The car giant started by marrying the daughter of the king

Chapter 382 The Best Era of Cooperation
"BRONCO is indeed a very classic product of our company and represents Ford's most advanced level in the field of off-road vehicles."

"It's better than the Jeep that AMC offers."

Peterson chatted with Jiang Hui for about ten minutes before beginning to visit the booths of Nanshan Technology and other companies.

During this visit, he became interested in Nanshan Transmission's 5MT manual transmission.

"What is the approximate sales price of your 5MT?"

Peterson didn't beat around the bush with Jiang Hui and went straight to the point.

"It depends on the number of orders, but as long as the annual sales volume exceeds 2 units, we can achieve a price of more than $ per unit."

Jiang Hui knew this was a good opportunity to introduce the 5MT manual transmission into Ford cars.

Nanshan Transmission had previously been in contact with people from Ford Motor Company, but the progress was not particularly smooth.

Now that the CEO of Ford Motor Company is coming to visit and exchange ideas, it is natural that we should promote our product well.

At this time, the American transmission market is mainly dominated by Aisin Warner, a joint venture between Japan's Aisin and BorgWarner. Germany's ZF takes some orders, and the rest is divided up by some car companies' own transmission departments and other companies.

Since Aisin Warner is backed by Toyota Motor, it has no worries about sales of its products, so the prices are not particularly favorable.

Jiang Hui had previously roughly understood the price at which the other party supplied goods to Ford and General Motors.

The 300MT, which costs more than US$5, basically has a % advantage over Aisin Warner.

As for Nanshan Transmission, considering the influence of various factors such as export tax rebates, it can actually obtain a profit of more than ten points.

5MT is a stepping stone, and earning a little less is acceptable.

The next automatic transmission will be the focus of Nanshan Transmission's development.

"If you can really make it more than $5 per unit, and if there is no problem with the performance, our purchasing center will definitely recommend your MT to the R&D center."

Grant, the purchasing director, made a commitment on the spot.

This positive attitude towards cooperation was a bit beyond Jiang Hui's expectations.

When did Americans become so easy to talk to?
It seems that Ford Motor Company is facing great operating pressure.

In America at this time, workers are treated very well, which is far beyond the reach of Japanese companies.

It’s just that the workers are treated too well, so the corresponding production costs and efficiency are not so ideal.

"When I graduated from university, I designed a 4MT manual transmission as the research object of my graduation project. Now this transmission is the largest-volume transmission in China and is used by more than a dozen automobile manufacturers."

"Basically, all Chinese passenger car companies use this product."

"It can be said that it has achieved a very good balance between cost and performance, and there has been no negative feedback from the market in recent years."

"The 5MT in front of us is developed based on the 4MT. Its performance has been greatly improved, but the cost has not changed much."

"Compared with similar products from ZF and Aisin Warner, we have achieved a significant cost reduction with the same performance."

Since the other party is interested in using Nanshan Transmission's products, Jiang Hui naturally has to convey his confidence to them.

The design of Nanshan Transmission's 5MT manual transmission is very mature and will not require any major improvements in the next few decades.

At most, we can make some efforts in the processing accuracy of materials and parts to maximize its performance.

Jiang Hui has great confidence in this classic gearbox product.

"Jiang, I've heard of your design talent for a long time. Are you interested in working with Ford Motor Company to help design a sedan or SUV?"

After chatting for a while, Peterson formally mentioned the car's exterior design to Jiang Hui.

This is also the thing he is most concerned about today.

Peterson is well aware of how important a classic car's appearance is.

Even though American consumers do not consider the appearance when buying a car, they cannot ignore the importance of appearance.

Why was Kia Motors in Goryeo able to grow rapidly and seize a place for itself in the international market?

This is because Kia Motors has made great efforts in appearance. In the decade after 2010, the designs of various models they launched are amazing.

The development history of modern automobiles after entering the 21st century is actually similar.

If the brand power is not enough, then let industrial aesthetics make up for it.

As long as the appearance is beautiful enough, it can definitely attract a group of consumers.

Jiang Hui also plans to let the BMW take a good drive on this road.

In the early stage, it relied on appearance to build its reputation, and then gradually worked on safety performance.

Once the technology has accumulated to a certain level, we can compete with others in terms of performance data.

At that time, BMW cars became completely famous all over the world.

"Peterson, I'm glad you recognize my design skills, but BMW is developing two new models at the same time, and I feel like my brain has been drained."

How could Jiang Hui help Ford design a new car model so easily?
Wouldn't that be making things difficult for yourself?

If the products designed by then compete with BMW, it would be completely shooting itself in the foot.

Even if you could get some parts orders by designing a new car for Ford, it would not be worth it.

At least the current 5MT is not worth it. After all, America has begun to shift to automatic transmissions.

Most of Ford's models are equipped with 4AT automatic transmissions on a large scale.

After Nanshan Transmission's 4AT goes into mass production, if the other party is still willing to use it on a large scale, then everything can be discussed.

"If you want to sell your new products in the American market, you can also consider cooperating with Ford Motor Company."

Peterson had not originally expected Jiang Hui to agree to his request easily.

So after listening to Jiang Hui's words, he immediately changed his request.

In his opinion, if BMW can cooperate with General Motors, then there will naturally be no obstacles to cooperating with Ford.

"Of course I am willing to cooperate with Ford, but you also know that the Buick-Forest cooperation case was before, and General Motors clearly stated at the time that they have the right to cooperate first in future projects."

"Unless GM has no plans to introduce new BMW models, I may not have any more choices."

Jiang Hui directly threw the problem to General Motors. If Peterson could handle General Motors, then Jiang Hui actually had no objection to cooperating with Ford Motors.

