2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 672 Cooperation Intent with BMW
"Give us more flatbread, and also, have your colleagues take some good pictures of me."

No wonder Comrade Ding accompanied him around the exhibition for half a day; it turns out he wanted to help the pig farm reporting team get an exclusive interview.

As the official strategic partner of this auto show, the pig farm enjoys a significant advantage in its coverage of the Guangzhou Auto Show.

Since becoming famous, Tan Jincheng has been interviewed by many media outlets, but it is still very difficult to get an exclusive interview with him. No internet company has ever obtained an exclusive interview with Tan Jincheng, not even his own company, Kaixin.com.

The pig farm reporting team knew they didn't have the ability to get an interview with Tan Jincheng, so they approached their leader to see if the boss could intervene.

"Stop rambling, you'll get your due recognition. Let's have a short interview during lunchtime, give me some face."

Old Ding wasn't sure if Tan Jincheng would accept if he directly and formally brought it up, so he could only resort to this half-rogue approach. Generally, they were friends, and it wouldn't be easy to refuse under these circumstances.

Tan Jincheng really couldn't refuse this invitation; after all, he had spent most of the day with him at the exhibition.

"Alright, I'll give you an hour. I have other things to do this afternoon."

"Haha, my brother is so generous; come on, let's have dinner, I'll take the host's seat."

Entrepreneurs all have their own principles. It is unknown why Tan Jincheng is unwilling to accept interviews from internet media, but there must be his own reasons. Lao Ding also knows that doing so is somewhat unfair.

There is no other way but to compensate Weilai Auto with some money on the website.

In one morning, Tan Jincheng visited several car company booths, test drove several cars at the Volkswagen booth, and bought a few BYD cars.
However, he was truly unavailable in the afternoon; he had a meeting with senior executives from BMW Brilliance.

In fact, we have to thank BYD for this. Perhaps Mr. Wang realized that it was too expensive and too slow for them to develop new energy on their own, or perhaps it was because of the right timing this year.

After successfully developing the F3 DM, which uses BYD's own lithium iron phosphate batteries and adopts the DM dual-mode hybrid system, BYD has accumulated certain technical expertise in lithium iron phosphate batteries.

At this time, Daimler extended an olive branch, proposing to cooperate with BYD in development, with BYD providing the powertrain and battery components, and Daimler responsible for the overall vehicle and interior design.

Both parties, who were interested in cooperating on pure electric vehicles, established a joint venture this year, with each holding 50% of the shares.

A brand new electric vehicle brand, Denza, was thus established, positioned as a high-end brand.

In order to adapt to the domestic market, leading automakers are taking the initiative to explore new energy vehicles. Daimler has taken action, and BMW is not far behind.

Currently, there are only a handful of companies in the domestic market that have conducted research on lithium iron phosphate batteries, and even fewer companies related to automobiles, including only BYD and Aerospace Technology, which belongs to the Flash Group.

BYD already has a partner and the brand has been established, so BMW doesn't have a better choice besides Aerospace.

However, whether due to distrust of the new era of aviation technology or BMW's conservative approach, this time the other party only extended an invitation to Tan Jincheng to meet and discuss in detail, without revealing the specific content.

The person who spoke with Tan Jincheng was a senior executive from BMW Brilliance, who had come to the Guangzhou Auto Show specifically for this meeting.

The two companies' booths happened to be in the same area, and Tan Jincheng had already arranged a meeting with them in the afternoon.

"Look at you, can't you stay a couple more days? I was planning to show you around properly. You've been to Guangzhou so many times, but you probably haven't really had a good time yet."

"Haha, I haven't been playing much lately, and I don't really want to go on business trips. My wife is pregnant, so I'm staying in Beicang since I don't have much to do. If you have time, come back to Ningbo, and I'll treat you."

"Huh? Your sister-in-law is pregnant? So early? I remember you were only 24, right?"

Old Ding was genuinely surprised. If he remembered correctly, Gu Qingqing should only be 22 years old, right? These two young people are really special, so young and already in a hurry to have children.

"Hehe, didn't I say before that if you're going to get married and have kids, do it early, or just be a golden bachelor?"

"Your theories are always different from others, so do as you please."

“I’m telling the truth. My wealth is an exception, but for ordinary people, let’s talk about the cost of trial and error. If you get married in your 20s and things don’t work out, you can cut your losses. And at that time you’re not even 30 yet, which is just the right time to start over.”

"It's the same with having children. If the first child isn't smart, you can have a second one. Nowadays, the rules for having a second child aren't so strict."

Comrade Lao Ding felt that Tan Jincheng was just making excuses, but upon closer examination, it seemed to make some sense. The cost of trial and error is too high for ordinary people, and the older they get, the less opportunity they have to make mistakes. One mistake could affect the entire lives of two families.

Because of the interview scheduled for noon, Tan Jincheng specifically requested that lunch not be too extravagant. After a simple meal, the formal interview began.

