It is better to run with time than to race against time. Audi's car-making philosophy for a century: taking root and cultivating luxury–fast technology–technology changes the future

Since 2024, the domestic auto market has further escalated its internal circulation. It seems to be full of vitality, but in fact it is exhausted. At the just-concluded China Automotive Blue Book Forum, the heads of many auto companies participated in the forum, focusing on the theme of “daring to speak out” and revealingSix strange phenomena in the industry: The price is involved to the point of cutting corners, counterfeiting and selling fake goods; the technology is involved to the point of deceiving partners, plagiarizing and stealing; the funds are involved to the point of defaulting on payments, and using tokens to serve; the users are involved to the point of calming down the incident, and using both tricks and deception; the relationships are involved to the point of making fun of everyone and playing both sides; the public opinion is involved to the point of confusing the public, and the internet trolls are rampant.

The chaos has seriously disrupted the normal production, sales and balance of payments of enterprises. Many large factories have had to lay off employees to protect themselves. For example, Ideal, a leader in new forces, and Honda, one of the three Japanese giants, have been caught up in it. How can we keep our original intention in the turbulence? Today, FAW Audi has once again joined hands with Andy Lau to bring the mid-year talk “Walking with Time”, and also brought moreThoughts and inspirations on long-termism.

Steady progress leads to long-term success: Brand wisdom accumulated over a century of car manufacturing

In recent years, new car-making forces have sprung up like mushrooms after rain, bringing many dazzling products, and also making consumers have a kind of cognition:Building a car is such a simple thingIs it easy to build a car? Absolutely not! Vehicle engineering is complex and rigorous, and car building is a long-lasting marathon. There is no shortcut. The speed of a moment does not mean anything. In the long river of history, it is just a small wave, and it may disappear soon.

The current automotive industry is full of impetuous trends. New forces supporters especially like to “judge heroes by sales volume” and roll out weekly or even daily sales lists. In order to make the account data look better, each company has added various adjectives and racked their brains to rank at the top. Once sales fluctuate, doubts will be rampant, and all kinds of extreme remarks will come one after another, bringing huge public pressure to manufacturers, which is of no benefit to healthy development.

Faced with an increasingly severe automobile market environment, traditional excellent luxury car companies represented by Audi have always insisted on steady progress.No matter how wonderful the story is, it takes time to unfold it.This is the brand wisdom accumulated by Audi over the past 100 years.

In the late 1980s, Audi became the first luxury brand to enter the Chinese market, and now it has steadily gone through 36 years. As a pioneer and forerunner in the Chinese luxury car market, in 2023, FAW Audi continued to deepen the brand's luxury experience with its “steady and progressive” business performance, gaining a user base of more than 8.8 million, becoming the first and only luxury car brand in China to achieve this milestone.

Whether it is brand value, cultural heritage, global recognition, or accumulated user volume, these valuable assets are far beyond the reach of emerging brands with insufficient foundation. As the saying goes, only with awe can we recognize the gap and make progress. In the automotive field,Audi is a high mountain that you can see. You can try to climb it, but first you have to walk the way into the mountain.

Keep pace with time and slow down to create the ultimate experience

There are no shortcuts behind perfection, only hundreds of years of persistence and accumulation. Car manufacturing is a serious matter that requires rigorous testing over time, but nowadays, “forcing ducks to go on the shelves” is common, and some established rules are thrown out of the window.Leap-forward R&D, radical implementation, and aggressive deliveryIt's becoming more and more the norm.

Audi cannot accept this, as it has the pride and perseverance that is unique to a century-old luxury brand. Audi currently uses the PEP 48-month development process, which is 60% longer than the 30-month cycle of some new forces. Among them, there is a 6-month warranty approval time for parts and vehicles, which is particularly important for the development of new energy vehicles.

In addition, Audi's endurance test exceeded 7 million kilometers, covering 44 experimental modules and 10 extreme working conditions, far exceeding the 5-5.4 million kilometers of other brands. And after the German test,At least 55 months of localization testing will be required in Chinain order to create the most stable and reliable products.

