2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 700 Off-road Vehicle Project Initiation

Since mid-January, rumors have been circulating within Flash Group and Weilai Auto that the company's annual meeting this year will be a grand affair.

In 2008, none of the subsidiaries held annual meetings; they simply had a low-key New Year's Eve dinner. Although they received all the year-end bonuses, it just felt a bit lacking in liveliness.

I still vividly remember the grand scene of delivering Zhongtai 2008 vehicles to employees who participated in the lucky draw back then.

Employees who joined Flash Group afterward looked at these photos online and heard veteran employees talk about the situation back then, and they all longed for it.

The rumors circulating most vividly and convincingly come from Yangzi Automobile.

Last year, when they joined the Zhiwei Automotive System, there were no activities during the Spring Festival, which made these old state-owned enterprises very uncomfortable. They originally thought it would be the same this year, but they didn't expect such a pleasant surprise.

Although it's still just a rumor, having hope is always better than having no hope at all.

"Have you heard? Those Flying SUVs in the company's inventory will be used as prizes? Is it true? Each one costs tens of thousands."

"Won't those be unsellable?"

"Who told you they can't be sold? I heard the boss is too lazy to sell them. I'll give you 4 yuan a car, do you want it? You definitely will."

"That's true. Damn it, last year we thought the boss was abandoning the company and we wouldn't last many more years. We never expected things to suddenly explode this year."

"That's right. We've had a pretty rough time. Our company has been sold several times, and it's always been a case of 'the son of a stepmother'—it's a long story. But this young boss is pretty good; he's actually taking it seriously."

The same situation is happening at the Xiangcheng Industrial Base. Like Yangzi Automobile, the Xiangcheng Industrial Base also experienced a long period of shutdown and production suspension for rectification last year. During those months, employees only received basic wages.

Many employees who were uncertain about their future resigned at that time, and the compensation was handled hastily.

This incident caused considerable controversy in both regions at the time, and the local governments also faced significant pressure. However, since it was the initial stage of the takeover, Weilai Automobile's stated reasons were to modify the production line and train employees.

At the beginning of the cooperation, the government could not interfere too much. In addition, the promised investment and new production equipment were gradually being put into operation, which did not seem like a case of running away with empty promises, so there was no way to criticize the other party.

Fortunately, this situation did not last long, and the government was relieved after the factory resumed normal production.

The Xiangcheng branch had relatively low production capacity in 2009, with only 9013 Pajeros sold. However, due to the relatively high price and the fact that it was a mature model, coupled with the existing sales networks of Mitsubishi and Changfeng Motors, it was able to barely maintain a balance of income and expenditure in the Xiangcheng area.

Like Yangzi Motors, the Xiangcheng branch also had some leftover stock from Changfeng Motors, but the quality was really not good. Tan Jincheng felt that using it for bonuses was a bit of a rip-off, so he rejected the plan.

"Take it apart. Some parts might still be usable, but if you give it to the employees, they probably wouldn't even dare to drive it themselves. They built this themselves, so they know exactly what kind of thing it is."

If you're making food, you can tell how safe your products are by looking at the attitude of your own employees. The same goes for car manufacturers; you can find out about the quality by asking their employees.

Of course, a car company has many production bases across the country, and the treatment and quality of each production base are not the same, so they cannot be treated equally.

In 2009, in addition to upgrading the production line in Weilai, Flash Motors' investment in Xiangcheng also included a two-wheeled electric vehicle production base with a capacity of one million units, which was promised beforehand and developed well in 2009.

In 2010, Weilai Automobile will allocate a portion of the production capacity of its best-selling Yuechi A1 model to Xiangcheng. In addition, the production of its two-wheeled electric vehicle factory is about to begin, and the industrial output value of the entire Shanchi Group in Xiangcheng will be even higher.

After Tan Jincheng signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Luzhou Municipal Government, Xiangcheng also extended an olive branch, offering many preferential policies.

These days, it's not easy for local governments to attract investment, especially in inland areas. There are many companies in the automotive industry, but only a few are truly reliable, and Flash Group is one of them.

Aside from the fact that the boss is too young and there are some behaviors they don't understand, everything else about Flashpoint is impeccable, whether it's the background or the financial strength. Most importantly, Flashpoint is trustworthy; it says it will invest, and it does.

If you say you're going to invest in a certain project, then that's the project.

In the internet age, without a combination of internal and external efforts, it's not so easy for unreliable companies to fool local governments. Many things can actually be found out if you investigate carefully.

"Let's not invest for now. Let's wait until we're stronger. Right now, it's better to be cautious with Weilai Auto. Our cash flow is still quite tight."

During Zhang Yong's work report, Tan Jincheng considered the offer from Xiangcheng but decided to decline it for the time being.

