2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 241 Take the initiative
"Where are you going next?"

"Yongkang".

What are you going to Yongkang for?

"Of course, it's about conquering the opponent."

After settling matters back in his hometown, on the way back to Yicheng, Zhang Xupeng asked Tan Jincheng about his next plans.

He plans to arrange a trip to France as soon as possible to acquire the domestic operating rights for GXG. However, this will not affect the construction plan for the garment factory. Jinpeng Trading has already signed a relevant agreement with Wangjiang County.

Within the next five years, Jinpeng Trading will invest in and build a large-scale garment factory in Wangjiang County, covering an area of ​​240 acres, with a factory area of ​​20 square meters and a living area, which can provide employment for 3000 to 5000 employees.

The land acquisition strategy is the same as that of Flash Technology: acquire as much land as possible when prices are low, even in areas where land is worthless. As for whether it can solve the employment problem for employees, we'll only know in three to five years. Maybe there will be even more land available.
The investment amount is also a very considerable figure. In three to five years, based on Jinpeng Trading's current annual net profit of nearly 8000 million yuan, building a medium-to-large-sized garment factory would not be a problem at all.

For Tan Jincheng, the next step is very important.

That is to officially put the intangible assets of Anda Auto, which have already been acquired, into operation.

To build a car manufacturing plant, two procedures are essential. First, you need to report to the National Development and Reform Commission and obtain approval for the construction of the passenger vehicle project. Only then can you build the plant. However, having a plant does not mean you can start manufacturing cars.

The corresponding brands need to be approved by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), and the products need to be listed in the MIIT's new vehicle catalog in order to be legally launched and sold. This is what is commonly referred to as "dual qualifications," among which the MIIT's approval conditions are the most stringent.

Therefore, the "birth certificate" usually referred to in the automotive industry is more based on the production qualification issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Acquiring a company with core business and production qualifications from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and having its new cars listed in the MIIT's new car catalog is the simplest and fastest way to enter the car manufacturing market. Companies with poor performance, on the verge of bankruptcy, or already bankrupt are naturally more popular.

Andar is such a company. It went bankrupt in 2003, and it has been almost three years now. Originally, the automobile production qualification was a valuable asset, and even though the company went bankrupt, it could still be sold for a good price.

Over the course of three years, he went from being approached by various companies to being ignored by everyone, which led to him getting a bargain. Tan Jincheng was indeed puzzled as to why this happened.

It's important to know that after acquiring production qualifications, the brand name can be changed and the production address can be relocated. Some places or companies that want to manufacture cars can completely change their brand name and move the production site after buying these assets. There is no situation where they are doing the work for someone else.

After the formal acquisition was completed, Tan Jincheng also inquired about the situation. Initially, the reason was that Yicheng's asking price was too high, and the acquiring companies were state-owned enterprises like FAW, which did not lack automotive qualifications and could not meet Yicheng's requirements.

This thing is a treasure for private companies, but it's quite easy for state-owned enterprises to acquire. Yicheng clearly didn't find the right buyer. The private companies they contacted later all asked the other party to stay in Yicheng, which they naturally didn't want to do.

Secondly, according to Tan Jincheng's understanding, in recent years, the domestic brand of gasoline vehicle market has basically formed a pattern of brands such as Geely, BYD, Chery, and others such as Lifan and JAC.

Coupled with the impact of foreign brands, the gasoline vehicle market has missed its best opportunity to enter. Major players are unwilling to enter the market at this time, which has led to a situation where, although vehicle qualifications are rare, they are essentially in high demand but not available for sale.

You can't sell any product for a good price if you don't have a suitable buyer.

Another reason that cannot be ignored is the information gap. In any era, those who make the most money are those with an information advantage. The reason why Tan Jincheng became rich so quickly in this life is also because he mastered the information advantage.

In an era when even business registration information couldn't be found online, entrepreneurs who wanted to make money and expand their businesses could only rely on their personal connections and networks of contacts. That's how people who ran information brokerage businesses came about.

The initial asking price was too high, causing them to miss the best time to sell. Later, they couldn't hold on any longer and had to rush to dispose of the property. Otherwise, they wouldn't have dared to negotiate a price of 80 yuan just to get a promise that was unlikely to be fulfilled.

The electric vehicle company in Taizhou has a registered capital of only 100 million yuan and an annual output value of less than one-tenth of that of Flashcar. Where does it get the ability to manufacture cars?
This is just like stock market investors. They don't want to sell at the peak, and when the price starts to fall, they want to wait a little longer. Then the price continues to fall, and one day a family emergency occurs and they need money, so they are forced to sell at a loss.

First, go back to Beicang, register a new company, inject Andar's qualifications into the new company, change the name, and then go find Zotye, who's currently causing you headaches, to see if there's a good cooperation method. If you just lend Andar's production qualifications to Zotye, you can make a lot of money. According to the current market conditions, this kind of qualification lending for car production generally costs 400 to 500 yuan per passenger car and 1000 to 2000 yuan per bus or truck for the certificate usage fee.

