[car home Brand Activity] As a brand with a century-old sports gene, MG still plays an important role in the hearts of many car fans around the world. It was born in 1924 and experienced many ups and downs. After SAIC entered the company, MG brand renewed its vitality again. At the same time, with the requirements of SAIC’s new four modernizations strategy in China, going global has become another important task for MG brand. And this time, we came to the birthplace of MG, Birmingham Technology Center in the UK, and SAIC UK.
■ MG returns to UK market.
First of all, Mr. Wang briefly introduced the situation of MG in the UK. We went to the MG Technology Center in Birmingham, England, where there is also the MG Prospective Design Center. There are about 300 engineers working here. They are jointly responsible for the development of vehicles with the team of Shanghai Technology Center, and some of the technology centers are responsible for the development of seat shapes. They work together with the London Prospective Design Center.
■ The highly competitive British market
As a mature European market, the competition in the British auto market is very fierce. According to the public information just released by the British "SMMT" British Engine Manufacturers Association on January 7, 2019,The sales of new cars in the UK in 2018 was about 2.3 million units.. The auto market that has just got rid of the financial crisis is also affected by Brexit. This uncertainty has still had a great impact on the British market. In recent years, car sales in the UK have been slowing down.In 2017, the whole market just recovered to about 2.5 million units, while in 2018, the whole market fell by 6.8%.. To make an pessimistic estimate, the market will continue to decline this year. Due to the uncertainty of Brexit, the economic situation of the whole UK is declining, and the automobile market has also been obviously affected.
■ contrarian growth doubled sales.
In the case that the growth rate of the automobile market dropped by 6.8% last year, MG ushered in nearly 100% sales growth, which can be described as a reversal. I still remember that when MG ZS went public, I asked the dealers to have doubts about it. As a result, it has indeed doubled in a year, and more than 10,000 sets have been approved. Through more than a year’s efforts last year, our sales network has expanded and the quality of the network has also improved, and more and more people are willing to join our sales network. Of course, our sales volume has also gone up. For dealers, there are more after-sales service cars, which has entered a virtuous circle and the brand has slowly gained a foothold.
Of course, it is certainly not so easy to continue to grow steadily in the British market. First of all, the overall environment is not good. Britain has been affected by Brexit. The first thing that has been hit is the consumer market, and people have become more cautious in spending money. Secondly, it is also a mature automobile consumption market, where almost all automobile brands in the world can be found, and there are many choices for everyone. At the same time, British consumers also have this high brand loyalty, which brings us no small challenge. Of course, we also have several advantages.
■ It takes more effort to take root in the UK.
First, the brand of MG, first of all, the brand of MG still has a certain popularity in Europe, and its brand premium ability, including popularity, has a certain position not only in Britain, Europe and the world. Therefore, it is very important to have the brand MG.
Second, more than 10 years of hard work. The employees of MG UK worked here persistently, and it was still very hard in the first few years. It was not enough to have a brand. It was quite hard to import vehicles, build a network, then sell cars and accumulate word of mouth. If last year was the 10th "baked wheat cake" and you were full, the first nine "baked wheat cakes" were also very important. All aspects of our investment here, including products, manpower and finance, are just right, and accumulated bit by bit during this period. To push the huge wheel, you need to push it bit by bit. You should have the accumulation of the first nine "baked wheat cakes", and you can’t just see the role of the last one.
Third, we always insist on providing customers with the most cost-effective products. Our product strength has been greatly developed in the past ten years. More than ten years ago, our products just started. In the past ten years, looking back through three generations of products, our cars have been getting better and better, from design and modeling to engineering indicators to manufacturing quality, including our ability to deal with problems, generation after generation has made great progress. And the final customer voted for us with their feet, which is a great affirmation for us.
Fourth, the quality of products alone is not enough. The technical center and modeling room here have done a lot of work for our products, which is also very helpful. First of all, they have integrated into the whole development process and contributed a lot of intelligence. Second, when doing real estate, our car came over and made some improvements. Many of our products are designed with many British elements, which ensures that they are more acceptable to local people in Britain. At the same time, it is made in China with guaranteed quality. Designed in Britain and made in China, we provide our customers with a product with excellent value for money. When your products are very good and of good quality, customers will vote on their own. The result of last year’s sales was the result of consumer voting, which fully proved that our products, such as newly developed cars and modified cars like MG ZS and MG 3, are competitive and attractive enough. These points caused us to have such a good result last year.
