When people reach middle age, they need to live a relaxed life. Those things that have no time, no energy, and no money to do when they are young often do not yearn for and implement them until the age of "not confused". Coupled with the "squeeze" of the macroeconomic environment, especially the downturn of the housing market and other markets, more and more middle-aged people with money and leisure are eager to get out of the big cities lined with steel and concrete, and go outdoors to breathe and travel. Anyway, I can't toss much wind and waves, so I just let myself go outdoors to "wave".
In the TV series "Snail House", Song Siming said that Land Rover is the leg of a successful man, but such a "thigh" can only be used in colorful and glamorous urban neighborhoods at best. Therefore, a middle-aged man who is rich and free, if he wants to be "wild" and have fun, he must have more professional equipment.
JMC Ford Technology and its outdoor off-road experience platform - Ford Zongheng, since the Chengdu Auto Show in August last year, the purpose is to capture this group of middle-aged people who want to live a relaxed life.
If the Land Rover in Song Siming's eyes is the only magic weapon for urban middle-aged men to flaunt their success, then Ford Vertical and Horizontal has obtained two "wild play" weapons in the Chinese market - Ford Ranger (Chinese name "Ranger") and Ford Bronco (Chinese name "Fierce Horse"), which is to let them go outdoors to "cross-dress" and have fun in the wilderness. JMC Ford Technology, which explored the family SUV market in the early stage, was "rolled" and turned out to make a "big turn" and directly attacked the outdoor off-road market.
The commander of this tough battle of transformation is Ford's "veteran" who has been fighting in the Chinese market for many years - Liu Jisheng, president of Jiangling Ford Technology and manager of Ford Zongheng. One day at the end of January 2024, Liu Jisheng "parachuted" into Beijing with the domestic Ford Liema, and brought several good news to ** after Ford Zongheng "tested the waters" for 10 months - the terminal sales of the domestic Ranger exceeded 2,500 units in the first month of its launch, and the Ford Indulgence Experience Space Store blossomed all over the north and south of China......
Ford Ranger (Ranger) has really broken the circle, it has really expanded the user circle, both replacing the stock and introducing increments. In an interview with some **, including the author, Liu Jisheng was extremely happy and excited. Of course, Liu Jisheng has reason to have high hopes for his own Ford user experience platform. Because the Ford Ranger has been impressive enough in the early days of the market.
If you don't understand China's high-end pickup truck market, it may be difficult to understand the "gold content" of Ford Ranger selling 2,500 units a month. Pickup trucks in China's high-end market, priced at more than 150,000 yuan, account for only 10% of the entire pickup market. This means that if 350,000 pickup trucks are sold throughout the year, only 350 thousand. However, the Ford Ranger sold 2,500 units in a month, which is still achieved when Ford's nationwide layout network has not yet been fully rolled out.
10% of the market is 96% owned by me, is it possible? It's impossible. This 10% is still there, but the other part is occupied by us, that is, he who didn't buy pickups, and he was brought in by us. So I'm guessing that the proportion of pickup trucks above 150,000 in January will increase from 10% to 12% or 15%. There must be some newcomers. This process of change is faster and more urgent than we think. ”
In a provincial capital city in Northeast China, the pickup truck market has always been the "world" of an independent brand, but in the first month of Ford's launch, Ford won the championship in this segment. Of course, this may just be the beginning.
As Liu Jisheng said, the Ford Ranger really broke the circle this time, not only eating up part of the original high-end pickup market, but also poaching some potential users of high-end off-road vehicles. For no other reason, because the Ford Ranger is "more fun" than other competitors. The irreplaceability of product power, coupled with the one-step domestic "conscience" pricing, is the biggest weight to help it jump out of the "involution" in the Chinese automobile market, where there is no "lower limit" in the configuration of stacking coils.
The two pieces of information fed back from the market terminal make Liu Jisheng believe that the "king fried" product that Ford will introduce into the market next, the Ford Bronco (Fierce Horse), which focuses on hard-core pure-blooded hard-core off-road, will also become a breakthrough in leading the wild consumption trend.
In the market segment where Ford Lie Ma is located, there are not many choices for users because the products on the market are relatively limited. The earliest competitor we defined was indeed the Wrangler. But the share of Wranglers in the market is very small, and it doesn't make sense for me to compare it now. So we think the Ford Flame Horse might be as good as the Ford Ranger Ranger to break the lap. Those users who didn't buy it in the first place, maybe because of our appearance, he bought it. That's probably what we'd like to do. ”
Don't think that Liu Jisheng's above expression is "taken for granted", because the circle-breaking effect has been staged on the Ford Ranger in advance. First of all, users who buy Ford Ranger basically do not "bargain" with dealers, and the proportion of orders placed after seeing the car is very high. Secondly, after buying a car, you want to play with it, not put it at home. Creating multiple opportunities to "interact" with dealers leaves a strong user stickiness and the possibility of "repurchasing" high-quality products and modified parts for Ford's carefully laid out indulgence space.
Did anyone expect us to sell 2,500 Ranger units in January? Basically not. For example, I took a dealership that opened just two days ago, and it actually invested in two weeks and delivered 50 cars. Liu Jisheng revealed: "Many dealers told me that we are very happy now that we almost do not negotiate with users, but only need to talk about when the car will arrive, what color do you want, and I will hurry up and ask the factory." Then talk about when you should go and play. ”
In order to allow users to have a professional and "wild" fun, Ford Zongheng links all "players" through the offline layout of Ford Indulgence Space and the online opening of Ford Zongheng Shopping** and user communities. The biggest difference between the investors of these physical stores and the investors of traditional car dealers is the difference in concept, if the requirements for traditional dealerships are strong operating ability, then the requirements for Ford vertical and horizontal indulgence space experience stores should be added with a "more playful".
Therefore, in addition to selling good cars, repairing cars, and raising good cars, whether users can be organized to "have a good time" together has become the core indicator for Liu Jisheng to judge the business results of a Ford indulgence space experience store. "One of the things I ask dealers to do is that all the activities of going out and having fun, you have to make the user feel like they are getting the best value for their money. The only metric I really give is that the return rate of those who have attended my event is greater than 90%. ”
What makes Liu Jisheng feel very pleased and encouraged is that with the hot sales of new products, the enthusiasm of dealership investors has been ignited. "We were planning 2,400 events, and the concept was simple, 200 dealers, one a month each, 2,400 a year. Now dealers tell us that the Ford Spirit, Ford F-150 Raptor, Ford Ranger, Ford Lingyu, and Ford Lingrui want one each month, why? Circles are different, and each circle has its own story. ”
According to the established plan, Ford Zongheng will open 180 Ford Indulgence Spaces nationwide by the end of this year. After a while, the domestically produced Ford Bronco will also be listed in "sincerity". According to Ford's vertical and horizontal style of play, by continuously improving the localization rate, while ensuring the pure bloodline of hard-core Ford, the intelligent shortcomings of traditional hard-core off-road vehicles will be made up at one time, plus the highly playable "disassembly and assembly parts", Ford Bronco is expected to become a "dark horse" in the domestic high-end off-road vehicles.
And Ford, who is obsessed with jumping out of the "involution" and playing high-level transformation, will come up with a beautiful "return gun".