At the beginning of the New Year, SAIC ushered in a "good start".

Data show that in January, SAIC achieved the mass sale of 264,000 vehicles, an increase of 7.9%, and the terminal delivery of 353,000 vehicles, leading domestic peers. Among them, the self-owned brand terminal delivered 206,000 units, accounting for the proportion of the group's overall sales increased by nearly 6 percentage points compared with the same period last year; 87,000 new energy vehicle terminals were delivered, continuing to rank in the top camp of the industry; The overseas market withstood external pressure and achieved the terminal delivery of 90,000 vehicles, an increase of 7.8% year-on-year and 12.5% quarter-on-quarter, returning to the industry's leading position.

Corresponding to the increase in sales, the reform of the marketing system is intensifying.

In the past long holiday, Zhu Meiling, general manager of Rongwei Feifan Experience Center in Tianshan Road, Changning, is very busy: on the one hand, to receive the huge traffic of the Spring Festival holiday, on the other hand, the online live broadcast can not stop, and the new media shooting is carried out in the corner of the experience store every day.

Zhu Meiling introduced that this "offline + online" marketing model is an emerging play in China's auto circle in recent years. Through the operation of online accounts, car dealers can break through the restrictions of traditional channels and improve the efficiency of customer acquisition.

The model of "automobile new marketing" is being pushed forward by SAIC. Like the Tianshan Road Rongwei Feifan Experience Center, SAIC's own brands and joint venture brands have announced a new round of product and marketing plans this year.

Wang Xiaoqiu, secretary of the Party Committee and chairman of SAIC, said that it is necessary to adhere to the awareness of the market and users, grasp the reform of the marketing system, promote retail and reduce inventory. A marketing system reform is unfolding within the SAIC system.

New way of car marketing

Zhu Meiling's Tianshan Road store is Roewe's distribution partner for more than 20 years, and now it has become the earliest batch of stores transformed among Roewe dealers.

In 2024, Tianshan Road Store has been supported by SAIC Passenger Cars and has strengthened marketing investment in new media, so this Spring Festival, Tianshan Road Store will not close offline, and online sales will not stop. Zhu Meiling said that in order to let customers feel the thick "New Year flavor" and answer consumers' questions about car purchases in time during the holiday, Tianshan Road Store now opens a special live broadcast every night, and will also shoot and operate short videos during the day to maximize the closeness to users.

Within Rongwei Fei Fan, such stores are called "super stores". "Super stores" will reach users faster and more accurately through the "online + offline" two-wheel drive marketing model.

The reason why it is more accurate is that traditional dealers have relatively single channels to obtain customers, mainly relying on physical 4S stores to attract customers, or advertising in the vertical automobile media to attract customers. Through the new media platform, traditional distributors can directly reach consumers, eliminating secondary communication in the middle, and directly communicate with interested consumers.

This sales model has been widely rolled out in the new power car companies based on direct sales, but in the traditional dealer system, the promotion is still relatively slow.

In 2024, SAIC's marketing methods have changed significantly. Last year, Feifan returned to the embrace of SAIC passenger cars after three years of "solo flight", and a very important task of the integrated Rongwei Feifan is the reform of sales channels. Gradually promote the integration of dealer networks, by the end of 2024, Rongwei Feifan has more than 100 dealer stores integrated landing. This layout not only makes the channel more streamlined and efficient, but also significantly improves the user's car purchase convenience.

Coincidentally, MG, another major brand of SAIC passenger Cars, has also created a super customer acquisition center plan in 2025 to more accurately locate potential customers, improve sales conversion rate and customer satisfaction through centralized customer acquisition and management.

Among the joint venture car enterprises, SAIC Volkswagen launched a SAIC Volkswagen Super app in 2024, which realizes direct user connection and strengthens online user experience through such a digital interactive platform.

It is understood that whether it is a super store, a super customer center, or a super APP, its core essence is to increase new media marketing efforts and strengthen the connection with users.

