2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 837 The Mysterious Sales Growth (Seeking Monthly Tickets)
P.S.: It's the last day of double rewards, please do it again!
"President Tan, there's no need to doubt. I'm optimistic about Weilai Shares, and this premium is a bargain for me."

Seeing Tan Jincheng's doubts, He Jianfeng smiled. Acquiring the excess portion of ByteDance Engine at a cost of 100 yuan per share was nothing to him, and that was not his purpose.

"Thank you for your generosity, Mr. He. However, this matter requires the approval of the China Securities Regulatory Commission. I will handle it when I get back."

"There shouldn't be any problem with the CSRC approving it, so I'll just wait to take over these 150 million shares."

The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) has no reason to disagree. Besides being part of a collaboration with Midea, it also contributed over 2800 million yuan in investment income to the listed company, which can be included in the company's profits.

To be honest, Tan Jincheng was not keen on accepting the premium, but he never doubted that Weilai shares would return to above 100 yuan.

This price represents a premium of only about 1200 million yuan over the current price, so he wouldn't gain much benefit from it, but he would have no choice but to accept this favor.

ByteDance's acquisition of 4100 million shares of Midea suggests that once a strategic partnership is formally established, cross-shareholdings are inevitable given the financial resources of both companies.

Midea is highly likely to acquire a certain number of shares in Weilai through the secondary market or private placement.

The 150 million shares proposed by He Jianfeng were merely a preliminary step on behalf of the other party.

On July 12, 2015, Fang Hongbo, CEO of Midea Group, and Tan Jincheng, President of Weilai Group, signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a strategic partnership.

The two parties intend to cooperate in the research and development of automotive parts and new technologies, jointly develop new technology products applicable to smart electric vehicles, and explore vehicle-home interconnection technology.

Thus, the week-long rumors surrounding the acquisition between Tan Jincheng and Midea Group have finally come to an end.

It turns out that ByteDance's spending of 900 million yuan to compete with the national team for chips on July 8 was not for any other purpose.

The week of market rescue was shocking, and the national team and large securities firms were naturally the main protagonists. However, Tan Jincheng's decisive and resolute operation of the MAX Engine trading seat during this week left a great deal of goodwill in the hearts of stock investors.

Especially for small investors in companies like Flash Technology and Weilai Shares, the repurchase funds have provided much-needed reassurance.

Unlike other listed company bosses who make grand pronouncements to the media, shouting slogans and promising to repurchase shares and urging their employees to increase their holdings, Mr. Tan's two listed companies only issued a few announcements in the face of stock market turmoil.

However, the execution demonstrated by these few announcements is unmatched by any other listed company that has pledged to repurchase shares.

In just three trading days, at a cost of 7.71 million yuan, the company completed its repurchase commitment for Weilai shares, even exceeding the repurchase amount, demonstrating a clean and efficient action.

It's important to know that the vast majority of companies that have promised to repurchase shares haven't even taken any action yet.

Some unscrupulous major shareholders even encourage their employees to buy shares while secretly reducing their own holdings.

In the A-share market, there is only one company like Weilai that can make such a quick and decisive purchase.

This is one of the reasons why the recent stock price fluctuations of Weilai Co., Ltd. are smaller than those of other blue-chip stocks.

Of course, another important reason is that Weilai Co., Ltd. has not been listed for long, and currently more than 80% of the major and minor shareholders are still under lock-up.

With a limited number of shares in circulation and a high stock price, there are not many trapped investors in Weilai. Moreover, those who truly understand the value of Weilai know that its worth has not yet been fully realized and are unwilling to sell.

In addition, Flashpoint Technology has completed more than half of its promised repurchase plan, so in principle, it can also be said that Flashpoint Technology has also completed the repurchase.

The responsible attitude shown by the two companies has reassured many investors who were trapped in the market.

"What's going on? Our bookings hit a new high over the weekend?"

Tan Jincheng, who had just returned from Foshan, received a message from the sales department.

