Baoneng Otani Mingjun: Two Advantages and Three Problems of Guanzhi

Qoros 7 is the first brand-new model of Qoros after Baoneng's acquisition. Whether Guanzhi 7 can be sold well will be the first big test for the new senior management team and Baoneng.

Writing an article? /? Liu Baohua

Editor? /? Zhang? south

Design? /? Zhao Haoran

The third model of Qoros, Qoros 7, was rolled off the assembly line in Changshu factory on July 20th, and will be launched in the third quarter if there are no accidents.

The launch of Qoros 5, the last new car, dates back to March 20 16. If the COVID-19 epidemic hadn't delayed the Tokyo Olympic Games, Qoros could have kept a record: two new cars were launched continuously in the Olympic year. If the first model Qoros 3, which was launched in October 2011654381October, is launched one year in advance, then every new car it is currently launching will be launched in the Olympic year.

Four years often means another day, such as the change of president in the United States. Thanks to Obama's re-election, Guanzhi 3 and Guanzhi 5 are in his office. Trump is not so lucky. He almost turned the earth upside down. He didn't witness the launch of a new car during his tenure.

The absence of new products has led to the focus of public opinion in Guanzhi in recent years on the analysis of building cars or enclosure, the exploration of personnel changes and the relationship with dealers.

Personnel issues are the foundation of everything. Yao Zhenhua, the helm of Baoneng Department, needs to find suitable traders for Baoneng Automobile and Qoros Automobile, and Qoros Automobile needs a strong senior management team to reverse the previous unfavorable situation. However, a group of managers introduced at the beginning of 20 18 left a year later.

2065438+February 2009, Qoros Auto recruited a group of Nissan executives: Kazuo Yasushima, former global new energy director of Nissan-Renault Alliance, served as CEO of Qoros Auto, and Jushu Nagara, former global director of automotive interconnection technology of Nissan-Renault Alliance, served as chief operating officer of Qoros Auto; Toshihiro Hirai, former head of vehicle development in finidi, is the co-CTO of Qoros, while Liu Qiang, a former Nissan expert, is the vice president.

In February 2020, Gu, former general manager of Dongfeng Nissan, former executive director of Nissan and head of Nissan's global electric vehicle and battery division, joined as executive vice president of Baoneng Automobile Group and president of Shenzhen New Energy Technology Co., Ltd., presiding over the daily operation and management of the two companies. This wave of Nissan executives also includes Xu Jianming who has worked in Dongfeng Motor, Dongfeng Nissan and Dongfeng Qichen for more than 30 years.

In addition, Bai Xianxiang, CTO with 17 years experience in American General Motors, and Gong Fengyou, vice president of design who has been the design director of PSA Asia-Pacific R&D Center for a long time, can such a senior management team make Qoros enter the mainstream car companies?

Qoros 7 is the first brand-new model of Qoros after Baoneng's acquisition. Whether Guanzhi 7 can be sold well will be the first big test for the new senior management team and Baoneng. The day after the new car rolled off the assembly line, auto business review interviewed Mingjun Otani, executive vice president of Baoneng Automobile Group, in the Shanghai office of Qoros Automobile.

"For myself, the biggest challenge is to get rid of the shackles of past experience." On the same day, Otani Mingjun said this more than once. He believes that he and his team need to face great changes, including how to adapt to the four modernizations of automobiles, how to adapt to the new relationship between OEMs and suppliers, how to understand and meet the rapidly changing customer needs, and how to shorten the automobile development cycle from 30 months to 20 months.

When the industry is talking about "surviving", Otani Mingjun is full of confidence in the future of Baoneng Automobile and Qoros Automobile. He believes that there are two reasons for them to maintain their competitive advantage: one is the synergistic effect of diversified industries of Baoneng Group, and the other is Baoneng's abundant funds.

According to the unsuccessful analysis before Guanzhi, Otani Mingjun believes that the main problems lie in three aspects: slow product development, lack of customer service and company management.

After joining for half a year, Otani Mingjun's main job is to coordinate the resources of Baoneng Automobile and even Baoneng Group and fully support the mass production and listing of Qoros 7. He also adjusted the research and development and quality management system of Baoneng Automobile.

Baoneng owns Guangzhou Research Institute, Xi 'an Research Institute, Shenzhen Research Institute (global R&D headquarters), Shanghai (Qoros) Research Institute and Japan R&D Center for Battery and New Energy. In the past, according to the project division system, each research institute was a relatively small and complete system, which became a system with parts division.

Otani Mingjun said: "For example, there will be a unified person in charge of the entire seat to achieve universality. Of course, the seat will change with different models, but the seat frame and pulley inside can be universal. If generalization cannot be achieved, cost optimization cannot be achieved. "

At present, R&D has more than 2,000 employees, and the company's goal is to expand to 20,000 in five years.

