The Birth of Shanghai's First Conglomerate

After the Longteng S900 was launched.

Putting aside the rhetoric and marketing that claim buying it equates to patriotism, the goal is to get people to spend over a million yuan to buy a domestically produced new energy vehicle.

Only by truly winning over customers in areas such as safety, driving, technology, and brand strength can we succeed.

To put it simply, you can use special marketing to beat BBA (BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi) in China, but that's nonsense when you go abroad.

To gain a foothold and have customers choose their Longteng S900 among millions of cars, the only way is to truly satisfy users.

This is also the main reason why Chen Pingsheng refused to let the marketing department launch a patriotic marketing campaign, because such marketing is very likely to lead the company astray.

It even aroused the resentment of most people.

Since Wolf Warrior 2, many companies have tried to label themselves as patriotic marketers.

Constantly linking something to patriotism is truly a double-edged sword.

The simplest explanation is that buying an imported car will definitely cost more in terms of tariffs and import consumption tax than buying a domestically produced new energy vehicle.

From a monetary perspective, the difference between the two is actually not that significant.

From another perspective, when the Santana was first introduced to China, the overseas manufacturer priced it at around 80,000 to 90,000 yuan per unit.

It eventually sold for over 200,000.

The price difference is mainly used to protect the nascent domestic automobile industry, including domestically produced car brands.

Based on the quality standards of the Santana in the 1990s, it would have sold for 80,000.

There will be no room for any domestic car manufacturers to survive; consumers will choose the Santana even with their eyes closed.

This policy of price protection lasted for at least twenty years.

Not only cars are protected, but electrical appliances and other electronic products are also protected.

This is also a special method used to provide sufficient space for the domestic electronics industry, which is just starting out.

Today, this same protection is also applied to new energy vehicles.

Eliminating purchase fees and providing various subsidies are clear forms of protection.

Having reached this point, their flagship product, which they've built up over so many years, still needs to be associated with patriotism to sell.

That can only prove... a serious failure.

On the first day of the Longteng S900 launch event, the number of orders was undoubtedly very encouraging.

In less than two hours, initial orders reached 20,000 units.

This kind of order is also part of the company's marketing and promotion, which is to create the effect of a big sale.

In reality, you pay a deposit of 10,000 yuan, which can be refunded later.

If he wanted to, he could easily handle 20,000 orders in an hour, let alone millions.

Orders and sales volume are two completely different things.

Electronic products that focus too much on marketing tend to create a sense of deception.

Undoubtedly, many new energy vehicle manufacturers in China are doing this kind of thing.

The various tests are also utterly shameless, even rubbing the intelligence of ordinary people into the ground.

Although Chen Pingsheng also hopes that the Longteng S900 will sell well, he prefers to rely purely on word of mouth and customer preference.

Only in this way can they one day go abroad and sell Tengfei cars all over the world.

Just like how opening factories overseas can no longer rely on low labor costs to reduce product costs and create a price advantage.

Anyone who tries to do this will face a report from the labor union.

Once verified, they'll be fined so badly they'll question their existence.

Once they go overseas, they cannot engage in any exaggerated or false advertising.

Advertising laws are no joke.

To put it bluntly, truly good products don't need much marketing.

If it only sells well domestically, Tengfei Auto's market value will never exceed 100 billion US dollars.

That wasn't much of a success for him at all.

Time flies, and it's already mid-July.

Chen Pingsheng had been paying close attention to the sales of the Longteng S900, and after half a month, the sales volume was more than 700 units.

This is already quite good for a high-end pure electric vehicle that costs millions of yuan.

It's worth noting that Maybach's total sales last year were only 15,000 units.

Rolls-Royce sold 5586 units; the higher the price, the fewer units will be sold.

This is a normal phenomenon; after all, when prices reach a certain level, the potential customer base will inevitably decrease.

The most mainstream car sales price in China is still in the range of 12 to 18 yuan.

The Accord is considered the ceiling for ordinary people, which is why its price is just around 200,000.

As for the owners of BMW 3 Series, Audi 4 Series, and Mercedes-Benz C-Class...

Most of them don't have the same financial means as Accord owners, and some are far less so.

