Rebirth of the Industrial Tycoon

Before noon, Wang Jiuyang was already yawning profusely, and his dark circles under his eyes seemed to tell Li Weidong that he had not slept all night.

"The freshly brewed Pu'er is very strong and will refresh you." Li Weidong handed over a cup of tea.

"Thank you, I just need this." Wang Jiuyang picked up the tea cup and took a big sip, and then said; "I stayed up late these two days to watch the World Cup. I really didn't expect Croatia to make it to the finals. It only has a population of more than 4 million! Let's watch again. Look at us, there are not even 11 people out of a billion people who can play football."

Li Weidong replied: "The Chinese Super League has been quite popular in the past few years and has introduced many world-class stars. Maybe Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi will come to make money when they get old!"

"You have said that the stars are here to make money. How many of them really want to play football? With them, Chinese football will never develop!" Wang Jiuyang sighed.

"There are so many entertainment projects now, including mobile phones, games, movies and TV shows, and young people don't play football much anymore! There is no reserve talent, and it is normal to become more and more stretched!" Li Weidong said.

"That's right. Our country does not have that kind of atmosphere. If you look at Europe, you can find several football teams in any small town. In cities with tens of thousands of people, there can be football teams playing in the Champions League."

Wang Jiuyang shook his head helplessly and continued: "Sometimes I think that if I have a grandson in the future, I will send him to play in Europe. Maybe I can also cultivate a Chinese Messi!"

"I suggest you let him study hard. Playing football is too risky." Li Weidong said with a smile.

"There is no way to avoid injuries in sports! Besides, for boys, bumps and bumps are normal. When I was a kid, I would run around in the streets, and I would fall and eat shit from time to time!" Wang Jiuyang said.

"I'm not talking about physical injuries. After all, football is a competitive sport. You have to play very well to have a future. If you don't play well, you may not even have a job."

Li Weidong paused and then said: "If you play very well, there are risks. There are too many temptations. If you can't hold on, it's easy to get in."

Wang Jiuyang was stunned and didn't understand what Li Weidong meant at the first time.

Li Weidong said with a smile: "Anyway, playing football in China is a high-risk profession. If you don't play well, you won't get food. If you play too well, you will get jailed!"

"Uh..." Wang Jiuyang finally understood and was speechless.

Taking another sip of strong tea into his mouth, Wang Jiuyang became more energetic, and then talked about the main topic: "Online transactions on the Internet have developed so rapidly in the past few years, and the online transactions of our products have surpassed offline transactions."

"What we sell are small household appliances. They don't involve transportation and installation like large appliances. It is indeed more suitable for the online model." Li Weidong said.

"So I think we can reduce the scale of offline channels and focus on online channels. Next, I plan to expand the warehousing layout, which can speed up logistics, reduce logistics costs, and also give online consumers a better experience."

After Wang Jiuyang finished speaking, he picked up another document and said: "It is now almost confirmed that the United States will increase tariffs on Chinese products, which will most likely include our small household appliances, kitchen appliances and beauty equipment.

The Ministry of Strategy estimates that the U.S.’s increased tariffs on small household appliances and kitchen appliances may reach 12% to 15%, while the increased tariffs on beauty equipment may increase to 20%. "

"The Strategy Department is still conservative!" Li Weidong said calmly: "My estimate is 25%!"

"25%? If the tariff is really increased to 25%, then none of us home appliance companies will have to survive!" Wang Jiuyang said.

"It's not that exaggerated. Although the United States is our largest single export market, our export market is not only the United States. What's more, we are not responsible for paying for things like tariffs. We still earn the part we should earn, and in the end American consumers pay the bill." Li Weidong replied with a smile.

"You mean the wool comes from the sheep?" Wang Jiuyang sighed; "I'm not as optimistic as you. Once there are really high tariffs, the selling price of our products will increase, and things will naturally become more expensive. Losing market competitiveness."

"But our products are still cheaper than those made in the United States." Li Weidong said.

"What about Southeast Asia? Vietnam's manufacturing industry has developed rapidly recently. Their worker costs are lower than ours, and they don't have such high tariffs." Wang Jiuyang retorted.

Li Weidong explained: "Vietnam's manufacturing industry is still in the labor-intensive OEM stage, and our use of robots can already replace one-third of the labor force, right? The production efficiency of machines is higher, and the electricity bill is lower than that of workers. The wages are cheap.

In this regard, our average labor costs should be on par with Vietnam. If we increase the replacement rate of labor by machines and wages in Vietnam continue to rise, our labor costs may be lower than those in Vietnam in the future.

More importantly, the entire upstream industrial chain is in our hands. If Vietnam wants to produce, it needs to import upstream raw materials and components from us. We have the final say on the prices of the upstream supply chain, that is, in terms of production costs. Vietnam actually doesn't have much of an advantage.

As you said, tariffs will be an advantage for third countries like Vietnam, but except for the United States, other countries in the world do not impose high tariffs on our products.

This will also form a trend, that is, our manufacturing in China supplies the world outside the United States, while manufacturing in third countries like Vietnam is exclusively supplied to the United States.

Although the United States is the world's largest consumer country, there is still a big gap between their demand for goods and the rest of the world. Just imagine, the production on one side is supplied to the whole world, and the production on the other side is only supplied to the United States. Whose production cost will be lower? For the same product, if you buy it more expensively and others buy it cheaply, that's fine for a day or two. But can you bear to be the wronged for a long time? "

"I understand, what you mean is that even if the United States increases tariffs on us this time, it will not last for a long time. Once the time is prolonged, the United States itself will not be able to bear it." Wang Jiuyang said.

Li Weidong nodded: "Yes, that's what it means.

