In the face of the huge blue ocean behind the global market, "going out" has become the only choice for Chinese enterprises to become bigger and stronger. Breaking the original "comfort zone" and going to overseas markets to export products and deliver value has become a key ability for Chinese brands to cope with the current complex global economic situation.
As the backbone of China's automobile industry and the capital's economic development, BAIC Group has focused on high-quality development in recent years, accelerated the process of internationalization, and achieved both quantitative and qualitative improvements. In 2023, BAIC's international exports will exceed 40,000 units, a year-on-year increase of more than 140%; Beiqi Foton exported more than 130,000 units, reflecting a 49% y/y increase1%, continue to maintain the leading position in the industry.
New products have been launched into a "sharp weapon" for going overseas
At the Shanghai International Auto Show in April 2023, Marwan Shaali, chairman and founder of Al Shaali in the United Arab Emirates, who was invited to participate in the press conference of BAIC Group's auto show, sometimes rubbed the BJ60 show car on the booth and sometimes recorded the design details of the vehicle with his mobile phone lens.
In Dubai, the Beijing off-road vehicle is an off-road weapon and a fashion item. I am glad to see that BAIC has created so many new products through continuous innovation. Marwan Shaali said that his company has been cooperating with BAIC for five years, and the products introduced are very popular with local users. This BJ60 off-road vehicle, which he was optimistic about, was also sold in the United Arab Emirates half a year later.
Not only in the United Arab Emirates, but also in Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Poland, and South Africa, with the new generation of BAIC products such as the Rubik's Cube (known as Beijing X55 in the overseas version), the new X7 and BJ60 have been put into the market one after another, giving BAIC International a "sharp weapon" to expand its territory in the world. It is understood that in the past year, BAIC International has further strengthened the multi-line linkage and coordination of the front, middle and back office businesses through management improvement, so that the response speed of overseas markets will "speed up the beat".
At the same time, Beiqi Foton is also accelerating the frequency of overseas launch of new commercial vehicle products. At the Beiqi Foton 2023 Global Co-Creators Conference held in April last year, the keys to the 11 million Foton vehicles were delivered to the head of the LDR Group, a Mexican dealer. Five days later, the Foton New Energy pickup, which was named Tunland V overseas, was launched in China under the name "Mars". With its more than 20 years of system advantages from R&D to marketing, Beiqi Foton has achieved product synchronization in the domestic and international markets.
Today, through product competitive advantages, Beiqi Foton has achieved comprehensive transcendence and leadership in core businesses such as trucks in Southeast Asia and Latin America. In Chile, Foton Micro Card has the largest market share; In Colombia, it has ranked second in the truck market for three consecutive years, and has the first market share of heavy-duty truck automatic transmission products; In the Philippines, for three consecutive years 7The 5-ton light truck model ranked first in sales. In addition, Foton's new energy products such as pure electric light trucks, vans, and buses have passed the WVTA EU model certification, and the European business is accelerating in an all-round way.
With the speed of new product launches, dealers have confidence and consumers are pleasantly surprised. The all-round development of the marketing service system has allowed the BAIC brand to firmly tie the hearts of overseas users.
The marketing service system has made full efforts
In Amman, Jordan's capital, Al-Nasser, a ride-hailing driver, drives his EU5 Plus through the streets every day, occasionally introducing his car to passengers: "It's from Beijing, China, it can use voice control air conditioning, and it's super quiet to drive." ”
At the beginning of last year, BAIC Motor signed an order with a local dealer for 1,000 units of the EU5 Plus. Ding Changfeng, National Manager of Central and West Asia Region of BAIC International, arrived with new products and began to develop in the local market. The location of the charging station, the communication of the energy company, and the improvement of the spare parts library ......He and his team have traveled to almost every corner of Amman, just to allow users to recharge and maintain "one kilometer less".
