But this year has become a turning point for BMW. In the first quarter of 2020, BMW's sales volume decreased by 20.6% year-on-year, while China's sales volume decreased by 365,438+0% year-on-year, making it the biggest decline brand of BBA. On June 18, BMW announced that it would lay off 6,000 employees, which is the first time that BMW has laid off employees since the 2008 financial crisis. /kloc-in June of 0/9, BMW and Daimler issued a statement at the same time, announcing the suspension of their cooperation in the research and development of autonomous driving and advanced driver assistance functions from now on. Obviously, BMW is not doing well. The emergence of the epidemic has a great impact on car companies, but it is not just the epidemic that affects BMW.
Brand positioning deviation? It is difficult for BMW Joy to break into the core customer base.
The first thing to say is that BMW has a deviation in the direction of communication. In 2009, BMW decided to put JOY on the stage. On March 3rd, 2065438, Dr Stenko, President and CEO of BMW Greater China, announced that "Joy of BMW" was refined under the social and cultural background of China. Since April, BMW Club has launched a brand strategy publicity campaign with the core theme of "Joy of BMW" in China, involving marketing, public relations, after-sales and other business contents.
Dr. Stenko said: "It covers the joy of driving pleasure, the joy of realizing dreams, the responsibility and the joy of sharing. It not only represents high-performance automobile products and technologies with pure driving pleasure, but also represents innovative and active optimism, as well as public interests and responsibilities of caring for society and the future. "
To put it simply, BMW just wants to show its brand image with more Chinese flavor in front of everyone, and the fundamental purpose of launching BMW Joy is to push BMW to a more luxurious level.
The launch of BMW Joy is to reshape the brand image, so that BMW can increase its brand connotation in China and adapt to more new middle classes. But today, after BMW Joy released 10, it is difficult for customers to really understand its clear definition.
BMW Joy has also done many offline activities, such as parent-child fun, caring for women, public welfare activities, concerts and so on. The content of the activity has not been selected, especially the public welfare activities are certainly commendable, but there are still many potential customers who don't know BMW Joy.
In fact, it is not difficult to understand that BMW wants to spread "Yue" in many ways, but it is not specific, so it can only spread through online and offline channels, but the communication effect is not ideal. In essence, the idea of BMW Joy deviates from the direction. If you choose a clearer definition, you will get twice the result with half the effort in communication.
The former BMW brand was the representative of luxury cars, and sports luxury was synonymous with BMW. On a global scale, the market positioning of BMW products likes to enjoy driving pleasure? "Successful professionals" and their brand image of "distinguished, young, energetic and elegant". However, with the deviation of brand image, BMW has gradually moved to the second line.
According to the recently released average transaction price of various brands from 2065438+09 to May 2020, Mercedes-Benz brand still ranks first in BBA, followed by BMW and Audi. /kloc-in October/March, Mercedes-Benz fluctuated greatly, but its position was hard to be shaken by higher prices. Although BMW showed an upward trend in 20 19, it also showed an obvious downward trend in 2020. Audi's transaction price has a steady upward trend in 2020. In May this year, the average transaction price of Mercedes-Benz was 460,000 yuan, BMW was 400,000 yuan, and Audi was 320,000 yuan. As a brand once as famous as Mercedes-Benz, BMW has always been close to the average price of Audi, which also has an impact on its brand.
Label change+spokesperson? Brand new image?
Of course, BMW has also done a lot of homework in brand promotion, among which brand-new LOGO and spokesperson are one of the effective measures.
As the sixth brand LOGO upgrade in the history of 100 years, BMW's brand-new LOGO is more concise and more in line with the aesthetics of young people.
Jens, senior vice president of BMW responsible for customers and brands? Thiemer said: "The new publicity logo represents openness and simplicity. We hope to invite our customers to become a part of BMW with unprecedented efforts through the new logo. In addition, the new brand design is to meet the challenges and opportunities brought by brand digitalization. With the flexibility of visual expression and graphic design, BMW can prepare for future online and offline activities. The new communication logo also symbolizes the brand's attention and participation in future travel and driving pleasure. "
It can be seen that although the new LOGO will not appear in the car, in terms of publicity, the brand-new LOGO is ready, and the emphasis on the new four modernizations and BMW's driving pleasure is self-evident.