We Chinese have lived a hard life for decades, and in recent years we have just had enough to eat and clothe ourselves, and can bear the hardships, but Americans have been rich for a hundred years, and if we let them remember the bitterness and think about the sweetness, I am afraid it will be too much to bear. Can't live. "

The essence of trade is exchange, and to restrict exchange is nothing more than restricting exchange activities and limiting the scope of exchange. If neither of these can be restricted, how can we restrict trade!

In 2018, the average U.S. tariff on Chinese goods was 2%. Later, the U.S. imposed tariffs as high as 25% on Chinese home appliances. That year, the home appliance sector of the Chinese stock market fell by 30% throughout the year. Buying home appliances People who trade in industry stocks have lost a lot.

However, the increase in the price of home appliances has pushed up the cost of living for Americans. Therefore, in subsequent negotiations, the United States granted tariff exemptions to 352 Chinese products, including various consumer products such as home appliances.

As for the trade volume between China and the United States in 2022, the U.S. Department of Commerce puts it at 690.6 billion U.S. dollars, and the Chinese Customs puts it at 759.4 billion U.S. dollars. The statistical calibers of the two sides are different, and the figures will be different, but what is certain is that, No matter which statistical caliber is used, it is a record high in trade between the two countries.

…

In the laboratory of Fukang Engineering, Ding Youliang pointed to a part in front of him and said, "The regulating valve we developed has passed the acceptance of the C919 project team, and will be officially used in the C919 environmental control system.

This adjustment valve was originally provided by Liebherr of Germany. After we completed the design, it took us another three years and more than a hundred modifications to conquer this component! "

"Thank you for your hard work, everyone! Thank you for your efforts." Li Weidong nodded with satisfaction.

Ding Youliang continued: "Originally we wanted to make Venturi tubes, but Narada Electromechanical was much ahead of us, so we finally reached a cooperation with Narada Electromechanical and jointly completed the environmental control system for large aircraft. It is expected that the entire environmental control system will be completed within five years. With the localization of the environmental control system, the localization rate of the entire C919 will definitely exceed 60%!"

Later generations of keyboard warriors will often say that the localization rate of C919 is only 60%, so it is not considered a large domestic aircraft. However, for large aircraft, the localization rate of 60% is already very high. You must know that the localization rate of large aircraft manufactured by Boeing in the United States for decades is only 70%.

The first-tier suppliers of C919 all provide core components. About three-fifths of them are Chinese suppliers, and the others are from the United States, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan and the Netherlands. Among them, the United States and France suppliers account for the most most.

Many key components are actually provided to COMAC in the form of joint ventures. For example, the landing gear is produced by the joint venture established by Liebherr and AVIC.

Ding Youliang continued, "In the C919 project, we have also established a relationship with Xijing Flight Control. The hydraulic system of Xijing Flight Control is produced in cooperation with Parker Aerospace in the United States, and Parker is also a supplier to Boeing.

If we can reach cooperation with Xijing Flight Control, our hydraulic system will definitely make significant progress, catching up with Sany and XCMG is just around the corner, and the quality of our construction machinery will also be greatly improved.

Unfortunately, in terms of the overall manufacturing of high-end construction machinery, we are still lagging behind compared with Sany and XCMG, let alone compared with foreign companies like Caterpillar and Liebherr. "

Ding Youliang sighed deeply as he spoke, and then said: "When the negotiations with Xijing Flight Control come to a conclusion, it's time for me to step back."

There was a sense of unfulfilled ambition in his tone.

Ding Youliang is more than ten years older than Li Weidong. He is almost 70 years old. He has already reached the age of retirement. If he was in an ordinary enterprise, he would have retired long ago.

But Ding Youliang is the chairman of Fukang Group after all, and he also owns Fukang Group's stocks. It is impossible for an executive of this level to retire easily.

In the past few years, Ding Youliang proposed to retire many times, and Li Weidong also kept trying to persuade him to stay. Ding Youliang never quit. Now that he is almost 70 years old, Ding Youliang is really unable to do what he wants. This time he is determined to retire.

Li Weidong looked at his old partner next to him and couldn't help but feel a little sad. Both of them were the first wave of trendsetters to emerge after the reform and opening up. One was engaged in the private economy and the other was rooted in state-owned enterprises.

In the 1990s, the two were once competitors and fought to the death. Later, the two worked together to build Fukang Engineering into a first-class construction machinery company in 20 years.

Now this old friend is leaving. Maybe this is just the beginning. As time goes by, Li Weidong's old partners will retreat from the wave of the times one by one. Li Weidong, including Li Weidong, cannot resist the "years" of invasion.

"Old Ding, I see you are still in good health. Why don't you work for another two years?" Li Weidong made his last plea to stay.

"Weidong, I can understand what you mean. I have been working for a lifetime. I am tired, and I am really tired. But I am willing to let it go, and I am really reluctant to let it go! But every generation has its own mission, and I The mission of a generation has ended, so I have to step down and give the stage to young people!" Ding Youliang said with emotion.

Ding Youliang had decided to leave, and Li Weidong no longer wanted to stay. He said, "Old Ding, before you retire, do one last thing for me."

"What's the matter?" Ding Youliang asked.

"I plan to expand the production line of light and small construction machinery, to at least triple the current production capacity. This involves the running-in of production, the deployment of production capacity, and the supply of the upstream supply chain. I am really worried about leaving it to others. ." Li Weidong said.

Ding Youliang frowned: "Light and small construction machinery have low technical content and low profits. Selling dozens of them is not as profitable as one high-end machine. Is it necessary to expand production?"

"The profit is not big, but the market demand is huge. If we expand production, we can also reduce production costs." Li Weidong said.

"The market demand is huge, but the competition is also very fierce! For example, small construction machinery can be produced by many second- and third-tier companies in China, and there are even more that can be produced internationally. If we want to sell it, we have to set the price If you fight, the profit will be reduced. At most, you will make a profit." Ding Youliang continued to advise.

