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Chapter 2626 Marketing Plan

Suning is not the kind of person whose rhythm will be disrupted by a woman.

After what happened that night, Su Ning got up at 6:30 the next day as usual, arrived at the office at 7:00, attended every meeting that was supposed to be held, and approved every document that was supposed to be approved.

Shen Ranran occupies a place in Suning's life, but that place is not big, and it will not shake his focus on doing things.

Of course, Suning is not a heartless person, but personal relationships have never come before business for him.

Zhuangzhuang, on the other hand, has been looking at Suning with a noticeably different gaze these past few days.

There was an extra layer of something indescribable, like wanting to ask something but not daring to, wanting to say something but swallowing it back.

"Zhuangzhuang, bring in today's meeting minutes?"

"..." Zhuangzhuang stood in front of the desk for a long time before handing over the folder, clearly lost in thought.

"What's wrong? Why are you so distracted?" Su Ning glanced at her as he took the folder.

Zhuangzhuang immediately lowered her head: "President Su, if there's nothing else, I'll go out now."

"..."

Suning did not reveal the truth.

It's likely that Zhuangzhuang learned something from Shen Ranran. The two girls are so close that they can sense each other's secrets without them needing to say them aloud.

Suning has no intention of explaining anything, nor does it feel the need to.

He's Zhuangzhuang's boss, not her father.

As for matters between women, let them deal with them on their own.

If I get involved, I'll only complicate things.

……

The rapid construction of the super factory in Huangdao caught Qingdao somewhat off guard.

After the main structure of the factory building was fully capped, water, electricity, and gas pipelines were connected simultaneously, and equipment installation and civil engineering finishing work proceeded almost in parallel...

While workers are installing overhead lights in the workshop, engineers are already debugging the robotic arms of the welding robot.

Director Hou spends almost every day at the construction site, wearing a safety helmet from morning till night. His face has become several shades darker from the sun, and there is a clear tan line on his arm from his short sleeve, but he is more energetic than anyone else.

That day, Assistant Xiao Zhao flew from Beijing to deliver materials. When he found Director Hou at the construction site, he almost didn't recognize him. "Director Hou, you look like you just came back from a beach vacation!"

Director Hou wiped the sweat from his face and said, "I'm on vacation at the construction site every day."

"Isn't it unnecessary to go through all this trouble?"

"The main problem is that the super factory is progressing too fast. I just got off work and went home to sleep when a new production line was delivered and installed, forcing me to get up and continue working overtime."

"Just hand it over to the technicians below."

“You don’t understand! This project is too important; I won’t feel at ease unless I personally oversee it.”

"Alright! You should also take care of yourself!"

"Will do."

"It's a pity that you're not an employee of Tianchao Auto, Director Hou, otherwise we would definitely give you a super prize at the annual meeting."

"..."

……

Then, the Qingdao municipal government added a special coordination team to specifically handle Tianchao Automobile's various approval and supporting needs in Huangdao.

From environmental impact assessments to fire safety inspections, from recruitment to attracting supporting businesses, every step was streamlined through a fast-track process.

At a city-wide coordination meeting, Vice Mayor Li declared, "Whoever causes the problems with Tianchao Auto is responsible. No need for layers of approval; report directly to me."

"Mayor Li, wouldn't this violate organizational procedures?"

"Organizational procedures are meant to serve the enterprise, not to impose layers of restrictions."

"..."

"China Auto's super factory in Huangdao is a key project for us in recent years. China Auto is doing its best, and our government departments absolutely cannot let them down."

The mayor also gave his full support, saying, "Mayor Li is right! It's rare to see such a sincere company as Tianchao Auto. Our relevant departments in Qingdao must cherish this opportunity."

"..." Sure enough, the mayor's words and affirmation silenced the noise in the city.

……

On the day the production line was installed, the Huangdao factory held a grand trial production launch ceremony.

After all, Qingdao has invested a lot in this super factory. Since they need such good results, Tianchao Group will naturally cooperate as much as possible.

The factory also invited various media outlets to report on the event, and even many official media outlets came to interview them.

Suning personally flew to Qingdao and went directly to the factory after landing.

In the final assembly workshop, Suning stood at the end of the production line, watching the first Baize bus and the first Chongmingbird truck roll off the production line.

The white body of the Bai Ze bus gleamed softly under the workshop lights, while the deep blue front of the Chongming Bird truck was steady and imposing. The two vehicles slid off the assembly line one after the other and stopped in the display area, their unique logos clearly visible under the lights.

Bai Ze and Chongming Bird are mythical creatures from ancient Chinese mythology, and their graceful figures are on full display at this moment.

