Rebirth 99 to become a car giant

Hot searches on Weibo have been filled with news about Korea Automobile and Kumho Tire in the past few days.

Public opinion is definitely very unfavorable to Kumho Tire and Korea Automobile.

In response to this situation, Imperial Capital Modern and the others would naturally not just surrender.

However, their actions are to drag down car companies such as GM and Volkswagen.

This change can naturally be felt by everyone.

"Bu Defan, is there any way for your purchasing department to take down Kumho Tire immediately and stop using their products in the future?"

Werner, the head of the Volkswagen Sales Department in Shanghai, immediately contacted Bu Defan and communicated some information about the 4S store and the Internet with Bu Defan.

As a German car company, Kumho Tire is definitely not the only tire manufacturer in Volkswagen.

However, due to cutting corners and cutting corners, Kumho Tire has a relatively low cost. In the past, it was the main tire supplier to Volkswagen in the city.

Now that something has happened, the people in Magic City naturally have no way to stay out of it.

"Each of our models is developed by more than one tire manufacturer. In theory, we can find other manufacturers to produce it."

"But if you suddenly change to tires from other manufacturers, the price will definitely be different, and there may also be problems with production capacity."

Bu Defan also had a big head.

Naturally, he knew about the trouble caused by Kumho Tire.

He has even contacted the people from Kumho Tire together with the head of the quality department.

However, Kumho Tire is also in a mess right now and cannot do anything particularly meaningful.

I could only explain rudely that only some of the tire products that had problems had problems, and most of them were fine. Moreover, the ones produced before the reporter from China Channel had basically no problems.

But Bu Defan naturally didn't believe what they said.

"China's automobile market is becoming more and more competitive, and you should be aware of this."

"Now because of the Kumho Tire incident, our sales have begun to be affected."

"Many of the consumers who came to the store yesterday inquired about the tire brands of our models. This was a very rare situation in the past."

"As long as the models use Kumho tires, they are not very popular now."

"Even the popular Lavida, because it is used by several tire brands such as Kumho Tire and Michelin."

"Some consumers directly purchase models that do not use Kumho tires, otherwise they will be required to replace the tires."

Werner also felt a little dizzy.

This time, he felt like he had been shot while lying down.

Volkswagen's sales situation in China is already a bit grim.

The headquarters is actually not very satisfied with the performance of Volkswagen China.

Now if something like this happens again, causing Volkswagen to fail to meet its sales target this year, Werner will be too unwilling to do so.

"We are now also communicating with other tire manufacturers such as Michelin to see if we can increase their share."

"But this will definitely take some time."

Bu Defan did not dare to make random promises.

If he casually promises something he cannot do, he will be the most unlucky at that time.

"I don't care so much. Anyway, the models we sell in the future can no longer have Kumho tires, at least the models in the past year cannot have them."

"Otherwise, if the sales volume does not meet the target, it will be the responsibility of the purchasing department!"

The relationship between Werner and Bu Defan is not very good.

In fact, the relationship between the sales department and the purchasing department of any company seems to be not good.

After all, the butt determines the head, and sometimes everyone’s stance is different.

For example, as a sales department, when planning new models, they definitely hope to have as many types of equipment as possible, so that it will be much easier to sell.

However, for the purpose of cost control, the purchasing department definitely does not want to use too much equipment and too good materials. Otherwise, if the cost target is not achieved, the boss will spank them.

The conflict between these two viewpoints exists in every car model.

"We can make a statement to the outside world and tell consumers that Kumho Tire is just one of our many tire manufacturers."

"The tires we use are not produced by problem factories, which is different from the situation of Imperial Hyundai."

"I see that people on the Chinese Internet are very concerned about Imperial Hyundai and Yueda Kia, so let them take the lead."

Bu Defan will definitely bring out a few scapegoats at this time.

Otherwise the pressure will be on him.

Within Modu General, similar conversations are going on.

Even in order to prevent everyone from focusing on themselves, the marketing departments of car companies such as GM and Volkswagen have tried their best to further help everyone build hostility towards Korean car companies on the Internet.

Suddenly, the situation became even more unfavorable for Didu Hyundai and Yueda Kia.

After all, even various joint venture car companies have ended up dealing with Hyundai and Yueda Kia. You can imagine the public opinion environment.

