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Anhui Valin Automobile Co., Ltd. has outstanding export performance of heavy trucks, and the performance of its products in overseas markets is commendable, and relevant reports are spread all over various media. So, how does Valin Heavy Truck perform in the domestic market? On August 29th, when the reporter walked into this enterprise, he found that as a rising star in the heavy truck industry, Valin Heavy Truck performed equally well in the domestic market.
In the first half of this year, Valin sold over 10,000 heavy trucks, achieving a sales income of 2.763 billion yuan, up 60.37% and 51.18% respectively. Among them, 80% of the contribution comes from the domestic market. Every summer is the traditional off-season in the domestic market, but Valin has withstood the pressure and maintained a steady increase in sales.
Word-of-mouth effect shows hot spots, sales in the market skyrocket.
In the past, the sales of Valin heavy trucks in a province of Guangdong accounted for about 30% of the total sales. This year, the sales volume of Valin heavy trucks in Guangdong has accounted for less than 30% of the total sales volume. Is the influence of Valin heavy trucks in this region declining?
Zhu Yunbing, chief engineer of Valin Marketing Company, told the reporter that in the first half of this year, Valin’s sales in Guangdong increased significantly compared with the same period of last year, exceeding 3,000 vehicles, but Valin’s performance in other regions was even more eye-catching. Since March and April this year, Valin has made great breakthroughs in sales in Southwest China, Shanxi and Hebei. Especially in Shanxi and Hebei provinces, Valin’s sales increased by 200% respectively. Sales in other regional markets have increased, and the proportion of one province in Guangdong has naturally declined.
Valin heavy trucks have high configuration, good performance and slightly higher price. There are many users with strong economic strength in coastal areas, which require high vehicle performance. Valin heavy trucks are very popular. In North China, Southwest China and other regions, users are more sensitive to prices. In the past, some users thought Valin cars were too expensive to accept. Since the beginning of this year, users’ ideas have changed a lot.
In the second half of last year, Li Shifu, a Shanxi transporter, tentatively bought a Valin heavy truck. In the past, heavy trucks bought by Li Shifu could only attend 27 days a month, while Valin cars attended 29 days a month. Although the car Li Shifu used before was cheap, it often broke down. The average maintenance cost was about 100 yuan, and he had to stop working for a day or two, which caused him thousands of dollars in operating losses. In contrast, Valin cars with low maintenance rate make him worry a lot. This year, Li Shifu, who tasted the sweetness, bought three Valin heavy trucks, and he also drove his friends and relatives around him to buy Valin cars.
Zhu Yunbing said: "A few people who tasted crabs first, after feeling the benefits of using Valin cars, acted as voluntary propagandists of Valin heavy trucks. This good word-of-mouth effect has enabled Valin heavy trucks to grow greatly in Shanxi and Hebei, which were relatively weak in the past. "
Ensure quality and resolutely not fight price wars.
When Valin first entered the market, its price was more than 10,000 yuan higher than that of ordinary heavy trucks in the market, and Valin was a new brand with limited popularity, so its performance in the domestic market was not satisfactory.
At that time, Liu Hanru, the chairman of Valin Company, and others went to the market for research. Many dealers complained to him: "Your car is too expensive to sell." There are also dealers who suggest removing the electric windows and air conditioners of Valin cars, reducing some other configurations, or replacing imported parts with domestic ones, so that the price can be reduced a lot.
In the face of all kinds of doubts, Valin also wavered, and lowered the price appropriately through some marketing activities. But soon found that sales did not increase much. According to Liu Hanru’s analysis, although the domestic price war is fierce, from the global development trend, the lower price route will not last long. He made a decisive decision that Valin would never sacrifice vehicle performance to reduce the price. Valin will not reduce the configuration related to vehicle performance.
After several years of persistence, the past "shortcomings" have turned into advantages. Now, when many users talk about Valin heavy trucks, they will say, "Oh, that’s a very comfortable car with low maintenance rate." Some users bought Valin cars, which were envied by their peers because of their electric windows, air conditioners and other configurations.
Recently, in response to the policy of limiting overload, some manufacturers have reduced the self-weight of vehicles, which has increased the load capacity and thus increased sales. The steel plate of the cab of Valin car is thicker. If a lighter steel plate is used, the dead weight can be reduced by 200 ~ 300 kg. Seeing the practice of peers, Valin also had the idea of changing steel plates, but finally gave up. Zhu Yunbing explained that the thickness of cab steel plate is related to vehicle safety performance. Enterprises should be responsible for users, and should not affect users’ driving safety for the sake of sales.
Holding multiple cards only sells national III heavy cards.
After the national III emission standard was fully implemented in China on July 1st this year, the national II and III heavy trucks were sold simultaneously in the market. Valin clearly announced that after July 1st, it will resolutely not sell national II cars, but only national III heavy trucks.
Zhu Yunbing told reporters that since July 1 this year, the heavy truck market has been very complicated. The national II car is cheap, and the national III car has to reduce its price in order to compete with it, and it will lose both sides in the end. Therefore, Valin is not involved in melee.
The implementation of the national III emission standard has a great impact on the heavy truck market. Many enterprises are worried about the sales in the second half of the year, but Valin is not afraid. Zhu Yunbing said that as early as 2002, in response to the implementation of Euro III standards in overseas markets and the development of high-end special vehicles, Valin made corresponding technical reserves. In 2006, Valin Europe III products were exported overseas. In 2007, Valin sold more than 1,000 national III vehicles in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou, which took the lead in implementing national III standards.
Since 2007, Valin’s 3S and 4S stores have been established all over the country. Valin’s sales network has formed a scale and its sales capacity has been continuously enhanced. Liu Hanru said: "This is the mature performance of Valin’s sales system, and it is also the basis for Valin to achieve its sales target in the second half of the year."