The production line at the Qingdao commercial vehicle base is of the same specifications as the Shunyi factory, and it was all directly retrieved from the space world. The level of automation and intelligence of the entire system is among the best not only in China, but also in the world.

Siyi Foreign Trade still handles the import procedures, following the same legal and compliant process of order placement by a shell company, CCIC inspection, customs declaration, and commodity inspection acceptance, with all the necessary documents readily available.

A person from Qingdao Customs later told Director Hou privately, "Director Hou, the customs declaration materials for Tianchao Automobile's imported equipment are more standardized than most foreign companies we've seen. Packing list, certificate of origin, inspection certificate, payment voucher, everything is included, and even the attachments are neatly bound."

"Therefore, Tianchao Group is still a very well-regulated enterprise."

"There's something strange about it. The origin of their equipment and production lines is unknown, and we still don't know which company designed and manufactured them for them."

“Every company has its own unspeakable difficulties and secret channels. Since they are unwilling to talk about it, there is no need for us to pry into their secrets.”

"Director Hou is right."

Later, Director Hou relayed this to Xiao Zhao, who smiled and said, "Our CEO Su's requirements for compliance are indeed stricter than those of customs."

……

Soon, Baize Bus and Chongming Bird Truck officially entered the domestic commercial vehicle market.

China's automotive industry has always lacked a presence in the commercial vehicle sector. Baize and Chongmingbird have filled this gap, offering the market an irresistible choice right from the start.

With its durable four-liter V6 engine and spacious, comfortable seating layout, Baize Bus quickly gained a foothold in the tourist charter and corporate shuttle bus markets.

Chongming Bird trucks directly compete with Isuzu, but are significantly cheaper and have a higher level of configuration. After several large logistics companies purchased a few trucks and ran them for two or three months, they called the sales department to place additional orders.

At the same time, the Shunyi factory's export business is also expanding in full swing.

Kunyu Shipping's first roll-on/roll-off ship, "Kunyu No. 1," has completed outfitting and sea trials at Jiangnan Shipyard and has been officially delivered for use.

This giant ship, with a full load displacement of 21,000 tons and 14 decks capable of carrying 8,500 vehicles at a time, attracted a large crowd of onlookers when it set sail from Tianjin Port for its maiden voyage.

The four large characters "Kunyu Shipping" and the logo of Tianchao Group on the hull reflected the sunlight. The cabin was densely packed with export versions of Qinglong sedans, Zhuque SUVs, and Baihu off-road vehicles. The steering wheels of each vehicle were adjusted to left-hand or right-hand drive according to the regulations of different destinations.

Suning personally flew to Tianjin Port to see off the maiden voyage.

Standing on the dock, watching the huge roll-on/roll-off ship slowly leave the port, the white waves churned up by the stern drew a long arc on the blue surface of the Bohai Bay.

As the ship gradually shrank, Xiao Zhao remarked, "President Su, our cars are really going to be running on highways all over the world now."

Suning said, "We've already started running."

"I wonder if the international market will accept it?"

"Young people, have confidence in yourselves. The strength of China's automobile industry is not weak."

"..."

"Xiao Zhao, first of all, you need to understand that we don't need customers to compliment our cars on their looks."

"So what do we need to do?"

"We need customers to say that this car will never break down. 'High quality, low price, and durable'—these eight words are the selling points that Tianchao Auto used when it first started in China. Now they are equally applicable in overseas markets, and even more so. Because overseas consumers don't have any preconceived notions about the words 'Made in China.' They only care about whether the car is easy to use, whether it's expensive to repair, whether it can handle rough roads, and whether the air conditioning is effective. We excel in every one of these concrete indicators. This is the foundation for Tianchao Auto's foothold in the global market. Everything else is just fluff."

"..."

These three models have become even more popular in Southeast Asia, Africa, and South America than Suning had anticipated. In Southeast Asia, the Zhuque SUV is the most popular, boasting high ground clearance, a durable chassis, and excellent air conditioning performance even in temperatures as high as 40 degrees Celsius. It's also significantly cheaper than comparable Japanese models.

At the same time, the White Tiger off-road vehicle is also quite appealing, after all, the road conditions in Southeast Asia are notoriously difficult, and the requirements for off-road vehicle performance are very high.

Previously, consumers could only buy used Japanese off-road vehicles, but now that there are better Hakutsu off-road vehicles available, consumers are immediately voting with their wallets.

The White Tiger off-road vehicle was an instant hit in the African market.

The local road conditions are more complex, with a high proportion of unpaved roads. In some places, there are no roads at all, just dirt and stones forming makeshift paths.

