Dialogue with Gu Dehua: the connotation, mission and future of the high-end positioning of European Airlines and Omark

As the most senior veteran in the light truck industry, Gu Dehua has maintained a steady increase in sales no matter how the market environment changes since he took charge of the European Airlines Omarco business in 2013, and has completely consolidated the high-end positioning of the European Airlines Omarco in the industry. From manufacturing to marketing, and then to the overall business, in the light truck industry for nearly 30 years of experience, Gu Dehua has a perfect understanding of the light truck business. How does he judge the impact of the introduction of new policies and regulations on the industry structure? How does he interpret the rich connotation of the word "high-end" for Euroair and Omak from a value perspective? How does he view the gap between the light trucks of China and Japan and the direction of the industry? Shangchebang had an exclusive conversation with Gu Dehua, President of European Airlines and Omark, and listened to him talk about market changes, brand building, and the future of the industry.

Gu Dehua, Vice President of Foton Motor Group and President of European Airlines Omark Division

First move

As a typical policy-driven market, with the full implementation of the National VI and the upcoming release of new blue-label light truck regulations, the light truck industry and enterprises are facing a series of uncertainties. However, these changes have long been accustomed to Gu Dehua. In his personal career, he has experienced emission upgrades from National One to National Six, and has also experienced the implementation of multiple regulations and standards. He has become accustomed to and adapted to this change: "Theoretically speaking, what kind of policy there is, there will be what kind of commercial vehicle market. Future changes will be faster. My feeling is that policies and regulations will become more and more strict, and user needs will become more and more professional."

Take precautions before you can take a leisurely stroll. This kind of change comes from the early response of European Airlines and Omarco every time before policy changes. Based on the industry accumulation in the past years, forward-looking layout has become an important work habit of Gu Dehua. In his words: "I am studying the future every day", and his internal requirement is: all layouts must be completed at least 2 years in advance, only in this way Calmly respond to changes in the industry.

Masters play against each other, whoever has the upper hand will have a greater chance of winning. Take the full implementation of National VI as an example. In 2019, when many companies are fully promoting National V, European Airlines and Omak will start to deploy National VI. The goal set by Gu Dehua is that European Airlines and Omarco will be the first in the industry to switch to National VI. Start investing a little bit carefully in each region at the earliest, and then through the tracking and analysis of market data, confirm that the market feedback is good, and then rest assured and boldly invest in large areas. In the end, when other companies are still struggling to push National V or National VI, Euronair Omak has fully switched to National VI before July 1.

In May 2019, Omarco Super Truck National VI products were launched in Shenzhen in batches

Looking back on the previous emission upgrades, European Airlines and Omarco are one step ahead. Gu Dehua said: “Emissions upgrades are technological upgrades, because every emission upgrade is an integration of countless new technologies. We must position ourselves to be high-end and emit emissions first. There is no choice in upgrading to be ahead. Emissions upgrading is not a knockout, but your entry barrier. If you fail to meet the requirements, you will be excluded from the market."

In addition to the first move in emission upgrades, European Airlines and Omarko also have the same strategy for market segments. The cold chain market has developed rapidly in recent years, but the market capacity was only a few thousand vehicles seven or eight years ago. Developing a product at that time is likely to face the problem of disproportionate input and output. "If you think this product is the future, your investment is worth it." Seven years ago, optimistic about the future market growth space, European Airlines and Omak formulated special product solutions for the cold chain market, because refrigerated trucks are different from ordinary products. In addition to providing power for the entire vehicle, the engine must also provide power for the bodywork. Ultimately, Euroair and Omar can choose to be equipped with a Cummins engine. With this product oriented to future demand, after several years of development, Euroair Omarco currently has a market share of up to 50% in the cold chain target market.

European Airline Omak Super Medium and Light Truck Cold Chain Star Product

Knockout

Looking back on the continuous growth in the last 8 years, Gu Dehua said: "What is the core of our development over the years? The first is to seize the opportunity of industry policy upgrades, and the second is to seize the potential core needs of customers and make products in place. The most important thing is to do it steadily."

Practicality and stability are the most distinctive impressions of the European Airlines and Omark business to the outside world. This has a lot to do with Gu Dehua’s style of doing things. He has always maintained a strong sense of crisis, thus resolving every change in policies and regulations brought to the market. The turmoil of the European Airlines and Omar will not allow major ups and downs.