In addition to the upgrade of LOGO, BMW also adopted the brand spokesperson-Jackson yee for the first time. Although he is less than 20 years old, this does not affect Jackson Yee's influence on the BMW brand. First, although Jackson Yee is young, he is already a domestic first-line star with top traffic and a huge fan base. Secondly, Jackson Yee's image has been fresh and healthy since his debut. As a brand spokesperson, Jackson Yee is in line with the spirit of BMW's new LOGO rejuvenation, which is understandable for the promotion of BMW's young sports brand image, but it contradicts BMW's luxury concept.
The practice of BMW's new LOGO and brand spokesperson conforms to the current trend, which is also a key step in the transformation and promotion of brand image, but it deviates from the real original intention of BMW Joy and is another step away from Dr. Stenko's vision of pushing BMW to a more luxurious place.
Here, I have to mention Yue Ling Digital Information Technology Co., Ltd. (Yue Ling), a subsidiary of BMW Brilliance. Yue Ling, established one year ago, is an important measure for BMW Group to realize the "customer-centered" transformation, and undertakes the important mission of leading BMW brand to realize digital transformation in China.
Yue Ling is committed to providing customers with digital solutions and operational services, bringing exclusive customer experience through seamless online and offline links. At the same time, Yue Ling also hopes to establish a customer-centered data-driven marketing and service system.
However, in actual performance, Yue Ling did not provide much help to BMW Brilliance's digital transformation, and its marketing ideas were rather vague. Similarly, there is no clear and effective communication strategy and direction. The choice of spokesperson is one of them, and the online and offline experience that Yue Ling wants to do is not a substantial step.
Take the mainstream car companies with better online and offline connections as an example, Weilai's Weilai APP and Tesla's Tesla? App has become the main body of online users. Weilai App has a daily life of 200,000 users, retaining users in the form of community, providing more clues for finding potential customers and promoting brands and vehicles. It also has a positive effect. For BMW's competing products, Audi also owns mine? Audi? APP, this is also the advantage of online.
In the concept of "customer-centric", BMW has not found a clear way, such as offline customer experience activities that emerging brands often do, Jaguar Land Rover has also done corresponding activities for potential users, and Mercedes-Benz Yaoxing has also provided quality services while also promoting offline vehicles.
Judging from the current achievements, it is obvious that the original goal has not been achieved, and there is not even a clear idea. The progress is terrible. For Yue Ling, BMW must first define its brand positioning, find a better balance between youth, sports and luxury, and refine the essence of brand proposition. Secondly, we should learn the divergent thinking of competing products in online and offline channels, and pay more attention to customer experience in the "customer-centered" transformation. Only in this way can we explore the potential customers of BMW more comprehensively.
Slow progress in the new four modernizations? There are no new features to support luxury.
As we mentioned earlier, BMW attaches great importance to the new four modernizations. From 2065438 to 2009, the annual R&D expenditure of BMW invested in the new four modernizations reached 5.952 billion euros. He also said that starting from 20021,BMW will gradually phase out 50% of its traditional power models, and plans to expand its pure electric vehicles to five models before the end of 20021. By 2023, it will launch 25 new energy vehicles around the world, at least half of which are pure electric vehicles. At present, BMW's R&D will focus on iX3, iNEXT production version, i4 production version and other models.
Although BMW attaches great importance to the new four modernizations, it has lagged behind Mercedes-Benz and Audi. Both EQC launched by Mercedes-Benz and e-tron launched by Audi have shown advantages, while BMW ix3 is late, and its battery life of less than 500km is not dominant compared with the mainstream new energy products on the market at present.
In fact, to the origin of the new four modernizations, BMW explored new energy very early. In 20 13, when Mercedes-Benz and Audi were discussing which was better, V 12 and W 12, BMW had already introduced the pure electric car i3, and then the plug-in hybrid supercar i8 was born. In the initial stage of domestic new energy, BMW is very strong, but BMW is in the field of new energy. The hybrid supercar i8, which sells for 2 million yuan, has a poor performance in global sales. On the contrary, the Porsche pure electric car Taycan, which sells for less than 2 million, has become an explosion.
