What's wrong with me being a rich man?

Chapter 677 Minor Criticism (4k)

On the first day of June, the sales figures for May for the Silicon Carbon Group were released.

With Silicon Carbon releasing its own weekly delivery figures, its monthly sales figures no longer cause a sensation as before. Instead, they are replaced by industry comments that have become commonplace, such as "As expected," "Here we go again," and "Keep showing off."

Regardless of whether one is convinced by carbon silicon, Kyushu, or Yuxing, the solid market sales figures increasingly prove that new energy vehicles can create waves in the automotive market.

1.52 vehicles.

The same old question: who is actually buying?

Ever since He Xiaopeng sent his company's R&D vehicle to Lingang, he had been watching the situation there with anticipation and even a hint of fear. He knew that President Yu would not give his opinion at this time, but would wait until he arrived in Lingang to discuss it. However, he still couldn't help but pay close attention to the situation there.

He specifically mentioned this achievement at a meeting after the sales figures for silicon carbon were released, saying that it was impossible not to admire and envy it.

"President He, silicon carbon is good, but we also have opportunities. Our positioning is in a more mainstream segment with a larger market, and besides..." Xia Yan, president of XPeng Motors, boosted morale after marveling at the sales of silicon carbon.

He Xiaopeng looked at the president, who was keeping him in suspense, and said with a smile, "Go on, tell me now."

Xia Yan shook her head and said, "Moreover, silicon carbon currently has no plans to promote ternary lithium batteries for vehicles. This difference in market perception is the best opportunity for us to improve our competitiveness. Tesla uses ternary lithium batteries, and the batteries we use are benchmarked against Tesla. Silicon carbon is indeed powerful in China, but Tesla's global recognition and sales are much higher."

G3's decision to adopt ternary lithium batteries was made after comprehensive consideration, and coincidentally, He Xiaopeng knew that NIO was doing the same.

The price of lithium iron phosphate has risen sharply recently, while ternary lithium has a higher energy density, which is a greater advantage for pure electric vehicles.

Seeing the success of Silicon Carbon, XPeng Motors naturally considered developing a range-extended SUV and even a family SUV to compete with Kyushu. However, the problem is that the window of opportunity to compete with Silicon Carbon Kyushu seems to have passed.

Like the GAC GS7, which previously received a lot of attention in the industry, it was modeled after Kyushu, but quickly lost its luster after a brief period of popularity.

If we want to directly compete with Kyushu, silicon carbide has received a lot of government subsidies in the past and now has a large number of orders to achieve economies of scale. If we want to make a cost-effective version of Kyushu, the domestic supply chain in this area is not developed enough, making it difficult to fully replicate Kyushu's configuration, which may very well lead to the same awkward situation as the GS7.

Looking back now at the timing and strategic decisions of Silicon Carbon in its venture into Kyushu, its aggressive positioning and pricing at the time seem to be indispensable factors in its current success.

He Xiaopeng nodded slightly, indicating that he also had expectations for this.

He asked, "How's the verification going with China Telecom?"

Linked Telecom is the battery supplier that XPeng Motors is looking for. It has licensed battery technology from Panasonic, which is also a battery supplier for Tesla.

Xia Yan replied, "The installation results from China Telecom are quite good."

He Xiaopeng didn't ask any more questions, but sighed, "Let alone the pricing of Kyushu, even if we can achieve half the pricing of Kyushu, that would be a huge success."

The G3 was priced at just over 20 yuan before subsidies, but the price will drop below 20 yuan after subsidies are received.

If a pure electric vehicle priced between 15 and 20 yuan achieves monthly sales of 5000+ units, it undoubtedly opens up a huge market, after all, the customer base in this price range is much larger.

Xia Yan said solemnly, "It's not impossible, I'm confident!"

He Xiaopeng took a sip of tea, looking forward to the day when XPeng Motors goes public.

After finishing his work in Guangzhou, he went to inspect the Haima OEM factory in Zhengzhou two days later. Then he went straight to Lingang to attend the "Carbon Silicon Technology Day" on the 10th, which was to support President Yu, but more importantly, to hear the opinions of people in Lingang on the G3 mule car.

He Xiaopeng was clearly serious, as he directly called upon President Xia Yan, Senior Vice President He Tao, and Senior Vice President Yang Chunlei, who are also co-founders and the three-person strategic decision-making team of XPeng Motors, as well as Senior Director Zhang Lihua, who is in charge of G3 design.

Zhang Lihua, formerly of BYD, joined XPeng last year and spearheaded the overall design of the G3.

Silicon Carbon naturally welcomed the visit of its peers. Vice President Cui Zhiyu personally received them and led the group on a tour of the Silicon Carbon Group. He also gave them a preview of the Silicon Carbon Technology Day, with one of the main objectives being to encourage XPeng Motors to join Silicon Carbon's open-source ecosystem in the future.

