If you blurt out a word related to France without thinking, then the word is probably romance. If you were asked to say one more word, it would most likely be... romance.
"Romantic", this French national brand label that cannot be torn off has brought huge premiums to some French industries: the temptation of high-end perfumes and cosmetics makes it difficult for ladies to resist, Louis. Vuitton is almost another name for fashion and luxury goods, and the soft and mellow wine industry is world-renowned... In the eyes of foreigners, the romantic French are simply born to be perfumers, fashion designers and winemakers.
But this is not entirely good news. After all, the "labels" that consumers can accommodate in their hearts are limited. They are used to affixing fixed labels to a country's image and products, which is one-dimensional rather than diverse. Interpret them culturally, thus becoming Louis. When Vuitton and Bordeaux wines shine too brightly, it is difficult for consumers to notice France's brilliant achievements in other industries at the same time. The unbreakable national image label of "romantic" has brought considerable discounts to the value of other industries, such as manufacturing, which in people's minds has no connection with or is even opposed to romance.
Among Chinese car consumers’ reference for car purchases, national brands are often one of the first evaluation criteria they think of: the symbols of Made in Germany are quality and safety, while the selling points of Made in Japan are economy and practicality. As for French cars represented by Peugeot, it is a vague concept. Chinese consumers may even doubt whether the romantic French are really capable of precise and rigorous industrial manufacturing?
French Label
Chinese consumers’ understanding of France has historical origins: as early as the 17th and 18th centuries, when European missionaries came to China, they introduced the distant country to the Chinese There is France in the West, a country that attaches great importance to culture and spirituality. From that time on, the Chinese called Paris the "City of Flowers" (meaning the romantic city); at the end of the 19th century, French literary works were translated and introduced into the country ; In the 1930s, groups of international students who went to France used their personal experiences to tell the country that there was indeed a romantic country in the far West; the most efficient tool for cultural communication, film, was born in France, although Hollywood relied on its huge The film industry continues to expand its territory in the world, but French films have always maintained their unique vitality.
These fragmented impressions about France gradually condensed into one word - romance. Although romance itself is a very abstract word, the Chinese use their own way to interpret French romance: the abundance of artistic genius, the pursuit of a comfortable lifestyle, and the high praise of love. Therefore, when the French came to China to promote their perfumes, fashions and wines, Chinese consumers "naturally" accepted the premium prices for these products - of course the French prepared the most unique perfumes, designed the most fashionable clothes, and brewed wines. The most delicious red wine of the nation. When products that are closely related to romance, such as perfume, fashion, and wine, become increasingly ingrained in the hearts of Chinese consumers, they in turn consolidate France's "romantic" label.
However, the associations caused by "romantic" are not always positive: behind artistic genius may be spontaneity and uninhibitedness, and unwillingness to be restrained; the pursuit of quality of life means spending one and a half hours every day Eat lunch every hour; the unremitting pursuit of love makes the French spend a lot of time flirting with the opposite sex; love nature, do you hate cold mechanical manufacturing... These negative impressions are all related to industrial manufacturing that emphasizes rigor, standardization and efficiency. Not up there. What's even more terrible is that in the hearts of the hard-working Chinese, the romantic French have the shortest working hours in the world and enjoy the most generous paid vacations, but they are always willing to go on strike and protest, often for very strange reasons.
For example, in May 1999, a transportation strike broke out in Paris involving all bus, subway and train workers because a conductor was killed. An investigation later revealed that the conductor died suddenly while chasing a fare evader. However, after learning the truth, the strike continued, and the reason became a protest against layoffs and tense working conditions.
In the minds of those impressionists, strikes of this scale seemed to occur as frequently in France as the French enjoyed fine wine, which led to a famous and ironic conclusion: The French go to work in the spring, vacation in the summer, and go on strike in the autumn. , winter holidays, so they only work three months a year. See, the French are lazy. As a result, a related negative impression was naturally formed: the French, who are casual and focus on enjoying life, are not good at manufacturing. But is this true?
Really Made in France
An employee of Dongfeng Peugeot once commented on the French people in the company. Before joining this company, he always thought the French were romantic and lazy. I was "lucky" that I had entered a "paradise" where I could arrive late and leave early, but I really discovered at work that the French did live up to their reputation as "romantic". They were very relaxed having fun in the bar after get off work, but they were also unambiguous when it came to work. French people in the company are always the first to arrive and the last to leave work.
