Writing by Roomy
Editor by Zhou Changxian
Wu Bing, who has been jokingly referred to as someone who has sold “insurance” and driven “taxi”, is a versatile figure in the SAIC Group.
He has worked for more than 20 years at the SAIC Group, holding key positions in the SAIC Insurance and Enjoy Traveling two major innovative projects, as well as serving as the Marketing Director of the SAIC-GM Chevrolet Marketing Division. In November 2021, Wu Bing was appointed as the CEO of RisingAuto Motors.
To some extent, RisingAuto Motors is a hot potato.
The most difficult part is that the branding and marketing models familiar to the SAIC Group are not suitable for a newly independent automobile brand that requires innovation and change.
Currently, the SAIC Group has set up two major brands in the new energy sector, IM Automobile and RisingAuto Motors, both of which are independently operated. Wu Bing’s task is to lead RisingAuto Motors onto a path of innovation that belongs to the SAIC Group, while also differentiating it from IM Automobile.
In other words, as a new intelligent brand of the SAIC Group, RisingAuto Motors needs to strike a balance between innovation and stability, and have its own “way and art” based on its brand DNA.
For this reason, Wu Bing and his team spent three months sorting out the strategic goals and product spectrum of RisingAuto Motors, clarifying the brand’s DNA with the design center, and creating future products based on the brand DNA.
“Without a technical or engineering background, I can approach some issues more from the perspective of users,” Wu Bing said. This is his advantage, and his past experience has made him more calm and in control of pace.
The Mission to Bridge the 15% Gap
“Do we need another new car brand?”
This question has been asked since 2013, but new brands continue to emerge. New car manufacturers without a manufacturing base and car groups with mature manufacturing systems are all creating new brands to respond to the changing times.
RisingAuto Motors’ establishment is also a result of this trend.
“The R badge is a lever for SAIC passenger car transformation and a fulcrum for leverage,” was the definition when the R badge was established in 2020.
In 2021, the R badge chose to operate independently as “R Automobile”, and was soon renamed “RisingAuto Motors”, with a swift pace of change.
“Changing the name is not simply about changing the badge, but a process of SAIC Group’s continuously understanding and deepening its future new energy strategy development,” Wu Bing explained.
He revealed that the establishment of RisingAuto Motors was not a blind follow of trends by the SAIC Group, but rather a result of the gap theory.# SAIC Group believes that a 15% penetration rate is a boundary line. In other words, the key to a new technology and product’s success, from early adopters to the general public, is when the penetration rate reaches 15%.
If this gap cannot be bridged, the new technology and product may disappear or fail. Wu Bing believes that this is also the key to whether high-tech products can survive in the long-term and quickly occupy the market.
In fact, when FEYN LAB was known as the R brand, new energy vehicles had not yet reached the critical point of 15%, and the old and new forces of car manufacturing were still clearly separated. At that time, SAIC passenger cars established a high-end new energy brand R brand under the Roewe brand, which can be said to be sensitive to changes in the times.
In September 2021, the monthly penetration rate of new energy passenger cars has exceeded 15%, and it is at a critical period of crossing the gap. After rebranding, FEYN LAB began to find the right rhythm again.
Wu Bing understands that FEYN LAB carries SAIC Group’s strategic goals and the mission to cross the gap that can only succeed, not fail.
Three Goals
For Wu Bing and his team, the three-month exploration process was painful, but fortunately, they have a clear outcome.
“Mid-to-high-end pure electric intelligent mobile space” is the brand positioning of FEYN LAB, which focuses on mid-to-high-end new energy intelligent products priced between 200,000 and 400,000 yuan.
The competition in this market is particularly fierce, almost assembling family cars from new forces including XPeng, Li Auto, Landtour, and ECARX. How can FEYN LAB stand out from the crowd?
Wu Bing’s answer is only six words, “Genuine, Innovation, Taste”, which is also FEYN LAB’s brand DNA.
Genuine, FEYN LAB’s emphasis is on providing sincere and reliable services and products. “We have done a lot of research and do not exaggerate, facing the genuine voice of the user.”
Innovation, upward breakthroughs in the program to expand self-boundaries, the key is not a pipe dream, meet the needs of users with innovation. “We don’t casually talk the talk, but solidly satisfy the needs of users with innovation, creating vital technology and products.”
Taste, embrace new things with aesthetic and texture while balancing practicality. “FEYN LAB wants to give users something different that is pragmatic, down-to-earth, and truly needed.”
Concepts are always floating, how to land them in reality requires an operational model. Wu Bing said, “We have created a co-creation partner model with various departments of SAIC based on the brand’s DNA to create future products.”Focusing on business logic and operational ideas, he emphasized two key points: light-asset and independent operation.