The system that Wei Lai Cong developed a long time ago is already very mature, and with so many cars sold, they basically have a model for the growth rate of their own car sales.

The so-called growth rate reported by the sales department is definitely a figure that exceeds the model.

Tan Jincheng was also somewhat surprised. It wasn't a holiday or peak sales season, and there was a tax reduction stimulus policy for small-displacement vehicles to be introduced in October. The sluggish car market in the first half of the year had made the higher-ups anxious.

The collective price cuts initiated by Volkswagen have not led to a significant increase in sales in the overall car market, which may be related to the impact of the Sagitar axle breakage issue.

"Yes, mainly because the new orders for ES6 and Lotus are a bit unusual."

The Lotus EVora400 will begin deliveries on August 24th. Pre-orders are now open on the official website and app, and the Chinese name has also been decided.

After a week-long vote, "Lotus" was chosen as the Chinese name for EVora400.

The lotus flower has a very auspicious meaning, and the water lily is very similar to the lotus flower. It can be considered as trying to ride on the popularity of the water lily. The disruptive behavior of the boatman and other car companies was quickly discovered by the website's backend staff.

Among traditional car companies, Weilai's technological strength in the Internet field is unmatched by other car companies. Weilai's website is much better than other car companies in terms of both stability and interface.

It's funny, really. If they hadn't caused trouble, Tan Jincheng wouldn't have even thought about it that way.

Every year during cherry blossom season, the cherry blossom street on Taishan Road is incredibly beautiful. He often passes by Taishan Road, and it truly is stunning. Including cherry blossoms in the list probably reflects the shared sentiment of his company's employees.

Deliveries will begin at the end of August, with only a four-month sales period. The Lotus sports car, priced at 130 million yuan, has a sales target of around 100 to 120 units.

Selling an average of 30 cars per month would be considered a good result.

In 2015, Audi remained the most popular luxury car brand in China. Among sports car brands, Porsche was the best-selling and fastest-growing.

Porsche sold a total of 29355 vehicles in China in the first half of the year, up 48.4% year-on-year. In June, sales reached 5862 vehicles, a significant increase of 71.1%.

The Cayenne and Macan are his best-selling models, and their growth rate is the envy of luxury car brands.

Zhongguo District will definitely become Porsche's largest single market globally this year.

"The growth of the ES6 is understandable, but the Lotus is also growing strangely. It's really weird. Let's investigate the reason and also inform Li Xiang about this situation."

The Chinese name voting ended in early July. After the voting ended, Lotus opened for pre-orders. In the first few days, there were many onlookers, but not many orders, after all, it was a new car that had not been tested by the market.

However, 23 vehicles were ordered over the weekend, with sales exceeding 3000 million yuan, achieving one-fifth of the annual sales target in just two days!

Zhao Xinyi received the instructions and went down to investigate.

The production volume of top-tier luxury cars is fixed each year, and sales expectations are also strictly calculated. Such a strange increase will inevitably affect a series of production and sales plans, and it must be investigated thoroughly.

Selling too much isn't necessarily a good thing. With the Heysel factory's production capacity, if sales exploded, it would bankrupt them.

According to feedback from Li Xiang, the EVora400 is receiving a very good response in Europe and is expected to sell well this year. If there are no changes in the Chinese market, Lotus's global sales in 2015 should be around 1500 units.

Heysel's current production capacity is sufficient to maintain operations, but given the changes in the Zhongguo region, increasing Heysel's production capacity is now imperative.

The Heysel plant currently has an annual production capacity of around 2000 vehicles. Tan Jincheng's plan is to increase the Heysel plant's production capacity to 3000 vehicles next year, which will be quite difficult given the typical British approach.

Kimberly and Li Xiang are under considerable pressure; however, it is a necessary step.

Zhao Xinyi's investigation didn't take long, less than two hours, and she returned to her office with a smile.

"Boss, we've figured it out. It's all thanks to you."

"What do you mean?"

"Haha, it was bought by delisted shareholders, and it's thanks to the goodwill generated by our market rescue efforts this week."

