Rebirth 99 to become a car giant

"Mr. Cao, speaking of Volkswagen, there are indeed some news that are closely related to Chuncheng Volkswagen during this period."

"I heard that Volkswagen is also discussing countermeasures."

Yu Yu is the most well-informed person in the Chinese automobile industry.

She is well aware of the situation of many other automobile manufacturers.

Especially some gossip news, if you consult her, there will be some movement in nine out of ten cases.

This time Cao Yang wants to trip up Volkswagen, and asking Yu Yu is obviously the most appropriate.

"Oh?"

Cao Yang immediately became interested, "Tell me more about it!"

Although Volkswagen has been improving its relationship with Nanshan Automobile Group in the past year, things in the business world are not as simple as black and white.

From the perspective of the entire Chinese market, Volkswagen's sales in China have re-entered a stage of rapid growth, which is obviously not in the overall interests of Nanshan Automobile Group.

After all, even if Chuncheng Volkswagen and Modu Volkswagen have cooperated with Nanshan Automobile Group, their scale is far less than that of other independent brands.

For example, Nanshan Automobile Group may earn 5,000 yuan by selling a Changan car.

But it may be difficult to earn 500 yuan from selling a Volkswagen.

After all, they have their own supply chain, which is not so easy to change.

"On March 7, 2012, the new Sagitar was launched, using a lower-cost torsion beam non-independent rear suspension, while the previous Sagitar used an independent suspension."

"Since the second half of 2012, car owners have reported that the rear suspension of their vehicles has peeled and rusted, there are strange noises while driving, and the rear suspension is directly broken on the highway."

"Car owners began to realize the problem and began to gather and defend their rights, but Chuncheng Volkswagen replied that this situation is an isolated case."

"Some dealers have replaced the rear suspension for car owners to deal with it, but it did not solve the problem. The Sagitar has become the model with the most complaints."

"On September 5, 2013, the 2014 Sagitar was launched, still using a torsion beam non-independent rear suspension."

"However, in May 2014, without changing the generation or remodeling, the Sagitar quietly replaced the non-independent suspension with a multi-link independent suspension, and Volkswagen did not do any publicity, and was extremely low-key, which aroused consumers' suspicion."

Since Cao Yang is interested, Yu Yu must introduce this situation in detail.

She has also guessed what Cao Yang wants to do.

Anyway, Autohome has cooperated with Nanshan Automobile Group to do similar things over the years.

"On July 22, 2014, Chuncheng Volkswagen made an official statement, clearly stating that the fracture of the rear suspension of the Sagitar was not a batch problem of the product, but an individual case that was exaggerated by people with ulterior motives."

"On August 14 this year, the General Administration launched a defect investigation, interviewed Chuncheng Volkswagen, and carried out user return visits, on-site inspections, and defect technical analysis."

"As a result, the attitude of Chuncheng Volkswagen began to change."

"There are many Sagitar owners on the forum of Autohome who are constantly criticizing Chuncheng Volkswagen, and we have also contacted some of the owners."

"Since this matter seems to be going big, I heard that Chuncheng Volkswagen is preparing to recall the Sagitar and several other models in the next few days."

"Then the repair plan is said to be very funny."

Yu Yu said while observing Cao Yang's reaction.

If the latter is very interested, then she must continue to talk well.

"Is it a patch?"

Hearing Yu Yu say this, Cao Yang naturally has an impression.

Back then, Volkswagen's "patching" repair plan was a hot topic.

I didn't expect that there is still a similar solution now.

It seems that if you don't commit suicide, you won't die.

"Mr. Cao, your description of "patching" is really too appropriate."

Yu Yu was stunned for a moment, and combined with the situation she knew, she immediately realized what "patching" meant.

She even planned to arrange someone to write relevant manuscripts, and when Spring City Volkswagen officially announced the recall plan, she would publicize the term "patching".

The impact will definitely be great at that time.

"I heard that Spring City Volkswagen's recall measure this time is to install a "metal lining."

"It is said that they believe that the metal lining will increase the critical longitudinal load of the suspension. If the rear axle longitudinal arm breaks, the metal lining can ensure the driving stability of the vehicle and will emit a continuous warning noise."

At this point, Yu Yu couldn't help laughing.

After so many years, this is the first time she has heard of such a funny recall response plan.

Continuous warning noise?

What the hell is this?

"If Spring City Volkswagen really adopts this recall measure, then I think you can arrange a special vehicle for testing."

