Rebirth 99 to become a car giant

The Spring Festival is a very important festival for China.

As long as it's not an urgent matter, every company will definitely have a holiday.

Enterprises in the Nanshan system are naturally no exception.

However, Chinese people celebrate the Spring Festival, which many countries cannot do well.

Their Christmas and New Year holidays are over.

Even in Japan, although they also have the Spring Festival, the Spring Festival has changed its concept and is celebrated together with the New Year's Day.

So when China celebrates the Spring Festival, they are already working normally.

January 2014 has passed, but for Japan, they are accustomed to using April to March of the following year as their fiscal year.

So in early February, they were busy preparing for various plans for the next fiscal year.

As the global car sales champion in 2013, Toyota is naturally discussing internally how to maintain this position.

"President, I'm afraid the North American market will be more troublesome this year."

"General Motors has lost its No. 1 position in the market, so there will definitely be some actions."

"But this year, General Motors' sales in China will basically return to zero. If they lose more than one million shares, they will definitely want to find it through other methods."

"Judging from the situation in the past few months, both General Motors and Ford Motors hope to exert force in the domestic market of the United States and suppress the survival space of our Japanese car companies."

Tetsuaki Kobayashi, as the vice president of Toyota Motor, once served as the head of the North American headquarters, and he is relatively familiar with the situation in the American market.

The more this happens, the more he knows the thoughts of American car companies.

In the past, the situation had not reached the point where General Motors would lose its position as the industry leader, so maybe General Motors would just tolerate it.

But after General Motors began to lose its No. 1 position in the industry, it took many more actions.

Especially in recent months, this situation has become increasingly obvious.

Tetsuaki Kobayashi is worried that local American companies like General Motors will use more means to deal with them.

This is obviously not a good thing for Toyota.

Japan's domestic market only has a few million vehicles, but it is divided up by a bunch of car companies such as Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Mazda, Suzuki, Daihatsu, Subaru, etc.

Relying on the local market alone, Toyota will definitely not be ranked first in the world.

It can be said that Japanese car companies are the biggest beneficiaries of globalization.

Now that the United States is starting to target Japanese car companies, Toyota will definitely be hit the hardest.

However, the American market is Toyota's largest market. If it were lost, Toyota would not even be ranked number one in the world, and it would not even have a place in the TOP3.

"In the Chinese market, Nanshan Automobile Group, with its various independent brands, has been suppressing us in the past two years."

“It is estimated that there will be no small movement in this regard this year.”

"General Motors and Ford in the United States are leading local companies to suppress us, and their actions are getting bigger and bigger."

"It's obviously a fight between General Motors, Ford Motor and Nanshan Automobile Group, but in the end they both targeted us. This is too much."

Watanabe Jisaki felt very depressed.

He had the feeling of being shot while lying down.

It is clear that Toyota has done nothing wrong and no one has provoked it. Why did it end up being the two leading companies in the world's first and second markets, America and China, taking the lead in suppressing it?

What about the promised level playing field?

Are they all made for people to see?

This is not the attitude when it comes to attracting investment.

Even some states in the United States are still trying their best to encourage Toyota to build new factories.

However, the actions of General Motors and Ford do not look like welcoming Toyota to build a new factory.

"They have all driven each other out of their own markets, and each other's sales have been affected to a certain extent."

"In this case, they naturally hope to make up for this part of the loss from other places."

"However, our performance in these two markets is still acceptable, so naturally it is easy to become a thorn in the eyes of others."

"President, I think that if this big development strategy does not change, our lives in China and the United States will probably be difficult."

Kobayashi Tetsuaki has basically expected that he will not be able to continue to sit at the top of the world this year.

General Motors and Ford are sharpening their knives and are preparing to take action on Toyota.

In this case, if there is no change in market share, the other party will definitely not give up.

Thinking of this, he felt even more depressed.

"I'm going to communicate with the cabinet to see if we can start from a high-level perspective to improve the relationship between Japan, China, and the United States."

"Otherwise, it would be difficult to dispel some of the ideas of General Motors and Nanshan Automobile Group."

As an industrial enterprise with a pivotal position in Japan, Toyota Motor naturally has some backers in the cabinet.

At the critical moment, they want to start from this aspect.

There is actually no problem in this direction.

However, it is naturally impossible for things to develop according to the situation they want to see.

Just when Toyota was trying to change its unfavorable situation, the CEOs of General Motors and Ford gathered together for a rare meeting to discuss the next means to deal with Japanese and Korean car companies.

"Mulally, Ford was once the world's number one, but now it has no chance to enter the top three."

"This is the result of Japanese and Korean car companies grabbing market share."

"For the development of American industry, I think no matter what means, they can be considered."

In dealing with Japanese and Korean car companies, Exxon will not be soft at all.

The relationship between these two places and the United States is originally quite special.

When Americans go to these two places, everyone will have a feeling of being superior.

Even if they say that everyone is equal, they know what is actually going on.

Now, for their own interests and the interests of the United States, it is natural for Exxon to sacrifice the interests of the car companies of these two countries. There is no such thing as mercy.

"Yeah, I think so too."

