The car giant started by marrying the daughter of the king

Chapter 249: Japanese ambitions, industry changes are coming
After returning from the First Ministry of Machine Building, Jiang Hui did not idle for a moment. He immediately called Hou Guoming over and took out some design drawings from the drawer.

"Lao Hou, I have already told the department that the factory will immediately introduce two new products."

"These are the exterior design drawings and overall layout drawings of the new product. I will work with you to implement its design plan during this period of time."

Because we don’t want to directly regard these two products as products developed independently by the R&D center of Chaoyang Motorcycle Manufacturing Plant.

Therefore, in the first few days, we must ask Hou Guoming and Chen Chenxing and several of his direct subordinates to help finalize the main drawings, and then sign the relevant new product introduction agreement with BMW Technology in the name of Chaoyang Motorcycle Manufacturing Plant.

Jiang Hui has the final say anyway, and the content of the agreement is exactly the same as the previous BMW 70, so there is no need to worry about not being able to explain it clearly when someone investigates later.

"Director, are you introducing two new products at the same time so soon?"

This pace is obviously different from the practices of various domestic factories that Hou Guoming had previously learned about.

However, as the head of the R&D center, he was naturally very happy to have new products to develop.

"Time waits for no one. After the BMW 70 becomes a hot-selling motorcycle, domestic and foreign motorcycle companies will surely take various actions soon."

"The market environment will certainly change a lot by then, and we must ensure that the factory always stays at the forefront of the industry."

"Besides, the factory is now expanding its production line to have a basic production capacity of 10 vehicles next year. If there are not a few new products, everyone will worry that the production capacity will be idle by then."

The production capacity of hundreds of thousands of motorcycles was nothing at all when China's motorcycle production was at its peak.

But considering that the national motorcycle production last year was only about 5 units, it is normal for everyone to be worried.

Just like automobile production capacity, the entire China is estimated to have an annual production capacity of 5000 million vehicles. The construction of a new factory with an annual output of 20 vehicles is not sensitive at all.

But if FAW or Second FAW now said they wanted to build a new factory with an annual basic production capacity of 20 vehicles, the resistance would probably be huge.

A factory with a basic production capacity of 20 vehicles can reach an output of 30 vehicles by working overtime and adjusting the production model.

In the whole of China, where can we find such a large new market?

At least in the eyes of many people, they don’t think the market can change so quickly.

Even though reform and opening up have been going on for several years, many people's concepts have not yet completely changed.

"That's true. With just the BMW 70, the product is indeed a bit monotonous. With scooters and three-wheeled motorcycles, we can fully meet the needs of more customers."

Hou Guoming quickly flipped through the drawings handed over by Jiang Hui, and his heart was full of expectations for the two projects.

Jiang Hui didn't need to explain much, Hou Guoming himself could feel the huge impact from the appearance design.

The designs of these two products are far ahead of their contemporaries.

The appearance alone can attract a lot of attention.

"The launch schedule for these two products must be accelerated without any delay."

"Especially tricycles. I think many small vendors will like them. There is a market for them in many communes."

"But we need to control the cost and try to make sure the price of this tricycle is much lower than that of a BMW 70."

As a production tool, the cheaper it is, the more market it has.

Especially for Chinese people of this era, the price of 70 yuan for the BMW 2998 is still too high.

Jiang Hui wanted to lower the sales price of the three-wheeled motorcycle.

Of course, considering that the three-wheeled vehicle and the BMW 70 use the same engine and gearbox, the overall weight of the vehicle has increased.

It is also unrealistic to want to make the cost much lower than that of the BMW 70.

"Director, when we were producing the BMW 70, we prioritized the schedule when selecting the various parts manufacturers, without giving much thought to cost."

"Now that the production of the BMW 70 has increased, I think we can choose at least one new supporting manufacturer for each part in addition to the original parts factory."

"In the future, when production is further expanded, the same type of parts can be supplied by three to five supporting factories."

"This way we can fully ensure that there is no problem with our production capacity, and the price of the supporting factory can be the lowest."

After Hou Guoming said this, Jiang Hui agreed without hesitation.

"No problem, let's start with the three-wheeled vehicle and the scooter."

"We are considering introducing new manufacturers to produce all the parts that are shared with the BMW 70."

"For special parts, we will continue to prioritize the schedule, and then gradually introduce similar supporting factories after mass production next year."

"And our supporting factories don't have to be limited to the capital area. Tianjin or other nearby cities can also be used."

“Even sourcing from some factories in the northeast or south is acceptable.”

Since the purpose is to enrich the layout of supporting factories, competition should be created among them.

It would be best if all supporting factories are not in the same area.

Otherwise, these factories basically exist as a circle and will not desperately try to lower prices.

This is not a good thing for Chaoyang Motorcycle Manufacturing Plant.