Tan Jincheng looked completely bewildered: "What the hell?"

There are still many details to be discussed regarding the cooperation with Midea, including the transfer of the 150 million shares purchased in excess to Winwind Investment, which also requires the China Securities Regulatory Commission to go through the procedures. However, he no longer needs to handle these matters personally.

In addition, he also needs to talk to Lei Jun and, incidentally, contact Apple CEO Tim Cook.

For cars to become intelligent, they cannot function without smartphones. Tan Jincheng's plan is to have a partner for both iOS and Android systems. For iOS, there is no choice but Apple, and for Android, the partnership will definitely be with Xiaomi.

As for Wei's mobile phone, although it's a niche brand, we'll definitely try to get our hands on it. We don't expect to sell many cars; we'll treat it more as a car accessory.

As for the design and contract manufacturing, Tan Jincheng still plans to outsource it to Xiaomi.

Xiaomi was born with a reputation for being cost-effective and low-end, which has been controversial in terms of its image. However, with the company's rapid development, they have improved their design capabilities and their products have become increasingly attractive.

The simple and clear design concept is quite in line with Tan Jincheng's aesthetic ideas.

"Here's what happened: we kept our word last week when we rescued the market, and we completed our rescue promise in just a few days. This is unique in the market. Our public relations department also cooperated by releasing some advertorials, which made people feel good about us."

"The best way for consumers to have a good impression of a company is to support its products. In fact, not only are cars selling very well these days, but I've also heard that electric bikes are selling very well."

"In addition, sales at the GXG flagship store have increased significantly, and this can be verified."

After saying that, he handed over a series of data and comments from netizens copied from the interactive areas of the two listed companies.

"Actually, in terms of spending power, stock investors are really quite good. As long as they make money, they are really willing to spend it. They are very generous when buying houses and cars. Our stocks have always been very stable. Although we lost a lot during the stock market crash, we still made more money."

"In addition, your previous actions have reduced the losses for many people." One was giving employees of ByteDance's advertising platform a holiday and clearing out individual investors from private equity funds. Although ByteDance did not publicize it and kept a low profile, nothing stays secret forever.

This message, once it reached the market, served as a warning to some investors who trusted ByteDance and those with keen market sense.

In addition, during an interview with a media outlet in the UK, when discussing the stock market, Tan Jincheng intentionally or unintentionally revealed his views on taking profits and being patient when trapped.

"Trust is built up slowly. What we've done over the past two months has won the favor of investors. We just didn't expect there to be so many wealthy investors."

By this time, Tan Jincheng had a pretty good understanding of what had happened.

Goodness, isn't this just like a brand that suddenly became a hit in the live-streaming era more than 10 years later?

Unexpectedly, a series of actions taken from both a strategic and commercial perspective could have such an effect.

“You’re right, stock market investors do have considerable spending power. They’re really willing to spend as long as they can make money. However, this is also related to the brand image we’ve always maintained. What we really need to do is focus on improving our products and services.”

The stock market crash of 2015 certainly hurt many investors, but the seven-month surge, coupled with leverage, also created many middle-class individuals.

In his previous life, Tan Jincheng had heard that quite a few stock investors made money during the 2015 bull market, and that some people achieved financial freedom starting in 2015.

Starting in the second half of the year, housing prices in major cities began to surge. While this was partly due to policy changes and developer incentives, the fact that ordinary people had more money in their pockets was also a contributing factor.

"Looking at it this way, the surge in Porsche sales in June might also be the work of stock market investors."

The sluggish car market in the first half of the year was most likely because everyone invested their money in the stock market. With prices rising continuously, who would be willing to sell? Now that a bear market is coming, those who have made money will naturally withdraw it to spend.

From this perspective, there is a possibility that the car market may see a turnaround in the second half of the year.

"It's not impossible. In the first half of the year, almost everyone was investing in stocks. Even I bought some. If you spend money in the stock market, you won't have money to spend elsewhere."

"You bought some too? Did you make a profit or a loss?"

