Reborn Industrial Tycoon

The temperature of the central air conditioner in the office is very low, but Bill Ford's head is sweating, and the air around him seems to have solidified. If it weren't for Li Weidong shaking the whiskey in the glass, bringing a touch of life to the room,

Time seems to have stopped.

Bill Ford's expression was extremely unnatural. He still couldn't believe that the contents of this investigation report were true, but he also knew that as Li Weidong, there was no need to deceive himself about such an important matter.

The investigation report provided by Li Weidong to Ford was the test report of Takata's "death airbag". Many key data in it had been deliberately obliterated, but the leaked content had shocked Bill Ford.

The Takata "death airbag" incident can really be regarded as a nuclear bomb-level shock to the world's automobile industry.

Japan's Takata Co., Ltd. was founded in 1933. It is a giant in Japan's textile industry. It later entered the seat belt market and began to engage in airbag products in the mid-1980s. It soon became the world's second largest automobile airbag manufacturer, second only to Sweden.

Autoliv.

All well-known automobile manufacturers around the world are customers of Takata airbags, even supercar brands such as Ferrari. However, almost 100% of Japanese automobile companies use Takata airbags.

However, in 2014, safety issues were exposed with Takata airbags. When the airbags were deployed, they would burst into metal fragments, posing a safety threat to front-seat passengers, which could be directly fatal. The airbags, which were originally designed to protect the lives of passengers, became

Death airbag.

Takata also went bankrupt due to the fatal airbag incident.

The impact of Takata's death airbags will continue until the end of 2021. The U.S. Highway Safety Administration is still investigating the Takata airbag incident. It is said that more than 30 million vehicles still need to be recalled.

According to later records, the safety problem of Takata airbags began in a traffic accident in 2009. An American driver drove a Honda Accord and collided with another car. After the airbag deployed, metal fragments popped up and scratched the driver's body.

carotid artery, causing the driver's death.

Because of this accident, Honda conducted a small-scale recall, recalling 4,000 Accords and Civics in the U.S. market.

It is worth mentioning that this batch of recalled vehicles were produced in 2000, which means that the safety problem of Takata airbags existed as early as 2000. Therefore, the people who were actually injured or killed due to the Takata airbag problem were

Definitely much more than the number later investigated.

When Takata entered the field of automobile airbags, it was the heyday of Japanese companies. At that time, Takata directly purchased rocket engine technology and used airbags to promote research and development. Takata also developed and produced the propellant for airbags by itself, including

The entire airbag production chain.

However, it was precisely because of the propellant developed by Takata that the Takata airbag became a death airbag.

In order to reduce costs and obtain maximum benefits, Takata added ammonium nitrate to the airbag propellant. This material is relatively cheap, but its performance is unstable. It easily merges with moisture in the air at high temperatures, causing rapid expansion and causing explosions.

.

The explosion will cause the entire air bag system to rupture abnormally, causing air bag parts and fragments to fly out, causing harm to the driver and passengers in the car.

Of course Takata is aware of this problem. After all, airbags need to go through many designs. However, when Takata discovered the problem, they did not choose to improve it. Instead, they upheld the spirit of Japanese craftsmanship and tampered with the airbag. test data.

At that time, people still trusted Japan's "craftsmanship spirit" and did not think that the Japanese would make fakes. On the contrary, many car companies felt that Takata airbags were cheap and began to use them on a large scale.

Paper can never keep fire, not to mention that this is a matter involving human life. Later, the Takata fatal airbag incident broke out, which directly triggered the largest car recall in history.

Major car companies have suffered heavy losses, especially Japanese brands, which have used Takata airbags on a large scale, and the losses have been even more serious. Honda, which was most affected, saw its sales in the North American market cut in half.

For the automobile industry, Takata's death airbag is definitely a nuclear bomb, and now Li Weidong has handed this nuclear bomb into the hands of Ford.

Bill Ford's head was temporarily short-circuited. He obviously did not expect that the world's second-largest Takata airbag would have such a fatal problem.

Li Weidong interrupted Bill Ford's thoughts: "Mr. Ford, I have seen the car sales in the North American market in the past two years. Ford's biggest competitors today should be Japan's Toyota and Honda, right?

Most Toyota and Honda cars use Takata airbags. If problems with Takata airbags are exposed by the media, the reputation of the Japanese brand will be severely affected.

Moreover, a defect like this that can cause death will inevitably trigger a large-scale recall. By then, Ford will be able to easily seize the market, and maybe it will have the opportunity to defeat Japanese brands in one fell swoop.