This phenomenon is not unique. Canadian journalist Jean-Benoit. Nadeau (the author of "Sixty Million French People Can't Be Wrong") once stationed in France to study the French. After research, he discovered a fact that shocked him: "The average number of French people who don't go to work every year because of strikes Less than Americans... In 1996, France lost 448,000 working days due to strikes, one-third that of the United Kingdom and one-eleventh that of the United States." He mentioned in the book, "France. As man enters the third millennium, his production index per hour is the highest in the world."
In fact, due to the proximity of regional culture, French manufacturing has many similar roots to the famous German manufacturing. Those who only know France as romantic may have overlooked that France also has a long tradition of industrial manufacturing. Nowadays, the French have the world's leading manufacturing capabilities in nuclear power equipment, aviation and aerospace industry, steel industry, and automobile industry. In the course of historical evolution, the French have also formed their own very unique cultural characteristics.
For example, language. The French people's love for their national language is well known to the world. They are also very willing to talk and debate, and the French people's humorous nature is undoubtedly revealed. Esprit (fun) is the French word used to describe the highest level of wit in conversation. But what is not so easy for outsiders to understand is that the French pay great attention to accuracy in conversation. French children must receive grammar and rhetoric training before school. Adults will pay great attention to correcting the grammatical errors of the conversation partners in real time, especially Foreigners (in French etiquette, this does not fall into the category of unreasonable), this is the rigorous side of the French besides humor - in their view, conversation is not just about explaining your thoughts clearly, What's more important is whether we can strive for excellence in this process. The United Nations has six working languages, but most documents are drafted in French and then translated by staff into English, Chinese, Russian, Spanish and Arabic. Why? It is because French is the most rigorous language in the world. Due to its rigorous grammar, it is difficult for others to exploit loopholes in original documents drafted in French.
Behind this is actually a deeper and more revolutionary character of the French - the French worship those things that can be called "noble and brilliant" and elite education, and are willing to He is tireless and has no feeling for ordinary and easily available things. This is a kind of spiritual temperament that hopes to become a "craftsman" of fine craftsmanship, rather than just being an ordinary technician.
After understanding these characteristics of the French, we should redefine French romance, and even redefine the essence of romance. Women are usually considered more romantic than men because women value the process more, while men want the results. Therefore, the essence of romance is actually to pay attention to the process, subdivide the process into countless details, and carefully experience and feel every detail. The most fundamental reason why outsiders think the French are romantic is that many things that seem very trivial and small to outsiders are felt by the French with all their body and mind, and appreciate the splendor and beauty they admire in the "perfect" details. Beautiful. Just as the unique French movies and Hollywood emphasize the "explicit" values ??of stars, special effects, and scripts, French movies deem emphasis on plot and emphasis on feelings, emphasizing savoring the indescribable inner splendor during movie watching.
This was also France where Louis was born. The underlying reasons for luxury brands like Vuitton.
Making a bag that is popular all over the world requires not only excellent design, but also rigorous, precise and perfect manufacturing spirit. A simple example is that China has many underground factories producing Louis. Vuitton's high-imitation leather bags, to the untrained eye, can be almost "authentic" in terms of color and leather, but when experts identify them, they can almost find dozens of flaws in the pattern depth, stitching, engraving and other craftsmanship. Flaws, especially those details that are almost impossible to detect with the naked eye, such as pleats at corners, are always accurately maintained at five for authentic products.
France’s automobile tradition is as old as luxury goods. For example, Peugeot’s brand origin can be traced back to 1810, which has been two full centuries, more than Louis Vuitton. Vuitton is 44 years earlier. Peugeot produced its first car in 1889, named Serpollet Peugeot, becoming one of the oldest car brands in the world. Although the French have a strange way of classifying cars into daily consumer goods - they do not focus on developing luxury cars according to the idea of ??creating luxury goods, the French have integrated the spirit of making luxury goods into the manufacturing process of every "ordinary" car. .