Zhao Xinyi definitely did not buy Shanchi Technology and Weilai Shares. As an executive and related party, she would have to report and disclose her purchase of these two stocks.

"We made some money before, but we've lost a lot in the last two months. Boss, do you want to sell? Last week was terrible."

"It depends on what you buy. If it's similar to what our fund holds, then it doesn't matter. You don't need these two. But try to trade stocks less. You don't need to."

"At the end of the year, we'll prioritize granting you a share of the Weilai shares we've repurchased, so you'll be worthy of a senior management position."

Zhao Xinyi is an exception. She holds very few shares in Weilai, and they were all purchased with her own money before the company went public. She has not enjoyed any equity incentives, which may be the reason why she is different from Zeng Jixiang and others.

Executives like Zeng Jixiang have absolutely no interest in the stock market. They all have equity incentives, and they wouldn't even pay attention to the stock market if it weren't for work.

Gu Qingqing is the same; she holds a considerable amount of stock assets through her family fund, but she doesn't usually pay attention to stock trends.

"Really? Boss, you're not kidding me, are you? Then I'll just ignore the stocks I have; hehe, actually I bought Moutai."

Tan Jincheng was trapped for more than a year when he first bought Moutai, and he was still a joke in Beicang District. Later, ByteDance also traded Moutai during the bull market of 2007-2008. Zhao Xinyi, who was also a close associate of the company, naturally knew about these things.

She still had a deep impression of this stock. Some time ago, the boss's wife showed her the boss's personal account that had been frozen. There were still 15 shares of Moutai on it. After so many years of dividends, the cost of holding the shares was only 30.38 yuan.

What's really alarming is that the private account still holds 3 million shares of Tencent Holdings. The 5-for-1 stock split last May made the boss a fortune!
In ten years, Moutai's stock price has increased nearly ninefold, while Tencent's has increased 135 times!
The proprietress joked that the boss had secretly bought these items little by little, thinking that if his business failed, he could at least keep something for himself. However, he stopped paying attention to them after getting busy with work.

"Why would I try to fool you? Stop trading your stocks. You can live a good life even without equity incentives. There's no need to compete with ordinary people in the secondary market. Besides, you might not even be able to beat them."

Although it's said that seven out of ten stock investors lose money, one breaks even, and two make money, there are still quite a few outstanding individual investors in the market, and many institutional fund managers are not necessarily as good as them in terms of operational skills.

If placed in an absolutely fair environment, it's really hard to say who would cut whom.

"Let's release this good news, and also thank everyone for their support, but please don't specifically mention the shareholders."

23 Lotus EVORA400s were ordered in two days. Combined with the orders placed in the previous days, the number of Lotus EVORA400s pre-ordered in China has now exceeded 30. Lotus, which aims to compete with Porsche, has made a good start in China.

"Li, it seems we need to adjust our expectations for this year. Also, we need to increase our production capacity as soon as possible."

Heysel.

Kimberly was both pleased and worried when he learned from Li Xiang about Lotus's first-week bookings.

Last year, Lotus sold 1014 vehicles, and the expectation for this year was already a pleasant surprise of 1500 vehicles. Now it seems that 1500 vehicles will not be enough.

Based on the current situation, Lotus's sales forecast for 2015 should be between 1700 and 1800 vehicles, and its total revenue for the year is very likely to reach around 3 million US dollars.

The good news is that with a significant increase in profits and the shedding of the huge burden of the F1 team, Lotus is very likely to achieve its first profit since its establishment during the 2015-2016 fiscal year.

The concern is naturally about production capacity.

"Yes, we need to increase our production capacity as quickly as possible. The boss has given us a very pleasant surprise, and we can't afford to mess things up."

"Yes, Tan is truly an amazing person."

Selling 30 cars in a week is an astonishing figure. Under ideal conditions, the annual sales in China alone could reach 1000 cars, which is Lotus's total sales for 2014.

This capability is simply outrageous. It seems that the previous plan to increase Lotus's annual sales to more than 4000 units within five years was not just empty talk.

