"Why is everyone so concerned about the acquisition of Volvo, in my opinion, independent brands can make a better brand than Volvo, why spend a lot of money to acquire?"

Chery CEO Yin Feiyue sat on the rostrum of the press conference and talked eloquently to reporters.

"The current technical strength of China's own brands is not worse than that of foreign countries, but there are some cognitive gaps in the brand. So we also want to be a high-end brand, we have to go up, and we can't only sell good cars at the price of cabbage.

We Chery Automobile and Quantum Fund will work together to build a future-oriented international car brand - Qoros! I believe that in the near future, Qoros will be more well-known than Volvo. ”

In the face of the aggressive offensive of the Chunghwa Group, Chery Automobile felt the crisis. They had to speed up the progress of the new joint venture company, which had high expectations, and announced the new Qoros brand to the world.

In Chery Automobile's strategy, Qoros will be the company's high-end brand, but it will cut off from Chery Automobile's low-end image and will take the international and high-end route positioning.

"Qoros was born under the guidance of the spirit of Chinese craftsmen, and every step of its growth selects the best resources to create the best quality products of the century. Whether it is investment in funds, recruitment of R&D and design engineers or selection of supporting suppliers, it is world-class, on par with foreign brands.

Although Volvo is good, the future still depends on Qoros. ”

Among the high-end brands of China's independent car companies, only Hongqi could afford it before, but now there are two more halfway monks who have switched to China's mixed-race Land Rover and Volvo.

Although Yin Feiyue strongly supports his new brand Qoros, he also has to compare it with Volvo, the hottest topic at the moment, from time to time.

The choice of porcelain marketing makes those consumers who hear the word "Qoros" for the first time subconsciously get along with Volvo.

Under the fire offensive of the Zhonghua Group, Chery's strategy of "having more children and fighting in groups" was obviously collapsed, and it had to pick up the "boutique strategy" again while it could still have the power to protect itself.

Qoros is the trump card in the boutique strategy, pinning on the hope of Chery Automobile in the future.

"What exactly is Qoros?"

Han Hao asked at a joint meeting of senior executives, who also learned about Chery's newly announced brand.

Although Zhonghua Group has locked its main rival as an international auto giant, Han Hao still does not take it lightly in the face of independent peers like Chery. From a strategic point of view, Chery Automobile's development of high-end brands is indeed reasonable, because the Chery brand has been hovering at the ceiling of 100,000 yuan. In the minds of consumers, it is slightly inferior to the Huaxia brand, and it is difficult to sell cars at a premium.

If you are in the position of the CEO of Chery Automobile, you must also have the idea of going to a high-end brand.

To this end, Han Hao hopes to get more information about Qoros.

Qoros has its headquarters in Hujiang City, but the factory is located in Changsu City, in the Yangtze River Delta Economic Circle. They have already set up the company structure, recruited a large number of senior designers and engineers, and the foundation stone of the factory has been laid.

Judging from the news we have learned, Qoros has given a high salary package to poach corners, and some of the backbone of our group have switched to other places. It seems that Qoros does intend to do a big job in the automotive field, and they are also very strict and high standards for the recruitment of suppliers, and non-Fortune 500 parts companies do not want to.

German Volkswagen is said to be Qoros' real benchmark brand, and Volvo is just a trick to raise its price. They want to directly bypass our two major brands, Zhonghua and Huaxia, and directly eat them into big fat people.

......”

In the report of his subordinates, Han Hao had a preliminary understanding of the image of "Qoros" in his mind, and the other party was indeed a new brand that was pursued.

"There is no pressure, there is no motivation, it seems that our big catfish still stirs up a muddy water of China's own brands, so that everyone has a positive consciousness.

As long as it does not involve the core technology of intellectual property, the company's employees can come and go freely, and there is no objection to them jumping to a better development platform.

Since talent can flow freely, if you go out today, you can come back tomorrow. What's more, borrowing the nest to hatch eggs, the birds with stiff wings will still return to the arms of the China Group in the future.

It is not enough for our Zhonghua Group to be strong, but also for the entire Chinese automobile industry. ”

Han Hao's current status is obviously much higher, and he is not worried about how much trouble Qoros can bring to him. If domestic car companies can have a few more Qoros, it will greatly enhance the research and development capabilities of their own brands, and in the future, when Zhonghua Group dominates the domestic market, it will be the biggest beneficiary to recruit talents from all walks of life.

According to the current situation of booming production and sales, this year, Zhonghua Group's ranking in the global automotive industry will continue to progress from 10th, and it will not be a problem to enter the core region.

With such a good mood, Han Hao stepped on the plane to Northern Europe to attend the board of directors of Volvo Cars.

After three months of negotiations, Ford finally handed over Volvo cars to the Chung Hwa Group, and the Chinese began to enter the captain's room to take the helm of the giant Volvo ship.

With the experience of Jaguar Land Rover's handover, Volvo's takeover is very smooth, and the company is still operating by inertia, but how the future direction depends on how Han Hao chooses.

Land Rover's former CEO Davis's dismissal due to disagreements with Han Hao has given Volvo's board members a very clear signal that the Chinese boss is actually very strong.

