2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 396 "I'm Really Not Bragging"

"It's alright. Things are a bit complicated, but it's not particularly busy."

This was the first time Gu Qingqing had been away on a business trip for so long, and Zhang Suzhi was extremely concerned when she arrived home.

Since my son got ashore, he has become very independent and has his own ideas. Sometimes I even feel that his ideas are more mature than mine.

Not only in business, but also in many details of life, he seemed to know more than I did.

Zhang Suzhi could no longer find that feeling of being a mother in him, but fortunately she had a daughter and a daughter-in-law.

They arrived home. Tan Jincheng wasn't a billionaire or a domineering CEO; he still lacked status. Jin Yue clung to him for a while before running away, because the gifts she brought back were with her sister-in-law.

This trip to Shenzhen was mostly for work, but a small part was really just to have some fun in Hong Kong, with Gu Qingqing in tow.

I bought quite a lot of things. Hong Kong's level of development in the early 2000s was indeed incomparable to that of the mainland. They had a wide variety of luxury goods and electronic products.

Take mobile phones as an example. These days, the two most common terms are "official goods" and "parallel imports." Many mobile phone stores deal in parallel import phones, especially in the early stages of smartphone releases.

There's nothing we can do; many foreign products are downgraded when they come to China, which is unfair to us.

This situation will only cease once our industry advances. Take electric vehicles, for example: the ones exported to Southeast Asia by Flash are somewhat different from those sold domestically.

The configurations of domestic FlashDrive models are better, while those in Southeast Asia are relatively inferior. Of course, the quality is fine and they meet the standards.

The simplest example is a plastic wall thickness of 2 millimeters, made to 1.9 millimeters, which is reasonable, right? This is called tolerance!

Don't underestimate this small amount; if production increases, costs can be reduced significantly.

These small details may seem insignificant now, and might even be looked down upon; but when news breaks that domestic users are using products that are better than those used abroad, that will be the shining moment for FlashCar.

Three women, of different ages, were chatting and talking nearby. Tan Jincheng, having nothing to do, looked at the company's reports.

For more than ten days, Tan Jincheng has not paid much attention to Flashpoint, and the company is operating normally.

March is almost over, and April is just around the corner. Flash Group is naturally preparing for the Shanghai International Electric Vehicle Exhibition, which is currently the largest exhibition in the electric vehicle industry.

Last year, FlashCheer became an instant hit at the Shanghai exhibition and launched the Wind Chaser Crown Energy series. It was the appearance of Crown Energy that completely disrupted the layout of ChipRestaurant. If it weren't for the first-mover advantage, they would not have been able to keep the sales champion title they had just won.

This year's Shanghai Auto Show is scheduled for May 4th to May 7th, the last three days of the seven-day May Day holiday.

Fun fact: This May Day holiday is still like National Day, a seven-day holiday.

To be honest, this period was quite comfortable. There were many ways to make money, and the cost of living didn't rise too much. The average wage level wasn't very high, but the sense of happiness in life was much higher than after 2019.

Last year, Flash Motors used the image of a weakling to launch a sneak attack, but it certainly can't do that this year.

In fact, since the beginning of the year, it wasn't just Xinri that was paying attention to Flashspeed Technology's movements, as the company most likely to snatch the sales lead from Xinri in the electric vehicle market. Trying to use sneak attacks was simply impossible.

When a company does well, countless imitators will follow. Flash's product design is deeply influenced by the aesthetic thinking of Tan Jincheng and later generations, and is very advanced, making it look very beautiful.

In terms of marketing, Flash also does a very good job, often coming up with unexpected tricks. The first brand ambassador was associated with the then-hot topic of Super Girl.

Last year, many companies followed suit, not only wanting to sign Super Girl contestants, but also attracting many electric vehicle industry bosses to other popular variety shows.

Companies that learned to adapt and adapt performed well last year, while those that simply imitated others didn't make much of a splash.

The design department of Flash Motors is the most coveted by major electric vehicle manufacturers. In the past, Tan Jincheng was always thinking about how to poach a few designers from other companies.

After a year of development, the situation has changed dramatically, and other companies are now trying to poach designers from Flash's R&D department.

This is why Tan Jincheng wanted to jointly run a major with Ningbo Vocational College. No matter how good the treatment is, it is hard to stop people's ambition. Only a continuous stream of talents can guarantee the strength of the research and development department.

However, at present, for designers in the electric vehicle industry, the R&D department of Flash is indeed one of the most desirable jobs in the entire industry, not only because the salary is far higher than that of their peers.

Furthermore, Flash's level of attention to its R&D department is arguably the highest in the industry. They show great respect for designers, and you'll never see the situation where sales staff can bully R&D personnel, as is common in other companies. In the era where distribution channels are king, good product sales are attributed to sales staff, who receive the most bonuses, while poor sales are blamed on design flaws—a practice frequently seen in many companies.

