the crash test, there are only points but no deductions, which can easily cover up the safety hazards of some models. So, How should the internationally regulated NCAP organization operate?"

Wu Wei: "You can understand this yourself."

When he said this, Wu Wei was obviously very unhappy.

But he also knew that when things got to this point, it seemed impossible if he didn't say anything.

Reporter: "As far as I know, this test is actually carried out independently by institutions in some countries. Automobile manufacturers cannot participate in it, and the national institution finally announces the test results, so it is very authoritative."

Wu Wei: "Sorry, I have a meeting to start."

Reporter: "When conducting tests, should we try to avoid the involvement of automobile manufacturers? Even in details such as the fixation of test dummies, attention should be paid to avoiding the involvement of manufacturers to ensure the fairness of the test."

Wu Wei looked at the reporter's endless questioning and walked away with a dark face.

Which pot won't be opened?

If this is really done, how will the C-NCAP test center generate income in the future?

However, just because you are an ostrich does not mean that this matter will go away so easily.

Soon, the upsurge of public opinion on the Internet became more and more intense.

China Radio even specially teamed up with Autohome to find a few professors who had no interest relationship with China Automotive Research Institute and made a talk show.

"For China Automotive Research and Development Corporation, China's automobile manufacturers are divided into two categories."

As a guest on this interview show, Xiang Changle was also very rude in his words.

After all, he could not stand this situation both in public and private matters.

Lingnan University of Technology now manages the largest automotive wind tunnel laboratory in China.

Xiang Changle treats all car companies equally when they come to do experiments.

The drag coefficient of your car is 0.3.

You will never adjust the drag coefficient to 0.28 just because you are willing to pay an extra 1 million for testing.

He won't do this kind of thing that involves the bottom line.

"Dean Xiang, which two categories do you think they are?"

Yu Yu also made a guest appearance as the host today, singing along with Xiang Changle. Obviously, he wanted to do a good job in China Automotive Research and Development.

“According to normal understanding, in the eyes of C-NCAP, customers should be divided into ‘safe’ and ‘unsafe’.”

"Unfortunately, in their eyes, they actually distinguish between 'customers' and 'non-customers'."

"If you pay a large amount of testing fees to do some other tests with me, then you are my client."

"For customers' cars, the C-NCAP score must not be very bad, otherwise it will affect future business and customer satisfaction."

“But for some OEMs who are unwilling to leave other tests to them, they are ‘non-customers’.”

"They naturally have their own rules for non-customer models."

"At this time, they may have to talk to you about the so-called fairness and justice, and show off how they abide by the rules and disciplines."

As the vice president and dean of the Automotive School of Lingnan University of Technology, Xiang Changle's rank is not low at all.

Therefore, he was not worried that he would offend China Automotive Research Institute by speaking too bluntly.

Besides, Cao Yang is his student.

Xiang Changle also knew very well what Cao Yang meant in this matter.

After thinking through these issues, it was actually clear what Xiang Changle's attitude was on this matter.

“For an organization like C-NCAP that sets its own rules and charges for testing, when the commercial flavor becomes more and more important, it is more like a public relations company than a fair, transparent and authoritative automobile safety agency. Standard Testing Agency.”

"Dean Xiang, what do you think should be done in this situation?"

Xiang Changle was not afraid, and Yu Yu was even less afraid.

Her salary was paid by Cao Yang.

If the boss wants to cause trouble, all she needs to do is rush forward.

So when I speak, I speak very straightforwardly.

But there is no way to easily refute it.

Wu Wei and his gang were probably furious after seeing the video.

"What you said makes perfect sense. C-NCAP is like a public relations company, not like an automobile safety standards testing agency."

"I suggest that a purely official testing agency should be established to make an authoritative appraisal of the passive safety of vehicles with an evaluation system higher than the current national mandatory standards."

"As far as I know, this action has actually happened before, but similar suggestions were rejected by China Automotive Research and Development Corporation."

Xiang Changle once again revealed a piece of information.

At his level, the sources of information are relatively abundant.

Ordinary consumers don’t know this, how can they still be unclear?

"Why can they say no so easily?"

"C-NCAP, as the only NCAP organization representing China, has been recognized by the World NCAP Organization, which will not authorize it to other domestic organizations; what's more, not every organization has the policy influence of China Automotive Research Institute. "

"Does that mean that the pit has been occupied by others and they refuse to give up their seats?"

"Yes, that's what it means!"

"Occupying a trap, but not doing it properly, this is not that..."

Yu Yu also showed a rare "viciousness".

Autohome is backed by a big tree and is not afraid of pressure from China Automotive Research Institute.

Besides, they have no direct dealings with China Automotive Research and Development Corporation.

Even to a certain extent, they are still competitors with China Automotive Research Institute.

After all, the marketing funds of OEMs are certain. If they spend more on one side, they will reduce on the other side.

"You are right to say that."

"C-NCAP cannot receive sufficient funding from governments and non-governmental organizations, and its operating organization is not a purely government agency. The funding must be borne by China Automotive Research and Development Corporation, and the testing costs must be covered by revenue from elsewhere. How to resolve this contradiction, perhaps It will become the biggest problem that C-NCAP will face next.”

“However, if this matter doesn’t change at all, I don’t think consumers will be able to accept it.”

"It is also not good for the development of China's automobile industry."

At the end of the interview, Xiang Changle also made some conclusions relatively objectively.

However, after the video of this interview was released, the C-NCAP media did not become cold at all, but felt that it was getting more intense.

This forced China Automotive Research and Development Corporation to reconsider what to do!