The so-called light-asset means that Flyvee Automotive, originating from Shanghai and with a source from SAIC, will fully integrate and make use of the existing resources, technology, and capabilities of SAIC without redundant investment and construction. Flyvee Automotive will focus on users and data, channel and user contacts, and product definition.
“The advantage of light-asset is light, but if it is not executed well, it is easy to drift. You feel like you have everything, but it seems like nothing belongs to you.” Wu Bing said, “Light-asset is most afraid of being too light, but we have accumulated and developed through a co-creation model.”
Currently, Flyvee Automotive and SAIC’s core business units have set up co-creation centers. For example, the design department of SAIC will assign co-creation teams to Flyvee Automotive to participate in the entire design process. The intelligent driving team of SAIC’s technology center and the Zero Bundle of SAIC Software Co., Ltd. will have co-creation teams participating in Flyvee Automotive’s development. Additionally, Flyvee Automotive can use SAIC’s intelligent manufacturing base in Lingang, Shanghai.
Although the CEO of Flyvee Automotive is appointed by SAIC’s board of directors, it is an independently operated company with very fast and efficient decision-making. Currently, the company has ten departments, adopts flat management, with less than 400 employees, and an average age of 30.29 years old.
In addition to light-asset and independent operation, Wu Bing believes that Flyvee Automotive’s main core competencies are the strategic goals of “user-driven,” “data-driven,” and “extreme intelligence-driven.” These are the three directions that Flyvee Automotive will invest in and focus on long-term development.
From brand positioning to brand DNA, and from business logic to operational ideas, Wu Bing has already sorted it out quite clearly for Flyvee Automotive. Based on this, he has formulated three strategic goals for Flyvee Automotive.
From 2022 to 2025, Flyvee Automotive will launch at least one new model every year, covering core markets such as sedans, SUVs, and MPVs; and achieve sales growth of at least 100% per year.
“These are the two most basic goals that must be achieved as a start-up company. Only by achieving such growth rates can you quickly occupy the market as a relatively latecomer.”
By 2025, Flyvee Automotive will be developed into a profitable mid-to-high-end intelligent electric vehicle leading enterprise. In the eyes of outsiders, the third goal is the most challenging, but Wu Bing is confident.
Behind Flyvee Automotive, there is SAIC Group’s robust supply chain as a competitive support. This is one of Wu Bing’s sources of confidence, and another source of confidence is the product.## FF R7, Exploring Advanced Intelligent Electric Vehicles
Wu Bing candidly expressed that the team had spent too much time refining and positioning the products. Apart from having a flagship product ready for delivery this year, they are also defining their second, third, fourth, and fifth products at a swift pace.
Currently, FF Automotive has established a business model and channel model that connects users, data, and terminals, through two on-sale models, ER6 and MARVEL R. In the future, FF’s focus will shift onto R7.
As FF’s first completely new vehicle architecture since becoming an independent operation, R7 is positioned as an ultra-intelligent, high-end pure electric SUV. It is a heavyweight product jointly created by FF Automotive and SAIC Design Center and is regarded as SAIC’s pioneering work in the field of advanced intelligent electric vehicles.
“R7 is FF Automotive’s first car in the next five years, with a lot of brand new technology introduced in China for the first time or mass-produced in China for the first time. At the same time, for SAIC Group, it is a first application of self-driving technology and cockpit technology on a completely new architecture,” said Wu Bing.
SAIC Group always likes to put all the good stuff on its strategic models, and this time is no exception.
After five years of research and development, with a total investment of more than RMB 20 billion, SAIC Group has created an exclusive, future-oriented, and new intelligent evolution platform for FF Automotive.
The first vehicle model of the platform, FF R7, is a product jointly created by the Design Co-creation Center, Advanced Driving Co-creation Center, Cockpit Co-creation Center, and Three-electric Co-creation Center, representing authentic and elegant design.
In terms of intelligent driving, FF R7 is equipped with a PP-CEMTM advanced intelligent driving solution and applies LUMINAR high-resolution lidar. The PP-CEMTM is standard equipped with a premium 4D imaging radar, an Nvidia OrinTM supercomputing intelligent driving chip, an 8 million pixel high-definition camera, high-precision maps, and other intelligent driving configurations, which can achieve more accurate multi-scene object recognition.
It is the world’s first vehicle to be equipped with LUMINAR lidar, standard equipped with 4D millimeter-wave radar, 33 vehicle-mounted sensors, giant AR-HUD panoramic visual system, 8155 vehicle-mounted chip and more.
However, as a new platform model, FF R7 does not go to extremes. Wu Bing believes that in the next few years, when entering the mainstream market, consumers will need a relatively balanced intelligent electric vehicle.Based on the confidence in product strength and intelligent technology, Wu Bing has set a goal for FLYINGCAR R7 to deliver 10,000 vehicles this year.
One must admit, this is an extremely bold attempt.
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.