Basically, Tedu Hyundai and Yueda Kia have a bad reputation on the Internet.

…

"Bourne, I have arranged for the technical department to cooperate with websites such as Autohome to conduct some tests on various types of tires."

"Our products will be benchmarked against Kumho Tire's products."

"Let more people know our advantages over Kumho Tire in terms of braking distance, comfort and quietness."

As the most famous tire company in the world, Michelin is naturally not idle at this time.

China's various independent brands have put Kumho Tire on the chopping block. If Michelin doesn't know how to go and stab it, it would be very sorry for this market environment.

"Chen Kai, your arrangement is very good and can further establish Michelin's high-end brand image."

"Kumho Tire has taken away a lot of our market in the past few years, and I have long felt the need to deal with them."

"I didn't expect that this time they committed suicide and actually cut corners on the production materials of the tires."

"This is a joke with the safety of consumers."

"I think after this incident, Kumho Tire's market in China is considered useless."

"But whether we can successfully take advantage of this market depends on your efforts."

As the general manager of Michelin China, Byrne is now in a good mood.

Michelin itself didn't even do anything, and its biggest competitor was pinned to the ground and rubbed.

What they have to do now is run over and step on him a few times, and stab him a few more times.

"Buyers from car companies such as Modu General Motors and Modu Volkswagen have already contacted us, and they are interested in increasing our tire supply."

"However, some other tire brands are not idle and want to take up the market share vacated by Kumho Tire."

Naturally, Chen Kai went to report to Bourne after doing some investigation into the situation outside.

Otherwise, if you don’t know anything when the time comes, it will seriously affect your image in the minds of leaders.

"China's automobile market is developing too fast, and the production capacity of various tire brands has not kept up with the pace."

"Now that Kumho Tire has this problem again, a large part of their production capacity will be exhausted."

"This means that our production capacity supply will be relatively tight in the future."

"You have to make full use of this. When talking to customers about price reductions, let them know that we are going to increase prices."

"In this way, even if the price increase is not successful in the end, at least there is no need to respond to the price reduction."

Professional managers like Byrne are most concerned about their own performance.

And performance is nothing more than turnover and profit.

As for long-term orders, they come second.

Because as an employee assigned to China by the headquarters, he will most likely need to return to China in a few years.

Orders for new models will only contribute to turnover and profits many years later, so the price and sales of mass-produced parts are what he cares about most.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, he naturally hopes to improve his performance.

As for whether this situation will cause the OEM to have objections to Michelin, he is actually not particularly worried.

Because Michelin has its own unique brand advantages, many OEMs will continue to use it even if they have objections.

"I will try my best to send a signal to each OEM that the production capacity is not available. Then they themselves will be nervous."

Chen Kai also had a headache regarding Bourne's instructions.

I originally came here to report the measures against Kumho Tire, but unexpectedly it changed.

However, in the end he had no choice but to bite the bullet and implement it.

Fortunately, this time, Michelin has many teammates.

Those independent brands that want to encircle Hyundai and Yueda Kia have invisibly helped Michelin.

Just when everyone thought that this matter had been busy for several days and should slowly subside, a video on Youku suddenly further increased the popularity of this matter.

I saw a Hyundai Elantra suddenly burst a tire while walking on the highway, and then crashed directly into the guardrail next to it. The scene was a mess.

This scene happened to be captured by the driving recorder of a Xingtu vehicle behind it.

The car owner directly uploaded this video to the Internet, and soon someone found out that the Elantra uses Kumho tires.

Although it is not sure what caused the tire puncture on this car.

Tire quality problem?

Got a nail?

Or other problems, which are actually possible.

But in the current Internet mood, everyone is no longer in the mood to rationally understand the reasons for this matter.

Kumho Tire cut corners and the Hyundai Elantra using Kumho Tire had a flat tire on the highway, leaving the scene in a mess!

This scene made many Elantra owners unable to sit still!

Although the overall cost performance of the Elantra is very high, if you can't stand it, your safety will be threatened.

Not to mention that there is someone behind the scenes to guide us, even if there is no one to guide us, this matter will definitely make a fuss for a while.

As this video spread widely, especially among Elantra car enthusiasts, a random person stood up and said that he was going to the 4S store of Didu Hyundai to defend his rights, and a bunch of people immediately responded.

