The car giant started by marrying the daughter of the king

Chapter 369 Mercedes-Benz Car Attacks
The cooperative research and development project of hot stamping steel plates was finally handed over to Shougang.

Although the distance is a bit far and the equipment is not as good as Baosteel, their attitude towards cooperating with BMW is still relatively positive.

After all, the key reason why they were able to become the largest automobile plate manufacturer in the country is that they cooperated with Jiang Hui and Capital University of Science and Technology to develop high-strength automobile steel plates.

However, this incident also made Jiang Hui more determined that BMW Group should have its own steel plant in the future.

Even if you do not engage in the full-process steelmaking process, it is acceptable to purchase crude steel from other manufacturers and process it into various steel plates and coils by yourself.

For this purpose, Jiang Hui had a special talk with Wu Ming.

"Brother-in-law, I plan to build our own steel plant within the next five years. We will purchase crude steel from Shaoguan Iron and Steel or other steel plants in the southern region and process it into various automotive plates and special steels required by the group."

"You can contact your former colleagues and classmates to see if anyone is willing to develop in Shenzhen. The conditions are negotiable."

Telling Wu Ming about your ideas as early as possible can also make him more motivated and more determined.

As an expert in steel technology, Wu Ming must also hope to be in charge of a steel plant.

Let the factory research various new technologies according to its own ideas and become a leader in the industry.

“Jiang Hui, it’s not that easy to run a steel plant. Even if you don’t do crude steel smelting, the various hot rolling, hot rolling, refining and other processes in the later stages are also very complicated.”

"And if we want to make good steel products, we need to invest a lot of manpower and material resources in research and development and purchase various advanced instruments and production equipment."

"It is very likely that by then the investment in the steel mill will be greater than that of BMW."

Although Wu Ming really hopes that the BMW Group can set up a subsidiary steel company, he must make it clear to Jiang Hui about the difficulties involved.

Otherwise, if the project fails, it will be difficult for him to live.

"We will first accumulate some technical personnel. It just so happens that the BMW Automobile Research and Development Center does need experts who are proficient in various steel technologies."

“Whether it’s designing body parts or chassis parts, many things are closely related to the performance of steel.”

"At the same time, during the research process, we can also figure out which steels are in short supply in the market and we need to find ways to break through them ourselves."

"We will officially set up the steel plant when all conditions are ripe."

Jiang Hui doesn't want to start building the steel plant immediately, but he wants to complete it within the next five years.

The BMW Group will accumulate strength in the next two years, and once the Land Rover off-road vehicle is successfully developed, the operating conditions of the BMW Group will definitely change greatly.

At that time, there was no shortage of money to purchase related equipment for the steel plant, so it was necessary to purchase a batch of advanced instruments and equipment while the relationship between China and the United States and other countries had not deteriorated.

The gap between China's equipment industry and the international advanced level is too large. Even if Jiang Hui wants to catch up, it will not be accomplished in one or two years.

Moreover, at the beginning, only a part of the equipment can be selected for research and development, and most of the other equipment still needs to be considered for import.

You can't eat a fat man in one bite. Even if he is unwilling, Jiang Hui can accept this situation.

"Okay, then I'll contact some classmates and colleagues to see who is interested."

Wu Ming had already reminded everyone he needed to, and he didn't want to say too much, lest Jiang Hui really cancel the steel plant project, which would make him depressed.

……

Time waits for no one. The entire BMW Group is working very hard, which is something that many factories in the mainland do not have.

Even during the Spring Festival, which is two days off on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, many departments start to have people come back to work overtime starting from the second day of the New Year.

Jiang Hui, the person in charge, also leads by example. During this period, he has been busy in the R&D center instructing relevant personnel to design parts, and even drawing blueprints directly with others.

Meanwhile, in the production workshop, preparations for mass production of Mercedes-Benz cars have entered the final stage.

This car, which is aimed at the domestic official car market and wealthy businessmen, will soon be officially launched on the market.

"Director, I think the price of 29.99 yuan is quite appropriate."

"Now the price of Volkswagen Santana in Shanghai is 20 yuan. Our Mercedes-Benz sedan is positioned higher than it, so the price must be higher."

