The car giant started by marrying the daughter of the king

Chapter 375 Unprecedented Rapid Introduction

OEM production seems to be a tradition at General Motors.

It can even be said that GM is a manufacturer that likes to rebrand or slightly modify the same car and then sell it in different places...

For example, when the 2018 Regal was launched in China, it was considered a Buick-branded model and was naturally equipped with Buick standards.

However, it is actually the same model as the Holden Commodore VXR in Australia and the Opel Insignia GSi in the European market.

It is just OEM sales based on the needs of different markets.

In addition to General Motors, Volkswagen has actually done something similar.

Historically, in 1995, Volkswagen Sharan was sold under the OEM license of SEAT and Ford. Ford sold it until 06 when it stopped production, while SEAT continues to stand on the same platform with its big brother until now.

Regarding OEM, it can be said that as long as there is a market, nothing is a problem.

General Motors is very optimistic about Mercedes-Benz cars, so its various OEM sales actions are naturally very fast.

For the BMW Group, if it just wants to change the logo, the parts can be produced in a month. What takes time is the transportation of the vehicle.

In order to shorten the time as much as possible, General Motors directly notified BMW to transport the cars first and then change the logos after arriving in America.

After all, compared to the bulky car, the car logo is small and light, so it can be directly airlifted.

"Director, our first batch of 500 Mercedes-Benz cars have successfully arrived in America. They have been replaced with Buick logos and are now being shipped to various Buick dealers."

Chen Chenxing has been very busy recently.

Whether it is Nanshan Technology or BMW Group, there are many businesses that require his attention.

"GM is so enthusiastic. It seems that they are quite satisfied with the appearance and performance of Mercedes-Benz cars."

Although both parties have signed the contract, GM's impatient attitude still surprised Jiang Hui a little.

It seems that this automobile company, which has long dominated the leading position in the world's automobile industry, is not having such a good time now.

No wonder the United States later forced the appreciation of the yen through the Plaza Accord. It was because the large-scale export of Japanese cars to the American market had a huge impact on local automobile companies.

"The power and torque of our 2.5L engine are no less than GM's own similar products, and the fuel consumption is indeed better."

"In this case, GM will definitely try to see if it can make Mercedes-Benz sedans into a new flagship product for the Buick brand."

"After all, any extra money earned from exporting this car to the United States is GM's profit."

Chen Chenxing has visited America several times in the past year and has a relatively deep understanding of the automobile market there.

"GM wants to make Mercedes-Benz sedans a hit product, so we must also be prepared in terms of production capacity."

"It would be a pity if they are really capable of selling tens of thousands of Mercedes-Benz cars a month and we are unable to provide enough products."

"So even if we can only get 10% profit from producing a Mercedes-Benz car and exporting it to General Motors, it is still worth doing well."

In later generations, the net profit of most automobile companies was less than 10%.

However, in the Chinese automobile market, there was a long period of time that was quite special.

Before 2020, many joint venture car companies had profits of more than 10%.

Joint venture car companies such as Shanghai Volkswagen in the 30s and s had profit margins of over %, which is extremely exaggerated.

Therefore, the 10% profit margin of Mercedes-Benz cars is not really very high.

At least compared with the profit margin of Mercedes-Benz cars sold in the domestic market, it is lower.

Of course, if the impact of export earnings is taken into account, it becomes difficult to measure.

After all, the exchange rate has different meanings when measured from different dimensions.

"Our newly invested second factory has an annual production capacity of 12 vehicles. Currently, the capacity is only % to %, which should be enough to meet demand."

“The new factory for Land Rover is also being prepared.”

"Product compatibility was taken into consideration when designing these two factories, so as to cope with the situation in the future where some models have good sales and some have poor sales, resulting in the need to coordinate production capacity between production lines."

Although Chen Chenxing works in sales, he is also concerned about some aspects of production.

The idea of ​​production and sales linkage is still quite popular within the BMW Group.

……

As the first product to enter the American market, Mercedes-Benz cars, although rebadged as Buick brands, have also attracted the attention of many interested parties.

"Bill, General Motors has introduced a mid-to-high-end sedan from China to compete with Toyota's Camry and Honda's Accord. Do you think this car will have an impact on the sales of our Taurus?"

As the president of Ford Motor Company, the second largest automaker in the United States, Peterson has a heavy burden on his shoulders.

Facing a similar situation to General Motors, Ford's business conditions are also not ideal under the attack of Japanese automakers such as Toyota and Honda.

Chrysler Corporation, one of the three largest automobile companies in the United States, is even on the verge of bankruptcy. These companies can be said to be in the same boat.

Correspondingly, Honda opened its first automobile manufacturing plant in Ohio, USA, and Toyota opened its first joint venture manufacturing plant in California.

The car sales of the two Japanese automobile companies in the United States soared, directly squeezing the market share of the three major automobile companies in the United States, making them feel a huge crisis.

Faced with such a dire situation, what should Ford do?
Ford's then-CEO Philip Caldwell was eager to develop a mid-size family sedan that could compete directly with the Accord and Camry.

He also knew that in order to develop new products in a new competitive environment, process reform must come first.

Traditionally, automobile development has followed a vertical, linear process.

In the linear development process, important links such as market research, concept design, engineering development, production planning, production process, and after-sales service are separated from each other and completed independently in steps.

This development model conforms to the natural sequence of the product cycle and is relatively simple and effective to manage, so it is widely adopted by major automobile companies.

But in the new competitive environment characterized by faster, better and lower cost, this linear development model has many limitations.

