The car giant started by marrying the daughter of the king

Chapter 373 Win-Win Cooperation
The man is affectionate, and the concubine is interested.

This matter will naturally be easy to handle.

For the BMW Group, the most important thing to do now is to increase production and sales and put the company's operations into a positive cycle.

Only then can we further consider the issue of brand building in the American market.

Brand building itself is also for making money. If a lot of money can be made in the American market through cooperation with General Motors, then it is not unacceptable even if the various subsidiaries of the BMW Group have no brand awareness in the United States.

It would be even more valuable if this cooperation could enable manufacturers such as Nanshan Transmission and Nanshan Technology to enter the supply chain of international auto giants.

"Jiang, Mercedes-Benz is a brand-new model after all. We can only promise to import no less than 1 vehicles in the first year. Whether we can maintain this import volume in the future depends on its market performance."

In response to Jiang Hui's request to limit the minimum monthly export quantity, Austin chose a compromise solution.

If there is no commitment and no risk-taking, then this cooperation may not be able to proceed.

But Austin certainly doesn't want GM to make too many promises.

After all, there is no successful precedent for cooperation, so there are still risks.

If the car cannot be sold after being imported, it will become a book asset and you will suffer a huge loss.

"No problem. I believe Mercedes-Benz cars will perform very well in the American market."

“Maybe by then it won’t be 10,000 a year, but 10,000 a month.”

Although several major American auto giants have had a hard time in recent years, the American auto market has actually been growing.

However, the increase was snatched away by foreign companies such as Japanese car companies.

The entire 1980s and 1990s were actually a period of very good economic development in the United States, and the growth of the automobile market was considerable.

Almost every large company has vehicles with monthly sales of over 10,000.

Even for a product that sells tens of thousands of units a month, there are more than just one or two models on the market.

"Thanks to you, I hope that Mercedes-Benz cars can really achieve monthly sales of over 10,000. Then, we can consider cooperating with BMW Group on new products in the future using similar solutions."

"When your parts companies enter our supply chain system, there will be fewer obstacles."

As long as General Motors can make a lot of money from the cooperation, Austin can easily remove many obstacles internally.

He still has this little bit of confidence.

Especially as the design director, he has a lot of say in introducing new suppliers.

For some parts, the design department directly decides which supplier to use, while the purchasing department is more concerned with going through the procedures.

"We have two new products under development, which will be ready for mass production by the end of next year. We will definitely not let you down then."

Compared with Mercedes-Benz sedans, Jiang Hui is more excited about the performance of Land Rover pickup trucks and SUVs in the American market.

By then, the BMW Group will be able to export to America and brand its cars for General Motors while exploring markets in Africa, the Middle East and other places, making the Land Rover brand an internationally renowned brand. Then, the BMW Group's business will be completely developed.

By then, as China's largest export-earning enterprise, the BMW Group will be able to enjoy benefits that will absolutely be beyond imagination.

Many of the things Jiang Hui is worried about will no longer be a concern because the BMW Group is famous enough.

After all, even if some people want to invest, they still have to worry about whether they can eat such fat meat.

"New product? What type of car is it?"

Austin looked at Jiang Hui curiously.

He is very confident in Jiang Hui's design skills. If General Motors had such a designer, the current situation would definitely be much better.

"Let me keep you in suspense. You will know when the time comes."

"I'm sure you'll be satisfied."

BMW Group is now getting on the right track, and naturally, the news about the new project cannot be leaked before it is ready to be launched on the market.

Mercedes-Benz cars have attracted a lot of attention now. If the new project becomes known to others, some car companies may take targeted measures.

This is not good for the development of the BMW Group.

Austin also knew some practices in the industry and did not chase Jiang Hui to ask about the details of the new project.

The two parties quickly agreed on a time to formally sign the cooperation agreement and asked the people below to discuss the contract details.

……

As such a major export cooperation agreement, even though BMW Group is a foreign-funded enterprise, it invited relevant personnel from Shenzhen to participate in the signing ceremony of the cooperation agreement with General Motors.

Lingnan Provincial TV station also specially arranged for reporters to attend, and the relevant news was broadcast that evening.

As a result, the cooperation between BMW Group and General Motors naturally spread in the Chinese automobile industry.

"Leader, BMW Group can sell domestically produced cars to America, but other car manufacturers such as FAW are constantly cooperating with various auto giants to establish joint ventures and introduce their models for production in China."

"By comparing the two, the gap is very obvious."

"In order to encourage domestic manufacturers to improve their automobile-related technologies, should we provide more support to the BMW Group?"

As the director of the Automobile Bureau of the First Ministry of Machine Building, Qin Hao actually had his own ideas about some of the plans formulated by the higher authorities to attract foreign investment.

In the past, domestic automobile manufacturers were not competitive and if they wanted to develop passenger car technology, they could only import it from abroad.

But after the emergence of BMW, this situation changed rapidly.

He believes that relevant policies also need to be adjusted.

"Attracting foreign investment is also earning foreign exchange to a certain extent, which is in line with the general direction."

"Although the situation in the auto industry is rather special, we certainly cannot go against the general policy direction."

"But what you said makes sense. The ministry could indeed provide more support to the BMW Group."

"Lingnan Province has actually raised this topic with our ministry, hoping that the ministry will allow BMW to produce all types of automotive products and provide full support in terms of raw material supply."

Zheng Haiming and Jiang Hui are also old acquaintances. He has no objection to Qin Hao's decision to support BMW.

However, while supporting BMW, the ministry also supports allowing other automobile manufacturers to find development directions that suit them.