"Old Ding, you think too highly of the resilience of foreign supply chains!" Li Weidong said with a smile.

At this time, Li Weidong had already begun to prepare for the epidemic in a few years.

A few years later, the epidemic enveloped the world. The biggest impact on the construction machinery industry was not the sales of the product, but the upstream supply chain. The epidemic has disrupted the global supply chain system, resulting in insufficient production capacity of many parts and components, or the inability to transport them in time, making enterprise production full of uncertainty.

Under such circumstances, construction machinery companies in developed countries have chosen to ensure the stability of the supply chain of high-end products as much as possible. After all, high-end products have higher profits, so they naturally have to invest limited resources into high-profit products to ensure that they have enough supply. profit.

So I went to the construction machinery exhibitions in those years. International giants such as Caterpillar and Liebherr displayed the most high-end construction machinery, and they were not often out of stock.

As for mid-range products, companies in developed countries are still producing them, but the supply chain is not too uncertain, and the products cannot guarantee a stable supply of products, and they are often out of stock.

Low-end products with relatively low profits, such as light and small construction machinery, were directly abandoned by international giants. Even if they want to produce, they don’t have the supply chain to provide parts.

In comparison, China's supply chain is obviously more resilient and has not been greatly affected by the epidemic. Therefore, domestic companies can still produce mid- to low-end construction machinery.

Orders for such products from all over the world are also flowing to China. Some domestic third-tier construction machinery companies have the opportunity to receive overseas orders for hundreds of units, and even have delays in delivery because the orders come so suddenly.

For Li Weidong, this is an excellent opportunity to seize the market.

The profit of mid-to-low-end construction machinery is not high, compared with that of high-end construction machinery.

If placed in the entire manufacturing system, construction machinery also has technical thresholds. Even if it produces low-end construction machinery, the added value of the product is higher than the average level of the manufacturing industry, and the profit is still considerable.

If it were not for problems in the global supply chain, developed countries would certainly not give up this part of the market. They will continue to occupy a large part of the market share with their own brand advantages.

Once this part of the market share is taken by Made in China, and China has established supply chain and cost advantages, it will be extremely difficult for developed countries to regain it.

…

It’s time for the Hokkaido Agricultural Machinery Show again.

Li Weidong walked around the venue, and then returned to the Fukang Group's booth. Seeing many merchants stopping in front of the booth, Li Weidong couldn't help but sighed: "When I first came to Hokkaido to participate in the exhibition, I brought a few home appliances. The lawnmower, that noisy one is like a tractor!”

Yue Ping An, who was standing next to him, said, "I was still in the ministry at that time. I heard that one of our Chinese exhibitors was able to win huge orders at the Hokkaido Agricultural Machinery Exhibition. I thought it was my colleagues who were joking on me!"

"Yes, our technology was backward at that time, and no one cared about Chinese agricultural machinery! All the Chinese companies participating in the exhibition were only allocated one booth. I didn't even get a chance to get one at the exhibition, but in the end I got one through the connections of my Japanese friends. Booth.”

Li Weidong pointed around and continued: "Look now, our country has a lot of exhibitors, second only to Japanese companies. On the contrary, some European and American companies have disappeared."

Yue Anquan answered: "The recent Hokkaido Agricultural Machinery Exhibition has become more and more detailed, basically focusing on local Japanese brands and small and medium-sized agricultural machinery. Many European and American brands do not have production bases in Japan, so they will not participate in the exhibition. .

Today, European brands mainly appear at the Hannover Agricultural Machinery Show in Germany, the Paris Agricultural Machinery Show in France, and the Bologna Agricultural Machinery Show in Italy. These three European agricultural machinery exhibitions, as well as the Hokkaido Agricultural Machinery Exhibition, plus our China International Agricultural Machinery Exhibition, can be regarded as the world's top five agricultural machinery exhibitions. "

Li Weidong nodded and asked: "Today is the first day of the exhibition. How was the effect? ​​Have you met any big customers?"

"The big customers have already sent people to contact them." Yue Ping'an continued: "Japanese companies are still technologically advanced in rice planting machinery and small harvesting machinery. But for fruit and vegetable planting and harvesting machinery, our Chinese companies have caught up.

In addition, there are unmanned intelligent agricultural machinery. Many companies have exhibited, such as Yanmar, Kubota, Mitsubishi, etc., all of which have brought intelligent agricultural machinery. Iseki also brought an intelligent agricultural machinery system. The walking accuracy of their smart agricultural machinery is still very high, with a minimum accuracy of plus or minus 5 centimeters. "

"5 centimeters? Isn't that the same as us? We can answer this kind of accuracy because we have the technical support of Beidou satellite navigation. The Japanese should be using the GPS system, right? Can they also achieve such high accuracy?" Li Weidong The first reaction is that Japanese companies have falsified data again.

Yue Anquan introduced: "Only Mitsubishi's unmanned rice transplanter can achieve this accuracy, and other brands cannot reach this level. So it should not be a problem with the GPS navigation system. I judge that Mitsubishi should use more mechanically. The level of sophistication.”

"Japan's mechanical technology cannot be underestimated, but it doesn't matter. We have advantages in 5G applications. If we continue to develop, our smart agricultural machinery will definitely take the lead." Li Weidong said quite confidently.

Yue An'an continued: "Japan is far behind us in terms of drones. Currently, only Yamaha has decent drone agricultural machinery, but its performance is lagging behind other domestic agricultural machinery companies, and even worse than us. One level!”

Li Weidong nodded: "UAVs are an emerging field after all. In this regard, traditional agricultural machinery companies are on the same starting line as us! We all start at the same time, and we Chinese will not lose to foreigners!"

