Chapter 248
“Alas, it’s a pity that I don’t have any connections with Hongqi. If I had acted earlier, maybe the new car would be very popular now.……”
Another senior senior executive said.
The domestic automobile industry has been developing for so many years.
Many heads of large companies know each other, and some technical executives have even jumped from one company to another and are familiar with each other.
As long as the companies are not hostile to each other and competitive, you can usually find some connections. As long as you can strike up a conversation, subsequent friendships and cooperation will be easy.
But Hongqi was too down and out before, and when it rose strongly, only a few companies reacted quickly.
And Lu Yan, the CEO of Hongqi, is also”a dragon that can only be seen from head to tail”, and rarely shows up in private.
This makes it difficult for many people to find opportunities.
“Let’s put the battery issue aside for now and first decide on the new car plan and the direction of R&D funding.……”
Lu Jun tapped the table with his fingers.
Wuling had just started the project not long ago. It would take at least half a year to complete the R&D and test of the engineering vehicle.
So there are many details in the R&D and planning. Several plans have been proposed, but we have not yet decided which plan to use. At this time, an employee knocked on the door and came in.
“Mr. Lu, excuse me, there is a phone call coming in!!”
The rhythm of the company meeting was interrupted, and Lu Jun frowned a little. According to the regulations, no one is allowed to interrupt the meeting time.
“”What call? Is it a big deal?”
Lu Jun asked a little unhappy.
But when he heard the following words, the unhappy mood on his face instantly dissipated.
“Mr. Lu, it was Mr. Lu from Hongqi who called me personally. I dare not neglect it, so I came to inform you immediately!” the employee said hurriedly.
Lu Jun was shocked:”Fuck… why didn’t you tell me earlier?!”
“Quick, transfer me in right now!!”
Upon hearing this, he was so anxious that he swore! There were dozens of Wuling executives and him in the conference room. They were just worrying about how to get a solid-state battery cooperation with Hongqi. Who would have thought that within two minutes, Mr. Lu would call in person!
The call was transferred in.
Lu Jun immediately said enthusiastically:”Hello, is that Mr. Lu? I’m so sorry to neglect you. I’m in a meeting here. I didn’t expect that you would call me in person. I interrupted the meeting immediately after receiving the message. Did you call me this time because you saw our Wuling’s email and want to discuss cooperation? To be honest, we at Wuling have been waiting for this call!”
Lv Jun’s words made him look very humble. Although he was a generation older than Lu Yan as a 1970s generation, he was not arrogant at all.
The business world depends on capital and strength, and Hongqi happened to be too outstanding in these two aspects.
Within Hongqi, no one is sure what technology Hongqi has not yet brought out. In terms of research and development, it is simply abnormal!
Lu Yan said in a very normal tone with a slight smile:”Boss Lu, you are too polite. I did just call me after seeing your email. I have been busy recently and have not had time to check many messages until the past few days. I called me this time because I have some ideas to talk to you alone, but I didn’t expect that you are still holding a company meeting. Why don’t you hold the meeting first and I will call you later.”
He didn’t say cooperation, but simply said that he had some ideas.
After all, although Wuling is a very suitable partner, how to cooperate and how to talk depends on both parties, especially the attitude and willingness of the other party. If it doesn’t work out, Lu Yan has other plans.
When Lv Jun heard this, he couldn’t sit still:
“No, no, Mr. Lu, I’ve already finished my meeting!! Besides, what meeting can be more important than cooperation? If we are late and waste our time, it will be a huge loss. I won’t say anything more. Mr. Lu, your time is precious, every minute is worth tens of millions. I feel bad for delaying you. I will personally treat you to a meal next time. I will take a private plane to pick you up.…`…”
This was said.
He also praised Lu Yan.
Hearing the other party’s meaning.
The intention of cooperation is quite strong.
If we continue to talk, someone will really fly over to pick Lu Yan up for dinner. It must be said that the art of speaking in China is also profound.
Lu Yan felt a little bit of a joke:”Okay, Mr. Lu, don’t make fun of me. Since both parties have time, we can just talk.……”
When Lu Jun heard this, he was delighted. He picked up his phone and gestured to everyone in the conference room, asking them to make their own arrangements.
Then he signaled to his secretary to follow him.
He walked to the office while holding his phone.
“Okay, Mr. Lu, please tell me your thoughts first. I am all ears.……”
Lu Yan didn’t waste any more words. Nowadays, anyone with a little ability is extremely concerned about efficiency. Moreover, both parties are CEOs of large companies, so there is no need to beat around the bush after being polite:
“I read the email. You are planning to build a mid-range model to enter the 200,000 yuan segment, so you want to purchase solid-state batteries?”
Lv Jun responded:
“Yes, yes!
Mr.
Lu, you know that new energy is becoming the mainstream both at home and abroad.
We have been in the low-end market for too long and have accumulated enough experience.
We have always wanted to build a higher-end model.
In any case, we can open up some situations.
Let’s not talk about the supply chain.
All aspects are very complete.
We also have our own production line and can make many car parts by ourselves.
But the only thing is this battery pack technology.
Your Hongqi is the leader in the industry, which is much better than the previous Ningde.
If high-end new energy does not have solid-state batteries, consumers will not recognize it, and it is also a lack of product strength!
”
Lv Jun talked about Wuling’s current situation and some of its psychology. In general, he was still a little anxious.
After all, who wants to do low-end business when they can do high-end business?
It would be even better if they could do both high-end and low-end business!
Look at BYD, which was not as good as Wuling back then, but now its size is far greater than Wuling.
This is all because they dare to fight and research and develop.
Of course.
Wuling can think this way after a detailed discussion internally. They believe that it is relatively certain to impact the 200,000 to 300,000 car manufacturing market.
