The Industrial Giant Reborn

On the second day after negotiating with Rao Bing, Chen Zhiwen learned from some channels that the leaders of the Ministry of Machinery Industry and the Ministry of Machinery Industry recognized Chen Zhiwen's cooperation plan. Although there are still some issues that need to be discussed, the general direction Basically no problem.

Two days later, Gu Dehua, who came from the United States, brought AMC's new negotiating team to Yanjing City.

"Come on, shall we sit? Have you been to the mainland before?" In the gazebo outside the courtyard, Chen Zhiwen asked with a smile. These days, the sun is relatively strong and there is no wind. The fountain was frozen over.

"Never been here, this is the first time." Gu Dehua replied.

"At home, although the economy is a bit poor, the natural scenery and some historical sites in Yanjing are still good. In my spare time, I can take the group of Yankees to play more, but it's a bit cold." Chen Zhiwen said.

"It's nothing to be cold. In the United States, if there is a cold wave, the temperature will drop faster. I remember one year, when I was in Chicago, the temperature dropped by 30 degrees in one day. It was terrible. I almost froze to death." Gu Dehua said with a smile.

"The past two years have indeed been a bit colder." Chen Zhiwen nodded, and said, "Old Gu, I have basically set the direction of future cooperation with Minister Rao in China before, don't care about the profits in the past ten years, as long as it is not a loss If it is too outrageous, this market is worthy of our ten-year development. After ten years, when the mainland economy starts to improve, it will be the time for us to reap the rewards.

Therefore, those who should cooperate should cooperate well, and the localization of parts should be the most attentive. Don't pay attention to the group of Hughes. They only want to export CKD parts from the United States for development. This is short-sighted. "

In the original history, although the time was somewhat different, the two joint venture companies SAIC Volkswagen and Yanjing Jeep basically did not carry out localization of parts and components two years after the establishment of the factory, which led to great opinions from the domestic side.

The public is more savvy. After the domestic side expressed dissatisfaction, it immediately began a large-scale localization process of parts and components. In addition, many domestic parts companies also worked hard, and finally reached the requirements of the agreement signed with the mainland. But Jeep is different. After complaints from the domestic side, Jeep executives still go their own way, relying on the introduction of CKD funds to make profits. The foreign exchange balance cannot be achieved at all, and the country will lose millions of dollars a month.

In the end, the customs seized a large amount of CKD parts. Jeep not only did not want to solve it internally, but tried its best to let the customs release it. The first cooperative brand factory in China was completely put into limbo.

Its influence was not limited to Jeep. At that time, AMC had been acquired by Chrysler. Therefore, in the future, Chrysler would have no chance to participate in the golden car market in China. This is why, the same big three in the United States, GM and Ford are all mixed in the country. Shuiqi reached its peak at least in a short period of time in the 21st century. During the low period, there were hundreds of thousands of sales a year, and Chrysler's sales may not even be as good as a third-tier car brand, so it is impossible to invest in it.

In this life, Chen Zhiwen will naturally not make such a mistake. After the joint venture, he will start to produce parts locally at the same time. No matter whether it can be done or not, at least do it first. Bian also definitely won't say much.

"Okay, I've thought about this a long time ago, but in China, the craftsmanship is too poor. Many factories' equipment is even from the 1950s, and the processing accuracy is too poor. I'm worried that it won't meet our requirements." Gu Dehua said.

"AMC doesn't have to worry about this matter. You are responsible for providing technical indicators. I will arrange for Hutchison under my subsidiary to find suitable suppliers within Yanjing, then inject capital into shares, give these factories foreign exchange, and let them go overseas to buy Equipment and training, so that at least the hardware can meet the requirements, and the rest depends on who has the ability in the country." Chen Zhiwen said.

