No one is more suitable for manufacturing motorcycles than Wei Jianjun.
The Great Wall Soul Delivery Ceremony (Source: Official Enterprise)
In 2024, under the sales anxiety of auto companies, the most obvious is the increasingly serious traffic anxiety.
Lei Jun fired the "first shot" for auto company bosses to get involved in the involution (a Chinese term referring to intense internal competition), leading a group of auto company bigwigs who used to give directions and make decisions behind the scenes to personally get involved in tests, live broadcasts, and bringing goods..., sparing no effort to build their personal IP and establish their personas, just to tell consumers one point: "I know cars better than others."
The Great Wall Soul Delivery Ceremony (Source: Official Enterprise)
Interestingly, under the IP comments of these bigwigs, you will find another word to describe their content, that is, "abstract". Some live-streamed "illegal speeding" to test the performance of their own products, and some live-streamed "having hot pot in the car" to show the usage scenarios of the products, etc. Everyone is imitating Lei Jun, but few can surpass Lei Jun. In the end, it is their own PR teams that suffer.
But there is a person who, even after passing the age of sixty, is still fighting on the front line. With a tall and straight posture, dressed in a capable outfit and classic "yellow boots", he often appears in the public eye. He is straightforward with pride, and yet the pride shows his authenticity. If Lei Jun has won over more young people with his own charm, then Wei Jianjun has won over more "old-timers" with his tough-guy spirit. In this era where traffic is king, he chooses to do the most difficult thing to compete with this era, insisting on the product first, and then talking about traffic.
Wei Jianjun's Press Conference Speech (Source: Official Enterprise)
「A Billion-Dollar Bet on "Heavy Motorcycle", Not Just for Sentiment」
In the end of the year in Beijing, although it is cold, the sun is still shining brightly. On this supposedly cozy Saturday, the "low roars" of engines broke the silence. For Wei Jianjun, this is a very important day at the end of 2024, because he is going to attend the delivery ceremony of the first batch of Great Wall Soul S2000 owners in Beijing and personally hand over the keys to each owner. This is very rare in the history of Great Wall product launches. The last delivery ceremony that Wei Jianjun personally attended was for the Tank 700, a hardcore luxury SUV with a starting price of nearly 500,000 yuan. It can be seen that the status of the Soul S2000 in Wei Jianjun's heart is self-evident.
Soul S2000 Leaving the Factory (Source: Official Enterprise)
The motorcycle market in China has already entered a blue ocean market. In 2023, the total sales of motorcycles in China was 18.9907 million units, with a year-on-year decrease of 11.34%. On the one hand, the market is constantly being penetrated by "electric motorcycles", and the sales of fuel motorcycles are even more precarious (a Chinese idiom meaning in a precarious situation), becoming more and more like toys. On the other hand, the unfriendly policies and public opinions have led to motorcycles being perceived by the public as being niche, not to mention the market for "heavy motorcycles", the pearl of the motorcycle industry.
Honda Gold Wing (Source: Official Enterprise Website)
According to the feedback from the Great Wall Soul team, when they were initially researching the target competitor of the Soul S2000, the Honda Gold Wing, and found out that only 28 units were sold in a year, their team gasped in astonishment. Another "heavy motorcycle" classic product, the BMW R18, has its price in China dropping again and again. Whether it is the Honda Gold Wing with a price of more than 400,000 yuan or the BMW R18 with a price close to 300,000 yuan, the entry threshold for users is very high. Can the Soul S2000 with a starting price of 200,000 yuan really make it?
Soul Beijing Flagship Store (Source: Official Enterprise)
But Wei Jianjun doesn't think so; "If we are going to do it, we must do something different from others. Great Wall has more than 30 years of car-making experience and technical accumulation, and is fully capable of making a heavy motorcycle that makes motorcycle enthusiasts proud. Chinese people should have their own high-end motorcycle brand." So Wei Jianjun personally took the lead, forming (a Chinese verb meaning to form or establish) a research and development team of more than 3,000 people, spending 6 years and 1 billion yuan to create an 8-cylinder "heavy motorcycle" that is unprecedented and will likely have no successor.
Wei Jianjun who makes cars is Lao Wei, but Wei Jianjun who makes motorcycles is called "Brother Jun" by motorcycle enthusiasts.
From its first appearance in May this year to the originally scheduled listing and delivery in July, and finally to the end of December, the delivery time of the Soul S2000 has been constantly delayed. The Great Wall team members helplessly explained, "There is no way, Mr. Wei's requirements are too high, and we are constantly debugging." It is often seen in the online exposure pictures that Wei Jianjun rides it back and forth between Shizhuang Village and the Great Wall headquarters.
