The car giant started by marrying the daughter of the king

January 1990 was generally a happy month for all businesses.

Because after last year's performance results came out, the growth rates were generally quite good.

Especially for FAW, the sales of FAW-Volkswagen, FAW-Toyota, and Hongqi-BMW have achieved a new breakthrough.

"Mr. Jiang, Hongqi BMW sold a total of 5.1 Hongqi A6s last year, of which more than were exported to overseas markets."

"This result is even more impressive than that of FAW-Volkswagen and FAW-Toyota."

Geng Weidong personally called Jiang Hui to share the good news.

Of course, this is definitely not his sole purpose.

"The current performance of Hongqi A6 is thanks to the efforts of FAW."

"Now it has become the only choice for high-end official vehicles of many government agencies and state-owned enterprises."

On the Hongqi BMW side, Jiang Hui invested some energy in product design, while leaving everything else to FAW.

Fortunately, FAW performed relatively well this time.

They are professionals in developing the official vehicle market.

Even if Chen Chenxing's sales team were to do it, they might not be able to do better.

It is true that every profession has its specialties.

"It's mainly because the Hongqi A6 designed by you, Mr. Jiang, is classic enough that people can't bear to move away after taking a look at it."

"If our Hongqi A4 and Hongqi A8 are launched in the market, our company's position in the official car market will be more stable."

Geng Weidong deliberately shifted the topic to the new car models.

I would take this opportunity to talk to Jiang Hui and ask him to urge the relevant personnel to speed up the progress of these two projects.

This should be Geng Weidong’s main purpose.

The smart Jiang Hui could naturally understand the meaning.

"Hongqi A4 has already started trial production and will hopefully be officially launched in the first half of this year."

"The Hongqi A8 will take a little longer to develop because it involves the bulletproof system, but it should be ready for mass production next year."

"By then, our annual sales of Hongqi BMW will exceed 10 units, which shouldn't be a big problem."

"If we can perform better overseas, then it might be possible to break through 20."

Although the Hongqi A6 is positioned as a business car in China, its appearance is actually quite competitive in the field of ordinary sedans.

Jiang Hui feels that if Hongqi BMW operates well, it will be worth looking forward to in terms of export and foreign exchange earnings.

Jiang Hui would like to see more Chinese car companies being able to enter the international market to compete.

Otherwise, everyone will be fighting each other to the death in the country, and it is easy to fall into vicious competition.

"I think so too. This year, I plan to personally take charge of the export market expansion."

"At that time, we will focus on developing the Polar Bear and European markets and strive to achieve better results."

Geng Weidong didn't expect that Jiang Hui had the same idea as him, so he was naturally very happy.

This also makes him more excited about the export market of Hongqi A6.

……

"Edward, BMW Group's sales last year reached 153 million vehicles, nearly half of which were contributed by cooperation with us in the American and European markets."

"I'm a little worried that by then, will we cultivate a new competitor for ourselves?"

As global auto giants announced their sales figures for 1989 one after another, General Motors President Murphy naturally paid attention to the situation of the BMW Group.

Although everyone's statistical caliber is different, there is some overlap to a certain extent.

But it is a fact that the BMW Group's overall production and sales reached 153 million vehicles.

Although this data is still far from comparable to General Motors' global sales.

But it has surpassed veteran car companies such as BMW and Mercedes and is constantly moving forward.

In time, it is possible for the BMW Group to become one of the top five large automobile companies in the world.

This is a situation Murphy doesn't want to see.

"It shouldn't be the case. BMW Group's main sales now come from Land Rover and Mercedes-Benz."

"They have cooperation with us on all models of these two brands."

"At least in the American market, they probably have no intention of operating these two brands separately."

Edward also supported the initial cooperation with BMW Group.

And through this cooperation in the past few years, it has also contributed to General Motors' sales.

If we deny the significance of this cooperation at this time, or even think that the cooperation has cultivated a rival for General Motors, then the nature of the matter will be completely different.