Starting from Qoros 7, the pace of product upgrading will be accelerated, and the pace of launching new models of 1-2 every year will be maintained. By 2025, cars, SUVs, MPVs, traditional fuel vehicles, new energy vehicles and A0-to-B-class vehicles will be covered.

After interviewing Otani Mingjun, the reporter of auto business review contacted two Qoros dealers to understand the current situation.

Dealer A is familiar with auto business review. 20 18, qoros was very disappointed that the price of big dealers was tilted, 20 19, and there was no car for sale in the second half of the year after the switch from the national five to the national six. This time, his mood sounds much more positive. "I don't recognize some policies in order to get sales, but its quality is really good and there is a market. In the past, they were influenced by some other factors and hoped that Bao could formulate its own marketing strategy. "

Not long ago, the dealer was invited to meet with senior executives such as Ando Kazuo to discuss the listing and sales of Qoros 7, which impressed him deeply: "Obviously, I feel different from before. I am very modest. I saw their sincerity and would like to listen to the opinions of the dealers. I hope the dealer will follow Guanzhi. Including this communication, we have different opinions on the price, and they all listened. "

Dealers hope that Qoros can make good use of existing dealer resources. One dealer supports another, and there is a market for dealers to survive. If there is a market, there will be more dealers willing to come in, from small to large.

Dealer B talked more about Qoros 7: "I looked at the new car as a whole and it was very good. Guanzhi's appearance was very strong from the beginning. Now you can see that the appearance of Qoros 3 is not backward. Some people used to say that the interior didn't feel. I carefully read Guanzhi 7 and I feel very conscience as a whole. "

Dealers believe: "All dealers recognize the quality of Guanzhi and have a good appearance. The key is the price. If the price of new cars is relatively close to the people, the market will definitely open. One more thing, old car owners are fundamental, so we must give them a good replacement price. The cars before Qoros were 6,543.8+0.6 million and 6,543.8+0.7 million, and the residual value was relatively low. If it is subsidized, let the old car owners enjoy the discount first and let the dealers make money. I think there is no problem in opening the market. "

The following is an excerpt from an interview with Otani Mingjun.

Last job, do something interesting.

Q: Why did you return to China to work and choose to join Baoneng Automobile Group?

Otani Mingjun: This year is my 40th year in the automobile industry. Judging from my age, Baoneng Automobile Group should be my last job in my life. The last job must be to do the most interesting things.

As the last and most interesting thing, I chose China instead of staying in Japan or the United States. As mentioned just now, China is already the first automobile market in the world, and it is the bridgehead of rapid changes in the global automobile market. In this ever-changing market, Baoneng Automobile Group has its own unique characteristics, and then it will be a fast-growing and growing company.

Yao Zhenhua, chairman of Baoneng Group, is a very influential person. He dares to think, do and take responsibility, especially his determination and courage to build a car, which makes me very moved. Baoneng Group has three strategies: manufacturing Baoneng, technology Baoneng and people's livelihood Baoneng. "Manufacturing Baoneng" is at the top of the three strategies, among which the automobile industry is the first core industry of the "manufacturing Baoneng" strategy. At the same time, due to the high-tech and people's livelihood attributes of the automobile industry, it can be said that it fully carries the "three treasures" strategy.

I feel younger working in a changing market like China and a fast-growing company like Baoneng. So now, people who meet for the first time say that I am about 40 years old. Of course, I am still busy at work every day, but it is very interesting. I can still do such interesting things at my age, so I think I made the right choice this time.

Q: What changes do you think have taken place in the China market compared with 10 years ago?

Toshimi Otani: The most obvious difference between China market and 10 years ago is that the product quality has been greatly improved.

In addition, the competition in China market is more intense than before 10. China market is the bridgehead of global automobile industry reform. The case of "new four modernizations" (? "In touch? Networking "and" autonomy "? Smart ","sharing? * * * Enjoy "harmony" electricity? The trend of electrification in China market is very obvious. Although I have worked in the automobile industry for 40 years, it is the first time that I have experienced such great changes.

The changes involved in the new four modernizations are also the relationship between suppliers and OEMs. In the past, there was a triangular relationship between first-class suppliers and second-class suppliers on the host computer. The current situation is that the level of suppliers producing batteries and electronic control components has been equal to that of the main engine factory, and some are even stronger, which has surpassed that of the main engine factory. From the perspective of autonomous driving, enterprises with autonomous driving technology are constantly surpassing the OEM, so the composition of the whole industry is constantly changing.