……

Following the communication between Jiang Hui and Hou Guoming, Chaoyang Motorcycle Manufacturing Factory quickly took action.

The newly recruited technicians were also quickly divided into groups.

The organization of the R&D center suddenly became complete.

Engine Department, Transmission Department, Chassis Department, Body Department, Materials Department, Testing Department... What was originally a department with only a few people quickly became a large department with more than 200 people.

Of course, since Chaoyang Motorcycle Manufacturing has made such a big fuss recently, naturally there are many people who are paying attention to their changes.

In particular, the BMW 70 is in short supply now. While giving priority to export orders, orders from many units outside are still waiting in line.

It can be said that everyone is actively sending money to people's doorsteps.

Faced with this situation, there was some movement at the Jialing Factory.

The first Jialing Honda 70, which was imported from Japan and assembled in the Jialing factory, was officially launched on the market.

The sales price of 70 yuan is the same as that of BMW 2998, which is still very competitive.

After all, their promotional gimmick is that the products are imported as original parts and have world-class quality.

Objectively speaking, the performance of the Honda 70 motorcycle is indeed very good.

When the BMW 70 could not fully meet the market demand, they just sold one unit as soon as they produced it.

More than a hundred cars were sold in just one week.

At this pace, this year's import quota of 2500 vehicles can be easily consumed.

"Director, our Jialing Honda 70 is in short supply right now. Some companies are even willing to pay an extra yuan just to get the car right away."

"Can we consider asking the Fifth Ministry of Machine Building for more foreign exchange quotas and import more parts?"

As the actual person in charge of the project, Yuan Zhiwei naturally hopes that more motorcycles can be sold.

As for whether the foreign exchange quota is tight, he actually doesn't care that much.

Of course, he also knew that he couldn't handle the situation in the department by himself, so he thought of asking the factory director to take action.

"The last meeting of the ministry implicitly criticized us for being too slow in localization, wasting too much foreign exchange, and affecting equipment purchases for other factories."

"If we continue to talk about increasing the foreign exchange quota at this time, won't we just be criticized?"

It’s not that Yin Zhiguo doesn’t support Yuan Zhiwei’s work, but he knows that this matter cannot be handled.

Motorcycles are also very important to China's economic development.

If there is no other factory in the country that can produce motorcycles, Jialing Factory can still think of ways to apply for more foreign exchange quotas.

However, the foreign exchange consumed by Chaoyang Motorcycle Manufacturing Plant for each motorcycle produced by similar products is less than one-tenth of that of Jialing Plant.

And they can also find ways to export and earn foreign exchange.

Under such circumstances, how could the Fifth Ministry of Machine Building approve an increase in the foreign exchange quota for Jialing Factory?
Yin Zhiguo would never do something knowing that it is impossible.

"Then let the technical department speed up the localization process and strive to start replacing some parts with domestic parts in December this year to maximize the production of Jialing Honda 70."

Yuan Zhiwei also knew that what Yin Zhiguo said was true, so he didn't dare to say anything more.

However, the hot sales of Jialing Honda 70 not only stimulated the employees of Jialing Factory and Honda as a partner, but also was a huge stimulus for other motorcycle giants who were still watching the Chinese market.

China's motorcycle consumption potential seems to be greater than I imagined.

……

"President, we got news from the embassy that the Honda 70 was officially introduced into China for production this year and has been very popular with consumers."

"The BMW 70 produced by a joint venture in Hong Kong, China, is also in short supply."

"I think the company can consider setting up an office in China first, contacting local companies, and see if it can also consider entering the Chinese market in the form of a joint venture."

In this era, even if you allow foreign-funded enterprises to operate wholly-owned enterprises, many people will still have concerns.

After all, we don’t know enough about the market situation, and we have all kinds of worries in our hearts.

Therefore, building a factory through a joint venture is the best way.

At least that was the case in the 1980s and 1990s.

As one of the largest motorcycle companies in Japan, Suzuki is naturally always paying attention to the changes in China.

Especially since old rival Honda has taken the lead, they are not willing to fall behind.

"Didn't some Chinese companies want to come to our place for inspection, or invite us to come for inspection?"

"You can contact these manufacturers again and tell them that we are willing to arrange a delegation to inspect and discuss future cooperation."

As the new president of Suzuki Motors Ltd., Yuichi Iwata also hopes to achieve some results.

The domestic market structure in Japan has basically been determined, so it is difficult to make any big moves.

The market in Southeast Asia has also been divided up by several Japanese motorcycle companies.

On the contrary, China, a country that has just opened its doors, is full of expectations.

It's just that due to various concerns, Suzuki's actions are slow.

At the same time, Yamaha and Kawasaki have also paid attention to the changes in the Chinese motorcycle market.

Everyone's mentality began to change.

I originally wanted to wait and see for a year or two, but now I feel like I can take action.

(End of this chapter)