"I'm not particularly worried about the American market."

"But in the Chinese market, the BMW Group has a huge advantage."

"The future development of Shanghai General Motors will definitely be affected."

After hearing what Murphy said, Edward found it difficult to refute.

After all, it is certainly true.

However, he thought about this problem from a different angle.

"As the largest automaker in China, BMW Group is definitely our competitor in China."

"But even if we didn't cooperate with BMW, they would still be our competitors."

"By then, BMW Group will focus more on the domestic market, and Shanghai GM may face greater competitive pressure."

To some extent, what Edward said makes sense.

So after listening to this, Murphy didn't dwell on this topic anymore.

However, the rapid sales growth of BMW Group obviously gave him a lot of stimulation.

It is unknown when the cooperation between the two sides will be affected in the future.

……

"Mr. Li, I studied the global sales of various automakers last year, and the BMW Group has entered the top ten."

"But I also found an interesting situation, that is, among Honda's 230 million annual sales, the Accord model alone contributed 20%."

"Especially in the American market, Accord sales exceeded 40, becoming the best-selling model in America last year."

"I think the company's next model can consider directly borrowing the appearance of the Accord and launching it as quickly as possible."

At Geely Automobile, Li Dagui reported the planning of new products to Li Shufu.

The first product they are promoting will be put into mass production this year.

Then at this time, we naturally have to consider the issue of the second product.

"I also have some impression of the Accord."

“It’s certainly possible to make it our next car.”

"Anyway, Honda has not yet entered the Chinese market, so even if we directly borrow from it, the dispute won't be that obvious."

Li Shufu is quite confident in Li Dagui's vision.

Besides, American consumers have proved the excellence of Accord with their own choices.

In this case, there is naturally no need to worry too much, just follow it.

For the newly born Geely Auto, they do not have so much trial and error costs.

The best option is to choose a successful car model to learn from.

Most automobile companies have gone through a similar path when they were first established: Germany's industry copied England's, and Korea's industry copied Japan's.

This has been proven to be a successful path.

"Yes, there is a shortcut. There is no need for us to take a detour."

"After this car is equipped with Nanshan Engine's 2.5L engine and Nanshan Transmission's 4AT automatic transmission, it can be sold as our mid-to-high-end model."

"When the time comes, we will have one high and one low, and both models will be launched at the same time."

"As long as the annual sales can exceed 10 vehicles, the company's situation will be completely different."

"By then, whether it's seeking a bank loan or asking for local policies, it will be much easier."

Li Dagui made a rough estimate and found that as long as the sales volume exceeded 10 vehicles, Geely Auto's annual output value could reach to billion yuan.

In this era, it is already considered a super large enterprise.

At least in Taizhou, there is no company larger than them.

Not to mention that they are private enterprises, and are the ones that have been given key support and development since last year.

By then, even if we don’t make much money from selling cars, we can still rely on this scale to get bank loans and achieve rapid development.

Even the local relevant departments are more worried about Geely Auto's bankruptcy than they are.

"We need to move faster. The Accord's sales are so high that I'm worried that other car companies will also take a fancy to it."

"If someone else gets there first, I'll be very depressed."

Putting himself in their shoes, Li Shufu feels that many of the new car companies that have emerged in China in recent years should be thinking about which car model to "borrow" from.

Even automobile companies such as Shanghai Automobile Manufacturing Plant and Capital Automobile Manufacturing Plant are likely to have similar ideas.

……

"Zhang Fan, you see, BMW Group's sales last year exceeded 150 million vehicles."

"This is much more than the sales of all other domestic automakers combined."

"The automotive industry is definitely a sunrise industry with great prospects and is worth our efforts."

Chen Liangrong read the various reports about BMW Group in the newspaper with mixed feelings.

Sales volume of 153 million vehicles!
Most of it is contributed by export earnings.

With this achievement, the BMW Group can definitely dominate the domestic market.