Li Weidong knows that drones have broad prospects. Fukang Group has begun to develop drones very early. Now in the field of agricultural machinery, Fukang Group's drones are not only leading in the country, but also in the world. Japan has always been unknown in the drone industry. Although it has forced the launch of products this time, it has lagged far behind.

Yue Ping An continued, "In addition, our smart breeding system has also attracted much attention, especially the smart chicken raising platform, which is unique at this agricultural machinery exhibition. Our smart chicken raising platform can detect temperature, humidity, Environmental data such as ammonia and carbon dioxide can also detect chicken body temperature, weight, food intake, etc. Many Japanese farmers are very interested in this!"

"It's finally our turn to sell technological products to the Japanese!" Li Weidong sighed, and then said, "I'll leave it to you in Hokkaido. I've booked a flight back to China in the evening."

"Leaving so soon?" Yue An'an said a little disappointed; "I originally planned to treat you to a hot spring. I bought a hot spring resort hotel in Hokkaido. I planned to move here after retiring in two years and soak every day. spa!"

Today, Yue An'an holds shares in Beverly Group, and with the dividends he has received over the years, he has made some investments of his own, and his net worth has reached ten digits, making him a secure rich man.

Li Weidong smiled and replied: "Don't think about retiring so soon. Ding Youliang has already retired. If you retire again, who will I find to work for?"

…

2020, the beginning of the new year.

At the Puppy Medical Group, Lu Guangming came to Li Weidong with a pair of panda eyes.

"All the ventilators we have in stock have been sent to Hubei. The factory will not stop work during the Spring Festival. The production line will be open 24 hours a day, and we will strive to triple the production capacity of ventilators this month!" Lu Guangming said. .

"The road to Hubei should have been closed. Can our ventilators be transported there?" Li Weidong asked.

"I have to thank our People's Liberation Army. I heard that we were going to transport ventilators, and a Y-20 was specially allocated for us. I personally watched the ventilators being loaded onto the plane. If we count the time, the plane has arrived now." Lu Guangming said.

"Lao Lu, thank you for your hard work. You took care of this matter yourself. Did you not sleep a wink all night yesterday?" Li Weidong looked at the dark circles under Lu Guangming's eyes.

"There are many and urgent things, and I don't trust it if I leave it to others." Lu Guangming continued: "I am still old. In the past, I could still get excited without sleeping for two days and two nights. Now I am really unable to do what I want."

"Lao Lu, your son is quite up to date. He has been by your side since he was a child. Now he can take charge of his own business and let the young people take more responsibility." Li Weidong said and handed Lu Guangming a cup of tea.

"My son still lacks experience and can only do ordinary things. I really don't dare to leave it to him to do such important national affairs." Lu Guangming took a sip of tea and continued; "Our hemodialysis machine has been It’s officially on the market, and there are quite a few people coming to inquire about prices, but very few have actually placed orders.”

"We still have to open up the channels for medical device procurement. On the Health Commission side, you have to personally take action and try to clear it up. First, we have to get our hemodialysis machines into the Health Commission's procurement catalog." Li Weidong said.

"There is definitely no problem in entering the procurement catalog. We have donated so many ventilators this time, so the National Health Commission must give us some face! But even if we are in the catalog, it will still be difficult to open the market."

Lu Guangming continued: "Foreign brands have monopolized the dialysis machine market for so many years, and the products are mature and perform well. After all, we have just entered this field. Even if the price is lower, various hospitals may not be willing to buy it. What's more, in terms of performance, we do It’s not as good as German products.”

Li Weidong said with an optimistic face: "In the past, we had no choice but to use imported hemodialysis machines. Now that domestic products are available, I believe that the country will definitely support domestic dialysis machines in terms of policy.

Medical resources are allocated on demand, and priority should be given to universality, that is, everyone in need can use medical resources. However, our country’s population is too large. If we want to achieve universal benefit, we must have sufficient medical resources.

The imported price of the same medicine or device is several times that of domestically produced products. In order to achieve universal benefit, it is natural to purchase domestically produced products, so that more people can use medical resources. Therefore, in the future, it is imperative to control the cost of public hospital procurement, and this is our opportunity!

The centralized procurement system in the medical industry has been implemented well in recent years, which is a major benefit to companies like ours that have certain R\u0026D capabilities. Even if our products are slightly inferior, as long as we make good use of the centralized procurement system, we can still expand the market in a short period of time. "

"I hope so! If domestic public hospitals are willing to purchase domestically produced equipment, then we will have funds to invest in research and development. This can form a virtuous circle, and making nuclear magnetic resonance in the future will not be a dream!" Lu Guangming said. .

"Be down-to-earth and keep going step by step, there will always be a day!" Li Weidong said enthusiastically.

…

At the Jaguar Land Rover BYD Joint R\u0026D Center, a large SUV was placed in front of Li Weidong.

"This is the result of our Look Up Project! Temporarily named Look Up 1!"

The chief engineer pointed at the SUV and then introduced; "We have successfully applied Yi Sifang's technology on Yangwang No. 1. This car is equipped with four wheel motors, allowing the maximum horsepower of the electric drive assembly to exceed 1,100 horsepower. The maximum speed can reach 20,500rp. This kind of data is not only comparable to that of a fuel vehicle, but also comparable to that of a light tank!

The acceleration from 0 to 100 seconds in 3 seconds is at the level of a supercar, and the acceleration from 0 to 100 seconds in the desert and snow is far better than that of other performance SUVs. At the same time, we also have the function of turning around in place.

In addition, in terms of off-road models, Yangwang No. 1 is also the world's top. This car has a wading function. If you accidentally enter a deep water area, you can activate the emergency floating mode. Relying on precise four-wheel torque vectoring distribution, the four wheels can use Reasonable rotation can obtain driving force similar to that of a paddle, and the vehicle can float out of trouble.

