2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 514 Changes before building the car.

Tan Jincheng's so-called "Porsche-like" approach is not about finding a specific car model, but rather a concept.

They imitate currently popular luxury cars and sell them to consumers at prices far lower than the genuine products. To put it bluntly, it's still plagiarism, and many companies are doing it.

However, it takes some effort to make a name for yourself. Back in the day, Geely even made a sports car, which was called the first domestic sports car, the Beauty Leopard. Its unconventional design left a deep impression.

It was a copy of the early Toyota Supra sports car. I remember it was priced at just over 10 yuan, but it was heavily criticized and sold very poorly.

This is what is often referred to as "copying homework but not being able to copy it properly." Copying homework in the business world is not as simple as it seems. First, your aesthetic sense must be up to par, and second, you must have a very accurate grasp of popular culture.

Among private car companies, countless models copy the designs of foreign brands, but only a handful actually become wildly popular.

It's not easy for Porsche to copy other cars so successfully. The company doesn't need to make its copied models stand out; it just needs to sell well enough to support the automotive industry or at least not lose too much money.

"Copying this year's popular car models doesn't seem to work. We need to copy next year's or even the year after. What are the popular luxury cars for next year and the year after?"

From design to production to market launch, it takes at least two years, no matter how fast you go. If Flash starts preparing to manufacture cars now, the first model appearing on the market in 2010 would be the fastest you can go.

Normally, it would be considered good if a company went public after 2011, which is also considered a good time in terms of timing.

Tan Jincheng remembered that the government would start subsidizing new energy starting next year, and the large-scale subsidies should officially begin in 2012. He would be able to receive some subsidies then, and that was no small amount of money.

Once we achieve a certain scale, we can then receive subsidies.

However, for now, it still depends on the person in charge of the entire automotive industry, so it's inevitable that they'll have to poach talent. This time, Boss Tan didn't set his sights on Chery, but instead set his sights on a sales manager at Beiqi Foton.

This sales manager is Zhang Yong, the co-founder and CEO of the future San Taizi brand. Like Chery, BAIC is also a traditional car company. Traditional car companies can't play tricks, but they are good at manufacturing.

Born in Henan Province in 1975, Zhang Yong joined BAIC Group in 1998 after graduating from one of the top universities in China, and has been with the company for 10 years.

Tan Jincheng's deeper understanding of Zhang Yong comes from his previous life. This technical guru, who worked at BAIC and Chery respectively, came out with the entire Chery team to start a new energy brand.

With his technical and marketing expertise, high academic qualifications, and 10 years of experience working in a traditional automaker, Tan Jincheng has some understanding of him and believes he is currently the best candidate to lead Flash Motors.

They probably can't poach people at too high a level, but a sales manager shouldn't be a problem.

"Go to the capital and poach someone for me. There's a sales manager at BAIC named Zhang Yong. The headhunting firm has already sent his information to your 'dingding' (a euphemism for a sexual encounter)."

After the meeting, Tan Jincheng kept Chen Jinwen behind and gave him some instructions.

Today's meeting was really just a get-together for senior executives before the new year to brainstorm. Without a professional leader, talking about things like car manufacturing is just nonsense. The real purpose was to convey a message to the group's senior management: all of the group's businesses will go forward to serve the purpose of car manufacturing.

February 14, 2008, Valentine's Day.

On the eighth day of the first lunar month, the first day back to work, Flash Group officially submitted five trademarks to the State Trademark Office: Xingchi, Fengchi, Yuechi, Huachi, and Weilai, which has no connection with the Chi series.

In addition, a new company, "Yongcheng Weilai Automobile Co., Ltd.", whose legal representative is Tan Jincheng, has officially started the registration process at the Beicang Administration for Industry and Commerce. The entire process was very fast because relevant personnel had intervened.

Everything happened quietly.

In the mobile internet era, Tan Jincheng and Flash Group, known for their disruptive activities, would have been trending topics online within half a day. However, it was 2008, and gossip didn't spread that fast.

Moreover, this was only the first day of official resumption of work. Many workers were still haunted by the memory of the snow disaster and dared not go out so early. The normal production order of many companies had not been fully restored, let alone gossip about other companies.

They're busy recruiting and looking for jobs, so they don't have time for that.

Xiao Chen, who works in Guangzhou, finally received his electric kettle on the last day before leaving home before returning to work before the Lunar New Year. After a quick check, he found there were no problems. The delivery, which took more than 20 days, was the slowest package he had ever received in his life. "It's not bad, no problems, thank you."

After checking the exterior, Xiao Chen found no problems. The SF Express staff were also very considerate. Although he was about to leave and wouldn't need the package anymore, he felt a little uncomfortable. However, compared to the experiences he had read about online, Xiao Chen felt that he was still lucky.