These cars are, to some extent, status symbols, but for true car enthusiasts, with 300,000 yuan, they would rather buy a Toyota or Volkswagen than an entry-level model from a German luxury brand like BMW, Mercedes-Benz, or Audi.

The mainstream models of domestically produced new energy vehicles are priced between 200,000 and 350,000 yuan.

There is definitely room for further decline in the future.

Models priced between 100,000 and 150,000 yuan are the mainstream consumer vehicles for the largest number of domestic consumers.

Tengfei New Energy has been pushing into that segment, aiming to truly capture the mainstream models in this price range.

Companies need to control marketing, management, and production costs to an excellent level.

Currently, they are also the most capable new energy vehicle manufacturer to capture the mainstream models in that price range.

The Longteng S900 is positioned as a high-end model, and high-end models often have low sales and are not very profitable.

But its significance is self-evident; the new low-priced model that Tengfei New Energy is currently testing is the Tengfei Z5.

Urban SUV models priced between 15 and 20 yuan.

Another vehicle under testing is the Tengfei D6, a range-extended electric coupe priced between 12 and 16 yuan.

These two models are the main sales drivers in the future, and they perfectly demonstrate their full-chain production capabilities.

It's fair to say that he now has the full qualifications to continuously lower prices during production.

This is entirely due to the creation of Tengfei New Energy's entire industrial chain.

It is possible to continuously reduce the sales price without compromising the quality of the car.

This in itself is an extremely excellent performance.

It can be said that by 2023, when Tengfei New Energy will no longer need him to subsidize R&D investment.

The Tengfei pure electric vehicle even has the potential to keep the price below 120,000 yuan and achieve a range of 600 kilometers on a full charge.

This is undoubtedly an extremely exaggerated technological breakthrough.

This also means that their sales can still experience explosive growth.

The surge in sales resulted in further cost reductions.

By then, Tengfei New Energy will have been fully established.

The competition overseas is very strong, so it would be a lie to say I'm not looking forward to it.

Chen Pingsheng shut down his computer and prepared to go to Chang Fu's investment company.

After losing a lot of money in the stock market, this guy started investing again.

Whether it works out or not is another matter, but the fact is he doesn't have much to do all day. He still made use of his strengths and invested most of his money in the short video field.

With his connections and resources in this field, he'll definitely make a lot of money, if not a fortune, but much better than what he did before.

……

Chang Fu set up a small headquarters in Lujiazui as his investment base.

He has standards for investing; he only invests in companies recommended by friends or companies that his friends know.

As for those who have absolutely no connections, he won't receive them, nor will he waste his time on ordinary people.

This is fundamentally different from the dream-realization fund he ran.

Chen Pingsheng came alone, without notifying anyone. Chang Fu had hired two secretaries for himself.

One was a beautiful girl who had just graduated from university, and the other was recommended by an acquaintance.

Both are beautiful, but one shows cleavage while at work, which seems rather improper.

"Hey Lao Chang, you're just letting loose because Yang Qian's not home, aren't you?"

Chang Fu was indeed wavering on this issue, but there was nothing that could be done about it.

He's already this age; he's financially independent, and he doesn't have much ambition left in his career.

He can't reach power or anything like that. The only thing that excites him is young and beautiful women.

"Old Chen, you can't tell my wife this. I'm actually quite principled. I'd rather spend money than bring it home, and I definitely won't let my wife know."

Chang Fu was much smarter than Gao Hu. He did play tricks, but his methods were the same as those of many wealthy people.

The red flag at home must never fall, but as for the little flowers outside, I'll spend a few million and replace them after a while.

He promised not to let them cause trouble with his wife, and made it clear beforehand that he had a wife and would give money if they were willing to be a dutiful mistress.

If you don't want to cause any trouble, then just leave.

"If your wife knew this, she would definitely have a huge fight with you."

"You're mistaken. My wife knows a little bit about it, as long as it's not excessive."

Chang Fu chuckled: "She's been abroad for most of the year now. I can't possibly go to a foot massage parlor to take care of things, can I? I might as well regularly spend a few million to buy a mistress."

It's a very real situation: beautiful women are only scarce within ordinary people's circles.

It's so common in their circles that countless young women would do anything to get into it.

"You raised both of them?"

"No, I don't have that much energy. That girl who just graduated from university, after she came to work for me, I checked on her twice and then explained it to her."

