The car giant started by marrying the daughter of the king

Chapter 372 Curved Development is Not Unacceptable
When Austin came to China, he did not contact Jiang Hui in advance.

He wanted to figure out the situation with the Mercedes-Benz car before deciding how to deal with it.

After all, Smith was very optimistic about Mercedes-Benz cars before, so Austin came to experience it in person.

After seeing the actual car, Austin was certain that his trip to China was not in vain.

Even if there is no way to get any cooperation, he still feels it is very meaningful.

After taking all kinds of photos and videos, Austin immediately flew back to Detroit and held a meeting with GM President Murphy and Sales Director Edward.

"The video you just saw was shot by me personally at the scene, without any additional editing."

“These photos were taken directly by me and can withstand any scrutiny.”

"In addition to its stunning appearance, the dynamic performance of Mercedes-Benz cars is also excellent."

"The 2.5L four-cylinder engine is paired with a 5MT manual transmission, and its power performance is no worse than our engines of the same displacement."

"I test-drove the car for more than an hour inside the embassy and found no obvious problems with the car."

Austin obviously had some unique ideas to tell Murphy and Edward, otherwise things wouldn't be like this now.

"Is this car also designed by Jiang Hui?"

Cadillac's flagship sedan is selling very well now, and it uses the design that Jiang Hui helped to design.

But the appearance is obviously at least one generation behind that of Mercedes-Benz cars.

The people present are all knowledgeable people.

"Yes, the BMW Group originally only had one model, the BMW Sunshine, but it is already the model with the highest monthly sales in China."

"Now that we have launched the Mercedes-Benz sedan, we will probably become the largest automobile company in China very soon."

"As a newly emerging company, it is definitely not easy to make such a big splash in such a short period of time."

"And I feel that Jiang Hui attaches great importance to the international market. BMW will enter the international market sooner or later."

“There may be some room for cooperation between the two sides.”

Austin had a premonition that the involvement between General Motors and BMW Group would be very deep in the future.

There is no harm for General Motors to start deepening the cooperation between the two parties now.

"It's already very uncomfortable for us now that Japanese and Korean car companies are entering the American market. If BMW is really as powerful as you said, won't it make us even more uncomfortable when they enter the international market in the future?"

As soon as Edward finished speaking, Austin expressed a different opinion.

"So we should learn from this lesson and negotiate relevant cooperation before BMW Group fully enters the American auto market."

"With Jiang Hui, a master designer, the exterior designs of various BMW models will surely be outstanding in the future."

"Before we can find a designer who is more capable than Jiang Hui, it is beneficial to cooperate with him."

"For example, after the other party's models enter the American market, they will all be replaced with our Buick brand logos, and both parties will share this part of the profits."

Austin made a bold suggestion.

In his opinion, this solution can fully leverage China's manufacturing cost advantages and also make good use of BMW's design advantages in vehicle appearance.

General Motors takes advantage of its local dealer network to gain some additional profits.

Under normal circumstances, GM would definitely not adopt such a plan that would be somewhat of an aid to the enemy.

However, the market has been completely disrupted by Japanese car companies, and introducing BMW products to compete with Japanese car companies is something that can be tried.

"Can we consider deeper cooperation, import relevant models directly from BMW, and then completely turn them into our own products?"

“This way, it’s not easy for competitors to catch us.”

Edward also thinks that cooperation with BMW is something worth considering.

However, if the OEM issue were to be publicized, it would easily affect GM's reputation, which was what he was worried about.

"This plan is certainly worth considering. As long as the price is right, BMW will probably agree."

"But in this case, we have to bear some risks of investing in brand new products, and investment in tooling and production lines for various parts is inevitable."

"The most important thing is that the cost of parts produced by our local parts factories cannot compare with that of Japanese and Korean car companies, let alone those in China."

"The current Chinese market is a bit special. They are very persistent in exporting and earning foreign exchange."

"If we import the corresponding models from China, re-brand them and sell them in the United States, it will be considered export earnings for China."

"They have various subsidy policies that can make costs lower than Japan."

Austin knew that GM's current operating conditions were not ideal. After all, the number of units was constantly declining, while various fixed shared costs were there.

By importing models directly from BMW and selling them on the market, General Motors will have to bear very little risk.

After all, all the investment was made by BMW, and GM just had to wait to make money.

"The plan Austin proposed is good. In the early stage, we don't know how effective this cooperation plan will be, and whether the sales of Mercedes-Benz cars are really good."

"It is a safer solution to directly import a batch of models from China and sell them here."

"But in this case, BMW would be our OEM and bear all the risks. I don't know if they are willing to do that."

Murphy combined the various news he had just heard and quickly gave his own judgment.

"If it is a manufacturer like Toyota that has already opened up the American market, they will definitely not be willing to adopt this kind of cooperation plan with us."

"But BMW Group is different. They have not officially entered our market yet. They certainly have no idea how to enter and what their performance will be like after entering."

"By cooperating with us, they can reduce various investments in entering the American market and do not need to worry about anything."

"While earning foreign exchange through exports, they can also make some real profits, which is a good thing for them."

"The most important thing is that without our cooperation, or if we do something behind the scenes, the other party's car models will not be able to be sold in our market at all."

"Everything is difficult at the beginning. Jiang Hui should be able to understand this."

"Besides, we just want their share in the American market. Their share in other markets around the world can continue to be left to them."