The White Tiger's non-load-bearing body and powerful diesel engine are perfect for these situations. When other vehicles get stuck in the mud, the White Tiger can easily get through by engaging low-speed four-wheel drive and stepping on the gas.

These three cars from China are also very popular in South America.

The main advantage is that it's not a big deal to repair it. Even if the car breaks down, the parts are easy to find and inexpensive, unlike some brands where you have to wait several months and spend a lot of money to replace a part.

After all, Suning had already anticipated the issues that car owners would consider.

Good quality at a low price, sturdy and durable.

These eight words are the key to conquering markets across three continents.

……

The sales growth curve of Chinese automobiles in Southeast Asia, Africa, and South America soon changed from a gentle upward curve on the marketing department's report to an almost steep upward angle.

Especially in Southeast Asia, orders for the Zhuque SUV and Baihu off-road vehicle are pouring into the Shunyi factory like snowflakes. The schedule of the Kunyu No. 1 roll-on/roll-off ship has been revised again and again by the marketing department with red pen. The sailing schedule has been increased from one sailing per month to two sailings, and then to three sailings, but it is still not enough.

Fortunately, the relevant departments arranged other roll-on/roll-off ships for Tianchao Group; otherwise, they would have really missed the opportunity due to the shortage of transport capacity.

Japanese automakers were the first to feel the pain.

Southeast Asia has long been the traditional stronghold of Japanese car brands. Toyota, Nissan, and Honda have been operating there for decades, with a dense network of dealerships and consistently high brand loyalty.

Even used Japanese cars are a form of hard currency in Southeast Asia.

But things started to change after the Chinese cars rushed in.

At first, those arrogant Japanese automakers didn't take it too seriously...

What kind of waves can a Chinese private brand make?

It's definitely another batch of junk that's been put together. It's not worth mentioning compared to Japanese cars, and it's unlikely to even have its own patented technology.

I guess they'll just sell a few at low prices and then stop after a couple of days.

But after several consecutive quarters of sales reports from the Southeast Asian market were placed on desks in Tokyo and Nagoya, no one was laughing.

The Zhuque SUV has outsold several Japanese models in the same segment in Thailand and Indonesia in a single month, while the Baihu off-road vehicle has even reached the top three in the off-road vehicle segment in the Philippines and Myanmar.

What made them even more uneasy was the strategy employed by China's automotive industry...

It's not about dumping products at low prices, but about having solid product quality.

The three main components are self-developed, the body is non-load-bearing, and the durability data of the entire powertrain is open and transparent. Every export vehicle is accompanied by a multilingual maintenance manual and parts catalog, and the after-sales service network is expanded in sync with the dealer network.

Japanese automakers are very familiar with this approach, because they themselves used it to open the door to the American market.

So, Japanese automakers started to take action.

The first to take action was Toyota's technical research department in Southeast Asia.

They secretly purchased three Zhuque SUVs and three Baihu off-road vehicles through dealer channels. One was sent to the local R&D center in Thailand for static disassembly, one was transported back to the headquarters in Japan for full vehicle disassembly and analysis, and the other was left in Southeast Asia for long-distance endurance road testing.

Nissan followed suit, purchasing a Qinglong sedan and a recently launched Bai Ze bus.

Honda was a step behind, but its procurement volume was the largest...

They directly purchased the entire range of Tianchao automobiles, including the Chongming Bird truck, which had only been off the production line for a few months.

After these cars were transported to the R&D centers of Japanese automakers, they were disassembled into a pile of parts.

The engine was lifted out of the engine bay and placed on a test bench for reverse engineering. The gearbox gears were disassembled one by one to measure their hardness and wear coefficient. The chassis beams were mounted on a coordinate measuring machine to scan the strength of each weld point.

After the dismantling was completed, reports were placed one after another on the desks of the Japanese automakers' executives.

……

The AI ​​robot sales team of China Automotive in Southeast Asia quickly took notice of the situation...

The movements of Japanese dealers are all under their monitoring. Several Japanese brands suddenly bought several cars through different intermediaries, and the delivery addresses all pointed to the R&D center. This operation is too obvious.

When the intelligence was delivered to Su Ning, he did not become nervous or angry as the Japanese had expected. Instead, he leaned back in his chair and couldn't help but laugh.

Then he dialed the internal phone and called in Manager Sun from the marketing department.

When Manager Sun entered, he was very calm and composed, completely unaware of the magnitude of the job he was about to take on.

After Su Ning briefly explained the information, Manager Sun was stunned for two seconds, then his eyes lit up. "President Su, is this news true? Toyota and Nissan are dismantling our cars?"