Customers are also changing. In the past, customers were most interested in cars, which engines were installed and how much horsepower they had. But now customers pay more attention to whether the shape of the car is good enough, as well as the ease of use of the central control panel and intelligent network connection system, and whether it is as simple as a mobile phone. Of course, the constant demand of customers is to attach importance to the quality of cars. It used to pay attention to quality, but now it still pays attention to quality, which is also the consistent advantage of Qoros.

In this transformation, the biggest challenge for me is to get rid of the shackles of my past experience on my own thoughts. For example, it used to take 30 months to develop a car, which is common sense. But in this era, customers are not willing to wait that long, so how can we shorten it to 20 months? This is a challenge. In the near future, cars will launch new products every year, just like mobile phones. Therefore, in 10, the automobile products themselves are changing, the customers are changing, and the automobile industry is also changing.

Guanzhi lives on two points.

Q: The competition in the domestic market is so fierce that many new car-making forces have withdrawn from the market, and many big brands have also shouted the slogan of "live". As Baoneng Automobile Group and Qoros Automobile, how to survive and even stand out in the fierce competition?

Otani Mingjun: In my opinion, looking at the current automobile market in China, no automobile company has such diversified industries as Qoros. Different from Geely and the Great Wall, and also different from the new car-making forces from the Internet field, Baoneng Group has long been a diversified industrial group. Its four major industrial sectors, namely high-end manufacturing, international logistics, property development and people's livelihood services, have great imagination for the integration and cooperation between each sector and the automobile industry.

For example, the auto parts industry under Baoneng's Zhongju Gaoxin, Shaoneng Co., Ltd. and CSG Group cooperates with vehicle manufacturing, such as the cooperation between international logistics business and automobile logistics warehousing, such as the cooperation between comprehensive development (real estate) and automobile sales network and charging network, such as the cooperation between people's livelihood service sector and automobile industry.

The synergistic effect of various sectors has already appeared in Qoros, such as the effect of Guangzhou Baoneng Qoros Cultural Center on brand rejuvenation, such as the boosting effect of Baoneng's properties on Qoros sales network, such as the travel business collaboration between Li Anyun * * and Qoros, such as CN95 air conditioning filter jointly developed by Baoneng Medical and Health Industry and Qoros * * and the active air management system to be installed on Qoros 7. ...

All in all, I think the biggest feature and competitive advantage of Baoneng Automobile and Qoros Automobile lies in the synergistic effect of diversified industries of Baoneng Group, which has great imagination.

Another point is that the automobile industry needs a lot of investment. Baoneng has abundant funds, which is a strong support for us. With regard to the research and development of spare parts just mentioned, apart from several listed companies under Baoneng (Zhongju Gaoxin, Shaoneng and CSG), Baoneng Automobile Group has also built its own Peng Hongxin Energy and Jin Woo New Energy to develop power batteries, motors and electronic controls respectively.

In terms of vehicle R&D, we have Shanghai (Qoros) Research Institute, Guangzhou Research Institute, Xi 'an Research Institute, Shenzhen Research Institute and Japan R&D Center for Battery and New Energy, and we also plan to establish R&D centers in Silicon Valley and Europe. Therefore, we are now recruiting R&D personnel on a large scale. We hope to recruit 20,000 people in five years, and now there are more than 2,000.

Baoneng Automobile Group will focus on new energy smart cars, covering the entire industrial chain ecosystem of "smart cars" such as power batteries, research and development of core components, automobile sales and after-market services, automobile finance, and * * * enjoyment of travel. The goal is to become a leading domestic automobile manufacturer, mobile travel and integrated service provider through the efforts of 10- 15 years. Baoneng Group's strong financial strength is a powerful guarantee for the ultimate realization of this goal.

There were three problems in the past.

Q:? Guanzhi 7 is a new beginning. How much does the new senior management team know about the company's history? What is the main reason for the unsuccessful first stage of Qoros?

Otani Mingjun: I think there are three reasons for the lack of success in the past. First of all, in the research and development of new products, the investment in Qoros was relatively small in the past, which led to the slow progress of new models. From Qoros 3, Qoros 5 and Qoros 7, a brand-new model is launched every three or four years. Secondly, the service for consumers who have already purchased Guan3 and Guan5 may also be lacking. In addition, there may be some shortcomings in the management of the whole company, and it is not managed in an advanced way.

After the strategic investment of Baoneng Group was realized, targeted improvement measures were taken to solve these problems. On the management side, Mr. Kazuo Yasushima, the current CEO (president), was previously responsible for the global development director of the new energy vehicle business of Nissan-Renault Alliance. In addition to technical expertise, he also introduced some excellent management concepts into the management, and penetrated the "lean management" concept of Japanese car companies, which led to the Qoros 7 model.

