In order to live in seclusion, I tricked my roommate into falling in love

Chapter 466 What's Wrong with the Marriage?

Zi Xiaowei has met countless parents in their forties, as parents of children aged 16 or 17 are generally in this age group. "In my opinion, 40 or 50 is a watershed moment when people realize their destiny. Many people at this age just lay low and let things go, but there are also many who work hard for their families. And a very few still have dreams and life goals in their hearts. So I understand the thinking of this stage very well. Sedans were originally aimed at this age group, and they had to be a little different from the Totoro. Now they have to be a little younger, which is fine. There is already a lot of overlap between the people buying sedans and SUVs, so I'll give it a try."

Li Xiang did miss it: "I... was only in my thirties back then. When we were developing the product strategy for the L9, the team was trembling with fear. I decided to go for a luxury family car. After it was successful, the subsequent design decisions were handed over to the professional team and other senior executives. I was responsible for managing the capital, the entire production system, and improving sales and after-sales service!"

Zi Xiaowei scoffed, "Now is an era of many leaders rising up. Sales alone are no longer a guarantee of success. Products must be the core. If you delegate the most important tasks of your company to others, it means you don't have the courage to face them and are afraid that mistakes will affect your leadership."

Li Xiang could also retort, "Who can be like you? You have a father-in-law who has been working on cars for 30 years. He can help you share all the problems in production. That's why you don't need stainless steel anti-theft nets!"

He wanted to save all costs, but subjectively he certainly didn't intend to do a job as good as the burglar-proof net. Even now that he can laugh at himself, he still feels resentful.

There were also seven or eight people following the boss of Li Xiang Car. They didn't dare to get too close to see the coupe and the Totoro, but they could hear some conversations. They were secretly shocked along with Jiang An and Ella's engineers.

Damn, is this the confidence of Boss Zi?

Ella's group couldn't help but feel happy.

Unexpectedly, Zi Xiaowei not only didn't get angry, but was even proud: "No, no, no, no! Not only do I have a father-in-law who builds cars, but I also hand over all after-sales services to Jingxi Auto. They only charge a 4% commission. So, how about joining this new model without the burden of S stores and after-sales service?"

Of course, he would not say at this time that Jingxi Automobile is actually in the hands of my concubine. The money is transferred from one hand to the right hand, and finally it will be in his mouth.

Three percent?!
Li Xiang was shocked!

If there are thousands of 4S stores, they can certainly share the starting pressure of thousands or tens of thousands of sample cars and inventory cars.

But these stores also take away 30 percent of various sales, after-sales operations and management costs.

I'm working so hard to cut production costs over there, and here they suddenly cut a large portion of sales costs. How can I possibly win?
I want to vomit blood again.

But Li thought about this guy, his temper was that if he couldn’t beat him, he would just join in: “Okay, what is the cost of selling in the live broadcast room?”

Zi Xiaowei looked at the corner and saw a Changpai 500 work vehicle. He gestured and someone immediately came over and respectfully opened the door.

The two bosses sat in and said: "To sell in the live broadcast room, first of all, I have to approve the product price. Otherwise, it is just an ordinary live broadcast sales in Jingxi Live, with an 8% commission. If I am deeply involved, it can be 20% or 2%, depending on the product strength and price."

Li Xiang understood: "If the premium is high, you charge more. If the premium is low, you make less money. This will make the product closer to the price-performance ratio line."

Zi Xiaowei likes to communicate with smart parents. The big guys he meets now are all genuinely smart. It depends on whether their cognition is solidified and how much they can listen to the words of the teachers. This kind of trust and recognition is particularly important when selling courses. There is no need to talk about it if they have a resistance and confrontational mentality.

So now he nodded: "You are a listed company. You must make a lot of money. You must make more money when you can. Only then can you have a reserve to withstand risks. This is the basic rule of a business company and there is nothing wrong with it. But a great company must make choices. Would you rather be like Rolls-Royce, producing a few thousand cars a year and selling luxury goods at huge profits, or like Toyota, producing tens of millions of cars a year and selling them at low profits but high volume?"

Li Xiang has been involved in the automotive industry for 20 to 30 years, and has a much deeper understanding than Zi Xiaowei: "I would rather create a brand like Mercedes-Benz and BMW that combines luxury brand power with the stability of modern industrial scale. Domestic cars also need a brand to occupy a high position."

