[car home dialogue] At the 2023 Shanghai Auto Show, the Mars pickup truck was officially pre-sold. After the grand release ceremony, Dai Yong, President of Foton Motor Group’s pickup truck division, and Zhang Weiwei, Vice President of Commodity Planning and Brand of Foton Motor Group’s pickup truck division, accepted a group interview with the media. The following is a record of the dialogue:
1. At present, the domestic pickup truck market mainly distinguishes pickup truck categories by functionality, such as commercial pickup truck, household pickup truck and recreational pickup truck, which are the three mainstream pickup truck categories in China. What functional category do you think Mars pickup truck belongs to? What changes will it bring to the pickup market? (Acting Chief)
What functional category does Mars belong to?
1) From our press conference this afternoon, you can actually find that we put forward the concept of just pickup for the first time.
2) In fact, in overseas markets, pickups are not clearly defined by commercial, household and recreational pickups. At present, most products of domestic pickups are distinguished by pickups’ performance. In a sense, this definition of people’s lifestyle by cars ignores our customers’ choice of their own lifestyle. Pickups can’t define life. They are just a partner or brother who accompanies customers on the premise of choosing different lifestyles.
3) As a new generation of full-size hard-core luxury pickup trucks in China, Mars pickup trucks will open a new era of full-size pickup trucks in China, and at the same time, it will lead the pickup truck culture change in China, people-oriented, and advocate a brand-new pickup truck culture in which people define their lives.
4) After the launch of Mars pickup truck, we will also carry out adaptive product development for Mars according to different usage scenarios of customers, and meet the needs of customers in different scenarios and different lives through the adaptability of modification, thus becoming a solid partner for customers to explore the unknown and diverse lives.
Changes to the domestic market:
1) With the lifting of the ban on pickup trucks and the diversified needs of customers, Mars pickup trucks have also followed the trend. Mars pickup trucks will create a new era of full-size pickup trucks in China and continue to contribute to the utilization and new energy of pickup trucks in China.
2) For domestic consumers, Mars pickup truck will enrich their choices in the process of car purchase, promote the continuous progress of China pickup truck industry in the competition, and continuously promote the progress of China pickup truck culture through a series of promotion of Mars brand;
3) The launch of Mars pickup truck will position the global market, and hybrid and electric pickup trucks will be launched in the future, thus opening another milestone for the pickup truck brand in China to go global, contributing to the global development of pickup trucks in China and embodying the "national brand China power".
2. As a new member of Futian family, what are the characteristics of Mars pickup truck in positioning? What’s the difference between Mars 7 and Mars 9 (General Manager Zhang)
1) The brand positioning of Mars pickup truck is a new generation of full-size hard-core luxury pickup trucks.
2) New generation: Based on the development of the first full-size pickup truck development platform in China, the platform has been upgraded in terms of chassis architecture, power, electronic and electrical architecture, etc. It is equipped with the world’s first 48V diesel hybrid, and the low and medium-speed torque is increased to 220 Nm, and the peak torque can reach 450 Nm, but the fuel consumption per 100 kilometers is as low as 6.8L
3) Full size: the industry-leading car is nearly 2.1 meters wide, more than 100mm above the mainstream pickup truck;
4) Hard-core: From the beginning of the General series, Futian pickup truck has adhered to the hard-core hard-core pickup truck route, leading the development of hard-core pickup trucks in China. Mars pickup truck is a strategic product of Futian pickup truck business, adhering to the hard-core style, the hard-core appearance of Mars 7, and the hard-core modeling of Mars 9, the first co-created model, which continues to lead the development of hard-core pickup trucks in China.
5) Luxury: intelligent technology cockpit, three different styles of interiors, Tencent TAI4.0 ecology, wireless charging, digital keys, remote control, panoramic sunroof, multi-link rear suspension, etc. match the driving experience of passenger cars.
6) Mars pickup truck: brand vision: to be the most attitude full-size hard pickup truck in China; Brand mission: to add fun and energy to colorful life; Brand slogan: break through self-exploration without boundaries.
7) Mars 7 and 9 are respectively positioned as "the whole world conquers and explores infinity" and "born without boundaries and broken circles". From the modeling, Mars 7 and Mars 9 are respectively the modeling styles of Mecha Hardcore and Phantom Fashion, and their different styles also represent people with different personalities of future customer groups. Compared with the hard-core practicality of Mars 7, the whole system of Mars 9 is more fashionable. The whole system comes standard with 8AT, multi-link rear suspension and electric power steering, and the overall driving is more inclined to SUV.