I stopped worrying about it too much. After all, I couldn't really blame anyone for the weather. I'll just consider it a gift for my parents.

After the SF Express courier left, Xiao Chen boiled a kettle of water. There were no problems, so he turned on his computer and clicked "receive." After confirming receipt, Xiao Chen was surprised to find that there was an extra coupon in his account.

"Huh? 20 yuan off for every 100 yuan spent? That's like a 20% discount! That's great!" Xiao Chen exclaimed.

The announcement at Orange Products Fair also stated that, depending on the delay in the express delivery process and the amount of the purchased items, users affected by the delay will be offered coupons ranging from 2 yuan off purchases of 10 yuan to 200 yuan off purchases of 1000 yuan, as Orange Products Fair's way of expressing its apology to its users.

Xiao Chen thought the coupon he got, which offered a 20 RMB discount for purchases over 100 RMB, was pretty good. He could get a discount without paying too much money, and the frustration of his delayed delivery was completely gone.

"Give it a good review, after all, even heavy snow can't stop Orange Products Club."

It was a rather peculiar online shopping experience, which finally ended before work. For Xiao Chen, it was a relief, as she wouldn't have to constantly worry about whether she had received her package when she returned to Guangzhou.

Through the complaints on online forums over the past few days, Xiao Chen has also discovered that Chengpin Hui's service is currently the best among all major shopping websites, even surpassing Jingdong, which is known for its service.

Their customer service staff are really professional. It's rumored that most of them were poached from Taobao. Why haven't I seen such professional customer service staff on Taobao?
And today, a new personnel appointment was announced from the president's office of Flash Group: the former marketing manager of Flash Technology has been transferred to the position of general manager of Flash Technology (Wangjiang) branch, in charge of the affairs of Wangjiang branch.

The first phase of the Wangjiang branch factory is scheduled to be completed this year, and production can begin by the end of the year. Wu Zhenping is in charge of the production commencement work at the Wangjiang factory.

With this, the heads of FlashTech's three major business regions have been finalized: Lin Yumin at headquarters, Sun Yuming at the Tianjin branch, and Wu Zhenping at the Wangjiang branch.

“Uncle Wu, go to Wangjiang and cover for me for two years. If you want to come back someday, I’ll find someone to transfer you back. Flash is currently planning to go public, and the Wangjiang factory is quite important.”

Tan Jincheng offered Wu Zhenping a cigarette with a slightly apologetic expression.

Today is a family gathering. Tan Jincheng invited Zhang Xupeng, Lin Yumin, and Wu Zhenping's families to his home as guests, in order to give Wu Zhenping a farewell party.

To be honest, Wu Zhenping was indeed a bit depressed. He was naturally happy that the company had promoted him to be a leader in his area, but it conflicted with his life plans.

Since losing the competition with Lao Lin, Lao Lin took over Tan Zong's position and became the general manager of FlashTech. Wu Zhenping, who was always one step behind, was already prepared to stay in the position of marketing manager for a long time.

Meanwhile, Ningbo has a better economic environment and better educational resources than Yicheng. Zhenhai High School, one of the top high schools in the country, is located in Ningbo. Wu Zhenping has decided to settle down here for family reasons.

Unlike others, Wu Zhenping, whose income has increased significantly, bought a house in the urban area of ​​Ningbo after settling down in the city. He had been living in the company-provided dormitory in Beicang until this time when the company offered preferential housing purchases, and only then did he buy a house in Beicang.

This is Wu Zhenping's second house in Ningbo. When he heard that the company planned to go public at the end of last year, Wu Zhenping had already made preparations for retirement.

President Tan treated his old employees who had followed him from the beginning quite well. They would definitely benefit from the company's listing. As long as they did their jobs diligently, they would have nothing to worry about for the rest of their lives. No one expected that after the New Year, President Tan would transfer them back to Yicheng!
The key point is that he has already found a school for his child, and his wife is even preparing to quit her job!

Wu Zhenping really didn't want this kind of advancement. It's certainly enjoyable to be in power, but compared to his family, it would be more comfortable to retire peacefully at headquarters. Once the company goes public and he gets some shares, he can retire peacefully and do what he likes.

However, Wu Zhenping also knew that he couldn't refuse this matter. Just like when they first started building the company together, Wu Zhenping also knew that among the company's veterans, he was the most suitable to take charge of the Wangjiang branch.

"Mr. Tan, you're too kind. It's what I should do. I still remember the days when we went out to do business and visit suppliers together, and we got as black as charcoal in the sweltering heat."

“That’s right, Mr. Tan, there’s no need for that. Old Wu and I aren’t too old to move. You can ask us for anything you need.” Lin Yumin chimed in.

"Haha, then I'll thank you both in advance. It's perfect timing, Uncle Wu, you can go back with my dad this time, it'll make your journey a bit more lively."

(End of this chapter)