The investment environment in Xiangcheng is actually quite good. I remember in my previous life, many car companies like BYD and Geely had production bases here. However, most of these companies focused on the new energy vehicle industry, which was after 2014. Weilai Auto's main focus is on new energy vehicles, and it doesn't really want to build too many industrial bases for gasoline vehicles.

"Our main focus right now is to develop some new models as soon as possible. Having only one best-selling model isn't enough. The R&D department needs to speed things up. If that doesn't work, we'll recruit more people. We'll poach talent from BMW, Audi, and Mercedes-Benz. Don't be afraid to spend money."

The reason why Tan Jincheng was so eager to develop a new model was that he had specifically studied the current situation of the Dizi after thinking about the disaster that would befall the Dizi this year.

There's not much to say about the battery and photovoltaic industries; these are due to changes in the times and policy reasons, not faults of the war effort.

Tan Jincheng has also seen some tricks in the automotive industry. Currently, Dizi has three sales networks, which are defined as A1, A2, and A3.

Selling over 40 vehicles in 2009 made Dizi overconfident, and they are now building their fourth sales network, A4, in preparation for achieving a million sales in 2010.

However, Dizi currently only has 7 models in hand. Apart from the best-selling F3, the sales of the others are quite average. Tan Jincheng thinks that the F3DM pure electric vehicle is a very impressive product, but that's all it is.

These days, nobody buys pure electric vehicles. Since the Guangzhou Auto Show, this pure electric model, equipped with lithium iron phosphate batteries and boasting a range of 300 kilometers, has barely sold a few units.

It's like going to the second floor for a foot massage. You might go today, or you might go tomorrow, but you can't go every day. Your wallet might be able to handle it, but your kidneys won't.

Dizi set the following performance evaluation rules for its distributors: in order to increase sales, Dizi assigned each distributor a lot of targets. If the target was not met this month, the target would be doubled next month.

It's like if you don't come for a foot massage today, you'll have to work two extra hours tomorrow. Dealers who have F3 to sell are okay because they have a guaranteed sales volume, but those dealers who don't have F3 and can only sell expensive products with low sales volume are bound to run into trouble sooner or later.

Whether Dizi's higher-ups were aware of this problem, Tan Jincheng didn't know, but after studying it from a god-like perspective, he felt that it was only a matter of time before something went wrong with this thing, and the degree of the problem would vary.

Sooner or later, something was bound to happen, and don't forget he has a rival with a J-series name that's practically a head-to-head competitor.

When car manufacturers engage in business competition, it's far dirtier than when they're dealing with two-wheeled electric vehicles. If a competitor finds an opportunity, they can really make things difficult for you.

"The R&D department has already begun to accelerate the development process, and in accordance with our goal, we will launch one or two more new models in the second half of the year to advance the process."

The Yuechi series models are defined by odd numbers. The A1 was the first model, the next one was the A3, and so on, like 5, 7, 9, etc. The higher the number, the more expensive it is. Of course, most of them are just blueprints at present.

Meanwhile, there are also many derivative designs being planned for the Yuechi A1, the main model. Basically, it's about making multiple uses of the A1, which is what most manufacturers are doing nowadays.

"Yeah, let's hurry up. We have to keep up with the money we're making and can't give up. Also, the off-road vehicle project needs to be established."

In 2010, the Flash Group and Tan Jincheng himself positioned themselves as low-key. Being low-key did not mean that the company would not expand and develop. They would not miss any opportunity to expand or make money.

Dizi will definitely face a big crisis in 2010, and who knows, we might be able to take something from him at that time.

Speaking of Dizi, this company is quite peculiar. From the very beginning, it has had an unreliable feel to it, and it has encountered several major crises during its development, including one in 2010.

But ironically, this is the company that has become the leader among independent brands, and it is also the most controversial.

Taking advantage of someone's weakness to kill them has always been a rule in business competition. Weilai Auto doesn't yet have the guts to compete in the sedan market, but it could try to compete in the SUV, off-road vehicle, and even bus markets.

Changfeng Motors has struggled to adapt its passenger car business to the local market, but it must be said that they have a lot of experience in off-road vehicles.

With Changfeng Motors as its initial framework, Weilai Motors certainly wouldn't give up its off-road vehicle technology. In addition, the Pajero is also a very good off-road vehicle.

However, although the off-road vehicle project that Weilai Motors is preparing to launch uses Japanese off-road technology, Tan Jincheng does not want to produce the Japanese style.

As for who to copy?

Needless to say, it's the Mercedes-Benz G-Class series. This thing was incredibly popular in my previous life, especially in the northern regions where it was extremely popular. During the live-streaming era, terms like "Cullinan fragment" and "G-Class fragment" were very common.

This style is very popular among off-road vehicle enthusiasts. Some models haven't even been released yet, but they're being produced in advance. They might not be in production now, but they could be used to stage accidents in the future.

(End of this chapter)