"Last year, Japanese automakers had a market share of 38% in the United States. In addition, the cumulative sales of Korean automakers in 2013 also broke the highest record set in 2012, reaching 720,000 vehicles. Basically, the share of these two companies has reached 43%."

"This is completely unacceptable."

"Our market share in Japan and Korea is less than 10% combined."

"This situation must be changed."

Mulally naturally fully agreed with Exxon's opinion.

He is already gearing up to suppress Japanese and Korean automakers.

As long as this task can be completed, both General Motors and Ford will be able to achieve an increase in sales in 2014.

The impact of losing the Chinese market will be minimal.

You know, the stock prices of the two companies fell sharply some time ago because investors felt that the two companies were going to lose the Chinese market, which would have a huge impact on the future.

Although they immediately took some actions and began to grab the market from Japanese and Korean automakers, they recovered their stock prices to a certain extent.

But up to now, the stock price has not recovered to the high point of 2013.

This is obviously not what Mulally and Exxon want to see.

As the CEO of the company, a large part of their income actually comes from stocks.

If the stock price goes down, it means that their income is also declining.

Cutting off someone's money is like killing their parents.

This kind of hatred must be very big.

They definitely want to recover from this situation.

If they can't deal with Nanshan Automobile Group, then look for other soft persimmons to squeeze.

Obviously, various car companies in Japan and Hyundai Kia Motors in Korea are the soft persimmons chosen by General Motors and Ford.

"Our trade deficit is getting bigger every year, which is something that many departments cannot tolerate."

"Among the trade deficits with Japan, 70% are caused by automobiles and auto parts."

"As long as this information is used well, and the relevant departments are asked to impose an additional 25% or even 30% tariff on automobiles and auto parts produced in Japan, the cost advantage of Japanese automobiles can be greatly reduced immediately."

"Especially for models such as Lexus that rely entirely on imports, the cost will directly increase in the same proportion after the tariff increase."

As the president of General Motors, Exxon is now pulling Ford to take action together, and he will definitely not make a small move.

Since he is ready to take action this time, he must make a big one.

It would be best if the problem can be solved once and for all.

Things like raising tariffs involve the entire United States and Japan. Although it will be difficult to increase them, it is also very difficult to cancel them once they are increased.

"This is a good idea, and we don't need to propose it so bluntly, but let the relevant departments ask Japan to come up with a plan to eliminate the trade deficit."

"If the other party can't come up with a plan within the limited time, we will immediately implement the tariff increase plan."

"We can also use the same plan to deal with Korea."

"At that time, just this move will make Japanese and Korean car companies feel huge pressure."

Mulally will not sympathize with Japan and Korea. He was Boeing's vice president back then.

As the military-industrial complex of the United States, Boeing has done a lot of things to pit its allies.

Otherwise, how can it ensure that its products have a high profit margin?

Now as the CEO of Ford Motor, the situation is not as good as Boeing.

In this case, as long as it can improve the situation of Ford Motor, he is absolutely willing to do anything.

Besides, the plan proposed by Exxon is good for the entire United States.

The trade deficit issue is a big problem for the entire American society.

GM and Ford Motor will definitely get more support if they bring up this topic.

Those companies that want to increase the export share of their products, especially those that want to enter the Japanese and Korean markets, definitely want to implement this matter as soon as possible.

For example, they have always wanted to sell American beef to Japan and Korea, but the other side always uses this and that method to prevent cheap American beef from entering their market.

They would rather let their own people buy so-called domestic beef at a high price than import or increase imports.

In China, many people think that domestic products are of average quality, while imported products are of good quality.

Whether it is in the field of materials, equipment, or other fields, many people have this impression in their minds.

But in Japan and Korea, domestic beef or domestic vegetables represent good quality, while imported products represent poor quality.

This situation can be said to be completely opposite to that in China.

"Well, bring up this topic as soon as possible, otherwise, if you drag it on, a quarter of this year will pass."

"At that time, we want to ensure that our total sales do not decrease compared to last year, which will be much more difficult."

Exxon knows that General Motors' sales in China this year are basically zero.

At least in the past month, this is the case.

Although GM has not completely given up on promoting the supply of alternative parts to resume production, fewer and fewer people are confident that GM can resume production.

Even some alternative suppliers have begun to ask GM to pay the mold fee before they are willing to prepare parts.

The situation at Changan Ford is similar.

Exxon and Mulally quickly reached a consensus.

Then each of them exerted their influence, and the situation soon began to change.

After all, GM and Ford still have a great influence in the United States.

Various media are reporting on the trade deficit, and relevant departments have proposed to impose an additional tariff of at least 25% on imported cars and auto parts.

Although many car companies sell their products in the American market, they have more or less business involving imports.

However, as the Japanese car company with the largest market share, it is naturally at the forefront of this incident.

"President, I inquired about it. The request of the United States to impose tariffs on imported cars and auto parts was proposed by local automakers such as General Motors and Ford."

"We have to ask the relevant departments to come up with a plan as soon as possible, otherwise it will be particularly unfavorable to our situation."

Kobayashi Tetsuaki did not expect that the United States would make such a big move at the first move.

If this tax increase plan is really implemented, then the impact on Toyota will definitely be the greatest.

