Siheyuan: I eat melons while doing scientific research

Chapter 1399: Listen to their opinions on appearance, but stick to the procedures (3k)

Gao Zhendong hasn't figured out where to use AI yet, but work certainly won't wait for him to think it through slowly; the work that needs to be done still needs to be done.

At this moment, his colleagues from the Ministry of Motor Industry were here receiving several technologies that had been discussed previously—diesel engines and SUV chassis.

There were comrades from Northeast China whom Gao Zhendong was not familiar with, comrades from the Pioneer Automobile Factory, and also old acquaintances of Gao Zhendong, people from Beijing Automotive Group.

These comrades were all incredibly curious, eager to open the materials in their hands and take a look. However, even if they opened the disk, they couldn't see it; they would have to wait until they got back and decrypted it.

However, these are all minor matters. As long as we follow the procedures step by step, it will be fine. What is surprising is that, in addition to the chief engineer and a deputy from the Ministry of Machinery Industry, even the Ministry of Foreign Trade has sent people here.

It's normal for the Ministry of Machinery Industry to send a deputy to oversee all day-to-day operations. They've taken so many valuable things from Gao Zhendong, and he didn't ask for anything in return. So, besides the technical staff, they should also send someone with considerable administrative authority to make this a complete success. Otherwise, they'd lose face.

But the fact that people from the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation had come puzzled Gao Zhendong.

Even if we were to sell this stuff, it's not the right time yet.

What's interesting is that the staff from the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation remained completely silent throughout the entire process, except for the necessary responses.

After the handover was completed, the deputy of the Ministry of Machinery Industry said to the comrades from Pioneer Automobile Factory and Beijing Automotive Group, "Well, you can go first. We still have something to discuss with Committee Member Gao."

Gao Zhendong then realized that the real drama was about what was to come after the arrival of the comrades from the Ministry of Foreign Trade.

After all his comrades had left, and only four people remained in Gao Zhendong's office, Gao Zhendong asked, "Is something the matter?"

The official from the Ministry of Foreign Trade nodded: "Yes, Commissioner Gao, there are some things I'd like to ask you about."

It seems that this matter is mainly theirs, while the Ministry of Machinery Industry is a participant who happens to be there.

The four sat down on the sofa, and a colleague from the Ministry of Foreign Trade handed a document to Gao Zhendong: "Committee Member Gao, please take a look at this first."

Judging from the cover, this is an exchange document from abroad.

Gao Zhendong took it and quickly scanned it. "Hey, interesting..."

The Gauls want to collaborate with us to produce luxury cars? And have them manufactured here, so that each of us can sell them under our own names in our respective markets.

The Gauls are quite flexible, aren't they? Gao Zhendong had seen this before. In his previous life, a certain domestic car company's SUV, which was jokingly called "Bao Lv" (meaning "precious donkey"), was sold to South America and other places by Citibank and GM with a cross logo.

It's quite forward-thinking that someone has already come up with this idea these days. The key point is that the identities of the two parties involved in this proposal are quite interesting.

To be honest, this suggestion is only possible for these two companies to cooperate. First, they each have a high enough status and large enough size in their respective camps, and they are also highly independent. Moreover, they are equal to each other, and they each have their own advantages in terms of technology and market conditions, which even complement each other to a certain extent.

Seeing that Gao Zhendong had closed the documents, the colleague from the Ministry of Foreign Trade smiled and asked, "Committee Member Gao, what's your opinion on this matter?"

Whether it's the automotive industry or foreign businesses, everyone knows that Gao Zhendong has great ideas and achievements in their respective fields. In particular, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, although Gao Zhendong rarely participates in their work formally, is very clear to the leaders of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that Gao Zhendong has some forward-thinking yet effective ideas.

Gao Zhendong thought for a moment, then nodded heavily: "If the conditions are right, it's a good thing!"

After speaking, Gao Zhendong counted on his fingers, analyzing each and every one of the cases.

Putting aside all the vested interests, as long as the luxury cars we participate in can gain a foothold in the Western camp, it will be excellent publicity for our automotive industry. The North American automotive industry itself started by imitating Western designs; everyone in the world, regardless of their camp, knows what constitutes a good product.

Those that can gain a foothold in the opposing camp's countries are undoubtedly good products.

Moreover, luxury cars have high technological content and strong barriers to entry, forming a strong competitive advantage. If this project succeeds, it will greatly enhance the overall image of our automotive industry and will also significantly boost the internationalization of other non-luxury models.

This is similar to Smart, a product under the Samsung Group. To say that this product has high technological content or good performance and functions is completely unfounded. It can only be sold at a very high premium because it is backed by Samsung.

I can't afford the luxury cars that people in the East have, but their ordinary cars are probably pretty good too, so I can certainly afford them, right? This effect can permeate sales in both the East and the West. And let's not even talk about current sales; in the future, everything will be globalized, and that's when these intangible goodwill assets will play a huge role.