To harald at the age of 20 15, 49? Kruger began to serve as CEO of BMW. During his four years in office, BMW almost suspended the research and development of new pure electric vehicles. Kruger has been in office for less than a year, Carsten? Brightfield, benoit? Jacob decker. Abendros and Henrik? Wenders, four senior managers and vice presidents of BMW I brand department have left one after another. Norbert? The development of brand I promoted by Dr. Resef has also been delayed.
In June last year, KlausFroelich, director of BMW R&D, said in an interview, "No consumers have demand for pure electric vehicles, none of them. It is the regulatory authorities that have requirements for pure electric vehicles. BMW expects that diesel engines will exist for at least 20 years and gasoline engines will exist for at least 30 years. " But such remarks are put in today's society, and ordinary consumers know whether they are correct or not.
As far as new energy is concerned, BMW is "getting up early and catching up late", and the wrong decision of the top management makes BMW a little passive in catching up with its competitors now. At the same time, the suspension of cooperation between BMW and Daimler in the research and development of automatic driving and advanced driving assistance functions also means that the development of the new four modernizations has lagged behind. In terms of interconnection and enjoyment, BMW's layout and gameplay are also somewhat scattered. In the early days, BMW held high and promoted various services in the fields of * * * travel, online car rental, parking and charging network. The investment is great, but the loss is huge. BMW tends to be conservative in the new modernization, which may be related to its past success in the China market.
2065438+Gao Le, who took office as the new head of BMW China in March 2008, attributed the reason and trend of BMW's growth in China market to: grasping the demand of consumption upgrading and providing high-quality products with brand premium. In other words, it is to continue to dig deep into the luxury market. In 20 19, BMW Group will increase the introduction of models in China market, and launch 25 brand-new or upgraded products such as X3, X5, X7, New 3 Series, New 7 Series and 8 Series, with traditional concepts such as "luxury" and "sports" as its main brand strategy.
BMW listed many achievements in promoting the new four modernizations in the China market, such as building a beam car with the Great Wall, obtaining a license for self-driving road test, signing cooperation with Baidu, China Unicom, NavInfo, Tencent, etc ... Basically, it is mainly to make friends, brush your face and turn around, and show your determination. On June 20th, two years after its establishment, the Zhangjiawan base in Jiangsu finally started to break ground, and it is planned to be completed and put into operation in 2022, with the same slow progress.
The influence of the new four modernizations on BMW is enormous. The emergence of new energy has led to the emergence of many 5-speed cars. X/4。 X/3。 X seconds, even a few models in 3 seconds. Therefore, BMW, which once supported luxury brands with sports, has no advantage in sports performance. Secondly, although driverless driving has not yet been realized, who can pay for BMW's driving pleasure if it enters the era of driverless driving in the future?
At present, apart from sports and driving pleasure, it is difficult for BMW to find a point to support its luxury brand image. This is a disadvantage compared with competing products. This is also a philosophical problem involving how BMW cars enter a new era. BMW is in urgent need of new support points. Therefore, BMW should pay enough attention to the development of the new four modernizations, continue to speed up the pace and strive for opportunities on the road of the new four modernizations.
Shouldn't the market be changed at a low price? Improving product competitiveness is just needed.
Back to the product itself, in 20 19, BMW had an excellent sales record, and the sales volume of 723,700 vehicles in the domestic market also exceeded14, making it the largest automobile market of BMW. Behind the good results, the phenomenon of BMW's low-price exchange in the domestic market is becoming more and more serious. Among them, the most popular X 1, 1 series, 3 series and other models have higher discounts. X 1 offers a maximum discount of 60,000 yuan, and 3 series also offers a discount of 40,000 yuan. For the 1 series, 65438+ is even published online.
In the winter of 20 19, it is understandable to discount sales, but long-term discount will have a certain impact on brand value. At the beginning, it was mentioned that the average transaction price of BMW this year was also affected by this.
In addition to higher discounts, BMW began to lack brand genes in the products themselves. Among the three brands of BBA, BMW is the most athletic major sports brand. However, BMW 1 series, X 1, X2 and other models all turned to the UKL platform with front drive. Although the front drive has improved the interior space (refer to the rear space of BMW X 1), it lacks the essence of BMW.