In addition to Wei Jianjun's insistence, the Soul team is also in a "last-ditch battle". As the first product of Soul, the definition of S2000 is not only about the product, but also about the brand. How to successfully brand the target users with a "high-end label" is also something the Soul team needs to consider. Just like Mercedes-Benz always likes to start with the S-Class when releasing a new generation of design language, and finally to the C-Class, so that people who buy the S-Class will not feel that they have bought a large C-Class, and people who buy the C-Class will not feel that they have bought a small S-Class. And the S2000 is the S-Class of Soul.
Soul S2000 Experiment (Source: Official Enterprise)
So the Soul S2000 can only succeed and not fail for the Great Wall Soul. The entire team has undergone a large number of vehicle-level mechanical tests, simulated 290-kilometer high-speed loop tests in the Xushui Proving Ground, and carried out unlimited tests in vehicle-level professional proving grounds such as the plateau simulation cabin, vibration bench, EMC electromagnetic compatibility, and vehicle NVH test cabin. In short, the Soul S2000 in Wei Jianjun's heart is not just for his "sentiment", but more to show his pride in Great Wall and confidence in technical accumulation.
「Making Cars Opens a "Second Curve" for Making Motorcycles」
In financial research reports, brokerage analysts like to use the concept of "second curve" to describe the second growth stage that enterprises open up with new businesses, products or models. The core of the "second curve" is to timely start a new growth point before the first curve declines to avoid the decline and stagnation of the enterprise. Obviously, making motorcycles is not the "second curve" in terms of business profits and market space compared to making cars for Great Wall. However, in terms of technology and confidence, making cars does indeed open a "second curve" for making motorcycles.
The 8-cylinder engine and 8DCT gearbox of the Great Wall Soul are industry-first and even China-first. Throughout the 20 years of the development of large-displacement motorcycles in China, there are only a few that can make a good motorcycle engine with a displacement level above 500cc. In contrast, in foreign countries, whether it is Honda's Gold Wing or BMW's R18, the shadows of "car-making" are inseparable behind these two classic products.
Soul S2000 (Source: Official Enterprise)
The Soul S2000 is no exception. When Wei Jianjun talked about the 8-cylinder horizontally opposed engine, he said with emotion: "Motorcycles are a proof of our strength. The 8-cylinder horizontally opposed motorcycle engine is much more difficult than the car engine, but the horizontally opposed is the DNA of the future Soul motorcycle, because Soul wants to give the driver a better sense of control." Indeed, when the 8-cylinder horizontally opposed is placed in the car, the volume and lightweight can not be so concerned, but when placed in the motorcycle, these two are technical difficulties.
Soul S2000 Horizontally Opposed Eight-Cylinder Engine (Source: Official Enterprise)
At the same time, according to the Great Wall Soul engineers, the Soul S2000 has two other highlights. One is that the 8DCT gearbox adopts a dual-shift mechanism, which is more convenient and smoother to operate compared to the single-shift mechanism of the Honda Gold Wing 7DCT. Another highlight is that the Soul S2000 adopts a double-wishbone front suspension, which is developed and produced by the Seiko Chassis under Great Wall Motors. The frame adopts an integrated die-casting process with higher strength and better lightweighting. The overall process level is in line with automotive products.
「This is a "Heavy Motorcycle" More Suitable for Chinese People」
At the delivery ceremony, Wei Jianjun couldn't help but sigh: "As a senior motorcycle enthusiast, after experiencing so many big brand motorcycles, I found that their size designs are not suitable for Chinese people. So at the beginning of the Soul S2000 project, I asked the team to definitely design a motorcycle that everyone can ride." Indeed, after experiencing the Soul S2000, you will find that in many details, Wei Jianjun's national pride is engraved.
Soul S2000 Leaving the Factory (Source: Official Enterprise)
The size standard comes from the body size of Chinese people, and the design concept is derived from the "Chinese Lion Dance". All the research and development of the entire vehicle, from design to implementation, are done by Great Wall itself. The "intelligent cockpit" that Chinese auto companies have played with is also equipped (a Chinese verb meaning to be equipped with) on the Soul S2000. It is hard to imagine that a heavy motorcycle can be equipped with a vehicle-grade 8155 chip, a 12.3-inch vehicle machine screen and voice control, but on the Soul S2000, everything seems so reasonable.
The comfort configurations are countless. Everywhere the body can touch can be heated, with a 360W self-developed speaker, Nappa genuine leather diamond-pattern seat, etc. In short, in the Soul S2000, you can see Wei Jianjun's national pride.
When facing media interviews, Wei Jianjun also frankly admitted (a Chinese verb meaning to frankly admit) that the topicality and attention brought by the Soul motorcycle play an irreplaceable role for the entire Great Wall Motors. He knows that it is difficult for the Soul to achieve profitability in a short period of time, but he also knows that instead of constantly "consuming" himself for marketing in front of the stage, it is better to make a product that can represent himself and stand for himself. So the Soul motorcycle came into being, representing Wei Jianjun's youthful ideals and his love and obsession with machinery.
