A century-old wealthy family that rose from Shanghai

Chapter 109 Buying a Car
Chen Guangliang ultimately lost the chance to work for the Commercial Daily, but it was not a gain either. He got to know Fang Jiaobo and joined the Ningbo Association in Shanghai.

Of course, Chen Guangliang still coveted the equipment and resources of the "Business Daily" because he believed that Hong Yanbin and Huang Chunsun would not succeed.

Because of this, Chen Guangliang only needs to wait quietly for the plan and choose the right time to invest in newspapers.

One day in late July.

Chen Guangliang came to a piece of land in southern Shanghai to attend the groundbreaking ceremony of the "Tongchang Car Manufacturing Plant".

As the second largest shareholder, he has also put a lot of ideas and energy into the preparation of this factory in the past two months.

At the groundbreaking ceremony, Chen Guangliang, as the second largest shareholder, also invited some of his friends, including Professor Zhang Qihua and Manager Li Shoumin of the Shanghai Commercial and Savings Bank.

"Boss Zhu, I heard from Boss Chen that your project requires a loan of 100,000 yuan. Could you please tell me about the advantages of your factory?" Li Shoumin asked on the spot.

Generally speaking, manufacturing plants are very profitable, and bankers are very willing to lend money to industries.

Zhu Wenwu immediately introduced himself, saying, "Manager Li, our Tongchang Bicycle Company has a 400-year history and has been working in the bicycle industry for a long time, so we have a wealth of experience. This time we are opening a factory with the goal of producing 500 to bicycles per month, and we will be launching them under our own brands, 'Phoenix' and 'Flywheel'."

The Phoenix brand was proposed by Chen Guangliang;

The Flywheel card was proposed by Zhu Wenwu;

The two major shareholders each proposed a brand to see which brand would sell better in the future.

After listening to the introduction, Li Shoumin said with satisfaction, "It seems that you can be regarded as the first bicycle factory in China to produce its own bicycles. Although many parts are imported and your brand is more like an assembly, it is still a great progress."

Zhu Wenwu immediately said, "In terms of parts, we will gradually produce and manufacture major components such as frames, pedals, axles, and assemble complete vehicles."

The most complicated production process of a bicycle must be the chain. This thing represents a country's industry. China was basically unable to produce it before the 50s.

Therefore, these parts can only be imported.

Li Shoumin nodded and said, "Okay, your factory has a good chance of getting a loan. We can discuss it in detail later."

Zhu Wenwu and others were overjoyed, and they also sighed in their hearts that Chen Guangliang was really familiar with the bank.

In fact, if there were no market demand for "three-wheeled rickshaws", Zhu Wenwu and others might not want to take out loans.

Although Tongchang Bicycle Company plans to produce 5000 to 6000 bicycles a year, its actual profit is only about yuan, which is not enough to cover the cost of a loan.

But if we consider that "three-wheeled rickshaws" can be promoted in major cities across the country, then this market will increase many times.

With each person shoveling soil, the construction of "Tongchang Vehicle Manufacturing Plant" officially started, and it is expected to start formal production at the end of next year.

During this period, the research and development of the "three-wheeled rickshaw" has been carried out in secret. It is expected to be launched in the middle of next year and officially put into mass production by the end of the year.

How to promote the "three-wheeled rickshaw" is Chen Guangliang's job.

Chen Guangliang even personally participated in the research and development of the "three-wheeled rickshaw".

In fact, it is very simple. Chen Guangliang has played with rickshaws in his previous life, and he is very familiar with the structure of rickshaws in this life.

Finally, in the first half of 1928, Chen Guangliang used all of his 20 yuan to buy land, and spent an extra 1 yuan (on loan).

As of late June, Chen Guangliang owned 63 mu of land on Yuyuan Road (mostly in the western section, but also some in the middle section), and another 19.5 mu of land on Xiafei Road.

All in all, Chen Guangliang spent a huge sum of more than 24 yuan, and he truly became a real estate tycoon in Shanghai.

Of course, his land is all located in the western section of Yuyuan Road and the western and middle sections of Xiafei Road, and the geographical location is still not very good; however, these places have the greatest potential for appreciation.

For a moment, Chen Guangliang wanted to lie down.

Of course that's impossible!

The little money he has is nothing, after all, it is basically all debt.

This way.

The two projects of Changjiang Real Estate are already progressing steadily. Chen Guangliang only needs to regularly inspect the construction sites and supervise them.
As for personal land investment, it has all been completed and I only need to consider selling it in two years;
Changjiang Motors has basically stopped expanding. If Chen Guangliang wants to develop, he can only increase his own equity by "purchasing shares in the Transportation Department" (now the dividend has reached more than 9000 yuan).

He owns 1929% of the shares of "Tongchang Car Manufacturing Plant" and it is expected that mass production will officially start by the end of next year (1930), so dividends will be distributed by the end of .

My hope of publishing a newspaper was temporarily dashed.

Now, it seems that the only option is to join the ranks of taxis!
Through nearly half a year of investigation and understanding, Chen Guangliang has become very familiar with taxi operations in this era.

In this era, taxis are not hailed on the road. The service is very simple. A liter of gasoline costs 0.4 to 0.7 cents, and taxis will not wait for passengers while driving. After all, the fuel cost is too high. Therefore, taxis are generally called by phone, and the second is to solicit passengers through taxi "assistants".

