Wei Jianjun: Straightforward and to the Point

Is the world too crazy, or does Lao Wei just not understand?

On July 1st, Great Wall Motor celebrated its 35th anniversary. In addition to the celebrations at the Baoding headquarters and factories across the country, Wei Jianjun, the chairman of Great Wall Motor, specially released a video appearance, revealing that Great Wall will announce major plans this month.

Five years later, Great Wall has once again reached a crucial juncture in its development. However, compared with the situation five years ago on its 30th anniversary, the circumstances have changed dramatically.

Five years ago in the Chinese auto market, joint - venture brands held a market share as high as 64.3%, comprehensively outperforming domestic independent brands. Great Wall, on the other hand, was in high spirits and was the only independent brand with an upward - trending sales volume against the market trend.

Five years later, the market share ratio between joint - venture and independent brands has reversed, and Great Wall's situation has also changed. On July 1st, Great Wall's sales volume for the first half of the year was announced. Although the year - on - year growth turned positive, there is an obvious gap compared with its former peers.

"Can Great Wall Motor survive next year?" If five years ago, this question was a pre - emptive concern during Great Wall's peak period, then five years later, the outside world is seriously expecting Great Wall to come up with a series of plans to address these concerns.

NO.1

[ Wei Jianjun, the Internet Celebrity, Is Still the Same Wei Jianjun ]

Since Great Wall reported BYD in 2023, in the past two years, Great Wall and Wei Jianjun have been at the forefront of public opinion in the auto industry. The influence is so great that it is the only traditional automaker that can rival Yu Chengdong and Lei Jun. Especially after the "Auto Industry's Evergrande Theory" emerged in May, the controversy and doubts they faced reached a new height.

From being the once - respected "Baoding Car God" to being criticized by opponents as "long - winded" today, some people say that Wei Jianjun is anxious. However, in fact, by comparing his previous interviews, it can be found that he has remained the same over the years.

Why did he choose to report BYD? A senior executive of Great Wall once said that Wei Jianjun's logic is very simple and straightforward - if someone breaks the law, they should be dealt with.

Even in the face of market competition, he has always adhered to this simple, direct, and unyielding logic of "facing the challenge head - on" without taking detours or shortcuts.

Entering the new energy era, Great Wall has been constantly questioned about its slow transformation. In fact, rather than saying that Great Wall was slow to react, it is more accurate to say that in the face of the surging electrification wave and the complex technological crossroads, Wei Jianjun doesn't really believe in overtaking on a curve.

Judging from the sales volume in the first half of this year, the growth of Great Wall's data is actually driven by new energy vehicle models. One of the important reasons why it is considered to be slow in transformation is that while most automakers are fully embracing new energy, Great Wall has been adhering to a development path of multiple technologies advancing simultaneously - even at the end of May, Haval launched a new fuel - powered vehicle.

The fuel - powered version of Haval Raptor launched at the end of May

In the eyes of the outside world, BYD represents engineer culture, and Chery is also known as the "tech - savvy guy", but in essence, Wei Jianjun is the one who wants to prove himself through technology more.

At the Shanghai Auto Show in April, Great Wall surprisingly unveiled the first self - developed 4.0T V8 engine by a Chinese automaker. Although many people said that it doesn't meet market demand at all, Wei Jianjun's joy and pride were very obvious. "I've been in the auto industry all my life, so I have to make a V8." In his mind, he obviously believes that a V8 engine can better prove an automaker's technological strength.

Another example is the pre - sale press conference of WEY's new Gaoshan in April. Great Wall once again shocked the industry by saying, "We'll never make range - extended vehicles." And through a series of data comparisons of driving efficiency, they only wanted to prove a simple logic - since there is a more efficient Hi4 plug - in hybrid system, why use range - extended technology?

From the design concept of Hi4, it can also be seen that Great Wall is different from other brands, especially BYD. The latter maximizes fuel economy through a relatively simple hybrid configuration, while Hi4 uses more complex electric four - wheel drive technology to achieve a balance between performance, safety, and energy consumption.

To some extent, Great Wall even has a preference for complex technologies, and this preference is related to Wei Jianjun's background and experience.

Compared with Li Shufu of Geely and Wang Chuanfu of BYD, Wei Jianjun is the only one who truly started from the auto manufacturing business. He has a deep - seated affection and a more profound understanding of automobiles, especially fuel - powered vehicles.

Compared with Geely's rise relying on Volvo's technology and BYD's overtaking on a curve with new energy technology, Great Wall has experienced competing head - on with joint - venture brands with its own strength in the fuel - powered vehicle era.

NO.2

[ Is the World Too Crazy, or Does Old Wei Just Not Understand? ]

"Why has Great Wall Motor's sales volume been continuously declining?" A highly - voted answer on the Zhihu platform reads: Fundamentally, Great Wall Motor lacks the courage and strength to fight tough battles and confront opponents head - on on the same track... It prefers to switch tracks, find tracks with no competition, and monopolize them.

At first glance, it seems reasonable, but when it comes to the positioning theory itself, there is nothing wrong with this approach. Even for today's top - selling brands in the auto industry like Xiaomi and Li Auto, the reason for their popularity ultimately boils down to the success of product positioning.