Zi Xiaowei has a different perspective: "You may be in the car industry, but I see it from an outsider's perspective. This is a revolution between mechanical watches and electronic watches, even smart watches, and all timepieces. When electronics enter the automotive industry, not only will fuel-powered vehicles gradually become niche, just like mechanical watches, but the luxury attributes attached to cars may be stripped away. Only a very few ultra-luxury brands can achieve the absolute high-end positioning of Rolex and Patek Philippe. The others are at most the price difference between an Apple Watch and an ordinary electronic watch or electronic bracelet. Moreover, Lixiang cars have not yet reached the brand power of the Apple Watch."

Those who can climb to the top are definitely not easily persuaded: "That's your opinion. Cars are different from watches. I have my own views on the future positioning. No argument. I'm definitely going to sell this MPV. I can price it at 41.9 yuan. What's your commission? I can try to participate in Jingxi Auto's after-sales delivery."

The Lixiang L9's price tag was 45 yuan last year, but it's quietly dropped to 43 yuan this year. However, various compensation packages have been well-deserved, and existing owners don't feel backstabbed. This MPV, with a nearly identical interior and driving experience but more space, was originally priced at over yuan. This sudden price reduction of over yuan may have been a consideration since Zi Xiaowei's comments this afternoon.

Now it is confirmed that selling it for more than 500,000 yuan may really result in a loss of everything, and Zi Xiaowei is more likely to refuse the order.

It can be considered to have been lowered to the right level.

Zi Xiaowei made a final effort: "Will 350,000 yuan be okay? Over 300,000 yuan gives consumers a completely different experience. I know there should be a lot of room for negotiation at this price. I can only ask for 2% commission."

That means the profit from selling a car is only about 7,000 yuan!
Unexpectedly, Li Xiang's approach was this: "We must secure the top spot in the domestic MPV category, regardless of model, over 400,000 yuan. Originally, our goal was to be number one in the 500,000 yuan price range. We also have to demonstrate a sufficient profit margin to our investors, as this is a crucial payment in my equity obligation."

He still didn't say what the profit margin must be, but there has been a consensus within the industry, and it can be seen publicly in the shareholder report that it is about 20%.

This is net profit!

Other car companies are only a few percent, and Weilai and Xiaopeng are still losing a lot of money.

So it’s no wonder that Li Xiang is so persistent in reducing costs and increasing efficiency.

Of course, what is even more persistent is his mysterious love for the rankings.

Maybe it’s because he started out as a teenager reviewing graphics cards and later on cars.

I have a very thorough understanding of the power of rankings, to the point of obsession.

Zi Xiaowei even threatened him: "Then I will take 10% of the commission!"

Li Xiang did a quick mental calculation: "9 vs. 9, that's a % difference in gross profit. I believe we can raise the price. Our L can even sell at this price. Your live broadcast room is more capable of screening and purifying users, so you should be able to reach the psychological line of . After that, we can have sales of around per month. Then I can get over the impact of L on Totoro and start working on new products."

At the end, there was even a tone of moral kidnapping.

My Neighbor Totoro was indeed born out of Li Xiang L9, but it also killed the only new force that was originally the best.

Zi Xiaowei doesn't fall for this kind of self-deception, but he does want more domestic cars to share the market, and it's not a good thing for anyone to dominate.

Including the one or two years when Changjiang Automobile really reached the peak, it was quite crazy. Under the impact of Dream Auto's monthly sales of 300,000, it is blooming and bearing fruit everywhere, and who knows how many peaches will rot in the future. The best thing is that several companies compete with each other and balance each other, just like when there were several Japanese and German companies each, so they could work together to impact the global market.

Zi Xiaowei hesitated for so long that Li Xiang thought he was calculating the benefits.

I explained the situation to him: "The new energy vehicle market will eventually become a knockout competition, with only three or five strong companies remaining in the market. However, durable consumer goods like cars have a slower rate of replacement than mobile phones. We can't hold press conferences every day to flood the market with new products. Moreover, user needs are diverse and varied. It's unrealistic to expect to satisfy the vast majority of users with just one or two models or one or two series. The final result may be like a football league, with three or four companies competing for the championship, seven or eight staying in the middle, and three or four remaining in the relegation zone."

Pointing at Zi Xiaowei, he said, "The sluggishness of the established car companies meant they couldn't keep up with the development of the new forces, giving us a chance to compete for the championship. But then, a foreign player like you directly used a marriage to bring along an established powerhouse team. This is a devastating blow to us new forces. Without fresh blood to stir things up, you'll eventually be assimilated to the overall situation. This league, which could have potentially become the world's best, has slowly become mediocre and self-satisfied."

Oh, you have raised Zi Xiaowei's position so high. Why are you always focusing on this marriage? Are you blaming me for being too handsome?
Or is the work too good?

(End of this chapter)