"Mr. Tan, you have given many interviews, but this is the first time you have been interviewed by an internet media outlet. Even your company, Kaixin.com, did not invite you for an interview. Could you tell us why?"

Tan Jincheng pursed his lips at Lao Ding, who was watching the commotion from the sidelines.

Such a pointed question right off the bat; no wonder it's the news department of the pig farm, which always loves to stir things up.

However, when it comes to shamelessness, Boss Tan never loses to anyone: "Because I'm a low-key person." This statement is as good as saying nothing, but neither the reporter nor Lao Ding dared to refute it.

Actually, dealing with interviews is quite simple: it's all about empty talk. Most entrepreneurs know this trick. They talk a lot, but they don't really say anything. Yet, to people who don't understand, it seems to make a lot of sense.

In addition, add some inspirational quotes. These days, people aren't so averse to inspirational quotes; saying a few can make it seem more motivating.

However, Tan Jincheng will still answer professional questions seriously.

"We didn't expect the Yuechi A1 to be so popular with consumers, and it's the biggest encouragement for us. The entire staff of Weilai will do our best to ensure quality and serve every customer well."

"Yuechi is not afraid of any competition. Weilai Auto is a newly established car company, and this is our first self-developed model. It is not shameful that we cannot compete with established brands in the market."

"Sales? Of course, the more the better. However, judging from the current order situation, our sales target for 2009 should be over 1.5 vehicles, which is a very good result."

Since it was an interview about automobiles, the reporter naturally wanted to get some information out of the reporter.

"Mr. Tan, there's a very hot topic at this year's Guangzhou Auto Show: new energy vehicles. And as far as we know, you ordered several BYD F3DM models this morning."

You previously stated that Weilai would enter the new energy vehicle industry. I wonder if your company has any plans to develop an electric version of its currently popular Yuechi A1 model?

"There are no plans to develop an electric version of the Yuechi A1 at the moment, but we already have plans for new energy vehicles, and our new energy vehicles will be launched by 2011 at the latest."

Does your company have any plans to develop sedan models?

"It's hard to say what the future holds, but there are no plans for that at the moment. We, Weilai, are still a small car company. Neither our production capacity nor our company size can match the full-scale efforts of other independent brands. Focusing on doing a good job with our existing models and providing the best service to our customers is the key."

"How do we see the future? Of course, we hope that our companies will get better and better, and we also hope that our own brands will get better and better."

At this point in the interview, Mr. Ding, who had been watching the whole thing, finally showed a slight smile. It wasn't because he was dissatisfied with Tan Jincheng, but rather with his own employee.

Ask some mysterious and abstract questions, and some gossipy ones. Can they stump Xiao Tan, this slippery girl?

It's fine to do some superficial stuff, but the professionalism needs to be improved.

This is the right approach! If it's about cars, then ask about cars. Normally, to promote Yuechi, Xiaotan wouldn't mind talking more about this.

"Alright, thank you very much, Mr. Tan, for accepting this interview with WY Auto Channel. We also wish the Yuechi series continued great success!"

An hour passed quickly, and the interview came to an end.

Old Ding emerged from behind the lights, shook hands with Tan Jincheng, and then joked with the interview host, "That's how you should ask questions in the second half. What's the point of always asking gossip? If you want to hear gossip, come to me. I know a thing or two."

"Forget it, what gossip could I possibly have? Alright, that's enough, I have to go. Don't take my words out of context."

A large part of the reason why I don't want to accept interviews from internet media is actually because I have too deep a shadow of self-media from my past life. Self-media is simply a typical example of taking things out of context.

Although social media is not well-developed these days, Tan Jincheng knows all too well the internet's penchant for creating hype.

In truth, a large part of the blame lies with Tan Jincheng himself; he created many of the internet gimmicks from his previous life ahead of time.

Compared to the previous life, the internet in the early 2000s was much more turbulent, with sensationalist headlines being created by Tan Jincheng ahead of time.

"Don't worry, I doubt you'll have time right now. I'll personally review the manuscript and make sure it doesn't tarnish your reputation."

"That's fine, I have to go now."

"What are you in such a hurry for?"

Mr. Ding was a little surprised. Was there really no need to rush to see the exhibition?
"Oh, I have an appointment to discuss business. It wouldn't be good to be late."

This time, the person who came was Wei Lan, the CEO of BMW Brilliance, who is of a very high rank. In order to secure this cooperation, Tan Jincheng did not want to leave a bad impression on the other party.

In the early stages of new energy development, having a strong partner is crucial for Weilai.

"Alright then, I have an appointment to discuss business, so I won't take up your time. Thank you for your help this time."

The first online interview with a popular entrepreneur is a hot topic that the pig farm's news department can hype up. Xiao Tan is really giving them face.

"What are you talking about?"

(End of this chapter)