*This article is reproduced from the autocarweekly official account
Author: Karakush
Last Saturday, XPeng Motors opened its flagship experience center in Sanlitun, Beijing.
Located on the first floor facing the street in the garden, there is a 500-square-meter piece of land that doesn’t look like a place to sell cars if you don’t spot a car.
This is a professional evaluation from a passerby-
XPeng invited the famous architect Ma Yansong to design the new facade of Beijing. If you are also a Star Wars fan, you must feel very impressed because the upcoming Lucas Narrative Art Museum was also designed by him. He must be a cool person, and he said that XPeng’s “space is particularly cool”, so it is probably true.
This is XPeng that you have never seen before.
“The entire ceiling looks like mountains and water, giving a sense of flow. With the lighting and multimedia equipment, it is versatile and has a sense of technology. The combination of mountains and water sometimes gives people a classical and traditional cultural expression, but together with technology and the future, it becomes interesting.”
According to the news release, the design concept “Mountains and Waters Kung Peng” comes from “Xiaoyaoyou”. In the North Sea, there was a fish named Kun; it became a bird named Peng after undergoing a transformation and could fly nine thousand miles with a single flap. Even if EV range is ignored, the Peng still symbolizes XPeng: the Peng’s wingspan is unknown, XPeng’s ambition is unknown with tens of thousands of cars.
However, this operation is more like the routine that NIO will play, the planning that Cadillac will do, the concept that Lexus will talk about, the guest that Volvo will invite, and even the fashion show atmosphere that Lynk & Co used to have.
It just doesn’t seem like something XPeng, a well-known tech-oriented straight male company in the industry, would do.
He has changed and he has not
XPeng didn’t pay attention to these things before.
The first XPeng experience center in Beijing was located on the first floor of Changying Tianjie, Dongwuhuan, and was a small and beautiful 200-square-meter tofu-like square. The decoration was mainly in a technology-light and black color scheme, with bright and clean large white lights and floor-to-ceiling windows, and one or two cars were placed. It was representative and demonstrative across the country. Most XPeng experience stores have such specifications and tonality, exquisitely and efficiently lurking on the first floor of major shopping malls.
The Changying Tianjie store opened at the end of December 2018. At the same time, the first batch of new forces experience stores appeared in downtown Beijing. At that time, everyone had reached a preliminary consensus that these storefronts in commercial circles were not only to establish offline sales touchpoints but also an important means to promote new brands.# Markdown Translation
The most impressive car dealership in China must be NIO’s flagship store located in the eastern district of Chaoyang Joy City. The store was completed in 2017, even before the launch of ES8, and people knew it was a luxury brand from the very beginning. Other brands have stores in Sanlitun, Sihuiqiao, and other locations, and their positioning and intentions can be seen from where they are located, who they want to attract, and what image they want to build.
In contrast, XPeng’s flagship store is the furthest away from the city center, adjacent to Tongzhou on the map. However, the traffic flow at the location is not low. Later, of course, XPeng opened stores in the city center, but compared to the branding strategy, XPeng at that time focused more on penetration rate, expanding coverage, and sales efficiency. The core logic was to sell cars first, then expand offline stores to increase sales. As the cost increased towards the city center, the actual cost-effectiveness decreased.
If the only measuring stick is “selling cars”, opening a store in Sanlitun is not as cost-effective as one might think.
Although Sanlitun seems to be a honey pot every car company dreams of having. There is an unusually dense population here, mostly young people with strong purchasing power, overflowing in every piece of clothing they wear. Youthful, trendy, and money-spending, making the “come and buy me” attitude almost written on their faces.
However, according to past records, Sanlitun is not a friendly place for “selling cars”. Many car brands, both old and new, have risen and fallen. If one wants to sell cars here, the cost is prohibitive. For example, according to TECH PLANET, XPeng’s store rent starts from one million yuan per month, with an annual increase of about 5% to 10%.
Directing the high traffic flow into additional sales value may be limited, but the greater value lies in the cultivation of brand identity, making young people recognize it as a new and prestigious brand worth owning. This intangible asset building requires a bit of long-term faith.
And XPeng has already signed a long-term lease.
They didn’t take this as a battlefield for explosive sales growth. At the opening ceremony, XPeng’s Co-founder and Senior Vice President, He Tao, described the flagship store as a “city lifestyle” base specially designed for XPeng customers.
“City lifestyle” was not heard of in XPeng’s language system before. Specifically, for example, there may be car enthusiasts’ activities such as wine tasting and sharing meetings on weekends. It is also open to the public during normal hours. You, as an ordinary person, do not need a VIP code to enter the store. You can take it as a small and elegant landmark, enjoy a coffee, and admire the scenery of the store.
