Dongfeng Citroen: Addition in subtraction

Sun Yiwen, Dongfeng Citroen's director of marketing, once said that "Although globally, the PSA Group wants to reduce its product line to ensure profits through subtraction, in the Chinese market, we will certainly do additions."

“In the future, we will have our own new initiatives and ideas in the mid-size car, SUV, and even the mid-to-high-end car market. Dongfeng Citroen will cover more blank markets.” Sun Yiwen’s statement also reinterprets Dongfeng Citroen's addition strategy.

Compared to last year when faced with questions from media reporters, Sun Yiwen has completely entered his role in the attitude of “bystanders”. He also has his own views on the status quo and future of Dongfeng Citroen.

Talk about positioning: only the difference route has no difference between high and low

On the evening of April 17th, Sun Yiwen appeared on the scene of the Dongfeng Peugeot 2008 launch conference in a low-key manner. He used two words to describe his feelings at that time, which was “impact”.

In fact, the impact of Dongfeng Peugeot on Dongfeng Citroen has gradually emerged from last year, regardless of the sales volume or the launch speed of products.

In terms of brand positioning, Dongfeng Peugeot has already shown its young fashion style line in recent conferences. Dongfeng Citroen has made people feel more and more vague in this respect. It was also reported in the PSA last year. Peugeot will take the high-end route in the future and Citroen will take the popular route.

In Sun Yiwen's view, the two major brands under the company are doing differentiated development rather than polarized development, so there is absolutely no point in positioning. “We will use actual market performance and brand performance to tell everyone where this difference is, but now, I think it is too early.”

"Using a slogan: This change is not overnight, but it does happen." Sun Yiwen said.

Talk about the future: The next heartbeat will be stronger

Sun Yiwen does not agree with people's assessment that Dongfeng Citroen is in a downturn.

“This is just a kind of marketing rhythm. It's equivalent to the interplay of human pulse, it can't always be 'squeaky' like this, otherwise it's heart rate too fast. I compare the heartbeat to the frequency of new product replacement rate in our entire market. The Dongfeng Citroen that everyone sees now is between '砰' and the next '砰'."

If the listing of C4L and the new Elysee is considered the first time, then in Sun Yiwen's view, the next time will be the time when Dongfeng Citroen will launch the first SUV at the end of 2014.

"I believe that the second 'ç °' will be more powerful than the first one," said Sun Yiwen.

[Interview Record]

Can you elaborate on the future direction of Dongfeng Citroen's product positioning? When it was last year, there was a saying that Peugeot might go up and Dongfeng Citroen do it.

Sun Yiwen: From a global point of view, PSA wants to reduce its products, so that it can guarantee its profitability. I can tell you that China is the world’s largest overseas market for Citroën. What it is currently doing is for some high-speed growth. The market segments, such as the SUV market, can fill some gaps. The so-called subtraction is a relative reduction, which is a relative addition in the Chinese market, otherwise we will not see Dongfeng Citroen's first SUV at the auto show. I think the most important thing is to look at the overall needs and growth of the local market, and its relationship with global planning. This is the first point I made.

Secondly, I don't think there is a concept of doing things up and down, but rather differentiation. The difference I mean is the difference in the target population. Everyone can see Dongbiao and Dongfeng Citroen. It is now a very harmonious and co-operative internal fraternal brand relationship. However, in the target group, there are still very big differences between the people, not the difference between the high and the low, nor is it the difference between the two. We are In the near future, we will use actual market performance and brand performance to tell everyone where this difference is. Now that I think it is too early, we are taking the road of brand differentiation rather than the road of brand polarization. This is our direction.

After watching yesterday's Dongfeng Peugeot brand night, many media have said that the brand's power of the Lion has caught up with Citroen. Does this notion you recognize?