The reason why Flashpoint doesn't exist is actually because the boss of Flashpoint would personally get involved and even participate in the design. Which business would dare to touch that brow? Wouldn't that be courting death?
"How were the sales in the first quarter?" Gu Qingqing asked, handing her a glass of water.

She admired Tan Jincheng for many things, but what she admired most was his determination to work towards a goal once he set his mind on it, without changing his initial idea.

He wants to make cars, and all his current preparations are aimed at producing cars in the future.

Whether it's the electric vehicle business or the internet business, he sees it more as a way to save money and accumulate capital. Orange Technology's financing has caused such a stir in the outside world that everyone thinks he's going to enter the internet industry.

The media hyped it up, claiming with certainty that Tan Jincheng's net worth increased by 200 to 300 million yuan in less than a year through Orange Technology, which was much faster than accumulating wealth through real businesses, and that his future work focus would inevitably shift to the internet sector.

With its Series B funding and backing from top investment institutions, Orange Technology has a greater chance of going public than any of the physical companies within the Flash Group; Orange Technology, founded in one year and listed in three, seems to be just around the corner.

Who would pass up such a lucrative opportunity and instead go through the hard work of running a real business?
Only Gu Qingqing knew that he didn't actually value Orange Technology particularly much, nor did he intend to make it a very large company.

Otherwise, Chengpin Hui's offline channels would not have been managed by Jinpeng Industry.

Raising an extra $1,000 or $20 million would allow them to establish offline channels without significantly impacting Orange Technology's control, and these profits could then be given to Orange Technology.

However, Orange Technology positions itself as a small but beautiful company, trying to maintain a light-asset operation. The profitable areas in the surrounding area are handed over to Flash Group, and profits are transferred to Flash Group without cashing out or violating regulations.

The same applies to other businesses such as apparel and electric vehicles, including investment ventures; profits are being redirected towards new energy sources, such as lithium batteries, in preparation for the electric vehicle business.

Flash Group currently only has a loss-making battery business; its apparel and electric vehicle businesses have very high gross profit margins and are very profitable.

The investment returns from ByteDance's advertising platform are also quite good, with the group generating substantial revenue throughout the year, but its profits are not high.

It's all because the profits were invested in battery research and development and plans to acquire related industries.

"It's alright. With the production capacity released, we can be more flexible in our market policies."

The first quarter is almost over, and the sales report has been released. Although it is the off-season, it is no longer limited by the rapid increase in production capacity. The sales in the first quarter are an important factor in determining whether the annual expectations can be achieved.

In the past, we could boast that our production capacity was limited and that our sales figures didn't reflect our actual levels, but that trick is no longer effective.

In 2006, Flash Motors sold 47.22 vehicles. That's one thing to say to the outside world, but internally, Flash Motors planned to sell at least double the 2006 sales in 2007, which is 100 million vehicles.

As for the claim that annual sales will reach 100 million vehicles within three years, that's just a humble statement.

We must achieve our sales target of 100 million vehicles this year!
This isn't just Flashcart bragging. The two-wheeled electric vehicle market exploded in 2006, and various laws and regulations became more and more comprehensive. By the end of the year and the beginning of this year, everyone started to focus on lithium battery two-wheelers again.

Not long ago, lead-acid battery giant Chaowei partnered with Qingyang County in Anhui Province to build a battery plant there, mainly producing and developing lithium batteries for two-wheeled vehicles.

Lead-acid giants have entered the market, and environmental protection policies are being implemented in various regions, all indicating that the industry is accelerating.

As a leading enterprise in the research and development of lithium batteries for two-wheeled electric vehicles, Tan Jincheng absolutely cannot allow Hangxin New Energy to get an early start but fall behind. In this period of industry acceleration and transformation, it is imperative to seize market share as quickly as possible.

In fact, it wasn't just FlashCheer that had a plan to sell a million units in 2007; other leading companies like Chipstar and Yadi also had this plan.

The reason is simple: the market is developing too fast, and the electric vehicles produced, especially the low-end series, are not hard to sell.

After several years of development, by 2007, manufacturers of low-end electric vehicles no longer offered many preferential policies. At most, when people bought these, the store owner would give them a cheap helmet or raincoat as a gift.

Even so, sales were still very good. In the first quarter, when production capacity was fully released, Flashcar shipped a total of 25.83 electric vehicles, with an average monthly sales volume of 8.61 vehicles.

This is during the off-season!

Although most of them are low-end cars, this data proves that the monthly sales of the Flash can actually reach more than 10 units!
In 2006, Flash Motors' most aggrieved statement in its external marketing was, "We really just have limited production capacity. If we had been able to develop a few years earlier, we would definitely be the king of the electric vehicle market."

The data from the first quarter shows that it wasn't just bragging.

(End of this chapter)