It is hard to say whether Toyota can still maintain its position as the world's number one at that time.

Although it is not the first time that the United States has proposed a similar plan, it is still very rare when the force is so strong.

"Do you think the United States is bluffing this time and wants to gain other benefits through this matter, or does it really want to impose tariffs?"

Watanabe Jie Zhao felt a little uneasy.

In the past, when the United States wanted Japan to relax regulations or reduce tariffs on specific products, it also mentioned some similar means.

But that was just a means, not an end.

This time he did think that the other party wanted to impose tariffs on Japanese automakers, which was the end, not the means.

That would be a bit troublesome.

"If there is no struggle between Nanshan Automobile Group and General Motors and Ford, then America's move this time should be a bluff, preparing for other purposes."

"But since October last year, the world's first and second Chinese markets and the American market have been fighting each other, competing directly to the point of killing each other."

"In this case, if General Motors and Ford want to maintain their position, they need to make up for the sales loss from other places."

"Our Japanese car companies occupy a large part of the American car market, and they must be the most direct target."

"Then there is Korea, which should not have a good result this time."

Although Kobayashi Tetsuaki did not want to see this situation, he knew that if he did not tell the truth at this time, it would delay time.

If Watanabe Jie Zhao made a misjudgment at that time, Kobayashi Tetsuaki might have to take the blame.

"I will immediately go to the relevant departments to communicate, and you can also talk to Honda and Nissan to see what solutions everyone can think of to deal with this situation."

Time waits for no one. This time, the United States has very strongly demanded that Japan and Korea give a response plan within a week, otherwise it will push forward the imposition of tariffs to start next month.

So the time left for Japanese and Korean car companies is actually very short.

Normally, it is normal for both sides to argue for months or even years when it comes to such a big thing.

Unlike this time, it was directly limited to one week.

That is, Japan and Korea have a very special relationship with the United States, and they can use solutions unscrupulously.

But Japan and Korea dare not resist, and can only desperately look for solutions.

While Japan and Korea are trying to find ways to deal with this situation, various car companies in Germany are also feeling the pressure.

Although the United States is mainly targeting Japanese car companies and Korean car companies this time, there are also many similar businesses in Germany.

As long as the relevant departments in the United States lower their guns a little, these German car companies will also follow suit.

This is certainly not a situation that car companies such as Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and BMW want to see.

"Phillips, the United States is planning to impose additional tariffs on cars and parts imported from Korea and Japan this time. What do you think about this?"

As the CEO of BMW, Krueger felt the crisis from this incident.

BMW built a local factory in 1992 in order to seize market share in the United States.

But building a factory does not mean that all parts and components are purchased from the United States.

In addition, not all BMW models are produced in this factory, and some models are produced in Germany and then exported to the United States.

Although in terms of total number, BMW exports much fewer models to the United States than Toyota.

But Krueger is worried that this approach in the United States will cause other markets to follow suit, which will have a particularly large impact on the development of BMW cars.

In particular, he probably knows that the actions of the United States this time have a certain relationship with the competition between American and Chinese car companies.

It would be very troublesome if the Chinese side followed suit.

"Kruger, I think this matter needs appropriate attention, but there is no need to worry about it for the time being."

"The United States' actions this time were so swift and violent, and its response was so large. It is said that local car companies such as General Motors and Ford Motor Co. were behind it."

"According to reports from some media, they will make such a big move because they do not want global sales to decline this year."

"After all, both of them have disappeared from the Chinese market this year. This part of the sales volume must be found somewhere to make up for it."

"Otherwise, both General Motors and Ford will decline in global sales rankings this year."

As the president of BMW Asia Pacific, Phillips is relatively clear about the struggle between Nanshan Automobile Group and General Motors and Ford Motor.

Combined with his understanding of the situation in China, Japan, the United States and other countries, he quickly made his own judgment.

However, Kruger's pressure has not diminished much.

"The automobile industry is the most important industry in Germany. More than half of the cars we produce domestically are exported."

"So any major auto market imposing tariffs on imported cars is something we don't want to see."

"Do you think the United States will really impose additional tariffs on cars and parts from Japan and Korea this time?"

This is a question that not only Kruger wants to know, but also people from many other car companies.

Although no one dares to say what the final result will be until things are finally settled.

But it is definitely necessary to discuss it in advance.

"I think the possibility is very high."

"Especially combined with the background of the plan proposed by the United States this time, the possibility of its eventual implementation is infinitely greater."

"I even think the final implementation time will be faster than we think."

When Phillips said this, Kruger was shocked.

Is such an important thing coming to fruition soon?

This is not in line with the American way of doing things.

Especially since the two people involved are America's younger brothers.

But thinking about what Phillips just said about the situation faced by General Motors and Ford, he felt that what Phillips said was not impossible.

"The Chinese market, the American market and the Japanese market are respectively the first, second and third largest automobile markets in the world."

"The actions between these parties this time will more or less affect the global automotive industry."

"You should pay more attention to the relevant situation and report any information to me in a timely manner."

Although the matter has not affected BMW yet, Kruger feels that a new war in the automotive industry is about to begin.