"Shen car" repeatedly encounters quality problems SAIC-GM-Wuling's high-end transition is hard to bear fruit

Although a number of models were hailed as "the god car," SAIC-GM-Wuling was deeply trapped in "quality doors" due to multiple complaints.

According to the “Car Quality Network” information of the third-party auto quality evaluation platform, SAIC-GM-Wuling’s complaints amounted to 510 in the whole year of 2017. The complaints related to the transmission could not be shifted, clutch abnormal noise, and engine vibration. Auto Complaints Online, complaints about SAIC-GM-Wuling are also common.

In the face of the quality complaints complaints, SAIC-GM-Wuling responded to the “China Business News” reporter: “The breakdown of vehicles and customer complaints are a condition that every manufacturing company and automobile factory will encounter. Manufacturers will pass these failures and complaints. Better understand customer voice and needs, continuously upgrade products, and create higher quality products.”

In fact, SAIC-GM-Wuling has been seeking "continuously upgrading products" in recent years. Since last year, the Baojun brand has successively introduced several younger products, namely Baojun 310, Baojun 310W and Baojun 510. However, under the background of the brand's upward trend, SAIC-GM-Wuling’s high-end effectiveness has not seen its effectiveness, and its current model products still mainly cover the mid- to low-end market.

Involvement in quality storms

"The main problem is that there are too many small problems, and the quality is not good, no less 4S shop maintenance." Recently, a consumer in Yuncheng, Shanxi Province reluctantly told reporters about his driving experience of 630 years and a half. According to the consumer’s description, after six months of buying the car, the first time the wiper had a problem; the second time the co-driver’s inner handle was damaged and all four cracked within one month; the third was the front door. And the internal plastic cracking; the fourth time is the front of the lift glass serious abnormal sound, follow-up and air conditioning can not continue to refrigeration and other issues.

In the three and a half years, Bao Jun 630 purchased by the above-mentioned consumers experienced nearly 10 breakdowns. "At first I was dissatisfied and the manufacturers still returned, but then they never again." The consumer's speech was quite helpless.

In this regard, SAIC-GM-Wuling responded by saying: "Products that generate random deviations, as long as they are within a reasonable range, are normal and allowable. When problems arise, manufacturers will immediately understand the situation of user feedback through these failures and complaints. A good understanding of customer voices and needs, continuous upgrading of products, manufacturing of higher quality products, and serving the majority of users.”

It is worth noting that, in December 2017, SAIC-GM-Wuling was caught in the “recall door” after recalling 938,000 Baojun vehicles. The reason is that some tank ventilation hoses have defects, which may cause aging cracks after vent hoses are used for a long time. “The recall of more than 900,000 vehicles in ventilated hoses is a proactive action by the company to identify suppliers that may have potential risks. This issue was identified very early and there have been no complaints or any This is also the result of serious quality control and prevention by the company." SAIC-GM-Wuling explained that the recall is a responsible performance of the company. In recent years, the environment for car recalls in China has been relatively good and has received government and quality supervision. Strong support from the organization.

High-end transformation frustrated

“In recent years, we have realized that young people have gradually grown into the main consumer groups after the 1980s and 1990s, and our users are getting younger and younger. This generation of young people have higher education levels and spending power, and they are personal and stylish. , The pursuit of new trends, while the quality of life has higher requirements." SAIC-GM-Wuling frankly, in recent years the company has been seeking high-end transformation.

It is understood that since 2017, SAIC-GM-Wuling has launched the Baojun 510 model and started the brand transformation. On March 11 this year, SAIC-GM-Wuling also introduced the compact SUV Baojun 530 to replace the Baojun 560 vertically.

However, the Po Chun 530 and Po Chun 560 are the same platform, and the price is quite the same, which to a certain extent also increased the brand's internal friction. In the first month of its listing, the Baojun 530 sold more than 12,000 units. At the same time, as the first SUV model of Baojun, the Baojun 560, which was only listed for two years, was discontinued.

According to Wen Wen, research director of iResearch Consulting Automotive, “SAIC-GM-Wuling has paid great attention to the cultivation of loyal customers, users have transformed from low-end Wuling models to mid-range models, and even further transformed into Baojun’s users, to a certain extent, loyal. Both degrees and levels of consumption have improved."

"Combining our contacts with users in the survey, in terms of user perception, SAIC-GM-Wuling’s family-friendly product line is very competitive, including Baojun 730, Baojun 560, Wuling Hongguang, etc. It is also difficult for users to compare it with Linked to products in the high price range." Wen Wen bluntly, SAIC-GM-Wuling has long been positioning on the brand level, affecting the user's decision-making, once the user's car level reached more than 100,000 yuan, it is likely to leave the SAIC-GM-Wuling Product coverage range. "Although some of Baojun's MSRP with high-grade models is over 100,000 yuan, it is not easy for users to accept and pay for them."

At the same time, the hidden worries of Wuling, another brand of SAIC-GM-Wuling, gradually emerged. In 2017, the sales volume was 851,156 units, a year-on-year decrease of 23%. Wuling Hongguang, which is responsible for sales, has also experienced a significant decline, with a drop of around 25%.

In order to enhance its continued competitiveness, SAIC-GM-Wuling also began to lay out new energy sources. Recently, its existing projects in the Qingdao branch have expanded the production capacity of new energy vehicles, and the project has completed the assembly of models such as the pure electric micro-passenger E100. SAIC-GM-Wuling believes that when consumption continues to escalate, and major auto makers are deploying seven medium and large-sized SUVs, the introduction of mini vehicles can effectively compensate for the shortcomings of traditional fuel vehicles used in cities, including tense parking spaces and oil prices. Rising, traffic jams, etc. However, in the field of mini-vehicles, Zhidou Automobile and BAIC New Energy EC series models have performed well. Among them, the sales of BAIC New Energy EC in 2017 were 78,000, while the sales of Zhidou were 42,000, SAIC-GM-Wuling The challenge is not easy.