"Besides, whether it's the engine, the gearbox, or the appearance, the Mercedes-Benz sedan has all-round advantages over the Santana, so even if the cost is not very high, it is normal for the price to be a little higher."

As the sales manager, Chen Chenxing naturally had to propose a sales price for the Mercedes-Benz sedan to Jiang Hui.

Jiang Hui, who was used to the profit margin of less than ten points in the later generations of automobiles, was obviously still a little uncomfortable with making double the money from selling cars.

The production cost of a Mercedes-Benz sedan, even after taking all taxes into account, is less than 15 yuan.

This is calculated based on the assumption that all equipment investments and development costs for the 2.5L engine and 5MT manual transmission are depreciated rapidly within three years.

Otherwise, the production cost would only be around 100,000 yuan.

After all, these two products normally take more than ten years to produce, and it is completely unreasonable to depreciate the investment in various equipment and factories based on three years.

Generally speaking, equipment is depreciated over 10 years and factory buildings are depreciated over 20 years, which is a common practice in the industry.

However, the general direction that Jiang Hui has set for everyone is to quickly remove the burden of the large initial investment in factory buildings and equipment for the new company while the products are competitive enough.

Once this kind of investment has been depreciated, we will have enough strength to engage in price wars in the future.

According to Jiang Hui's idea, the Mercedes-Benz brand must not have only one sedan, but also launch more high-end products in the future.

Now the price of sedans has been reduced to 20 to 30 yuan, and the price of higher-end products is set at around 40 to 50 yuan, so there is much more room for maneuver.

Mercedes-Benz cars currently use 2.5L engines. After the 3.5L engine is developed in the future, a high-end version will definitely be launched.

The combination of high and low configurations can just cover the range of 20 to 30.

Now Chen Chenxing has set the price of Jian Yi's 2.5L version of the Mercedes-Benz sedan at 30 yuan, so in the future the price of the 3.5L version will definitely reach 40 yuan.

Of course, you can also choose to lower the price at that time.

"If it's 30 yuan per car, the sales volume will probably be lower, which will not achieve our goal of rapidly increasing the production of 2.5L and 5MT manual transmissions, right?"

Jiang Hui knew that he was not omnipotent, so if he had any questions in his mind, he could just ask them directly.

"I don't think it's necessarily a big deal. Organizations and individuals who can afford a 20 yuan car can basically afford to purchase 30 units."

"The most important thing is that our Mercedes-Benz sedans are very competitive. Whether they are sold at 20 yuan or 30 yuan, the sales volume gap should not be that big."

"From a profit perspective, if the sales volume is not much different, selling the car for 30 yuan would be more appropriate."

Chen Chenxing rarely sticks to his point of view.

He was still very persistent about this kind of thing that was good for the company. "Okay, then let's follow your plan."

"My requirement is that the sales volume of Mercedes-Benz cars should reach at least 1000 units per month."

Jiang Hui knows that his cognition may still have some deviations, so he will not do things that would not make money.

At this time, if you can earn more money and use the money to better develop other affiliated companies, the positive impact on the entire Chinese automobile industry will definitely be much greater.

……

The mass production ceremony of Mercedes-Benz cars was attended by people from many departments in Lingnan Province, not to mention those in Shenzhen.

As the product of the most outstanding automobile factory in the province, it must be supported by the local government.

The order for official vehicles from relevant units was given to BMW Group the day after the Mercedes-Benz sedan rolled off the production line.

The relevant information about Mercedes-Benz cars was quickly placed in front of the heads of various automobile factories.

"Wang, the price of the Mercedes-Benz sedan is 10 yuan higher than our Santana. It seems to be more expensive, but considering the huge difference in the powertrain, I think this pricing is actually more competitive than our Santana."

"Should we consider lowering the price of Santana?"

As a representative of Volkswagen, Lucas has always had opinions on the pricing of Santana.

Initially, Volkswagen suggested a pricing of 8 yuan.

Converted according to the official exchange rate at the time, this price was already astronomical.

