After changing clothes, Heifeng left his uncle's courtyard and took a car from the garage to meet Xiu Wang.
Xiu and his crew had booked a banquet hall at the Beijing Hotel and dressed the room specifically for this taping. The moment Heifeng arrived, Xiu stepped forward with both hands extended. "Hello, Mr. Lu, I'm Xiu Wang, the director of Focus Report. It's a pleasure to meet you. Thank you for taking time out of a busy schedule to sit down with us."
Tall and dark-complexioned, Xiu came across as forthright after a few minutes of small talk. "Director Wang, you're too kind," Heifeng said. "This is my first formal interview. Anything I should watch for?"
It really was his first time under studio lights. That morning, Guohua Ye had called repeatedly to remind him to keep it clean and avoid off-the-cuff remarks.
Sensing the nerves, Xiu offered reassurance. "There's nothing in particular to worry about. We'll walk you through the questions before we start. If you want to adjust anything, we will adjust it. No need to be tense."
He sent staff to finish the setup, then led Heifeng to the lounge to go over the outline. The topics were overwhelmingly positive, centered on Audi's development, positioning, and pricing, with one clear through line, acknowledging support from the leadership, and offering an example young people could look to.
By the time he finished reading, Heifeng understood the shape of it. This was a made-to-measure feature for Audi, nearly twenty minutes of prime airtime.
The taping began soon after. Because he had already seen the questions, Heifeng answered smoothly. Sitting beneath the key light, he carried a calm, confident energy.
"Mr. Lu, how did you decide at the outset that Audi should position itself as a luxury brand?" the host asked.
At that, a shadow crossed Heifeng's face. "Domestic cars have not had an easy path," he said. "Look at the luxury segment, it has been all foreign badges. Not one brand is truly our own." He let the line hang, then added, "That has always made me unhappy. I decided we needed to change that so China would also have a luxury brand with independent intellectual property. That was the starting point for Audi."
The host picked up the thread neatly. "Judging from how consumers have responded, Audi already looks like a success." He pivoted to the question that most people debated online. "Many viewers are curious, Mr. Lu, why are your prices set so low. Take the Audi A4, for example; a starting price of ¥248,000 (≈ $35,429) leaves very little profit. Did you not consider making money at the beginning?"
Xiu's team had specifically flagged this question as the one the public most wanted answered. People wanted to hear how Heifeng thought about price.
Heifeng smiled. "I said this as early as our second new-car launch. From the start, our intent was to build a luxury car that most consumers in China could actually afford. We also wanted to bring pricing in the China market back to where it should be, rather than letting some car companies treat Chinese buyers differently from buyers overseas."
His tone firmed. "To be honest, I am not very interested in how much money Audi can make. Money to me is only a number. If we can force our competitors to earn less here and save Chinese consumers a great deal on their cars, that is our greatest interest. And I believe Audi has already done that."
A few staffers around the room could not help laughing, then clapped. Everyone understood exactly which competitors he meant. For years, foreign brands had priced one way abroad and another way in China, often higher at home than overseas. With Audi's rise, the curve began to bend, step by step. Craftsmanship and quality had now been tested by the market for days on end, and satisfaction was high, a feat few companies could match.
The rest of the questions went down just as easily. Heifeng cooperated throughout, thanked the higher-ups for their support of Audi and of domestic enterprise, and, as Guohua had urged, offered a string of straightforward lines to encourage young people.
While Focus Report recorded the interview, the internet shifted. The Audi A8, sluggish in its first two days, began to move up instead of down.
At first, the coordinated advertising push by BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Volkswagen had buried Audi's launch news. The result was an anemic first forty-eight hours for the A8. But that morning, the most influential female celebrity in China posted on Weibo.
Zhining Chen's account had close to one hundred million followers, and her fans were fiercely active. Advertisers had waved stacks of money at her for years, yet she had never accepted a single ad. This morning, her personal account posted a straightforward line and a few photos.
"Hehe, I can ride in the leader's official car now. After waiting so long, the Audi A8 is finally on the market."
"Audi is a national entrepreneur for real. The manufacturing strength is the real deal. Look at this interior, look at this starry-sky headliner, it is beautiful."