Markdown Text Translation

Here’s English version of the Markdown text in Chinese below:

New electric vehicle companies: Overdraft is Inevitable

1. The support brought by emotional appeal to new electric vehicle companies will eventually be overdrawn, and Tesla is no exception, let alone others.

2. The new electric vehicle companies which are just about to mass-produce their cars are facing programming bugs and negative reactions from their fans.

3. How to communicate with the market and consumers and what values to cherish behind the scenes are worthy of profound thoughts.

The recent companies to face fans deserting them are “Love Apartments” and the emerging electric vehicle companies.

With the release of their results one after another these past few months, there have been murmurs of fans of the major brands, who are starting to raise questions. This, without a doubt so for new electric vehicle companies which insisted on being customer-centric and experience-centered, is worth reflecting on and taking seriously.

Tesla: The Positive & Negative Effects of Tweeting

Tesla has been having problems lately. Mainly due to Musk’s capricious social media posting in the market.

Musk suddenly tweeted on August 7th saying that he planned to privatize Tesla at $420 per share, that he already had the funds, and it triggered a chain reaction.

On that same day, Tesla’s stock price soared by 11%, and the short-sellers were hit hard.

22 hours after Musk’s tweet, Tesla’s board of directors released a statement, saying that Musk’s casual personal behavior in releasing significant information without going through the relevant procedures of the listed company, had been investigated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Together with market doubts about the source of funding, Tesla’s stock price fell and remained low, falling by 15% within a week.

To remedy the negative impact created by his behaviour, Musk gave an interview with The New York Times last Thursday, where he expressed his pain, the pressures from the shortsellers, intense working hours, having to use sleeping pills, etc. Despite this, Tesla’s stock price fell and most of the reports’ headlines were titled “Wall Street does not believe in tears.”

What’s worse, just recently, after the Model 3 rolled out 5,000 cars, out of which 4300 needed repair, it could be said that Tesla is barking up the wrong tree, and Musk’s whimsical behaviour is putting salt on the wound. On the 21st, a U.S. law firm representing shareholders who bought Tesla stock from August 7th to August 14th filed a class-action lawsuit against Tesla.# Musk’s Personal Style and Tesla’s Public Perception
Elon Musk’s personal style is perhaps the strongest among all celebrity entrepreneurs in the world. This style saves Tesla countless advertising costs – a simple tweet can make headlines in no time. In the past, whenever there were negative news about Tesla, Musk would come forward and address them in interviews, and his fans and the public would immediately follow suit without question, resulting in a harmonious public perception and stock market opinion.

This time, however, things seem to be different.

With the launch of the Model 3, Tesla has started to move towards the league of mass-produced car manufacturers. As a result, the public perception and voice transitioned from the previously high-end car community to a broader and more diverse audience that values utility over luxury. “For tools, people are always picky and practical,” and Musk’s celebrity halo and personal charisma were no match for market rationality.

The recent privatization incident has caused excessive impact on the market, and Musk’s self-absorbed personality has slowly consumed public admiration and faith in a celebrity entrepreneur.

Latest news indicates that Tesla has hired a public relations company to fully intervene in their corporate information dissemination. Who said Tesla doesn’t need marketing?

WM Motor: Frequent Bugs in Information Disclosure

On December 11th, 2017, WM Motor held a brand launch conference and the launch of their first mass-produced car, which shocked the auto industry as they advertised a price below 200,000 RMB and a range of 600 kilometers. However, this was also a media problem, as WM actually released data about two different ranges of 600 km and 450 km respectively. However, everyone is aware that 600km is just for advertising. However, the most critical information about the battery pack, such as the supplier and the number of cells, was not disclosed.

On April 21st, WM released the pricing of their products before the Beijing Auto Show, disclosing a lowest price of 99,000 RMB, which broke everyone’s expectation. However, the official still did not disclose any information about the battery capacity, and the conference lacked detailed configuration information which was quite mysterious.