After all, Ford Motor Company is also a long-established American automobile giant, and its influence is not much less than that of General Motors.

After that, the two sides communicated for a while and ended the meeting.

As the CEO of Ford Motor Company, Peterson is known to many people in the entire auto parts exhibition area.

Seeing that Peterson was so interested in the booths of Chinese companies such as Nanshan Technology, everyone naturally joined in the fun and came over to take a look.

With this glance, you may be able to see the opportunity.

During the entire parts exhibition, companies such as Nanshan Technology signed orders with several American after-sales chain companies.

Although these are generally not particularly large orders, they are definitely a good start.

When people first come into contact with each other, it takes some time to build trust.

Once the cooperation starts, the order scale will be completely different.

……

"Jiang, I have good news for you. We at General Motors are planning to use your bellows, batteries, and wheel bolts on some of our models."

“It will be officially installed on mass-produced models as early as next year.”

When good luck comes to a person, sometimes it cannot be stopped.

Jiang Hui felt that he was very lucky this time coming to America.

I gained a lot from the parts exhibition. After the exhibition, I came to Detroit to visit several major automobile giants. The trip was also very smooth.

It is already remarkable that purchasing directors of several large automobile companies are willing to arrange time to meet with Jiang Hui.

Normally, when a supplier's CEO visits an OEM, he may not necessarily be able to meet their purchasing director.

The key is that the schedule is relatively rigid, which makes it even more difficult.

Whether it is the purchasing director of General Motors or Ford, the daily work schedule is actually very full.

If you don't make an appointment in advance, it will be extremely difficult to meet someone at short notice.

"GM was once the world's largest automaker, and I believe it will continue to be the largest automaker in the future."

"Toyota can rely on Japan's relatively low costs to develop rapidly in the American auto market, and General Motors can also use China's cost-competitive parts to reduce costs."

"Whether it is giving consumers more benefits or improving GM's profitability, it will be very beneficial."

When two parties cooperate, they cannot always think that it is a charity from the other party, otherwise it will be difficult to maintain smooth cooperation in the long run.

General Motors was attracted by China's low production costs, and Jiang Hui was attracted by GM's huge demand. Both parties got what they needed, so there was no need to think that one was superior to the other.

At least that's what Jiang Hui thought.

And it was precisely because of Jiang Hui's confident attitude that Austin looked at him with a higher opinion of him.

After all, there are many people who have been respectful to Austin, the design director of General Motors, over the years, but there are relatively few people like Jiang Hui.

"The Buick Forester has been on the market for several months. If there are no obvious problems within a year, then GM will step up the pace of importing auto parts from China."

“Not only will your bellows, fixed calipers, and bolts be used, but we can also consider wheel bearings.”

When Austin mentioned the wheel hub bearings, he smiled meaningfully at Jiang Hui.

When Jiang Hui sold the patent for the wheel hub bearing, he helped a lot.

Strictly speaking, the capital that Jiang Hui actually used to start his business came from the sale of the wheel hub bearing patent this time.

At that time, Jiang Hui only sold the patent outside of China and allowed BMW Technology to produce similar products in China.

Now, the wheel hub bearings produced in China by Nanshan Technology are exported to the American market. Whether this is considered a violation of the original agreement is a matter of debate.

After all, when the contract was signed, Jiang Hui specified that Chinese companies could produce wheel hub bearings locally, but he did not mention whether they would be sold locally.

"Compared with the first generation of split wheel hub bearings, the one-piece wheel hub bearings currently produced by NTN and Timken have achieved a certain reduction in cost and a significant improvement in performance."

"But in fact, the cost of wheel hub bearings can be reduced a lot. After all, the structure of this part is not as complicated as everyone imagines."

There is no other way. If Nanshan Technology wants to enter the international market, it will definitely have to resort to price war at the beginning.

Otherwise, why would others employ you?
Unless you can produce products that others cannot produce, you can earn profits far exceeding those of your peers.

For example, the intercontinental ballistic missile launcher produced by the Polytechnic Special Vehicle Factory has an extraordinary profit margin.

"I am very confident in Nanshan Technology. If you can make good wheel hub bearings and other bearings, then Nanshan Transmission will also be able to improve the quality of the transmission, which will give us more confidence."

"GM sells our products all over the world, and our factories are not just in the United States."

“The potential for cooperation between our two sides is enormous.”

"After returning from my last visit to BMW, I specifically reported to President Murphy about the off-road vehicles and pickup trucks you are developing."

"After the product goes on the market next year, our cooperation will be even closer."

Austin is not here to do charity. He is so nice to Jiang Hui and actively cooperates with BMW. Naturally, it is not for friendship, but for profit.

The Buick Forester can now provide General Motors with more than 10 million US dollars in profits every month. If the next two models can also have similar performance, they will contribute hundreds of millions of dollars in profits a year.

Even for a company as wealthy as General Motors, this is something that cannot be ignored.

After all, this was hundreds of millions of dollars in 1985.

"Nanshan Technology, Nanshan Transmission and Beiping Battery Factory and other supporting factories are the auto parts manufacturers with the highest technology and management level in China. The products they provide will definitely not disappoint GM."

"Of course, in order to better improve the quality of parts and improve processing accuracy, we will increase the purchase of high-precision machine tools in the future. We also hope that Austin can help recommend some good machine tool manufacturers to cooperate with us."

This is the best era for cooperation. In a few years, it will not be so easy for China to import high-precision machine tools from the United States.

Especially when the polar bear's weak appearance is revealed to everyone, even if it has not fallen yet, America's attitude will immediately begin to change.

As the boss, you always need to set up an opponent for yourself so that your younger brothers can better gather around you.

(End of this chapter)