GoOut – Media under BaiRenHui, focuses on the evolution of the automobile transportation industry.

Author: Roomy

“MG does not sell futures.”

When Sun Yijiong, Deputy General Manager of SAIC Motor Co., Ltd. spoke this sentence, he was calm. As we all know, the problem of chip shortage has been spreading in the industry for a long time. Many car companies are forced to reduce their sales targets or stop production of some models to deal with the “chip shortage” crisis.

Like many other car companies, MG was also affected.

As the saying goes, perhaps it is only by stepping out of the thorns that we can remain calm before the revolution. Perhaps Zhang Liang, Deputy General Manager of SAIC Group’s Data Business Department and Chief Digital Officer of SAIC Motor, has also had a feeling of this.

From the first day of the MG brand, he has been thinking about two things.

One is how to get MG out of the low period and make the young, sporty, and trendy labels more close to MG. The other is to anchor the domestic and foreign markets and make MG bloom both inside and outside the wall.

Overall, the core of MG’s three major brand labels, globalization, youthfulness, and digitalization, are established through brand rejuvenation, model reconstruction, product rebirth, and experience remodeling. This is the burden on the shoulders of Sun Yijiong and Zhang Liang, heavy but exciting.

In promoting the upward development of the brand and product, MG has considered the overall dimensions.

“MG’s brand labels are much clearer than they were a few years ago”, especially after the launch of the third-generation MG6 and the brand-new MG5, MG has found a smoother way to communicate with young people.

In Zhang Liang’s view, the core of MG is to value oneself and the development trend of the times and the industry, and capture the core group of people. The deepening of the brand label and communication with young people are always testing Zhang Liang.

Sun Yijiong, who has turned from behind the scenes to the front stage, is also facing this test. As a manufacturing background, most of his past work has been in factories and manufacturing fields. However, after taking the post of Deputy General Manager of SAIC Motor, Sun Yijiong started to deal with “young people” and “market trends”. For him, this kind of work is both novel and hard.

However, the combination of Sun Yijiong and Zhang Liang has unexpectedly produced good results.

Sun Yijiong is in charge of manufacturing with a very rigorous work style. Every link is strictly controlled and cannot tolerate any slackness and compromise. Zhang Liang has accumulated rich practical experience in technology research and development, product planning, and is innovative and good at innovation.Under the two-way win-win, MG’s brand genes have a clearer line. “Talking about how to express youthfulness is actually talking about brand connotations and new ways of playing the brand.” It is said among industry professionals that after two years of adjustment, MG has finally found the right path for itself.

Therefore, this is why Sun Yijiong said at the Guangzhou Auto Show that “MG does not sell futures.”

There are two reasons: chip shortage and order quantity.

The anxiety of chip shortage needs no more words. Sun Yijiong also said, “Although the whole process is difficult, we are taking action.” In the face of the “insufficient conditions” caused by the shortage of chips, the top priority is to ensure the delivery of MG ONE.

“MG priorities coordinating MG ONE parts and chips.” Earlier, MG insiders said that chips are now counted once an hour instead of day by day. “Next, we will adjust the product pace and coordinate the issue of overall production capacity balance to meet users’ expectations as soon as possible,” said Sun Yijiong.

The fourth quarter is usually an important node for car companies to clear inventory, but due to the chip shortage, many car companies are struggling to deliver large quantities of cars. For MG, ensuring the smooth delivery of MG ONE is the toughest battle.

Born on the SIGMA platform of intelligent global modular architecture and relying on the new generation of vehicle electrical architecture to provide underlying support for its leading intelligent technology, MG ONE is equipped with MG PILOT 2.0 advanced intelligent driving assistance system, which can achieve fully-scenario unmanned intelligent parking and over-the-air vehicle updates.

The tag of MG ONE is to break the intelligent ceiling of gasoline cars and provide full-realized smart driving technology. The demand for chips is also more urgent than other models.

In addition, as an important model for the upward development of MG’s brand, the momentum of MG ONE in its first year, which is currently shown by the order number, will determine its follow-up development. The data shows that since the solicitation of MG ONEα version on November 12th and the blind reservation of β version, 3,000 orders have been received in seven days. “This is just the current data,” said Sun Yijiong. “Over 80% of the orders choose the high-end configuration, and the overall product strength of MG is gradually improving.”

