2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 243 "I Want to Build Cars!"

"You really got the car production license? The kind from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology? You weren't scammed, were you?" Director Gu, sitting behind his desk, looked at Tan Jincheng with some surprise.

To be honest, he knew a little about this, but he didn't really know the specific details. Zhao Jinsheng had indeed participated in the reception, but the other party hadn't said why they came.

Originally, it was thought that this was just a pretext to attract investment, but who would have thought that he would actually succeed.

"Of course it's true, otherwise why would I go through all this trouble and spend so much money!" Tan Jincheng said with a hint of smugness, sitting opposite the leader with his legs crossed.

Tan Jincheng's expression amused him, and he asked cooperatively, "How much did it cost?"

"It cost more than 1000 million yuan in total. In addition, we also need to build an electric vehicle storage center in our county."

I also contributed to Jinpeng Trading's donation, so saying it's over 1000 million is reasonable, right?

"This price isn't expensive; you got a good deal, kid. But what use is a car manufacturing license to you? Flashcar doesn't have the capability to manufacture cars right now, does it?"

"I don't have the ability to build cars right now, but others do. That's why I came to see the leader today."

"Leader Gu was somewhat confused: 'What do you mean?'"

"I heard there's a company in Yongkang that has built its factory and produced cars, but it doesn't have the necessary permits. It's approached several large state-owned enterprises, but none of them have paid any attention to it. It's really giving them a headache right now. Is the district going to take advantage of this opportunity to make some money?"

"Zhongtai Auto?"

"Yes, the leaders know that too. We have something they want now. Could we work on it and try to get a cooperation opportunity?"

"This matter doesn't need the district's involvement, right? You can lend them your qualifications. Although it's a bit against regulations, it's not a big problem. Flash will charge a certain fee for each car, so you can make back the money you spent on the acquisition."

Tan Jincheng smiled and said, "If I only wanted to make this little money, why would I bother? I could just sell more electric cars. What I mean is, could you help the district secure a car project? Leader, this is me returning the favor, right?"

Looking at Tan Jincheng, whose face still looked young and who spoke of his ambitions with a smile, Leader Gu was somewhat shocked.

Young people really dare to dream!

"You're a businessman now, aren't you? Surely someone in business knows what a car company means to the local area? What reason does Beicang District have to make them move here?"

The automotive industry chain—is that something you can just mess with? If we really manage to poach them, Yongkang will hate us to death.

"I didn't say we'd move everything over, but with an investment, setting up an industrial base shouldn't be a problem, right? I wonder how well the leaders know about Zhongtai. Their parent company has already gone public through a backdoor listing, so they have the strength. Setting up a branch in Ningbo shouldn't be a problem."

In 2006, listed companies were not as numerous as in later years. Whether they were state-owned or private enterprises, they all had considerable strength. In an era where scarcity made things valuable, having a few listed companies in a region was a very important indicator of political achievement.

The number of listed companies in the district is still relatively weak. Shenzhou Company, which was later known as the Foxconn of the textile industry, only went public in Hong Kong at the end of last year. When Tan Jincheng first went to Hong Kong to buy QQ Tencent, it was not yet listed.

The real explosion of listed companies in Beicang District should have occurred after 2014. In the early 0s, Beicang was just beginning to develop. The private economy was very active, but it was not as strong as it seemed.

Unlike later generations, there are many hidden leading companies in niche industries.

In the initial business plan of FlashTech, Tan Jincheng mentioned that if the established goals could be achieved, FlashTech would go public within the next 5 years, which was one of the factors that attracted the district.

Overall, there are reasons why FlashTech has received so much attention from the district. The timing of its emergence during the industry's boom period was just right, and FlashTech's shipments in the first two months of this year far exceeded the district's expectations.

As the person in charge, Leader Gu naturally gained prestige, not only boosting employment and tax revenue in the district, but also earning a reputation for being good at recognizing and employing talent.

Over the years, Leader Gu had come to know Tan Jincheng quite well. Although this young man was no different from other businessmen and liked to boast, he only boasted about specific sales figures and never spoke carelessly about the company's plans.

On the contrary, Comrade Xiao Tan has his own unique insistence on the company's development plan. Blind expansion is not in his mind. Therefore, the leaders attach great importance to Tan Jincheng's proposal at this time.

"Do you have something on your mind? Just say it directly, stop beating around the bush, that's not like you."

Tan Jincheng chuckled and said, "I knew I couldn't hide it from the leader. You're really brilliant. I have a plan here. Please take a look and see if it's feasible."

After saying that, he took out a printed document from his briefcase. This was a feasibility study on investing in Zhongtai Automobile that Tan Jincheng had written over the past few days.

A bad pen is worse than a good memory. While eloquence can certainly persuade some people, for those accustomed to rigid work processes within the system, a written approach is clearly more formal.

The contents of the document are actually quite simple: FlashTech Technology and Beicang City Investment invested in Tieniu Group with automobile production qualifications and cash, in exchange for Zhongtai Automobile establishing a branch and automobile industrial base in Beicang in the future. Large automobile companies cannot limit their future development to just one city, so as long as Zhongtai doesn't relocate and only builds a branch, there are still opportunities for cooperation. Bringing in Beicang City Investment serves two purposes: firstly, to facilitate connections, and secondly, it provides another benefit.

