*This article is reproduced from the autocarweekly official account.
Author: Karakush
The essay topic for the college entrance examination is as follows:
During the Han Dynasty, Yang Xiong used archery as an analogy: “Cultivate oneself as a bow, correct one’s thoughts as an arrow, establish righteousness as the target, and set forth only after a solid foundation has been established. The arrow is sure to hit.” The idea is that as long as one constantly strengthens their cultivation, corrects their thoughts, and makes “righteousness” their goal, they can achieve their ideals through action.
However, Yang Xiong did not know Li Xiang.
Otherwise, he would say that there will still be times when one misses, so it is important to be content with destiny and be happy. When following the will of heaven and understanding one’s fate, one will not be troubled.
Indeed, this is also what Yang Xiong said.
Recently, Li Xiang’s worry and anxiety have been caused by a group of old car owners who are unsatisfied.
The cause is probably well known to everyone. At the end of May, Ideal Auto released the new Ideal ONE. As we reported in “I’ve never seen such an accommodating redesign for men.”, compared to the old model, the new model has upgraded to a permanent magnet motor, increased its driving range, replaced the seats with massage chairs, enhanced its sensing hardware and can support NOA assisted driving navigation, and the price has only increased by one yuan. It’s inexpensive and generous.
This made many car owners who had just bought the old model feel like they were being taken advantage of. They had asked sales representatives whether there would be a new model, and the sales people had generally responded that they had not heard of one. They would have to wait until next year, and the new model would also increase in price by tens of thousands of yuan. The old model could also be upgraded in terms of hardware and software…or words to that effect. The implication is that buying this vehicle is a good deal.
After buying the car, the new model was released and upgraded, and it wasn’t expensive either, isn’t that great? Although the old model can be upgraded in terms of software and seats, the hardcore NOA of the old car owners cannot be upgraded because the wiring harness is different and it is basically impossible to change the wiring harness, the hardware arrangement cannot be modified.
So the protest banners were raised again: “Ideal or Not”. Over the past two weeks, there has been no sign of stopping.
As a simple media outlet, we do not have the expertise or qualifications to define whether it is fraud or infringement or not, and that is for the legal system to decide. Putting that aside, whether Ideal is ideal or not is still a point to be argued.
Firstly, everyone is thinking about whether this is a problem with the old car owners’ acceptance of product updates or a problem with Ideal Auto’s integrity. The responsible parties for buying a bad deal and being deceived are different. The protesters are pointing their protests at the latter, but ultimately, it’s still rooted in the former’s emotional foundation.If the new version of ONE is nothing special, just adding two shell colors, modifying the front face and lighting group to make the overall style more sporty and sharp, and redesigning the interior with two chrome-plated strips, then even if it’s just a gimmick, it doesn’t matter. The annual upgrades in the automotive industry usually follow this format of not touching the major structures and not spending too much money to provide a fresh feeling.
Therefore, in the current situation, isn’t it better to stay flat rather than trying too hard?
Two years ago, He XPeng faced the same dilemma. At that time, XPeng launched the new G3 with upgraded endurance and lower price, which should have been a good thing for consumers. However, the old car owners still criticized it in groups. He XPeng was confused, puzzled and sad, until he reflected and wrote an open letter, and then he was criticized again. After providing two rounds of measures, his anger was eventually pacified.
Of course, it cannot be denied that launching new versions is not entirely for the benefit of the market. There must be a survival factor involved, such as the limited endurance of the old G3 and the fact that IDEA ONE’s products need to carry on for three years, so they need to increase their product competitiveness.
However, the key point is that history has proven that automotive consumers cannot accept iterations as fast as consumer electronics products.
With the previous lesson in mind, everyone expects that if you are going to do similar things again, you should learn from the past and offer soothing policies as soon as possible. If it is NIO, they will kill the problem in the cradle, hold a user communication meeting before the upgrade, and discuss a plan that can satisfy the old car owners.
Why is it that, in this case, IDEA is persisting in the old way and hitting a wall repeatedly? If you are given an assignment and you don’t do it, it’s a problem with your attitude.
IDEA does have a solution. Before the release of the new version, they announced a repurchase policy for old car owners. All 2020 models will receive a discount of 10,000 yuan, which can be directly deducted from the purchase price with self-replacement or direct additional purchase, valid until June 2023. In addition, the conference also mentioned seat upgrades for a fee, which will be announced in the third quarter.
The old car owner’s rights protection is not satisfactory. If we make a horizontal comparison, this is basically the same as the first round of solutions offered by XPeng. XPeng has been making concessions, what are you doing? To quote Yang Xiong’s words, if you don’t talk about “righteousness” with users, you will miss the target when you launch and fail.
Taking a step back and looking at it calmly, IDEA probably still has some value that needs to be upheld.
It is also strange that I don’t know when everyone started using the same standard of “user enterprise” to demand every new energy vehicle company, and always regards new energy companies as old fans. However, IDEA has never been a “user enterprise.”Although the industry likes to group Li Xiang with Wei Xiaoli, they are actually not on the same page in terms of product and company philosophy. There is an increasing difference in the level of distinction. To liken them to hotpot restaurants, it’s probably like Hai Di Lao, Panda Old Stove, and Coucou.
In Li Xiang’s view, the product is always the core. He once mentioned that brands can be divided into two types: those driven by product value and those driven by channel value. Li Xiang itself is a brand driven by product value.