“The number of orders for MG ONE can reflect the demand for the two cars in the market.” Before the launch of MG ONE, MG conducted a lot of market research and found that different user groups and age groups have different levels of attention and preferences for α and β versions, which is also the reason for the launch of these two models.Before the Spring Festival next year, in order to ensure that consumers can get their cars, Zhang Liang said, “In December, we may announce the end of the annual pre-sale.”

In addition, the sales of the all-new MG5, the third-generation MG6, and the third-generation MG6 PRO are gradually increasing. “Looking at the sales of several MG models, orders for high-end models account for more than 50%.” MG hopes that MG ONE can become one of the “three pillars” of MG’s sales, together with the MG5 and MG6 series.

“We hope it can play a role in the SUV market with its cost-effectiveness.”

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“Youthfulness” is not just a slogan or a strategy, but also a heritage gene deeply rooted in the brand’s past, present, and future development. It represents not only resonance with young people but also more importantly, resonance with the lifestyle, interaction, technology, taste, and style of this era. This is the true essence of “youthfulness.”

MG’s target young audience has always had three main characteristics: alternative, ambitious, and trend-setting.

Standing on a familiar battlefield, MG does not intend to follow the conventional way. Based on new youthful products, MG is exploring new ways of development.

At this year’s Guangzhou Auto Show, in addition to focusing on MG ONE, MG announced two other things: MG Cyberster and MG XPOWER.

In this user-centric age, MG is no exception. Earlier, MG released the Cyberster Concept sports car, which interprets the Cyber product line’s technical level and youthful thinking, deeply binding with young users through cross-border collaboration.

Do we make it? How do we make it? It’s up to the consumers to decide.

Although in this era of intelligence, co-creation with users is not a new thing. From NIO, XPeng, to Geely and Great Wall, “user co-creation” thinking is regarded as a weapon for brands to break through.

However, MG’s co-creation model has a unique “open” gameplay. The platform is divided into two major blocks: crowdfunding and co-creation. The crowdfunding block decides whether MG Cyberster will be mass-produced, and the co-creation block decides how MG Cyberster will be mass-produced.

“To avoid speaking out of turn, we must stay grounded.” MG has always maintained this attitude.

In May of this year, MG announced the successful crowdfunding of Cyberster, and the mass-production project was officially launched. Six months later, at the Guangzhou Auto Show, there was new progress. MG brought the “Cyber Riot Bureau.”

Cyber Bureau is initiated by 5 co-founders, consisting of three subdivisions of styling design, performance control, and e-sports intelligent cockpit, as well as 100 KOLs as flight guests and over thousands of KOCs as “Cyber Experts”.

“For the MG Cyberster project, we either won’t do it, or we will do it in the most professional, in-depth, and complete way,” said Sun Yijiong. “We hope to truly open up the entire R&D process to core users for complete openness, and that is depth.”

As for the production and delivery timeline, MG hasn’t provided a clear schedule yet. However, in the face of young users’ enthusiasm for modification, MG XPOWER has officially reached a cooperation agreement with the Office of Automotive Compliant Modification to promote joint progress.

MG XPOWER will mainly focus on four dimensions in the future: from virtual to real, from high-performance mass-produced vehicles to lightweight modified vehicles, to full ecosystem creation of officially certified kits, providing professional and legal upgrade solutions for vehicles.

“Personalized needs are difficult to achieve through mass production now. However, I think it will inevitably be the development direction to meet users’ personalized and diverse needs through these three different forms of the after-sales market, modification market, and the derived market from mass production,” Zhang Liang said.

“Let an MG accommodate all young people,” MG brand always emphasizes, and it is also what Sun Yijiong and Zhang Liang strive for.

Whether it is from products or communication, MG expresses that they want to play with all young people and achieve a shift from “selling products” to “managing user value” business thinking.

“Our innovation will focus on two to three lines,” Zhang Liang said. “Co-creation has no boundaries, only depending on users’ desires and capabilities.” This is what MG wants to seize.

So, “Did MG seize this generation of young people?”

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.