The car giant started by marrying the daughter of the king

Chapter 242: China's automobile industry turns a corner and enters a different track
The export of 5000 Hummer military vehicles not only brought huge stimulation to other factories of the Fifth Ministry of Machine Building, but also brought great pressure to the First Ministry of Machine Building and its subordinate factories.

In particular, factories related to the automobile industry, such as FAW, Second FAW, and Shouqi, were put under various pressures from their superiors.

The first to be hit was the Capital Automobile Manufacturing Plant, once a major manufacturer of military vehicles.

"Director Qin, most of the sales of the new BJ212 now come from units in various places, and basically they have nothing to do with military vehicles anymore."

"We want to adopt the same arms trade method as the Hummer military vehicle and rely on BJ212 to export and earn foreign exchange, which is quite difficult."

"Of course, our BJ212 also has its own unique advantages. We can completely position it as a civilian off-road vehicle and export it to Southeast Asia, Asia, Africa and Latin America."

“There are still some opportunities this way.”

Chen Qi personally went to the Automobile Bureau of the First Ministry of Machine Building to report on the next arrangements for the Capital Automobile Manufacturing Plant.

After this period of internal discussion and integration, he has come up with a relatively complete development plan.

"What you said makes sense, but how do you plan to export the BJ212 overseas?"

"How do you attract foreign people to buy your BJ212?"

Qin Hao has been abroad before, so he is relatively familiar with some of the situations abroad.

For a vehicle like BJ212 that has no brand influence, it is very difficult to open up the overseas civilian market.

Even many other car manufacturers dare not even think of such an idea.

"I thought so."

After hearing Qin Hao's doubts, Chen Qi was not panicked at all. "The Chaoyang Motorcycle Factory has achieved tremendous development through cooperation with BMW Technology in Hong Kong."

"The BMW 70 has not only been provided to Argentina as a product of cooperation between China and the United States, but has also been provided to some domestic units for use."

"I heard that some BMW 70s were also exported to Southeast Asia and other countries through BMW Technology in Hong Kong for sale."

"We can cooperate with BMW Technology and sell the BJ212 to them, and then they can sell it overseas."

I have to say that Chen Qi’s idea is actually feasible.

But after Qin Hao finished listening, he immediately thought of several questions.

"If we convert the prices of cars abroad into dollars using our official exchange rate, they are generally lower than those in China."

"We have previously donated a batch of BJ212s to Afghanistan at a very high price, but if we want to sell them in the foreign civilian market, we probably won't be able to sell them even at $10, let alone $5 or $2."

Qin Hao did not intend to undermine Chen Qi's confidence, but to fully share what he knew.

BMW Technology is not a fool. How could they buy BJ212 from you at a high price and then sell it to consumers at a low price?

"Director Qin, it is exactly as you said. The price of cars sold abroad, calculated in US dollars, is not very high."

"I don't plan to sell it at a particularly high price, but I hope to sell it at a price that BMW Technology can accept."

"For example, if the price of a similar product like BJ212 abroad is $1, we can sell it to BMW Technology for $8000, or even $5000."

"This will leave some profit margins for the other party, and make BMW Technology interested in cooperating with us."

"From a business perspective, as long as BMW Technology thinks it is profitable, I think the other party will not give up this cooperation."

Chen Qi gave his own judgment very affirmatively.

They have also had sufficient discussions within the factory and have given up unrealistic fantasies.

Anyway, for them, even if the export price is US$5000, they can still accomplish a large export and foreign exchange earning task.

If you calculate carefully, there is still a lot of profit margin for their factory.

After all, the export tax rebate alone can bring huge benefits to the Capital Automobile Manufacturing Plant.

Besides, factories are all state-owned enterprises, and profit indicators are not Chen Qi’s first consideration. Completing the tasks assigned by his superiors is what he cares most about.

In this era, exporting and earning foreign exchange is a more important task than anything else.

To exaggerate a little, even if the BJ212 is exported at a price of US$3000, there will still be many people supporting it.

But at that time, the results of this matter did not seem so impressive.

After all, the big fuss that BMW 70 made some time ago was that it achieved the sky-high export and foreign exchange earnings target of US$3000.

It is somewhat unreasonable if the export price of a car is lower than that of a motorcycle.

"Okay, since you have confidence, then go ahead and give it a try."

"I can ask Jiang Hui to help arrange an introduction for BMW Technology. He is an old employee of your factory anyway."

Qin Hao could feel that Chen Qi had seriously considered coming to him to report, so naturally he would not object.