The taxi fare system of the era was based on a "timed" system. When a customer boarded the taxi, the driver would fill out a slip with the time of their pickup. When they exited, they would add the time of their pickup and drop-off, and the fare was calculated accordingly. In addition, the customer was expected to tip 10%, which provided the driver with a substantial portion of their income. Some foreign-owned taxis even had automatic meters. Drivers of this era typically earned over 60 yuan!

In this era, Chinese taxi companies struggle to compete with foreign capital, as Chinese drivers pay more for gas and repairs. Consequently, the two largest taxi companies in Shanghai are British and American. Of course, nothing is absolute, and Chinese companies do have other advantages.

Many Chinese taxi companies of this era use second-hand cars because they can be much cheaper.

However, Chen Guangliang also had some concerns. In the past year and a half, he would not vigorously develop the taxi industry, and the initial investment would be no more than 20,000 yuan. As a result, taxis were scarce and development was slow, which meant that they would not be able to gain any advantage among the numerous taxi companies.

Just treat it as a gradual familiarity with the experience!

A few days later, Chen Guangliang brought He Xiangdong, Zhou Xinggao and others to the British-owned "Central Automobile Company" on Fuzhou Road.

This company not only represents European cars, but also American cars; it not only sells new cars, but also used cars.

It has a large business and is a large automobile agency in Shanghai, as well as a major dealer in auto parts and auto repairs.

They had already informed us in advance that they hoped to purchase five second-hand Chevrolet cars.

When they arrived at Central Automotive Company, they were received by sales agent Charlie and Chinese salesperson Wu Xiancong.

Chen Guangliang said directly: "I want to inspect the car."

Charlie and Wu Xiancong were a little surprised. They didn't expect that this young man also knew how to inspect cars?
Wu Xiancong smiled and said, "Don't worry, Boss Chen, these cars are 50% new and are being sold at 30% new prices!"

Chen Guangliang did not comment, but started to inspect the car on his own.

Although the cars of this era were different from those of later generations, they were simpler and more rugged.

Chen Guangliang himself has obtained a driver's license in the public concession, and he started the car and experienced it firsthand.

In the end, he concluded that this batch of cars were only 30% to 40% new, not 50% new as Wu Xiancong said.

"This batch of cars should be second-hand cars directly imported from abroad. They only look 30% to 40% new, and the front headlights are newly replaced." Chen Guangliang began to find fault, and he used English.

Charlie saw that he had been exposed, and saw that Chen Guangliang could speak English, so he immediately said: "Not bad, but the price is very cheap, only 2500 yuan per car, while a new car costs more than 6000 yuan."

At present, the cheapest car on the market is the Ford Model T, which costs less than 3000 yuan for a new car. However, this car is very simple and has small space, and it is convertible, so it is obviously not suitable for use as a taxi.

Chen Guangliang quickly countered, "2200 yuan a car, payable in six months. I'm considering buying these five cars. We're using them as taxis, and we'll continue to buy cars and consider your dealership."

This time, Chen Guangliang is prepared to invest a total of 2 yuan to open the "Yangtze River Taxi". Next, he needs to find a "station" and "pull telephone lines".

The taxi station must be a "storefront" in nature. The taxi is parked at the storefront, and when someone calls for a taxi, it will immediately pick up the passenger at the designated destination. Therefore, the station also needs to have a telephone line, which is also an expense.

Of course, 2 yuan is still enough, but it is more advantageous to pay it in batches.

Charlie didn't bargain. He just thought that Chen Guangliang was planning to drive a taxi, so the subsequent repairs, spare parts, and continued purchase of cars were all business transactions, so he was ready to agree.

"Okay, I hope you'll keep your word and pay the car price. If you fail to do so, we will repossess the car."

Wu Xiancong was confused. It turned out that this boss spoke English so fluently that he negotiated directly with his boss and finally seemed to have negotiated a big discount.

After inspecting it again, Chen Guangliang was sure that the problem was not serious, and he also wondered how long it would take to pay back the investment for these cars.

A taxi costs 4 yuan per hour, plus a 10% service charge. A taxi can pick up passengers for about 6 to 8 hours a day, which means it travels about 100 kilometers (the basic regulation in Shanghai is not to exceed 20 kilometers per hour, and the actual average speed is only 15 kilometers per hour), and consumes about 10 to 12 liters of fuel (because the Ford Model T is small, it consumes only about liters of fuel per kilometers).

The fuel cost is about 6 yuan a day, and the fare is about 25 to 30 yuan. The driver's salary is basically included in the service fee, so the gross profit is 20 yuan.

Of course, the gross profit also needs to deduct telephone charges, salaries of other employees, rental of the car dealership, replacement parts and maintenance costs, taxes, etc.

In summary, a used car will definitely pay back the investment within twelve months, and nine months is ideal.

Never mind, I'll just use used cars for the next year and a half, and around 1930, I'll get a batch of new cars and set up the top taxi company in Shanghai.

Next, Chen Guangliang and Charlie signed the contract.

The contract stipulates that the total price of the five cars is 11000 yuan, with an initial payment of 2000 yuan and the balance to be paid in installments over the next six months (1500 yuan per month).

There is a detail here. The reason why Changjiang Taxi's down payment is so low is not because of the words just mentioned, but because of Chen Guangliang's credibility guarantee.

There are two names on Chen Guangliang's business card. Either name is a guarantee of credibility.

Including the 'Yangtze River Rickshaw Company', which is a medium-sized company after all, with 465 rickshaws.

(End of this chapter)