If the automobile industry is the body of automobile civilization, then automobile culture is the soul of automobile civilization. If there is no bright soul, the vitality of China’s automobile industry will not be able to get out of the dilemma of being big but not strong.
Editor’s note: This article is from the WeChat public account “Alter Talk Technology” (ID: spnews).
At the 2020 Chengdu International Auto Show, a modified “Wuling pickup truck” went viral on Weibo, attracting thousands of car critics to share and forward.
Since the domestic A-class auto show banned car models, such lively scenes have been rare. However, the popularity of “Wuling Pickup” is not surprising:
Its prototype is Wuling’s Hongguang MINI EV, which caused a lot of controversy at the beginning of the market. It is said that the pre-sale order is as high as 30,000 units; and the modification strategy of 6X6 pickup trucks and the positioning of the prototype have produced huge The visual impact has firmly captured the curiosity of the audience.
Under the torrent of the times, the occurrence of everything has its inevitability. The “Wuling Pickup” out of the circle revealed a corner of China’s auto industry.
Starting from about 2019, modified cars have gradually become a key word that domestic car leaders are willing to talk about, and have become the focus of discussion in some automotive industry forums. The automobile culture behind the modified cars is also regarded as the center of a trillion-level market, and even the core node of the automobile industry’s innovation and development towards the second curve.
At the same time, I have to admit that modified cars are still very small in China, and China’s car culture is still in its infancy, and the uncertainty is far greater than the certainty.
As the main active position of auto bloggers, we found two quite representative auto modifiers @工匠派和@住夜 Channel on Weibo. Through their experience, industry insights and personal ideals, Let’s talk about where China’s modified car industry comes from and where will it eventually go?
Modified cars “stigmatized”
Frankly speaking, most people don’t have a lot of favor with modified cars, and even have a bias towards modified cars.
The car body is covered with stickers such as MOMO, TRD, WRC, and a wind-sucking tail wing is added to the rear of the car. It is equipped with a sub-large sound and “killing high beam” as standard… all kinds of cool elements are random Mixed and forcible combination not only destroys the coordination and aesthetics of a car, but also often accompanied by uncivilized behaviors such as malicious stoppages and motor roars, forcibly turning public roads into a rallying arena for wanton display of individuality.
The result is that modified cars have been stigmatized, to some extent equated with negative labels such as drag racing and lack of quality, and they have always been the target of severe crackdowns by the traffic control department.
@工匠派 has 600,000 fans on Weibo, and the team’s hands-on modification of Chery Arrizo GX attracted more than 200,000 netizens. Before entering the car modification industry, Xiaotong, the head of the artisan school, spent a long time playing Harley, and often went abroad to participate in motorcycle modification activities. The special experience in his youth gave Xiaotong a deep understanding of young people’s motivation to modify cars: “The interesting thing about modified cars is rebellion. Young people in their twenties have their own personality only when they move. This is a boy View of the world.”
However, Xiaotong also admitted that stigma may be the status quo of the domestic modified car industry. Due to the lack and imperfection of relevant laws and regulations and industry standards, the entire industry is in a gray area of irregularities. Some young people have not established the right The driving view lacks understanding and awe of cars. Therefore, the Artisan School joined the China Automobile Industry Association in 2020 to try to promote the standardization and standardization of automobile modification.
@ stay night channel, as a new Weibo auto media in 2020, the number of fans has grown to 260,000 within half a year. The principal ALAN runs a comprehensive automobile company. For five years, the business has gradually extended from car modification to product design, private brand and OEM brand spare parts supply business. As a first-line participant in car modification, ALAN believes: “Among all your assets, the car may be the second longest company, second only to the house. Modification can deepen the feelings of the car lovers and have a more thorough understanding of the car. Understand.”
However, in the “semi-underground” state of car modification, there are often discordant scenes, which are prone to potential traffic safety hazards. In ALAN’s view, the core of a modified car should not be showing off and clamoring. What I want to do is not to tell everyone how to change the car. I hope to help the audience establish a correct view of the car by outputting car-related application knowledge and modification knowledge Help the outside world establish a positive understanding of the modified car industry.
On the issue of how to rectify the name of the modified car, both @工匠派 and @午夜 Channel sent hopeLook at China’s automobile culture. One example that can be found is the Japanese JDM culture that once flourished. Even underground racing enthusiasts have formed a rare conscious norm. Even if they are illegal racing on the street, they often attach importance to road safety.
