Returning wealthy individuals develop their hometowns and become rich in the 1980s

Thorne stood by the runway, holding a satellite phone, but hesitated to dial. He watched the two Shadow vehicles parked in the maintenance area, surrounded by engineers like doctors surrounding patients who had just undergone surgery.

Wall took off his helmet, revealing sweat-drenched blond hair, and was talking to William. William listened attentively, nodding occasionally, while Chen Dong, who was standing by listening, chimed in with a few words.

Thorne thought about the rapid development of the Snapdragon, and how the Snapdragon had perfected the high-pressure common rail technology and combustion to the extreme, while Volkswagen was still using Bosch's system and paying a 12% licensing fee for each vehicle.

The Snapdragon also only costs 12%, but the accompanying technology is even better than Bosch's. As for exporting the whole vehicle, having the parent company Volkswagen as the general agent for the Snapdragon in Europe is nothing to Thorne.

They are capitalists. Capitalists only care about profits. National sentiment and national pride are all worthless in the face of money!

Thorne took a deep breath and dialed Paul's private number. The phone rang for a long time before being answered. Paul's voice was filled with resentment, "Who is it?"

"It's me, Mr. Paul. I have something important to ask you about," Thorne said. He knew it was still early morning in Wolfsburg, but he didn't care.

"You'd better really have something important to do, Thorne, damn it, do you even know what time it is!"

"This concerns the group's development plan for the next twenty years. Do you think it's worth getting up now to answer this call, Mr. Paul?"

Paul simply uttered a single word, and Thorne then reiterated in detail the conditions Chen Dong had just proposed. After listening, Paul sneered, "Tell him, 10%, five-year renewal—that's the group's bottom line!"

Thorne's tone was tinged with bitterness. "Mr. Paul, Chen is not someone who will easily back down. If you really want to renew the contract for five years and the price is reduced to 10%, then the group will have to make even greater concessions."

"Aren't our concessions enough?" Paul sat down, lit a cigarette, and in the pitch-black living room, the light from the cigarette butt flickered, mirroring Paul's mood at that moment.

"We've already made many concessions to get their Vios cars into the European market, which seriously threatens our core business there!"

Thorne understood what Ball meant, but if Volkswagen didn't cooperate, wouldn't other Europa car companies cooperate with Snapdragon?

Moreover, Europe is an open market, at least for now. As long as their own interests are not threatened, European car manufacturers are shouting "free trade" while wielding the big stick of sanctions.

While Snapdragon is manufactured and located in Tuocheng, don't forget that it is controlled by two investment banks: America's Huasheng Fund and Dagong Fund. They could easily choose not to cooperate with Volkswagen and find their own distributors in Europe.

At that time, Volkswagen will have to face a formidable opponent, and an uncontrollable one at that—one that won't cooperate with Volkswagen or license its technology to you.

By acting as an agent for the Vios, Volkswagen can at least control the sales of Vios cars in the European market. Whenever Volkswagen launches a new car, it can control the delivery volume of Vios cars, allowing Volkswagen's own cars to sell first, and then slowly release the Vios car inventory.

Thorne could think of these tricks, and he believed that Bohr, the CEO of Volkswagen, could think of them as well. The only difference was that Thorne was only the general manager of the China region, while Bohr had to take care of the interests of the collective shareholders.

"Do you really think that race will benefit the general public?"

Thorne paused for a moment, thinking that Boll would continue to delve into technical issues, but unexpectedly he suddenly changed the subject. Thorne confidently assured him, "Yes! I saw it with my own eyes today. The fastest lap time was 1 minute 21.3 seconds. Last year in the GP, this time would have ranked in the top five, and this was their first test run."

"I believe that with further tuning by the engineers, it can run even faster. A 180-horsepower engine shouldn't only have this lap time."

"Okay, then agree to it. 12% it is, I'll accept a three-year renewal too," Paul's voice returned to its cold hardness. "But there's one condition: Europa's exclusive distributor must be Volkswagen. They can't find a second distributor to cooperate with besides Volkswagen."

Thorne nodded and replied, "Okay, I understand."

After hanging up the phone, Thorne felt relieved and slowly walked back to Chen Dong's side. Chen Dong was squatting in the repair area, watching the engineer remove the spark plugs. Thorne walked over and squatted down like Chen Dong.

"Mr. Chen, Wolfsburg's parent company has agreed to your request: 12%, a three-year renewal, and the exclusive distributorship for Europa, but Volkswagen must be the sole distributor!"

Chen Dong glanced at Thorne, dusted off his hands, and extended his hand to Thorne, saying, "Pleasure doing business with you!"

Thorne grasped Chen Dong's outstretched hand firmly, a smile on his face. "Pleasure doing business with you!"

Fan Guotao stood to the side, watching this scene, and a complex emotion suddenly welled up in his heart. He was from Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation, not Volkswagen, but he could feel Thorne's feelings at this moment, the feeling of being taken advantage of but still having to say thank you.

Having technical skills really does allow you to do whatever you want!

"Fan, now that the authorization from Volkswagen's headquarters is settled, what's your side at Shanghai Automotive saying?" Chen Dong turned to look at the stunned Fan Guotao. "Are you going to sign the contract or not?"

Fan Guotao snapped out of his daze and immediately said, "Sign, of course we'll sign, we must sign, Mr. Chen, I've brought the company seal with me today."

"But Mr. Chen, you've already asked for 10% from Volkswagen. Could you perhaps offer a little more?" Fan Guotao was definitely like an eel, always looking for an opening to slip through.

"Old Fan, don't overthink it. If I can give Volkswagen 10%, that's not a concession, that's an investment. Volkswagen can give us the Snapdragon Europa dealer network," Chen Dong said with a smile, looking at Fan Guotao. "What can Shanghai Automotive give us for Snapdragon?"

Fan Guotao chuckled to ease the awkwardness, then decisively changed the subject, saying, "Then sign it! I can sign it right now!"

"Xiao Qu, take Factory Director Fan and Mr. Thorne to the office to find Second Brother," Chen Dong said, still squatting. "Tell him that Shanghai Automotive Volkswagen's terms are still firm: 20% and they absolutely cannot budge!"

Shanghai Automotive is an insider, so we can offer them some incentives. As for Volkswagen's headquarters, it's a win-win situation, so we can lower our prices. But this new joint venture, Shanghai Automotive-Volkswagen, will be the future domestic competitor of the Snapdragon.

When facing competitors, Chen Dong's consistent style is to take all the credit. If it weren't for the state-owned Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) having a stake in the company, Chen Dong wouldn't even want to discuss cooperation with SAIC Volkswagen.