In addition, we have also solved the problem of high-speed tire puncture. When a high-speed tire puncture occurs on No. 1, the sensor will detect it immediately and continuously adjust the torque of the four wheels at a very high frequency to keep the other three drive wheels reasonable. The grip is improved, and the body posture is controlled through air suspension to avoid loss of control. "

"Director Li, are you satisfied with our No. 1 look?" Mr. Wang from BYD next to him asked proudly.

"I thought I was watching a science fiction movie! This car is a monster in this era!" Li Weidong sighed, and then asked: "Is this car currently capable of production?"

"Although more sensors will be used for energy production, our chips can basically be autonomous. However, the production cost of this car will be relatively high. If the price is less than 1 million, we will definitely lose money." Mr. Wang He spoke.

Li Weidong thought for a while and said: "The value retention rate of new energy vehicles is inherently low. If the price exceeds 1 million, if it is sold under the BYD brand, the risk is relatively high. I suggest selling it under the Land Rover brand first! When the cost is reduced in the future, this technology will be used in BYD’s models.”

"It's exactly what I thought." Mr. Wang nodded and continued, "The most valuable brand of Land Rover is probably Range Rover."

Li Weidong understood what Mr. Wang meant, and he replied: "How about the new car be called the Super Range Rover, and the price starts at 2.5 million? Isn't it a bit cheap?"

"2.5 million is still cheap!" Mr. Wang curled his lips: "I'm worried that it won't be sold at such an expensive price!"

"The beggar version of our domestic Range Rover has sold for 1.2 million, and the super Range Rover sells for double the price, of course!" Li Weidong paused, and then said: "By the way, the interior must be more luxurious and conspicuous. Use crocodile skin, make the buttons crystal, and see where you can inlay diamonds. Rich people who spend 2.5 million to buy a car must make them feel that it is worth their money!"

Since the joint venture, Jaguar Land Rover and BYD have completed the exchange of part of their shares. BYD and Jaguar Land Rover have essentially become a family, and Li Weidong and Mr. Wang will not be entangled in which brand the car sells.

For automobile companies, the new energy era may have come so fast that almost all traditional automobile companies were not prepared at all. When they reacted, they suddenly found that new energy vehicles had been recognized by the market. And I am not even a little bit behind!

When new energy vehicles first began to emerge, traditional car companies generally believed that the new energy era would not arrive until around 2025. However, the real time is about five years faster.

The result is that traditional car companies have collectively lost themselves in the new energy field, while emerging brands have expanded rapidly. Tesla and BYD have rapidly developed into new automobile giants, and "Wei Xiaoli" behind them is not to be outdone.

Of course, traditional car companies also want to transform into new energy sources, but the transformation is not easy!

After a century of development, the automobile industry has already formed a complete ecosystem. If traditional automobile companies want to transform, they need to abandon the original ecosystem.

This requires giving up the technical advantages in fuel vehicles and turning to the development of new energy technologies; it also requires rebuilding new production lines. All of this is easy to say, but the key is to establish a new supply chain, which is the most difficult.

Giant companies such as Volkswagen, Toyota, and General Motors are involved in extremely large supply chains. Too many companies rely on this supply chain to make profits, and too many workers rely on this supply chain to provide employment. Even if traditional car companies want to form a new supply chain, those old supply chains will not agree.

The cost of giving up fuel and transforming to new energy sources is too high. Traditional car companies will not try it unless they are forced into a life-and-death situation. Even though some countries have proposed a timetable for banning the sale of fuel vehicles, traditional car companies still do not If you are willing to transform, you will still rely on fuel vehicles.

Anyway, banning the sale of fuel vehicles is just an empty promise, and it can be recommitted to a new time when the time comes.

In the field of fuel vehicles, luxury brands definitely have more advantages. Compared with ordinary passenger cars, luxury cars definitely have certain advantages, such as better engines, better chassis, better vehicle tuning, etc.

When luxury brands transition to new energy sources, they have to give up these advantages and completely become newcomers, competing with other brands at the starting line. Therefore, the transformation of luxury brands will be more difficult.

For example, BMW's advantage is good handling. Many people buy BMWs because they are comfortable to drive. If BMW were to give up this advantage, what other selling points would it have?

Therefore, the energy vehicles launched by BMW cannot be sold at all. After spending so much money to buy a pure electric BMW, but losing the controllability of a fuel-powered BMW, why should consumers buy it?

The same is true for Mercedes-Benz. Luxury has always been the biggest selling point of Mercedes-Benz. Bosses are keen on the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, and they also like the luxury of the S-Class. As soon as you lie down in the back seat, you will feel a sense of enjoyment. .

However, the electric version of EQS does not have any improvement in luxury. The chassis of the electric car has lost its original ride comfort, and the key cruising range is still low. It is a sure-fire model that takes advantage of it. No wonder it is ridiculed by Tesla sales.

Jaguar Land Rover has also encountered the same problem. Jaguar Land Rover's chassis and suspension are still very good. If it engages in new energy, the advantages of Jaguar Land Rover's chassis and suspension will no longer exist.

Fortunately, BYD provides sufficient technical support. In the field of new energy vehicles, BYD is definitely the king. Jaguar is too lazy to go back to research and development, and simply uses BYD's platform to build cars.

In terms of sales, Li Weidong directly resorted to the price war most commonly used by Chinese companies, lowering the price of Jaguar New Energy to the level of Volkswagen and Ford. It is equivalent to selling luxury cars at the price of ordinary cars. This also helped Jaguar quickly seize the European and American markets.

It's just that it's not that easy for a new car brand to carve out a niche in the European and American markets! Consumers in European and American countries still recognize traditional car brands more.