On January 19 this year, the 2024 Dakar Rally came to an end, and the Audi RS Q e-tron became the first electric car in history to win the championship, attracting worldwide attention. At the same time, FAW-Audi will also link Audi's global resources, focus on PPE technology, and fully promote the production progress of PPE platform high-end pure electric models such as A6 e-tron and Q6 e-tron, laying a solid foundation for the subsequent mass production and listing.

Accumulating in slow motion, settling in accumulation, and exploding in settling, Audi has now built a full-dimensional lineup of 38 fuel vehicles and 6 pure electric products in China, from A-class to D-class, from sedans to SUVs, and has created the first user personalized customization platform in the luxury car market, covering all domestic models. Each car provides more than 100,000 personalized combinations and can be delivered in just 4-8 weeks, soSlow and fast are never simply opposites.sharpening the knife before chopping wood is the real wisdom.

Audi is not the only company. All outstanding companies around the world are examples of long-termism, such as Tesla, the most dazzling electric car manufacturer. There are many reasons for its success, the most important of which is that although it is a new force, its attitude towards car manufacturing coincides with that of century-old luxury brands such as Audi.Continuous investment and R&D regardless of cost.

Tesla was founded in 2003, and then fell into a 10-year loss period. It began to make a profit in 2013, and 7 years later,2020 was the first full year of profitability since its founding.and then it was unstoppable: Model 3 and Model Y became the global sales champions in their respective segments, and Tesla also surpassed Toyota to become the world's largest automaker by market value. 17 years is a long time, enough for a person to grow from birth to being independent. Without uninterrupted long-term investment, Tesla's fate would probably be the same as many new forces that have disappeared.

Multi-dimensional touchpoints lead the marketing transformation of the automotive market

The current automobile marketing is full of chaos. Due to the extremely fierce competition, many are keen to obtain short-term “huge traffic”, but after the noise, only a mess is left, which is of no benefit to brand building. Some may even backfire, such as the Xuwen Port queue-jumping incident that was reversed this year.

Good marketing is not just about selling products or services, but more importantly, it is about conveying the brand or company's values, thereby establishing an emotional connection with consumers. All the cases of brands that have been handed down for centuries have proved this point. As the initiator of the Chinese luxury car market and the popularizer of consumers' luxury awareness, Audi also has its own persistence in marketing planning. It does not deliberately pursue short-term hot spots, but focuses on long-term and silent development, slowing down and settling down carefully.

The “Mid-Year Talk” brought by FAW Audi and Andy Lau's reunion is essentially a part of marketing.After watching too much “hysteria”, listening to “telling” will give you a sense of comfort, as if you were listening to heavenly music and your ears were temporarily clear.You will naturally be able to calm down and feel the unique depth and heritage of this century-old luxury brand.

FAW-Audi has done much more than that. In the past year, it has continued to deepen its “Excellent” service concept and further upgraded its service strategy: first, it will take operating users, connecting users and serving users as the new working direction; second, it will take achieving refined operation of users throughout the entire process as the basis of its work; third, it will take using digital technology to connect users anytime and anywhere as the key path; fourth, it will take satisfying users to the point of being surprised as the goal of Audi's service.

Water it and it will bloom.So far, FAW Audi has won the JDPower China Automotive After-Sales Service Satisfaction Research (CSI) championship for 11 consecutive years.user loyalty increased by 1% against the trend, the scale of dealer service business increased by 11%, and it won the China Automobile Golden Wrench Award several times.

With the fierce competition, the order of China's auto market is now in chaos. Slander, smear, and even public ridicule are common. In order to gain popularity, traffic, and stand out, they will do anything. But the more so, the more we need to think calmly and long-term, rather than rolling up our trousers and joining the quagmire of chaos.

Life is a marathon, but some people treat it as a sprint.When everything gets overheated, long-termism will cool it downStanding on the shoulders of Audi, which has a history of over a century, the 36-year-old FAW-Audi has always adhered to the right path, maintained self-growth, and kept pace with time. In an uncertain world, it does not just stay on the surface, but takes root and cultivates its luxury persistence in the long term, pushing the brand to achieve high-quality and sustainable development.