At the Beijing Auto Show later on, someone discovered that the battery for the two exhibited cars were from Ningde Times and China’s GuShen Power Technology Co., which added to the mystery. Following that, a news about a charging Mustang’s spontaneous combustion caused a stir, as the burning car was using GuShen batteries. WM had always publicly announced that Ningde Times was their primary supplier, while keeping other battery supplier information confidential, a strategy which has obviously failed.This is not over yet. In May, it was reported in the 308th batch of the “Announcement of Road Motor Vehicle Manufacturing Enterprises and Products” by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology that Weima Motors had a total of 5 products of the EX5 model. The media pointed out that the engine power given at the Weima EX5 launch conference was 160 kW, while the “Announcement” stated that the engine power of the Weima EX5 was 125 kW. Two of the models in the “Announcement” use battery cells from CATL and Weima’s own powertrains, while the other three models are in partnership with Gotion High-Tech, with both battery cells and powertrains provided by Gotion. Two optional photos are included in the “Announcement”, which include side radar, front radar, rear radar, front camera, right side decorative cover, front fog light, sunroof, different configurations of door handles, and rearview mirrors, all of which are within the optional range.

The discrepancies between the announcement and market expectations have pushed Weima into the forefront of public opinion, with comments circulating on the market about up to 30% of orders being cancelled. However, later on, Lu Bin issued a letter called “Weima Letter” to clarify this issue and also indicated that the announced products are not consumer-level ones, and the private customer deliveries starting from September will not use battery cells from Gotion.

The disclosure of this information was passive and helpless, but consumers are still not satisfied.

Weima has faced a lot of criticism around the battery and configuration disclosure, and much of it came from Weima fans and reservation holders. This is not difficult to understand. The more orders there are, the more people there will be who will scrutinize you by identifying with customers’ standards. At this time, passion is not enough to support the missing values and attitudes. The missing attitude refers to whether the manufacturer is sincere or humble enough in formulating various market communication strategies, or at least making consumers feel that they have not been despised or ignored.

As the most complex civilian industrial product on Earth, in addition to the consumer’s high involvement and rational decision-making, the automotive industry has formed various strict and responsible regulations or agreements in its over a century-long history. Consumer expectations are based on this standard. Weima has vigorously promoted low-cost intelligent cars but has repeatedly appeared in communication loopholes, which easily make people doubt the product itself.

There is a saying “once cheater always cheater”, and trust is not easy to regain once lost. Fortunately, Weima’s later response was appropriate, promising customers the freedom to choose suppliers, and providing transparent configuration options.

Real delivery has not yet begun. We look forward to Weima’s ability to exceed the expectations of its users with the real performance of its products.## XPeng Motors: A heated debate triggered by 3 PPT slides

On August 15th, He XPeng successfully stirred up the automotive industry with a few PPT slides during XPeng Motors’ brand evolution presentation, causing a viral sensation.

Though He XPeng clarified with the media the next day that the sentences in the slides should not be taken out of context, projecting these sentences on the big screen was a form of conveying an attitude. The first sentence was considered ignorant, showing contempt for automobile manufacturing. The second was thought to be arrogant, resembling a phrase like “mediocre or average, third-rate below”. The third one was indescribable: at the product release conference, setting the goal to be funding instead of releasing a product, it was beyond comprehension.

As a result, XPeng Motors became known to netizens as “XPeng Financing”.

Although the effects have mostly subsided and people generally understand that each sentence has a more profound extension, isolating these sentences may still have had the intent of causing some explosive reactions.

However, XPeng Motors soon encountered its second misstep, removing its own advertisement video.

On August 18th, XPeng Motors posted a video on its official Weibo account, which led to multiple complaints from many microblogging influencers and fans due to dangerous driving scenes.

Currently, XPeng has deleted the related video, and KOL promotion information has also been removed.# A Professional Translation of Markdown Chinese Text

On the first day, they made big promises, on the second day they made excuses, today they are promoting their ads, and tomorrow their products will be removed from the entire network. This kind of action does not give a good image to the market, especially with the original sin of the internet car manufacturing, I believe they need to spend a lot of money to manage public opinion.

The media’s attitude can be resolved with money, but once fans have doubts and mistrust, it is necessary for the company to use reliable products and quality services to dispel them.

