2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 522 Hyping the topic of car manufacturing
While Flash's marketing department was quietly stirring things up, Tan Jincheng's side wasn't idle either.

"Spacious, well-equipped, and stylishly designed are my requirements for our first car. Of course, the most important thing is that it must be affordable, just like the first electric car from FlashTech."

"I understand. This is the situation that all domestic brands are currently facing. They can only take the cost-effective route."

On the other end of the phone was Zhang Yong, who had decided to join FlashCheer to start a business and was going through the resignation process. Compared to Sun Tongyu, Zhang Yong's resignation did not cause much of a stir in Futian, after all, there were quite a few people eyeing his position.

Cars are a symbol of status, so of course the more expensive the better. But unfortunately, domestic brands cannot yet produce luxury cars, and even their mid-range models are not trusted.

Flash's entry into the market by starting with low-end, cost-effective products aligns with the company's strategy, but it is also a reluctant choice, or even the only choice, as there is no other option but to focus on the low-end market.

To be honest, the automotive industry and the electric vehicle industry started at the same time. Currently, both are in a chaotic, unregulated environment with many unqualified manufacturers. Only those with one or two blockbuster models can survive relatively well.

The market environments for both are very similar; the only differences are the target consumer groups and the competitors.

The two-wheeled electric vehicle market is dominated by competition among domestic brands, while the automotive market, in addition to competition among domestic brands, also faces competition from joint venture brands. Both involve large investments and fierce competition, with new players emerging every month and car factories closing down every month.

Although the overall market environment is in its early stages, the pressure is several times greater than that of the electric vehicle sector. All manufacturers are thinking about how to crush their competitors.

Currently, no truly successful domestic brand has broken through. The three with the best trends are BYD, Chery, and Geely. Other brands that were eliminated after more than 10 years, such as Moufan and Zhongtai, are also quite well-known in the market.

Domestic brands can do alright with one or two blockbuster models, such as BYD's F3, Geely's Emgrand, Chery's QQ, and even Zhongtai's 2008. However, once the blockbuster model stops selling and the sales of new models fail to pick up, they face the risk of going bankrupt.

Geely did a great job, launching many brands and models, but they all failed. If it weren't for the Emgrand being so incredibly successful, it might have gone bankrupt during that wave of major brand initiatives.

In fact, at present, the most stable domestic private brands are only BYD and Chery, because these two have real technological accumulation, while the others do not seem stable.

"I've already started marketing our car manufacturing project. I've done the preliminary preparations for you. Now we're just waiting for you, Mr. Zhang, to come and show your skills."

Zhang Yong resigned voluntarily for personal reasons. In principle, one to two months should be enough. If he could be more flexible, he might not even need a month, since he has made room for someone else.

The sales manager position at Foton Motor is not well-known outside the automotive industry, but it is a good stepping stone position within the company, and many people feel it is a pity that Zhang Yong has left.

In their view, Zhang Yong, who had worked his way up to this position after ten years, was at the right time to make his mark, and choosing to resign at this point was somewhat inappropriate.

To be honest, a 33-year-old middle-level manager is really considered a highly valued position in a state-owned enterprise. There is little controversy about this. Zhang Yong is a highly educated and capable person, and even without a background, he would have had his chance to rise to the top.

"I saw it. Information about Mr. Tan being the legal representative of the newly established Weilai Automobile has already appeared online," Zhang Yong replied with a smile.

After deciding to join the company, Zhang Yong paid close attention to Flash's developments. In the past two days, news suddenly broke on the internet about Flash registering multiple trademarks, Tan's return to the position of president of Orange Technology, and Sun Tongyu's joining the company.

The hype once again propelled Flashcar to the forefront, managing to carve out its own niche within the hype surrounding Mr. Chen. This was followed by the news that Tan Jincheng had established a car company.

Zhang Yong, being a sales manager, was able to see through Flash's marketing tactics after studying it for a few days. It was nothing more than setting the pace, creating hype, and attracting onlookers, thus achieving the effect of advertising.

The strategy is simple, but it works really well. Last year, there were all sorts of rumors about Flashcar manufacturing cars. Now, the legal representative of the newly established car company is Tan Jincheng, and five trademarks have been registered at the same time, which almost confirms that it is indeed a car manufacturer.

Before the car project was even finalized, Mr. Tan had already generated a lot of buzz. He's really good at marketing, especially internet marketing.

What Zhang Yong didn't know was that a large number of media reporters had rushed to Beicang in the past two days. On the one hand, Sun Tongyu was about to take office as the vice president of Orange Technology and would appear at the Beicang Flash Technology headquarters building, which was a very big topic.

On the other hand, Tan Jincheng became the legal representative of a newly established automobile company. As a figure who has always been in the news, this news item is also very newsworthy.

