■Talking about products: "moderate" S90 growth point where?
According to CIRC data, in the first half of 2020, the cumulative licensing volume of Volvo S90 was 14,909 units, accounting for about 20% of the total licensing volume of Volvo cars. As Volvo's flagship model, S90 in Volvo's entire product lineup of market performance, Yuan Xiaolin with "moderate" four words to describe."From the point of view of Volvo's historical sales data, the European and American sedan market is relatively weaker than the Chinese market." Yuan Xiaolin expects that Volvo can retain its own place in the Chinese car market.
In fact, the initial S90, XC90 and other new cars on the market, Volvo took the standard BBA global unified strategy, pricing is relatively high, which to a certain extent affects Volvo's market sales, to the end of the market promotional efforts more fierce. How to get to the next level? In Yuan Xiaolin's opinion it is necessary to stay close to the market research, perceive the needs of the market, and combined with Volvo's own advantages, through the Asia-Pacific R & D Center, production, procurement, design and other close integration. According to the big data of the automotive home, in the circle of competitors, Volvo S90 user ratings in terms of comfort and fuel consumption scores are the lowest, the user has more dissatisfaction, the need to optimize the product in order to meet user needs and enhance product competitiveness. From the point of view of the new S90 configuration, the biggest highlight is the introduction of 48V light hybrid system on the powertrain, to a certain extent, to reduce fuel consumption and emission levels, and reduce the cost of the car, this piece of compensation is expected to make the sales of the new S90 have a greater room for improvement. In addition, the 48V light hybrid loaded XC90, V90?CC and V60 are scheduled to go on sale in China in the second half of 2020; while the 48V light hybrid XC60, S60 and XC40 are scheduled to go on sale in China in the next year or so. "It takes a process for traditional cars to cross over to electrification, and this process is less about technical possibilities and more about being determined by the market environment. Directionally, 48V is the first step towards electrification." Yuan Xiaolin said. On the eve of the huge changes in the new four automotive, Volvo has already started a round of "attack". One positive sign is the success of its plug-in hybrid models, with sales in the first half of 2020 up 79.8% compared to 2019 to 38,000 units. According to EV?Sales, in June 2020, Volvo's plug-in hybrid sales exceeded 10,000 units for the first time ever, not as many as BMW and Volkswagen, but its total sales rank climbed from 16th in the same period in 2019 to 7th in 2020, a significant improvement. Volvo is aiming for all-electric vehicles to account for half of its total sales by 2025, with hybrids making up the rest. In the second half of the year, Volvo will also release its first all-electric model, the XC40, in China.■ Talking about branding: "Who hasn't been young, but have you been old?"
Branding is a tool to reduce transaction costs between car companies and consumers, a deep moat, but also generate a higher premium. "Safety, health and environmental protection" is Volvo's most distinctive label, which is also Volvo's definition of luxury. It has been said that for those young people of generation Z who grew up with the Internet, boredom is the original sin, and if Volvo's luxury story is only safety and environmental protection, it is very difficult to get this group to buy. From the last two years, BBA have begun to pursue rejuvenation, through the adjustment of product design, as well as the layout of low-level products to penetrate the domestic young groups. On the contrary, Volvo's rejuvenation strategy, the implementation of the strength of the more moderate, low-level models XC40 in May 2019 only domestic. In response, Yuan Xiaolin quoted a classic quote from Chinese mainland writer Wang Shuo: "Who hasn't been young, but have you ever been old?"Yuan Xiaolin, senior vice president of Volvo Car Group and president and CEO of Volvo Cars Asia-Pacific
In Yuan's view, it's not that Volvo, the Nordic powerhouse, won't be "rejuvenated," and it's trying to become richer through design and product updates, but there's still a sense of restraint amid the changes, because it's always insisting on a "youthfulness" that's not just a "youthfulness," but a "youthfulness. Because it always adhere to a "essence", which Volvo can not easily give up. "Right now, the biggest challenge is to really recognize the trends that have been identified, then incubate them, and finally commercialize them. If a company just sees a certain stage of youthful rebellion as a trend, it may go astray in its business operations." Yuan Xiaolin emphasized.'New S90 interior'