It is no exaggeration to say that Great Wall's success in the market over the past 35 years is closely related to the positioning theory of Al Ries, an American marketing master, which Wei Jianjun advocates. From the initial pickup trucks, to the later Haval SUVs, and then to the suddenly - emerged Tank series, Great Wall has always focused on its own advantages and explored new tracks from them.

In recent years, they have also been adhering to this path. For example, as the competition in the urban SUV market where Haval H6 is located became increasingly fierce in previous years, Great Wall launched Haval Big Dog and began to focus on the light - off - road market. Ora, which follows a pure - electric route, also came up with the label of "exclusively for women" to be quickly recognized by the market.

Returning to the issue of Great Wall's fluctuating sales volume, a more direct factor is actually related to the crazy price war in the industry. Because Great Wall's principle is: from fuel - powered vehicles to plug - in hybrids and then to pure - electric vehicles, it will not sell cars at a loss in any market.

Take Ora as an example. Five years ago, Ora's Black Cat and White Cat, positioned as high - quality small cars, had a very good market at the beginning. At that time, Geely's Xingyuan and BYD's Seagull had not been launched yet, but later they took completely different paths. Facing rising costs, Great Wall was reluctant to bear losses, so the Black Cat and White Cat were directly discontinued. To maintain the brand's development, Ora found a new way and entered the women - oriented market.

The announcement of discontinuing Ora's Black Cat and White Cat in early 2022

Judging from the subsequent sales volume, Ora's choice was equivalent to missing the opportunity. On the contrary, Xingyuan and Seagull overcame the initial losses, and now the sales volume of a single model is several times that of Ora.

But is it wrong to sacrifice sales volume to maintain profit? Employees of Great Wall offer another perspective.

In recent years, the sales volume of WEY and Ora has not been prosperous. However, because Great Wall did not sell cars at a loss, the employees' treatment has not been affected and has even increased steadily. In this highly competitive era, this actually surpasses many enterprises.

So, is it that the industry is too crazy, or is Great Wall's strategy falling behind the times? Everyone can make their own judgment.

NO.3

[ Some New Adjustments in 2025 ]

As the first half of the year was coming to an end, Great Wall issued an announcement that Lü Wenbin, the former CTO of Haval, would take over as the general manager of the Ora brand. Subsequently, the 2025 Ora Good Cat was launched, with the price dropping below 80,000 yuan. This is also the first time in three years since the discontinuation of the Black Cat and White Cat that Ora's product price range has returned below 100,000 yuan.

Behind the price cut, it's not that Great Wall has decided to sell cars at a loss. The fundamental reason is the decline in battery prices, making it profitable to sell electric vehicles.

On the same day, Great Wall held a mid - year strategic communication meeting for dealers in Baoding. One of the core topics was to revitalize Ora. According to dealers, in the future, Ora's sales channels will be re - established independently; multiple SUV models will be added to the product lineup. Even the brand positioning will continue to be innovated to be more unique, technological, and hardcore.

In short, Great Wall, which once missed the new energy opportunity, is going to play the pure - electric card again.

Plug - in hybrids also remain a key area for Great Wall's development. In the first half of this year, Wei Jianjun has devoted the most energy to the WEY brand named after him. He not only attended every press conference but also most of his live - streaming appearances were related to WEY.

In May last year, Great Wall's direct - sales channel, "Great Wall Smart Choice", officially opened for business. In one year, it expanded to more than 400 stores across the country. In the initial plan, this channel was designed for two mid - to high - end brands, WEY and Tank. However, in May this year, in order to fully develop the WEY brand, Tank began to withdraw from this channel, and "Great Wall Smart Choice" started to serve only the WEY brand. Feng Fuzhi, the person in charge of Great Wall Smart Choice and also the new CEO of the WEY brand, is the only senior executive among Great Wall's several brands who did not grow up within the Great Wall system.

A Great Wall Smart Choice store in a shopping mall

Three years ago, when the WEY brand officially announced its transition from fuel - powered to plug - in hybrid vehicles, AutoReport once recorded Wei Jianjun's evaluation of his own products in the article "Wei Jianjun Is Unconvinced": There is nothing wrong with the products, and every technology is top - notch. It's just the marketing that is inadequate.

This year, Feng Fuzhi's appointment proves that Great Wall is deliberately integrating the sales and product systems in the organizational structure, breaking free from blind confidence in technology, and enabling the closed - off product development team to directly listen to the voices from the market and users.

Judging from Great Wall's previous product planning, the second half of this year will be a long - awaited product - rich period for Great Wall:

The Tank 800 is expected to launch both a fuel - powered version and a Hi4 - T version simultaneously; the flagship SUV of the WEY brand will be launched, competing with the Li L9 and the AITO M9; Ora, which is back on track, will also launch two new pure - electric vehicle models.

It's still hard to tell whether the major plans previewed by Wei Jianjun can revitalize Great Wall, whether it's just a gimmick or real strength. But at least it seems that Great Wall, which adheres to principles and doesn't take detours, is not standing still.

This article is from the WeChat official account "AutoReport", author: Wu Xue. Republished by 36Kr with permission.