The car giant started by marrying the daughter of the king

Chapter 346: Quietly, another major breakthrough?

"It seems that Director Qin's worry is not without reason."

Zheng Haiming was just paying attention to the car in front of him, absolutely thinking that its appearance was very beautiful and stylish, without considering the influence of the BMW Light before.

"Ministry Zheng and Bureau Qin, if you say there is no impact at all, that would be a lie."

"After all, the prices of products produced by the same car factory vary greatly, and many people must have some thoughts in their minds."

"However, we are planning to set up several brands under BMW to produce different types of cars. The BMW brand, where the BMW Light is currently located, is positioned to produce economical models with a main price advantage, which is somewhat similar to the Volkswagen brand in the Volkswagen Group."

"For the current sedan series, we will have a new brand name, Mercedes-Benz. All future sedan products will be Mercedes-Benz branded."

"We will launch off-road vehicles in the future, which will be called Land Rover vehicles. All kinds of off-road vehicles will be Land Rover branded."

"In the future, we will even consider launching sports cars and establishing Chitu Automobile to specialize in the production of various sports car products."

"The four brands of BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Land Rover and Chitu operate together, making our BMW Automobile Group the largest automobile group in the country."

Although Jiang Hui currently distinguishes several brands and vehicle types, if the development is good and the scale is large in the future, each brand will naturally be able to produce various types of vehicles.

Of course, this will definitely happen ten years from now.

"BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Land Rover and Chitu? The names of your car companies are catchy and memorable."

Zheng Haiming's eyes lit up and he praised Jiang Hui's plan highly.

In the current Chinese automobile market, people generally do not pay enough attention to brand building.

The names of most automobile factories are combined with local place names.

For example, Capital Automobile Manufacturing Plant, Shanghai Automobile Manufacturing Plant, and Yangcheng Automobile Manufacturing Plant.

Even FAW and Second FAW were named directly in order.

But it is different for BMW Group. When the products were still so few, they had already considered the long-term, which is absolutely unique in China.

In other words, Zheng Haiming has great confidence in Jiang Hui, otherwise he would think that Jiang Hui is daydreaming.

"If we change the brand to operate, we can avoid this impact to the greatest extent."

"This practice is relatively common worldwide. General Motors and Ford both have several high- and low-end brands."

"It's a similar situation with Volkswagen in Europe. Audi is just one of its sub-brands."

"Even Toyota Motor in Japan established a new luxury car brand last year to launch its own high-end models to prevent the low prices of Toyota brand models from affecting the sales of high-end models."

As the director of the Automobile Bureau, Qin Hao has been paying close attention to the development of the global automobile market in recent years.

Jiang Hui's approach is consistent with the mainstream international practice, which makes him feel more at ease.

If Jiang Hui insists on launching various products with very different positioning under the BMW brand, he will be worried about the future development of BMW.

"Yes, in the early stage, BMW and Mercedes-Benz models will be produced in the same factory, but as soon as the production volume increases, we will build separate factories to better maintain the independence of the brands."

"In the future, the four brands of BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Land Rover and Chitu will be operated by four independent companies, allowing them to maintain a higher degree of independence and avoid some interference between brands."

When the leaders of the First Ministry of Machine Building came to inspect, they naturally hoped to see a BMW car with grand plans for the future.

Whether it is just empty promises or just dreaming, no matter whether it is actually done or not, when explaining it, it must make people excited.

Jiang Hui is very experienced in this regard.

"Director Jiang, as long as BMW needs anything, whether it's land acquisition or employment, our district will fully cooperate."

"The Government Service Center will complete the approval of all BMW matters in the shortest possible time."

Liu Tianwu, who was accompanying the event, naturally had to stand up and express his position at this time.

Besides, he was also full of expectations for Jiang Hui's plan.

If BMW really develops in the direction that Jiang Hui said, it will definitely become the largest automobile company in China.

If the sales of the four brands reach hundreds of thousands of vehicles by then, Liu Tianwu feels that he will wake up with laughter in his sleep.

By then, the automobile industrial park he personally planned will surely become the most famous industrial park in Shenzhen, Lingnan Province, and even the whole country, making a huge contribution to his career development.

"Our sedan will be officially launched next year. The Land Rover brand will also be officially launched in the near future. The Chitu brand will be launched a little later, but will also start in the next few years."

"Some of the land acquisition and reserve work can indeed begin."

Jiang Hui would definitely not miss such a good opportunity.

Anyway, he is very confident about the future of BMW. In the future, annual sales will inevitably exceed one million, not to mention hundreds of thousands.

The current one factory is definitely not enough. Even with the second production line that is being expanded, the annual production capacity will only reach more than 200,000 vehicles.

According to Jiang Hui's estimation, the plant will basically be able to operate at full capacity by the year after next.

Therefore, it is very necessary to start preparing to build a new factory and prepare for the new production line in advance.

If the construction period does not need to be so tight, the planning in all aspects can be more perfect, and even some improvement plans for areas where the existing production line is not in place can be implemented in the new production line.

"No problem, I'll start arranging this when I get back."

Liu Tianwu agreed without any hesitation.

BMW is now the foreign-invested enterprise with the largest investment in Shenzhen and enjoys some special treatment, which no one can fault.

The most crucial thing is the driving effect of the automobile industry, which he has begun to feel.

During this period, several new auto parts companies have settled in the automobile industry park, all of which serve BMW.

At the same time, Nanshan Technology, Nanshan Equipment, Nanshan Motor and Beijing Battery Factory, all invested by BMW Technology, also began to take various actions in Shenzhen.

The investment amounts of these enterprises are more than the new investments introduced by their districts through investment promotion this year.

Several other districts are trying to poach employees.

If the city had not wanted to set a bad precedent and had pressured the other districts not to make any moves, the situation might have changed.

