Rebirth Tokyo 1986

Chapter 165 Divergent Thinking
After Masato Takeshita became interested in Fuji Heavy Industries, he immediately asked Lin Qingqian to collect relevant information about the company.

The girl acted quickly and efficiently, completing the preliminary investigation in three days.

"President, this is the information I have compiled."

"Ah."

Masato Takeshita responded and began to read with great interest.

"Tsk tsk, how pitiful. It's really not easy to have such good skills."

The most important project under Fuji Heavy Industries is Subaru Automobile, and the failure of Subaru Automobile to rise can largely be blamed on the policies of Industrial Bank.

After the war, Japan implemented the main bank system, which means that a company can basically only obtain a loan from one bank.

If this development continues in the long run, the main bank will not only be the company's largest creditor, but also the largest shareholder.

After the war, under the leadership of Shinroku Momose, Subaru quickly developed a car that was very suitable for Japanese people to ride.

This car even won praise from Toyota's founder, who wished it was produced by his own company.

You have to know that the founder of Toyota is very arrogant and even looks down on his own cars.

However, even such a great car has an annual sales volume of only 1 units.

The reason is very simple. Industrial Bank neither provides loans nor allows production.

At that time, the largest automobile manufacturer in Japan was not Toyota but Nissan, and Industrial Bank was also a major shareholder of Nissan.

I didn’t know what Industrial Bank was thinking at the time and believed that automobiles belonged to the existing market.

If Subaru sells more, Nissan may sell less.

It is better to keep everything as it is and Subaru just be a good OEM factory.

In this way, Subaru was powerless, and it was not until after 1975 that Subaru had a glimmer of hope.

This glimmer of hope comes from a policy of the Japanese government.

In the 60s, Japanese cars began to rise.

In order to export cars abroad, the Japanese government began to support large automobile companies to acquire smaller automobile companies.

Subaru is a car brand.

So Nissan acquired 20% of Subaru's shares, 10% of which was purchased from Industrial Bank.

Subaru, Industrial Bank and Nissan Motor each hold a 20% stake.

Since both sides have the same shares, all kinds of struggles naturally begin.

First, Nissan said, "You, Industrial Bank, have served as the president of Subaru several times. Now it's time for someone from Nissan to take over."

Nissan’s reasons were sound enough, and Industrial Bank had no way to refute them, so it could only give the position of president to Nissan Motor.

Generally speaking, when the gods fight, the little devils suffer.

On Subaru's side, it's the opposite. The gods are fighting each other, and the living environment has become better.

The reason is simple,
The new president of Nissan, Sadamichi Sasaki, is a president who understands car manufacturing and technology.

Moreover, unlike the previous presidents of Kogyo who were good at PUA, he is a science and engineering man who really wants to develop Subaru.

However, a few years later, Industrial Bank and Nissan started fighting again, and the president became Industrial Bank's man again.

Because Nissan Motor was eyeing them covetously, the president sent by Kogyo this time, Toshihiro Tajima, was much more polite and also had some knowledge of automotive technology.

This president is considered to be the president who has the greatest influence on Subaru.

Because he also sincerely wants the best for Subaru.

He is the first president of the company who drives a Subaru to work.

That’s right, in a car manufacturing company, no president has driven a car produced by the company to work in more than 30 years.

From this we can see how frustrated Subaru is living between the two giants, Industrial Bank and Nissan Motor.

"Both of them are talented. I wonder if I can keep Toshihiro Tajima and poach Sadamichi Sasaki after I acquire the company."

Masato Takeshita hopes that the company will continue to be controlled by the two of them. The only thing he will intervene in is to pay attention to the Chinese market. In fact, Subaru is very suitable for the Chinese market at this stage.

Subaru is famous for its durability and is very good at off-roading. China is relatively poor now, and most of the roads are not good, which is the best match for Subaru.

Unfortunately, Subaru was very weak in the 90s and did not see the opportunities in the Chinese market.

As a result, Subaru is a very niche brand in China and has no reputation at all.

If it were Masato Takeshita, he would definitely regard the Chinese market as his first development goal.

In the past, Volkswagen was on the verge of bankruptcy, but it took off again thanks to the Chinese market.

If Subaru devotes its full attention to the Chinese market, there is a very high probability that it will develop into a first-tier automobile brand.

Of course, the most important reason why Subaru failed to develop was that the overall environment in Japan changed.

In the 90s, when Subaru began to rise, Japan was in the most conservative stage of investment.

The principle of Japanese companies at that time was that they would rather not make money than lose money.

Subaru cannot get much loans, so it naturally cannot develop.

South Korea is much better in this regard, so in the future, South Korea not only defeated Japan in the semiconductor field, but also continued to erode the market share of Japanese automakers in the automotive field.

Hyundai Motor is a well-known brand that was built with the help of Korean loans.

After understanding Subaru's basic situation, Masato Takeshita thought about it and gave instructions to his secretary.

"Please help me compile a set of information about the Japanese semiconductor industry. I can buy it from the consulting company."

"Yes, President!"

"and many more."

Masato Takeshita suddenly thought of something else and hurriedly called Lin Qingqian.

"First, help me collect information about Fuji Seiko, and then organize intelligence data in the semiconductor field."

"Yes, is there any other business?"

"No this time, go get busy."

"Yes!"

Fuji Seiko is good at making engines, while Fuji Heavy Industries is one step behind Toyota and Honda in this regard.

The two companies originally belonged to one company, and the major shareholder was Industrial Bank.

If there is an opportunity, we will acquire them together and then merge them into one company.

In this way, Subaru will not only excel in off-road, but will also receive more technical support in light cars.

Of course, what Masato Takeshita attaches the most importance to is the semiconductor industry.

Fuji Heavy Industries can only be regarded as an appetizer, the semiconductor field is the main course.

After the bubble burst, if there were Japanese wafer factories on the verge of bankruptcy, he would definitely buy them in large quantities.

"Call and ask how the wafer fab construction is going."

With an idea in mind, Masato Takeshita took immediate action.

"Hello, President Koike, it's me."

"Yes, that's right. How is the construction of your wafer factory going? How long do you expect it to be put into production?"

"Okay, I see."

"OK, bye!"

After hanging up the phone, Masato Takeshita muttered to himself according to the plan in his mind.

"It seems that we will have to vigorously build the wafer fab project by 1992 at the latest. I wonder if we can recruit a sufficient number of employees if we start construction of 10 sites at once."

"Well, it should be fine."

(End of this chapter)