Wu Guanjin: local brand local breakthrough is the best policy

Two adjacent 4S stores, a Chery, a FAW-Volkswagen. Regardless of the image of the store, the status of business development, the overall service level, and the quality of practitioners, there is a huge gap between Chery stores and neighbors. The author lamented that even if Chery made a good car with the same quality as the public, he would choose to buy a Volkswagen if he were a consumer. The service feels too great!

In fact, the author said Chery is not particularly bad for Chery. On the contrary, the overall level of Chery's dealerships is among the best among local brands. However, there is still such a gap between the leading and the joint venture brands, and the average level of difference is even more conceivable. The author communicated deeply with an old friend of the local brand company responsible for network management with deep anxiety, but his views are very different from the author. He agrees with the author's point of view, but he thinks that as a local brand manufacturer, the main competitors they have locked in are other local brand manufacturers. He believes that other local brand manufacturers are not particularly conspicuous in improving dealer service. Compared with them, he is only a mediocre member. Wow, why are the local brands always passively beaten, why local brands become "poor" in every market. Of course, there are many objective reasons. However, the author believes that there is no lofty ideal and no “brilliant sword” spirit that meets the brave winners. This is the fundamental reason why local brands cannot achieve breakthroughs for a long time.

After the question of courage, talk about strategies for action. At present, the gap between local brands and joint venture brands is all-round. It is true that many local brands have narrowed the gap with joint-venture brands in all directions through their own efforts. But in front of the cruel market, all-round backwardness means exit. Therefore, the wise approach is to “strengthen the foundation on the one hand and close the gap in all directions; on the one hand, we must be surprised and gain a partial breakthrough”.

It is a good explanation to narrow the gap in all directions. How can local breakthroughs be understood? The author believes that the partial breakthrough has a horizontal, vertical and two-layered meaning. "Hang" refers to the market. When the local brand car companies cannot compete on a national scale, it may deliberately use resources in specific regions to gain competitive advantage in local markets. Do not forget that China is a "continental level" country. A certain local market capacity may be equivalent to a small European country. “Longitudinal” refers to the entire chain from R&D to sales of car enterprises. Selecting one or two nodes in each link to achieve a centralized breakthrough is the core wisdom of local car companies.

The author believes that in the short term, it is difficult to form an advantage in terms of technology and quality, local brands may wish to do more work on the service capabilities of dealers. Haier is not a successful example? Why can't China's car industry appear as a local car company like Haier?