Leveraging the qualifications could generate a substantial profit and bring a new business opportunity to Flashpoint Technology, making it a sure-fire way to make money. However, aside from increasing Flashpoint Technology's cash flow, there doesn't seem to be much benefit.

FlashTech is short of cash flow. So far, the electric scooters they produce are still in short supply. Although the profit margin has decreased due to the addition of a distributor, the monthly shipment of tens of thousands of vehicles still ensures that there is not too much inventory pressure.

By the end of February 2006, FlashTech's shipments for the first two months had reached 35,000 vehicles. This figure was also affected by the Spring Festival holiday; otherwise, the shipments for the first two months would have exceeded the total for the entire previous year.

It can be said that the potential of Flash and the Windspeed series, especially the highly cost-effective Flash series, has not yet been fully realized. In addition, the payment cycle is not long, so Flash Technology is really not short of money.

It seems unnecessary for Tan Jincheng to cooperate with Zhongtai simply for money; what he really wants is Zhongtai's shares!
In 2001, in order to obtain a production license, Chery transferred 20% of its shares to SAIC free of charge. However, different perspectives should be used to view issues at different times. At that time, Chery was not strong enough, having been established for only four years.

Furthermore, SAIC's strength is undeniable. Transferring 20% ​​of its shares to SAIC is like having a powerful backer, so this deal is actually a win-win for Chery.

It was thanks to SAIC's technology and the policy support from the Wuhan Municipal Government that Chery was able to achieve rapid growth in the early stages.

Tan Jincheng wanted to replicate this model, initially using Andar's automobile production qualifications to acquire shares in Zhongtai, and then, when he could no longer sustain it, he would acquire it, using Andar and Zhongtai to indirectly enter the gasoline vehicle market.

Borrowing production qualifications is clearly not a long-term solution. Neither Zhongtai nor other car manufacturers want to be controlled by others indefinitely. They don't know how much money they can make from building a car, but they have to pay others four or five hundred yuan in licensing fees. Just thinking about it is disgusting.

Currently, Zhongtai is forced by circumstances to use this method to temporarily overcome its difficulties, but when the time is right, it will inevitably acquire some dilapidated car manufacturers to obtain its own car manufacturing qualifications.

It's important to understand that while the automotive industry is booming, there are countless car companies like Andar that have gone bankrupt or are facing bankruptcy. Meanwhile, Zhongtai's parent company, Tieniu Group, has already achieved a backdoor listing. They have plenty of money; they just need the right opportunity.

Taking advantage of this time difference, and having what they need on hand, investing in Zhongtai is indeed a feasible option.

However, Tan Jincheng couldn't handle this alone. The automotive industry is a huge project for local governments, and no local government would give up on it unless they were truly desperate.

Let alone Zhongtai itself, even the Yongkang government wouldn't agree to it. The automotive industry was thriving when it was taken away by other places; they would be furious.

Yongkang is known as the hardware city and belongs to Zhejiang Province. Tieniu Group has a registered capital of over 1 million yuan, and Zhongtai's car manufacturing also has the support of the Yongkang government. Neither of them is short of money. For Tan Jincheng to take over Zhongtai now is nothing short of a pipe dream.

Therefore, this matter still needs to be coordinated by people from Beicang District or even Ningbo City to see how to achieve cooperation between the two places. Tan Jincheng only needs to tell the Beicang District government that he has automobile production qualifications and reveal some follow-up ideas.

This could be described as a rare commodity being hoarded, right?

"Beicang, the capital, my hometown, and now Yongkang. Your business is getting bigger and bigger. In the future, it might be difficult to even see you." Zhang Xupeng didn't ask Tan Jincheng which competitor he was going to Yongkang to take on.

However, judging from the fact that they have a target after acquiring Andar Automobile, it should be related to the automobile business. Does Yongkang have any automobile factories?
Speaking of which, Xiao Tan's business network is already quite large, with its subsidiaries and invested companies covering import and export trade, garment processing, plastic product processing, electric vehicle assembly, batteries, and now the automotive business.

The finished products they deal in include electronic products, clothing, and electric vehicles; oh, by the way, Xiao Tan also owns large tracts of industrial land and hundreds of residential houses. Of the four categories of clothing, food, housing, and transportation, she is involved in all of them except for food.

Furthermore, apart from the automotive and battery businesses, which are not yet profitable, the others are all very lucrative.

Just as Xiao Tan said before, the rich will only get richer. If this is true for Xiao Tan, does it also mean that my future career will be the same?
With this in mind, Zhang Xupeng became even more determined to start his own factory.

"We must acquire the operating rights of GXG!"

(End of this chapter)