#何涛说，小鹏要呈现给大家的，不仅仅只是科技或者企图心，也不该仅仅如此，而是要带入更多有温度、有感觉的东西。
比如三里屯这家店，小鹏融入了品牌里不曾有过的文化和艺术，并且还是中国传统古典文化和艺术。虽然听上去和小鹏这样的科技产品十分违和，但是内核上两者是统一的，无论艺术还是科技、艺术品还是科技产品，都是要和人在价值层面去建立精神上的对话。
如此形而上的小鹏，我也是不大习惯的。但道理是这么个道理。
此时在三里屯正在修造一座中国爱乐音乐厅，也是马岩松的手笔，他说日后在三里屯会有一个中国最好的欣赏古典音乐的场所。这句话突然让我有一点理解三里屯。在我看来，无论是山河小鹏，还是古典音乐厅，和周围略带些不合时宜的冲突感，反倒要比在这里再开一家酒吧、再开一个网红奶茶店、再开一间巨形优衣库，要更对味三里屯的气质。
他们要抓住的并不是消费主义上的冷气，而是相信当代青年仍旧持有一些对梦的憧憬，对规则的反叛，对世界参差的好奇，对还有一万种可能性想去试试的力气。
这就是年轻啊！
对于很多小鹏车主来说，小鹏或许一直就内涵了这样的意思。
当天开场表演是一段绝美的现代舞，舞者其实正是一位小鹏车主。她说自己其实是坐着别人家的试驾车时，突然看见前面出现了 X 的标志，就一眼入魂的。很难知道她在 X 上到底看到了什么，但让她去开始了解小鹏，就感觉特别棒，慢慢觉得这可能就是她要找的汽车。
她叫彭莹，很多 「鹏友」 都认识，她和先生一起在创业一家在线艺术交流平台，让年轻艺术家能更容易地链接到商业价值。在去年底，小鹏举办的鹏友之夜音乐会上，他们有上台表演。那场音乐会暴露出很多 「不大对劲」 的车主，还比如一对来自上海的车主夫妇，是合唱团指挥家，平时在教老年人唱声乐……
你看到这些人，心里一定充满了问号，然后觉得小鹏是一个神奇的品牌，它的科技属性特别鲜明，但是人群画像意外地模糊。你以为一定是只有极客才懂得科技的价值，买它的人会是技术宅，实际上并不是。他们来自五湖四海，有着各自的生活与爱，如果硬要总结的话，或许只是一群还不想放弃热忱，在用力探索人生的年轻人。
而这样的小鹏，就很合适三里屯。## Who is XPeng?
After establishing itself in Sanlitun, XPeng plans to open flagship experience centers in more cities. However, it is rumored that they will no longer stick to the “Shanshui Kunpeng” concept, which was unique to the Sanlitun store, as each flagship store will be experimenting with its own style. As a result, the brand’s mission to explore the value of non-cost-effective branding is clear.
It is now XPeng’s time to build its brand. In contrast to the top-down approach of its competitors, XPeng has been steadily making progress. On one hand, going public in North America has provided ample capital for its efforts; on the other hand, with steadily increasing sales figures, building its brand naturally becomes the next step. In May, XPeng delivered 5,686 vehicles, including almost 3,800 P7 models. Not only has the quantity increased, but the proportion of high-end products has also risen. XPeng needs a brand that can support both the G3, which costs around 200,000 RMB, and the P7 “Kunpeng” that is around 400,000 RMB.
In fact, even before planning flagship stores, XPeng had already started a series of brand image projects. For example, we previously reported on the XPeng P7 “Kunpeng” edition delivery event held at the Fosun Art Center in Shanghai. During the event, the challenge exhibition hall designed by Tadao Ando was booked for the car owners. In January of this year, XPeng also launched a brand new XPeng supercharging station. The new design incorporates the X’s concept, making it even more well-suited for highlighting a unified brand image compared to the old version.
You may be wondering if these efforts will actually pay off.
I thought of an interesting thing. Someone on Zhihu once asked, “Why do many foreign brands use the founder’s name as the brand name which we perceive as high-end, while Chinese brands that use the founder’s name are difficult to accept?”
He XPeng said that he felt this question was designed for XPeng Motors, so he would answer it.
The core idea is probably this positive statement: “A resounding brand name is certainly a plus, but the core is innovative and reliable technology research and development, high-quality product experience, and a sound service system. In the long run, the development of an enterprise is more important for its products, services, or value proposition, and whether the brand can achieve market recognition and positioning. “
He XPeng said he firmly believes that as long as they continue to do well, whether it’s XPeng Motors or its English name XPENG, this brand will eventually make consumers know, believe, remember and approve of them.
Of course, in the eyes of many people, this statement doesn’t change anything and is just a form of self-motivation.We can take a look at the stories behind those great names. The trend of naming tech companies after fruits and crops probably started with Apple. XPeng Motors originally wanted to be called “Orange Car”, but the name was already taken, which gave “XPeng” a chance.
Today, people love to pile up various meaningful stories on “Apple”, saying that it represents Turing’s apple, Newton’s apple, or even Adam and Eve’s apple, believing that such a badass company must bear great ambitions in its name.
But the real reason, as Jobs said, was that he was following a fruitarian diet and ate apples every day. He thought it was interesting to name a computer company after an apple. Moreover, Apple could be listed ahead of Jobs’ previous company, Atari, in the phonebook. It was simply cool.
This is how brand building works, all meanings need to be constructed.
Today’s XPeng is not just representative of He XPeng, who is willing to invest money to give young people the opportunity to start a business. It is not just He XPeng who is willing to go “all in” on cars. It is a group of techies who have become stronger after endless coding. It is the P7, which currently has the highest level of intelligence in the car market. It is a listed company in North America, the Shanshui in Sanlitun, and a group of young XPeng enthusiasts who never stop testing and trying.
Brand development is not born great, it is always a gradual process.
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.