Similar voices may not be unfamiliar to the outside world. At the 2017 Shanghai CAS Modification Exhibition, a leader of the conference gave such an appeal: “In the past, when we made modified cars, we focused on a small circle. Inside, you know me, I know you, and you are all acquaintances doing everything. Now we need to let more ordinary people come into contact with modified cars, then we should start with the culture, so that the public can accept modified cars more. Only the refitting industry can flourish.”
The difference is that @工匠派和@午夜 Channel does not want to be a pure shouter. How to make the public accept the modified car, how to make the public recognize the Chinese car culture, they have their own understanding and methods: through Social platforms such as Weibo to show the original power and unique charm of Chinese car modification, and at the same time provide detailed knowledge and correct modification views for audiences who do not understand the modification culture, and no longer blindly pursue beauty or performance, and finally find the Chinese car culture Foothold.
Where is the Chinese car culture?
The modified car is a bit like Hip-Hop, and it is also dominated by young people, and it also exudes unique vitality.
However, the popular route of modified cars cannot be popular in the streets and alleys overnight like “Rip Hop in China”, otherwise the traffic control department may be the first to act.
After all, the love of trend culture is almost free of cost. To make up for one or two popular variety shows, and to buy a maverick costume, you can act as a trend boy. However, the love for modified cars requires a price and effort. It is not easy to just untie the knot of ordinary people “talking about modification”, and it is destined that market education for modified cars is not a simple one. Traffic business.
The reason for choosing @工匠派 and @擊夜 Channel for narrative is that in addition to their popularity on Weibo, they are also due to the natural social attributes, openness, and communication capabilities of Weibo and other social media, which are accelerating automobile culture to the masses , The carefully polished video content also cleverly answers two core questions related to Chinese car culture:
The first question is why many modifications blindly catch up with European and American trends, and do not meet the needs and aesthetics of Chinese car enthusiasts?
@工匠派 is called the craftsman of the car circle by fans. The “Wuling pickup truck” mentioned at the beginning of the article was made by them. What is different from most modders is that the craftsmen’s mods are often mainly domestic cars. “The essence of automobile culture is based on the modification of its own country. Japan and the United States have their own automobile styles, and China’s automobile culture is bound to be bred in domestic brands.. The artisan school is to deliver new designs and concepts, so that everyone has a new understanding of the modification. “
@ stay night channel left the focus to people who are unknown in the Chinese auto industry but who have contributed immense power. The first protagonist is the car designer Shui who came from an artistic family. Under the circumstances, Shui Ge redesigned the appearance of Tesla Model 3, creating a “mechanical dolphin” style that conforms to the Chinese aesthetics. “Perhaps in the eyes of many people, car modification means changing to dazzling colors and arrogant styles. We want to break this prejudice from the outside world.”
The second question, why does China not have its own car culture? Where is our craftsmanship?
The content of @工匠派 and @ stay night channel have one thing in common-slow and precise. Compared with the high frequency output of other auto bloggers on Weibo, the two bloggers have more awe of auto culture. In the six years since its establishment in 2014, the content of the Artisan School has only been more than 50 issues, the fastest one takes a month, if it is slow, it may take half a year or even longer; the stay-up channel is an account that will only be updated in 2020. There are only 3 episodes of the program online so far, and each episode uses a different narrative shooting technique.
The reason for the slowness is that both adopt the concept of documentary production. From the collision of creative ideas, to the hardships in the modification process, to the joy after the work is completed, there are not too many restrictions on the length of the show, the purpose is The story must be expressed clearly, and then there will be something valuable in the audience’s mind, not just what a car can be changed into, but also the charm and ingenuity behind the modification. In fact, China’s modified car industry does not lack ingenuity and localized innovation. What is lacking is precisely the record, expression and infection of the craftsman spirit.
Maybe in China’s modified car market, @工匠派和@住夜 Channel are still a minority, but Weibo provides them with a platform for value presentation, and it also allows us to find a window into Chinese car culture: through The high-quality content allows the outside world to see that China also has a group of great designers and refitting teams, a group of refitters who insist on their original intentions and dreams, and a group of staunch disseminators of Chinese car culture.
Premeditated “Break the Circle” Experiment
For automobile culture, most people will habitually think of two qualifications: one is a long-standing automobile industry, and the other is a developed economic foundation.
Like clothing culture and food culture, the premise for the birth of automobile culture is to achieve a certain retention and utilization rate, and then people begin to pursue deep spiritual needs.
So “car culture” is basically limited to European and American countries. However, in the 1990s, Japanese car companies launched a series of unique Japanese high-performance cars, which not only broke the market monopoly of European and American car companies , Has also attracted a large number of European and American consumers, forming the famous JDM culture. However, the popularity of JDM culture on a global scale can also be attributed to comics and movies such as “Initial D”, which gave birth to the car dreams of countless passionate boys.
