bookbashuk #418 - Debut
#418 - Debut
Geng Pusheng had not anticipated that they would first sign exclusive distribution agreements with Austria and Germany.
After multiple rounds of negotiations and approval from within their families, Watermann and Johann successfully secured five-year exclusive agency rights, in exchange for a 25% discount on the wholesale price and full-year advertising support.
Watermann pledged to establish no fewer than 50 4S stores in Germany in the initial phase, ensuring that each state would have at least three 4S stores, with plans to build a cumulative total of no less than 150 4S stores within the next five years.
For Austria, Johann promised to build one 4S store in each major city in the first phase, with plans to build one 4S store in each of Austria's 84 districts within the next five years.
According to the current automotive dealership system, distributors typically receive wholesale prices ranging from 60% to 80% of the retail price, with lower discounts for more popular vehicles.
However, in the case of exclusive dealerships, the discount is more dependent on the amount of resources invested by both parties.
Geng Pusheng and his team were willing to provide nationwide advertising support, and therefore made significant concessions in terms of discounts.
From the perspective of both parties' resource investment, the commitments were considerable.
Watermann and Johann needed to invest significant capital in building 4S stores, while the manufacturer represented by Geng Pusheng needed to be responsible for advertising and promotion, a cost that was also substantial.
After reaching a consensus, they quickly agreed on this aspect.
The product image shaping strategy proposed by Geng Pusheng and his team had been determined to be fully controlled by the manufacturer.
This significantly reduced the distributors' investment in this area, thereby saving a considerable amount of capital.
When calculating sales revenue, both parties would carefully account for these investments and ultimately confirm them.
Although the overall sales volume at the sales end could only be estimated at present, the quantity of inputs could be clearly calculated.
This was the disadvantage of terminal control of the manufacturer that Ren Zhong was extremely keen to avoid.
Therefore, in terms of advertising, Dongda's car manufacturers would resolutely not give up this initiative, even if someone was willing to pay more money to exchange for this authority, they would not agree.
. . .
Ren Zhong didn't expect to solve the problem with just one exhibition, so the dealership breakthroughs in Austria and Germany were unexpected surprises for him.
However, this world is not short of smart people who can see Dongda's determination and ability in this regard through these few cars, and rush to enter the game to take a position.
These two countries are both key targets in Europe, and Germany is also a major automobile power.
Watermann's move is not just about agency rights, but also the industry's recognition of Dongda Motors, so in the following investment promotion work, with their two demonstrations, the market development of the other key countries in the future will become easier.
For distributors, their biggest profit driver is to follow the market, otherwise, falling behind in the competition may lead to falling behind step by step.
Watermann and Johann are not doing charity either.
As one of the largest car sales channels in their respective countries, their biggest purpose in coming to car shows every time is to discover the next best-selling car products.
In this way, perhaps they can take the opportunity to do something in the middle.
After Ren Zhong gathered the information from the front line, he slowly formed a new plan.
"Let our overseas missions participate and elevate the level and significance of this first car sales cooperation?"
Staff Officer Ye's eyes lit up when he saw Ren Zhong's new plan.
He didn't expect the car export plan to achieve results so quickly.
Staff Officer Ye naturally very much approved of Ren Zhong's plan.
"That's right, the attention and attractiveness of our products at this Watch Country Exhibition have already been demonstrated.
Germany and Austria are both important car markets in Europe, and also benchmark countries.
Our opening up to the outside world has always had a relatively single product type.
If we take advantage of this car's export to further introduce the cooperation between the two sides into the field of high-end industrial products, this is a landmark event for us to join the Blue Star economic integration.
I think it is very necessary for our mission and the German and Austrian missions to witness the signing of this cooperation agreement."
Ren Zhong wanted to take advantage of Dongda's car booth to turn the tables against the wind in extremely unfavorable circumstances, and hold a high-profile signing ceremony during the exhibition to spread the influence of this cooperation.
"There is no problem with our cooperation here.
I will coordinate diplomatic communications with the missions of these two countries and try my best to facilitate this matter.
However, I believe that under the current legal framework in Europe, highlighting exclusive suppliers is somewhat inconsistent with the current social competition situation.
