The car giant started by marrying the daughter of the king

Chapter 199: Hongqi’s difficult years, will you listen to advice?
"Director Zhao, I think the current Red Flag sedan has a very classic design and is very attractive."

"What it needs most now is not a completely new look, but to improve the production process and reduce the cost of Hongqi sedans."

How could Jiang Hui allow FAW to fleece him?
Zhao Guangming wanted him to help design the exterior of a car for free right from the start. If Jiang Hui agreed, Second Automobile Works, SAIC and other car companies would definitely use various methods to find him to do similar work in the future.

This can certainly enhance his fame, but Jiang Hui is not that saintly.

Many of his classic design plans are still waiting to be used by his own company.

Of course, he certainly wouldn't reject Zhao Guangming so bluntly.

Instead, he analyzed the current situation of Hongqi cars very objectively, helped to make suggestions based on facts, and by the way, politely declined the invitation to design the appearance of the new generation of Hongqi.

"The craftsmanship of Hongqi cars does need to be improved, and we will definitely do the work in this regard, but it also needs a more novel appearance to attract talents."

Zhao Guangming seemed to think of some stories about the Hongqi car, and a blush flashed across his face.

In 1959, when the Hongqi CA72 sedan was exhibited in the capital, the rear door could not be opened during a test drive, and the windshield had to be removed to get out.

In 1970, when a Hongqi CA770 sedan was visiting the Badaling Great Wall, its brakes failed on the way back, almost causing a major accident.

Last year, when a leader went to the airport to pick someone up, the Hongqi sedan he was riding in couldn't start, causing quite an embarrassment.

Another time, when the leader was inspecting a certain province, his Hongqi car broke down halfway. In order not to delay the trip, he had to take a bus to the airport.

Since then, in order to avoid similar incidents from happening again, leaders usually carry two Hongqi cars as backup when traveling.

However, even so, there were still vehicles smoking on the road, and subsequent inspection found that it was a problem with the carburetor.

Although this is just a minor issue, it has a huge impact on one's image in public.

Taking these issues into consideration, there have been some calls to discontinue production of the old Hongqi sedans.

FAW would certainly not agree, but the cost of producing ten Jiefang brand cars is enough to make one Hongqi car. This high-cost, low-efficiency production method is undoubtedly not worth the cost.

Therefore, it was almost inevitable that the old Hongqi sedan would eventually withdraw from the stage of history.

Why has FAW been so active in leveraging the First Ministry of Machine Building's desire to develop the passenger car industry and develop a new generation of Red Flag recently? It is because the reputation of the old Red Flag sedan is too bad.

Even our own people are unwilling to use it.

"Director Zhao, I think the Hongqi brand is still very attractive in China. As long as we solve the quality problem and reduce the cost, we don't need to worry about sales at all."

"When driving on city roads, sedans have a huge advantage over the BJ212 produced by the Capital Automobile Works."

"Hongqi's sales volume can definitely surpass BJ212."

Jiang Hui continued to bring the topic to the quality of Hongqi cars.

This is an objective existence.

In his opinion, Hongqi cars have a very solid foundation. If managed well, it has every chance of becoming the leader of China's luxury cars.

In 1959, Dongfeng was renamed Hongqi and became an independent sub-brand of FAW.

In the 26 years since then, Hongqi has launched one new car after another, including bulletproof cars, ambulances, review cars, etc., basically covering all types of official vehicles, and its popularity far exceeds that of other brands.

In particular, the 1973 series, which began in 774, had its own style and its theoretical technology had reached the world's mainstream level, making it completely usable. However, it was ultimately abandoned due to quality and safety issues.

To give a speechless example, for the engine of the Hongqi car, 100 out of 97 cylinder blocks cast were scrap.

FAW selected several casting blanks by the method of "picking one out of a hundred" for processing, and finally made a V8 engine.

This situation of high manufacturing costs and high scrap rates was unbearable even in the planned economy era.

Not to mention the new era after reform and opening up.

If FAW does not solve the quality problems from the root, then it will be useless no matter how much it tinkers with the appearance.

"Regarding this quality issue, Director Jiang, do you have any suggestions for improvement?"

Zhao Guangming is not stupid. He has already seen that Jiang Hui does not intend to help FAW design the appearance of the new generation of Hongqi sedans.

However, the other party did not seem to completely ignore him, but actively extended a ladder for him to climb down.