Following this logic, I am more willing to regard the redefining of car modification behaviors by @工匠派 and @午夜 Channel through high-quality content on Weibo as a premeditated “circle-breaking” experiment in Chinese car culture.
From the data point of view, starting from the official operation of Weibo in 2017, the number of fans of the Artisan School has increased from 0 to more than 600,000, and the number of fans on the entire platform has exceeded 6 million, and it is still growing steadily; Stay Up Night Channel 2020 When the first episode of the program was launched on February 25th, 2010, it received 211,000 views on Weibo, and the number of fans increased to 260,000 in just half a year.
More convincing than numbers is that social media such as Weibo builds a two-way communication channel between bloggers and fans through the efficient connection of content and users, and creates an atmosphere of discussion about automobile culture in a subtle way.
@ stay night channel said that fans often leave warm comments on Weibo. Some fans left a message saying: I fell asleep last night, and when I was half asleep and half awake, I felt the suffering of a designer, and then I found the pictographic animal The front, inner, and behavioral struggles are very good.
@工匠派 receives a large number of fan comments and private messages every day. For example, after the announcement of the thousand-hp engine plan, many netizens think it is impractical and impossible to complete, but there are still many fans who have been supporting: think what you think, Do what you do and stick to it; criticisms are pretends, you can’t ignore them but don’t care, trust you!
Objectively speaking, the “breaking circle” experiment of @工匠派 and @upnight channel is far less than the impact brought by “Initial D”Loudness has also verified three possibilities for the budding and growth of automobile culture in China:
First, modified cars do not lack the potential for popularization in China. At least the user activity on Weibo has verified the mass basis of Chinese car culture;
Secondly, in the era of fragmented user time and the prevalence of short videos, there is still no shortage of valuable and in-depth content, and social media represented by Weibo has also accelerated the precipitation of high-quality users;
Thirdly, high-quality content is attracting more and more young participants in the automotive industry. Just as a user wrote in the video of @擊夜 Channel: I am also an industrial social practitioner. I always felt that this job was too boring. After reading Shui’s design, it turned out that I could design a car like this. I found my next direction.
In the era when the central field of users’ attention has shifted from TV to the Internet, the popularization of Chinese car culture cannot replicate the JDM route. Fortunately, there is also a new methodology: open social media such as Weibo provides the direction of car culture. Volkswagen’s infrastructure, a group of refitting craftsmen, such as @工匠派 and @午夜 Channel, have taken the initiative to act as promoters of Chinese car culture, and will invisibly catalyze wonderful chemical reactions.
If you are more optimistic, when the “breaking circle” experiment of @工匠派和@午夜 Channel is further verified, more and more car bloggers will join the car modification camp through social media such as Weibo In the game, an atmosphere of playing with cars is formed, which will eventually affect a generation of young people like “Initial D”.
Write at the end
As of the end of 2019, China’s car ownership has reached 260 million, and the car ownership per thousand people has caught up with the global average. China’s car industry has begun to transition from a rapid development stage to a stable development stage, 18-30 years old Of young people are becoming the main consumer in the auto market.
In particular, with the gradual relaxation of modification restrictions and the gradual lifting of the ban on modification parts, it will be the established trend of China’s auto industry to move from the era of new car consumption to the era of personalized cars.
In the new trend of the times, the whole machine factory that firmly controls the voice of the automotive industry may still be the most dazzling role, and will successively launch performance cars and customized models that meet individual needs. But if the automobile industry is the body of automobile civilization, then automobile culture is the soul of automobile civilization. If there is no bright soul, the vitality of China’s automobile industry will not get out of the dilemma of being big but not strong.
@工匠派 and @午夜 Channel may only play small roles, but they are an indispensable part of Chinese automobile civilization. Weibo creates a coupling effect between high-quality content and fans, helping car tuning craftsmen to realize their personal value.During the process, it further confirmed the core connotation of automobile culture. Automobile modification is already the most direct way of personalized expression, and it is also an important driving force for automobile consumption upgrade.
Besides, they also have their own dreams:
@工匠派 In addition to refitting cars, it also involves self-made rotary engines, self-made 1,000-hp engines, and DIY cars, providing car companies with design and services for the pre-installation market, allowing users to buy customized performance and appearance Refit the car and go on the road safely and legally.
@ stay night channel is a creative advertising film and television production team. At the same time, his brother team provides a comprehensive company of automotive product development and design, OEM supplier services, supply chain management, e-commerce services and offline automotive services. It is hoped that it can produce some butterfly effects for China’s car modification industry.
China’s “Babos” are already on the way to rise.