2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 401 First Impressions of Luzhou

When talking about Luzhou, the first person Tan Jincheng thought of was actually Sun Shiwan.

As someone from Yicheng, I honestly don't have a good impression of Luzhou. There's nothing to do in this lousy place, and the food is just so-so.

More than a decade later, the joke is that the most fun place in Luzhou is Luzhou South Railway Station.

Buy a train ticket and go to southern Anhui.

Oh, right, Luzhou at this time wasn't Badu yet; it could barely be considered a third-tier city, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it a fourth-tier city.

The entire city exudes a style that doesn't feel like a provincial capital.

"From an investment perspective, Luzhou has a promising future for high-tech enterprises. Not only does it have the advantage of being the only city in the province, but it also boasts several key engineering universities, which are resources that many other cities cannot match. Therefore, Luzhou has a very promising future."

Haha, aren't you worried about your hometown people criticizing you?

“What’s there to complain about? I’ve invested so much in Wangjiang too. I can’t put everything in Yicheng. You’re the same. We’re in business, not charity.”

From an investment perspective alone, Tan Jincheng is not particularly fond of the urban area of ​​Yicheng.

The area, which was not large to begin with, was basically occupied by the petrochemical industry. Tan Jincheng's parents were both employees of the petrochemical industry, so even without the experience of being reborn, he knew what the petrochemical industry meant to this city.

Forget about pollution and such. Petrochemicals have indeed supported countless families like Tan Jincheng's. If you want to develop, you have to make sure you're fed first.

Competing with petrochemical companies for resources in the city is one thing, but even if you win, you shouldn't do it. It's like throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Come to life, my love!

On the contrary, it would be better to go to the county towns below, where there is less competition and more preferential policies.

Dong Jinggui did not return to Wuxi for the last few days of March. The private economy market in Zhejiang Province is different from that in Jiangsu Province, and there are many things he can learn from it.

Compared to Zhejiang Province, it is more costly for companies in Jiangsu Province to grow larger. Zhejiang businessmen tend to stick together. Take Flash Motors' electric vehicle industry chain as an example. Although Flash Motors is committed to the entire industry chain, it mainly does so through equity investment and cooperation.

The profits were shared with other small and medium-sized component companies, but at the same time, the costs were also reduced significantly.

In its early days, Flash Motors only had a small factory, and the vehicles produced needed to be temporarily stored in a warehouse. When sales picked up, they didn't even bother to rent a warehouse and simply stored the vehicles in the logistics warehouse to make a quick buck.

This seemingly chaotic and unprofessional approach actually saved Flashspeed a lot of money in the early stages.

A small, run-down factory handles production, while the rest is handed over to partners. Everyone makes money together, which is quite rare in Jiangsu Province, where companies tend to do everything themselves and build everything on their own.

Even if it's a parts manufacturer, they try to buy as much equipment as possible, although in terms of quality control, this model of Jiangsu enterprises can indeed be done better than that of Zhejiang enterprises.

Even Tan Jincheng himself admitted that, apart from the Guan Neng series which focuses on quality, the quality of other mid-to-low-end products from FlashChe is not as good as Ya Di or Lu Yuan.

However, this kind of quality control comes at a cost; the cost in terms of manpower and resources is much higher for Yadi.

"Consumers certainly care about quality, but they care more about the price-performance ratio. If I can buy something worth more than 6 yuan for 5 yuan, then I feel it's worth it. But consumers are rarely willing to spend 500 yuan to buy something worth 550 yuan, even if it is of much better quality than the 5 yuan item."

There's no other reason than that I can use a 5-yuan one too. Apart from a small number of consumers who pursue the ultimate quality and are willing to spend more money to pursue quality, most people are not.

Everyone wants to own good things, but people are unwilling to accept consumption that exceeds their ability or understanding.

Products of exceptionally high quality are not necessarily the best-selling; an extreme pursuit of quality can also be a misconception.

"Most Chinese people actually think that they should just make do with what they have, or even just make do with what they have. To put it bluntly, an electric car is just a means of transportation, and not having it will not affect family life."

This is Tan Jincheng's way of thinking. In his previous life, he built his business step by step by selling boxed lunches, so he is very clear about the consumer mindset at the grassroots level.

Five yuan is enough to fill you up, and most people are unwilling to spend eight yuan to add a chicken leg to their meal.

In the future, Tan Jincheng will continue to adhere to this mindset when making cars. He will certainly make high-end cars, but he will focus more on mid-to-low-end cars with reasonable prices, so that consumers feel they are getting good value for their money.

Without high-speed rail and with inconvenient air travel, Tan Jincheng made a two-day stopover in Changxin, Huzhou, on his way from Ningbo to Luzhou.

Before Yadi has its own lithium battery production line, it always needs to launch a lithium battery version of its electric vehicles. Tan Jincheng naturally wanted to help Boneng win this order.

Who cares who does it? If you can win, you can also make an extra profit.

In addition, using Boneng's lithium batteries also involves orders for other small accessories such as protection devices and adapters. These are all complementary items, and every little bit helps. For safety reasons, using Boneng's lithium batteries means either designing them independently or...

Either we have to use the same model as Flash, because independent design is costly and time-consuming. If we use the same model as Flash, we can win this order. Although it is a small order and the time may not last long, we still make money from our competitors.

BYD's blade batteries can not only supply its own batteries but also those of its competitors. This is not simply about making money off its competitors, but rather a display of overwhelming strength.