3. Why should the new pickup truck be named after "Mars"? (Acting Chief)
1) First of all, as a brand-new platform model launched by Foton Motor, the full-size pickup truck is clearly distinguished from the current model in naming and operates as an independent brand.
2) As we all know, Mars is the farthest celestial body that human probes can land on at present, and it is also the most likely planet suitable for human survival. Mars is a new world full of imagination for human beings, which needs to be explored urgently and represents the forefront and yearning of human science and technology.
3) From the enterprise level, Mars also implies that Foton Motor, as the leading brand of commercial vehicles in China, constantly breaks through itself, dares to innovate and launches a full-size pickup truck with a brand-new platform.
4) From the pickup truck group and life level: the pickup truck group is mainly the younger generation, and is the representative of the explorers of the new era. They are unwilling to be ordinary, dare to explore the new world and dare to pursue a new life; Just as humans explore Mars, they yearn to explore a new life.
5) Based on the characteristics of Futian full-size pickup truck, it was finally selected in the form of global naming and naming co-creation; From the industry, it represents the new height of China pickup truck exploration and pursuit; For human beings and pickup truck groups, Mars contains new ideas, new values, freedom, strength, wisdom and courage, and also implies our customer groups, which are young and courageous to explore. Mars pickup truck will accompany them as partners to constantly explore unbounded and break through innovation.
4. What role does the Mars pickup brand play in the upward process of Futian pickup business? What impact will it have on the future development of Futian pickup truck? What is the planning of sales volume (Daizong)
1) Futian pickup truck business adopts dual-brand operation. At this stage, General Series and Conqueror Series belong to Futian pickup truck brand, and Mars pickup truck brand is juxtaposed with Futian pickup truck brand. At present, there are two products, Mars 7 and Mars 9, and there will be products jointly created by Mars pickup truck and various ethnic groups in the future.
2) For independent brands, products that are continuously iteratively updated are the driving force for the brand to continue to rise. The launch of the new platform Mars pickup truck and the co-creation model will continue to create explosive communication through explosive products, enhance brand traffic, and continuously promote the brand of Futian pickup truck business.
3) Products are the foundation of business development. Mars pickup truck is the representative of a new generation of full-size pickup trucks in China, which has its own core competitiveness. The launch of Mars pickup truck will not only enhance the brand image and sales volume, but also continuously promote the continuous optimization and confidence improvement of all value chain partners such as Futian pickup truck business distribution channels. Through the promotion of distribution, sales and service capabilities, as well as the improvement of supply chain capabilities and quality, we will provide our customers with better products, sales and after-sales services.
4) Looking at the development trend of the whole pickup truck industry, mid-to high-end products with a price of more than 100,000 yuan have accounted for about 50% of the sales. The launch of the new Mars pickup truck will undoubtedly promote Foton Motor’s pickup truck business to conform to this trend, and at the same time, it will further enter the global market through stronger product competitiveness.
5) With the blessing of Mars pickup brand, the price competitiveness of other models of Futian pickup truck will be further improved, thus laying a solid foundation for Futian pickup truck business to enter the second echelon of China picardie in 2024 and the top three pickup truck brands in China in 2025.
5. The high-end pickup truck is becoming a trend. In Futian pickup truck’s view, what kind of pickup truck can be called a high-end pickup truck? (Acting Chief)
1) First of all, the high-end pickup truck should conform to the product development trend of the whole industry. In recent years, the intelligent, full-size, customized, diversified, new energy and other directions of pickup truck are the general trends, while the 48V diesel hybrid, full-size, passenger interior, scientific and technological intelligent configuration of Mars pickup truck are all manifestations of the product conforming to the industry trend.
2) According to our previous market research, domestic pickup truck customers are mainly post-90s or even post-00s, who pay more attention to individual consumption and are more fashionable and trendy. In addition, after the epidemic, our customers pay more attention to the quality of life and self-psychological feelings. Therefore, in order to meet the increasingly diversified and multi-life scene product demand, we will unite industry coffee makers and refit enterprises, and combine the individual needs of different ethnic groups to carry out product co-creation, such as fishing, camping, cross-country and so on.
3) In addition to personalized and multiplied product experience, we also organize various Mars ethnic activities to explore and enrich the life of Mars ethnic groups through offline natural play+clubs; At the same time, in 2023, we will build four Pickup+life Experience Centers to promote the pickup culture in China and help colorful life.
4) High-end is inseparable from digitalization. In terms of digital experience ecology, it is equipped with a 14.6-inch high-definition floating large screen. Based on Tencent TIA4.0 ecology, it integrates functions such as national karaoke, WeChat ecology, voice interaction, OTA upgrade and intelligent navigation to build an intelligent technology cockpit for users.