“Our boss has always been quite amazing. Let’s all get moving. If we don’t have enough staff, let’s hire as soon as possible, or use machines to replace some of the production capacity.”

In fact, Tan Jincheng's timing in getting involved with Lotus was quite good.

The rapid development of various industrial chains driven by the mobile internet has allowed practitioners to reap huge profits.

Take Tan Jincheng's initial Taobao shops as an example. If he had done nothing but focus on managing those shops back then, he would definitely have amassed a fortune of tens of millions over the years.

For a small business owner with tens of millions in assets, who doesn't have much financial pressure, buying a sports car is perfectly normal.

In the past two years, with the listing of numerous internet companies of all sizes, the surge in A-shares and the increase in the number of listed companies, a large number of millionaires and multi-millionaires have been created.

With the benefits of the times, it's perfectly normal for people with money in their pockets to buy houses and cars, and luxury cars are naturally among their consumption items.

Porsche's soaring sales in China are also based on the benefits of the times.

As for Tan Jincheng himself, although he did not deliberately collect luxury cars, he still owned quite a few luxury cars worth over one million yuan, including Sailing, Tesla, Lotus, BMW and others.

Among these luxury cars, some were bought by him personally, while others were gifts from brands. Executives from companies such as Weilai, Flash, and Orange Technology also own several cars to varying degrees.

A bailout has stirred up a frenzy at Lotus's Heisel factory, thousands of miles away.

Stimulated by the number of bookings in the first week in China, Lotus executives, including Kimberly and Li Xiang, were in high spirits. They recruited more workers to increase production capacity and reassured their employees.

Li Xiang is also extremely busy. He will work at the Heysel factory for at least a year to learn how to truly manage a luxury car brand and prepare for his future role as CEO.

In addition, he also needs to contact the relevant parties to determine where the factories in China should be located.

Tan Jincheng intends to entrust the management of Lotus entirely to Li Xiang to see if he can run a brand well.

Regarding which city the Lotus brand should be located in, he had communicated with Li Xiang and temporarily approached Tan Jincheng's city investment promotion department. Tan Jincheng postponed the process with various excuses, giving Li Xiang a lot of time.

The rescue efforts for the A-share market are still ongoing. After a week of adjustment, the national team has gradually adapted to the changes in pace, and retail investors have enjoyed two rare weeks of stable market performance.

从7月13日至7月24日两周时间，上证指数最高涨至4184.45点位，整体涨幅4.98%。

Individual stocks are also gradually recovering. The share price of Weilai Co., Ltd. even surged to over 100 yuan at its highest point, closing at 99.39 yuan on Friday, July 24. The transfer plan of 1.5 million shares between ByteDance and Yingfeng Investment has also been approved by the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

Based on the holding cost of ByteDance's engine, this transaction yielded a profit of RMB 2830.5 million (before tax), which will be included in Weilai Co., Ltd.'s 2015 annual financial report, a pleasant surprise.

These are all things that need to be announced. Recently, listed companies have been issuing announcements frequently, which is dazzling to retail investors.

In addition, FlashTech's stock price has been relatively stable in the past two weeks, so there are not many opportunities for the repurchase funds to be used. Currently, FlashTech's repurchase account has repurchased a total of 1157.36 million shares, which is 842.64 million shares short of 2000 million shares.

The repurchase funds consumed amounted to 2.05 million yuan.

However, the two weeks of stable trend were merely the calm before the storm.

Beneath the stable trend of the past two weeks, as many as 1440 listed companies suspended trading to avoid the stock market crash. Once these more than 1,000 stocks resume trading, it will inevitably lead to another round of bloodshed.

After two weeks of price increases, many companies that had suspended trading began to stir, announcing their resumption of trading on July 25 and July 26, with the risks involved being self-evident.

In addition, it's time for the results of the investigation into the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) on July 9, led by the deputy minister of the Ministry of Public Security, to crack down on malicious short selling.

"The rain is coming."

(End of this chapter)