If Zotye continues down the same old path in the future, Tan Jincheng could form a concerted action with Beicang City Investment, and then they could seize its controlling stake!
At this moment, no one would have imagined that the weak Flash Technology's ultimate goal was to gain control of Zhongtai. The fact that Beicang City Investment took the lead was also a good shield.

After obtaining its automotive qualifications, Zhongtai's development was relatively smooth. The collapse occurred around 2018. When it was launched in 2016, it was a hot topic online, setting a record of selling 20,000 units in 3 days.

The success of Baoshitai enabled Zhongtai to list on the A-share market in 2017 through a backdoor listing of a listed company controlled by its parent company. Its market value once exceeded 300 billion yuan. However, judging from its backdoor listing in 2017 and the subsequent collapse in 2019, it seems that this was a pre-planned scheme.

By 2017, when Zhongtai went public through a reverse merger, there were still 10 years left. These 10 years were more than enough time for Tan Jincheng to make his plans and acquire controlling stake. In any case, the original intention of Zhongtai's boss was nothing more than to cash out capital, and he had no long-term plan to build cars.

At worst, if he can't control the situation at the right time, he can still maximize the profit of this investment by reducing his holdings. This is equivalent to investing in A-shares before he became rich, and if done well, the return can be ten or a hundred times.

This is in the interest of FlashTech and Tan Jincheng. As for Beicang District, their interests are not bad either. They have a car company with good development prospects that can set up a branch in the district in the future.

It increased employment and tax revenue, and also enriched the industrial chain. There are many auto parts factories in Beicang District, but they are all unable to break through due to the lack of the automotive industry. For example, companies like Tuopu, which will be listed in the future, are still small factories at this time.

In fact, Beicang's auto parts industry only developed rapidly after Geely moved in. During this period, Beicang's private economy was still in a transitional phase, mainly consisting of the mold industry, which was dominated by clothing, chemicals, and motorcycle and automobile industries.

Zhang Mingcan's previous company manufactured motorcycle parts. There are many factories like his in Beicang District. These factories are all facing the problem of transformation. A successful transformation will benefit both the business owners and the local government, while a poor transformation will lead to their decline.

By introducing an automobile company, the district's industrial chain has been enriched, and the effects are immediate.

Tan Jincheng's submitted documents were very detailed and highly feasible. Most importantly, Flash Technology had already obtained the birth permit. All that was needed was to act as a middleman and dispel the concerns of the Yongkang side.

As for the investments of local government financing vehicles (LGFVs), there are naturally risks, but isn't it normal for investments to make or lose money?

Losing money would only mean losing some cash, but if it were to happen, there would be huge benefits. This four-party or even three-party cooperation is definitely worth doing.

The document wasn't long; the leader finished reading it in just over ten minutes.

After putting down the documents, Director Gu gave Tan Jincheng a deep look: "Your suggestion is very good. I will arrange to report it to higher authorities immediately. Thank you for your thoughtfulness, Tan."

His guess was that there was something else behind this document, rather than FlashTech simply trying to maximize the profits from the cheaply acquired production qualifications, as stated above.

There's no need to make things so complicated if it's just about maximizing profits. Just sell it to him directly, and you'll avoid a lot of risks.

However, regardless of the circumstances, it is of great benefit to the district, and as long as this aspect is not a problem, it's fine.

"Thank you, boss. If there's nothing else, I'll be going now," Tan Jincheng said with a smile.

"Well, I have two personal questions for you before I leave."

"Please speak, sir."

"What is your ultimate goal? Of course, you don't have to answer this question if you don't want to or if it involves company secrets; another question is that you can discuss this with the government in your hometown, so why Beicang?"

Tan Jincheng smiled. Sure enough, he couldn't hide it after all.

"Let me answer the leader's second question first. Why Beicang instead of my hometown? First of all, all my businesses are in Beicang. From any perspective, choosing Beicang is the most advantageous for Flash Technology at this stage."

Secondly, during the development of FlashTech, the leaders have provided us with a lot of help, such as land approval and loans. I believe the district also faced some pressure. As people, we should know how to be grateful. Having the opportunity to repay them won't do us any harm, so why not?

Leader Gu nodded with a smile, not interrupting Tan Jincheng, indicating that he should continue; clearly, the flattery in the second half of the journey had been quite effective.

Given the scale of FlashTech in 2005, securing loans was relatively easy, as long as the banks agreed. However, they were unable to secure land grants of 150 mu (approximately 10 hectares), which put them under considerable pressure.

Fortunately, everything at FlashTech is going according to plan, and the company is developing better and better. The marketing campaign they launched this year has become quite famous online.

"Going back to the first question, it's not exactly a secret, but I still hope the leader can keep it a secret. I won't admit it once I leave this room," Tan Jincheng said with a smile.

Seeing that his superiors did not mind his slightly flippant words and did not stop him, Tan Jincheng paused for a moment and continued, "I want to build cars, build automobiles. If gasoline cars don't work, we'll build electric cars. In the future, I even want to seize control of Zhongtai."

(End of this chapter)