Sun Yiwen: I think you raised a good question. Citroen has been in China for more than 20 years. From the time point of view, Peugeot is the younger brother and Dongfeng Citroen is the big brother. However, from the perspective of the current product enrichment, I think this younger brother has surpassed his older brother, which also reminds her that my brother needs to work hard.

Dongfeng Citroen began to propose the "Dragon C" plan in 2013. This is to strengthen the brand positioning. In my opinion, the marketing rhythms of Dongfeng Citroen and Dongfeng Peugeot are not the same. Yesterday I also saw a show with everyone. I was on the spot when I listed on 2008. I felt the same kind of inner impact with everyone.

Another point is that Dongfeng Citroen will have its own rhythm. Compared to Dongfeng Peugeot, in the coming next year or the next year, we may see some new product introductions. I think we will look to our brothers in the speed of product introduction. To learn, this is the first one.

The second one is that we will strengthen the business communication with Dongfeng Peugeot in the future. We will have Mr. Chen take us to Dongfeng Peugeot this afternoon.

Third, we continue to use our brothers' good performance to inspire ourselves and ensure that we have a better market performance. I think that in the future, we have a long-term and large-scale cooperative relationship with Dongbiao. It does not mean that it is a rising relationship. I want to confirm this with everyone.

What is Dongfeng Citroen's plan for SUV products?

Sun Yiwen: This is the case. This debut at the Beijing Auto Show will be the concept car of Dongfeng Citroen's first SUV. It is not the final production version. But I can tell you that its similarity will be higher. This is the first point.

Secondly, this car follows the current marketing rhythm. We think it may meet with you at the end of 2014. This means that by this time we will publish its price and start retailing. This debut, because it is only a concept car, not mass production, so there will not be a corresponding price problem. But I am also very happy to give this car design concept to everyone, let everyone look forward to it.

We noticed the SUV market. We also carefully selected the first product to enter the SUV market. For Dongfeng Citroen's marketing department, we are very willing to speed up the development of the overall SUV market brand. For us, we do our best With the efforts to make this product planning possible, although we said that we will only be listed at the end of the year, we will provide a relatively high concept car to everyone at this auto show. We also want to use this opportunity to show our own mentality, that is, some of them will certainly have, and will be faster.

Are we planning to strengthen C5 in the future? After all, high-end cars are profitable and after-sales.

Sun Yiwen: As the current flagship model of Dongfeng Citroen, C5 will definitely have a longer development plan in the future. This is the first point. Second, we also believe that the C5 has more to assume the brand of Citroën and spread the responsibility of the law. Thirdly, in the future, we will do some work behind the powertrain in C5. Before August this year, we will launch a new generation of CTH equipped with 1.6THP, so this car will still have a strong vitality and market acceptance. The performance of the first quarter of this year is still relatively good.

I ask you a question from a consumer's point of view. We know that the new three target groups are now more inclined to third- and fourth-tier cities. People in these cities may be much more sensitive to prices than those in first- and second-tier cities. Whoever lets Lido, I may consider your brand. I also checked, and now Santana and Jetta's terminal discounts can reach as high as 30,000 yuan. I watched only about 10,000 Elysees. In the new three samples, in addition to competition for product strength, how do you view the end market competition?

Sun Yiwen: The sales volume of the new Elysee in the first quarter should be more than 21,000 units. This is a very good result for the new products that were listed on September 26 last year. This is the first point.

The second point, I think consumers are currently changing, from the price sensitivity we usually talk to the value sensitive. This car in the new three, I think its price can be said to be a relatively leading model. One task that is very important to us is to convince our consumers that the price of this car is definitely value for money. I think price competition is the source for us to promote our progress. This is an important basic point. However, it cannot be said that all the attention has been placed on prices. In terms of relative price competitiveness, I think we should pay more attention to the overall value solutions. This is not only in terms of product strength, but also our service capabilities. How can we value our value to consumers in the third and fourth line?

It is said that we also have to introduce a more advanced car than the C5. Is there any news to disclose?