After the Shanghai Automobile Manufacturing Plant cooperated with Volkswagen to produce Santana, its operating conditions improved rapidly and it had funds to develop some new projects. FAW was also very active in seeking cooperation with international automobile giants.

The Yangcheng Automobile Manufacturing Plant turned losses into profits after cooperating with Peugeot.

Under such circumstances, the Ministry of First Machine Industry certainly had no way to stop joint venture projects in the automobile industry.

After all, this general direction has been approved by superiors.

"If this is the case, it would be equivalent to having BMW cars compete directly with the products produced by various joint venture car manufacturers."

“This is actually very difficult and is not conducive to the development of other car manufacturers’ own brands.”

I have to say that Qin Hao's vision is still good.

It’s just that all automobile manufacturers are generally not living up to their expectations, and the so-called domestic brands have disappointed everyone.

There is no trace of the independent brand car companies such as BYD, Great Wall, and Geely in later generations.

"There is nothing we can do about it. We need to look at this matter from a bigger perspective."

"Whether it's the cars produced by the joint venture or BMW, they can improve the level of the domestic auto industry and our economic development, and that's enough."

"As for the pressure BMW is facing, I believe Jiang Hui has the ability to lead them to break out a different path."

"Didn't they sign a formal cooperation contract with General Motors yesterday? They will replace the Mercedes-Benz sedans with Buick logos and export them to the American market."

“This is also a roundabout way of development.”

Since Zheng Haiming said so, Qin Hao naturally couldn't say anything more.

After all, he also knows the overall development direction.

……

"President, we have received news from the Huaxia Office that BMW is working with General Motors to introduce Mercedes-Benz cars to the American market."

"This is likely to have some impact on the sales of our Camry and Corolla models."

Saito Shoei came to Shoichiro Toyoda's office with a worried look on his face.

The North American market is Toyota's most important overseas market. In order to develop the North American market, Toyota even established a high-end brand such as Lexus.

The goal is to capture both the high-end and mid-range markets in the United States.

They had both seen the stunning appearance of the Mercedes-Benz sedan with their own eyes.

Several Mercedes-Benz sedans purchased by Toyota are also going through export procedures and will soon appear at Toyota's R&D center for everyone to study.

In this situation, General Motors took action so quickly that Saito Shoei naturally felt a certain amount of pressure.

"I didn't expect GM to be so humble as to sell Mercedes-Benz cars directly under its name."

"With GM's dealer system, coupled with the appearance and good power performance of the Mercedes-Benz sedan, the initial sales of this car should be good."

"However, GM's decline cannot be reversed by just one model. Their problems are caused by major issues in product planning."

"I don't think you need to worry too much, but our R&D team should digest and absorb some of the good design concepts of Mercedes-Benz cars as quickly as possible when developing the next product, and also launch products that consumers will never forget after seeing them once."

Toyota has performed very well in the international market in recent years. In addition to the advantage of fuel efficiency, the excellent appearance design of its models is also an important reason.

Now this advantage is facing a huge threat, and Shoichiro Toyoda naturally sees it.

"Now I just don't know whether the power performance and fuel consumption of the engines and gearboxes produced by BMW are really as good as they have announced, and whether the quality is so stable."

"If everything works as advertised, GM's actions will likely directly result in our sales in the U.S. dropping by several thousand vehicles."

Saito Shoei did not end the topic immediately, but instead gave Toyoda Shoichiro a shot of prevention in advance.

In his opinion, GM's move will have the greatest impact on Japanese and Korean automakers.

After all, the products of these two countries are famous in the American market for their beautiful appearance and low fuel consumption.

"If it really only affects a few thousand vehicles a month, it's not a big problem. I'm afraid that if BMW and GM continue to cooperate like this, the impact on us will be even greater."

During this period, Shoichiro Toyoda has also asked people to collect a lot of information related to the BMW Group, and he also made a detailed understanding of the Chaoyang Motorcycle Manufacturing Plant and Jiang Hui's past resume.

The more he knew, the more he felt the crisis.

Why does Jiang Hui have the same feeling as when his father started his business, or when Soichiro Honda started his business?

This is a technical expert who is completely different from ordinary people.

The key is that they not only understand technology, but also seem to understand business and management.

With the support of China's huge market, everything will be possible.

"President, I think we can make some concessions on the terms of cooperation with FAW, and strive to have our Crown produced locally in China as soon as possible, so that we can compete with BMW and Mercedes-Benz sedans and occupy the Chinese market in advance."

"Even if this hits the growth space of the BMW Group, it also allows us to open up a new market."

Saito Shoei's suggestion is undoubtedly very unique and bold.

In the early 1980s, although various collaborations between Japan and China were increasing, the real large-scale entry of enterprises actually occurred in the 1990s, or even after entering the 21st century.

It's only 1985 now.

Many of China's policies were not as clear as they are in later generations, and international companies had not yet fully established confidence in the Chinese market.

"No problem. You can go to Huaxia again and discuss the details of the joint venture with the people from FAW."

"We will strive to have our Crown sedan assembled and sold in China in the form of CKD within this year, and quickly increase our influence."

The Mercedes-Benz car had a huge impact on Shoichiro Toyoda.

During this period, they also heard that the BMW Group seemed to be developing new models.

If there is another amazing car model like this at that time, it will definitely have a certain impact on the global automobile market.

In particular, now that the BMW Group has begun to cooperate with General Motors, the international influence of related products will inevitably expand significantly.

(End of this chapter)