Tencent Car Article / Yuting
When a new company is established, many things have to be done from scratch.
Song Wei, a post-80s generation in charge of large purchases, and his colleagues in the department are still working overtime together—although, it has been three months since the independent company of the former BAIC Group’s Beijing Off-Road Vehicle Division operated.
It is not easy to carry the banner of “China’s No. 1 off-road vehicle brand”, especially after integrating the main links of R&D, production, marketing and branding to form an “integrated operation”.
The Beijing off-road manufacturing base in Shunyi opened its doors to the outside world on a large scale for the first time-the large area of army green in the factory reminds that this is still a company with a strong military color.
Resurrection 212 ?
Many people’s feelings for BAIC’s off-road vehicles are closely entangled with this real mass-produced car 212 in the 1950s. In the minds of many people, 212 is almost equated with the label “father’s first car”.
The classic product of this era of material scarcity has become a “treasure” that is eagerly collected in today’s improved living standards but spiritual scarcity.
However, within Beijing Off-Road, Resurrection 212 is still a project that has been put on hold.
From the perspective of the outside world, after the integrated operation, Beijing Off-Road has more say in this step. But implementing it is not as easy as it sounds.
When the post-80s can still be called to have related memories about 212, it is difficult for the post-90s to fully understand.
“This is something I have always wanted to do, otherwise, after five years, I don’t know how many people will remember it.” Whenever there is funds, Wang Zhang, Secretary of the Party Committee and General Manager of BAIC Motor Off-Road Vehicle Co., Ltd., is willing to invest in this project. Let engineers do some system research and development.
From an engineer’s point of view, there is a natural contradiction in the inheritance of styling – if it is unrealistic to make them exactly the same, but it must be similar to look good, and it must also evoke everyone’s memories, and the pressure will naturally come.
“It’s too difficult to make a four-wheel drive less than 100,000 yuan.” Wang Zhang did a little calculation, and at least 120,000 yuan is needed to have a chance.
The resurrection of 212 is also the “resurrection” of Beijing off-road.
“If a car is used to represent Chinese manufacturing, Beijing Off-Road has the most potential, and it can also arouse the resonance of the times through historical accumulation.” Zhang Guofu, deputy secretary of the party committee and executive deputy general manager of Beijing Off-Road Company, is full of confidence in his words . “BJ212’s resurrection plan does not rule out the use of crowdfunding, so that everyone can feel what a national trend is.”
Even if you have never been to the Alxa Heroes Club, and you have no chance to personally experience the Tournament Rally, you can’t help but get excited because of the pictures of “Wolf Warriors”. This is the power of cross-country.
There is no need to repeat the champions of related events, Beijing Cross Country. “To build the BJ40 series into the best off-road car in domestic urban areas is to create a brand that best responds to professional enthusiasts and professional hardcore people.” Zhang Guofu said.
With its cost-effectiveness, BAIC off-road vehicles have become the best choice for Chinese people to get started with off-road vehicles. But how to cultivate local off-road culture and become a “spiritual totem” like Jeep is the key to its transition from niche to mainstream.
The trump card and the new mainstream
In May last year, Xu Heyi, Chairman of BAIC Group, fully released his emphasis on BAIC’s independent off-road during the off-road carnival.
“Unswervingly develop the BAIC off-road vehicle brand, and make the BAIC off-road vehicle the trump card of BAIC Group’s differentiated competition and the new mainstream in the auto market.”
From the sales point of view, Beijing Off-Road’s annual performance of 30,000 to 40,000 vehicles is indeed unable to form an effective contribution to the group, but from the earliest 212 to the current military parade car, the 60-year history has carried too much weight than sales. something heavy.
Its existence plays a self-evident role in enhancing brand focus and promoting the brand upward.
In Xu Heyi’s words, Beijing Off-Road can fully reflect the BAIC Group’s implementation of the “high, new, and special” requirements with “specialized, refined, and special” development.
After the first ten years of this century, Beijing Off-Road has established a considerable foundation and accumulation, and has the conditions for integrated operations, including a team of engineers who have long focused on the field of off-road vehicles and military vehicles, and a rare company in the industry that specializes in off-road vehicles. Manufacturing base. These all support the “professional, high-quality, characteristic” of Beijing Off-Road.
Objectively speaking, now is also a good time to focus on off-roading. China’s vast land provides natural conditions for off-road enthusiasts. If the American off-road culture is brewed on a land of more than 9 million square kilometers, then China is the country most likely to transplant the off-road culture of cars.