"According to Volkswagen, after the longitudinal arm body breaks, the added lining will produce a continuous warning noise."

"But I think after the lining is installed, if the longitudinal arm body breaks, there is indeed a possibility of a discernible continuous warning noise when driving on a bad road."

"But most consumers are driving on good roads, which is not easy to detect at this time and cannot effectively serve as a warning."

"Then there is still a risk of vehicle loss of control due to failure to detect the breakage of the rear axle longitudinal arm body in time and the breakage of the lining."

"Anyway, we can't let Chuncheng Volkswagen off easily."

Obviously, Cao Yang wants to take this opportunity to suppress the rising sales trend of Chuncheng Volkswagen and Modou Volkswagen.

Although it is impossible to directly suppress Volkswagen's sales because of this incident, it will definitely have a certain impact.

Other car companies will not sit idle after seeing these opportunities.

At that time, Volkswagen will become the target of public criticism, and it will be very difficult to continue to increase sales.

Even after such a toss, the sales of Sagitar will inevitably decline sharply, and the sales of Chuncheng Volkswagen will inevitably be affected.

"Mr. Cao, in addition to making a fuss about the recall plan of Sagitar, I think it can actually be further derived and come up with some seemingly plausible things."

"Many Volkswagen models are platform cars, or have various special relationships with each other."

"As long as we ruin the reputation of Sagitar, we can take the opportunity to popularize the relationship between the various models of Chuncheng Volkswagen and Modou Volkswagen in China to ruin the reputation of other models."

The boss wants to make trouble, and Yu Yu must go all out.

It is inevitable to proactively propose some new tricks.

"Please be more specific!"

Cao Yang did not fully understand what Yu Yu meant, so he asked.

"Volkswagen's passenger cars are basically tossed around on several platforms."

"The most well-known one is Jetta. In 1991, China first introduced the second-generation model of the overseas version of Jetta. The Jetta introduced at that time was authentic and became one of the 'old three' because of its reliable performance. However, it did not follow the overseas update of the third-generation model."

"Until the fourth-generation model of Jetta was launched overseas, the original version was also introduced in China at that time, but the name was changed to the 'Bora' we are familiar with today."

"The fifth-generation Jetta model launched overseas was also introduced in China, but the name was changed to 'Sagitar' again and has been used to this day."

"So as long as we let everyone form the impression that Sagitar has problems, Bora and Jetta also have problems, and even Lavida and Santana, which are on the same platform as Bora and Jetta, also have problems, we can maximize the impact on their sales."

After Yu Yu said this, Cao Yang probably understood her plan.

When promoting the article later, nine out of ten sentences are true, but there is a sentence that seems true or false.

The effect will be very exciting.

Cao Yang naturally has no objection to this.

As if to verify the accuracy of Yu Yu's information, a few days later, Spring City Volkswagen officially released the recall plan for the Sagitar.

This time, the owners of the Sagitar were "boiling".

Such an insulting plan must have made many people very dissatisfied.

Autohome and other media outlets naturally would not miss this opportunity and published various related articles crazily.

The recall plan of the Sagitar "patch" also quickly became a hot search, which made the owners of non-Sagitar cars also gain knowledge.

"Editor Fang, Spring City Volkswagen announced that starting from January 1, 2015, it will recall new Sagitar cars produced between May 2011 and May 2014 in China, involving 463,605 vehicles."

"The recall scale of more than 460,000 vehicles clearly shows that Spring City Volkswagen itself has denied the statement mentioned in the previous "God Statement" that "the Sagitar rear suspension problem is an extremely rare case."

"This morning, Spring City Volkswagen has contacted us and hopes that our website will not report too much news about the Sagitar recall."

"For this reason, they are willing to increase the advertising project of 10 million yuan here."

As a channel with a relatively large influence in the domestic automotive media circle, NetEase Auto Channel is naturally the focus of Spring City Volkswagen.

Especially after the recall plan was released, it immediately became a hot search, with all kinds of scolding.

This made Volkswagen feel the pressure.

"Do you think Volkswagen's recall this time can solve the problem of Sagitar's broken axle?"

Fang Dawen did not immediately express his thoughts.

Similar things have happened from time to time in the past, and the media taking money to withdraw articles is considered an unspoken rule in the industry.

"The recall measure proposed by Volkswagen is to install a metal lining on the rear axle longitudinal arm of the new Sagitar."