He Xiaopeng neither confirmed nor denied this. In fact, Xia Yan, He Tao and others have already expressed their clear opposition to the use of silicon carbon vehicle infotainment systems. They believe that as new energy vehicle manufacturers, although they are not as advanced as silicon carbon systems now, using the other party's vehicle infotainment system will still put them at a disadvantage in the minds of customers, which is not conducive to brand image and market competitiveness.

"Isn't Mr. Yu in Lingang?" He Xiaopeng asked with great interest as he browsed the carbon silicon display and spotted his own G3 parked downstairs.

"President Yu is having a meeting on the seventh floor. President He might not have time today," Cui Zhiyu explained, then added, not wanting the other party to feel uncomfortable, "The seventh floor is the floor above the mountain peak."

He Xiaopeng suddenly realized, and then curiously looked around at the floors, silently searching for the seventh floor. Almost everyone in Xiaopeng's team had the same look and reaction as him, and when they finally locked onto the seventh floor, they were all filled with the same amazement.

That's over the mountain peak!

They don't even need to act anymore; they can just work right here now!

Everyone knows about the bloodshed and turmoil caused by the mountain peak, especially since it has not stopped its actions after being exposed, and recently there have been accusations of investment banks manipulating the silver market.

All of this was brewing within this seventh floor, which at this moment made Zhang Wang seem shrouded in a mysterious yet menacing aura.

"Don't bother President Yu, he's busy, uh, he's busy with his own things." Many thoughts flashed through He Xiaopeng's mind, and he quickly instructed Cui Zhiyu.

Cui Zhiyu smiled and continued to lead his colleagues on a tour, exchanging their thoughts and experiences on developing pure electric vehicles.

Yu Xing, who was on the seventh floor, saw Xiao Peng's team chatting downstairs through the floor-to-ceiling windows, but he only glanced at them and then looked at the parked mule cart before focusing his attention on Zhao Shuo, Song Yufeng, and Zhang Yangxu who were giving their report.

We have completed our on-site investigation of Virkard's business in Southeast Asia. We are now in the process of compiling the findings and then issuing an internal research report on Virkard. Whether the report will be published or in what form it will be is something that needs further consideration.

In fact, the investigation into Vilcard was not complicated; it was basically an improvement and update of the previous report by the short-selling firm ZR.

However, a new situation has arisen: someone has called claiming to be the mastermind behind the anonymous organization ZR and asking for Guo Shanfeng's help.

Zhang Yangxu had received a call from abroad before, which said that Vilcard did indeed have serious problems. This time, it turned into a request for help, which was really baffling to him. But what was interesting was that this time the other party claimed that they had been targeted and threatened by Vilcard.

Over Peak is not a charity and has not had much dealings with short sellers, but Zhang Yangxu felt that this kind of drama, where a short-selling target finds an anonymous organization and threatens it, was quite worth showing to his boss.

According to the caller, who identified himself as Earl, his computer was hacked, his private emails and mobile phone records were stolen, and even his family was monitored and harassed.

Zhang Yangxu inquired about the purpose of the call, and Earl expressed his hope that Guoshanfeng could step in to short Vilcard.

The threat comes from Vilkard; if we eliminate Vilkard, it will naturally have no time to worry about anything else.

After listening to his secretary's report, Yu Xing shook his head repeatedly. He hadn't thought of his buddy when he was making profits from short selling, but now that he was facing a threat, he came knocking on his door. Seeing his boss finish thinking and raise his cup to drink tea, Zhang Yangxu asked, "Mr. Yu, what should we do? He said he's waiting for my reply."

Yu Xing said calmly, "What can we do? Of course, we should suggest that he seek help from the British police."

Firstly, the situation is still very precarious, and secondly, any rash action would be unprofitable. Vilcard is currently banned from short selling in Germany, but this kind of reverse tracking and threatening behavior may be something to keep for later use.

The movements of Vilkad may not need to go through any major obstacles in the future, as international short sellers are already watching them closely.

Today's meeting is a summary and a routine assessment of fraudulent companies. Compared to past cases, Wilcard provides information on the financial operations through "Kabbit".

Not only Yu Xing, but Liu Wanying was also quite interested in this part.

Yu Xing was busy on the seventh floor until the afternoon before he finally called He Xiaopeng.

He Xiaopeng was visiting the second phase of the silicon carbon plant when he received a call and excitedly prepared to meet with General Manager Yu.

"Mr. He, let's meet again tomorrow, at 11:30 tomorrow." Yu Xing gave a precise time.

He Xiaopeng quickly replied, "Okay, okay, Mr. Yu, you go ahead with your work. I'll benefit a lot from listening to the manufacturing experience of silicon carbide."

Yu Xing said, "I'm not busy now, there's nothing to do, but the weather is bad right now. We'll see you tomorrow when the weather is better."