5) At the same time, build a professional communication and interactive platform pickup truck life APP to realize the functions of interaction with people, car owners of various ethnic groups, membership service, remote control, car experience sharing, etc., and enjoy the one-stop pickup truck life experience; Pickup space station provides all-round service experience of hardware+software two-way upgrade for all kinds of pickup customers; E+ service can realize digital precision inspection, OTA cloud calibration, predictive service and remote rescue service. The digital experience ecology provides Mars residents with convenient digital services in the whole life cycle, including driving, experience, remote control and service.
Generally speaking, the high-end pickup truck is not only reflected in the continuous improvement of products, but also in the sales, service, interaction and value-added services brought by purchasing pickup trucks. We will promote the high-end pickup truck of Mars through all-round product building.
6. The pickup truck market is gradually becoming new energy. How will Mars pickup trucks cope with such industry changes? (General Manager Zhang)
1) New energy is the development trend that the automobile industry has paid close attention to in recent two years, and the pickup truck industry is no exception. In 2022, with the existing electric pickup truck models with a cruising range of more than 500 kilometers, Futian pickup truck has a market share of nearly 25% in the electric pickup truck industry, and we will launch 65 88kWh products to meet the needs of customers in more industries.
2) In addition to the 48V diesel hybrid pioneered by the existing industry, we will launch hybrid products for gasoline products to meet the needs of more passenger customers.
3) At the level of electric pickup trucks, based on the global market, we will launch pure electric products of Mars pickup trucks with a charge of 100kWh, with a cruising range of more than 600km; In addition, there are pure electric extended range products, with a total driving range of more than 900km.
The pickup truck market is the general trend of new energy, and if you don’t keep up with the situation, you will definitely face backwardness. As a representative of the national pickup truck brand, we will accelerate the above plan, overtake in corners, and quickly increase the overall sales.
7. Has the sales channel of Mars pickup been opened? How to control the follow-up sales rhythm? (General Manager Zhang)
First of all, from the perspective of the overall distribution strategy, we have created a 1+3+e multi-channel distribution model for the sales channels of Mars pickup trucks, completed the transformation and upgrading of passenger use, digitalization and standardization, opened up all sales channels, and enhanced the customer’s life cycle experience.
1 means: Earn all-people marketing together, incubate all-scene partnership all-people marketing, carry out cross-industry partner marketing through KOL and KOC at all levels, and break the circle through all-people partner marketing;
3 said: cultivate a high-quality three-dimensional distribution system in a three-dimensional and all-round way, and build a three-in-one three-dimensional distribution system by consolidating distribution, opening direct sales and jointly modifying enterprises;
E stands for: digital whole network linkage to create a digital full-contact distribution model: that is, digital full-process, full-contact, digital marketing is carried out through dealer online celebrity, vertical media online collection and small programs.
Secondly, in view of the existing distribution channels, there are currently more than 170 first-class dealers in China. In the early stage of new product launch, we will raise the national first-class dealer network to more than 200 through the cultivation of core channels, the elimination of inferior channels and the flattening of distribution channels. In addition to the flattening of existing prefecture-level city channels, we will continue to deepen the county-level market and promote the continuous sinking of distribution channels, thus increasing the contact points of end customers and improving the convenience of car purchase.
8. What are the 9-fold gifts in the pre-sale period of Mars pickup truck? Can you tell me more about it? (General Manager Zhang)
In this pre-sale of Mars pickup truck, besides giving priority to car rights, financial interest-free and second-hand car replacement, we have carefully set up customer service rights such as lifetime warranty for core parts, lifetime basic maintenance-free for the first owner, and five-year 160,000-long warranty, so as to provide more perfect sales and service guarantee for customers in the pre-sale stage. The details are as follows:
Advance exploration ceremony: priority to pick up the car, and customers who book the car during the pre-sale period have priority to pick up the car.
Light-year escort ceremony: 5-year 160,000-long warranty
Xingyun Link Ceremony: Enjoy 1000 points every day from the date of pre-sale booking.
Energy Detonation Ceremony: During the pre-sale period, the deposit of 88 yuan reached 1888 yuan.
Starship Fortress Ceremony: Free basic maintenance for the first owner for life (oil+machine filter+working hours)
Fuel boosting ceremony: finance: 36 installments with 0 interest (fixed loan of 65,000 yuan); 12 issues in October (5050)
Light-year promotion ceremony: 3000 yuan replacement subsidy
Space connection ceremony: customers register for the APP and participate in the test drive, giving 10,000 points.