In addition, many local governments have noticed Flash Motors' actions and are closely monitoring its car manufacturing progress. Flash Motors is still very popular among local governments.

Tan Jincheng has built a good reputation for his investments across various regions in recent years. Wherever he goes, FlashCar never forgoes local preferential policies, and he consistently delivers on his promises regarding funding and employment. This has earned him high praise from various places. In today's era of rapid development, it's difficult to fool some business owners who use huge investments to fraudulently obtain subsidies and loans in various regions, only to abscond with unfinished projects.

In pursuit of GDP and development, many local governments are not so strict in their assessment of investment projects. It is not uncommon for them to sell or give away land at half price, provide low-interest loans, and offer certain unique local resources.

Take car manufacturing as an example. This is the easiest way to get subsidies. A third-rate car brand that cooperated with Hyundai claimed to invest 11.7 billion yuan to build a brand new car factory, which attracted the covetous eyes of many places.

The next step was to see who offered the better terms. In order to secure the investment, a certain region in Inner Mongolia, which was not the best choice for car manufacturing, promised to provide the company with a low-interest loan of 10 billion yuan, a large amount of land that was sold or given away, and the development rights to two mineral resources were also given to the company.

Let's not even talk about the first two. Even a fool knows how much money coal bosses make these days. With just the development rights to two mineral resources, what the hell do you need to do? Once you get them, you don't even need to develop them. You can just subcontract them out and make a fortune.

It's not that every place is completely unprepared, but given the current situation, there are bound to be areas where things fall short.

Although many people are still skeptical about Flash's car manufacturing project and do not believe that Flash can actually build cars, Flash's investment projects have maintained a good reputation over the years, which makes many people willing to take a gamble on it.

Furthermore, according to Flash's latest annual financial report, the entire group's revenue exceeded 10 billion yuan, net profit was several billion yuan, and its tax payment scale has ranked among the top private enterprises in Ningbo.

With such impressive financial data, who wouldn't be confused?

From a financial perspective, it is quite possible for Flashcars to support its car manufacturing plan based on last year's revenue. The only concerns are their lack of technology and the absence of car production qualifications.

At this point, many people remembered that ByteDance's engine had conducted research at Changfeng Group in Xiangcheng last year, which further confirmed the rumors of Flashcar's car manufacturing. The next step is to confirm it with Tan Jincheng.

With ample funds and thorough preparation, it's no surprise that many local governments will proactively approach Boss Tan as soon as he makes an announcement.

"Hey, look at that guy, isn't that CEO Huang from ByteDance's advertising platform? Do you recognize the two people next to him?"

The first to arrive were all internet media outlets, who are now camped out outside the FlashChi headquarters building, trying to capture images of Sun Tongyu entering the building as soon as possible.

Huang Ming is a veteran and well-known figure in the internet industry. Many reporters captured the image of him pulling a suitcase out of the Flashpoint Building.

"Those two young men are probably assistants or something. As for the middle-aged man, he looks a bit like Cheng Linfeng, the manager of the securities investment department of ByteDance. I saw his photo on a fund website before, and he looks somewhat like him."

"Holy crap! So those are the two top executives from ByteDance's advertising platform going on a business trip together? Is something big going on?"

"Go ahead and ask them! What are you waiting for? They'll be gone soon."

The two heads of an investment company were chatting and laughing together, pulling a suitcase. It was obvious that they were on a business trip together. For ByteDance, which has been absent from the secondary market for a long time, what kind of business trip could make the two heads go on a business trip together?
Before he could finish speaking, a number of reporters rushed up and surrounded Huang Ming with microphones. As for Cheng Linfeng, he hadn't appeared on camera much and many people didn't recognize him, so they weren't sure if they could confirm his identity.

"Mr. Huang, this must be Mr. Cheng. What are you two doing here? Are you going on a business trip together?"

Huang Ming was stunned for a moment. It was President Tan who told them to go out openly, saying that there were reporters waiting outside and that if they went out like this, someone would definitely stop them. He didn't expect that President Tan would actually guess it.

"Oh, I'm on a business trip, doing some research. This is Mr. Cheng from our securities investment department."

"Mr. Cheng, ByteDance's 'Big Data Engine' hasn't appeared in the secondary market for a long time. Did you really start withdrawing from the 6000-point level? Is there some major investment project on your business trip with Mr. Huang this time?"

Just by listening to this question, you can tell that this reporter must be a sucker. There have always been rumors in the market that ByteDance's stock price dropped from 6000 points, but these have never been confirmed by anyone related to ByteDance.

Cheng Linfeng laughed and said, "Ha, I can't answer the first question, and I can't answer the second. If you want to know more details, please pay attention to our Flash Group's subsequent announcements."

(End of this chapter)