April 19 is not a lucky day for Tesla. A female car owner from Henan unexpectedly broke through layers of security and made a fuss at the Tesla booth at the Shanghai Auto Show, which became a farce that maxed out the circle of friends that day. Although the booth attracted crowds of good people, public opinion was once again pushed to the forefront by excessive rights protection. Facing this sudden storm of rights protection, Tesla Vice President Tao Lin seemed to be in the calmest eye of the storm. She still maintained a calm and objective attitude one hour after the incident, and discussed the same with us. In her view, “Tesla’s best way to deal with doubts is to make good products.”

　　Ms. Tao Lin, Vice President of Tesla Company (Image source: Tesla)

　　Spending energy on marketing is not the best choice for Tesla

　　Since Tesla was first delivered in China 7 years ago, this brand has experienced a long period of deification. Whether it is a high-profile Musk or a forward-looking product, most of the time, it has been in the high light moments that the media and the public doubly admire. However, there is an old Chinese saying that "the wood is beautiful in the forest, and the wind will destroy it." To put it in a more popular way, it is "the gun hits the head." With the rapid increase in sales in China, as the product line becomes more and more abundant, starting from the million-level market to grab the market share of the two to three million yuan price range, Tesla is gradually being demonized, and many seem reasonable or unreasonable. The negative news of the country began to spread among the public. According to the normal operation of car companies, Tesla should spend a large amount of public relations expenses to "whitewash" itself or to create a positive voice, but Tesla chose another way, in Tao Lin's words: "We think it is impossible to spend our energy on these things. This is not the best choice."

　　The Internet has memories. Behind the deification of Tesla and the demonization of Tesla, there are actually a group of people with a very high degree of overlap. Tao Lin said frankly that Tesla's investment in marketing and promotion is relatively small compared to other car companies, so it is inevitable that there will be a feeling that the external environment is not friendly enough. As for the occurrence of such things at the Shanghai Auto Show, Tao Lin believes that the reasons behind it are very complicated. It will not be a simple matter of a single person. There may be various factors, and even some competition-related reasons. Regardless of the reason, Tao Lin still insists that she will not devote too much resources to marketing and promotion.

　　Tesla’s best-selling model in China, Model 3, was also the vehicle involved in the auto show turmoil (photo source: Tesla)

　　Not investing too much resources in marketing and promotion does not mean that Tesla does not value users' perception of the brand and products. In Tao Lin’s eyes, those individuals who participated in the discussion of Tesla’s negative news on the Internet may not have actually driven Tesla’s products, or they may not have been exposed to smart connected cars, but they have been in different channels. Affected by the information you are exposed to. But she firmly believes that as the consumer group of new energy vehicles becomes larger and larger, many erroneous cognitions once formed indirectly will be transformed into objective cognitions. This confidence comes from Tesla’s customer conversion data: more than 60% of Tesla’s products have been approved after a test drive experience from an unfamiliar customer entering the store. Tao Lin, like her colleagues, firmly believes that even if users want to take a look at the influence of negative news, Tesla's products still have the ability to make them turn black and turn fans. After all, good products themselves Can talk. Facing the unexpected incident on the first day of the auto show media day, Tao Lin was not surprised. After all, Tesla’s development process is a process that is constantly being questioned. The best way to deal with these doubts is to make good products to prove that the brand was originally The chosen direction is correct.

　　There is no competition among new energy car companies, they are all doing education in the market

　　Tesla does not compare the investment in marketing and advertising with its friends in the market, but it also has the direction of silent comparison. Tao Lin believes that in the rapid development of China's new energy vehicle market, the comparison between friends and businessmen is how to make their products fit the needs of the market, and the comparison between the company's leader's judgment of the underlying technology logic and the judgment of the market. , And the judgment of the real needs of consumers. And this is exactly where Tesla is full of confidence, because in the past few years, Tesla has been doing its best to use all of its resources to do this thing well.

　　To do such a thing well, Tesla spent 7 years in China.

　　In the past seven years, Tesla’s users in China have changed from the first batch of delivered geeks to ordinary consumers, and its products have become a normal demand for many families to buy cars, and the needs of small groups of people have truly entered. The scope of consideration for mass consumers when buying cars is not only a change in China's new energy vehicle user groups, but also Tao Lin's eyes that Tesla has achieved the greatest success in China in the past seven years. Seven years ago, the first batch of Tesla owners were keen to share with their friends the feeling of pushing the door to the end. Seven years later, more and more Tesla owners are willing to share with their smart operating system. And the convenience brought by FSD, this is the success of Tesla products and a direction of social progress. Standing at the moment, many new energy vehicle consumers are no longer users converted from fuel vehicles, but have locked in Tesla or other new energy brands for the first time in their lives. The success of pulling is also the success of all new energy vehicle brands in China.

