Text | "China Entrepreneur" reporter Mo Wei
Editor | Maggie Ying
"Wen Jie will be the first mainstream brand to fall down this year." Adi (pseudonym) sighed. Adi is one of the first brands to sell in the world. He worked in a luxury car brand for many years and joined the world two years ago with the word "Huawei". But at the end of February, he chose to leave.
At present, this conclusion is premature and somewhat absolute. However, from the public data, compared with the sales performance in January and February this year, the industry has not yet stepped out of the sales trough. According to the sales report issued by Cyrus, in March, the sales volume of the industry was 3,679 vehicles, which was significantly lower than the monthly sales volume of over 10,000 vehicles last year. Within the realm of question, greater changes have also taken place.
On the morning of March 31, an announcement of "Resolution on Huawei Not Building Cars" inside Huawei was circulated on the Internet. According to the news, the resolution was issued by Ren Zhengfei, the founder of Huawei, and once again stressed that Huawei does not build cars and is valid for 5 years. Ren Zhengfei specifically emphasized that Huawei /HUAWEI could not be used in vehicle publicity and appearance.
On the afternoon of the same day, at the press conference of Huawei’s 2022 annual report, Xu Zhijun, vice chairman and rotating chairman of Huawei, once again stressed: "Some departments, individuals or partners are abusing Huawei’s brand. In the process of investigating this matter, the brand built by Huawei for more than 30 years will not be abused by anyone. Huawei doesn’t make cars, and it doesn’t have any brands of cars. Huawei brand is strictly prohibited as an automobile brand. We will rectify internal promotional materials such as flagship stores and return to strategy. "
Then, it was reported publicly that Yu Chengdong, managing director of HUAWEI, CEO of BG and CEO of BU, a smart car solution, ordered that the removal of Celestial cars in Huawei stores involved all promotional materials of Huawei brand, especially the sinking market.
On April 3, in a Huawei experience store in a shopping mall in the suburbs of Tianjin, the words "Huawei asks the world" have disappeared from the publicity screen in the store, and the display boards at the license plates before and after the show have been replaced with "AITO". The pasting of the new license plate is obviously a little hasty, the rear license plate is a little distorted, and the double-sided tape used for pasting is even exposed.
Photography: Mo Wei
Although there is no written logo of "HUAWEI asks the world" in the store, Huawei asks the world is still on the lips of store sales. When adding the WeChat of the in-store sales consultant, the nickname prefix suddenly shows "HUAWEI asks the world".
"Golden signboard" is not enough.
Summarizing the work experience in the field of inquiry in the past two years, Adi’s answer is: love is the deepest responsibility.
The reason why he thinks that the world of inquiry will "fall down" this year is not for his old club’s downfall, but for the future fate of the world of inquiry after "clearing the relationship" with Huawei.
In Adi’s impression, at the beginning of the establishment of the world, the manufacturer Cyrus has always been a humble existence. "The marketing and quality inspection of the brand are all led by Huawei, and even in the training courseware sold, Cyrus is not mentioned." Although he joined the brand in the world, all his work and performance are managed by Huawei. "Huawei will send a Huawei person to supervise in every store that sells cars, responsible for managing and conveying some guidelines from manufacturers and activity plans."
Adi’s feeling is that Huawei has always been a very strong presence, and the people who were stationed in the store at the beginning are very capable, which can help the sales people to make orders and sell better. "It sold very well at first, with an average of about three transactions a month. At that time, Huawei also wanted to make Cyrus a benchmark to prove its strength. "
Chen Jie (a pseudonym), another sales consultant who switched to Japanese brands from the world of inquiry, also has a deep understanding of Huawei’s strength. In the sales process, Huawei’s leading role is obvious. In 2022, it achieved a sales volume of 75,000 vehicles throughout the year, and was called "the fastest growing brand of new energy vehicles".
However, in the beginning of 2023, the price war in the automobile market intensified, and the sales volume in the world continued to decline. In 2023, the sales volume in January was 4,885 vehicles, down 56% from the previous month. In February, the sales volume dropped to 3,505 vehicles, down 21% from the previous month.