Anyway, everyone knows that with a large number of people, they will definitely not suffer.

Even if there is no way for the 4S store to refund the car at the original selling price, at least you can get some free maintenance or other coupons.

As a result, a large number of car owners naturally gathered in 4S stores.

The banners with black characters on a white background read "Unscrupulous merchants, please give me safety", "Diddu Hyundai, I want to return the car!", "Kumho Tire, cutting corners"...

All kinds of banners, as well as the crowd of people exiting the car that blocked the entrance and exit, immediately put Imperial Hyundai on the hot search again.

In the past few years, Didu Hyundai has tried to be on the hot search countless times, but it has been very difficult.

Now it is trending in an unexpected way.

It’s just that this hot search is not what they want.

"Mr. Jin, I think we should ask the Imperial Auto Group to help us say hello to the media and ask them to stop staring at us and reporting on us."

"Otherwise, if things continue like this, our 4S stores will no longer sell cars, and there won't even be customers coming to see the cars."

"Our sales will be down by at least half this month, and we don't know when we will get back to normal."

At the beginning, although Park Zhengxi felt that the situation was a little bad, he was not particularly worried.

After all, he feels that all Hyundai cars are very competitive.

But slowly, his mentality became a little unstable.

"You don't need to tell me, I have already communicated with their Chairman Xu."

"Like the media in the Imperial Capital area, they can say hello, but no one outside the Imperial Capital pays attention to him at all."

"The most popular things on the Internet are NetEase Auto Channel and Autohome, as well as various articles and hot searches on Weibo."

"These media did not listen to the greetings from the Imperial Automobile Group at all. Even after Mr. Xu said hello, there were some negative news about the Imperial Automobile Group on the Internet."

Jin Chenglin complained very depressedly.

The current situation is something he has never encountered since he became the general manager of Imperial Capital Hyundai.

This made him a little confused as to what to do.

All the methods I can think of have been tried before.

Even Didu Hyundai has stated on its official Weibo that it can provide free tire maintenance for all cars using Kumho tires. If there are quality problems, they can be replaced for free.

But the problem is not solved.

There are more and more car owners causing trouble everywhere.

Even consumer associations in many regions have begun to get involved.

This puts the matter completely beyond the control of Imperial Capital Modern.

"Then are we just going to watch the market being taken away by other brands now?"

"Although China's auto market is not so hot now, it is still growing slowly."

"But our sales have plummeted."

When Park Zhengxi said this, Jin Chenglin was very unhappy and said to him, "You are the director of the sales department. If you don't propose some solutions to this situation, you just complain to me here. What's the use? "

"Can you still do it?"

"If you can't do it anymore, get out!"

Obviously, Jin Chenglin has begun to find a scapegoat for himself.

There is definitely no way to fix this matter.

In the end, a few people must stand up and take responsibility.

Jin Chenglin himself definitely doesn't want to be the one who is held responsible.

"I……"

Park Zhengxi was completely stunned.

Why did my boss suddenly change?

During this time, he thought he had worked very hard.

It's like it's all his fault.

However, some things, even if he doesn't want to see them, may eventually develop.

Within two days, Park Chung-hee was dismissed.

Jin Chenglin transferred another direct descendant from Goryeo to serve as the head of the sales department of Imperial Hyundai.

However, at this time, it is not possible to change the situation by changing one person.

…

Great Wall Motors.

This time they were also participants in the campaign against Korean car companies.

But more often than not, they participate passively.

In just half a month, the sales of Imperial Hyundai and Yueda Kia dropped to dozens of units per day.

This was not a cut in the waist, but a cut directly to the ankle.

Although as the number of consumers going to 4S stores to cause trouble gradually decreases, this situation may be alleviated.

But it is obviously not that easy to return to its former glory.

Everyone at Great Wall Motors, who saw all this in their eyes, was naturally deeply touched.

To this end, Wang Ying convened a meeting with the company's sales team to summarize the case.

"Mr. Wang, judging from the situation in the past half month, the storm launched by Chery Automobile and Nanshan Group against Korean car companies has caught Hyundai and Yueda Kia by surprise with a thunderous force."

"They made good use of China Channel's coverage of the popular incident of Kumho Tire cutting corners and encircling Korean car companies."

