Flash Motors Technology was booming, and other leading manufacturers weren't far behind.
In the Yangtze River Delta region, the key promotional area for this event, the competition among major manufacturers had already entered a white-hot stage.
Lüyuan's marketing was the weakest, but it was Zhejiang Province's deepest-rooted electric vehicle brand, with a highly loyal user base in the province.
Its position was temporarily unshakeable by Flash Motors and other brands.
Compared to Zhejiang Province, the competition in Jiangsu Province was even more fierce.
The two local major brands, Xinri and Yadi, were locked in rivalry, and Flash Motors, an outsider, offered a huge promotional discount to gain a foothold in Jiangsu Province.
For a time, the three parties were evenly matched in their fierce competition, arguably making it the most competitive region of the summer.
Flash Motors, for instance, had an extremely aggressive promotion.
Its original selling price of 1999 was already lower than the prices of both Xinri and Yadi's low-end brands.
With this promotional campaign, a Flash Motors vehicle could be acquired for only 1500 yuan, a price nearly equivalent to that of generic brands, leaving almost no profit margin.
Tan Jincheng intended to use this method to penetrate the Jiangsu Province market, using a price war to capture market share and establish a foothold in this major electric vehicle manufacturing province.
The strategy was to use low-end brands to boost sales, attract customers into stores, and consequently drive sales for the Fengchi Feiyi series and Guanneng series.
Price wars are inevitable in any industry during the market capture phase.
Although Zhang Congxun and Dong Jinggui were utterly annoyed by Tan Jincheng's shameless tactics, they had no choice but to follow suit.
Flash Motors Technology's aggressive entry immediately put immense pressure on Xinri and Yadi.
"Fortunately, it's just a peak season promotion. This kid really has no martial ethics,"
Zhang Congxun said indignantly.
Dong Jinggui deeply agreed.
If this were in Jiangsu Province, their home turf, and Flash Motors managed to seize the top sales spot, both of them would be utterly disgraced.
There was a significant difference between enterprises in Jiangsu Province and Zhejiang Province.
Jiangsu enterprises preferred to do everything themselves; for example, most of Yadi's components were self-produced in self-built factories, and they also focused on R&D, making Yadi's costs the highest.
Xinri operated similarly, while Zhejiang Province adopted a collaborative model involving multiple enterprises, where everyone earned a little from each vehicle, but costs were also distributed among various parties.
In terms of cost, enterprises in Zhejiang Province had an advantage over those in other provinces, including Jiangsu.
Moreover, Flash Motors' sales had now surged into the top four, giving it the same bargaining power with suppliers as Xinri and Yadi.
Take Mingcheng Industrial and Bafang Electric, for example.
Although both were invested in and controlled by Flash Motors Group, all three companies operated independently and were responsible for their own profits and losses.
While collaborating with Mingcheng Industrial and Bafang Electric, Flash Motors Technology also negotiated prices based on market price fluctuations and procurement volume fluctuations.
Under these circumstances, Flash Motors Technology, which solely focused on vehicle assembly and sales, had significantly less financial pressure compared to Yadi, which built its own motor factories and pursued comprehensive development.
In a price war, Yadi and Xinri truly couldn't compete with Flash Motors.
However, the low-end model price war initiated by Flash Motors in Jiangsu Province was most problematic not for leading brands like Xinri, Yadi, and Lüyuan, but for those generic brands specializing in low-end models.
When the first and second-ranked companies engage in a price war, it's often the third-ranked ones that suffer.
With Flash Motors available for 1500 yuan, offering guaranteed quality and service, why would anyone buy a generic brand?
Although Dong Jinggui and Zhang Congxun were somewhat exasperated by Tan Jincheng's lack of martial ethics, they also tacitly followed suit.
After three months of peak season price wars, the Jiangsu Province market was bound to undergo a reshuffle.
Some enterprises that were too small or had poor quality would find it difficult to survive this round of price wars among leading brands, which was also beneficial for them.
Consequently, throughout the Jiangsu Province market, some bottom-tier manufacturers lamented their plight, as their sales actually decreased during the peak season!
The relevant regulatory authorities in Jiangsu Province naturally noticed this, but it was purely market behavior, and the three companies had not committed any violations, so there was naturally nothing to say.
"You called me for this trivial matter? This is called using quality products to eliminate inferior ones, alright? If I wasn't afraid of looking too bad, I'd plan to fight this price war until the end of the year!"
"Fight until the end of the year? Are you even going to let the bottom-tier manufacturers live? I advise you to be kinder, lest you need to bring more people with you when you go out."
"Haha, no way. What era is this? If they can't do electric vehicle business, they can do other businesses. No one is that foolish. Besides, aren't you guys also participating? It's not just me."
"But you initiated this matter."
"This is me offering benefits to consumers; it's entirely market behavior. If they have the ability, they can also offer benefits; I don't oppose it."
"Alright, alright, I'm just telling you to take it easy, don't be too ruthless, leave some leeway."
"Uh, Hyung, I've already left some leeway; honestly, I originally planned to go straight to cost price, but now I still have a little profit."