Chen Pingsheng took a sip of tea, too lazy to ask any more questions about such matters. Beauty is a temptation; men will always be attracted to eighteen-year-old girls.

He didn't know what to say, and when he left, Chang Fu even took the girl out for a meal with him.

Nowadays, girls are actually very open-minded; they can stay with a boss for half a year or even a year.

You'll have millions in your pocket. If you go out on the street and grab a woman's hand to interview her, she'll definitely tell you dismissively, "Who do you think you are?"
If you really have the opportunity, you don't need to say much; reality will make over 90% of women give in.

Female celebrities in the entertainment industry are the same; they all have to give something in order to become famous.

Some people contribute more, and some contribute less.

Chang Fu offered the girl one million yuan a month, to be her secretary when needed and to do other things as a secretary when not needed.

This guy really doesn't want to advance in his career.

He went to Gao Hu's place again, and the guy was the same as before, changing girlfriends every few days.

He's just smarter than before, and most of the girlfriends he's had are internet celebrities.

Nobody bothers him, and he doesn't bother anyone else; they just hang out together for fun.

It's a perfectly normal relationship between a man and a woman.

When he got home, Erpiya was also there. This little girl was unusually well-behaved and asked her mother for advice on some business matters.

She seems to have grown up, but she just wants to borrow a few smart people from her biological mother.

Her sister is now working in VR, while she herself has set her sights on pre-made meals.

This stuff isn't exactly healthy; it just satisfies the most basic need to fill your stomach.

But it is undoubtedly the next big trend.

Not only can ordinary people buy a lot of pre-cooked food in supermarkets, but restaurants and other establishments can also make pre-cooked food.

The advantage is that it's convenient and saves time; you can just put it in a pot and heat it up.

The downside is that it's not as healthy as fresh vegetables.

Many large companies are now starting to deploy this technology, and Erpiya is also doing it.

She did some basic market research before deciding to go into this field.

Their entrepreneurial direction is fine. People from similar backgrounds have a clear advantage over ordinary people when it comes to choosing a business direction.

They'll almost always be riding the wave of a trend, but whether they can succeed is another matter.

"Dad, you're back!"

Erpiya is still a little chubby. She's about to start fifth grade, although she's not as mischievous as before, and doesn't hold fan meetings all the time.

But... not much has changed.

"What, do you want me to come back even later or something?"

"No way, Dad."

Erpiya raised her chubby little face: "I was just telling my mom to lend me two smart guys who are even smarter than my dad to my company."

"That's a good idea. You should learn to manage smart people."

Chen Pingsheng pinched her cheek and said, "You'd better be serious this time. If you lose another two or three hundred million of your family's money so easily, you'll lose your title as a genius."

"I won't let it go."

Erpiya is quite competitive. It's one thing to fail once, but can she fail two or three more times?
Then her great title of the exceptionally intelligent and genius second princess will truly be gone.

This time, she really put in a lot of effort to intervene in the cooking process.

The two little ones at home are already quite easy to take care of, the only one who's not so easy is the third one, Chen Lu.

This little guy is really determined to be Su Xiaoxi's lapdog.

Song Yanxi called him over to resolve the issue, and Chen Lu, the mistress, brought Su Xiaoxi to his house again to beg him.

"Ping Sheng, isn't the Su family going too far? How could they take advantage of a five-year-old boy?"

"Has your mistress been crying to you for days?"

"It's been at least three or four days!"

The Su family's problems are getting more and more serious. If they can't come up with 10 billion yuan to repay bank loans, bankruptcy is a foregone conclusion.

From now on, Su Xiaoxi won't even be qualified to be Chen Lu's classmate.

"Hmph... How can we let him cause trouble at such a young age? We won't lend him a single penny. We should find a way to transfer Su Xiaoxi directly."

Chen Pingsheng has never really gotten involved in these kinds of things, though he had previously offered suggestions to the Su family.

We could even offer to pay them to get rid of the land they own, but unfortunately, they lack the willpower.

They were hoping the higher-ups would loosen the restrictions and give them a break, but this is how it ended up.

Houses aren't selling, and bank loans can't be repaid.

The debts from all sides became the final straw that broke the camel's back.

(End of this chapter)