Talking about the subsequent changes in the competitive landscape, Gu Dehua said: When the market returns to rationality, demand slows down, and competition intensifies, it depends on who can not be eliminated. "The 14th Five-Year Probability is the knockout. Certain industries will be reshuffled and reorganized. Those companies that have products, technologies, and customer-centricity may live better in the future. Those products are not very competitive. Enterprises without technology accumulation and product accumulation may be eliminated by the market in the future."

If Euronair Omak wants to survive in this industry, it must be more professional than others. Gu Dehua believes that in order to break the homogeneous competition in the light truck industry, it is necessary to fully tap and refine the individual needs of customers, and to meet them through professional means. "The current situation is that the industry is overcapacity and the products provided are homogeneous. But is this the final form of the entire user terminal? I personally think it is definitely not. Each user has different transportation scenarios and needs differentiated products to meet it. It depends on whether the company can extract the personalized needs of customers."

European Airlines and Omar can target sub-industries such as express delivery, cold chain, green communication, and city distribution

Deep customized series product solutions

Gu Dehua judges: Specialization must be the mainstream in the future, and its core is to have a deep understanding of products and customers. R&D from the user's point of view is the product concept that Euronair Omak has been practicing. Based on the investigation of user needs, different modules are formed in the preliminary product development and pre-research, and finally combined like building blocks, to meet the individual needs of customers through modularization, thereby speeding up product response and reducing procurement costs. Euroair Omar can start with product development and manufacturing, empower with marketing and service, and provide customers with systematic solutions that meet individual needs.

Say high-end

As one of the five major strategic transformations of Foton Motor at that time, taking the road of "high-end" is the responsibility and mission that European Airlines and Omark must shoulder. The word "high-end" can be seen everywhere in the industry, but for Euronair Omak, the word has real connotations. The "high-end" image of European Airlines Omarco was achieved by persisting along the way. This is related to Gu Dehua’s personality and experience. He is a person who can stand loneliness. After taking over the business of Euromar Under various pressures and temptations, he did not rush for quick success, but insisted on nurturing this brand with his heart.

European Airlines Omarco Super Truck

"High-end is not a simple word for us. High-end is expensive? High-end must have value behind it." During the interview, Gu Dehua explained his views on "high-end" from multiple angles when answering different questions. To understand, to interpret the rich connotation of the high-end positioning of European Airlines and Omak: “The high-end is first to make the product the ultimate. This kind of ultimate is not just what you say, it must be reflected in the product.” “It can truly be the customer The high-end can be created by creating the needs of the customer and meeting the customer’s response needs to his customers." "No matter what kind of product, customers think you are the most valuable, this is high-end."

As the term high-end has different definitions in the minds of different customers, Gu Dehua finally returned "high-end" to "value". For commercial vehicles, it has only one mission to create value for customers. "High-end must be the best TCO, which can create the greatest value for customers in the entire product life cycle." Gu Dehua said: "The purpose and mission of our team's existence is very simple. The first is to provide customers with suitable products, and the second is To help customers create value. Failure to do these two items will be eliminated. Creating value for customers is the ultimate mission of our brand."

On the gap

Now, whether in terms of market share or brand image, European Airlines Omarco has established its position as a leader in the industry, and its main competitors are turning to the former learning object-Japanese light trucks. Next, may Euronair and Omar lead its own brands to complete the overall surpassing of Japanese light trucks?

When talking about this topic, Gu Dehua once again showed his calm and rational side, "I think the gap may still be very large. After all, Japanese light trucks have been developed for nearly 100 years. It has a lot of accumulation. We have developed in the past few years. Too fast. From another perspective, we have more innovation, but accumulation may not be enough.” Gu Dehua believes that the advantage of Japanese light trucks is accumulation, but they may not be as good as domestic brands in terms of innovation to adapt to the market. Both sides have their own advantages and disadvantages. "To truly recognize our own gaps, I personally think that the manufacturing industry must endure loneliness and do a good job first."

Foton Motor Changsha Super Truck Factory

On July 8th, Foton Motor’s Changsha Super Truck Factory was put into operation. This smart manufacturing benchmark factory with an annual output of 100,000 vehicles has upgraded the manufacturing level of European Airlines and Omarco. Gu Dehua said: “We use Changsha Super Trucks The plant was put into production and the entire supply chain was re-adjusted, hoping to make modularization better, increase efficiency, and reduce costs."

Regarding the future of European Airlines, Omar and China’s light trucks, Gu Dehua gave this answer: "Customer needs will always be our direction and future. As long as this is done, we believe that in the future global market, there will be us. 'S footprints are inside."