Speaking of Land Rover, Davis was replaced by CFO Henry after he was ousted, and Henry did a good job in his position, at least implementing Han Hao's instructions without ambiguity, and the company was running smoothly. Therefore, it is logical for Han Hao to officially take over as the CEO of Land Rover and no longer look for people from the outside.

The purpose of Han Hao's visit to the board of directors is very clear, that is, to bring the wandering Volvo back on track and put forward the "four ones" strategy.

"One market" means that Volvo has invested heavily in China as a force point.

China's economy is developing rapidly, and the explosion of luxury cars has reached a tipping point, and Volvo came in at the right time.

The company plans to establish a joint venture with the Zhonghua Group in Jiangzhou to complete the production of 300,000 units in the future, and become the world's largest single market with half of Volvo's global sales.

"One platform" is to make every effort to build Volvo's SPA platform, and in the future, all Volvo models can be included in the production of this platform, so as to achieve the platform and modular standards.

Volvo was previously integrated into the Ford system, resulting in three different model platforms, each corresponding to three to four models. However, production lines on various platforms cannot be shared with each other, resulting in waste of resources and low efficiency.

If the SPA platform is enabled now, the XC90 can be co-produced with the XC60 in the future, and the S60, S40 and other cars can also be introduced, and only one production line can be compatible, which greatly solves the problem of cost efficiency.

Due to Ford's lack of investment in Volvo's R&D, the SPA platform has been dragged down for 3 years, and Han Hao immediately allocated a large amount of money to restart it as soon as he came in, striving to see results in 2 years.

In order to improve the speed of research and development of the SPA platform and corresponding new models, Volvo will set up a second global R&D center in China. 24-hour uninterrupted R&D will become the norm, that is, when Europe is dominated by the Volvo R&D center in Sweden during the daytime, but at night after work happens to be the daytime in China, and the follow-up work will be taken over by the Chinese R&D center. In this way, the same project can be relayed repeatedly, and a 24-hour uninterrupted R&D process can be created, which can greatly shorten the time to market for new products. This is the real purpose of global R&D, in addition to absorbing different cultures, but also to develop the same project in the global village 24 hours a day.

"One direction" is to establish the direction of development of Volvo's revival fist products. Volvo now has a total of 10 models in the three major systems of sedan, SUV and station wagon, which model should be preferred as the pioneer to turn the tide?

This is the issue that Han Hao is most concerned about, and if Volvo wants to revive, it must become a hit. Compared to Land Rover, the Aurora will be the pioneer of Land Rover's new generation, and Volvo must also find the right leader.

Unlike Volvo executives, who expect to revive from the direction of sedans first, Han Hao chose the SUV field as a breakthrough.

As for the choice of SUV, Han Hao also set his sights on the controversial XC60.

You must know that the XC60 is the latest in the entire Volvo system, it was just replaced under the Ford system last year, and it still has a good competitiveness.

The XC60 was only available in Europe and the United States, and did not even enter the Chinese market, but Han Hao asked for it to be redeveloped as the first shot of the new Volvo.

"SUVs, as the outlet for global car growth, have become a well-deserved star. Last year, SUVs grew at 26% in the U.S. and 17% in Europe, both of which were significantly higher than sedans. In the Chinese market, the growth of sedans has reached 49%, but the growth of SUVs has exceeded 130%, showing strong development potential.

Therefore, we must seize this great opportunity to launch SUV models that can be mass-produced to seize the market. ”

Han Hao used a computer to list the data in the board of directors, showing that he was not a whim.

"The XC60 is the most representative model of Volvo's image, and from the historical data I have in my hands, it is more popular with consumers and sells better than the XC90.

Of course, we have a SPA platform, which can be developed simultaneously with XC60 and XC90, but XC60 is a priority product. As for the XC90 as the flagship model, we will have to spend more time perfecting it, at least in the engine field, and wait patiently to come up with a product to match it.

As for the sedan, the S60 and S90 are both good products, but they must be placed after the SUV. You must know that SPA is a modular production platform, and we can easily replicate the success of SUVs to sedans.

XC60—XC90—S60—S90—XC40—S40, this is our product production roadmap for the next 5 years. ”

It would have been a disaster for Volvo to convince the die-hard Nordics that the idea of starting with the S90 had been followed. You must know that even Volkswagen is pushing SUVs, and you know how hot this field is.

"It's counterintuitive that the XC60 has just been redeveloped and then re-developed. But from the moment I took over Volvo, I was already in the new Volvo era, and we could no longer limit ourselves to the past and start back to zero.

Volvo has first-class technology, but we have to produce products that meet the needs of the market, so that we can survive before we talk about revival. ”

Han Hao still has an idea that he didn't say, that is, the Nordic simplicity style is good, but it is too simple for Chinese consumers. Therefore, in the future, the XC60 will also provide a customized version for the Chinese market in the interior, adding more luxury elements to make it more in line with the identity of a luxury mid-size SUV. Anyway, the international minimalist version and the Chinese luxury custom version are available at the same time, and consumers can choose according to their preferences.

In the acquisition of Volvo, Han Hao made careful considerations and knew what he should do most to drag Volvo back on track.