Explore the worry-free gift: lifetime warranty of core components
9. Just now, Mr. Dai introduced a lot about Fukuda, including how to take advantage of the next Mars series. Fukuda may actually be biased towards commercial brands. What other key points need to be solved in the process of taking advantage of it? (Acting Chief)
To achieve the goals just mentioned: First, products should exert their strength. In fact, we have developed new products to solve the pain points of previous products. This aspect has been partially solved, and there will be products that will be iterated later to solve the previous pain points. It is the planning of future products. Second, you have to open the market, that is, product plus marketing. The core of our marketing is channel+brand+service, plus aftermarket. Through this brand-new marketing system, we can also solve the pain points that customers feel when they interact with manufacturers and sales. Third, we are trying to solve some customers’ needs. For example, the customer wants to buy a big pickup truck and a Raptor, but I can’t buy it for 400,000 yuan. This is also the demand and pain point. All our development is to meet customers’ needs, and we provide him with what he doesn’t have. Everyone wants a very good pickup truck, which is beautiful, easy to drive, easy to use and diverse in functions. The most important thing is that the price is reasonable and cost-effective. We build domestic pickup trucks with high cost performance for our customers, so our pricing is very rational. In fact, we have done a lot of customer research, and the price after research is more than 30 thousand higher than our current price.
Our platform is newly developed. We will give our customers what they need, and research and develop our operational capability and system capability to the extreme. It’s not that we develop a product, we can sell it if we can, but we can’t sell it. It’s not this concept or idea, but we have to solve the needs of customers. For example, a customer needs to play and have fun, and no one can serve you. Let’s serve the customer and solve his needs. We set up teams in various provinces. You can register and play for free, and we will provide you with services, which are not limited to brands. It doesn’t mean that you have to drive a pickup truck in Futian to receive you, and you won’t receive you if you drive a pickup truck of other brands. This is not the case at all. We will make all our customers into a group and a pickup truck group. We are a part of the service inside, not exclusive.
There is a sentence in my PPT today, and our APP and car club will be called "all-category pickup truck" and "all-product pickup truck". Our service is provided to all brands of pickup trucks. Now Futian service station accepts all brands, and he can also enjoy the service and maintenance concessions given to Futian service station. We want to build an ecological pickup truck category. We are no longer limited to our own brand and don’t play with you. We are creating a brand-new concept. This can be said to be a pain point for customers, and it can also be said to be the needs of customers.
You see, every time an activity is organized, brand A organizes one, brand B organizes one and brand C organizes one. Maybe customers and friends don’t drive a brand of pickup trucks, so it’s quite difficult to join us in activities. Our family is not in this form, why are we called "Mars brand"? This is the future pattern of our pickup truck, and it is no longer limited to ourselves. In the future, all customers’ modifications will be co-created. Some customers want to change, but they don’t know how to change, how high the cost of modification is, and whether the quality is guaranteed. What we want to do is low cost and high cost performance, not a change, plus 100,000 and 50,000. We don’t rely on this difference to make money. All our goals now are to make pickup trucks a brand-new platform and a brand-new group. At this stage, we don’t pursue much profit from pickup trucks. This is our goal. What I’m talking about is not exactly according to the pain point, but such a logic.
10. Mr. Dai, I want to ask a detailed question. Just now, you actually mentioned that we build a platform, and users can choose which configuration I want or what kind of shape I want according to their own scene needs. Is this a customized solution that we commonly understand? That is, I can choose when I book a car. (Acting Chief)
Yes, we call it flexible production.
11. There may be a problem. Everyone is worried about customization, and the manufacturer’s cost may be higher, because if you do a lot of customization programs, your production cost will definitely be high. (Acting Chief)
I’m interrupting, but the one you customized doesn’t mean you’re the only one who ordered it. For the manufacturer, we produced it by assembly line. For example, if you choose a brown seat, it doesn’t mean that you are the only one to choose it. We still have thousands of customers who choose brown. Its challenge comes from whether you can produce it, not from how high the development cost of brown seats is. It is impossible for him to choose a color that everyone has never seen before. Such customers are very few, and customization is also limited.
In terms of development and layout, we have laid out in advance, so we don’t have much to worry about in terms of new energy product layout or product quality assurance. At the same time, our current new energy product, 88 kWh, ranks second in the industry. Therefore, in terms of new energy, product iteration, quality assurance, and even services, all services are on-site services, and this is how we do it. At the same time, the quality inspection, supplier selection and quality assurance of new energy are implemented and promoted according to strict standards.
Today, at this venue, new energy products will be released later, so as I said just now, we are a continuous iterative product release. Today, it is just a Mars pickup truck. We will continue to invest in the client, product and co-creation. I also hope that everyone will have time to participate.
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