Can Li Feng help Kia return to the top?strategy or key

[Brand that understands how to drive]Therefore, when heaven is about to assign a great responsibility to a person, he must first work hard on his mind and body. For Li Feng, general manager of Dongfeng Yueda Kia, who only took office on September 9, it is nothing more than this. On the one hand, my country's new car sales have declined for 17 consecutive months. So far, my country's new car sales have reached 23.11 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 9.1%. If passenger cars alone are counted, it has also dropped by 10.5% year-on-year. In other words, the cold winter in the domestic auto market is still continuing, and no one knows the future situation. On the other hand, before Li Feng took office, all the general managers of Dongfeng Yueda Kia were Koreans. The differences between China and South Korea will definitely bring a lot of trouble. At the same time, since 2015, the sales of Korean cars in China have plummeted to varying degrees. Although Dongfeng Yueda Kia achieved a year-on-year sales growth of 2.8% in 2018, there is still a certain gap between its past glory. Dealers regained confidence. Just when Kia was facing many difficulties, Li Feng, like a general on the battlefield, shouldered the heavy responsibility and began to face the difficulties. When Li Feng took office only three months ago, Dongfeng Yueda Kia came out with exciting news - 22 dealers signed a restart agreement. Just recently, Dongfeng Yueda Kia held a dealer investor symposium in Shanghai with the theme of "Breakthrough in 2020·Restarting a New Journey". After a series of in-depth exchanges between the manufacturer's management and dealer investors, 22 withdrawn and dormant dealers finally signed restart agreements, giving the recovering Kia a powerful shot in the arm. Compared with before, Li Feng is more willing to communicate with dealer investors, and through a series of reform measures, dealers can regain their confidence in Dongfeng Yueda Kia. This can indeed greatly enhance the relationship between enterprises and dealers, but in fact, dealers' ability to regain confidence, in addition to a series of new policies, is also closely related to the good news released by Li Feng after taking office. Although the sales volume for December has not yet been released, Dongfeng Yueda Kia sold 27,797 units in China in November, a month-on-month increase of 13.44%. Among them, the monthly sales volume of Kia K3 was even close to 10,000 units, a month-on-month increase of 106.95% and a year-on-year increase of 11.83%. In fact, since Li Feng took office, sales in October have reached 24,583 vehicles, a month-on-month increase of 34%, and the new generation of smart cars also achieved a month-on-month growth of 36%. Since Li Feng took office, Dongfeng Yueda Kia's sales have begun to pick up rapidly, so in the face of such good news, even if the dealers who have withdrawn from the network come back, it is not enough. The most important thing is that this situation means a virtuous cycle, which will be of great help to Kia and even Korean cars to regain their glory in the country. A marketing hero who has helped companies rise many times. In fact, Li Feng's reputation has already spread throughout the industry. Hearing his name is actually a guarantee of confidence for dealers. Before Li Feng took up the post of general manager of Dongfeng Yueda Kia, he had been working in the automobile industry for more than 20 years. With rich experience, he is good at analyzing the Chinese market and has a very keen awareness of future development trends. His many achievements in helping companies rise have also become a legend in the industry. As early as 2004, Chery's annual sales were only 80,000 vehicles. After Li Feng took over the position, he immediately adopted a new marketing strategy. In just one year, Chery's sales reached 189,000 vehicles in 2005, a year-on-year increase of 118%, and set Chery on the road to rise. By 2006, Chery's annual sales reached 300,000 vehicles, and in 2007 it reached 380,000 vehicles. At this time, Chery had established a firm foothold in the independent field and became a mainstay brand in the country. In just three years, Li Feng transformed Chery from a period of confusion to a period of strength. Chery's success in a short period of time is enough to prove Li Feng's strong operating capabilities, and it also established Li Feng's reputation in the industry. But Li Feng's deeds did not stop there. After Chery, Li Feng began to serve as the executive deputy general manager of Beijing Hyundai in 2009. The glory of Beijing Hyundai has also begun. In 2011, Beijing Hyundai's total sales exceeded 3 million, successfully becoming a member of the "3 million club". In 2012, the annual sales volume reached 860,000 vehicles, achieving continuous sales growth, bringing Beijing Hyundai to its peak. Li Feng's achievements in Chery and Beijing Hyundai are enough to make Li Feng a "giant" in the industry. Even if the background is a cold winter for the car market and the slow recovery of Korean cars, Li Feng's personal charm is enough to attract dealer partners to join, regardless of whether they have withdrawn from the network before. Differentiation strategy may be the key to rise. In fact, sales volume is determined by three key points: brand, product, and marketing. Why luxury brands can firmly maintain sales depends largely on brand power. When brand power is insufficient, product power and marketing methods become particularly important. In this regard, Li Feng once said in an interview: "The same babies have different bloodlines and have completely different starts. For a model with a relatively weak brand, if you want to truly impress consumers, you have to rely on strength. Strong product strength, coupled with more innovative and tenacious marketing capabilities." Obviously, after taking office as Kia's general manager, Li Feng began to seek differentiated breakthroughs, focusing on models above 100,000 yuan. Among them, the new generation of Opto, which has just been launched, is an example. There is no doubt that Opto meets the tastes of today's young people in terms of pricing, appearance and configuration. With a "tiger-roaring" family front face and smart high-tech configurations, this SUV is built for young people from the inside out. It may be hard for you to imagine that its price is only around 100,000 yuan. It can be said that Kia has accurately positioned it from the beginning of research and development, and as a strategic model, the overseas version of the Opto has achieved considerable success in other Southeast Asian markets. Especially in the Indian market, the Opto has already accumulated sales of 50,000 units in just three months after its launch; in South Korea, sales reached 15,000 units in the first month of its launch, accounting for 31.2% of the market segment, which is enough to show the success of the Opto. Strong product power. This undoubtedly perfectly fits the issue Li Feng mentioned when facing the media on how to rely on product strength to increase sales. While strengthening its product strength, Dongfeng Yueda Kia also uses differentiation strategy to change its marketing strategy. For example, the new generation of Oppo has implemented the country's first "guaranteed price" car purchase policy, which includes purchase tax, comprehensive insurance, and three-year maintenance. It can be said that it has greatly reduced the worries and pressure of young people when buying a car. It will take time to return to the top, but Kia does not need to be afraid. Dongfeng Yueda Kia's annual sales reached 650,000 vehicles at its peak. After experiencing the Korean car crisis, it does take time to return to the top. But there is no eternal loser on the battlefield, and the same is true for the automotive industry. The key is for companies to summarize the reasons for success and failure and use time to do things that were not done well. For Dongfeng Yueda Kia, Li Feng also made it clear that efforts will be made in brand differentiation, product differentiation, and service differentiation. Then "differentiation" is particularly important. When the results are first achieved, I sincerely hope that Dongfeng Yueda Kia can adhere to the differentiation strategy and regain the glory of the year under the leadership of Li Feng. (Picture/Text: Edited by Cen Zhenhua, who knows how to drive)