My Age of Investment

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"Darren, this is our factory. It has nearly 500,000 square feet of production workshops and office areas, and the annual output of cars can reach 500,000 vehicles.

The most rare thing is that it is so close to Silicon Valley, which is very suitable for Tesla. "

Akio Toyoda, who came from Japan, took Xia Jingxing and Straubel to visit the Nummi joint manufacturing factory in Fremont.

Xia Jingxing glanced around and found that many of the factory's facilities were a bit outdated.

And I didn't see many workers. All the production lines were shut down, and there were only some transportation workers coming in and out to move machines and waste materials.

Akio Toyoda followed Xia Jingxing's gaze and explained: "This factory was built in 1962 and was owned by General Motors until 1984. After that, Toyota entered the American automobile market and took a stake in this manufacturing factory. Have equity to this day.

But with the outbreak of the financial crisis and strategic adjustments, we and GM decided to jointly shut down the factory and sell it to a suitable buyer. "

Xia Jingxing did his homework beforehand and knew that Toyota suffered a huge performance impact last year.

In the U.S. auto market, which has always contributed more than 40% of profits, Toyota sales plummeted by 21.4%;

A total loss of 150 billion yen was recorded in fiscal year 2008, the first annual loss since 1938;

In the Chinese and U.S. markets, cars have also experienced serious quality problems, and the frequency of recalls has increased significantly.

This huge automobile kingdom started with looms. In the first half of last year, it achieved global sales of 4.82 million vehicles. It successfully surpassed General Motors and became the world's largest automobile manufacturer. It ranked fifth in the Fortune 500, but it also Ushered in huge internal worries.

Even without the financial crisis, Toyota would have faced problems such as a massive influx of new employees, aging senior executives, a shortage of talent, and overreliance on the North American single market.

Therefore, President Katsaki Watanabe was almost killed, and the new one was Akio Toyoda, the fourth generation eldest grandson of the Toyota family in front of him.

Xia Jingxing smiled and said, "Mr. Toyota, I have a question to ask you..."

"Please tell me."

Akio Toyoda stopped and looked at Xia Jingxing with a smile on his face.

He still respects Xia Jun, the richest man in Asia.

Of course, I respect Xia Jingxing's wallet more.

Therefore, after receiving the message from Masayoshi Son, he immediately came to the United States to do business, hoping to achieve some results before officially taking office as Toyota president in June, so as to silence some voices in the Toyota consortium that opposed him. Mouth.

"The global economy is in recession now, with the U.S. economy experiencing the most severe recession. How long do you think it will take for the auto sales market to return to the level before the financial crisis?"

Akio Toyoda thought for a few seconds before replying: "It will probably take two or three years."

"The U.S. auto sales market is already very saturated, the market growth rate is very low, and it's caught up with the financial crisis. I think this is the main reason why Toyota is laying off employees and selling factories, right?"

Akio Toyoda nodded and said with a smile: "Yes, I originally wanted to close the factory and look for a suitable buyer while waiting for the economy to pick up.

When I heard that Tesla was interested in our Fremont factory, I came over from Japan as soon as possible.

I heard that Tesla has developed its second pure electric model Model S. The next main task is mass production, right? "

Xia Jingxing and Akio Toyoda looked at each other, smiled and said nothing.

He wanted to remind Akio Toyoda that this is during the financial crisis, car sales are shrinking, and there are few suitable buyers.

Akio Toyoda has apparently also investigated Tesla and knows that they urgently need a factory to start mass production plans.

So, Xia Jingxing changed his perspective and chatted with Toyoda about the Prius.

The Prius was launched by Toyota in 1997 and was the world's first hybrid vehicle to be mass-produced.

Toyota, like General Motors, is one of the first automakers in the world to focus on the new energy field.

"Next month, we plan to launch the third-generation Prius in the Japanese market. It can travel 38 kilometers per liter of gasoline, and its fuel efficiency is 10% higher than the old model. It can be said to have the highest fuel efficiency in the world."

When talking about the Prius, Toyoda is full of pride.

Unlike Tesla, which launches pure electric vehicles for fun, although Toyota also focuses on the new energy field, it is more pragmatic.

glutinous rice

"Toyota is planning to transition to hybrid vehicles and then slowly transition to pure electric vehicles, right?"

Akio Toyoda smiled at Xia Jingxing, "In fact, we have already started manufacturing RAV4EV and Prius pure electric vehicles as early as 1997, and tentatively introduced them to the market.

However, the sales situation is not ideal. Taking RAV4EV as an example, we produced and sold a total of 1,484 vehicles from 1997 to 2003.

What is most criticized by customers is that its cruising range is very short, only 150 kilometers, and it takes 5 hours to fully charge.

How does this popularize the market? "

Akio Toyoda smiled and spread his hands, "Therefore, we can only temporarily give up the idea of ​​pure electric vehicles and slowly wait for the birth of new technologies."

"So do you think the time is right now?"

Akio Toyoda was silent for a few seconds before replying with emotion: "Roadster is very amazing, and its endurance of nearly 400 kilometers shocked me a lot.

I don’t know how you do it, but I know you must have accumulated a lot of battery patents.

If cost is not considered, Toyota can also design and launch similar pure electric vehicles.

But the most important thing about automobile manufacturing is to learn to control costs and make cars with the best performance at the lowest cost.

I heard that the price of your Model S will be significantly lower than that of the Roadster. Can you tell me more? How much are you planning to price?

If it's inconvenient, forget it. "

Xia Jingxing smiled lightly, "It's no inconvenience. We will start pre-sales next month at the latest. The standard version of Model S is priced at less than US$60,000."

"Under $60,000?"

Akio Toyoda was surprised and found that he seemed to have underestimated this small company that built cars in Silicon Valley.

"Yes, compared to the Roadster's price of US$110,000, the price reduction is as high as 50%."

Having made breakthroughs in several core technologies and having its own assembly plant, Tesla's costs of manufacturing Model S have indeed been very well controlled.

Of course, this is what Straubel said. If costs overrun again, Xia Jingxing doesn't mind getting a new CEO.

Seeing the boss's eyes glancing over, Straubel quickly smiled. They were really sure this time that they would not make another big mistake like when Eberhard was in charge of the company.

Of course, the standard version priced at less than $60,000 is definitely a castrated version and cannot maintain a range of nearly 400 kilometers.

When sales have not surged, costs are really not that easy to control, so we can only castrate low-end models and force some users to buy high-end models.

As expected, Akio Toyoda's interest was aroused and he began to ask Xia Jingxing about some specific parameters of Model S.

Xia Jingxing did not hide anything and told everything truthfully.

"Si Guoyi!"

Akio Toyoda was no longer as calm as before. He even spoke Japanese. He felt a little itchy and eager to see this car.

"Darren, can I visit Tesla? I'm very interested in Model S."

Akio Toyoda still has something to say. If the visit results are satisfactory, he wants to cooperate with Tesla to develop pure electric vehicles.

It has been more than ten years since the release of the Prius, and he feels that pure electric vehicles can try the water again.

Even if it fails, there is not much loss.

Seeing that the bait was taken, Xia Jingxing replied with a smile: "Of course, the factory tour is almost finished now, how about we go there now?"

"Okay, please!"

Xia Jingxing accepted Akio Toyoda's bow calmly, thought for a moment, and returned the gesture with a fist hug.

Akio Toyoda was stunned for a moment, was he just returning the favor like this?

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