"According to their dealers: the metal lining will increase the critical longitudinal load of the suspension. If the rear axle longitudinal arm breaks, the metal lining can ensure the driving stability of the vehicle and will emit a continuous warning noise."

"In other words, Spring City Volkswagen admits that the rear suspension may still break after the implementation of the plan."

After Lin Jiayan said this, Fang Dawen immediately asked: "Then why doesn't Spring City Volkswagen provide consumers with a better solution, such as replacing a new rear suspension?"

"After all, Spring City Volkswagen believes that there is still a risk of breakage, which means that this problem has definitely not been completely solved."

Lin Jiayan has her own opinion on Fang Dawen's question.

"It is understood that the cost of installing a metal lining is quite low, no more than 100 yuan, while the cost of replacing a new non-independent suspension or independent suspension has exceeded several thousand yuan."

"So I think Chuncheng Volkswagen took this bad idea out of consideration of the cost issue and solved the problem of the broken rear suspension of the Sagitar by patching it."

Hearing the cost issue raised by Lin Jiayan, Fang Dawen said, "It is true. The cost of installing a metal lining is very low, but replacing a new suspension must be very expensive. From the perspective of practical interests, Spring City Volkswagen is definitely unwilling to replace the new suspension."

Lin Jiayan: "There is something even more disgusting. A spokesperson for Volkswagen said that the fracture of the rear axle is related to the driving habits of Chinese drivers, not the technical defects of the rear axle itself. The recall does not involve technical reasons, and the rear axle itself is safe."

Fang Dawen: "It is definitely not a good reason to explain the problem of rear suspension fracture based on the driver's driving habits."

"Any car has been tested for road conditions, climate, etc. before it goes on the market."

"If Volkswagen is not aware of the problem of consumer habits, it is enough to prove Volkswagen's failure in research and development, and this problem was not considered during the design process."

"So even if the reason for the fracture of the rear suspension is the consumer's usage habits, it is also the responsibility of the manufacturer."

This logic is obviously not difficult, and anyone can understand it.

In this case, Fang Dawen really doesn't dare to take the advertising fee from Spring City Volkswagen.

"Autohome seems to be reporting this news on a large scale, and there are even many Sagitar owners organizing some targeted activities against Volkswagen on their forum."

"For this matter, we just need to maintain an objective and fair attitude and participate."

Obviously, Fang Dawen does not want to offend Nanshan Automobile Group.

The attitude of Autohome represents Nanshan Automobile Group to a certain extent.

Nanshan Automobile Group has fought with many joint venture car companies before, and Fang Dawen is also very clear about this matter.

Everyone is in Guangzhou, and they will meet each other every day. If you offend the other party, the result will not be good.

"Well, then I will arrange work for everyone in this spirit."

After listening to Fang Dawen's answer, Lin Jiayan's face showed a little more admiration.

In her opinion, there are not many people like her boss who are not afraid of power and can withstand the temptation of advertising fees.

...

"Ayang, I just contacted Huaxia TV. They will follow up on the news channel to report on the recall of the broken axle of the Sagitar and put enough pressure on Volkswagen."

Fang Sisi is naturally very clear about the purpose behind what Cao Yang wants to do.

This kind of plan, which can further put pressure on the other party through Huaxia TV and make the impact of this matter even greater, does not need Cao Yang to say more, she will take the initiative to promote it.

So far, among domestic joint venture car companies, Volkswagen has the highest overall sales.

Whoever stands out will be suppressed.

This is what Nanshan Automobile Group must do.

"Chuncheng Volkswagen will never directly replace the suspension for consumers. The cost of that is too high and no car company can accept it."

"So in the end, either pretend to be dead or make all kinds of excuses to let time dilute this matter."

"The more they do this, the more we have to make this matter known to everyone and reduce their brand reputation."

Cao Yang is obviously well aware of the various plans that Volkswagen will take.

This kind of thing, once it happens, it will definitely be difficult to deal with.

"Many people believe in Volkswagen, which makes Volkswagen a little bit unscrupulous now. They may think that my attitude will not affect my sales."

"Especially during this period, the sales of Spring City Volkswagen and Magic City Volkswagen have been rising, which has given them an illusion."

"In this case, let's teach them a lesson."

Fang Sisi is not a naive person.

The development of Volkswagen will threaten the interests of Nanshan Automobile Group, so it must be suppressed.

Even if there is some cooperation between the two parties, it should be handled as it should be.

In the commercial war, many means are used together.

