2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 541 Fukuda Cummins Limited

In the capital, Boss Tan was just a nobody, and obviously wouldn't be as prestigious as he was in Ningbo.

The Olympic sponsors weren't high-level, and the two-day event was very low-key. However, a young face picking up food still stood out like a conspicuous bag among a group of middle-aged and even elderly people.

Although the event was pre-recorded, it aired on the sports channel on Sunday night. The editing was quite fast, and the CCTV reporters were very accommodating, giving Tan Jincheng a lot of screen time.

This didn't cost any money; it was entirely spontaneously organized by the reporters.

"My brother is on TV again, but why isn't my sister on?"

"Your sister has other things to do."

Zhang Suzhi, who is at home, is used to her son appearing on TV, but she still loves watching him. She even watches the sports channel, which she doesn't usually turn on, with great interest.

She wasn't very familiar with the Olympic sponsorship model. Sponsorships primarily focused on Flash Technology and electric vehicles couldn't be used indiscriminately, even for other brands under the Flash Group. The Olympic Organizing Committee had very strict controls on this.

Although Orange Technology is owned by Boss Tan, it's still impossible for Gu Qingqing to appear in the main camera. The only way she can get some attention is by using the special edition of the Crown Energy Olympics for a lucky draw during the last live stream.

In addition, CCTV's promotional segments also require payment.

Of course, the money wasn't wasted; Gu Qingqing appeared in several shots taken by passersby, but the mother and daughter missed it and didn't notice.

In addition to being broadcast on the sports channel, this event was also broadcast on CCTV-13's News 1+1 channel, which premiered on March 24. It's worth mentioning that CCTV has undergone a major revamp this year, with many of its previous programs being discontinued.

On the same day that News 1+1 was launched, six programs on CCTV13 were officially suspended and removed from the CCTV13 channel.

On March 24, the day of the rebroadcast, Boss Tan appeared at the Futian headquarters in Changping District, while Gu Qingqing returned to Ningbo in advance to organize the data for this roadshow. Sun Tongyu and Cheng Hao had already returned two days earlier over the weekend.

Orange Technology's IPO plan is proceeding at a high speed and efficiency, striving to pass Nasdaq's review on the last working day of this month.

"Fukuda's cooperation with Cummins began in 2006. After the two companies worked together, the group decided to establish a joint venture this year. Mr. Tan's appearance is timely."

Upon arriving at the Futian headquarters, the first thing to do was to visit the factory. The project leader in charge of negotiating the cooperation with Cummins was surnamed Wu, a relatively rare surname. He was the one who accompanied Tan Jincheng on his factory visit.

“We are also very honored to be able to cooperate with two excellent companies, which will greatly help our car manufacturing business. We hope to learn more and more advanced technologies from both companies.”

"Haha, Mr. Tan is young and promising. We are very impressed that Flash Motors Group is able to enter the automotive industry."

This statement sounds somewhat condescending, but since Foton has the confidence to say it, it's not presumptuous of them. At the same time, it also reflects Wu Xibing's true thoughts. These days, companies that dare to enter the car manufacturing industry deserve admiration.

If the two-wheeled electric vehicle market has low brand concentration and fierce competition, it's child's play compared to the automotive market. There aren't many companies that have established brand advantages in the two-wheeled electric vehicle market. Despite the competition, it's still very easy to make a few hundred yuan per electric vehicle sold.

The automotive sector is completely different. It includes foreign brands, leading state-owned enterprises, and private brands that have already reached a certain scale, such as BYD and Chery. The required investment is also quite high.

The intensity of the competition was unimaginable. What impressed Wu Xibing the most was that, based on the data he obtained and Huang Ming's previous introduction, Flashcar was really going to enter the car manufacturing market and had even poached Zhang Yong, an outstanding reserve talent from their group.

Many companies claim to manufacture cars, but they're all talk and no action. They use the gimmick of car manufacturing to acquire land, defraud local governments of investment and land, and then do other things. There are far too many companies like this.

At the age of 23, he's already the top-selling electric car brand in the country, and another internet company under his control is about to go public. Why not do something else? Why get into the automotive industry to compete? One wrong move and he could lose everything.

Take Fukuda's collaboration with Cummins as an example; the total investment is 49 billion yuan. The fact that they dare to get involved in this shows their considerable ambition.

"This is the first time I've visited a heavy truck workshop like this. It's truly magnificent, even more so than the Dongfeng bus production workshop." Tan Jincheng didn't answer Wu Xibing's question, but was somewhat impressed by the scale of the workshop.

Large state-owned enterprises, especially leading ones, are incomparable to private enterprises. State-owned enterprises are often perceived as loss-making and lacking ambition, but in reality, many state-owned enterprises are quite excellent.

Firstly, in terms of management systems alone, most private enterprises cannot compare to state-owned enterprises, even well-known ones. Take the automotive industry as an example: if a state-owned enterprise becomes the industry leader, it would never only give out one mooncake for the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Both the employee management system and welfare mechanism are very comprehensive. In the process of development, Flash Technology has referenced many of the mechanisms of Yicheng Petrochemical. These were taught by Lin Yumin and Tan Lihua and Zhang Guolong, the two fathers.

