Domestically produced three-wheelers have gone viral overseas.
The reason is that an overseas Chinese blogger ordered a three-wheeler from China, and she recorded the entire process of ordering and registering the vehicle. Unexpectedly, this not only caused a sensation both domestically and abroad but also inadvertently advertised for "Guowei"?
Yes, "Guowei" is the brand of the electric tricycle.
The sudden surge in traffic is a "sweet burden" for Guowei at present.
Overseas orders have increased rapidly as a result, significantly disrupting the daily production plans of Guowei's factory;
Even on New Year's Eve, the lights in the Guowei electric tricycle factory were on all night, with the sound of electric vehicles starting up occasionally.
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Of course, Guowei's sudden popularity has naturally attracted public attention, and CCTV News even went to the Guowei factory for an interview.
According to insiders at Guowei, the significant increase in production tasks began at the end of December 2023.
Guowei is a company in Jiangsu that manufactures civilian transportation vehicles, not small in scale, but not large either.In an era where every industry is fiercely competitive, they don't have a significant advantage. They produce methodically every day, which, although not making a fortune, ensures a stable profit.
Around Christmas, workers at Guowei, who produce electric tricycles, noticed that their production tasks were increasing day by day.
The production and marketing departments in charge also found that orders from overseas had doubled during this period.
After investigation, they discovered that an overseas blogger had been promoting Guowei for free.
"Bobo in the USA" is a well-known female overseas blogger on TikTok. Originally from Beijing, she later married and settled in the United States and is now a Chinese-American.
Ms. Bobo has an American father-in-law who is very fascinated by Chinese culture and has visited here many times.
It's strange to say, but while other foreigners travel for food or beautiful scenery, this old man has shown a great interest in domestic tricycles from the beginning.
The enchanting "Back up! Please be careful!" has become his catchphrase for a long time.
Owning a tricycle that "costs 10 yuan and can carry both people and goods" once became an obsession for this American elderly man.
Therefore, when Ms. Bobo gave him a Chinese electric tricycle as a Christmas gift, the old man has been fond of the tricycle ever since.He rides a three-wheeled rickshaw for leisurely strolls, shopping, social gatherings, and visiting neighbors. A tricycle, ubiquitous in China, has not only stirred up a whirlwind in this American town but also sparked heated discussions on the internet.
In this era where short videos of overseas experiences never go out of style online, a fan base of over 1.5 million ensures her influence is truly remarkable.
With the collective efforts of numerous netizens, this topic directly soared to the top of the trending charts and was widely shared by various official media outlets.
Bolstered by an overwhelming amount of traffic, even casual onlookers have sensed the immense business opportunities.
This is because when the blogger introduced the rickshaw, she did not deliberately conceal the brand of the vehicle. As a result, in many places, one can hear her clearly and distinctly informing foreigners that the brand of the electric tricycle is called "Guowei."
The electric vehicle company Guowei could never have imagined that a brand barely known in China would become a global sensation due to a few short videos!
Suddenly, a torrent of wealth and prosperity has descended upon Guowei!
The name "Guowei" is even quite unfamiliar to the Chinese themselves.
After all, the Chinese market is vast, and the brands that everyone knows and loves are limited, with Yadea, Aimar, and Tai Ling dominating half of the electric vehicle market.
The name "Guowei" sounds impressive, but it is indeed not well-known.While the outside world was still racking its brains to uncover the "inside story" of the brand, some tremendous changes had already taken place within the Guowei factory.
Qin Xiaoming, the deputy general manager of the Guowei Electric Tricycles Business Division, was the first to sense the business opportunity.
As the person in charge of Guowei's electric tricycles, he immediately recognized that the tricycle that had become extremely popular online was produced by his own company.
Some of his acquaintances in the industry congratulated him one after another, saying that Guowei had finally seen the light at the end of the tunnel.
However, there were also concerns that this wave of traffic was ill-timed.
After all, it was approaching the end of the year, with a multitude of holidays, large and small, coupled with factory closures, which might lead to production not keeping up.
In fact, the situation he feared did indeed occur.
Ever since the "Guowei tricycle" went viral online, the order volume for Guowei's related products in the European and American markets had tripled, and the overseas order volume had increased by 30% overall.
Thirty percent may not sound like much, but for Guowei, it was already a quite remarkable achievement.
Qin Xiaoming stated that Guowei's electric tricycles never lacked export orders, but all the orders were from Southeast Asia.Europe and America possess a vast market that is no less than that of Asia. When Guowei first ventured into export business, it naturally wanted to tap into the European and American markets as well.
However, it is extremely difficult for domestic products to go global. According to relevant data, more than ninety percent of the global sales of electric tricycles are dominated by the Asia-Pacific market, and the market share of tricycles in Europe and America is almost negligible.
Moreover, for a long time, foreign new energy vehicle companies have been renowned, and domestic electric vehicle companies simply do not have the idea of "exporting" at all.