Of course, as far as I know, not only Japanese brands, but also German brands, French brands, Italian brands, and even the three major American car companies use Takata airbags, including your company, right?

Therefore, the Takata airbag incident can not only hit Japanese brands, but also other brands. If this weapon is used properly, Ford will gain a very large advantage in future global competition.

Mr. Ford, for your company, this kind of good opportunity to weaken your competitors is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You don't know how long you have to wait until your opponent makes a mistake next time. Do you think this 'surprise' is worth 500 million? U.S. dollars?”

Bill Ford took a deep breath. If he could defeat the Japanese duo, half a billion dollars would be really worth it.

Li Weidong continued: "With 1.5 billion U.S. dollars, coupled with this investigation report, I think the actual value should be much higher than the Indians' offer of 2 billion U.S. dollars? I just don't know whether Ford's offer to me is worth it. interested?"

"Mr. Li, I need some time to think about it," Bill Ford said immediately.

Li Weidong nodded: "Yes, but I hope it won't take too long. I think General Motors will also be interested in the contents of this report."

"Mr. Li, I understand what you mean, and I will reply to you as soon as possible." Bill Ford said immediately.

After sending Li Weidong away, Bill Ford stood in front of the window, looking at the scenery in the distance, and fell into deep thought.

As Li Weidong said, Ford's competitors today are no longer the other two major automakers in the United States, nor Volkswagen, Daimler, Renault and Fiat in Europe, but the Japanese duo Toyota and Honda.

Not only Ford, General Motors, Volkswagen, Renault and other brands, the biggest competitors are also the Japanese duo.

After decades of development, Toyota has become the leader in the world's automobile industry, and Honda has also ranked among the top five in the world.

Accurate to a single car model, in the US market, the highest-selling car at that time was naturally the Ford F pickup truck, followed by the Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck and the Dodge Ram pickup truck.

The typical American lifestyle is inseparable from pickup trucks, so the sales of the three major pickup trucks are unbeatable in the United States.

Among the three major pickup trucks, the four best-selling cars are Toyota Corolla, Honda Accord, Toyota Camry and Honda Civic. The sales volume of these four cars is not much different from that of the three major pickup trucks.

In terms of SUVs, Honda's CRV is also the best-selling model, followed by Toyota's RAV4 and Highlander.

In other words, whether it is B-class cars, C-class cars, or SUVs, American cars have been beaten by Japanese cars. The three major American car manufacturers can only rely on pickup trucks to hide their shame in their own country.

Compared to American brands, European brands are in much better shape.

The German Volkswagen remained unmoved in the face of the impact of Japanese cars. France's Renault and Peugeot, and Italy's Fiat, these brands that have disappeared from the Chinese market, have strong sales in Europe.

In terms of luxury brands, Japanese cars are inherently inferior to European cars, and there is absolutely no comparison between the two.

The effect of Japanese car brands in conquering cities in Europe is indeed very poor. In the European market, South Korea's Hyundai is doing better than Japanese companies.

However, with the large market of the United States, Japanese brands are enough to become popular.

Ford naturally wants to drive away Japanese cars, but both Toyota and Honda have already set up factories in the United States for production. They are also made in the United States. As the saying goes, American manufacturing does not beat American manufacturing. Facing competition from Japanese cars, Ford

It can only gradually eat away at the market.

Now, with the opportunity of Takata airbags, it is definitely an excellent time for Ford to launch an attack on Japanese cars.

What's more, it's not just Japanese cars that use Takata airbags, other car brands are also using them, and Ford can also take advantage of other brands.

Suddenly, Bill Ford remembered that Ford seemed to be a partner of Takata air bags.

So Bill Ford immediately picked up the phone and dialed a number: "Let's count the number of cars in our company that use Takata airbags, sort them out and send them to me immediately!"

Soon, an email appeared in Bill Ford's email inbox.

Looking at the content of the email, Bill Ford breathed a sigh of relief. Only the Ford Mondeo produced after 2006, the Ford GT and the Ford Mustang use Takata airbags, and the latter two are both performance sports cars.

The sales volume of the Ford Mondeo in the United States is not good because the price is $3,000 more expensive than the Camry. In the American market, rich people look down on the Mondeo, and those without money will definitely buy the Camry, which is a rather embarrassing position.

The Ford GT is a supercar. It beat Ferrari at the Le Mans circuit back then. Its sales volume is not high, so there is no need to discuss it.