An uncompromising "self-pleasuring" experience
France, which is rich in perfumes, once cultivated a unique profession called perfumer. Their core value is their "nose", which can identify more than 4,000 perfume flavors and more than 50 perfume ingredients without any equipment. The Chinese manufacturer of Peugeot cars, Wuhan Dongfeng Peugeot, also has the position of "smeller" in its production team.
But don’t get me wrong, the “scent masters” in the car production team are not used to develop car-specific perfumes, but to detect whether the gas in the car makes the human body uncomfortable. Dongfeng Peugeot invested 4 million yuan to establish a vehicle volatile organic compound laboratory and an odor laboratory in March 2008. In addition to "conventional" methods such as instrument measurement, it also made full use of the olfactory potential of the human body and specially established an olfactory identification laboratory. Team members must not smoke or drink - they must keep their noses sensitive, receive long-term professional training from the Odor Institute of Versailles in Paris, and hold a certificate after taking the exam.
In the odor test, 10 samples are prepared for each product to be tested, and then 5 odor smellers each take 2 samples for testing, and the average value of the 10 tests is determined. Test results. Generally speaking, a new car needs to be tested about 400 times. If a certain part does not meet the standards, it will undoubtedly not be installed in the car. In fact, there are no special regulations on air quality standards in cars at home and abroad. As long as the parts of a car meet general standards, the air conditioning system is not too unreliable, and consumers will not particularly care about the smell in the car. From this From a perspective, it is not necessary to go to war in such a big way.
But Dongfeng Peugeot is very serious. When it comes to driving experience, they sneer at "just right" and require daily standards to be achieved under extreme conditions. For this reason, Dongfeng Peugeot is willing to pay the cost. , for example, they require that car doors and other parts must be double-sided galvanized (rust-proof). Although many manufacturers are galvanized on one side, or not plated at all, Dongfeng Peugeot cannot pass its own test.
"One's own level" is "pleasing oneself". Although a car is a functional product, it is also a living space. French designers must not let the function stop at "complete transportation". The more invisible places, the more they need to strive for excellence, even exceeding industry standards. Just like Louis. Many details of craftsmanship in Vuitton's bags are not easily noticed by ordinary consumers, but these "intangible details" are an important part of quality. The same is true for automobile products, including handling, chassis, safety... these all require consumers to notice after a long period of driving or riding. Some designs may not even be noticed by consumers in their lifetime, but French engineers and Dongfeng Peugeot are willing to help This pays additional cost.
Take safety as an example, the most familiar car safety indicator for ordinary consumers should be the "passive safety star rating" of various certification agencies, but even if they all obtain "five stars", the car and The safety factors between cars are also different, and these standards related to "who is safer" are difficult for many ordinary consumers to pay attention to and realize.
When a car is displayed in a 4S store, people mainly pay attention to its appearance and interior space. As for the thickness of the steel plates used in the doors and body, whether they are formed in one piece or spliced ??together, and what kind of steel plates are used. Welding technology, etc., most consumers cannot see and may not want to see. Therefore, many manufacturers cannot help but cut corners in these invisible areas. French cars, which have always been pursuing "pleasant self", have made the opposite choice and are even more "paranoid" than German cars. For example, Shenlong Motors has set up a test project that is rarely seen among domestic car manufacturers, the "curb chassis crash test". The main reason for establishing the project is that many drivers, especially novices, are prone to hitting curbs, causing serious damage to the car. performance and security risks. Another example is that one Peugeot out of every 10,000 taels is randomly inspected and sent to a specific workshop, where a pair of huge pliers are used to tear the entire car apart and specifically check whether the solder joints are defective. This practice is not unique in the industry. But the frequency is the highest.
In order to better control the quality of cars, the French also created a very "ruthless" production process innovation: before the car comes off the assembly line, it must be inspected for the last time on the conveyor belt. The usual practice of domestic manufacturers is : There are about 40 workstations (about 50 employees) - this can be said to reflect the emphasis on quality inspection, and sufficient manpower is provided. Once problems are discovered, they can be solved on the spot, which is a relatively efficient way.