By analyzing battery purchase volumes, it's possible to roughly calculate competitors' annual production capacity and costs. Earning money from competitors while simultaneously gaining information is paramount. If Boneng can secure Yadi's lithium battery orders before Yadi builds its own production capacity, it will bring more than just profit to Flashcore.

This is the first step in Flash's true full-industry chain strategy.

A complete industry chain is not just about being self-sufficient; it's about maintaining an absolute advantage over competitors, to the point that they may even have to purchase your components.

In the two-wheeled electric vehicle industry, leading manufacturers are unlikely to outsource their core components to other manufacturers. However, Flash can leverage its first-mover advantage and, through this cooperation with Yadi, win over more mid- and downstream manufacturers.

Before the Lunar New Year, neither Xinri nor Luyuan wanted to get into lithium batteries. However, by April, everyone was following suit and these two companies couldn't hold on any longer. Whether they can win over these leading manufacturers depends on Boneng's efforts.

As for the extra production capacity after the transition, Tan Jincheng is not worried about that. In the future, lithium battery-powered two-wheeled electric vehicles will be the mainstream, and there is no need to worry about not being able to absorb the extra production capacity.

It might not even be enough.

With the existing partnership with Flashpoint as a foundation, the battery procurement contract between Yadi and Boneng was signed quite smoothly.

"Mr. Zhang, whether you can take advantage of the lithium battery vacuum period to secure orders from Luyuan and Xinri and establish your own production line depends on yourselves. I can't help you with those two companies."

It's highly unlikely that Chipstar will be able to secure the order. As the most direct competitor of FlashPower, Zhang Congxun would have to be out of his mind to give their lithium battery orders to Boneng.

However, Luyuan is worth trying to reach out to. As a company also located in Zhejiang Province, there are some connections that can be leveraged.

Although Zhang Congxun is from Wencheng, his businesses and industries have absolutely no connection with Zhejiang Province.

When Zhang Yunhua saw Tan Jincheng again, he realized that he had gone from being able to look down on Tan Jincheng when Tan Jincheng first came to discuss orders and contracts, to now having to look up to him. In just two years, the time had passed.

Even his boss was like that.

The small business that was forced to accept full-price contracts in order to secure orders back then has now not only invested in its own company but can also introduce large orders to the company.

"Thank you so much, Mr. Tan. It's too much trouble for you. You're so busy, yet you still made a special trip here. As for the other manufacturers, we'll handle it ourselves. We wouldn't dare trouble you any further."

Zhang Yunhua was very respectful.

"It's alright, it's just mutually beneficial. If Boneng develops well, it will benefit Flashspeed. Besides, I also have shares."

"Regardless, I still want to thank President Tan. Without your personal visit, our talks wouldn't have gone so smoothly."

"No need for polite words, ensuring the quality of the battery is the most important thing. The manufacturing process of this thing is a bit different from that of lead-acid batteries, so you must pay attention to safety."

For lithium batteries, Tan Jincheng's biggest fear is not poor sales, but rather that they might explode, causing a public relations disaster, which would be a real problem.

The promotion of a new product will inevitably encounter all sorts of problems. Minor problems are fine, but major problems can be a disaster for the company.

Whether it's automotive-grade lithium batteries or civilian low-speed lithium batteries, safety should always be the top priority.

This is about being responsible to both the company and consumers. Tan Jincheng has always prioritized safety in Hangxin New Energy's battery development projects, and safety cannot be disregarded in the pursuit of profit.

Even in the laboratory, special care must be taken. You know, the laboratories in the early stages of the discovery of lithium batteries were major fire hotspots, and even the American fire department couldn't handle them.

Too many fires, we need to pay more!
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After signing the procurement contract with Yadi, Boneng and Dong Jinggui, along with their entourage, traveled north in two cars.

After several hours of driving, passing through several cities including Nanjing, Tan Jincheng and his group arrived at Guoxuan's factory area in Baohe District.

This is Tan Jincheng's first time visiting Luzhou in his life. He had never been to Luzhou before the advent of high-speed rail in his previous life.

To be honest, Tan Jincheng didn't have a good impression of Luzhou. In his previous life, he was passing through Luzhou by high-speed rail and needed to transfer there. When he was picking up his ticket at the self-service ticket machine at the station, a group of people came up, pressed his ID card, and asked him for 20 yuan.

I was quite shocked at the time. I don't remember which year it was, but the high-speed rail must have been introduced sometime after 2012, right? It's really disappointing that such a situation would still occur at the train station in the provincial capital.

Since then, whenever he could bypass Luzhou, Tan Jincheng would choose to take a detour.

"Mr. Dong, it's been a long time."

"Mr. Tan, it's a pleasure to meet you. I've heard so much about you."

When shaking hands with Tan Jincheng, Li Zhen automatically switched to the Tongcheng dialect. The Tongcheng dialect is similar to the dialect in the city, and the accent sounds like someone singing Huangmei Opera. Unless they use particularly difficult words, it is understandable.

"I wouldn't dare. It's President Li who I should admire." Tan Jincheng also switched to Yicheng dialect.

Compared to Li Zhen, Tan Jincheng's dialect is a bit harsher, mainly because he has lived in Beicang for more than 20 years in two lifetimes, and being away from his hometown for a long time has had a profound impact on him.

If it weren't for his mother and Zhang Xupeng living in Beicang, Tan Jincheng really doesn't know how much of his hometown accent he would still have.

(End of this chapter)