If Liu Tianwu makes BMW feel constrained in terms of land use, it is estimated that some new factories will start investing in other districts.

"This BMW sedan, no, it should be called a Mercedes-Benz sedan. In addition to its unique appearance, is there anything unique in its configuration?"

Zheng Haiming was still not satisfied and was ready to learn more about the car in front of him. This was the car product he admired the most among so many car manufacturers in China.

"The 5MT manual transmission is coupled with a 2.5L naturally aspirated engine, and in the future it will be further equipped with a 3.5L naturally aspirated engine."

"If the turbocharging technology is developed and mature, we will further launch products equipped with turbocharged engines in the future."

"This power configuration is not inferior to imported cars at all."

As soon as Jiang Hui finished speaking, Zheng Haiming couldn't help but interrupt and said, "5MT manual transmission? Have you made a breakthrough in the 5MT manual transmission technology?"

Gearboxes and engines have always been a pain point for the domestic automobile industry.

These two major components did not catch up with the international mainstream level even after another 20 years.

One of the reasons why China will vigorously develop electric vehicles in the future is that there is a big gap between domestic and international traditional engine and gearbox products, and many patents are in the hands of others.

In addition, from the perspective of energy security, electric vehicles are being vigorously developed.

As for the so-called environmental protection and energy saving, that is more of a propaganda statement standing on the moral high ground.

Whether it is actually so environmentally friendly is still controversial. After all, electricity does not come out of thin air. Most of it is generated by power plants burning coal.

"Yes, our 5MT manual transmission has basically completed research and development, and is now making final preparations for large-scale mass production."

Jiang Hui gave a very affirmative answer.

The 4MT manual transmission was the product of my graduation project when I was in college, and was later produced at the Capital Gear Factory.

My understanding of gearboxes is definitely the best in the country.

One of a kind!
It is not that difficult to develop 4MT based on 5MT.

"Let's go and take a look at the 5MT manual transmission."

"When I visited foreign countries before, I saw that many high-end models were already using 5MT manual transmissions. I have been wondering when China will be able to break through this technology."

"When I visited the Capital Gear Factory some time ago, I specifically mentioned this topic to them, but they thought it would take at least five or six years to complete the development of 5MT."

"I didn't expect you to bring me such a surprise without telling me."

The more you understand the domestic automobile industry, the more you will understand the importance of the 5MT manual transmission.

The more gears a gearbox has, the more perfectly it can match the engine, achieving lower fuel consumption and higher performance power output.

Not to mention other things, just from the perspective of fuel saving, the meaning is very different.

"Your car is the first in the country to be equipped with a 5MT manual transmission. This alone deserves strong support and endorsement from the ministry."

"Director Jiang, if you need help from the department to promote 5MT to other car factories, just let me know."

Qin Hao was also very active at this time.

BMW has developed the 5MT manual transmission, and as the director of the Automobile Bureau, he also deserves credit for this.

The year-end summary report is much easier to write.

Jiang Hui is indeed his lucky star.

"Leader, the structure of the gear set, clutch, synchronizer and other mechanisms of our 5MT manual transmission is relatively complex. In particular, some special processes in the gear set result in low production efficiency. The initial production capacity is not very high, so we are not considering external sales for the time being."

"We will make a series of improvements to 5MT in the future to improve the process and increase production as soon as possible."

The 5MT gearbox is not considered a particularly outstanding product in the international market.

After all, they now even have 5AT automatic transmissions.

But in the domestic Chinese market, 5MT is definitely the king.

Not to mention that it is a purely domestically produced 5MT, which has an even more different meaning.

"The gear set of the gearbox is responsible for transmitting the power of the engine to the wheels and is the most core component."

"A gear set generally consists of multiple gears of different sizes that mesh to achieve different gear ratios, thereby controlling the speed and torque of the vehicle."

"You really need to design this part carefully so that there won't be any malfunctions."

Zheng Haiming is knowledgeable and knows that the gear set is very critical.

Parts that look exactly the same may actually have different levels of surface roughness, tolerance, hardness, etc., which will have a significant impact on their ultimate service life and performance.

The reason why China's gearbox technology did not make a breakthrough until very late in later generations was because there were too many things we didn't understand about these details.

It is obviously not feasible to ask everyone to run before they have even learned to walk.

The group chatted as they walked and soon arrived at Nanshan Technology.

"Zhengzhou Department and Qin Bureau, the 5MT gearbox is developed and produced by Nanshan Technology. In the future, we will also set up a separate Nanshan Gearbox to specialize in gearbox business."

"In addition to 5MT, we are also researching 4AT and 5AT automatic transmissions, striving to make our country's transmission level catch up with the international advanced level."

Jiang Hui didn't think about raising the gearbox technology to surpass other giants right away. That was completely unnecessary.

For example, if we directly develop 8AT or even 10AT now, not only is it too difficult, it would also be a waste to launch it directly into the market.

When companies update their products, even if they already have several generations of new products, they will not launch the latest one directly. Instead, they will continuously update them generation after generation to fully tap the market potential.

Otherwise, if you do it in one step, it will be difficult to do business in the future.

Of course, for Nanshan Technology, the most critical thing is to develop advanced things like 8AT now, which cannot be completed even if given a few years.

Just in terms of the various parts supply and software development technologies for the transmission control unit (TCU), no company in China can handle it yet.

Even if Jiang Hui personally took charge of it, some hardware issues could not be solved immediately.

For example, the chips used in TCU can only be imported at this stage.

The key is to be able to match the main control chip used on 8AT. It is estimated that there is no suitable model in the international market now.

It is absolutely impossible for the chip giants to develop a chip specifically for the needs of a Chinese gearbox company.

(End of this chapter)