The Ford Mustang, along with the Chevrolet Camaro and Dodge Challenger, is one of the three major civilian sports cars in the United States. It is a representative of American muscle sports cars and has an enduring presence in the American market.

There was once a second-generation Russian gangster who killed a dog in order to steal a 1969 Ford Mustang, and then he was slaughtered. The father of the second-generation gangster wanted to avenge his son, and the entire gang became a "Barbie ball."

It is worth mentioning that in addition to the Ford Mustang, the other two popular civilian sports cars, the Chevrolet Camaro and the Dodge Challenger, also use Takata airbags.

Ford uses relatively few Takata airbags. Perhaps this is the reason why the price of Ford cars is relatively high, which reduces the competitiveness of Ford cars.

However, according to later investigations, many luxury cars and even sports cars also use Takata airbags.

For example, many models of Audi a6 and q5, BMW 3 series, 5 series and x5, Mercedes-Benz e-class, gl-class, Land Rover Range Rover, Ferrari and McLaren all used Takata airbags at that time.

If it is a cheap car, in order to save costs, it is enough to use Takata airbags. It is unreasonable for luxury cars and even supercars to be greedy for this advantage. A Ferrari costs several million, so it is necessary to save a little money on airbags.

What!

…

Bill Ford finally agreed to Li Weidong's offer.

Anyway, Ford does not have Takata airbags used in several cars. Even if it is recalled, it will not cost much and Ford can afford it.

Other brands use Takata airbags more often, and the injuries will definitely be greater, especially Japanese brands. Almost all models use Takata airbags. If there is a recall, tens of millions of cars may be affected.

When Ford makes the Takata airbag issue public and takes the lead in announcing the recall, it won't cost much and it can also establish the image of a conscientious company in the minds of consumers.

On the other hand, for Japanese brands, there are tens of millions of cars. Are you trying to recall them? Even if you are willing to spend the money on the recall, the time cost involved is unbearable for companies and consumers. Japanese cars will inevitably lose a large part of their consumers.

And once Japanese cars do not choose to recall, or if the recall is slow, it will inevitably affect the brand image of Japanese cars. Compare it with Ford, and under the circumstances, Ford will definitely be able to take back a large chunk of the market share from Japanese drivers.

market.

This is like a mobile phone of a certain brand. After an explosion accident, all the markets in other countries were recalled, but not in the Chinese market. Instead, they denied it three times and blamed the consumers. As a result, they were dismissed by the consumers.

Abandoned, the original sales leader immediately fell into disrepute.

Bill Ford had the same calculation.

If Japanese cars choose to recall, they will definitely lose money and reputation; it would be better if they don't recall, and don't expect to gain a foothold in the US market in the future!

…

The news that Tata Corporation has offered 2 billion to acquire Jaguar Land Rover has spread in India.

Indians are starting to get excited again, especially on the Internet, where self-proclaimed voices are once again being massacred.

This is also an old rule. Before I even finish writing my eight characters, I am already celebrating my victory in the calligraphy competition.

The Tata Group was also praised by the Indians because of this acquisition.

In the minds of Indians, the status of the Tata Group can be said to be sacred. It is no exaggeration to say that the status of the Tata Group in India is greater than that of Samsung in South Korea.

Koreans cannot live without Samsung, and the Tata Group is no different in India, from heavy industry to light industry, from real estate to supermarkets, from transportation to electricity, whether it is industrial production, food, clothing, housing and transportation, communication networks, or basic necessities for people's livelihood.

If necessary, the Tata Group is involved.

Such a behemoth controls many core livelihood industries but is in private hands, which may not be a good thing for the country.

However, Indians are proud of it, as if the Tata Group monopolizing more industries in India is something worth bragging about. When the Tata boss makes money, ordinary Indians can follow it for days and make more money than themselves.

All happy.

This is the character of Indians. If an Indian goes to a foreign company to find a good position, all Indians will feel proud, but they have not considered that this is a brain drain from the country.

Perhaps you can tell from the red and green clothes Indians wear every day that they care more about the opinions of outsiders rather than how good they are.

The same is true for Tata's acquisition of Jaguar Land Rover this time. A group of Indian netizens who can't even afford car tires are more enthusiastic than Ratan Tata, the real owner who paid for the acquisition.

At this time, at the Tata Group headquarters, Ratan Tata also received a reply from Ford.

"What? Ford refuses! We have made an offer of two billion US dollars! Isn't two billion US dollars not enough to satisfy the greedy appetite of Americans?"

Ratan Tata's face was filled with anger. In his opinion, the two billion offer was already a sure thing, but he didn't expect it to be rejected by Ford.

