In the past two years, Ideal Automobile has developed rapidly. In 2023, it became the first car company among the new forces in China to deliver over 300000 vehicles annually, and also the only car company in China to achieve profitability. In March of this year, Ideal Automobile launched its first pure electric MPV MEGA, but this car not only failed to meet sales expectations, but also caused significant public opinion turmoil.
In addition, the sales of Ideal Automobile have also been surpassed by Huawei in recent months. On March 21st, Li Xiang, CEO of Ideal Automobile, released an internal report titled "How to Solve the Current Problems Faced by Ideal Automobile", reviewing the causes and solutions of the problems in March. He stated that there are two main issues with Ideal Automotive in March. Firstly, there is a rhythm issue with Ideal MEGA, mistakenly treating the stage from 0 to 1 (commercial validation period) of Ideal MEGA as operating from 1 to 10 (high-speed development period); The second issue is the desire to overly focus on sales, from top to bottom, focusing too much on sales and competition, allowing desire to surpass value and significantly reduce the value and operational efficiency of users who were originally best at it.
The original text of Li Xiang's internal letter is as follows:
Review the underlying causes and solutions of our March issues
Firstly, the rhythm issue of ideal MEGA
The fundamental reason is that we mistakenly treated the ideal MEGA from 0 to 1 (commercial validation period) as operating from 1 to 10 (high-speed development period).
The ideal MEGA and high-voltage pure electric must go through a phase from 0 to 1 similar to the ideal ONE and extended range electric, and cannot have the operational potential from 1 to 10 as soon as the Ideal L series is launched. This is a misjudgment of our pure electric strategy rhythm. The chaotic pace of the Ideal MEGA has greatly reduced the time and energy for the sales team to serve L-series users, and the main model, the Ideal L8, has even lost its storefront placement.
Solution: We will patiently operate the ideal MEGA at a pace from 0 to 1, focusing on the core user group and cities with strong high-end pure electric consumption capabilities. Abandon the sales strategy of fully blooming, focus on large-scale retail centers in top cities for product experience and test drives, and accelerate the construction of overcharge stations in these cities. After effectively completing the phase from 0 to 1, promote to more cities and a larger user group.
Secondly, the issue of excessive desire to focus on sales
The fundamental reason is that we focus too much on sales and competition from top to bottom, causing desire to surpass value and significantly reducing the user value and operational efficiency that we were originally best at. The pursuit of desire makes us become people we dislike.
Solution: Reduce sales expectations and desires, and return to healthy growth. Focus on users rather than competition, focus on value rather than desire. Return to the improvement of user value that we excel at, and return to the improvement of business efficiency that we excel at.
Strictly adhere to our three code of conduct:
·Putting user value first
·Through co creation, reaching consensus
·Seek truth from facts and correct mistakes as soon as you know them
The March 2024 issue is an enhanced version of our 2022 issue. Seeking truth from facts and correcting mistakes as soon as we know them, we are confident in working together to focus on user value, business efficiency, patiently control the pace, and provide long-term and healthy service to our users through down-to-earth problem-solving.