I suggest that both parties name this cooperation as a strategic partnership, and as for future third-party distributors who want to join, we entrust these two to apply and manage.
This will have the effect of substantive cooperation between the two parties."
Staff Officer Ye suggested.
"That's right, in this way, the positive significance of our cooperation will be even stronger."
After listening to Staff Officer Ye's suggestion, Ren Zhong felt that the plan was more perfect.
Originally, he wanted the missions of Germany, Austria, and Dongda in Watch Country to attend the signing ceremony of this exclusive distribution agreement together, to maximize the official endorsement attribute.
Now, after Staff Officer Ye changed it like this, it seemed to be more justified.
For foreign cooperation matters, it is indeed necessary to grasp the name well, especially the national conditions between different countries.
Ren Zhong does not yet have a deep understanding of these things, so omissions are inevitable.
"If our signing ceremony can be broadcast live or rebroadcast to Europe, that would be even better."
Ren Zhong said, "The influence of traditional paper media is now declining, and the influence of television media is constantly increasing.
The penetration rate of televisions in Europe is already relatively high.
If we can promote the mainstream television media in Germany and Austria to broadcast this signing ceremony live, that would be ideal."
"Old Brother Ren, you have given us a difficult problem,"
Staff Officer Ye smiled wryly when he heard this new request.
It was really difficult to have a television broadcast for a ceremony of this level.
"Perhaps we can hold a car premiere to promote this matter."
Ren Zhong didn't think about doing such a high-profile event with just a signing ceremony.
"Our Golf GTI now has real car driving ability.
We can find a track locally for a premiere, so the gimmick of Dongda Motors' world premiere should make the TV station willing to broadcast it live."
"But, can our products withstand such a high-profile performance?"
Staff Officer Ye was a little worried.
"We don't compete with other models, we just run a lap around the track ourselves to show off the performance of our car.
I don't think there is a problem with this,"
Ren Zhong was very confident in his car.
Although the Golf hasn't undergone too many extreme tests yet, a lot of effort has been put into the chassis and power, giving the Golf GTI a certain racing foundation.
“I suggest we do some tests at home first before we talk about this. A live TV broadcast has a huge impact. If something abnormal happens, it will be difficult for us to recover the influence,” Chief of Staff Ye said, this time with genuine hesitation.
“Alright, we’ve already mass-produced a batch of GTIs. We can have a few Golf GTIs with the strongest engine tested at home,” Ren Zhong readily agreed.
Soon, the results of the track tests came out. All four randomly selected Golf GTIs successfully completed the straight-line acceleration test with a maximum speed of 195 kilometers per hour. During the track runs, they all performed well without any abnormalities. To ensure everything was foolproof, the headquarters even airlifted one engine and four new tires as backups. The automotive support team will modify the Golf into the strongest high-spec GTI version after the exhibition, and hire a race car driver locally to complete the first track debut of the Golf GTI.
Since they weren't particularly concerned about the results, everyone believed that as long as the Golf GTI could reach a top speed of 195 kilometers per hour on the racetrack, it would be enough to gain the attention it deserved.
Therefore, finding a race car driver wasn't difficult. Soon after the exhibition ended, Geng Pusheng and his team thoroughly inspected the prototype car and sent it to a local racetrack for testing. As expected, this Golf, after being equipped with the top-spec engine, easily reached a top speed of 200 kilometers per hour under the driver's control!
Even better than their own test results!
Of course, this may also be because ordinary drivers were used in their own tests. Currently, Dongda doesn't have any racing programs.
With this confidence, Chief of Staff Ye fully promoted the launch of Dongda's mass-produced cars on the racetrack and the signing ceremony with the first batch of strategic partners in Europa.
Ultimately, they secured a ten-minute TV special opportunity from ARD television.
A live broadcast was impossible, but as an important collaboration between Dongda and Europa, a special feature was qualified.
Ren Zhong was slightly disappointed, but for Waterman and Johann, this news was extraordinary!
Hearing that they would sign the agreement on television with the witness of the delegation, each of them was almost ecstatic!