The automobile industry, in fact, the final assembly of automobiles is just a relatively simple part. What is really complicated is that countless parts companies can stably provide high-quality parts. These are the foundations of the automobile manufacturing industry. BBA and Volkswagen, in the auto parts industry, companies such as Siemens, Bosch, and Continental are all top-level tier-one suppliers, and their efforts in the field of technology even exceed those of major brand automakers. For example, Aisin, which specializes in the transmission field, TRW in the safety field, Bosch in the electrical field, etc., many times, large automobile companies need to ask them to cooperate.

To stabilize in the auto industry, apart from having an auto factory, you also need to be involved in auto parts, but AMC does not have this ability. The former parts companies in Hong Kong can only provide a few parts. Continue It is also impossible to expand into different fields. No one is so omnipotent. It may be Toyota who can barely do this. But even so, many sub-component companies under Toyota are actually obtained through mergers and acquisitions.

Therefore, instead of personally participating in a large scale, it is better to invest in domestic companies with potential on a large scale and provide them with the necessary foreign exchange. Otherwise, it is useless to have the ability without high-end equipment. Services, and the real estate crisis in Hong Kong is coming, and Hutchison also needs a place to go for the large amount of cash cashed out. At this time, it can be regarded as a new investment direction with great potential to cooperate with AMC to deploy the auto parts market.

In short, basically a win-win situation can be achieved for all parties. AMC can localize parts to reduce costs and gain access to this market with great potential in the future. The mainland government can obtain a large number of cars and save foreign exchange. In addition, the factory in Yanjing City, where it is located, will definitely not lose money.

"If you have enough funds, except for a few high-tech fields, the rest should not be a problem. Even if there is no such technology in China, as long as you have money, I can also arrange for people to buy this kind of technology in the United States. With the current Sino-US relations , Not very sensitive technologies are fine." Gu Dehua nodded and said.

"Okay, this is the business card of Zhou Jiayang, the vice president of Hutchison Group. You two have time to meet up these few days to discuss how to operate it." Chen Zhiwen handed over a business card. Naturally, his boss is only in charge of making orders. Direction, as for how the people below invest, how to cooperate, and which companies to choose, that's what the people below have to do. Even Zhou Jiayang and Gu Dehua will not participate in these matters. Given their status within the group, they must Lead the team to take charge.

"Okay, Mr. Chen." Gu Dehua took the business card.

Chen Zhiwen went on to say: "The joint venture should not be a big problem. You can discuss some details with the domestic side. But after the joint venture, both my side and the mainland side hope to be able to develop new ones based on the domestic market. For the suitable model, I have already negotiated with the domestic side. The new model is led by us, and the final patent is also ours. This time, the mainland side focuses on learning. I will pay an extra amount of money for their people, although their experience There is not enough talent, but there are a lot of talents, so we should make good use of this.”

"What is this new model? Is it a technical update based on the domestic BJ212?" Gu Dehua asked.

"No, BJ212 is a joint venture model. It originally belonged to China. We will provide technical support to make this model better." Chen Zhiwen said: "And the model we want to develop is brand new, not a Jeep, but a similar It is a commercial vehicle similar to Iveco in Italy, but with a smaller space."

"Iveco? Then this car is not a family car?" Gu Dehua asked. He naturally knew Iveco. It was a model launched by the Italian Fiat Group in 1975. It was similar to a small truck, but it was all wrapped up. It can store goods and seats. For many companies, such a model is very suitable. After all, not all companies need small trucks to pull goods. After the mass production of Iveco, the sales in Europe are very good, and the United States has also begun to introduce some, and the market feedback is not bad.

"No, I can only say that this is not a pure passenger car. If someone buys it for home use, it is not a problem, but most of them should be for commercial use. The size of the car may be as long as a medium-to-large car." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

"The price of such a model should not be cheap. Is there a market in China?" Gu Dehua asked.