　　Tesla’s “Vehicle Safety Report for the First Quarter of 2021” stated that the safety of its Autopilot is almost 10 times that of human drivers. (Image source: Tesla)

　　In the past seven years, Tesla’s sales in China have been rising rapidly, but Tao Lin feels that the current new energy vehicle market is still a very small market compared to fuel vehicles. In her view, there is no concept of competitors among new energy car companies. Everyone is doing education in the market and helping consumers to accept this new travel tool. She believes that China’s new energy vehicle market capacity will grow rapidly, rather than the total market volume. The sales volume among friends will only fluctuate. As long as the product is strong and can meet the needs of a certain market segment, Sales will increase with the growth of market capacity. Only when more and more companies enter the field of new energy vehicles will it prove that Tesla's original choice was correct.

　　Seven years ago, Tesla believed that electric vehicles and smart cars would be the future direction of development, and they were not recognized by too many people. Today, more and more companies recognize that the car is not only a means of transportation, but also a smart terminal. The market finally recognizes Tesla's judgment on the technical route. Many new energy car companies will propose benchmarking against Tesla when they launch new cars, and even claim to be a "Tesla killer". Tao Lin believes that the market will prove that Tesla can compete with other new energy car companies in the future. Grow together.

　　Electric vehicles can completely replace fuel vehicles. What is lacking at present is only production capacity and a good supply chain.

　　Like every Tesla employee, Tao Lin is full of confidence in the future of electric vehicles, especially in Tesla's products and technology. She firmly believes: "From the product itself, today's Tesla can replace fuel vehicles in all aspects, and the price/performance ratio may be better. What is lacking at present is only production capacity and a good supply chain, as well as complete supporting products."

　　Shanghai Super Factory Battery Module & Battery Pack Production Line (Image source: Tesla)

　　Tesla mentioned in its financial report for the fourth quarter of last year that the annual production capacity of the Shanghai Super Factory is capable of maintaining more than 250,000 vehicles. At present, the production capacity of Model 3 is already at full capacity, but Tao Lin believes that there is still much room for improvement in the production capacity of the Shanghai plant. If you use public data to calculate and calculate the area, production capacity, and output of the Shanghai Super Factory, and compare it with the unit area and production capacity of other car companies, you will find that Tesla's utilization rate is already extremely high. Tesla's plan is to improve efficiency from the underlying logic, so its production capacity has exceeded the upper limit of factory production capacity in traditional perceptions. As for the legendary second factory, it will appear in Tesla's business plan in China, but Tao Lin denied previous reports from foreign media that it had selected Chongqing.

　　Interestingly, Tesla does not promote its Shanghai Gigafactory as a smart factory. In Tao Lin's eyes, the purpose of intelligence is to improve efficiency in the final analysis, and the degree of intelligence of the Shanghai Super Factory is already very high. The manufacturing process should be as simple as possible, rather than artificially complicating it. Tao Lin disagrees that some factories add many processes labeled with smart labels for the sake of intelligence, and thinks that this reduces the factory’s cost. Efficiency turns the cart before the horse. In Tesla's definition, intelligence is only to achieve higher efficiency, rather than just becoming a publicity stunt.

　　According to Tao Lin’s introduction, in addition to meeting China’s local sales demand, Tesla’s Shanghai Gigafactory also carries most of Tesla’s worldwide Model 3 production, and is already exporting to Europe, Japan and other places. The next target will be several countries in Southeast Asia.

　　As for the localization of Tesla’s supply chain, there was a misunderstanding of “100% localization at the end of 2020”. When asked about the current localization of Model 3 and Model Y, Tao Lin said that the former is domestically produced. The proportion of localization has exceeded 85%, and the proportion of localization of the latter is gradually increasing. Tesla has a highly localized supply chain system in China. At present, except for key components such as chips, it has already achieved the process of localization. In the future, if the local supply chain can continue to exert strength, perhaps Tao Lin will no longer have the emotion of a lack of a good supply chain for electric vehicles to replace fuel vehicles.

　　is written at the end

　　The Shanghai Auto Show will be an unpleasant and unforgettable memory for Tesla and Tao Lin, but we also have the opportunity to see that there may be various pressures in the external environment, but Tesla is still determined to move forward in the established direction. Row. The storm of public opinion will eventually pass, and Tao Lin in the eyes of the storm will still respond to outside doubts in the form of making good products.