Fifth, the problem of electrification. On this issue, we have been at the starting line with other brands from the beginning, and it is also very important that our battery manufacturer is already the largest in the world, with a large capacity in the domestic market and rapid infrastructure construction. Therefore, at least in the next three to five years, China will soon become the center of electric vehicles in the world. And we operate overseas and compete with other big brands on the same stage. Just because we have the technology of electrification, we will slowly move to the middle of the stage. Moreover, in this market, there are not many competitors. Our pure electric MG ZS is to be a product that ordinary people can afford and enjoy the benefits of electric vehicles. Our brand is not only liked by British people, but also a pioneer supported by a strong parent company background. At the same time, we provide the most advanced solution, which is acceptable not only in Britain, but also all over the world. In Britain, we have to accept strict inspection. We not only have a team to do all aspects of automobile product certification, but also verify laws and regulations, and more importantly, we have to accept customer verification.
■ Future development
If MG wants to continue its sustainable development in Britain, it still needs to face many difficulties. If you want to do a good job, you need not only hard work, but also time and a little foundation. Just like a wooden barrel, you can’t have a short board in order to develop continuously, otherwise you will always be limited by that short board.
At present, our domestic automobile design and research and development capabilities have been greatly improved, and many of SAIC’s domestic equipment has surpassed that of the British center. Because electrification and internetization, including sharing mode, etc., are all ahead in China, this does not mean that the British center is completely backward, but it is still advanced in some aspects. For example, the UK has done a lot of preliminary Engineering development and a lot of engineering (technology) development in China, but a lot of practical work has been done in electronics and electrical appliances, including electrification. If we must cut this open, it will not be cut off.
When we encounter problems, we solve them and give full play to our unique advantages. As a complete technical center, we supported the sales of 700,000 units last year and will continue to support them in the future. In London, we have more innovative talents, an international metropolis, and we can see all kinds of people, which is very energetic. Their creative shapes can be exported to China. This is what we are doing. We do what we need. As long as we do things with this heart, we should do well.
First of all, although Britain is already a very mature automobile market, the development of electrification is still in its infancy and needs time to grow. At present, the price of electric vehicles in the market, as well as mileage anxiety, all these factors make the sales of electric vehicles have not increased significantly. At the same time, the government has not supported the promotion of electric vehicles in all aspects of taxation, but only provided some help. In Britain, the environment of spontaneous and automatic car purchase has not yet been reached, which is somewhat similar to the domestic situation. The British government also has a subsidy for pure electricity. Now it costs 3,500 pounds to buy a pure electric car, but this one is already declining. It used to cost 4,500 pounds, and it is still gradually declining. The quality standard of the new energy automobile industry has not been cultivated yet, but it is already declining, which is becoming more and more difficult for the development of enterprises.
However, from an optimistic point of view, it is more convenient for British people to use new energy vehicles compared with consumers in China, because they live far away and the charging conditions are much more convenient than in China. Moreover, because there are many cars in the family, the demand for long-distance commuting can be completed by a second car, and electric vehicles can focus on commuting in urban areas, which is an advantage that China does not have. Even with this advantage, the number is not much, which shows that there is still great resistance, it takes time to digest and it needs the push of the government.
The charging infrastructure in Britain is also developing gradually. The electricity charge is about 0.144-0.156 lb-kWh, and the cost is almost only one-third to one-quarter of that of refueling. When you come down to rest on the London Expressway, you will find that all the rest stops are charged. Basically, each rest stop has three or four charging parking spaces. The problem of commuting on the expressway is not big, but once the expressway coverage is out, it is still not enough, which is also a very important problem that restricts its development. Moreover, all charging piles are purely commercial in nature, and the government’s support is not strong. And because there is no mandatory standard in Europe, there are many charging ports with different standards in the charging station, which is a huge waste for social costs.
In fact, the UK’s electric vehicle policy is still in a changing state, and we just need to develop at our own pace. For example, as for dealers, there are currently more than 80 MG dealers in the UK, and this number is still developing. We plan to develop to 120 in the UK in the next two years.
In the past 2018, the MG brand achieved an annual growth rate of 103.76% in the UK market with three models, and the growth momentum is very good. In the third quarter of 2019, MG will also introduce the first pure electric vehicle product, the pure electric version of MG ZS, in the UK and nine other European countries, and then MG HS will also be introduced to the UK market, so that consumers in the European market can also enjoy advanced products from China.
Conclusion:
Facing the gradual saturation of the domestic market, going abroad has become a new idea for many domestic car companies. Under the strategy of SAIC’s internationalization, MG is developing steadily in the UK after 10 years of efforts and riding this wave of new energy in the world.
As a mature consumer market in Europe, MG has taken root and sprouted here again. With the help of MG, a century-old automobile brand widely known in Britain, European consumers can re-understand the products made from China by forward-looking technology. (Text/map/photo by car home Zhou Wei)
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