*This article is reproduced from the autocarweekly official account.
Author: Ling Hu Chong
There is a hierarchy in playing games.
Last month, Sony’s flagship game “God of War” was released on the Steam platform and directly won the first place in the best-selling list of the Steam China region within two hours. This was due to the PS official’s excitement, as well as the anger and sorrow of 19.5 million PS4 players behind it.
Console games and PC games have always been the two most concerned categories in the gaming market, but due to different peripherals and platforms, console players have always had a psychological advantage over PC players.
This is because console manufacturers will launch a series of exclusive works to attract players to buy their game consoles. In other words, if you want to play this game, sorry, you have to buy a game console to enjoy this 3A masterpiece.
Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft have spent a lot of money in order to compete for the market.
However, unexpectedly, one of the best-selling games in Sony’s history, which was built on the 19.5 million Sony PS4 players’ money, has migrated to the embrace of PC players. “We are ready to fight to death, why did Your Majesty surrender first?”
Keep in mind that when “God of War 4” was launched, the box was printed with the words “PS4 ONLY”!
The console exclusivity and Sony players’ beliefs have become a joke since then.
But even so, Sony players still stick to the console platform, because Sony always puts the newest and most fun games first on its own console. What PC players can play are the games left over by Sony players.
Besides, what does your hierarchy of players have to do with me selling games as Sony?
Now let’s step out of the gaming industry and take a look at the automotive industry. Like fossil fuel vehicles, new energy vehicles also have a hierarchy.
Price will be the most critical factor determining the penetration of new energy vehicles into the market, and price has also split people’s attitudes towards new energy.Tesla drivers may consider the Wuling Hong Guang MINIEV as a large toy, but only those who quietly enjoy grocery shopping and transportation at a cost of less than fifty thousand will know how awesome micro-cars and small cars like the Wuling Hong Guang MINIEV are, which retain a new energy green plate, all for less than 50,000 yuan.
Undoubtedly, these two types of cars are the main force in the market, but in this fragmented era, the two groups of car owners are unlikely to play together.
The newly-listed Geely EX3 | Kung Fu Bull faces the same problem.
In terms of pricing, its subsidized price of 58,800-68,800 yuan destined it to focus on the sinking market. It would be disregarded by mid-to-high-end models represented by Tesla and NIO, but for those struggling in the sinking market, such as the NETA V and the LINGPAI T03, it is a car with a “original sin”, just because it comes from a “common platform”.
With its pure electric/hybrid common platform, BYD became the brand that laughed last in October, with growth of around one Ideal plus one NIO. However, the new forces in car manufacturing consider it an alternative.
We are the new force in car manufacturing, and you are a new energy vehicle made by a traditional manufacturer. So I will despise you on behalf of the vast number of consumers lurking behind the screen.
Of course, BYD is also happy to be leisurely, playing by itself. After all, everything ultimately depends on sales. No matter what BYD does, how much it does, and how much it is, it is all wrong in the opinion of the keyboard warriors.
The Geely EX3 | Kung Fu Bull is also considering this.
What does it take to develop a car that everyone can happily use for grocery shopping? Or, what is the reason that a grocery car can win everyone’s favor?
Sony has figured it out. While player support is important, it is more important to recycle more funds from a popular game to develop even better games. The chain of contempt is not important, sales are important.
Geely has also figured it out. Cost-effectiveness is everything for new energy grocery cars. With a single-minded focus on improving cost-effectiveness, consumers will naturally pay the bill. Let it be a common platform, you can despise it if you want, I will earnestly make cars, work hard on reputation and service, and as long as the basics of satisfying the demand in the sinking market are maintained, the foundation will be secured.
No matter what you do, there will always be a chain of contempt.“`
But does disdain chain affect sales?
No, it doesn’t!
Then why do I care about the disdain chain?
In the era of fossil-fuel cars, Geely accumulated from the bottom up and successfully leapfrogged to become the most successful independent brand in China. This path may not be impossible to replicate in the new energy vehicle era.
After all, the experience is there, and the chances of success may be even greater.
After monopolizing the e-commerce market in Taobao and JD.com series, Pinduoduo became an undeniable third giant, still relying on prices, even though its service construction system is backward. It has a market environment similar to the early days of PC-side Taobao, which is the irresistible temptation of consumers.
Although Hai Di Lao has good service, as soon as you raise the price, I will immediately recall the pain of queuing for three hours, and then I will feel that your service is not good.
Great service is good, but it’s not as good as a good deal.
Free charging piles, replacement subsidies, and very rich financial policies, such as 0 down payment, 0 interest, lease down payment, installment interest-free purchase, directly stunned people with a set of combos.
Don’t ask. Just hurry up and buy.
As a senior user of Pinduoduo, I have experienced the embarrassment of ordering Guang Baba tea eggs but receiving tea eggs from another brand that cannot be described. I have also cheered for buying Gundam models 20 yuan cheaper than Taobao series. The key is what you get for the same money.
I just want cheap tea eggs and cheap Gundam models.
I don’t care about the rest.
PS4 players who buy Sony hosts can play Sony’s exclusive “God of War 4” three and a half years earlier than PC players. Even if there is no longer an exclusive aura, they can still maintain their high-end mentality in the disdain chain.
This is also the business experience of EX3 | Kungfu Bull, doing a good job on price, doing a good job on configuration, and not doing those imaginary things.
For consumers who care about endurance, EX3 | Kungfu Bull’s maximum endurance of 322 kilometers is higher than that of same-priced and same-level products of new car-making forces.
For consumers who care about space, EX3 | Kungfu Bull’s trunk capacity reaches 400-900 liters, which can more perfectly complete various “shopping tasks.”
“`For safety-conscious consumers, the EX3 | Kung Fu Bull series comes standard with front dual airbags, front and rear anti-collision steel beams, and front and rear disc brakes, ensuring the ability to accelerate and stop quickly, and firmly hold emergency situations with a ground clearance of 165 mm to handle rough roads. The battery heating/cooling system ensures stability in high and low temperature environments.
So, have you felt the “clever” place of the development team? The main and minor contradictions are clearly stated.
On this point, BYD and Geely have surprisingly similar thinking. Let the new forces of car-making explore all kinds of mysterious car-making concepts and showy technology configurations. All I need to do is say, “I’m the same.”
Whether it is fuel-powered or new energy, the grocery car requires economical and reliable performance, and extreme cost-effectiveness. Even if it is at the bottom of the hierarchy, so what? If you have no friends, then you have no friends.
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.