Sun Yiwen: In the future, Dongfeng Citroen will certainly have more development in high-end fashion. At present, I have not been authorized to disclose more information in this regard. However, as we just said, we need to cover more blank markets in the Chinese market.

We have already seen the planning of Dongfeng Citroën for the next two years. Then, in the further future, two years or three years later, what is the new product plan for Dongfeng Citroen?

Sun Yiwen: I need to correct it. We are not at a low point. This is a kind of marketing rhythm. It is equivalent to the pulse of the human body. You can't say that it has always been a “cockroach” like this, otherwise it is too fast. . Heartbeat is too fast and too slow. I liken the heartbeat to the frequency of replacement of new products in our entire market. Dongfeng Citroën, which we all see now, is now between “砰” and the next “砰”.

Secondly, from the aspect of product introduction speed, Dongfeng Citroen started to implement the Longteng C plan in 2013. It should be said that this rhythm is still possible. The year before last year we had C4L and last year we had a new Elysee. With the launch of the Longteng C plan, we Each year we introduce more than one new product, which is in our planning and consideration.

In addition, when it comes to future product planning, I think that in the future we will have new initiatives and ideas in the mid-size cars, SUV market, and even mid-to-high-end cars. By then, the media will wait and see, new products are not convenient to disclose more. detail.

What is the time for the next "squeaking"?

Sun Yiwen: The time for the next "squeaking" is relative to the previous "squeaky." If C4L and the brand new Elysee are placed twice in a row as if they are embarrassing, then I think the next time you can see it, you can think of it as This is the official launch of the SUV at the end of 2014, and even the launch of new products next year. This is the second embarrassment, and I believe that the second embarrassment will be more powerful than the first one.

What is Dongfeng Citroen's current development plan for the channel?

Sun Yiwen: As of today, our network number should be at 435, our coverage for prefecture-level cities is about 80%, this figure can not meet the future needs of Dongfeng Citroen for the development of the entire brand, so in 2014 we were the network In the new year of development, we plan to expand the number of networks from 435 to 510 by the end of this year, and the coverage will expand from the current 83% to 90%.

You just talked about tailoring. Will the plan and the big direction be assigned to different regions in the future, and the person in charge of the region will do it directly?

Sun Yiwen: Dongfeng Citroen will have a lot of changes happening in 2014. One of them is that we will build the headquarters into a place where we can hear the sound of gunshots. At the same time, our position on the entire region is also changing. Changes are also taking place, and synergy, integrity and coverage will be very high.

The second point is that Dongfeng Citroen will set up a special marketing manager in each region, namely our regional marketing support manager to help Dongfeng Citroen better understand the characteristics of the local market, rather than the commonality of the wide-area market.

Then just the topic of technology, what do you think about the 4AT gearbox? Just now you mentioned that the French car is more pragmatic. Before I talked to the Elysee project team, he said that the car could be equipped with 6AT, but he felt that the increase in cost was not acceptable to this group. . Then there will be a trade-off between the two. If you continue to use old technology, some people may feel dissatisfied with the legal brand. Using new technologies will increase the cost. From the point of view of the Minister of Ministers and the feedback received from the first-line market, how to balance?

Sun Yiwen: In fact, you have raised a very good question. In fact, any kind of car configuration cannot satisfy 100% of the people. The reason why we made such a choice was actually based on market research and judgments of the time. Any choice would not be a headshot or a decision-making decision. For manufacturers, this is an investment. Any kind of investment is built on the premise of very sophisticated investment returns. I think that relative to the positioning of this car, consumers can adapt to the price space, including product competitiveness above, with 4AT for a certain reason. At the same time, as the person in charge of the current marketing department, I have also seen some changes taking place in the market, including the configuration of different models and the needs of different technical configurations. I think what we need to do in the future is not to say that we need to use The question of what to replace, but how to provide the technical solutions required by consumers in an appropriate period, so we will see some changes.