It just so happens that the quality problem that Jiang Hui mentioned is indeed a problem that FAW needs to solve, and even a problem that the entire Chinese automobile industry needs to solve urgently.

If this problem can be solved, this business trip to the capital will not be in vain.

"In the past, engines produced by Shuuchi often had some failures, but the situation in this regard has improved greatly in the past year."

"Especially the engines used in the new generation BJ212, which use many new technologies, have not only not declined in quality, but have improved to a certain extent, which is a very rare thing."

"There are many factors, one of which is that Shuuai has truly implemented the TQC quality management method."

"Only when every worker has a sense of quality and everyone works hard to improve quality every day, will there be a certain effect."

"If workers are treated equally whether they do a good job or a bad job, even if 100 cylinder blocks are cast and only 3 are qualified, there will be no loss or punishment, so it will be very difficult to improve the quality level." "Normally, 100 out of 3 cylinder blocks are unqualified, which is already a relatively high defective rate."

Jiang Hui directly exposed the "black material" of Hongqi that many people in the industry knew.

There is no way. The existence of this 97% defective rate has somewhat subverted Jiang Hui's cognition.

We are not building a moon landing spacecraft, is the technical difficulty so high?
There are definitely all kinds of problems here.

"We have discussed what you said before in our factory, but it is probably still difficult to completely change everyone's mind."

Zhao Guangming frowned, knowing that he couldn't handle the problem that Jiang Hui mentioned.

The leaders of FAW are not stupid. Is it really true that they are completely unaware of some of the problems in the factory?

But knowing the problem is one thing, being able to solve it is another.

It’s like everyone knows that China’s chip industry needs to be improved, but how to improve it is not so easy.

"As one of the first demonstration plants for factory operation reform, our Capital Automobile Manufacturing Plant has undergone many changes in the past year."

"As far as I know, some other demonstration plants, such as Shougang, have also seen significant changes in the past year."

"I think FAW should also consider making some reforms, otherwise it will be very difficult to develop the car industry."

"Compared to products like trucks, cars are basically used by ordinary people abroad, and this will gradually become the case in our country in the future."

"It's unrealistic to expect ordinary people to get off their cars and fix them whenever they run into a problem."

"Especially as the country is now discussing cooperation with many international auto giants, more and more imported vehicles will surely enter our country in the future."

"Under this huge contrast, domestic cars, whether it is FAW's Hongqi or SAIC's Hushang brand cars, will be squeezed out by imported cars and have no room for survival."

“Even if the Planning Commission wanted to help, no factory or unit would be willing to take the vehicles that were allocated.”

Jiang Hui directly put a very cruel reality on the table.

Now that I have said so much, Zhao Guangming can listen if he wants to.

If you don't want to, forget it.

Anyway, I met with Zhao Guangming today, and except for not agreeing to help him draw the appearance of the new generation of Hongqi sedan, I have done my best in other aspects.

As for whether FAW will listen to the advice, it is hard to say.

Jiang Hui felt that there was a high probability that people would not listen.

After all, reform sounds like a simple thing.

It seems a bit simple to make a summary after success.

But the actual process is definitely not that simple, and the various obstacles in the middle cannot be understood by those who have not experienced it.

After all, not everyone has the ability to predict the future and see future development trends.

"What you said is also what we are more worried about."

“There are already some signs of this happening.”

"Some companies would rather buy imported Nissan Duke, Toyota Crown, and Ford Sierra than our Red Flag."

Zhao Guangming said with a wry smile.

There is a reason why he asked Jiang Hui to help design the exterior of the new generation of Hongqi sedan today. It was not a decision he made on a whim.

"In the past, people had never used a good car and thought that all cars were like this and that breaking down was commonplace, so drivers had to be able to drive and repair the car because problems could occur at any time."

"But when people come into contact with imported cars, the comparison is simply worlds apart."

"Their speed is very fast, the quality is very stable, and it feels very comfortable."

"As the saying goes, it is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but it is difficult to go from luxury to frugality."

"After this, a number of domestic brands such as Hongqi will definitely be hit by a dimensionality reduction blow. Although imported cars are very expensive, it will not stop various units from purchasing them."

Zhao Guangming is not his leader anyway, so Jiang Hui said this for the sake of FAW.

So even if it was a bit unpleasant, he just said it out loud.

But after hearing these words, Zhao Guangming felt very heavy.

He had a hunch that everything Jiang Hui said would probably happen.

(End of this chapter)