DS China Development Strategy: Dashing

It is understood that since the DS debuted at the Paris Motor Show 57 years ago, every DS model has evolved over its life cycle and is ahead of its competitors. Its development strategy can be described as a gallop.

Fifty-seven years ago, under the much-anticipated expectation, a DS like a sci-fi spaceship debuted at the Paris Motor Show. The aisles within 100 meters of the Citroën booth were crowded with crowds of people who had come to the attention of other booths. . Since then, every DS model has evolved over its life cycle and is ahead of its competitors.

Today, when DS came to Oriental Kingdom, which has a lot of connections with Citroen, it has been positioned as a luxury brand. The living environment it faces is very different from that of a European home.

On the one hand, the luxury brands led by the German three-strong BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz have continuously declined from the beginning of the year, whether they entered the price range of 200,000 yuan, or the products became increasingly smaller and more introductory. The survival space of other luxury cars, choose to enter the Chinese market at this time, is undoubtedly a huge test for DS.

On the other hand, the question of what DS is still remains to be answered. In 2009, DS had been revived for only 3 years. For consumers in the Chinese market, it is still mysterious and unfamiliar. In contrast, luxury brands such as BMW, Audi and Mercedes have mostly worked in the Chinese market for more than a decade. Therefore, DS's China strategy has only one: flying all the way.

After DS4 and DS5 were released in June this year and DS3 was released in September, at the Guangzhou Auto Show, DS displayed six models at a glance, including Asia's first DS3 Cabrio, the latest concept car Numéro 9, and two years in a row. WRC Annual Championship DS3 WRC. Obviously, the move aims to advertise what DS is for Chinese consumers with a model designed from France, in particular to tell people with higher spending power what “DS is”.

Cai Jianjun, vice president of Changan PSA Automobile Co., Ltd., said that from 2009 to now, DS5, DS4, DS3 cumulative sales of more than 250,000, of which the DS3's performance in Europe has exceeded the MINI, sales reached 200,000. He firmly believes that with the launch of the new product introduction and after-sales service brand DS SERVICE, DS can also come from behind in China.

Chang Bo, general manager of the DS Division of PSA Automotive, said He Bo, DS brand has led the trend of luxury car design since its inception, DS3 Cabrio this time to achieve the Asian debut, also brought a new pattern of convertible market segments.

Not only that, with the Chinese auto market entering the “micro-growth” stage, Shen Rong, deputy secretary-general of the China Automobile Dealers Association, admitted that the auto market has entered the “buyer's market”, making more and more manufacturers pay attention to brand services, especially afterwards. The importance of the market.

At the Guangzhou Auto Show, Changan PSA launched several new vehicles and quickly released DS SERVICE service brands, and provided one-on-one housekeeper services, 24-hour feature reservations, transparent workshops, competitive speed protection and other human intelligence services. Strive to fight a "differentiated" battle in the fierce luxury car market.

According to Herbe, DS has provided an exclusive after-sales service consultant for each customer since the date of delivery of the new vehicle. In the future full use of the customer, any problems with the customer will be handled by this exclusive service consultant; in addition, DS The 24-hour feature reservation system has been added. Customers can make reservations on the DS official website according to their own schedule. The first phase of related services will be opened in three cities, namely Nanjing, Chengdu and Shenzhen, and will be expanded to the locations of all DS dealerships in the future.

Transparent workshops, through advanced visualized IT systems and efficient workshop resource management, enable customers to understand the progress of maintenance in real time. Competitive speed protection focuses on the full cycle cost of the customer car process while reducing user waiting time.

"Specifically, we can work through two jobs at the same time to provide customers with an hour of maintenance services. At the same time, we can do routine maintenance and maintenance, and customers can drive back the car." Herbert said proudly, "This competitive speed The concept of insurance is a professional service that extends from the WRC racing side. The DS3 has won the second WRC championship in Europe this year."

By the end of November, 13 DS STOREs have been put into operation, and this figure will increase to around 30 by the end of the year.

As a latecomer to the Chinese auto market, DS has already taken the first step in its rapid advancement. However, whether it can regain its legend and fly all the way to the "big unit" still requires the ultimate test of the market.