The pressure on the sales side has increased significantly. Since the beginning of this year, Adi obviously feels that Huawei is in a mess. "The preferential policies promoted by Huawei are said to be the lowest in history every time, and then it won’t be long before the activities are held again, and the price is even stronger than before."
After several times, Adi had no idea when communicating with customers, and could not confirm the preferential amount. "Internal policies are often inconsistent."
What makes Adi even more helpless is Huawei’s "involution" at the dealer level. "There are a lot of stores in a city, and each store recruits a lot of people. These stores are not the same boss, and the price is very serious." Adi said that in order to sell cars, peers kept each other’s prices down and even let their profits go.
Later, the professionalism of Huawei’s staff stationed in the store was also greatly reduced. "They don’t even understand Huawei’s basic policies."
At the same time, Huawei will have requirements for data such as test drive in the store, and most of this data can’t be completed. "There are many stores and many salespeople. In order to complete the task, the store will share it. Let’s find relatives and friends to complete it." For a long time, Adi and his colleagues were tired of completing the test drive data task in the store.
In this case, the loss of intentional customers has become the biggest problem. A lot of sales around Adi have lost many intentional customers because of the changeable prices and various "coquettish operations" in the store.
Due to the failure to complete the work task, the performance salary was deducted, and some sales people chose to leave their jobs. Artie is one of them.
A partner who starts a new stove
Although he has left, Adi is still paying attention to the world.
Adi and his former colleagues have discussed a lot about "drawing a clear line" between Huawei and the media. In their view, Huawei is somewhat "throwing a pot" in the case of poor overall sales at this time.
In the inner voice community of Huawei, Ren Zhengfei signed a post saying "Huawei doesn’t make cars", and Yu Chengdong left a message: "This era has changed, which will only make it more difficult for us! After a few years, everyone will understand! Leave time to test! " "For an industry, only in-depth insight and deep understanding can we grasp the correct direction! Mark it and come back in a few years! "
Since Huawei set foot in the automobile business in 2019, Yu Chengdong has been labeled as a "car maker". In February this year, the news that Wang Jun, the original Huawei smart car solution BU COO, was suspended came out, and the news that Yu Chengdong was fully responsible for BU was rampant. Immediately, photos of Yu Chengdong’s visits to Sellers and Aouita came out.
It seems that Huawei’s car-making route has become as radical and bold as himself.
At the beginning of March, "HUAWEI asked the world" appeared in the holiday poster released by HUAWEI terminal. Among the official accounts of the car, "AITO asked the world" was quietly replaced by "Huawei asked the world".
Promotional materials in offline stores are also updated synchronously. In the sinking market, the words "Huawei Auto" even appeared.
On March 30th, the day before Huawei and Cyrus "drew a clear line". Celestial’s company launched a brand-new new energy vehicle brand Blue Power, equipped with BYD Foday hybrid system. Sailis said that this is a brand new brand that is different from the outside world.
This is also regarded by the outside world as a signal that Cyrus is "planning ahead" and starting a new stove.
The change of HI mode partners is more obvious. It is reported that a senior executive of BAIC Polar Fox expressed his dissatisfaction with Huawei at a recent internal meeting. "We have cooperated with Huawei for so many years, and Huawei has gained a lot of voice. What have we got?" Under the bleak sales of Alpha created in cooperation with Huawei, BAIC has begun to promote the mother-baby parent-child model "Koala".
Another partner, GAC, has also undergone new changes. On March 27th, Guangzhou Automobile Group said that the AH8 project jointly built by Guangzhou Automobile Ai ‘an and Huawei was changed to independent development, and Huawei will participate as an important supplier. This means that the HI mode of GAC and Ai ‘an has fallen through.
In the public interview, Feng Xingya, general manager of Guangzhou Automobile Group, talked about the cooperation with Huawei and bluntly said that Guangzhou Automobile needs more brand characteristics. This just corresponds to the "soul theory" put forward by Chen Hong, the chairman of SAIC.