"To a certain extent, if we help them sell their cars well in the American market, it will also be beneficial to their sales in other auto markets."

Austin has done a lot of research on the situation in China over the years, and he has a certain grasp of the mentality of Jiang Hui and others. Although General Motors has gained an advantage in this cooperation, BMW Group has not suffered any loss.

There is certainly no harm in being able to export a few more Mercedes-Benz cars.

"Okay, in that case, Austin, you should fly to China again and work well with Jiang Hui."

"We will try to have Mercedes-Benz cars appear in our market in two months and see what the response will be."

With Murphy's decision, a unified opinion was reached within GM.

As the representative of the negotiations, Austin flew directly to China to communicate with Jiang Hui.

……

Important business cooperation negotiations are definitely not finalized in just one meeting.

Austin didn't think that he could get things done by just meeting Jiang Hui once.

He simply put forward the cooperation plan with GM first and waited for the results of BMW's internal discussions.

"Director, the American market is quite special. No car manufacturer in our country can sell its products there."

"And the requirements of consumers there for automotive products are quite different from those of domestic consumers."

"It is very difficult for a brand-new brand to open up the market there. I think it will be beneficial for us in the short term to cooperate with General Motors, a local giant."

Fang Huihui expressed her views first.

After Jiang Hui met with Austin, he called a meeting of the company's executives to brainstorm and discuss cooperation plans.

Jiang Hui certainly hopes that all brands under the BMW Group can flourish around the world, but he also knows that some markets are not so easy to enter.

For example, in the American market, Japanese and Korean car companies are doing very well there, and German car companies are also doing okay.

However, the situations of these three countries are too special. Just because America allows them to exist to a certain extent does not mean that they can accommodate Chinese car companies.

This will not change easily even if both parties are still in the honeymoon period.

After all, the importance of the automobile industry is still recognized by everyone.

"GM takes almost no risk in this plan, which I think is a bit unfair."

"Even if we want to cooperate in this way, at least we should have some constraints in the contract, stipulating the minimum number of Mercedes-Benz cars that the other party needs to import from us."

"For example, we can import at least 500 or 1000 vehicles per month to ensure that we can also benefit from this cooperation process."

Chen Chenxing did not completely oppose GM's cooperation plan.

As the head of sales, he is well aware of the difficulties BMW Group faces in entering the international market.

The situation in America is so special that Chen Chenxing has no confidence that he can turn the situation around in a short period of time.

Therefore, he thought it was good enough to take advantage of the opportunity of cooperating with General Motors to increase the production of Mercedes-Benz cars.

In this era, people's awareness of brands was not as high as in later generations, and they cared more about production.

“Will the other party directly learn our technology through this kind of cooperation, and then produce similar products directly on their own?”

As the director of the R&D center, Hou Guoming mentioned a point of concern.

"The risk you mentioned would still exist even if we didn't cooperate with GM."

"These big companies still have to maintain some dignity. If they directly copy the appearance of our Mercedes-Benz cars and their competitors use them for large-scale publicity, it will inevitably affect the company's stock price, which they cannot accept."

“So I don’t think there’s any need to worry.”

After Jiang Hui said this, everyone quickly understood what the boss's attitude was.

Everyone present is a smart person.

Since the boss already has a tendency, then naturally we will work in that direction.

Unless this plan is really very unfavorable to the company.

Obviously, this is clearly not the case.

"Although the development of General Motors in recent years has not been very optimistic, it is still the world's leading automobile giant after all."

"Our Mercedes-Benz sedans cooperate with the other party and have Buick logos. For manufacturers such as Nanshan Technology, it can be regarded as an indirect cooperative relationship with General Motors."

“Is it possible to take this opportunity to allow Nanshan Technology, Nanshan Transmission and other supporting plants to enter GM’s overall supporting system?”

As soon as Chen Chenxing put forward this point of view, everyone was very interested.

For a large automobile company, supporting suppliers are very important.

China's overall strength in this area is relatively weak. If it can take this opportunity to cooperate with General Motors and allow related supporting factories to begin to enter the international market, this will definitely be a good thing.

"This is a very good idea. We can also consider proposing it directly to GM, but I think the other party will at most give us an opportunity to investigate. It is impossible for them to directly agree to use parts produced by Nanshan Technology and Nanshan Transmission."

“Even if there is a cost advantage, this goal may not be achieved directly.”

Fang Huihui is relatively familiar with some of the practices of international auto giants such as General Motors.

Nanshan Technology and Nanshan Transmission have not yet been widely used by automobile manufacturers in China. It is obviously not easy for them to quickly enter the supply chain of General Motors.

But if you give it a try and ask the other party for a chance, it is possible that you can start cooperating on a certain car model in the future.

"It doesn't matter. There's no harm in giving it a try. At least we can let the other party inspect it."

"GM is in such a difficult situation right now, if there is an opportunity to reduce costs, they should be motivated to do so."

Chen Chenxing’s point of view touched Jiang Hui’s heart.

So Jiang Hui definitely supports it.

The importance of the auto parts industry is no less than that of the entire automobile industry.

The companies listed in the top 100 global auto parts manufacturers, especially the top few, are no weaker than most of the OEMs in terms of strength.

Even if they want, they can switch to producing cars in minutes.

Parts companies such as Magna are directly engaged in the business of OEM of complete vehicles, and are only one step away from becoming automobile manufacturers.

(End of this chapter)