After divorce, I can hear the voice of the future

Chapter 838 Indiscriminate Attack

On December 24, on the eve of Christmas, the second phase of the Tianxing Automotive Industrial Park officially commenced construction in Wuhan.

At the groundbreaking ceremony, Lu Liang took the stage to give a speech, declaring that Tianxing Motors would invest no less than 120 billion yuan to build the largest automobile production base in Central China.

Upon completion, it is expected to produce 1 million new energy vehicles annually, creating over 12,000 direct jobs and over 30,000 indirect jobs for the local area.

On that day, the entire city leadership team was present, and the provincial leaders, to show their importance, also sent their second-in-command in charge of the economy.

On the podium, Lu Liang looked to the future with high spirits. He smiled modestly and said, "Last year, I made a prediction about the new energy vehicle market this year. I estimated that the total sales volume would reach more than 240 million units."

"In the blink of an eye, there is only one week left in this year. According to data issued by the New Energy Vehicle Industry Association, the total sales volume of the new energy vehicle market for the whole year is expected to be only 225 million units by the 31st of this month."

"Although this data shows that the market growth rate has reached 92.25% compared to last year, 92% is still 92%, not 100%."

"15 units is not a lot. If our Tianxing Auto's production capacity can keep up, we may be able to make up for this shortfall."

"Therefore, I feel very ashamed about this!"

Upon hearing this, the smiles of the competitors who had come to support them all froze.

The onlookers turned to their competitors, their eyes sparkling with excitement, and their faces lit up with smiles that suggested they were enjoying the spectacle.

Because around this time last year, when Lu Liang made his prediction of 240 million new energy vehicle sales for the whole year, he was ridiculed by many people.

Some competitors even commented on Weibo that it's a good thing to have confidence in the future of the market, but blind confidence is a form of self-deception.

At that time, Tianxing Tianshu had not yet been listed on the stock market, but it had been doing marketing in order to go public, which aroused the dissatisfaction of many competitors. Competitors often used Jia Yueting's PPT presentations on car manufacturing to attack Lu Liang, saying that he was the second Jia Yueting.

However, a year has passed.

Tianxing Auto's two pure electric vehicles, Tianshu and Yaoguang, have consistently ranked among the top five in monthly sales, with a total of 20 units sold.

Now, Lu Liang is even blaming them, claiming that failing to achieve the predicted target is due to their own production capacity not keeping up, and that they don't blame their competitors for being too incompetent.

"Mr. Lu, you're always so witty and humorous."

The leaders in the front row exchanged glances and smiled.

In such a formal setting, Lu Liang should not be allowed to show off, let alone blatantly mock competitors.

But who can blame him but Lu Liang?

Since the Tianxing Phase II Industrial Park was established in Wuhan, the leaders above have specifically conveyed their message that it must be treated with utmost care and seriousness, supported as a key project of the city, and that the needs of Tianxing Auto must be met as much as possible within the bounds of principle.

The three "musts" clearly express the attitude of the higher-ups towards Lu Liang and Tianxing Motors, so they can only let Lu Liang, who likes to talk big, do as he pleases.

Besides, being mocked so closely might actually boost the pride of local car manufacturers and motivate them to unleash their full potential next year.

"Let's be more conservative next year, so as not to be proven wrong again. Let's aim for over 400 million units."

With a broad smile, Lu Liang continued, "As a member of the new energy vehicle industry, I would also like to set a sales target for Tianxing Auto for the whole year: to achieve a total sales volume of over 70 units."

As he spoke, Lu Liang looked at Wang Xiaofeng, who was trembling beside him, and asked, "Mr. Wang, what are your thoughts?"

Wang Xiaofeng felt immense pressure, because their sales target for the coming year had already been set in a meeting: 50 units.

They only have two models, and although both are now selling over 20,000 units per month, they only receive 15,000 new orders per month.

The number of new monthly orders cannot keep up with the number of deliveries, and sales will start to decline in less than six months.

Therefore, maintaining monthly sales of 2.03 units next year would be a relatively ideal and easily achievable goal.

However, Lu Liang seemed to have forgotten the sales target they had set at the meeting, and instead increased it by 40% from the original target.

"Thank you for your remarks, Mr. Lu. Tianxing Auto will live up to your expectations and achieve the goal of 70 units across its entire product line for the year."

Wang Xiaofeng smiled. After all, he was a veteran professional manager. Although he was a little at a loss, he knew that he couldn't afford to mess things up at this time.

The boss has already set ridiculously high sales targets.

As subordinates, they would do anything to meet his expectations.

Seeing Wang Xiaofeng's appearance, the competitors finally showed a long-lost smile. Liangzi's offensive was indiscriminate, not only striking the enemy but also attacking friendly forces.

That was some consolation.

With Wang Xiaofeng's concluding remarks, the one-hour groundbreaking ceremony and speech came to an end.

Amidst the sounds of gongs, drums, and firecrackers, Lu Liang and Wang Xiaofeng, along with other company executives, took shovels tied with red ribbons and dug the first handful of soil, marking the official commencement of construction on the second phase of Tianxing Automobile's production base.

After the meeting, upon seeing Lu Liang finish his conversation with the leader, Lei Jun greeted him with a smile and quickly stepped forward.

"Mr. Lei, it's been a long time. How have you been?" Lu Liang turned around and looked back. It had been a while since he'd seen Lei Zi. He'd gotten fatter and darker, and his hair had turned quite a bit whiter.