As Guowei's chairman Ni Xiaofeng said, "They (the United States) have already sold Teslas in China; do they still need us to sell tricycles in the United States?"
And Qin Xiaoming, in an interview, simply used the phrase "no such opportunity" to brush the matter aside.
Although the words were light, the hardships involved may only be known to them.
Of course, at this moment, the "opportunity" they once longed for is right in front of them, and Guowei is definitely going to seize it firmly.
Currently, Ni Xiaofeng has already contacted the official departments in the area where the Bobo blogger is located and has conducted on-site investigation work.
If the investigation goes smoothly and they invest in building a factory, perhaps soon, the biggest problem for overseas consumers in online shopping—freight costs—could be solved.
Of course, in addition to the United States, other countries also have a special preference for Guowei, with some even shouting out the demand, "We just want Guowei."On the day of the interview, it happened to be when a foreign guest came to discuss business.
This person is not a nobody; he is also a well-known internet celebrity—Alpaca Brother.
Alpaca Brother is a staunch supporter of electric tricycles, and almost all the content he posts on his account is videos of domestic electric vehicles.
As a Chinese American, Alpaca Brother has big ambitions.
He hopes to establish an Electric Tricycle Association in the United States, which would be responsible for publicity, purchasing, and handling procedural matters;
Riding the wave of national prestige, he not only helps local tricycle companies go overseas but also hopes to promote Chinese culture through this method.
Hearing Alpaca Brother's words, Ni Xiaofeng also had many emotions.
Ni Xiaofeng said directly that the brand's name was originally given by his father.
At that time, he came up with two names for the brand, one called Guowei and the other called Guohao, purely out of a patriotic sentiment.
Founded in 2002, Guowei has been through 22 years, and the current leader, Ni Xiaofeng, is a leader with a rather far-sighted vision.Guowei actually started with motorcycles, and at the end of the last century, this type of inexpensive, durable, easy-to-operate, and extremely fast mode of transportation was very popular among residents. Rural residents could ride them to quickly traverse the rough mountain roads, and urban dwellers could freely roam on the smooth main roads. Before the emergence of more convenient modes of transportation, motorcycles were almost a standard for every household. In this way, Guowei accumulated the first pot of gold since the establishment of the brand.
In 2017, Guowei, which was already quite well-known in the industry, used the savings from the past to start an industrial transformation, and the direction of the transformation was the new energy field. This was undoubtedly a big gamble. Looking at it from today's perspective, developing the electric vehicle industry seven years ago was undoubtedly correct. However, at that time, China's fuel vehicle market was still huge, shared bicycles were booming, and the electric vehicle industry was repeatedly frustrated. The 50 electric vehicle companies that announced bankruptcy made countless people call 2017 "the most difficult year for the electric vehicle industry."
But Ni Xiaofeng resolutely stated, "New energy is the spring of the manufacturing industry... The progress towards a high-tech industry is imminent!" Guowei's decision to transform was not just talk. In order to successfully enter the new energy industry, the company invested 570 million in building factories, buildings, transforming production lines, recruiting technical workers, and so on.It can be said that when new energy vehicles had not yet captured the market's attention, Guowei had already seized a vast blue ocean market.
Of course, in the company's journey forward, Guowei inevitably faced numerous challenges: market saturation, technological barriers, financial crises, and competition from foreign brands...
In the process of rapid development, it is inevitable that many industries and brands would not withstand the pressure and be submerged in the relentless tide.
However, there are also many enterprises that, like Guowei, have stepped out of the national door and have reaped significant rewards overseas after years of development.
Transsion mobile phones, a brand that is almost considered a "generic" brand in China.
But in Africa, it has consistently held the top spot in sales year after year.
Transsion, which has taken localization to the extreme, has introduced features such as "skin-darkening," "dual SIM dual standby," and "long standby" on its phones, which are highly popular among African people.
In 2018, the global ranking of mobile phone brand shipments was led by Samsung, Apple, and Huawei.
Transsion, with a shipment of 124 million units, surpassed Xiaomi and firmly occupied the fourth place on the list.
Fuyao Glass, a company whose owner, Cao Dewang, may be more familiar to many.
(Note: The translation is done to the best of my ability to convey the original meaning and context, and some names and terms may not have direct English equivalents.)But little known is that Fuyao Glass began to enter the overseas market as early as the beginning of the 21st century.
Today, it is one of the world's largest manufacturers of automotive glass.
The proportion of Fuyao Glass's annual revenue from overseas markets has been increasing year by year, and it has even accounted for half of the company's total revenue.
In addition, there are well-known brands such as Alibaba, Taobao, DJI, Huawei, BYD, and so on.
Of course, to avoid some unnecessary troubles, some brands will also "change their appearance."
There are countless examples of national prestige, and domestic brands have been creating miracles.
In today's increasingly restless society, the positive development of commerce requires more sincerity and persistence from companies.
I hope that during the dividend period of opening up the world market, when talking about the nature of enterprises, people can still speak sincerely like the old general manager of Guowei: "We are in the industry."
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