Even if calculated based on the black market exchange rate, this price is still much higher than the price of Santana overseas.

But in the end, the Shanghai Automobile Manufacturing Plant did not agree, which led to the current high price.

Of course, since it was produced by CKD assembly in the early days, due to the limitation of foreign exchange quota, the quantity that can be produced each year is limited.

Even if the price is set very high, Santana will not have trouble selling.

Now the Santana localization community has been working hard for two years to maximize the localization rate of Santana.

Although there is still a long way to go to achieve a localization rate of more than 90%, some achievements have indeed been made.

For example, 80% of the various parts on the car body have been domestically produced.

Some injection molded parts have also begun to be produced domestically.

Correspondingly, the cost of Santana is also decreasing, and it already has the strength to sell at a price reduction.

At least that's what Lucas thought.

"As you said, the difference between the Santana and the Mercedes is very obvious. Whether it's the power performance or the fashion level of the appearance, they are completely on a different level."

"In this case, even if we adjust the price, it may not necessarily sell better."

"It would be better to sell a few more Santanas before Mercedes-Benz cars are fully introduced into the market, so as to use up this year's import quota to the greatest extent possible."

Wang Huiliang’s priority now is to maximize the profits of Shanghai’s automobile manufacturers.

The entire Shanghai automobile industry now relies mainly on Shanghai Volkswagen to make money and survive.

The sales volume of Shanghai-brand cars has dropped to less than 2,000 units per month. Judging from this trend, it will be difficult to achieve monthly sales of over 1,000 units by the end of the year.

This will inevitably lead to an increase in the production costs of Shanghai-branded cars and a sharp decline in profits.

Therefore, we attach more importance to the profits provided by the joint venture with Shanghai Volkswagen.

"We at Volkswagen entered the Chinese market not to make money in one or two years, but to develop here for a long time."

"According to what you said, we have increased the sales of Santana in the short term, but after this year's import quota is used up, there will be no cars to produce."

“This is very detrimental to our development.”

Lucas obviously has a slightly different opinion from Wang Huiliang.

Taking steady steps and moving forward step by step, this is the scenario he most hopes to see.

Santana’s current development situation is a little different from what he expected.

"Lucas, the Chinese auto market is very special. You can't use the market rules in Germany to treat it as such."

"Of course, I am not totally opposed to your suggestion of selling at a lower price, but we have to wait until the localization rate of Santana exceeds 50% before we can meet the conditions in this regard."

"Otherwise, there would be no practical significance or gain for us to give up this part of the profit."

Wang Huiliang would not directly tell Lucas that even if the foreign exchange quota was used up, he would find a way to apply for it.

For things that you are not 100% sure of, don't talk too much before you succeed.

"But if the current situation continues, people will think that the Volkswagen brand is not as good as the Mercedes-Benz brand, which is very detrimental to long-term development."

Lucas wanted to struggle a little longer, but Wang Huiliang showed no intention of giving in.

When he can make money without doing anything, it is impossible to ask him to give up some of the money.

Compared with the reaction from Shanghai Volkswagen, the reaction from Capital Automobile Manufacturing Plant is also very interesting.

"The Mercedes-Benz sedan uses the same 2.5L engine, but its power performance is much better than ours. In comparison, our BJ310 looks very bad."

Chen Qi called Lu Jianqiang to his office, but the latter was obviously unwilling to take the blame for the poor performance of the engine.

"Mr. Chen, our engines are all provided by the Capital Internal Combustion Engine Factory. Their quality is already relatively high in China."

"But compared with the Nanshan engine, there is still a gap."

"We have already purchased the prototype of the 1.5L engine produced by the other party. Many of the parts are designed very ingeniously. No wonder the various parameters are close to the 310L engine used in our BJ2.5."

"Considering that the 1.5L engine produced by Nanshan Engine is cheaper than the 2.5L engine produced by Capital Internal Combustion Engine Factory, and the performance is not much different."

"I think we can launch a 1.5L version of the BJ310, and then lower the price by yuan. The sales volume should be worth looking forward to."

Lu Jianqiang came up with an interesting plan with unique ideas.

(End of this chapter)