Why does the so-called "nationally beloved car" jointly developed by three parties keep having problems?
From the official announcement of the cooperation to the pre - sale with pricing, and then to the refund storm, every milestone of the Aian UT super, the "people's good car" jointly launched by JD.com, GAC, and CATL, has attracted much attention.
In terms of division of labor, JD.com is responsible for customer acquisition, online sales (the only sales channel), finance, insurance and other services for the Aian UT super; GAC is in charge of product manufacturing, offline test drives, and delivery; while CATL is responsible for battery and battery - swapping related services.
It seems that each partner is in charge of the business they are best at, and it was expected to generate multiplied profits. However, the wave of order cancellations and complaints on the Internet indicates that the current cooperation among the three parties is still in a running - in stage where 1+1+1 < 1.
On December 1st, GAC, CATL, and JD.com jointly organized a face - to - face "listening to advice" symposium for Aian UT super users called "Users Have Their Say". The three parties responded to several most controversial issues.
The first issue is the discrepancy between the actual configuration and the promotion. Many users found that there was a sunroof in the promotional pictures of the Aian UT super, but after placing an order, they found that the actual configuration did not include a sunroof, which left consumers in a state of confusion and anger.
Yang Long, the vice - president of GAC Group's Aian BU and the chief user officer of the Aian brand, responded to this. He said that the promotional picture users saw was a "sunroof picture" that appeared in the introduction of the tri - party cooperation ecosystem content on the Aian community. It was a mistake in content review, and it was discovered and corrected immediately three days after the product launch. A self - inspection of all official content was also completed. Aian deeply apologized for this. Since the launch day, it can be clearly seen in the product configuration tables on various platforms of the three parties that there is no sunroof configuration.
The second issue is the mileage limit for the battery - rental version. Some users found after placing an order that the monthly mileage limit for the battery - rental plan of the Aian UT super is 3000 kilometers, and an additional charge of 0.2 yuan per kilometer will be applied for the excess mileage. This clause was not specifically explained to users, and many consumers were unaware of it when placing an order. Their negative emotions rose after learning about this clause.
In response, Deng Xu, the vice - president of CATL's battery service, said that the 3000 - kilometer basic mileage is formulated based on a large amount of actual vehicle - usage data. The starting point is to let most family users "pay for the mileage they actually use" and truly reduce the vehicle - usage cost. Users don't need to pay extra for personalized or occasional needs, making renting more cost - effective than buying. Regarding more needs, in addition to the policy that the unused mileage can be carried over to the next month, the three parties will also launch a "50 - yuan for 1000 - kilometer" mileage increment package service in December to further expand the coverage of users' travel scenarios.
Users are also quite concerned about the invoicing limit. Since the Aian UT super can only be invoiced in Guangzhou and Shanghai, many consumers are unable to use local regional subsidies, which affects their purchase decisions.
In response to this issue, Lu Huan, the marketing director of JD Auto, said that invoicing in Shanghai and Guangzhou is the result of the joint efforts of the three parties to enable more users to enjoy government subsidy discounts, and it does not affect vehicle registration and insurance in other regions. Regarding the demand of some users for invoices from other regions, the three parties are currently making all - out efforts to promote this. More cities will be added in the near future. In addition, the Guangzhou subsidy will be extended until the end of January next year. All the above specific information can be found on the product details page.
Although some controversial issues have been responded to, the core problem behind this storm has not been solved, which is that the three parties have not established a normalized communication mechanism. As a result, it is not clear which party should solve many problems mentioned by consumers during the communication process. The service personnel of the three parties can only answer a limited number of questions, and even give inconsistent answers on many issues. For example, regarding the configuration of the Aian UT super, some netizens reported that JD's customer service said there was no sunroof or panoramic sunshade, while the Aian 4S store said there was a panoramic sunshade but no sunroof.
Therefore, there are a large number of complaints from users about the customer service: when asked some questions, the customer service remains silent. When pressed further, they give a unified response, and when asked again, they say they have reported it to their superiors. In fact, they cannot answer users' questions, which instead makes users extremely resistant and causes a large number of potential users to be lost. In the eyes of many consumers, the three parties in the cooperation "pass the buck" before sales, and the after - sales service is even less trustworthy.
Lu Huan said at the symposium: "We really didn't do a good job in the customer service experience of JD.com. There are problems with the accuracy of the feedback. To be honest, we have been improving, but the speed of improvement is not as expected by everyone... The three parties will quickly form a rapid training system and strive to provide a good after - sales experience for future car owners and everyone within one or two weeks."
From this statement, it can be seen that the current solutions are still of a short - term and quick - fix nature, while what can really reassure consumers is the long - term communication mechanism among the three parties.
The problems encountered by the "people's good car" are also the problems faced by many automobile cooperation projects. For example, in the case of Chinese - branded cars, the Zhijie S7 was involved in a controversy last year due to delivery issues. According to media reports, Huawei did not even have access to Chery's production scheduling plan at that time. This year, some models of Voyah began to be equipped with Huawei's Hongmeng cockpit, but the iteration rhythm of the Hongmeng cockpit is not fully understood. More commonly, there are often unclear responsibilities and inconsistent statements between automakers and dealers. The information gap causes these products to be unable to answer consumers' questions, thus undermining the trust relationship.
Despite the many problems that have emerged during the running - in period, it cannot be denied that the Aian UT super has indeed brought positive returns to the partners. Sales staff at Aian stores in Guangzhou and Shenzhen told "Power Plant" that after the launch of the Aian UT super, the footfall at their stores has increased significantly. A salesperson at a Guangzhou store said that the footfall has now reached a stable state, and there will be 1 - 2 customers visiting the store offline to inquire about the Aian UT super every day.
However, this boost has not spread to third - and fourth - tier cities. Sales staff in Shaoguan, Guangdong and Hengyang, Hunan told "Power Plant" that there has been no obvious change in the footfall at their stores. One reason is that although some stores in these areas have the functions of introduction and delivery, there are no actual vehicles in the stores. A salesperson at an Aian store in Shaoguan said that there is currently no exhibition vehicle in the store, and customers cannot test - drive the Aian UT super. The arrival time of the new car has not been determined, and they can only use the ordinary Aian UT as a substitute for the experience.
But it is certain that Aian stores have carried out relevant training for sales staff specifically for the Aian UT super model. The training intensity is the same as that for other models, and there is no "neglect" situation. Even a salesperson in Hengyang said that the store will give priority to customers interested in the Aian UT super.
In addition, the widely - spread statement on the Internet that "sales staff are indifferent because there is no commission for the Aian UT super" is not accurate. "Power Plant" confirmed from multiple sales staff that there is a delivery commission for the Aian UT super, about 400 yuan per vehicle, but it is lower than that of other models.
On December 1st, the 1000th vehicle delivery ceremony of the Aian UT super was held, marking that this model has officially entered a new stage of large - scale delivery. As a model exclusively sold by JD.com, nearly 99% of the vehicles delivered in the first week were sold through JD's online channel. As an innovative project in the automotive e - commerce field, compared with the previous cooperation frictions, the subsequent performance of the Aian UT super is more worthy of attention.
This article is from the WeChat official account "Power Plant", author: Zhai Fangxue. It is published by 36Kr with authorization.