While Volvo has done well in China over the past decade, it's partly thanks to the watered-down Chinese auto market. Comparing the sales of core competitor BBA, Volvo lagged behind by 110,000-200,000 units in 2010, and in 2018 the gap widened to 500,000-550,000 units. How to narrow the gap is a difficult problem facing Volvo.? For the current competition among brands in the luxury market, Yuan Xiaolin's attitude is more relaxed, "I don't really recommend looking at the performance of a certain indicator in a certain time period alone, companies should pay more attention to the reasons behind it, and constantly spend time on the right things, and then take action. This big pool gives us ample enough room to survive."■Talking about the system: to "volume and price", need to grasp the three relationships
2020 is a difficult start, by the impact of the epidemic, the car market in the first half of the year by a greater impact. In the case of the overall market decline, Volvo Cars sold 79,980 vehicles in China from January to July, basically the same as last year. After the recovery from the epidemic, in July, Volvo China market **** sold 14,379 new cars, up 14% year-on-year, the increment is almost three times the industry. Overall, Volvo's profitability is gradually recovering from 2014-2019. As Volvo's sales scale improves and platformization continues to advance, there is still room for Volvo's profitability to improve.『Volvo Asia Pacific Headquarters』
It is worth mentioning that Volvo has harvested its one millionth owner in China at this moment. Behind this performance, Yuan Xiaolin said, "One million owners in China is a good symbolic start. Among them, the corporate structure is very important, it is from the Geely acquisition of Volvo after the development of the premise and foundation, on this basis, Volvo needs to grasp the three layers of relationships." One is to adhere to the "righteousness and surprise". "Positive" is the construction of system capacity, "keep the right" is how to play a more optimized role in the system already established, that is, to improve efficiency and effectiveness; the so-called "strange" refers to The so-called "odd" refers to the innovative power, the market changes very quickly, the enterprise should plan ahead, and have the courage and vision to try, but at the same time to adhere to what works, to grasp a good balance between the two. Second, globalization and localization. You always have to have a bottom line, and that bottom line is the pursuit of value, brand and system standards. 10 years, Volvo from the acquisition by Geely national sales of 30,000 vehicles, 188 employees, 83 dealers scale, to today's 160,000 annual sales, nearly 8,000 employees, 261 dealers. Behind these changes is the epitome of how Volvo handles the relationship between globalization and localization. Third is to grasp the rhythm of fast and slow. The Chinese market is developing too fast, and there is a great deal of impatience in the face of unlimited possibilities. Yuan Xiaolin emphasized that the enterprise's response to the market must be fast, and the construction of the system requires time, this ability is not overnight, especially the service of luxury brands, it takes longer. Therefore, "fast and slow" need to have the determination and wisdom to grasp it. "If a company's annual growth of 10-15%, I think it can be achieved through hard work, but more than this number, I think it may be more 'borrowing', you need to have a lot of 'courses' to make up, if the degree of excess is more, then you must be able to achieve. exceeding the degree more, then you must have some slip-ups." Yuan Xiaolin said, "This healthy state of Volvo, we can call it 'volume and price', means that in the future there will be more and more consumers who recognize the value of the products and services you provide, and are willing to pay to buy that value."■Conclusion:
After a decade of steady development, Volvo will have to continue to tackle the unfinished tasks of price, profit and brand. With 2020 as the starting point, Yuan Xiaolin said "need to be more full of awe", because the competition is no longer the number and scale of the pile, but the pattern of the game and the system of the competition. How will Volvo's future be written? Perhaps, Geely Volvo's upcoming merger will open a new chapter. (Article/Automotive House? Peng Fei)