After all, Xiaomi has been having a tough time lately. India isn't paying them, their attempt to break into the high-end smartphone market has failed, and their new energy vehicle business has been slow to progress.

The company's stock price peaked at its IPO and has been steadily declining for the past six months, nearly halving in value. I heard that Shen Peng from Sequoia Capital was practically cursing Lei Jun to his face. Because Lei Jun had a lot of money at the beginning of his business, similar to Lu Liang, many investment banks could only enter in the last few rounds.

Sequoia Capital invested $300 billion to support Xiaomi's development when the company was valued at around $10 billion. Ultimately, Xiaomi successfully went public with a valuation of $550 billion.

Today, Xiaomi has fallen to only $260 billion, and after two years of investment, it is still losing money.

It's normal for Shen Peng to curse.

"Actually, it's not bad." Lei Jun smiled and informed Lu Liang that the Xiaomi concept car was about to be unveiled, inviting Lu Liang to attend the internal exhibition and offer some guidance.

Lu Liang's vision is undeniable, and there are many similarities between Tian Shu and Xiaomi's new car, so he hopes that Lu Liang can participate and offer some suggestions.

"When exactly?" Lu Liang was speechless, never expecting that Tianxing Motors would now be the object of others' respect.

"The 18th of next month." Lei Jun smiled, showing no embarrassment whatsoever.

After all, car models, if they are not unique or do not flaunt their specialness, are just a few models that come and go.

Tianxing·Tianshu can pay homage to the Porsche Panamera and the Lamborghini Aventador, and naturally, it can also be paid homage to by others.

Lu Liang pondered for a moment and said, "I will try my best to make time to go and take a look."

The fact that an internal meeting is being held on the 18th, when the Lunar New Year is on the 28th, shows that Lei Zi is under a lot of pressure. Otherwise, he would never have chosen such an inauspicious time before the Lunar New Year.

Lu Liang has no rivals left in China, and everyone around him is a good friend, so he will try his best to help whenever possible.

"Welcome, Mr. Lu." Lei Jun said gratefully, then hurriedly left.

An assistant quickly followed, talking as they walked, their busyness and urgency evident to the naked eye.

After finishing his conversation with Lei Jun, Lu Liang was taken by Wang Xiaofeng to meet local auto parts suppliers.

When you arrive in a new place, you should bring a fresh perspective and give local auto parts suppliers a chance.

Just like Tesla's supply system, it has more than one system. For example, its power battery suppliers include Panasonic, LG, NED Technologies, BYD, and EVE Energy.

Although Lu Liang is a shareholder of Ningde, from the perspective of a complete vehicle manufacturer, downstream suppliers need competition so that upstream companies can maximize their profits and technology can be rapidly updated. Therefore, Ningde cannot be the only company that is favored.

With the construction of the Tianxing Phase II Industrial Park, they should follow Tesla's example and diversify their existing supplier system.

After a long afternoon of socializing and half the evening, Lu Liang finally returned to the hotel around 11 p.m. to check the itinerary for tomorrow with Sun Zheyuan.

Sun Zheyuan said, "Mr. Lu, General Star will be holding its first roadshow at 10:00 AM tomorrow on the 8th floor of the Hilton Hotel in Xiangjiang. So I contacted the airport manager and booked your flight for 7:20 AM tomorrow. We need to leave for the airport at 6:30 AM."

"Well, I see."

Lu Liang lay on the sofa, yawned, his eyelids drooping, he was so sleepy.

He waved his hand and said, "We'll talk about the other schedules when we get on the plane tomorrow. That's all for today."

"Okay, good night, Mr. Lu."

Sun Zheyuan was both amused and exasperated. He got up and left, planning to come back to bother Lu Liang again at six o'clock the next morning.

Just then, the European-style classic wall clock in the living room suddenly rang out with a "dong," signifying the start of a new day.

Sun Zheyuan walked out of the room and glanced at Lu Liang before closing the door. He noticed that Lu Liang had suddenly sat up straight, the weariness in his eyes had vanished, and there was an unyielding worry between his brows.

Sun Zheyuan was taken aback, and asked cautiously, "President Lu, is there something you need me to handle?"

Lu Liang was stunned for a long time until Sun Zheyuan reminded him again, then he waved his hand and said, "It's nothing, you should go back and rest early, remember to call me tomorrow morning."

"Yes, Mr. Lu."

With a click, the door closed.

The room was quiet except for Lu Liang's heavy breathing. An orange lamp shone on his face, making half of his face bright and the other half dark.

"They really dare to do that!"

He sighed softly, picked up the banknotes, and wrote down the news he had just heard to deepen his understanding of the matter.

Lu Liang stared at the words on the note in silence. After a long while, he tore out the last few pages of the notebook, leaving no trace of his writing.

He picked up a lighter, lit the few pages of paper, and threw them into the ashtray. The flickering flame illuminated the message written on the paper, the four characters 'Hero City' gradually being consumed by the flame until they turned into ashes.

"This is actually the source."

Lu Liang picked up the ashtray and went into the bathroom, pouring all the ashes into the toilet, a complicated look in his eyes.

Upon closer examination, it does indeed make sense. Tianxing Automobile chose this location for its second-phase factory because it is situated in the heart of Central China and serves as a vital transportation hub connecting the entire country.

(End of this chapter)