Although traditional car companies started half a step too late in the field of new energy vehicles, the so-called skinny camel is bigger than a horse. Once they start to exert their efforts, they still cannot be underestimated.

In the European market, sales of new energy vehicles launched by local brands such as Volkswagen, Renault, and Fiat are still very modest. For example, the Volkswagen ID series, which is almost unknown in China, has monthly sales exceeding Tesla from time to time in Europe. In the U.S. market, Ford's new energy vehicle sales can also pose a threat to Tesla.

In the field of hybrid vehicles, the top three Japanese manufacturers are still at the forefront. Especially in the EU market, there have always been many restrictions on plug-in hybrids, and plug-in hybrid models are China's strength. It is difficult for Chinese plug-in hybrids to enter the EU market, which gives Japanese hybrids an opportunity to capture market share.

Later Chinese new energy vehicles were exported to Europe, mainly from the MG brand of SAIC Motor. Although the sales of emerging brands such as BYD in Europe are rising, the amount is not large.

MG, which has no presence in the domestic market, can compete with Peugeot, Skoda, Fiat and other brands in the European new energy market. This is the effect of brand recognition. In the eyes of Europeans, no matter where it is produced, MG is a British brand.

In terms of brand recognition, Jaguar is obviously higher. After all, it is a traditional luxury brand. Just the words "Exclusively for the British Royal Family" are enough to raise its profile in Europe.

When the epidemic arrived, the global supply chain was disrupted, resulting in serious problems with auto parts, especially automotive chips. A "chip shortage" occurred. Many auto manufacturers could not get enough chips and had to No reduction in production capacity.

In terms of automotive chips, Li Weidong started planning several years in advance to achieve independent production of automotive chips. China's supply chain was not affected during the epidemic. Jaguar's production capacity did not decrease, but expanded.

Other brands have to wait several months or even half a year to pick up their cars, but Jaguar has a sufficient supply of existing cars, which has led many consumers to choose Jaguar. Jaguar's new energy vehicles have successfully expanded its territory.

Today's Jaguar New Energy has excellent technology, low price and high brand value. In the field of new energy vehicles of traditional brands, it can be regarded as the "big brother in Europe".

…

In an industrial park in the Pearl River Delta, a car is driving slowly. There are several cameras on the top of the car and sensors around the body.

There were two experimenters sitting in the front seat of the car. They were not controlling the car, but were collecting various data with computers.

This is a driverless car.

Not far away, Rebus was holding a tablet computer, and the pictures taken in the car were directly transmitted to the tablet computer.

Just listen to Rebus say: "The automatic driving system we developed can only realize low-speed operation of the vehicle. Once the speed is too fast, the probability of risks will greatly increase. If you want to achieve high-speed driving, you have to Better hardware support is needed.”

Li Weidong nodded: "Huawei has given up on making cars and is focusing its research and development on smart car parts. I think this strategy is correct.

If Huawei also makes cars, it will inevitably become a competitor of other car companies, and no one will dare to use Huawei's car components. On the contrary, as it is now, Huawei is focusing on upstream, and car companies can feel confident in cooperating with Huawei. "

"I heard that Mr. Wang from BYD is not very interested in driverless systems?" Rebus asked.

"He feels that autonomous driving cannot be applied on a large scale in a short period of time, and the risks are relatively high. Rather than spending a lot of energy on developing autonomous driving systems, it is better to develop advanced assistance systems that are more practical."

Li Weidong continued: "I also agree with Mr. Wang's view, but I am more optimistic about the development prospects of autonomous driving. When 6G appears in the future, cloud computing will play a vital role. By then, through physical Networked information transmission should be able to make up for the lack of hardware."

"You are not optimistic about autonomous driving, but you are optimistic about the Internet of Things!" Rebus said with a smile.

"Isn't it the same for you? The Internet of Everything is our common ideal!" Li Weidong changed his voice and then asked; "I heard that you went to Vietnam for inspection a few days ago and were received by Vietnamese dignitaries?"

"They didn't just meet me alone. Besides me, there were several other entrepreneurs. We went as a group. I just made up the numbers and followed everyone around."

Rebus continued: "Ho Chi Minh City has developed quite well in recent years and is a very dynamic city. In addition, I also visited Samsung's mobile phone foundry."

"Vietnam also hopes that Xiaomi will build a factory there! They should offer a lot of preferential conditions, right?" Li Weidong asked tentatively.

Rebus shook his head: "Although Vietnam has promised good investment conditions, the market in Vietnam is too small to set up a factory specifically. The profit margin of our mobile phones is not high in the first place. If we cannot rely on the huge market, , you will definitely not make any money.

Moreover, Vietnam does not have a supply chain for mobile phones. I discovered this problem when I inspected the Samsung mobile phone factory. All parts are imported from South Korea, even screws. Later, I also did some research and found that although Vietnam produces so many Samsung mobile phones, less than 1% of the parts and components that Vietnam can provide locally.

Vietnam is also responsible for Samsung's relatively low-end OEM chain. Samsung's flagship mobile phones are still produced in South Korea and are not handed over to Vietnamese for OEM. It seems that the quality of Vietnamese workers is still not enough. Make sophisticated high-end products. "

Li Weidong smiled slightly: "Many self-media have said that the manufacturing industry has gone to Vietnam and that China's manufacturing industry is going to be hollowed out. They don't even look at what kind of companies they are running! They are all low-profit companies. end foundry industry.

There is a smile curve in the manufacturing industry. You must know that the lips of the smile curve are technology patents and brand services, which are also the two most profitable departments in the manufacturing industry, while the lips are assembly manufacturing, which is also the lowest profit in the manufacturing industry. part.