He Xiaopeng was a little confused, not knowing what the reason was, but he agreed to the call anyway.

However, when the topic came up in the evening, I still felt puzzled.

When President Xia Yan heard that President Yu was asking for a meeting in this way, she felt that he was treating people with disrespect and couldn't help but say, "No wonder you are the king of short selling. You need to pick a good day to meet people."

He Xiaopeng felt that President Yu wasn't that kind of person, but he really couldn't explain the situation, so he could only shake his head and say, "He was joking. He must have something else to do. The seventh floor, hey, I really want to go to the seventh floor to take a picture. I wonder if there's a sign that says 'Over the Peak' there."

The topic was diverted to casual conversation about the legendary short-selling king.

The next day, despite feeling a bit strange and even dissatisfied, the XPeng Motors team waited downstairs close to the appointed time.

At 11:25, Yu Xing returned from a meeting at the Lingang Management Committee. As soon as he got out of the car, he said directly to He Xiaopeng, "Mr. He, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting. Come on, let's talk in your car."

Yu Xing, He Xiaopeng, Xia Yan, He Tao, and Zhang Lihua rode together in G3, while the others rode in Max Kyushu.

The air conditioning in the G3 was already on, and the car was very cool.

Yu Xing let He Xiaopeng sit in the passenger seat, while he got into the driver's seat. Before driving off, he said, "Mr. He, I just finished a meeting in the district. Let me think about the meeting first. Let's drive around a bit and then talk."

He Xiaopeng readily agreed.

Yu Xing drove silently, circling the silicon carbon factory repeatedly.

Because the head of the silicon carbon company said in advance that he needed to think things through, the others naturally remained silent, and an odd silence fell over the car.

The weather in Shanghai today is indeed exceptionally good, just as predicted yesterday, it's a sunny day with temperatures exceeding 30 degrees Celsius.

One trip after another, the silence in the car gradually turned into a dull atmosphere.

At first, He Xiaopeng in the passenger seat didn't think anything of it, but later he turned down the air conditioning temperature and increased the fan speed himself, but he still sweated more and more on his forehead.

Yu Xing noticed out of the corner of his eye that everyone's faces were covered in more sweat and oil, so he finally parked the car on the side of the road, but it was still facing the midday sun.

He started by mentioning his visit to BYD: "Mr. He, I've thought it over. Speaking of which, this isn't the first time I've seen new energy vehicles made by our peers. When I visited BYD, I gave Mr. Wang my opinion. Oh right, Mr. He, I've talked to you about this before, haven't I?"

He Xiaopeng wiped his sweat and laughed, "Yes, we talked about it. It's BYD's Tang."

He helped recall the anecdote, which was about Tang refusing to provide ventilated seats.

"Hey, from the introduction, this Mr. Zhang in the back seat, you used to work at BYD?" Yu Xing turned around to look at Zhang Lihua in the back seat.

Zhang Lihua forced a smile: "Yes, President Yu, I heard about you giving us feedback before."

Yu Xing sighed, "Yes, I didn't understand back then. We should have paid more attention to user experience when manufacturing and designing cars. Back then it was BYD, but now it's..."

He pointed to the G3's panoramic glass, as if belatedly realizing, "This big glass is so hot, the air conditioning just can't keep it out. Hey, Mr. Zhang, you used to work at BYD, did you design this glass too?"

Zhang Lihua's expression froze.

Seeing this, Xia Yan tried to smooth things over: "President Yu, it is indeed hot today. June in Shanghai is hotter than in previous years, and it's noon now."

"Mr. He just left Alibaba not long ago. Weren't you the one who made the design and decisions for the G3?" Yu Xing looked at Xia Yan, who had accidentally slipped her hand. "Don't you have any questions? How many times have you driven this car yourself? Didn't you notice anything?"

Xia Yan was taken aback, not expecting President Yu to be so firm. As for the test drive, well, we don't go out when it's hot at noon.

He Xiaopeng hesitated for two seconds: "President Yu, we have also considered this for the glass, and we will use UV-resistant materials."

Yu Xing's gaze followed the voice and turned to He Xiaopeng: "Have you tried it yourself? Just because someone says it protects against UV rays doesn't mean it does. Have you tested the temperature yourself? Your headquarters is in Guangzhou, isn't it hot there?"

He Xiaopeng was quite embarrassed.

Of the three people from XPeng Motors in the car, only Senior Vice President He Tao remained silent.

Yu Xing's gaze fell on He Tao's face.

He Tao held his breath and quietly avoided eye contact.

He Xiaopeng caught a glimpse of this scene out of the corner of his eye and felt that Mr. He seemed to lack some responsibility. If you're going to be criticized, then you should be criticized along with everyone else. Why are you hiding...?

(End of this chapter)