In the range of less than 200,000 yuan, BAIC basically has no competitors in the hard-core off-road segment. According to official data, the sales of BAIC off-road vehicles exceeded 34,000 last year. Taking the main model BJ40 series as an example, it has ranked first in the sales volume of Chinese brand off-road vehicles for 20 consecutive months, with a market share of 50%.
But once it enters the “mainstream” market, whether it can turn differentiation into a “killer” in the competition is still a problem that plagues Beijing Off-Road, a newly established company from top to bottom.
Wang Zhang pointed out: “Off-roading is still our duty and our root. No matter how small the market segment is, we must do it well. The rest is skin, and we must attach to this thing.”
“Although we do not constitute a competitive relationship with Jeep and Mercedes-Benz, they are worthy of reference and learning from BAIC Off-Road in terms of brand building.” Zhang Chaoxiang, general manager of BAIC Motor Off-road Vehicle Sales and Service Co., Ltd. said.
make the plate bigger
To some extent, Beijing Off-Road is one of the few domestic car companies that can properly combine 2B and 2C.
What does it mean to hold both military vehicles and civilian vehicles? Wang Zhang said that Beijing Off-Road follows the concept of “promoting the people with the army and supporting the army with the people”.
“Using the army to promote the people” is mainly due to the fact that military off-road vehicles have many special requirements on reliability and passability. From the perspective of process arrangement and material procurement, it is impractical to distinguish between military and civilian, so the background of military use actually brings up the level of civilian vehicles.
But only as a military vehicle supply, it is difficult to form a scale effect in the automobile industry, and it is also impossible to form an orderly production rhythm. Conversely, the addition of demand for civilian vehicles has made car companies more assured of the cost and quality of military products, which is “supporting the army with the people.”
Beijing Off-Road ensures the completion of high-quality products in the interoperability between military and civilian use.
for example–
With the improvement of coating technology, there are fewer and fewer models on the market that use double-sided galvanizing. However, the anti-corrosion of military vehicles determines that BAIC Off-Road must use such steel plates. In addition to the control of every link from material procurement to coating and topcoat, it also needs repeated tests in the humid and high-salt environment in Hainan.
At the same time, in the use of new technologies, including electrification and intelligence, the military has more special and higher requirements, and the investment support is relatively large. The technology of front-end exploration is selectively mounted on civilian vehicles, which effectively promotes technological progress and quality improvement.
While ensuring military needs, BAIC Off-Road is thinking about making the plate bigger for civilian use. Through product extension development, enter the market between SUV and off-road vehicle.
Following the hard-core off-road series named after even numbers, Beijing Off-Road’s “pan-off-road” product planning has been put on the agenda, and it will meet consumers in the first half of next year at the earliest. If there is no accident, it will be named after odd numbers.
“Currently the fastest progress is 7, from the perspective of urban off-road or comfortable off-road. But no matter what kind of off-road, the brand tonality of professional off-road will not be adjusted, which is certain.” Zhang Guofu said.
This year, Beijing’s cross-country program has achieved double-digit growth compared to last year, with a target of 45,000 units. The future planning has reached 2025, and Beijing Off-Road should have an output of 300,000 by then.
This puts forward higher requirements for marketing. Zhang Chaoxiang divided the target consumers of BAIC off-road into three categories: 10% off-road fanatics + 80% wait-and-see enthusiasts, and 10% followers.
How to maintain the 10% group so that it can exert 9 times the influence beyond the purchase action? This is a good question.
“Actually, off-road vehicles should be the most suitable for experiential marketing.” Off-road carnivals such as Ring Tower and Alxa are not to be missed as usual. At the same time, this year, Beijing Off-Road will hold an off-road vehicle ring tower challenge, as well as the Baja desert off-road challenge.
“Building a brand is the top priority, and we should cherish this brand like we cherish our lives.” Zhang Guofu added, “A word of mouth from the hard-core off-road crowd is more than 10 sentences from the sales terminal. Whether it is experience or our sense of professionalism, reliability and quality The continuous building, including the building of the circle, must be grasped, and the rest is the volume.”
As for the brand, Beijing Off-Road naturally has a lot to say. In Shanghai in mid-April, Beijing Off-Road will also give a new interpretation of the tonality of the “Beijing” brand under the curtain of the auto show. And the weight of these two words in the market is self-evident.
Source of pictures and texts: Official Account: Beijing 20 Brothers.