"Mr. President, Ford Company responded to us that they have accepted the Chinese offer and decided to sell Jaguar Land Rover to the Chinese," the subordinate said.

"How much money did the Chinese pay? Is it more than us?" Ratan Tata looked incredulous.

"Ford said it would announce the specific amount later," the subordinate continued.

Ratan Tata snorted coldly, waved his men out, and sat in the room feeling sulky.

Tata entered the automobile manufacturing industry in 1998. Although ten years have passed, Tata can still only produce light cars, not much larger than the "Laotou Le".

Indians lack the technology to build cars and do not have supporting industrial chains. Moreover, the Indian government is unwilling to open up its market. They have set up many obstacles for foreign investors, and they are just trying to make foreigners' money without allowing foreign investors to

People make money in India.

Therefore, for decades, only Japan's Suzuki has been able to take root in India. This is mainly because Suzuki makes light vehicles and suits the needs of the Indian market.

The Indians' closed-door approach to building cars will never lead to a developed automobile industry, so the Tata Group hopes to enhance its own technical level and Tata Motors' brand awareness by acquiring well-known foreign brands.

Jaguar Land Rover is obviously a good choice. It is a luxury brand in itself, and it comes from Britain, the colonial mother country. While improving Tata's technical level, it can also maximize the prestige of the Tata Group. To put it simply, it is

Relatively good-looking.

That was why the Tata Group was willing to invest a huge sum of US$2 billion, but it didn't expect that it would be stopped by Li Weidong.

…

In a street Internet cafe in India, a young man, Vaish, was browsing the web.

On the Yahoo News website, a headline caught Vaish's attention.

"Ford sold Jaguar Land Rover for US$1.5 billion? Wasn't it said that it was acquired for US$2 billion? How did it become an acquisition of US$1.5 billion? It is indeed the Tata Group. Even Americans have to surrender to the Tata Group and give up profits.

Five hundred million dollars!" Vaish said to himself.

From a Chinese perspective, I offer a discount to the customer in the hope that the customer will come back for more purchases in the future.

The thinking of Indians is quite strange. If I give you a discount, it means that I am afraid of you and surrender to you.

Vaish then started reading the news.

"Ford sold Jaguar Land Rover to a Chinese consortium for US$1.5 billion! What? Not the Tata Group? Jaguar Land Rover was bought by the Chinese! Fake news, this must be fake news!"

Vaish cursed while continuing to read the news, and then he saw a very shocking sentence.

"It is understood that the Indian Tata Group once offered two billion U.S. dollars, but Ford still accepted the Chinese consortium's offer of 1.5 billion U.S. dollars from a corporate strategic perspective. Haha, if you don't sell it for 2 billion, sell it for 1.5 billion. This

You can make up all kinds of lies! This fake news is so substandard."

As Vaish spoke, he opened the search engine and started searching for related content.

However, the search results show that Ford sold Jaguar Land Rover to a Chinese consortium for a price of 1.5 billion. Even when searching for Jaguar Land Rover on Wikipedia, this was noted in the entry.

Although anyone can edit Wikipedia, with the intelligence of Indians, they still trust Wikipedia.

At this time, Vaish finally became a little panicked, and the little bit of national self-confidence he had generated when he was enjoying himself a few days ago was gone!

"Why! I would rather sell 1.5 billion to the Chinese than 20 to us. Do you think our money smells bad?"

…

On the Yahoo forum, all the Indian netizens who were killing people a few days ago disappeared overnight.

American netizens began to vent their dissatisfaction. After all, when I go to forums these days, all the screens are filled with images of India’s superpower, India’s South Bay.

That’s all you say in other places. How can the Americans stand it when they call themselves a superpower and South Wave Bay in front of Americans?

So American netizens started posting to mock Indian netizens:

"We would rather sell Jaguar Land Rover to the Chinese for 1.5 billion than to some superpower!"

"Where is the superpower? Where is Nanbo Bay? Where is the world's largest automobile manufacturing country? Has it disappeared?"

"Didn't you say that the automobile industry will surpass the United States, Germany and Japan? You have surpassed it!"

“Forget about building cars in India, let’s build toilets first!”

When it comes to toilets, it strikes a sore point for Indians.

"It was the British who robbed India of 45 trillion US dollars!"

"It was Nehru's incompetence and Nehru's corruption that delayed India's development."

"If it weren't for the Gandhi family, India would have been a superpower thirty years ago!"

The classic blame-shifting begins again...