The reform of marketing methods has begun to yield results. In 2024, the annual retail sales of Rongwei Feifan and MG exceeded 810,000, achieving year-on-year growth; Among them, in December 2024, Rongwei Feifan's retail sales increased by 23.3% month-on-month, achieving six consecutive increases; MG retail sales surged 12.7 per cent year-on-year and 22.5 per cent quarter-on-quarter.

A change in gameplay is a change in concept

The change in communication methods is winning back the brand's reputation, but for SAIC, the more important reform is to invigorate the old marketing system.

At the recent SAIC-GM performance communication meeting, Wang Cong He, executive deputy general manager of Pan-Asia Automotive Technology Center, mentioned a case, when receiving the need for a physical key from the user, SAIC-GM responded quickly, formulated a plan within one day, completed the offline deployment within two days, and delivered the key to the user in four or five days. In the past, such efficiencies would have been unimaginable at previous car joint ventures.

To achieve such efficiency, on the one hand, the marketing model needs to be more flexible, and on the other hand, the marketing system needs to sort out the "user-led" thinking and change the traditional habit of selling cars.

Saic is one of the largest car companies in the world. Under the huge sub-brand matrix, hierarchical dealers are complicated. In order to mobilize the enthusiasm of the marketing network, it is necessary to start from many aspects and promote the system reform.

Some brands choose to make internal changes. For example, at the end of 2024, one of the focuses of MG's marketing system reform is to reorganize the organizational structure and establish a new marketing team based on the product GTM model to drive the company's transformation through products. Now, MG is committed to starting from the product, through the GTM model, deeply affecting the user's mind. MG Huan's new operating model is more like a spindle, the product is directly connected with the user, and the middle is closely connected through the GTM model, which greatly reduces the "internal friction" of the product from development to the user's hand.

Some brands choose to optimize the marketing network. For example, at the beginning of 2024, SAIC Volkswagen made a major adjustment to its marketing system. They reduced the original 12 marketing regions to eight, of which Shandong, Jiangsu, Beijing, Tianjin and Yunnan-Guizhou regions were integrated into the new four regions.

At the media communication meeting held not long ago, Tao Hailong, secretary of the Party Committee and general manager of SAIC Volkswagen Automobile Co., Ltd. once again said that after entering 2025, SAIC Volkswagen plans to eliminate a number of cases, a net increase of 100 outlets, SAIC Audi should also be the dealer network construction as the top priority in 2025 and the first half of 2026.

Some brands empower the marketing system. For example, SAIC General took the initiative to control wholesale last year, changed the assessment method of dealers from wholesale volume to retail volume, and destocked more than 200,000 vehicles throughout the year, restoring the health of the channel. At the same time, SAIC-GM also reduces the burden for dealers by cooperating with optimized policies and training service mechanisms, and promotes dealers to change from "sitting in the store and waiting for customers" to "taking the initiative to customers".

After intensive marketing strategy adjustments, SAic-GM sales rebounded at the end of last year. Since the third quarter of 2024, the monthly sales of SAIC-GM terminals have risen for six consecutive years, the market performance has stabilized and rebounded, the company's profits have returned to positive in the fourth quarter, and dealer confidence has been greatly restored.

The car dealership model in China is fundamentally changing. In the context of increasingly motivated competition, SAIC chose to stand more closely with dealers to resolve the impact of the market price war.

Whether it is the integration of the marketing network or the upgrading of the marketing model, the core purpose of these actions is to more efficiently connect the future products with the needs of users, and provide more powerful support for the subsequent product layout, service upgrading and market competitiveness.

At present, SAIC Passenger Cars has completed the integration of Rongwei Feifan brand, and will form a differentiated product line in the future; Saic Volkswagen announced that by 2030, SAIC Volkswagen will launch 18 new models, 15 of which will be developed specifically for the Chinese market; Saic-gm has announced plans to launch 12 new models by 2027.

The essence of marketing is to meet the needs of the target market. No matter how the game changes, closer to the needs of users is the ultimate goal of SAIC marketing reform.