For BMW's most sporty sedan 3 Series, there is also a lack of sincerity in product upgrading. It is understandable that E90 was upgraded to F30 to adapt to the comfort of the market, but after F30 was upgraded to G28, there was no essential improvement, and even the power system did not change much. At the same time, G20, as the standard axle, did not achieve the ultimate athletic performance like E90, which made some loyal BMW fans turn to passers-by. Although BMW in line with the times has no characteristics, it also prevented the embarrassment of being as black as Mazda.
At the same time, in the setting of some models, BMW also deviated from the setting of its luxury brand. In the domestic market, entry-level models account for a large part of sales. In recent years, 1 series, 2 series, brand-new X 1, X2 and other models have adopted 1.5T three-cylinder engine on entry-level models, while Mercedes-Benz and Audi brand entry-level models are 1.3T and 1.4T, but they still insist on four cylinders. Although the single-cylinder 500cc is a gold displacement, the setting of three cylinders makes these BMW entry-level models not luxurious in form, quality or feeling. The most obvious thing is that it is difficult to hear the running sound of the three-cylinder machine outside the car, and the sense of luxury given by the BMW brand is getting weaker and weaker.
At present, BMW should break away from the luxury car category not only in brand image, but also in the product itself. The models above 5 series are fine, and the models below 3 series are obviously low-end. The products brought by a 1 series are far inferior to those of Passat and Accord in value of the image. Improving BMW's brand image is the primary task in the domestic market, rather than taking high discounts in exchange for sales. Doing so will only make the brand image continue to decline. If BMW does not improve, it is likely to leave the first-line luxury brands.
Double drop in sales/profits? We should adjust our strategy and regain brand confidence.
Whether it is admitted or not, BMW has many problems at present, its brand image is in jeopardy, and luxury car setting is on the verge of collapse. The decline in sales makes BMW's profits not optimistic. In April, due to the epidemic crisis, BMW Group raised 200 million euros (about 220 million US dollars) in the German Schuld debt market. On May 5, BMW Group lowered its financial forecast for the whole year again: the profit rate of the automobile business department may drop to 0%-3%.
Affected by many factors, the share price of BMW Group once plummeted by nearly 50%, directly from more than 70 euros to 36 euros. At present, the latest share price is 57.36 euros, which is still down more than 20% this year. BMW is facing the biggest crisis in history. Some people in the investment community even predict that BMW may go bankrupt and reorganize before 2022.
Today, BMW officials also announced new personnel changes. Shao Bin will succeed Dr. Herry Liu as the president of BMW (China) Automobile Trading Co., Ltd., and the appointment will take effect on July 4, 2020. In such a severe environment, BBA's market performance in China is not bad, and a slight mistake may affect the overall situation. Herry Liu became the president of BMW China from the post of head of BMW South District, which was at the most tense period between BMW and dealers; BMW provided 5.2 billion subsidies to dealers that year; After Herry Liu took office, he strengthened communication with dealers on the platform of BMW Dealer Expert Committee, and strengthened interaction with dealers in product definition, pricing and business policies, and achieved positive results. From the loss of BMW dealers four years ago to the comprehensive profit of new car sales reaching 4-5 points this year, Herry Liu's contribution to BMW has been recognized by dealers. No matter how reasonable, this change is worse for BMW.
At present, BMW faces many problems such as brand, communication and products, which can be regarded as riddled with holes for car companies. The brand image needs to be improved urgently, and the brand-new LOGO has been changed, but BMW still needs to find a brand-new concept to support the brand. Communication is mainly to experience the core concept of BMW. If we continue to use BMW Joy to spread vague ideas, it is still difficult to receive customer feedback, so we should have a clearer definition at this point. On the premise of making distinctive products, continue to maintain luxury, carefully consider the pricing and concessions in the vehicle market, and don't blindly pursue sales and give up brand value; At the same time, BMW should pay more attention to the development of the new four modernizations and speed up the pace. Finally, I hope BMW can recognize its own direction and get through this economic crisis. After all, there are still so many people whose "blue sky and white clouds dream" has not been realized.
This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.