They've spent their entire lives in state-owned enterprises, so they may not have practical experience in management, but the knowledge they've accumulated is definitely a valuable asset.

"Haha, Mr. Tan wouldn't be thinking of poaching people from our side, would he?"

To cooperate with Flash, how could one not know its boss? Wu Xibing had also heard the rumors that Boss Tan was never empty-handed. Besides, he had already poached a key figure from Fukuda before he even arrived. Tan Jincheng was also thick-skinned: "Haha, this time we really won't poach anyone. Don't be nervous, President Wu. President Zhang alone is enough. We'll be cooperating in the future, won't we?"

He can't escape this reputation anyway, so let him be.

Zhang Yong will definitely take some people with him when he leaves, otherwise how can he carry out his work as a commander without any personnel? He doesn't need to recruit people himself.

Nowadays, Flash has established a complete talent system. Unless you are a special talent, you don't need Tan Jincheng to personally come forward. If you still need to recruit ordinary talents yourself, then what's the point of making cars? You might as well just close down.

Wu Xibing and other business leaders understood this principle, and the title "Tan Jincheng" was just a joke.

We visited the factory in the morning, and as usual, we had lunch there. State-owned enterprises, especially those in the north, have certain requirements regarding food and drink. If we were cooperating with Futian alone, it would definitely not be acceptable to just have a meal at their factory.

However, with foreigners present and formal negotiations to be conducted in the afternoon, a simple lunch is perfectly reasonable.

Wu Xibing said politely, "Please don't mind if our hospitality has been lacking, Mr. Tan."

"Not at all, this is already a very generous meal. Thank you very much for your hospitality, Mr. Futian and Mr. Wu."

At their level, they've tasted all sorts of delicacies, so what they eat isn't important at all. Besides, even in the canteen, there's a whole table full of food, and there's also alcohol; the standard of dining hasn't been lowered.

In terms of interpersonal relationships, companies in the North are indeed much more sophisticated than the Southern companies that Tan Jincheng has encountered. Take many companies in Zhejiang Province, including Flash, for example; many of them serve takeout lunches, such as hamburgers.

Currently, when state-owned enterprises cooperate with foreign-invested enterprises, the shareholding structure is generally 50/50, with each party holding 50% of the shares. There is no absolute control. There are two main operating models.

One approach is joint operation, while the other involves domestic enterprises operating the business independently.

The Foton Cummins engine project has a total investment of 49 billion yuan. The two parties will cooperate to establish a brand-new engine production base in Changping, mainly producing diesel engines, covering light, medium and heavy-duty diesel engines.

From 2.8 liters to 13 liters, including Cummins' F and X series, the designed annual production capacity can reach up to 52 units, which is quite a large project.

With a 50/50 share split, Cummins' 50% stake is naturally not going to be reduced. If Flashlink wants to secure the partnership, it can only try to squeeze a piece of the pie out of Fukuda, making negotiations with Fukuda extremely crucial.

"Wei Lai doesn't have much interest in the shares; he just wants this opportunity to cooperate with a large company. In addition, we can entrust Fu Tian with all the rights to our shareholding percentage and sign a concerted action agreement with him."

Wu Xibing went straight to the point: "Then I wonder how many shares Weilai Automobile wants to acquire?"

As Tan Jincheng said, this time it was two big companies that brought Weilai Auto to play. Weilai Auto just wanted to obtain the right to use some patents and accumulate some technology. In addition, if they acquire Changfeng Group, the diesel engine will still be useful.

Changfeng Group does produce pickup trucks, and they also use a lot of diesel fuel in their off-road vehicles.

Changfeng Group has had a pretty rough time. After two consecutive days of limit-down trading, its stock price finally managed to recover and rise above 12 yuan in three trading days this week, but it opened sharply lower again today.

It was already 3 p.m. when Tan Jincheng negotiated with Futian. The A-share market had already closed. Changfeng Group's stock price plummeted by 6.89%, falling back to 11.48 yuan. The gains of the past three days were wiped out in a single day.

Over the weekend, Weilai Auto announced that it had reached a cooperation agreement with Foton and Cummins. In addition, Shuguang Auto also expressed its intention to cooperate with Weilai Auto.

Today, the entire automotive sector still saw the largest decline. The negative impact of the National III emission standard continues to surround the automotive sector, but Changfeng Group's decline was still among the largest. The secondary market generally believes that Flash Motors has no intention of cooperating with Changfeng Group.

"About 2%. Wei Lai's demands are to obtain certain diesel and gasoline engine technologies, as well as the license to use some patented technologies."

The Changping base primarily focuses on diesel engine research and development. If Foton has little interest in gasoline engines, we can take over their needs in this area in the future, and when the time is right, we can jointly establish a gasoline engine production base.

A 2% stake is roughly an investment of 100 million yuan. Using 100 million yuan to buy an entry ticket for an engine is still quite worthwhile.

Wu Xibing pondered for a moment. The 2% share offer wasn't too high, and Weilai Auto wasn't asking for an exorbitant amount. However, this wasn't a decision he could make alone; Fukuda would have to discuss it further.

"We can offer Futian a premium for this 2% stake. We hope your company can give us private enterprises a chance."

The prospect of earning money before even starting any work was somewhat tempting for the project team members.

Futian is a listed company and also has its own interests.

(End of this chapter)