To improve this model, Ford began to implement a flatter development process - that is, the development project team brought together all personnel related to vehicle development under one roof from the beginning.

This is the collaborative development model that was later widely advocated in the field of automotive engineering.

In this new model, the Taurus Automotive Development Team was born.

In terms of power design, Ford used advanced front-wheel drive for the first time on the Taurus model, equipped with a V6 engine and a fully automatic transmission. The interior dial has been studied through multiple ergonomics studies, and the buttons are arranged in a centralized and reasonable manner, which is both convenient and beautiful.

At the same time, the interior of the car has been comprehensively optimized, greatly increasing the internal space.

In 1985, the Ford Taurus was launched in North America.

Ford first brought the Taurus to market in two models: a four-door sedan and a five-door station wagon, with a base price of $10,000.

Ford's unremitting efforts and innovations on the Taurus model paid off: as soon as the Taurus was unveiled, it was sought after by the public and the media.

People are pleasantly surprised by its beautiful shape and cost-effectiveness.

If history had continued to develop normally, Taurus would have sold more than 260,000 units in its first year of sales, which would have definitely been a hit product. It completely reversed Ford's unfavorable situation and also allowed Japanese car companies to see the profound heritage of the American auto giant.

As soon as Taurus was launched, various media outlets praised its various designs and felt that it was an amazing product.

After all, most of the car models in the American market at that time were angular, and there were very few with rounded shapes.

However, the Ford Taurus uses a design similar to that of Mercedes-Benz sedans, which immediately catches everyone's attention.

However, the people at Ford Motor Company had not been happy for a few days before they discovered that General Motors had actually imported a batch of private-label cars from China, and their styling was also in the style of Taurus.

The impact of its appearance is even greater than that of Taurus.

No wonder Peterson, as the president of Ford Motor Company, can't sit still.

"The product that General Motors imported from China is called Buick Forester. It is indeed well designed in appearance, but General Motors is still too hasty."

"Except for changing the logo, the entire Buick Forester is imported from China, so the quality is definitely not guaranteed."

"You have visited Huaxia before and have a deep understanding of the level of the Chinese automobile industry. They simply do not have the level to produce high-performance engines and gearboxes, and their chassis tuning capabilities are also poor."

"Relying solely on beautiful appearance may attract some consumers at the beginning, but it will soon bring a lot of trouble to General Motors."

As the sales director of Ford Motor Company, Bill is very confident about his own Taurus sedan.

This is Ford Motor Company's flagship product this year. It has just been launched on the market and there is already a shortage of supply. The factory has even started working overtime to produce it.

This situation is unlikely to change because of a car from China.

"You may be right. The quality of the Buick Forester may be problematic, but its appearance is stunning enough to overshadow our Taurus."

"This is very unfavorable to the increase in Taurus' sales, so your sales department should still pay attention to market changes."

Peterson certainly doesn't think that the performance of the Taurus sedan is worse than that of the Buick Forester, but if he simply compares the appearance, he still lacks confidence.

The Taurus sedan’s main features are its stunning appearance and powerful power performance.

If this key selling point is surpassed by others, it will definitely have an impact on sales.

Especially after General Motors made a great effort, the situation became even more different.

……

Fields is a sales manager at a General Motors dealership.

For sales managers like them, in addition to basic salary, sales commission is also a very important item in their monthly income.

In the past few years, GM's sales performance has not been ideal, and Fields' income has declined to a certain extent.

This month, a new batch of sedans called Buick Forester arrived in their store.

Fields had never heard of this model before it arrived at the store, and GM did not provide any special information about the product's research and development background. They just gave training on the car's performance parameters and marketing tactics, and then asked each store to start sales and promotion.

As a senior sales manager, Phils knows which cars are easier to sell.

The lowest-equipped Buick Forester is priced at US$11,000, which is very close to the price of mainstream mid-size sedans on the market.

In terms of power performance, the engine parameters will not be worse.

The only downside is the lack of an automatic transmission model, but that wasn’t a big problem in the 1985 car market.

Especially after seeing the actual Buick Forester, Fields immediately decided to make this car the focus of his future sales to customers.

There is no way, its appearance is so recognizable that people can't forget it after just one look.

In this case, it would be the easiest for Phils to sell it.

Sure enough, after a few days of trial, the first batch of Buick Foresters were sold out, and Phils had already felt its sales potential.

"Sophic, we have to find a way to get General Motors to send us more Buick Foresters. This car is selling so well."

"We basically don't need any special promotion. Once consumers see the actual car, their willingness to buy becomes stronger immediately."

"Among the few cars I sold, two consumers were originally planning to buy Toyota Camry and Honda Accord, but were eventually attracted by Buick Forester."

The store doesn’t have enough inventory, and the key is that we don’t know when the next batch of Buick Foresters will arrive.

That's why Phils boldly approached the general manager, Sophie, to communicate directly, hoping that the store could find a way to get more cars back.

In the past, when Buick cars were not selling well, the General Motors sales department forced the stores to take more cars, but now that Buick Forester is selling well, there are no cars to sell.

Wouldn't this affect Phils' commission?

"I'm working on it, but the next batch of Buick Foresters won't arrive for another week."

"There will be a batch of Buick Foresters arriving every week, but the number will not be large."

Sophie now began to feel the troubles of happiness.

The car is good to sell, but there is no stock.

He worries that consumers won't have the patience to wait.

"When will we be able to get enough Buick Foresters to our store?"

Fields asked a question that all the sales managers in the store were very concerned about.

But Sophie had no way to answer.

(End of this chapter)