Of course, our management team has a good match, an international vision and local talents who are familiar with the China market. For example, Mr. Xu Jianming and Mr. Xu Jianming, executive vice presidents, have more than 30 years' experience in the automobile industry in Dongfeng Motor Company and are very familiar with the situation in China.

Mr. Bai Xianxiang, our CTO and president of Qoros Automotive Research Institute, has 65,438+07 years of working experience in American General Motors and 65,438+03 years of working experience in China SAIC, BAIC and Qoros Automotive. Mr. Gong Fengyou, our vice president of design, worked in the headquarters of PSA Group and served as the design director of PSA Asia-Pacific R&D Center in China for a long time.

In fact, personally, no matter which country, Japan or Germany, as long as he is good at this job, he will assign them to do it. A few days ago, I interviewed a candidate in autonomous driving, who is an Indian. Therefore, the employment concept of Baoneng and Guanzhi is to appoint talents regardless of nationality.

In the research and development of new products, Baoneng invested more than 20 billion after strategic investment. In addition to solving some problems left over from history, most of the funds were invested in product research and development. In addition to the launch of Qoros 7 this year, new cars and REV (Extended Range Electric Vehicle) new energy products will be launched next year.

Starting from Qoros 7, the pace of product upgrading will be accelerated, and the pace of launching new models of 1-2 every year will be maintained. By 2025, the coverage of cars, SUVs to MPV, traditional fuel vehicles to new energy vehicles, and A0-class to B-class vehicles will be realized, providing consumers with more comprehensive and rich product choices.

Behind the accelerated pace of product renewal is the gradual accumulation and effect of Baoneng Empowerment for more than two years. Automobile is a long-term industry, which needs long-term continuous investment; With the continuous injection of Baoneng Group's resources, Qoros Automobile is gradually coming out of the "tunnel" period, and the pace of mass production of new products has obviously accelerated. We will continue to enrich the product range to meet the increasing automobile consumption demand of China consumers.

In terms of service, for a long time, a problem that Qoros brand has encountered is that the channel network is not perfect enough. Consumers can't buy Qoros cars if they want to, or worry about after-sales maintenance services. At present, Baoneng Automobile Group is rapidly promoting the strategy of direct sales stores in blank areas with large market capacity, no layout of Qoros and difficulties in dealer development.

At the same time, Qoros is also actively helping existing distributors and expanding new distributors to enter the network. In the past, it took 3-4 years for Qoros to launch a brand-new model, and it was difficult for dealers to operate in a comprehensive and healthy way. However, recently, many dealers expressed their willingness to cooperate with us for a long time after their partners saw the real car of Qoros 7 and learned about our new car planning.

At present, there are more than 170 stores in the Qoros dealer network composed of Baoneng automobile direct stores and independent dealers, and this number is still growing. As far as Qoros is concerned, OEMs treat all channels equally, which is an important channel for us to link consumers. I believe that with our sales network gradually covering the major markets in China, consumers' original worries will no longer exist, which will help to increase consumers' contact with the Qoros brand and boost consumers' confidence in the Qoros brand.

Q: You have been working in Baoneng Automobile Group for half a year. What have you done in the past six months?

Otani Mingjun: Of course, the most important task in the past six months is to coordinate the resources of the entire Baoneng Automobile Group and even Baoneng Group, and fully support the mass production and listing of the new Qoros 7. In addition, in the past six months, I have adjusted the research and development and quality management system of Baoneng Automobile Group, which I believe will have a longer-term effect on the whole automobile sector.

In terms of R&D system, we have Guangzhou Research Institute, Xi 'an Research Institute, Shenzhen Research Institute (global R&D headquarters), Shanghai Research Institute (Qoros) and Japan Battery and New Energy R&D Center. Because there are more and more models under Qoros and Baoneng Automobile Group, and the most important thing is generalization, I changed the original system of division of labor according to projects into the system of division of labor according to parts. For example, there will be a unified person in charge of the whole seat, so that it can be universal. Of course, the seat will change with different models, but the seat frame and pulley inside can be universal. If it can't be generalized, it can't be cost optimized.

In addition, the most important brand asset of Qoros Automobile is quality, and Mr. Yao Zhenhua has very high quality requirements for the whole Baoneng Automobile Group. Recently, I have adjusted the quality management system, and the unified team is responsible for the supplier quality control of different projects to ensure that different projects and different models can ensure the same high quality requirements.

We have just arrived at Baoneng Automobile for half a year, and we still have a lot of work to do. We also welcome more and more talents to join Qoros and Baoneng Automobile Group to create brilliant career with us in this changing era.

This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.