“Absolutely true.” Su Ning pushed the intelligence documents in front of him. “After they’re done dismantling, they’ll definitely do an internal assessment. No matter how confidential the assessment report is, there will always be some leaks to the media. You have to do one thing now: prepare a complete set of comparative promotional materials, our engine bench test data, chassis durability test reports, overseas user reviews of export models… As soon as the news comes out from Japan, attack them relentlessly.”

Manager Sun pushed up his glasses, and the light in his eyes grew brighter and brighter.

He's a seasoned marketing professional; he knows even our competitors are studying our cars. This is a top-tier advertisement that money can't buy. "Mr. Su, how do we strike the right balance? Should we name Toyota and Nissan directly, or use a general term?"

“No need to name names.” Su Ning stood up, walked to the window, and gestured to Manager Sun. “We don’t need to target any specific Japanese brand; we just need to confront them. You just need to make your stance clear: even top international automakers are dismantling Chinese cars for research. What does that mean? It means our cars have entered their field of vision, and it means our technological level has made our competitors uneasy. We don’t need to say this; let consumers draw their own conclusions. The more they think, the more effective it will be than ten sentences from us.”

"Understood." Manager Sun naturally understood, then turned and jogged out.

After returning to the marketing department, Manager Sun immediately convened a meeting with the team and quickly sketched out a framework for a staged marketing campaign on the whiteboard.

Manager Sun slammed the whiteboard marker on the table and said to his staff, "Everyone cancel all your scheduled appointments for today. From now on, focus on producing a set of promotional materials. Print ads, advertorials, dealer scripts, overseas brochures—everything. There's only one direction… Even our competitors are studying our car, what are you hesitating for?"

"clear."

Soon, several Japanese automotive media outlets caught wind of the situation and reported that Japanese automakers were conducting technical analysis of Chinese cars. Although the wording was cautious, the meaning was clear: "The export models of a certain emerging Chinese automaker have entered the technical investigation process of mainstream Japanese automakers."

Then British and German automotive magazines republished the story, with headlines that were increasingly eye-catching. One British magazine even went so far as to write: "A Challenger from China: Why is Toyota Disassembling Its Entire Model Lineup in China?"

The reaction from domestic media was even more outrageous.

The experts and public intellectuals who previously questioned whether Chinese cars were a scam have completely fallen silent...

It's not that they've stopped talking; it's that nobody's asking them to write articles anymore.

Instead, there was an overwhelming amount of positive coverage.

The Economic Daily published a commentary on its front page titled "From Being Questioned to Being Studyed," which stated: "When international automotive giants begin to disassemble and study your products, all the questions no longer need to be answered."

The advertorial meticulously crafted by the marketing department of Tianchao Auto, titled "Even Our Competitors Are Studying Us: Why Are Tianchao Autos Making Japanese Automakers Nervous?", was reprinted by numerous newspapers and magazines, accompanied by photos of the exterior of Japanese automakers' R&D centers and the array of robots on Tianchao Auto's production line...

The latter is a high-definition image extracted from the factory's promotional video with special permission from Suning.

The distributors responded quickly as well.

Tianchao Auto's 4S stores in major cities across the country almost simultaneously replaced their advertising banners and signs with new ones, and the copywriting was updated uniformly.

One dealer even displayed a White Tiger SUV at the entrance of their store, next to a large sign depicting a disassembled Japanese SUV and a complete Chinese White Tiger, accompanied by the simple and direct advertising slogan: "Take it apart and see, no worries."

Suning saw the latest weekly overseas sales report submitted by the marketing department.

The figures in the report jumped again compared to last month, with the monthly sales curve in the Southeast Asian market showing an almost vertical increase in the last two months.

Su Ning placed the report on the table and said to Zhuang Zhuang, "You didn't expect that, did you? Even the enemy can bring us benefits."

Zhuangzhuang was taken aback by these words. "President Su, what are the benefits?"

Suning pushed the report towards her, pointing to the sales curve in the Southeast Asian market: "Japanese automakers dismantled our cars to find weaknesses. They didn't find any weaknesses, but instead gave us free advertising worldwide. Now even consumers in Southeast Asia know that Toyota is dismantling Chinese cars. This kind of advertising effect is something you can't buy with any amount of money."

Zhuangzhuang looked down at the report, then looked up at Su Ning. "Aren't they kicking themselves now?"

Su Ning leaned back in his chair and laughed: "I don't know if they regret it or not. But one thing I'm sure of is that after they finished demolishing it, they can't sleep at all now."

"President Su, Japanese automakers are, after all, the industry leaders. Will they continue to target us?"

"Definitely! But it doesn't matter. A person who isn't envied is mediocre. From the day our Tianchao Auto was founded, we never thought of becoming someone else's vassal."

"..."

...(End of this chapter)