The lowest level in assembly manufacturing is OEM! Taiwan Province started by relying on OEM. Their entrepreneurs once used the term "Maoshan Taoist" to describe the OEM industry. The so-called Maoshan Taoist is the homophony of "Mao 3 to 4", which means that they are low-end OEMs, with only 3 % to 4% gross profit margin.

This is the current situation of the low-end OEM industry. When I went to grab OEM orders from Panasonic and Whirlpool, the gross profit margin was only 3%. Later, I started to develop and produce parts myself, and slowly controlled the upstream industry. , only to gradually achieve higher profits.

Our Chinese manufacturing industry cannot always rely on OEM orders with a gross profit margin of 3%. Such orders will make us hungry, but they will not make us rich. We must seize profits from the upstream and downstream sectors. We must do technology upstream and services downstream. This is the manufacturing industry we need.

It is not a bad thing for emerging economies such as Vietnam and India to take away part of our low-end OEM industry. This will force us to upgrade our industry and force us to do more innovation and more advanced research and development. Technology forces us to use brands and services to gain profits. "

Speaking of this, Li Weidong's eyes exuded a ray of pride: "It took us a generation to accumulate the industrial foundation, and another generation to bring the manufacturing industry to scale. Now it is the turn of quantitative changes to lead to qualitative changes. It’s time. The next industrial revolution may be tomorrow, and our Made in China will become the leader of the industrial revolution!”

…

Dongshan Group, Zhao Jinshan looked depressed. After seeing Li Weidong, he immediately said: "Silicon Valley Bank is in trouble, do you know? I lost a lot of money! I think some economists said that this Another Lehman Brothers."

"It's not Lehman Brothers. After all, Silicon Valley Bank is much smaller than Lehman. Moreover, the nature of the two is different. Lehman Bank has too many non-performing assets, while Silicon Valley Bank was run on in a short period of time. In fact, Silicon Valley Bank still holds a lot of bonds, but it can’t find a taker in a short period of time.”

Li Weidong paused and then said: "This is all caused by the Federal Reserve raising interest rates. Savers find that there are higher interest rates, so they naturally have to withdraw their money and deposit it at high interest rates. Silicon Valley Bank has invested in too many long-term bonds before. These Long-term bonds have low interest rates and cannot be redeemed in a short period of time, causing problems with capital flow.

In fact, if these bonds mature, Silicon Valley Bank can still obtain corresponding profits. So you don’t have to worry. I guess the United States will rescue the market. After all, those long-term bonds can be used as collateral to obtain funding guarantees from the Federal Reserve. Once the funds are in place, you still have a chance to get back the money you saved. "

After listening to Li Weidong's analysis, Zhao Jinshan became much calmer. He said, "I hope so! I used to think that it would be safer to put the money in the big banks in the United States. But now it seems that the big banks in the United States are not safe either. Looking back, I will still Save your money in Switzerland!”

"Saving money in Switzerland? You have just stepped out of the wolf's den and into the tiger's mouth!" Li Weidong said with a smile.

"What? Isn't Switzerland safe?" Zhao Jinshan asked.

Li Weidong answered: "Europe was sucked hard by the United States during the Russia-Ukraine conflict in the past year, and a large amount of money left Europe for the United States. Even the United States, which has sucked blood, has experienced the Silicon Valley Bank incident. , don’t you think it would be worse if Europe was sucked by blood?”

Zhao Jinshan nodded as if he was suddenly enlightened: "According to this, European banks will also be hit by thunder!"

"Sooner or later, the more blood a country absorbs, the more likely that country's financial system will be hit by a thunderstorm, and the worse it will be after a thunderstorm."

Li Weidong expressed his judgment, and then continued: "If you want to keep your funds safe, go to Hong Kong Island! Although the Hong Kong dollar is denominated in US dollars, it is actually guaranteed by China's credit. The Chinese government is definitely better than the US government. Believe it or not!”

"There is no problem with funds going to Hong Kong Island, but there are really no good projects to invest in." Zhao Jinshan sighed.

"I think if you want to invest, just wait. Having money is not necessarily a bad thing. Nowadays, finance and the real economy are accelerating the decoupling. This is a global trend. In this case, even I can't find it. The right project.”

Li Weidong went on to explain: “In the traditional economic model, the financial system serves the real economy, the financial system provides funds to the entity, and the real economy creates value through production, thereby bringing benefits to the financial system, thus forming a virtuous cycle.

But things are different now. The financial system can obtain returns through its own operations, and in many cases the returns from pure financial operations are higher than those from investments in the real economy. So for the financial system, there is no need to invest in the real economy. "

"I didn't quite understand." Zhao Jinshan blinked in confusion.

Li Weidong explained: "Let me take the United States as an example. You can think about it, how many financial derivatives have been added to Wall Street in recent years? In the past ten years, the Federal Reserve has printed so much money, and how much of it has entered the physical world? Economy?

Since the Federal Reserve started quantitative easing, the extra dollars it printed have turned into U.S. debt, that is, dollar bonds. Those bonds have been packaged layer by layer on Wall Street and entered the financial system.

Investors believe in the credit of U.S. debt and believe that U.S. debt can bring returns, so they are naturally willing to bear the financial risks involved, so this financial system can continue forever.

To put it simply, the Federal Reserve's continuous printing of money converts debt into credit, and then credit into risk. Wall Street packages risks into various financial derivatives and sells them, which generates income. With income, the financial performance of U.S. debt The system can continue to function.

This process produced tens or hundreds of billions of figures on the books, but it did not produce a single screw or a single brick. All were operations at the financial level, and the real economy did not gain any benefits. This is what I call the decoupling of finance from the real economy.

In my opinion, we have now entered a vicious cycle. The more the Fed raises interest rates, the less finance will invest in the real economy. The faster finance decouples from the real economy, the more the real economy will shrink and the higher inflation will be. . The higher inflation goes, the more the Fed has to raise interest rates.