"Yes, it is undeniable that the Volkswagen brand has been deeply rooted in China for many years and has a deep foundation in the minds of some consumers."

"Especially after some special reasons caused the sales of Japanese cars to decline, Volkswagen has become the biggest beneficiary among the joint venture brands."

"This time, the official car reform has brought dividends to Volkswagen."

"If we don't give them a hard blow, Volkswagen will be arrogant again in the future."

Nanshan Automobile Group can be arrogant, but other car companies cannot.

In the Chinese auto industry, Cao Yang is so domineering.

Why do all kinds of car companies have various visible and invisible barriers when entering the German market?

You Volkswagen is conquering the Chinese market?

Even though it was suppressed by Nanshan Auto Group in the past few years, it is still tenaciously alive.

Now it seems to be bottoming out and rebounding.

This trend must not be allowed to form.

"I think other car companies should not miss such an opportunity."

"The market cake is so big, and if Volkswagen eats more, it will affect the sales of other car companies."

"Especially the Japanese car companies such as Civic, Corolla and Sylphy, the competitors of Sagitar, are probably hoping that Volkswagen can divert the dissatisfaction of Chinese consumers with Japanese car companies this time."

There are many pushers behind any hot news.

Especially in the automotive industry, this situation is even more common.

After all, the competition for interests among everyone is still very obvious.

No one would go against money.

For the things that all parties in the automotive industry are paying attention to, Volkswagen will naturally not remain indifferent.

"Tariq, you must fully guide dealers to communicate with consumers and not let things get worse."

Fondel is not as calm as he was some time ago.

Although the problem of broken axles of Sagitar has emerged one after another before, it has not really formed a large-scale public opinion offensive.

On the contrary, after the release of this recall announcement, the matter has become a big deal.

This is naturally not the situation he wants to see.

"Fondel, our thoughts of wanting to save money and not have problems have been reported by many media, and many consumers also think so."

"This weekend, I heard that Sagitar consumers across the country will go to our 4S stores to defend their rights. This matter may not be solved by simple communication."

Tariq is also under great pressure now.

The sales of Spring City Volkswagen have been rising continuously. If it starts to decline again because of this matter, it will definitely be unacceptable.

After all, Tariq has also experienced the days when Spring City Volkswagen's sales were sluggish.

He doesn't want to do it again.

"Our new Sagitar no longer has this problem. The ones who are making trouble now are the customers who bought their cars between 2011 and 2014."

"We can give away some maintenance coupons to eliminate the dissatisfaction of some consumers."

"Then we are already communicating with the media to let everyone know that the current plan is the most effective one."

Fondel is not doing nothing now.

Whether it is to find various media to place advertisements to reduce the reports related to Sagitar, or to communicate with Chuncheng Automobile Group to find relevant help and support.

But the final effect is not very ideal.

"We have already done things to appease and compensate consumers, but more consumers are coming out to make trouble."

"Generally speaking, the owners who buy Sagitar are not troublemakers, and they are more looking for stability. Most of them are not familiar with rights protection, parades, and demonstrations, but when various media link this matter with the threat to the personal safety of consumers and their families, many people become more motivated to make trouble."

"We also arranged some people to mix in various Sagitar owners' rights protection groups to understand the situation, thinking about whether we can appease everyone's emotions, but it seems that the effect is not very good."

Tariq explained the work he was doing here very aggrievedly.

It's not that he didn't try.

Even the Chuncheng Automobile Group actually contributed.

"There must be someone behind this matter, and even all the Chinese automobile peers are adding fuel to the fire."

"So it's inevitable that things are not so easy to suppress."

"But we can't let consumers continue to make trouble in our 4S stores, which will affect the sales of other models."

What Feng Del is very concerned about now is whether the Sagitar incident will affect the sales of other models.

That can be said to be the worst outcome.

However, sometimes, the more you worry about something, the more things will develop in that direction.

"Most of the Sagitar owners are office workers, and they probably don't have so much free time to make trouble."

"It's okay to go once in a while on weekends, but it's impossible to toss every day."

"We will also communicate with each dealer to see how to deal with this situation."

Tariq doesn't have any particularly good solutions for the time being.

At this time, he can only listen to the opinions of the 4S stores on the front line of sales.

Many times, they actually understand the situation best and can take the most effective countermeasures.

In the end, even if there is a problem, Chuncheng Volkswagen can pass the buck. After all, 4S stores are franchised, not subsidiaries of Chuncheng Volkswagen.