America: My Time

Chapter 141 Automobiles
Chapter 141 Cars

Soon, John met with Mary Barra again. Although time was short, John still did a lot of preparation! To get Mary Barra to accept the invitation, he needed to know her well! To John's surprise, Mary Barra did not refuse his invitation and quickly agreed.

After detailing his current problems and challenges in the automotive industry, John asked, "Ms. Mary, how do you think this acquisition should proceed? Should we accept all their requests?"

"I don't have too many questions about the car acquisition. The British brand is fine, but there is one thing we need to pay attention to. If we want to establish a new car group with Bentley as the main focus, there will be problems if the production is located in Europe. The United States is the center of car sales, and we need to have a production facility in the United Auto Workers, otherwise we will be blocked by the United Auto Workers and will face pressure from all sides."

“Ms. Mary, you know how formidable American auto workers are. If we were to place our production facilities in the US right now, it would be a huge problem, hindering our development and even becoming a hidden danger. Moreover, a newly built production facility would also present numerous challenges that we cannot resolve at present. It would be better to place the automotive design department in the US, which would be a better solution for all parties involved!”

“Boss, I’m afraid this arrangement won’t satisfy them. The United Auto Workers will still cause trouble. Knowing them as I do, this is very likely to happen. Most importantly, other car companies won’t let this opportunity pass by to suppress us, which will inevitably create a storm against us!” Mary Barra, who has worked in the automotive industry for many years, is very knowledgeable about the industry.

"The tire center we're currently acquiring might be able to resolve some of our problems. It's also part of the auto group, and we've created jobs for American workers. If there's any problem, it's the United Auto Workers. Those bastards will still cause trouble even if we have manufacturing plants in the US!"

Using a car parts sales center like the Oregon Tire Center as a shield is indeed a good excuse, but how effective it is is hard to say, since it's just John's own idea.

Compared to the troubles of the United Auto Workers, John's bigger headache right now is that the current management of the automotive group is an empty shell, requiring a lot of manpower, and all of this cannot be completely outmaneuvered by Mary Barra. This is something that John needs to handle himself or his inner circle of advisors, which will require a lot of time and energy.

"Indeed, the United Auto Workers are a threat and a problem for any car company, but we must face this problem. It is difficult to satisfy all parties simply by selling auto parts. We need more means to deal with the crisis!"

"Then we'll build our own sales channels and establish our own 4S stores! If other car companies try to sabotage us, they will definitely make things difficult for us in terms of sales, and those car dealers will become unreliable."

Launching his own 4S store ahead of schedule wouldn't have a significant impact on his plans. If he could use it to resolve the crisis the automotive group was about to face, it would be worthwhile. He was being watched by those old guys, and they might make trouble for him at any time!

Of course, this is just a possibility. John and Mary Barra wouldn't do this unless it was necessary, and it wouldn't provoke those car dealers. This is just a filing!

"Boss, after the acquisition, should we maintain the original development path, or take a new path and make changes?"

"To be honest, I only considered Bentley's development before. I didn't plan to develop Land Rover or Aston Martin. In my opinion, Bentley is still going for the high-end route. Its brand value is there. Although the global environment is bad, it doesn't mean that high-end brands have no market. It's just that we chose the wrong target. For the wealthy people in the Middle East, price is not an issue. As long as we can grasp their psychology, we can naturally achieve the desired results."

The Middle East is indeed a good market, and it's perfectly feasible for the Bentley brand. As for advertising, that's not a problem; with Legendary Entertainment and Phoenix Media under its umbrella, it's negligible. John also considered new directions for promoting the car brands. If the acquisition goes smoothly, Universal Pictures could launch a racing movie project, complementing the car group's advertising efforts to amplify the promotion of the three major car brands.

Although the time spent in contact regarding the acquisition of Englon Motors was short, John's current priority is not the Bentley brand, but Land Rover. If the acquisition is successful, there will be a top-of-the-line off-road vehicle plan targeting Middle Eastern tycoons, quickly opening up the Middle Eastern market.

After some discussion, John recognized Mary Barra's abilities and entrusted her with the acquisition of British Motors. John would only be responsible for brand promotion and the establishment of the American automotive design studio. As for how to integrate the automotive group, that would be entirely up to Mary Barra.

Even if the three major brands were to acquire the company completely, it wouldn't put any pressure on John today, and there wouldn't be a shortage of funds. Of these three brands, only Land Rover is valuable; Bentley and Aston Martin are just so-so, only niche brands.

John acknowledged Mary Barra's abilities, and Mary Barra, in turn, agreed with John's vision. While the overall environment of the world today is indeed less than ideal, has the consumption of the wealthy decreased? No, the consumption of the nouveau riche has not decreased at all. Bentley makes high-end cars, targeting only the nouveau riche. Exhilarating power, sleek exterior, and luxurious interior are enough to entice the nouveau riche. As long as these three points are achieved, money is not an issue for the nouveau riche.

In his conversation with Mary Barra, John made it clear that a mid-range car brand would exist, either by establishing it himself or by acquiring one, but a low-end brand would not be pursued in the short term. This would be too different from the current overall advertising style and would damage the brand.

Of course, even if Bentley Motors were to acquire the three major car brands and integrate them into the Bentley Group, it wouldn't have the same foundation. Bentley, Land Rover, and Aston Martin are all high-end brands targeting the wealthy, so there are too many problems with the lower-end brands, making cost control difficult. Moreover, cost control is difficult both in the US and in Europe.

Understanding one's own strengths and weaknesses is crucial for making the right choices for a company. Even after a successful integration, Bentley Motors Group's current development direction will remain unchanged: a focus on the high-end market. While a mid-range brand may be explored if opportunities arise, significant investment will be limited. This requires time to build a solid foundation and, more importantly, a shift in the overall environment.
As John expanded rapidly and relinquished control of the company, the old guard wasn't entirely happy. His expansion was too fast, already forming a conglomerate structure. What pleased them was that John hadn't recruited enough talent, suffered from serious deficiencies in management, and hadn't received recognition from top talent in his recent recruitment efforts.
In the eyes of those old fogies, female managers like Andrea Jung, Mary Barra, Anne Malcashie, and Meg Whitman were not top-tier management talents; only Robert Iger caught their eye. In the United States, women have an inherent disadvantage and a glass ceiling in their careers, but none of this existed in John's eyes.

John's frenzied expansion, while causing concern among the conglomerate's elders, revealed after careful review of his businesses that limiting his growth was virtually impossible. The only area where they could exert pressure was in the automotive sector; the acquisition of Bentley was still pending, making it difficult to obstruct him even if they wanted to, unless they acquired Bentley themselves—an impossible prospect. However, this didn't mean they would give up; it was only the beginning.

Although Legendary Entertainment is a Hollywood giant and a media tycoon, and is developing rapidly, this does not mean that Legendary Entertainment is invincible. Warner Bros. is a good option. As long as Warner Bros. provides some assistance, it will break the previous pseudo-peace between Legendary Entertainment and Warner Bros. and reignite the dispute.

In contrast, what worries those old guys is companies like Game World, Dream Technology, and Nvidia, because these are all emerging industries that the conglomerates don't know much about. Competing with John in such emerging fields would put too much pressure on them, but they also have to restrain him.

If John were allowed to continue developing at this reckless pace, the conglomerate worried that another financial tycoon would emerge in the United States, impacting all aspects of their business! It was precisely because of this concern that those old guys kept causing trouble for John!

(End of this chapter)