"If it is manufactured according to the car model of Europe and the United States, it will definitely lose blood, but if we develop it according to domestic demand, it will definitely be a hot car, and even in the future, it can be exported to Southeast Asia and South America. Because of these The local economy is similar to the domestic one, at best it is better." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

What he wants to develop is naturally the most famous van in the future. This thing, from its birth to after 2020, has always had a large market. It was an expensive item in the early stage, and later became a cheap transportation tool after the economy developed. No matter how the economy is So, it has its value space.

"According to domestic demand? What does Mr. Chen mean?" Gu Dehua asked.

Chen Zhiwen said: "There are a few points. First, the car must be cheap enough, even cheaper than the BJ212. In this case, the market potential is at least 30,000 units a year. If the economy changes in a few years It is better, and it is easy to double the demand.

Second, since it is cheap, it will definitely save what can be saved. Don’t want the enjoyment and comfort configuration of European and American cars, and the materials should be cheap. As long as the plastic is not poisonous, it is fine. As for the abnormal noise and so on , and you don’t need to pay too much attention to it, as long as it’s not too outrageous, even in terms of security, you can also remove some of it. "

Gu Dehua nodded, and after Chen Zhiwen paused, he asked, "Is it not good to remove the safety aspect?"

"Keep the seat belt and remove the airbag." Chen Zhiwen shook his head and said, "It's not that I don't care about the safety of customers, but that this type of car is defined as being practical and commercial, and it doesn't need to be fast. In terms of power, we will not give too much, it is difficult to have a high speed, and it will be very good if it can reach fifty or sixty yards."

Fifty or sixty yards, for the cars of later generations, you can reach it with a light step on the accelerator, but for the current domestic cars, it is considered a high speed. Besides, the domestic road conditions, urban roads are better, but pedestrians and bicycles must Most of the roads outside the urban area are very bad, not to mention vans, even the original American jeeps have to drive at low speeds. Therefore, considering the needs, the airbags can be removed.

Of course, if there is demand in the market, it can also be added, or if the economy is good in the future, new models can also be matched, but when the economy is not so good, it is necessary to increase the economic cost in order to consider the traffic accidents that may be less than one ten-thousandth of the time. not worth it.

"That's true. In fact, many models in the United States only have an airbag for the driver." Gu Dehua nodded and said.

"In addition, passability needs to be considered, so the chassis needs to be raised. Although the engine does not need to give a strong speed, the passability still requires torque, and the fuel consumption cannot be high. Therefore, in this regard, the marketing department and the technical department need to be responsible. Yes, the first is to analyze clearly what kind of passability or power is needed for most road conditions in China, and the second is how to achieve a balance between technology and cost. I am not an expert in this area, so you are responsible. Just be responsible for looking at the finished product." Chen Zhiwen said again.

He doesn't understand the technical market, but as an old driver who has driven countless models in later generations, he can still know the value of a car.

"It's indeed quite difficult." Gu Dehua nodded and said, building a car is actually not difficult at all, it can be built by spending money, but finding a balance between quality, technology and cost is the most difficult thing.

"Therefore, localized production is still needed, otherwise it will not work in the United States. Relatively speaking, the quality requirements for parts and components of new models will definitely not match that of Jeep. This is also in line with the current domestic conditions. However, the parts are easy to maintain. It must be strong, at least it is convenient for people to repair." Chen Zhiwen added.

One of the advantages of the domestic market is that it has a strong acceptability. After all, there were no cars here before. As long as the price is cheap, there will be no major problems if there is a problem with the car. This is absolutely unworkable in the United States. Once a new car appears Minor problems like abnormal noise are probably scolded to death by consumers.

But domestic consumers don’t care, it doesn’t mean that they don’t care. If the high quality requirements cannot be met because of the cost, then at the very least, it is necessary to ensure that many small problems that are not safe are easy to repair, because domestic cars, many They are all repaired by the driver himself. As long as this is done, it will definitely be liked by countless people.

"Well, I will inform AMC's technical team of Mr. Chen's request." Gu Dehua nodded and said.