"Alright, I shouldn't have called you. The more I listen, the angrier I get! Hanging up."
Zhang Congxun hung up the phone indignantly.
At this price for low-end models, this kid still had a profit margin and room to lower prices.
Who could withstand such tactics?
May the small manufacturers fend for themselves.
Compared to the white-hot competition in Jiangsu Province, Flash Motors' market performance in Anhui Province was much better.
Although it was a new brand, Tan Jincheng's personal halo in Anhui Province was simply too strong.
At 21, from an ordinary family, he started from scratch through his own efforts and became a billionaire-level magnate.
Yicheng, and even the Anhui provincial authorities, in order to set an example, intentionally or unintentionally cooperated with Flash Motors' promotion in Anhui Province.
Flash Motors promoted its products, while the authorities cooperated by promoting his personal image.
Extensive television exposure and print media interviews helped Tan Jincheng establish a good image among countless parents in Anhui Province, making him 'the child of another family'.
With high-quality products, excellent service, and Tan Jincheng's positive image, sales of Flash Motors' electric vehicles in Anhui Province had been steadily climbing since his identity was exposed.
In his hometown of Yicheng, Flash Motors was already becoming an almost invincible presence without needing much effort.
Especially this time, one of Chun Ge's three promotional events was scheduled in Yicheng.
Although it was decided by online voting, everyone knew it was Boss Tan looking after his hometown.
Didn't you see that as soon as the online voting results were released, Yicheng appeared in third place, causing netizens and Chun Ge's fans to curse endlessly?
Why Yicheng?
Of course, because Flash Motors' boss is from Yicheng!
Because of this, idle and bored netizens from Yicheng on Baidu Tieba even got into an argument with netizens from Badu, as the users from these two places have always disliked each other.
They argued fiercely.
---
Observant netizens might have noticed that in the past few days, forums, communities, blogs, podcasts, and some video websites on the internet all mentioned a website called Kaixin.com.
Some curious netizens or internet professionals logged in and discovered that it was a social networking site similar to QQ Zone, or more precisely, like Facebook in the US.
Most of its content was very similar to Facebook and Twitter abroad.
It offered communication methods such as photos, diaries, book reviews, movie reviews, short messages, messages, comments, etc., and interactive components like 'friend trading' and 'buying houses', which gave it high entertainment value, but wasn't particularly novel.
Such websites were not uncommon in the current internet landscape, with QQ Zone, Xiaonei.com, and others being similar types.
"The interface is simple and clear, the only slight drawback is that you have to register to see the content inside,"
veteran netizen Liu Jiwen muttered as he arrived via promotional information and opened the website.
However, he still registered an account out of curiosity.
Since the website had just launched and didn't have many users, the most viewable information on the public square consisted of event updates about Chun Ge, Liu Yifei, and Zhou Jielun, posted by an account named Flash Motors Technology.
These updates also had the highest view counts.
"Huh? Is there any connection between this website and Flash Motors Technology? Why would Flash Motors Technology be posting information here?"
Liu Jiwen wondered, somewhat puzzled.
He naturally knew Flash Motors Technology's reputation: the youngest chairman in the electric vehicle industry, with a net worth of billions within two years of establishment, truly legendary.
However, this wasn't Liu Jiwen's main focus; he was simply curious to understand the website's functions.
Before long, Liu Jiwen figured out the general layout of the website.
Photos, diaries, and the like were straightforward and unremarkable.
Liu Jiwen then entered the 'Friend Trading' section.
"This is a mini-game, quite interesting."
After dabbling for a while, he realized he had no friends and wasn't sure how the 'friend trading' worked, but he found it somewhat interesting.
Without much thought, Liu Jiwen casually added Flash Motors Technology as a friend.
He also clicked on a few relatively active users on the public square to add as friends.
Adding friends, of course, required the other party's approval.
After adding them, Liu Jiwen didn't dwell on it and proceeded to browse and analyze other functions.
What Liu Jiwen didn't expect was that his casual registration and additions caused a burst of cheers in Orange Technology's office.
"Holy crap! The first wild user has appeared."
"Haha, he even requested to add me as a friend, and he also sent a request to Flash Motors Technology."
"I got an addition here too; this guy added everyone he saw on the public square."
"Quickly approve it, let him experience the charm of friend trading."
"Yes, yes, yes."
Gu Qingqing was also in the project team's large office at this time.
Cheng Hao had gone to negotiate with MSN, and she was temporarily in charge of managing the two project teams and promotional work.
"Okay, approve them all, but be careful not to let them discover you're all shills."
"Haha, Boss, don't worry, he won't find out."
That's right, Kaixin.com, which had just completed its first round of internal testing and fixed some bugs, had no real users before Liu Jiwen registered.
All accounts, including the Flash Motors Technology account, were operated by Orange Technology's internal staff.
For Kaixin.com version 1.0, Liu Jiwen never expected that his curiosity would make him the first real user.
"Ding!"
A pleasant sound came from the computer.
Liu Jiwen looked and saw that one of the users had approved his friend request.
"Whoa? It actually passed?"
(End of Chapter)