When Jiang Hui, the person in charge, visits various provinces for inspection, he will definitely be received by the top leader.

"Director, there are many automobile manufacturers in the country now, and they are selling more and more products."

"Under such circumstances, competition will naturally become more intense."

"I think we should consider moving the headquarters to Qingcheng, which will be more suitable for future development?"

"This will be very beneficial in terms of reducing the logistics and transportation costs of new vehicles, attracting foreign investment, and increasing our influence."

"We built our headquarters in this mountain valley because of the special international environment."

"The situation has changed a lot now, and I think the company needs to make new choices."

Zhang Fan knew that if he continued the conversation along Chen Liangrong's topic today, he would definitely have to mention the issue of new product development.

The pressure in this regard now came to Zhang Fan.

So Zhang Fan simply brought up a new topic.

With such a topic, the situation is completely different.

Sure enough, after listening to it, Chen Liangrong also started to think seriously.

"Our factory and family quarters have already been built. If we move the headquarters at this time, it will have a huge impact."

Obviously, Chen Liangrong is not uninterested in moving the headquarters.

Qingcheng is the provincial capital, with convenient transportation extending in all directions.

If Second Automobile Works' headquarters is moved there, it will definitely be beneficial to its future development.

Not to mention anything else, it is the recruitment of talents.

If we were in Qingcheng, we could recruit more high-quality talents.

When we previously cooperated with French brand Peugeot Citroën, the other party was also unwilling to build a factory in the mountains.

Instead, they chose to build it in Qingcheng.

It can be said that Second Automobile Works does not have no roots in Qingcheng.

"Our commercial vehicles, especially those related to military vehicles, can continue to stay here."

“But I think the headquarters and passenger car business can be placed in Qingcheng.”

"This way we can make full use of the original resources."

Although it was the first time that Zhang Fan discussed the topic of relocating the headquarters with Chen Liangrong, he had obviously considered this topic before.

"I'll bring this up for discussion at the factory committee to see what everyone thinks."

Such an important matter certainly cannot be decided by just the two of them talking.

Relocating the headquarters involves many aspects and requires comprehensive consideration.

……

"Brother, our company will build a new factory in Shuangqing City and Qingcheng this year."

"The orders for hot stamping parts for new models of Changan Ford and Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen Automobile were all given to us for production."

"Although I'm not sure how their new models will sell, but considering that each car has about 20 parts."

"It can also support us to invest in a hot stamping production line."

As the sales manager of Yonghua Stamping, Guo Shengbin has been busy expanding his customer base in the past year.

Prior to this, all of Hua Xia’s hot stamping parts were produced by Nanshan Technology.

Many OEMs are certainly dissatisfied with this situation.

Therefore, Nanshan Technology simply communicated with Yonghua Stamping and allowed Yonghua Stamping to purchase hot stamping production lines from Nanshan Equipment.

And the mold was handed over to Nanshan Mould for production.

After all this trouble, Yonghua Stamping's cost advantage is no longer obvious.

However, Nanshan Technology's support for Yonghua Stamping was not intended to allow a cost-competitive rival to attack itself.

Instead, it is to avoid a situation where some manufacturers have only one supplier for their parts.

After all, it doesn’t look good when they do internal audits.

Now there are two manufacturers competing, and whoever has lower costs will be given the job, and the situation will look a little better.

Therefore, the orders for hot stamping parts from Changan Ford and Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen Automobile were obtained by Yonghua Stamping.

"The domestic economy is developing very fast, and the number of people who can afford cars is increasing rapidly."

"We must seize this opportunity in time to expand the scale of the factory."

"Some customers choose to give us their orders because they are worried that Nanshan Technology will give priority to meeting the production capacity needs of the BMW Group."

"If their models sell well, there will be problems with parts supply."

Guo Shengqiang has a relatively clear view of the current industry situation.

Now all industries are moving forward rapidly, and their company is no exception.

If you miss this opportunity, it will not be so easy to get such an opportunity in the future. (End of this chapter)