In South Africa, truck drivers are particularly unrestrained in driving, which is not only easy to cause damage to the vehicle, but even affects the user's impression of the Foton brand. To this end, Shen Changzhi, senior manager of Beiqi Foton South Africa team service, compiled the illegal operation into a booklet, and gave the drivers a "preventive shot" every time they sold a car. Today, there are more than half of similar problems, and the reputation of Foton as "strong and durable" has spread.
This is the epitome of BAIC people's service in the front line of overseas marketing. Looking at the global market, BAIC is relying on the continuous improvement of its marketing service system capabilities to allow overseas consumers to buy and use with peace of mind.
At its headquarters in Beijing, BAIC International cooperates with BAIC Research Institute to carry out customized market development, whether in humid Southeast Asia, the scorching Middle East, or in the South American plateau, there are customized products, so that local users can drive without worry; In order to achieve integrated service guarantee at home and abroad, BAIC International has built an after-sales technology and training center, a spare parts marketing and logistics center, and a service improvement and improvement center to create a differentiated service brand. On the African continent, Beiqi Foton has amplified the advantages of after-sales service quality and timeliness of spare parts, so that local consumers can fully feel that buying a new Chinese brand car is much ......easier than buying a second-hand car in Europe and the United States
From "going out" to "walking in".
While enhancing its product and brand power, BAIC also understands and deeply cultivates the local area through overseas factory construction, subsidiary establishment, localized operation and management, etc., promotes local industrial upgrading, provides tax revenue, increases employment, and benefits local economic and social development, so as to truly realize the transformation from "going out" to "going in".
South Africa is one of the first overseas markets for BAIC International to enter. From the original X25 to the Rubik's Cube introduced in the past two years, BAIC's small and medium-sized SUVs have won the favor of many local consumers. With its avant-garde styling and rich active and passive safety configurations, the Rubik's Cube was also selected as the "South Africa 2023 Car of the Year", and was shortlisted as the official designated service car of the 15th BRICS Summit together with the BJ40 PLUS.
In 2023, in order to expand the off-road vehicle market, BAIC South Africa will also move the off-road experience camp of BJ40 PLUS to the Johannesburg International Motor Festival, allowing consumers to fully experience the performance of the product in "wild" driving, and the volume and sales volume will rise together.
At the same time, the Port Elizabeth Kuha Development Zone, 1000 kilometers away from Johannesburg, has a total investment of 2The $2.6 billion BAIC South Africa plant has been fully completed, and BAIC's new-generation products such as the Rubik's Cube have been included in the local production plan. In the future, the plant will be based in South Africa, and will radiate to a global production base and export model base in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and other regions. It is worth mentioning that by improving the localization rate of engineering civil engineering, equipment procurement, employment and other aspects, BAIC South Africa has driven more than 150 local small and medium-sized enterprises to participate in the construction, created more than 3,000 jobs in the upstream and downstream industrial chains, and cultivated a group of professional technical personnel and management personnel.
And on the other side of the ocean, in Argentina, a local has "happy troubles". In Buenos Aires, Luis George, the network and marketing manager of Beiqi Foton South America, has to "urge orders" to local factories every week. "The localization of the whole industry chain has made Foton more 'easy to sell'. As a local employee recruited by the company, he has witnessed the leapfrog development of the Foton brand in Argentina. From the small-scale vehicle export in 2016 to the current large-scale local assembly production, Beiqi Foton has established a closed-loop advantage in local assembly, sales, service and other industries, and seized the market opportunity with the operation strategy of gradually replacing vehicle imports with localized production, and the sales volume has also developed from dozens of vehicles at the beginning to more than 1,000 annual sales. Now, Beiqi Foton's second assembly plant in Argentina is stepping up construction, with a production capacity of 5,000 vehicles per year, adding more local jobs.
Open cooperation to the rising Chinese independent brands has opened up overseas market space. BAIC Group, which firmly grasps the window period for the rapid development of overseas business, is continuing to deepen and penetrate the core market, strengthen opening up and cooperation, improve the level of overseas channel construction, continuously deepen the network layout, and promote the development of overseas business from quantitative to qualitative change.