It’s not that new forces can’t be arrogant – when they have sufficient capability, it’s okay to be arrogant. However, XPeng Motors’ high profile has not been wise as their product has not yet been produced and delivered to consumers.

After carefully reading the two incidents of XPeng Motors, it reflects that they are not attentive enough. They are not customer-oriented enough. The automotive industry has cultivated consumers into discerning gods with more than hundred years of experience. They have strict standards and norms for their products, services, and communication. This is because as a large enterprise, they should shoulder great responsibility.

The enterprise’s market communication behavior reflects its values. Although not explicitly stated, it will be revealed over time.

NIO: Ice and Fire of IPO

NIO has always been at the center of various public opinion topics.

Regardless of the good or bad, it must be admitted that NIO has established a nearly internationally recognized brand for China’s new energy vehicles.

Although NIO has been criticized for burning money and outsourcing issues, since the launch of their products, the development of NIO House, battery-changing station, charging cars, and other layouts have been visible with the naked eye. Although the delivery speed is still slow, the unsustainability of the service has been criticized, the interaction between NIO and fans continues to develop and expand, and the stickiness between NIO and its fans is gradually increasing. Their evaluation of ES8 car feedback does not have too many problems until the consumer bursts out that the range is only 178 kilometers when tested at constant speeds and is advertised to be 120 kilometers. NIO responded quickly by officially testing and clarifying the data to be 226 kilometers. Actually, this crisis management is not bad.

But it is difficult to stop bad publicity when someone is famous. The public opinion of new forces has generally lost patience and trust, becoming very emotional, and the market has lost the voice of positive discussion.

The subsequent events ignited this emotion to its peak.

On August 13, 2018, NIO submitted an IPO prospectus to the U.S. SEC, applying for listing on the NYSE and seeking to raise $1.8 billion in funds.The prospectus has been carefully examined by various people, and the most controversial part is the explanation of delivery quantity and profitability: as of the end of June, Nio has a high loss of up to 10.9 billion RMB, and the delivery volume of ES8 as of July 31 is only 481 units. Nio stated that the situation of loss will continue.

The IPO action is interpreted as a lack of money, coupled with the range anxiety problem previously reported by car owners, Li Bin has had to explain to the media.

On August 20th, Huxiu published an article titled “Nio Is Seriously Overvalued”, listing various “black materials” about Nio, with a sharp attitude and sharp language.

This article currently has more than 100,000 views.

Apart from the range anxiety problem which may be confusing, Nio is generally frank and equal in disclosing various information, which is consistent with the overall tone of the brand.

However, as more and more car owners get the car, the shortcomings of the product may also be magnified. The evaluation of the first batch of car owners is too important for Nio, a company that relies on financing to survive. Once they turn against it and leave, Nio will die immediately.

For new energy and new power companies, one thing that can be determined is that significant product innovations (such as what Tesla does) are basically nonexistent, but there are some breakthroughs in product configuration, intelligent interaction and service experience, and these are very market-oriented and consumer-oriented things. Therefore, they emphasize the relationship with consumers and the importance of fans.

As these new forces reach the node where they gradually fulfill the vows made two or three years ago, and their feelings have to gradually land, when the product, brand and consumers have more real touch points, problems continue to erupt. The noisy public opinion not only reflects the problems of these new forces themselves, but also indirectly illustrates the weakening of market confidence as a whole – this may not be the result we want to see.

New forces have come all the way from the surge of 2015, the carnival of 2016, to the turmoil of 2017. They seem to have found their own way, but most of the good feelings are still in the virtual space. In order to truly gain consumers’ favor and trust, a profound understanding of information communication is one of the current issues for new forces, which is not a simple public relations issue.

Fans are actually simple and fanatical. If they like you, they are willing to listen to you and believe in your promise. But once trust is broken, leaving is also irreversible.

Building trust is an important step for new forces to enter the real battlefield. This step starts with learning to communicate.

• Revisiting the “New Forces” topic based on actual experiences with NIO ES8

• Tesla will not be delisted, these are the things you should be concerned about

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.