And even if they lose money, it is within their scope of responsibility.
Some rookies in the industry think that they can seize the opportunity of the new energy oil-electric transformation and spend money on domestically produced cars worth millions of yuan. Isn’t this a way to make money? It’s just pure brain damage.
Not to mention Boss Jia, the”Emperor of Financing”, he is still out of contact abroad.
There are two other companies. The million-level domestic supercar that GAC had previously developed was intended to compete with Tesla models, but it was a complete failure once it was released.
A large amount of R&D funds and publicity funds were wasted. (To read exciting novels, go to Faloo Novel Network!)
Even Geely, which went all-in to acquire Volvo and Lotus, a luxury brand and a supercar brand, has been operating half-dead until now, but its technical background has increased significantly, and overall it is a small profit.
Lu Yan understood what the other party meant:
“Mr. Lu, I am roughly clear about Wuling’s idea. However, regarding the supply of solid-state batteries, it is not that we at Hongqi are really selfish and do not supply to our peers, or that we want to monopolize or something.……”
“To be honest, it is mainly the production line of solid-state batteries. Now the production capacity has been fully utilized. In addition to supplying ourselves, there are several car companies that have signed contracts before, and their order volumes are also very large. As for our Hongqi side, I believe you have all investigated. We have built a large super battery factory, which can supply these. We have no other production capacity, and another super factory is still under construction.”
What Lu Yan said was true.
After developing blade batteries, large manufacturers like BYD gave priority to supplying them to themselves. Only when there was excess production capacity did they supply them to partners.
Hongqi itself has a lot of orders, and it also supplies several large domestic manufacturers, so the production capacity is naturally full.
The supply of batteries from other manufacturers can only be considered until the next quarter.
Real large-scale infrastructure is not like a game. It takes a lot of manpower and financial resources to complete it.
What’s more, those large manufacturers had conditions at the beginning, so they naturally had to give priority to guaranteeing supply, but at the current stage of the two of them, it was naturally inconvenient to say it on the phone.
Lu Jun was full of expectations, but when he heard that the production capacity of”solid-state batteries” had been fully utilized by several large manufacturers, he immediately showed disappointment on his face, but he didn’t dare to show it in his tone:
“It’s okay, Mr. Lu, you can say this, which is very sincere to us. Then, when your second super factory is completed next quarter, I wonder if our Wuling can reserve the production capacity? Any conditions are negotiable!!”
Wuling’s new car is still in the research and development stage, so it doesn’t matter if there is no battery pack.
But the sooner you get it, the better. There will be matching and debugging in the later stage. Now, after getting the solid-state batteries on the Hongqi production line, all the companies are almost playing with them.
According to intelligence, internal engineers of each company found that Hongqi’s solid-state battery is not only fast in charging speed, safe, and has high energy density.
Even the performance indicators in various aspects are far beyond the industry. Take the discharge power as an example. The characteristics of the battery’s continuous ultra-high discharge power mean that the motor can obtain more sufficient power output, so that the power curve and the maximum speed of the car can be increased.
The original domestic new energy vehicles had a maximum speed of 170-200, because the battery technology was not mature at the beginning, or simply to save costs, resulting in the inability of the power system battery and the motor to operate at high power, so the maximum speed was naturally not fast.
And now.
The manufacturers equipped with Hongqi solid-state batteries have a maximum speed of 300, and some are even higher. Their peers can only envy!
Lu Yan couldn’t help but laugh when he heard that the other party still wanted to purchase solid-state batteries. He changed the subject and said:
“`.Mr. Lu, I understand your desire to enter the mid-to-high-end market, but my personal idea is a little different from what you think today. No matter whether you make low-end or high-end cars, the ultimate goal is to expand your brand and market share and achieve the ultimate profit expansion effect. Then why do you, Wuling, insist on moving up?”
“With your low-end market share, national audience and the completeness of the entry-level model production line, you can further expand your existing market share and give full play to the advantages of the national brand.”
These words made Lu Junlian sigh. Doesn’t Wuling want to compete?
The key is that the low-end market is getting more and more competitive. Many car companies have joined in to make small cars worth tens of thousands of yuan, and they are selling quite well.
Apart from other things, others know that the Wuling brand is real, but in the end it still depends on the price-performance ratio and demand. In the low-end market, your brand cannot get any premium (money is good). The national popularity can only attract more potential customers to the store to see the car and increase the order rate a little bit, that’s all.
Lu Jun:”Mr. Lu, you may not know the low-end market very well. The low-end market is so competitive now. We Wuling used to have the vision of unifying the low-end market, but now we find that it is not realistic. It is good enough to be able to defend our own piece of land, so we want to expand upwards, at least there are more ways.”
To put it bluntly.
What kind of technological capabilities can a car worth tens of thousands of dollars have?
In the past, such cars didn’t even have air conditioning. They were nothing more than a means of transportation! []
Now that the cost has come down, cars worth tens of thousands of dollars are slowly starting to look like cars, with more functions and richer configurations.
In the end, you still have to roll up costs and labor costs!
It can be said that it has reached the end, and it is almost at the point where there is nothing left to roll up!!
Lu Yan:”Mr. Lu, you and I have a different opinion. Who says that low-end cars can’t have technology? My idea is just the opposite. The lower-end and entry-level models are, the more they must have their own technological advantages and moats. Otherwise, rolling up manpower and costs will never end.”
Japanese cars are a typical example in this regard. Before domestic cars became popular, Japanese cars were the most affordable models on the market.
Although there are many criticisms about safety, they are indeed unique in terms of engine smoothness and failure rate. Therefore, even when domestic cars have the same configuration and even the driving experience is not worse than that of Japanese cars of the same level, they are still very popular.
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(PS: Considering the plot, Wuling is set as an independent domestic car manufacturing company.
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