But the French feel that there is a hidden danger in this: problems are solved on the spot, which seems to be efficient, but in fact it covers up problems that arise upstream. So they worked with Dongfeng Peugeot to design a solution. First, it was equipped with a computer system so that every quality problem could be traced to the source of the problem. The second was the key point: significantly compressing the workstations and workers on the conveyor belt. There are only 4 workstations and seven or eight people. The consequence of a serious shortage of manpower is that if there are too many "problem" cars, the workers will not be able to handle them at all, and the entire conveyor belt may stop working, which forces these foremen to find upstream production. The "stubble" in each link is investigated layer by layer from back to front, even to the supplier. The purpose is to force the production line to solve the problem at the source, rather than the final quality inspection link.
Manifesting implicit values
A technician from Dongfeng Peugeot once "complained" about the French: French designers have expensive butts and feel comfortable sitting on thick cushions , and refused to reduce the thickness no matter what. The stubborn French believe that ride comfort is the most important, but Chinese consumers are not particularly sensitive to ride comfort—at least they cannot experience it when buying a car. On the contrary, they care very much about the space of the car—and It is easier to perceive that the intangible value of "thick leather seats" that is obviously "pleasant for oneself" increases the manufacturing cost, and Chinese consumers may not recognize it.
This is also a problem faced by French cars represented by Peugeot in the Chinese market: Peugeot cars with technology, attitude and ability are not invincible in the Chinese market. The reason for this is said It may seem complicated, but there must be one thing: French stubbornness. China's automobile consumer market started in the 1980s. For a long time after that, many Chinese consumers were still "price-sensitive." The total cost of ownership of a family sedan generally includes the purchase price, fuel consumption and Maintenance costs.
This is the problem faced by French cars: the French emphasize treating every car with the spirit of "pleasing oneself", and the pursuit of excellence in those "hidden values" makes it difficult to reduce manufacturing costs and limited production capacity. As for fuel consumption, in addition to the improvement of the car's own technology, it is actually contradictory to safety - that is, the heavier the car and the higher the safety, the higher the fuel consumption. As one of the European cars, French cars have not established a systematic and localized supply chain for a long time after entering China. This is one of the reasons for their high manufacturing costs and has also caused the decline of French cars. The core values ??did not exactly match the needs of Chinese consumers at the time.
In contrast to this is the approach of Japanese cars. I have to admit that Japanese manufacturers have a thorough understanding of the needs of Chinese consumers and can respond in a targeted manner. For example, Chinese consumers like to save face, so they make the visible parts of the car as refined as possible; Chinese consumers If consumers like to save fuel, then they will launch cars with low fuel consumption through technology and reducing the quality of the entire vehicle.
The French concept is to integrate the "pleasant self" manufacturing character into every car, rather than using different brands to achieve different values, such as the Dongfeng Peugeot series models: 207, 307, 408, 508. This approach makes consumers' impressions of various "Peugeot" cars somewhat vague.
However, Chinese consumers are also gradually changing. The most general change is from satisfying food and clothing to pursuing a dignified and quality life. The same is true for automobile products, which have developed from a simple transportation function to an inner value. Attention to quality. And nowadays, there are more and more experts, second-time car buyers and second-car buyers in China’s auto consumer market. They have a lot of car knowledge and know how to judge the intrinsic value of a car, such as safety. , controllability, rather than just deciding which car to buy based on fuel consumption, price, and appearance. This is actually an opportunity for French cars—the values ??they have always adhered to are increasingly understood and recognized by consumers.
But this does not mean that the stubborn French do not need to change. For example, the French method of "forcing the production line to solve problems at the source, rather than the final quality inspection link" is too extreme in the eyes of Dongfeng Peugeot's technical staff. They need to add more manpower to the quality inspection assembly line and improve the ability to find and solve problems. In fact, the efficiency of the problem is not inconsistent with the goal of controlling car quality. As long as an effective system is established to ensure that the problems discovered in the final quality inspection can be traced upward.
What is more important is how to develop "perceivable quality" for automotive products while adhering to the concept of "please yourself". After all, users still need a very intuitive and easy-to-perceive experience to judge a car. value. Dongfeng Peugeot's new car 508 began to try this kind of work, such as the cup holder in the car. French designers found more than 200 kinds of cups that Chinese consumers like to use as a reference to design a cup holder that is both universal and humane. , allowing consumers to "see and touch" the quality of Peugeot cars, and try to display the previously hidden values ??in front of users. ()