In the end, the world may form two economic circles, one is an economic circle oriented by finance, and the main body is various financial derivatives based on sovereign currency; the other is an economic circle oriented by the real economy, and the main body is energy. , grain, industrial products, etc. based trade network. "

"It sounds a little numb!" Zhao Jinshan sighed lightly, and then said: "Actually, I put the funds in Silicon Valley Bank not to speculate on finance, but to be optimistic about the development of the US technology industry. Just like the previous few The ChatGPT released today is very popular on the Internet.”

"Actually, I have similar products here. Xiaomi's laboratory is also doing research and development in this area." Li Weidong said.

"How does the performance compare with this ChatGPT?" Zhao Jinshan asked.

"To be honest, our artificial intelligence is indeed lagging behind. Our algorithm is fine, but it is one level behind ChatGPT in terms of computing power."

Li Weidong went on to explain: "AI artificial intelligence computing chips are mainly provided by NVIDIA. Currently, this kind of chip is banned by the United States and Chinese companies are not allowed to buy it. We cannot buy such high-end chips, so we cannot improve the computing chip." Power. In the final analysis, the chip is stuck in the neck.

It won’t take too long to pass. If Moore’s Law is true, the performance of traditional chips will soon reach its limit. By then, the leaders will have no choice but to stand still. For those of us who are catching up later, it is A good thing.

Moreover, our artificial intelligence research and development direction is also different from ChatGPT. ChatGPT is more like an intelligent search tool that can answer your questions, and our artificial intelligence is being developed in the direction of the Internet of Everything. "

Zhao Jinshan nodded: "I hope our high-end chips can make breakthroughs as soon as possible! Even a layman like me knows that artificial intelligence is the development trend of the future technology industry. We cannot lose this battle!

But I tried this ChatGPT, and I can draw and write articles. At least the articles are better than mine. If the day comes when artificial intelligence is widely used, I don’t know how many jobs will disappear and how many people will be unemployed! "

Li Weidong shook his head calmly: "I have a different view. New technology will inevitably eliminate many jobs, but it will also bring more new jobs. When computers appeared, there was a similar saying, saying that computers It will replace a large number of manpower and make many people lose their jobs.

But in fact, at least one-third of the professions that exist now only appeared after the birth of computers. After the birth of computers, the number of human jobs has actually changed. So I am not worried that the application of artificial intelligence will bring about large-scale unemployment.

For example, when the camera appeared, it put a group of portrait painters out of work, and at the same time gave birth to a group of photographers. Today's AI painting will make a group of original painters unemployed, but it will also create new careers. "

…

202X, a certain day.

"Puppy Group is included in the Entity List of the United States"

"The U.S. House of Representatives approved adding Beverly Engineering to the sanctions list of "enterprises related to the Chinese military"

"The U.S. House of Representatives will hold a hearing to investigate whether Xiaomi's "Internet of Everything" system endangers U.S. national security"

"The United States announced a new round of sanctions list, including 12 companies and 7 individuals, including the famous entrepreneur Li Weidong"

"Almost all of its industries have been sanctioned, Li Weidong's darkest moment!" 》

For more than ten days in a row, there was bad news. The United States launched a set of punches, and the climax of the combo was to hit Li Weidong with the big stick of sanctions.

Not long ago, domestic lithography machines finally achieved a qualitative breakthrough, and the U.S. chip containment strategy failed. Among them, Puppy Electronics provided a lot of technology, and Li Weidong's many years of layout finally showed its effect.

In the land of the Middle East, infrastructure projects are rising one after another. Fukang Group not only provides construction machinery, but also invests in many projects.

The Internet of Everything system developed by Xiaomi Group has quickly become popular around the world, and it has also been labeled by the United States as collecting information and endangering U.S. national security.

And the root of all this is Li Weidong. So the personal sanctions against Li Weidong finally came!

…

He Anan held several ties and gestured on Li Weidong's chest, with a trace of worry in his eyes.

She knew that this wave of sanctions by the United States could be described as comprehensive, capturing almost all of Li Weidong's industries. If he can't survive this time, Li Weidong's decades of hard work will be ruined!

Li Weidong seemed to see his wife's anxiety. He smiled slightly and said, "Don't worry, I haven't seen any big storms in these years. Isn't it just sanctions? It's not a big deal."

"I read some analysis on the Internet saying that this sanction is more serious than what they did to Huawei back then. It is a comprehensive ban on you." He Anan said with some anxiety.

"But this just proves that the path I am taking now is the right one. In fact, I should thank the United States for this sanction. They use this method to tell us to give up our illusions and embrace the fight!"

Li Weidong reached out and touched He Anan's head, and continued: "In fact, foreigners will never understand that they want to restrict China's development. The best way is not to suppress, but to dump. Whatever we need, they should open up. , so that we will not be in a hurry to develop.

On the contrary, the more suppressed we are, the less we will give in, the more we will fight and work hard to break through! The Chinese nation's civilization can continue to this day not by compromise, but by constant struggle.

Our nation has fought against the sky, the earth, and people for five thousand years to survive until now. This resilience has long been engraved in our bones. This is our gene! "

As he spoke, Li Weidong's eyes flashed with a strange light, revealing great confidence.

He Anan seemed to see that the unruly and pointed Li Weidong in his youth was back again, with that proud look as if he could do anything, which was exactly what she admired.

"He is still so charming!" He An'an felt warm, then picked up a tie and said, "Just use this tie. It looks more solemn."

Li Weidong pointed to a red tie next to him: "I think this leader is more suitable for me."

"You haven't worn this tie for many years, right? Is the red color too bright for your age?" He Anan asked with a smile.

Li Weidong picked up the red tie and hung it around his neck with a smile on his face: "I like red, not only because this color is festive, but also because it is the color of battle!"