He explained that these two types of brands are only related to the character and selection of the enterprise itself, but the driving force behind the two types of brands is completely different. For example, in terms of mission and spirit, product value-driven brands are more self-centered, and they often show some of the glow and virtues of human nature. If it is a brand that prioritizes channel value, what it pursues is more of a social value or a large task.
As I understand it, Li Xiang also talks about users, communities, a sense of belonging, and even seeks to connect with users at a spiritual level, but regardless of the purpose and means, it is through products.
Li Xiang gave an example that I think can well demonstrate his ideal community relationship.
For example, users might say that the suspension of Li Xiang ONE is not good. But Li Xiang’s approach is not to tell users that the suspension is good, but to ask users why do they think it’s not good. Many users can’t even express the difference, they only heard that the McPherson suspension is not upscale enough, and then Li Xiang will explain the behind-the-scenes reasons, answering the questions properly to better support Li Xiang’s products:
“When used in an extended-range structure, McPherson suspension will provide 10 cm more vertical space but lose 3% of the control. Li Xiang ONE is a large and medium-sized SUV with three rows of seats, so 10 cm of space may be more important than 3% of the control, so there is no right or wrong, just a choice.”
Understanding and care for people are all given through products.
For example, in the future, Li Xiang will equip every car with an automatic driving system, rather than adding or subscribing to other brands. This is because he believes that assisted driving and automatic driving are the bottom and most important operating systems of intelligent electric vehicles, just like smartphones. Although there are differences in price, the operating systems of high and low-priced smartphones are the same. Automatic and assisted driving functions are the same.
Products are his way of communication. He provides what he can provide, even to the greatest extent possible. Why would anyone still want a bicycle?“`
After the launch of the new model, Li Xiang sent a message of emotion: understanding and pleasing are always two different things. Many people think he is solving riddles, but this is probably his true idea. As an electric vehicle company, what they can provide is the product. Beyond that, it’s just pleasing to him.
You may not even be able to expect him to understand other demands. At the bottom logic, he is not that kind of person. Niu Xiaoyi, the founder of Huaxing Fund, in which Li Xiang invests, once said that when you talk to Li Xiang about any opinion, you cannot qualitatively say it. You must present the data, otherwise, don’t talk at all.
This even includes how to shape the brand in consumers’ minds, which is so abstract. For example, if they want to measure how common Tesla is in consumers’ minds, the ideal would quantitatively research market saturation, investigate consumer consensus on the way, calculate how many times each car driven will be noticed per day, and then calculate how many potential consumers can be covered.
When many emotional things are quantified and treated as engineering, the purpose is clear, and the execution is efficient. But there will definitely be some thinning in the process.
There is no right or wrong, there are only different ideas on how to run a business.
NIO insists on being a user and lifestyle company. They have done a very successful job, to the point that many new companies are following their example. They have created a paradigm of corporate form for the industry, providing many more opportunities. But this is not the only commercial solution. NIO will also encounter many problems, and as it expands, it will encounter more. Problems do not necessarily indicate that this is wrong, because exploring is like crossing the river while touching the stones.
Ideal’s way of conducting business is not unfamiliar, and early leaders like Tesla have been doing it for a while. Although the form of the product that Ideal makes is the farthest away, for example, facing such maintenance conflicts, do you think Musk will accept it? He randomly fluctuates prices and allocations, and this has become his strategy, which the market is used to. This tolerance is due to product recognition and low expectations for other things.
If we take Tesla as the benchmark, even if Ideal is symbolically raised by 10,000, in fact, they have still compromised somewhat. With their “stingy” skills, smoothing out price differences should not be difficult. So, is it easier to achieve the small goal of selling more than 10,000 per month?
I am not saying this to persuade those who have bought the old models to understand Ideal cars. Regardless of the results, that kind of despair is something consumers like me can empathize with.
“`Recently, I went to a counter for clothes shopping after a long while due to my obsession with a celebrity. The salesgirl told me that there was only one of my desired style left and their store was the only one nationwide that had it. I was very concerned about having only one left, as it meant that there was a high probability that someone else had tried it on. However, I still decided to buy it, wanting to have the same style as my brother. A friend told me that she had bought it on the official app with a discount and a bonus for a certain amount spent. It was only a few thousand yuan, but I felt like the world owed me a hundred million yuan. It would be a life-threatening situation if it was magnified forty times.
Just like how a company does not have to sympathize with the difficulties of its boss, unless you have strange intentions, demanding to unilaterally digest class contradictions is ridiculous, even shameful. We still need to recognize the essence of class contradictions under the premise of kindness, and consumers are not obligated to understand the difficulties of the enterprise.
Of course, just like how a company also maintains its own rights within the legal framework.
It can be expected that there will be a painful transition in reputation. However, this will hardly affect the future of Ideal Auto, I almost agree with this statement that Li Xiang is the person who can always earn cognitive dividends.
Lastly, let’s bring it back to the college entrance examination question. What kind of inspiration is this giving to contemporary young people?
I think the key is that there are many forms of “justice”. You should choose the path that you believe is right, and implement your own faith without requiring yourself to follow others in order to succeed.
All roads lead to Rome. Unless you do not want to go to Rome, you can also go to Tokyo, Paris, or Turkey when the pandemic is better.
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.