The dispute between the two parties originated from the group buying activity that ten thousand people on Pinduoduo platform should buy a car to launch Model 3 on July 2 1 day. Because the group purchase price was 40,000 yuan less than the official guidance price, Tesla felt that the direct sales model was "provoked" and that Pinduoduo had broken the commercial rules, and then a series of incidents of "refusal" and "war of words" occurred.
However, Pinduoduo and Yi Yi stressed that Tesla's move was to refuse to fulfill the contract with consumers and support consumers to protect their rights according to law.
Refuse to pay Rashomon
Tesla and Pinduoduo have been tied together since July of February1year, when it was easy to buy a car and launch Model 3 on the Pinduoduo platform.
Things should have ended here, but Pinduoduo did not terminate the transaction, and still claimed that the Tesla he sold was genuine, and consumers could continue to place orders. It is understood that on the day of the event, * * * 5 people successfully joined the group.
When the public thought that this "tongue war" was finally coming to an end, the incident reversed again, and "Wuhan car owners delivered the car" completely angered Tesla.
On the evening of August 18, it was reported that Easy Car and Pinduoduo Platform had helped Wuhan car owners to successfully pick up their cars and insure them. But soon after the news came out, Tesla employees voiced in Weibo: "From 9: 00 p.m. 15 to 9: 30 p.m., we were still communicating with the Wuhan customer of the Pinduoduo incident, but after 8: 00 p.m., the whole network was reporting the news that he picked up the car. Naked fake news. " Subsequently, Tao Lin, vice president of foreign affairs of Tesla, reprinted the employee's Weibo and confronted Pinduoduo.
According to Tesla, the company has never hacked any car owners and has never had a blacklist. From beginning to end, he actively communicated with the owner and proposed a variety of solutions, which were rejected by the "family" of the owner.
Therefore, Tesla believes that in the so-called "Wuhan car owner delivery" report, the trailer, signature documents and delivery operation procedures used do not meet Tesla delivery specifications, and the company will reserve the right to pursue the legal responsibility of the relevant parties.
Controversy about direct selling mode
The dispute between direct selling mode and e-commerce mode caused by the "rejection door" between Pinduoduo and Tesla is becoming increasingly fierce.
Elon musk, CEO of Tesla, has publicly stated: "Tesla's direct network operation is to ensure that all customers have the best experience in the whole chain from beginning to end."
Pinduoduo, who grew up in the process of "watching the decline" by the public, obviously conflicts with Tesla's business philosophy with the e-commerce model of "realizing business with traffic".
At present, there are three kinds of automobile sales models: one is the manufacturer authorized dealer model, the other is the brand direct sales model, and the third is the non-mainstream e-commerce model.
In the view of automobile analyst Yan Jinghui, the brand direct selling model represented by Tesla needs high brand influence. Under the current development trend, the whole process of online booking and offline trading has not been fully realized.
Tesla's firm opposition to Pinduoduo is largely related to the fact that this move will destroy the original sales model. "Bypass Tesla and illegally sell Tesla vehicles to consumers as a third-party seller. This unilateral insistence has violated basic business principles, undermined the pricing strategy and consistency of Tesla's products for sale, and also harmed the interests of Tesla users. " Tesla stressed.
According to Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the Association, it is not impossible for e-commerce to sell cars, but it needs to reach an agreement with the brand. "Doing this without permission is malicious marketing, deceiving consumers and improper behavior that damages the brand of manufacturers."
However, for this statement, many insiders hold the opposite view. Yan Jinghui said: "Tesla is too serious and worrying. Pinduoduo's subsidy is a marketing operation outside the manufacturer's price system and does not affect the manufacturer's price system. "
Pan Helin also believes that the impact of this move on Tesla's marketing system should not be overstated. "Tesla does strictly control the sales channels and product prices through direct sales, which makes Tesla products have strong value preservation attributes. Consumers can save the process of price comparison and choose products directly. Market order and product sales are very stable. However, Pinduoduo's subsidies will not affect the advantages of these direct sales. First of all, subsidizing only five cars at a time will not affect the market; Secondly, in the final car purchase process, Tesla's price is still the original price, and the subsidized part is the merchant's own pocket, which will not pose a threat to Tesla's insurance right. "
There is no winner behind the confrontation.
Behind this "war" without smoke, many people are thinking about how the outcome will be and who the ultimate winner will be. But in the eyes of the industry, neither side has a winner. For Tesla, although "refusing to deliver" defended its direct sales channel, it still firmly held the product price in its own hands, but lost the hearts of consumers.
"Although Tesla's behavior may not violate the anti-monopoly law, it still violates the rights of consumers." The director of Jingjin v. Law Firm analyzed the irrationality of Tesla's refusal to deliver Model 3 to the owner of Pinduoduo "Time-limited Spike" channel.
The ripple effect caused by this has once again caused some public dissatisfaction with Tesla. "If it is really a loss, it is Tesla's series of operations that make many potential car buyers feel bad." Pan Helin said:
For the direct selling model, whether it can develop continuously mainly depends on whether it can get more sales performance. Tesla's direct sales model gives it a premium right. In the face of China's policy that "new energy vehicles exceeding 300,000 yuan will no longer enjoy new energy policy subsidies", Tesla can independently reduce the pricing of vehicles within 300,000 yuan.
Tesla's second-quarter financial report submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) shows that its operating income in the first half of this year was $65,438+0,202/kloc-0.0 billion, of which the operating income in China market was $2.3 billion, accounting for 20% of its total income.
While the sales volume in China market has greatly increased, Tesla has been repeatedly defended by consumers. In March of this year, the "door reduction" incident had a great impact on Tesla's reputation. After this incident, its reputation may further decline.
"Tesla is really domineering, but we still have to respect consumers. Especially at this time, is it really just a business rule to have money and not make money? " Wang Yuchen said.