On April 1st, when Yu Chengdong attended the committee of 100 Forum on Electric Vehicles in China (2023), he said that Huawei was still under sanctions, and its partners were limited. "The new forces have their own intelligent pursuit, and it is unlikely to cooperate with us. It is also difficult for European, American and Japanese companies to choose Huawei. In the end, only traditional car companies are left." Yu Chengdong said.
An engineer from a head parts supplier told China Entrepreneur that Huawei seems to have neglected the brand dignity that traditional car companies value most, and planned a lot of cooperative car companies and models, which eventually became a constraint.
On April 6, the related content of "HUAWEI asks the world" has not been deleted from Huawei’s official accounts such as Huawei Terminal.
Huawei to ensure survival
Yu Chengdong insists that the cooperation has not changed. However, in the rapidly changing China market, it is becoming more and more difficult to do both the brand and Huawei’s automobile business.
In an interview with China Entrepreneur, Zhang Yun, global CEO of Rees Strategic Positioning Consulting and chairman of China, said that Huawei’s insistence on not building cars is a comprehensive choice.
"Huawei’s mobile phone business has been affected in the United States. If the car moves the’ cheese’ of European and American companies again, it will be’ killed’ in overseas core markets." Zhang Yun said that this is a statement spread from within Huawei and also reflects Huawei’s overall strategic considerations.
"If Huawei is a core supplier of smart cars, the technical value of core components is very high, and its value may be higher than that of a car-making enterprise." Zhang Yun believes that from the perspective of business value, technology is not only an area that Huawei is good at, but also can create more value.
In Zhang Yun’s view, just because Huawei can make a good mobile phone does not mean that it can also make a good car. "It takes a lot longer to make a car than a mobile phone. Interlacing is like a mountain. " This view seems to confirm the choice of Ren Zhengfei, the founder of Huawei.
According to the financial report data released by Huawei on March 31st, in 2022, the company’s net profit decreased by 68.7% year-on-year, and the cash flow from operating activities decreased by 70.2% year-on-year. Although Meng Wanzhou, the rotating chairman, has repeatedly stressed that Huawei’s cash flow is still sufficient, the declining data has already reflected Huawei’s survival status in the current market environment.
As early as last year, Ren Zhengfei published the famous "Cold Theory" based on the changes in the domestic and international market environment, saying that Huawei should take survival as the highest program, focus on strategy and burn less money.
The impact of the car-making business seems to be contrary to Ren Zhengfei’s strategy.
The data shows that Huawei BU is the only loss-making business unit. China Entrepreneur learned from Huawei officials that BU, a Huawei smart car solution, has invested 3 billion US dollars in R&D since its establishment, with as many as 7,000 R&D personnel.
In the 2022 annual report, Huawei’s sales revenue in carrier business, enterprise business and terminal business was 284 billion yuan, 133.2 billion yuan and 214.5 billion yuan respectively. Among them, the revenue of smart car solution parts business was 2.1 billion yuan.
From the perspective of Huawei’s overall business, after the terminal mobile phone business encounters sanctions, Huawei may not be able to bear the car business to get into trouble again. The first task is to ensure the safety and survival of its main business.
Many people in the industry also believe that whether from the basic logic of building a car or the increasingly fierce market competition, Huawei should really be more rational in building a car.
In his speech at the committee of 100 Forum, Yu Chengdong said: "In the past, Huawei leaders, including Ren Zong, wanted to become a Tier1 supplier similar to Bosch, but now the conditions of this strategy seem to be untenable."
References:
Yu Chengdong ordered overnight: Remove Huawei logo! The latest response, Global Times
Ren Zhengfei "strangles" Huawei to build a car, and Yu Chengdong mourns! ",Electric Vehicle Commune
"The board hits Yu Chengdong, and Ren Zhengfei hurts", Snow Leopard Finance and Economics.
Editor on duty: Wang Yijie Review: Zhang Gege Production: Wu Ying