"During this period, we pulled various independent brands to work together, and also forced some joint venture car companies to put aside their relationships, which produced very successful results."

"I think the company can be bolder and more proactive in marketing in the future."

As the head of the sales department, Lian Furong must stand up and say something.

In the past few years, Great Wall Motors has been developing very fast.

To be honest, Lian Furong is still a bit complacent.

Because he felt that this matter must have his own contribution to it.

To put it bluntly, it would be easier for him to change jobs now.

However, this time Chery Automobile took the initiative to stand up and bring various independent brands together to deal with Korean car companies, which gave him a lot of feelings.

He felt that he was still too kind.

The means of dealing with competitors can be enriched and more innovative.

"Chery Automobile is very smart. They know to first convince Mr. Cao and let Nanshan Group stand with them. This is a prerequisite for success."

"Without the cooperation of Nanshan Group, there would definitely not be such a big influence on the Internet this time."

Wang Ying hit the nail on the head.

In her opinion, the best thing Chery Automobile did this time was to drag Nanshan Group into trouble.

Invisibly, it also brought Chery Automobile closer to the Nanshan Group.

Originally, the relationship between the two companies was somewhat estranged because of Chery Automobile's independent research and development of engines.

At least not as good as the relationship between Great Wall Motors and Nanshan Group.

But now there seems to be less of that sense of alienation.

"What happened this time also tells us that China's automobile market has begun to enter a new stage."

"It is estimated that it will be difficult to grow at a rate of tens of percent every year in the future."

"However, various car companies have announced their own production expansion plans in the past year, and there is likely to be overcapacity by then."

"Once this happens, competition among various car companies will definitely become more intense."

"Today, Chery Automobile's method of pulling everyone to deal with Korean car companies is likely to be used by other car companies on us in the future."

"So I think the company needs to pay more attention to Internet marketing. I think it is necessary to set up a new department within the sales department to focus on public opinion supervision and marketing promotion on the Internet."

Taking this opportunity, Lian Furong naturally wanted to get some benefits for the sales department.

Increasing the size of the sales department is the greatest benefit for him, the head of the sales department.

"What Director Lian said makes sense. I heard that Autohome has helped Nanshan Group raise a lot of trolls on the Internet, which can play a very big role at critical moments."

"We can also raise some trolls to help us speak on various forums."

“Consumers are fickle, and they often change their opinions after being led by others.”

Other participants also expressed their thoughts.

Anyway, it means the same thing. In the future, Great Wall Motors will also need to have the ability to cause trouble and mess with people on the Internet.

Otherwise, one day someone else will do something to you, and you won’t even know how to fight back.

Wang Ying naturally agreed with this.

And after the whole month of March passed in such a bustling manner, on April 1st, April Fool's Day, various car companies also released their sales figures one after another.

Interesting people discovered that Imperial Hyundai and Yueda Kia had not released their products on the night of the 1st.

After most mainstream OEMs announced their sales, it was on the evening of April 3 that Imperial Hyundai coyly announced its own sales.

Teito Hyundai, which originally sold about 60,000 units a month, actually sold less than 40,000 units in March, a drop of more than 30%.

Of these 40,000 vehicles, 30,000 were sold in the first half of the month.

This means that in the second half of the month, not even 10,000 units were sold.

If development continues at this pace, Imperial Hyundai's sales in April will plummet to less than 30,000 vehicles.

This data is very ugly.

Especially in the context of China's auto market continuing to grow, this kind of plunge is definitely very dazzling.

Chinese consumers tend to buy up prices rather than down prices, and the same goes for buying cars.

When sales decline, people become even more afraid to buy.

This time, China's independent brands used thunderous momentum to directly defeat the Korean car companies.

After listening to Zeng Tingting report the entire process in the office, Cao Yang felt very good.

One company must be eliminated first. There are too many domestic car companies.

China does not need so many car companies.

To put it bluntly, even if the number of car companies is cut by half, China's number of car companies will still be the largest in the world.

There is obviously room for change in this situation.

Of course, these are all things for later.

Cao Yang now wants to happily watch Imperial Hyundai and Yueda Kia suffer misfortune.

However, Cao Yang's good mood did not last long before he was affected by bad news.