It's like decades later, almost everyone knows that the recipe for Kekekenla isn't important, since the actual recipes used in different countries are likely to be different. The most obvious difference is the sugar; the proportion of sugar used varies from country to country. But the company name is their greatest asset.

By the way, the name "Keke Kenla" was actually used by Coca-Cola when they first entered our market, and it was really hard to pull off, but we eventually managed to find a name that was faithful, expressive, and elegant.

Being able to open up markets, instead of resorting to tactics like some countries that send warships and proclaim "open door, free trade," is undoubtedly a good thing.

"Hmm, Committee Member Gao, if that's the case, what technological advantages do they have?" The comrade from the Ministry of Machinery Industry was very interested in this.

Speaking of this, Gao Zhendong is no longer sleepy.

"Actually, compared to us, they don't have a significant advantage in luxury cars..." With what Gao Zhendong had in his hands, the Gauls' last technological advantage in luxury cars was gone, but Gao Zhendong was very interested in their other aspects.

"Is that so? Then we're at a disadvantage?" The tech guy was very honest. "The advantage is on our side, and they're just taking advantage of us."

"No, no, we can make up for these losses through commercial means, so you don't need to worry about that." The official from the Ministry of Foreign Trade was quite pleased. The technological advantage was in my hands? That's even better!
Gao Zhendong laughed and said, "But they have some very interesting aspects. One is their aesthetic preferences. If you want to successfully enter their market, you can cooperate more in terms of appearance design."

Gao Zhendong put it very euphemistically, but in reality, he was just saying that the cars being sold there should be discussed more with them regarding their appearance.

Moreover, he was referring to aesthetic preferences rather than aesthetic advantages. Aesthetics sometimes depend on who has the loudest voice; if the voice is loud enough, even if it's ugly, it can still sell. In this respect, the other party has a significant advantage.

While the other side's designs were truly anti-human at times, they were still aesthetically pleasing in certain aspects, especially in the 60s when they hadn't completely declined. Although the United States was already number one in the world at that time, the French still had the right to call themselves "Old Money" in front of the other side.

In fact, Europe has led the Western fashion aesthetics field for a long time, and cooperating with them now will allow us to reap the benefits for a long time to come.

Gao Zhendong's idea was simple: making money from foreigners is nothing shameful. Leveraging the current influence of the Gauls in certain areas to profit from the West—isn't that wonderful?

"But you must pay attention to one thing: you must stick to your own operational logic. They don't have the final say on that." Gao Zhendong shuddered when he thought of the French joint venture car that his aunt's family used to drive, where the steering wheel turned but the logo wouldn't. He admitted that he didn't have that kind of adaptability.

However, his words made a lot of sense to his comrades. There are things to do and things not to do. That's what cooperation is all about. The comrades from the Machinery Department nodded and indicated that they understood.

As a top expert who is familiar with and even proficient in both business and automotive technology, Gao Zhendong's words are of great reference value.

"In addition, they are very skilled at tuning the chassis and handling of small cars. If you have the opportunity, you might as well learn from them, but you can't use them on luxury cars," Gao Zhendong said.

Using a torsion beam suspension, commonly known as a "beam axle suspension," on a luxury car is a classic joke made by the Gallic "luxury" car series. However, it must be admitted that they are indeed very talented in tuning beam axle suspensions. Or perhaps they simply didn't have any other chassis to tune at the moment. Independent suspensions are expensive and contradict the spirit of their automobile laws.

Gao Zhendong definitely can't find this thing. With the same mechanical foundation, different tuning will definitely make it different to drive.

And there's no need to look for it. It's a matter of taking advantage of any opportunity, but if there isn't, it doesn't matter, since it's not like you can't sit there.

Now that the opportunity has arrived, we can't let it slip by. Beam suspension is inexpensive, simple in structure, and reliable, though its comfort is relatively poor. However, it can be used in current models, except for top-of-the-line models, for a long time.

Anyway, the road conditions are uncomfortable right now, so let it be. It's the same principle as the team not knowing how to play football anyway, so it doesn't matter who plays.

"Okay! I understand!" The technology that Committee Member Gao specifically requested to learn must be very advanced.

"In addition, when making luxury cars, the engine displacement must be large enough." These days, for luxury cars, engine displacement is a status symbol.

"In this regard, we now have a solid foundation. The 3.0-liter L6 engine, developed based on your 463 engine, has successfully completed its test run, and both its power and torque are excellent. It's just that the engine is a bit long, but everything else is fine," the comrade from the Ministry of Machinery Industry said with a smile.

Gao Zhendong chuckled: "A long engine? Hmm... Actually, it's not necessarily a bad thing these days, but we still need to move towards V-type engines. Once it reaches 8 cylinders, it's really too long."

"Is it alright?" Gao Zhendong's words left his comrades somewhat confused.

(End of this chapter)