However, after Chen Qi finished speaking, he did not leave Qin Hao's office immediately, but continued, "Director Qin, our factory has another project that is ready to be formally launched." Since the last stimulation, Chen Qi and Lu Jianqiang have discussed many times in the factory and decided that the Capital Automobile Manufacturing Plant would develop a car.

Even the R&D center has preliminarily determined the design of the sedan based on the BJ212's powertrain and interior specifications.

Since most of the parts are retained from BJ212 on a large scale, only adjustments are made to the appearance of the vehicle and some chassis parts.

Therefore, the whole project is progressing very quickly, and now the preliminary clay model and some drawings have been drawn.

As the preparation of samples will officially start this year, which will require a huge amount of money, Chen Qi must report to the First Ministry of Machine Building in advance.

In this era, automobile manufacturers are not very enthusiastic about developing new products.

Generally, the First Ministry of Machine Building issues tasks, and everyone develops new car models to complete the tasks.

However, the car project of Capital Automobile Works was initiated by itself, so it needs to be reported in detail.

"What project?"

Qin Hao was still very interested in the movements of the Capital Automobile Manufacturing Plant. Seeing Chen Qi reporting a big project and then saying that there was a new project to report to him, his curiosity was aroused.

"The ministry is now encouraging various automobile factories to develop the sedan industry. Our factory is ready to respond to the ministry's call and develop a sedan product on the same platform as the BJ212 to quickly solve the problem of the capital's automobile industry lacking sedans..."

Chen Qi spent more than ten minutes explaining the arrangements in the factory.

"Are you really confident that you can come up with a sedan like this?"

Qin Hao looked at Chen Qi with great delight.

The Capital Automobile Works is going to develop a passenger car project, and it seems to be a very promising project.

He certainly wouldn't object.

FAW and SAIC are both negotiating cooperation with foreign auto giants, hoping to import foreign car products into China for production and sales.

Although there may not be any results in a short period of time, since we have already started contact and negotiations, there will definitely be some results sooner or later.

Under such circumstances, the Capital Automobile Manufacturing Plant went against the trend and insisted on independent development. In order to develop China's own passenger car industry, the First Ministry of Machine Building had no reason not to support it.

Although FAW and SAIC had both been thinking of "trading market for technology" when they reported to the ministry about their search for partners, Qin Hao actually had doubts in his mind as to whether this goal could really be achieved.

But the Capital Automobile Works' plan is different.

Obviously, if this car can be successfully mass-produced, all parts will be purchased domestically, without wasting a penny of foreign exchange.

Considering the current excellent performance of BJ212, the sedans on the same platform will definitely be more comfortable and of better quality.

It is really possible that China's automobile industry, and even the entire automobile industry, will enter a different rhythm of development.

Thinking of this, Qin Hao became even more interested in Chen Qi's plan.

"Director Qin, this is how our factory has arranged it..."

Feeling Qin Hao's support and concern, Chen Qi further explained the specific arrangements for developing the new car.

Hearing that this car could be produced next year, Qin Hao no longer had any worries and directly expressed that the Automobile Bureau agreed to the Capital Automobile Manufacturing Plant's plan.

He will also report this matter to Zheng Haiming and Zhou Jian in person.

Needless to say, since the Capital Automobile Manufacturing Plant dared to take the initiative to challenge and undertake new tasks and did not need to allocate funds from the First Ministry of Machine Building, there would definitely be no leader who would object.

To be on the safe side, Chen Qi took the appearance design drawings of the sedan products and asked Jiang Hui to help check them.

“Is this the sedan you are going to produce?”

Jiang Hui looked at the design drawing in front of him. Although it was not as exquisite as his own drawing, the general situation could still be seen.

"Yes, we compared the shape of Toyota Crown sedan and combined it with the powertrain of BJ212 to form the design of our new generation sedan."

Chen Qi looked at Jiang Hui expectantly, wanting to see how the other party viewed this issue.

"Director Chen, I think the arrangement of Capital Automobile Manufacturing to enter the passenger car industry is indeed quite good."

"But I think the wheelbase of the Crown sedan is a bit long. It is positioned as a high-end sedan. It might be better for us to produce an entry-level sedan when we first start."

"A vehicle length of 4.6 to 4.7 meters is sufficient."

"Otherwise, it would require very significant changes to the chassis, and I'm afraid that it won't be possible to accomplish this in a short period of time."

Although at the same price, a bigger car will definitely sell better.

But the prerequisite is that the Capital Automobile Manufacturing Plant must be able to produce it.

Minimize design changes and produce products as quickly as possible for sale. This is what the other party needs to do now.

(End of this chapter)