If they had been optimistic about Dongda's product strength itself before, they had now witnessed that Dongda people were also very bold and proactive in publicity and operation. Coordinating media like ARD was not something that could be achieved simply by agreeing to invest some advertising resources.
Behind it, there must also be the promotion of Dongda's top-level resources.
Therefore, in this preemptive move, Waterman and Johann took the lead.
The newest novel is first published on [6][9][shu][ba].
These resources will continuously transform into the competitiveness of Dongda's products in the future.
When competing in the Europa automobile market, product strength and product brand shaping capabilities cannot be underestimated. The product strength of the product itself is the foundation. If this is not good, no amount of advertising will help. In Europa, the birthplace of automobiles, many consumers understand automobiles.
It is impossible to create a few best-selling products simply by boasting through advertising.
. . .
The television special was a resounding success. Under the spotlight, the Golf GTI lived up to expectations, instantly achieving top speed for mass-produced small cars with its excellent performance, astonishing the audience both on site and in front of the television!
This performance gave the two major distributors, Waterman and Johann, even more confidence. They knew that for a new car, nothing could be a more powerful advertisement than a rally championship.
Judging from this debut, the Golf GTI has already shown the preliminary qualities of a racing car. Waterman and Johann both suggested that the Golf GTI should prepare to participate in a real mass-produced car rally to further enhance its awareness and market influence.
For a new brand, there is no better opportunity to prove itself than on the racetrack. In the fierce competition, the performance and quality of the vehicle will be directly verified, and this is what consumers are most concerned about.
Regarding this suggestion, Geng Pusheng and his team did not dare to agree without authorization, because there were too many things involved, including vehicle preparation, event arrangements, team formation, and so on. However, when Ren Zhong learned of this news, he strongly supported the establishment of a Golf car racing team.
In the main world, the Golf brand itself has such a racing team. They verify the high performance of the GTI version by participating in various competitions, thereby winning consumer trust and making the Golf a best-selling model worldwide. It can be said that establishing a racing team is a necessary path to enhance brand awareness and market influence.
Ren Zhong knew this very well, so he supported this decision without hesitation.
Faced with the wave of enthusiasm sparked by the television station, Dongda Motors seized the opportunity, not only widely promoting the close cooperation with two famous distributors in Austria and Germany through soft advertisements in newspapers and magazines, but also carefully planning a special report on the debut, further igniting market enthusiasm. This wave of warm-up hype quickly spread the name of Dongda Motors within the Europa automotive industry.
After continuing to place hard advertisements on television and professional newspapers and magazines as planned, Dongda Motors successfully attracted widespread attention from the automotive industries of several mainstream target countries in Europa. However, Ren Zhong knew that relying solely on hard advertisements was far from enough. He drew on the successful hype model of the main world and carefully planned a series of compelling hype topics, aiming to further expand the brand influence of Dongda Motors through soft advertisements.
“In-depth exclusive: The past and present of Dongda's automotive industry” deeply explored the development history and behind-the-scenes stories of Dongda Motors, allowing readers to understand the brand's history while also being full of expectations for the future of Dongda Motors. “Revealing the secret, how strong is the Dongda Golf GTI car?” showcased the excellent performance of the Golf GTI through detailed technical analysis and performance test data, stimulating consumers' desire to buy. Articles such as “Passat Luxury Redefined” and “Jetta Sedan New Model” interpreted Dongda Motors' unique understanding of luxury and practicality from different perspectives, further consolidating the brand's position in the hearts of consumers.
These articles, which seemed professional but actually contained soft advertising elements, continuously appeared on the pages of Europa's automotive-related professional newspapers and magazines, allowing Dongda Motors' influence to continue to expand. At the same time, the Dongda automotive industry was also intensively promoting mass production work to ensure that it could meet the strong demand of the market.
In order to further enhance brand awareness and market share, Dongda Motors also plans to continuously participate in several other famous exhibitions in Europa. These exhibitions are not only important platforms for showcasing new products and technologies, but also excellent opportunities to establish contacts with potential customers and partners and expand the market.
From now on, Dongda Motors has officially launched its journey overseas. (End of this chapter)