2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 550 First Meeting with Changfeng
Orange Technology is receiving a lot of good news. While Boss Tan is busy socializing and reaping benefits, Xie Junhong's inspection team is not idle either.

After concluding their inspection tour of Chuzhou, the group headed straight for Jingmen.

Jingmen, which was upgraded to a prefecture-level city in 1983, is not very well-known nationwide. Many people know Jingzhou, but not necessarily Jingmen. However, its superior geographical location, natural resources, and land resources have brought good economic benefits to the city.

In addition, Jingmen and even the entire Hubei Province were important production bases for the automobile industry during this period, and the Jingmen vehicle production base under Changfeng Group is a very high-quality asset.

"The Jingmen production base mainly produces the Cheetah off-road vehicle series, which is also Changfeng's flagship product."

The staff member in charge of leading the inspection team explained, and Xie Junhong and Zhang Yong listened attentively.

With Zhang Yong joining them, Xie Junhong, Huang Ming, and the others were indeed much more relaxed. They couldn't understand many of the technical terms before, but Zhang Yong's professional knowledge was truly impressive.

With a ten-year professional career focused on technology, Zhang Yong has truly achieved a breakthrough through years of hard work and dedication.

Down-to-earth, professional, and focused.

These were Xie Junhong and Huang Ming's initial impressions of Zhang Yong, who were both curious about him.

They're all shrewd people. Judging from Zhang Yong's professional attitude, you can probably understand why Tan Jincheng gave him such a high salary. As a pioneer of Weilai Automobile, you can't do this job if you can't work hard and have professional knowledge.

In Xie Junhong's view, although Tan Jincheng's business methods are underhanded and he likes to take advantage of others, he is still very down-to-earth and has gotten to where he is today step by step without resorting to tricks.

When they arrived in Jingmen, it was already mid-April. Changfeng Group's stock price had fallen below 9 yuan, and its market value was approaching 35 billion yuan, which made the acquisition even more advantageous.

The drop was quite severe. From its peak price of 19.8 yuan and a market value of 80 billion yuan, the stock price lost more than half in just three months. This is truly frightening.

Xie Junhong was also somewhat puzzled. How did Tan Jincheng, who was often criticized in the district for being good at nothing but stock trading, manage to predict this trend?

The timing of ByteDance's exit strategy was incredibly precise. Furthermore, he advised against building positions recently, and sure enough, the stock price continued to decline.

"The Jingmen base contributes most of Changfeng Group's profits, right?"

The person in charge smiled and said, "You could say that. Currently, all the Black Diamond series products are produced here."

Of the four production bases, the Yongzhou base is too small and has limited production capacity, while the Xiangcheng base, due to inadequate technological upgrades and the shift to producing civilian SUVs, can no longer meet the production needs of off-road vehicles.

To ensure the quality of the vehicles procured by the government, the off-road vehicles are now primarily produced at the Jingmen production base.

The Jingmen production base is like a paradise for Changfeng, but it is also like the lifeblood of Changfeng. If it can keep the government's procurement orders, Changfeng Group still has a chance to recover. Otherwise, it will be destroyed by the strategic adjustments and policy changes of the head office.

Zhang Yong nodded, indicating that he understood.

Before coming, President Tan said that the purpose of this trip was to conduct a comprehensive investigation of the entire Changfeng Group in preparation for the acquisition. Zhang Yong was also shocked by his boss's boldness. Acquiring a large state-owned enterprise? He really dared to think that way.

After joining the company, Zhang Yong was already qualified to know about the overall plan of Weilai Automobile.

In the long term, Weilai Auto will focus on new energy electric vehicles, but for now, it will first adapt to the market and make fuel vehicles, just like other companies. However, what Zhang Yong doesn't understand is that diesel vehicles are currently the trend in the market.

Diesel cars and gasoline cars each have their own advantages and disadvantages. Compared with gasoline cars, diesel cars have a longer lifespan, are more economical and durable, and their parts are less prone to aging. Their economical and durable nature alone makes them very popular.

But most importantly, diesel engines are currently eligible for subsidies.

Zhang Yong couldn't understand why they would abandon subsidies for diesel engines and focus on developing gasoline engines.

"The availability of gasoline will exceed your imagination. In addition, as living standards improve, ordinary family cars will pursue higher quality, and the roaring sound of diesel cars is no longer suitable for the family car market."

Gasoline cars are becoming increasingly widely used, but Zhang Yong couldn't imagine what kind of unimaginable development speed his boss was talking about.

But a gasoline car is a gasoline car. As long as a company provides both gasoline and diesel, it's fine to distinguish between the two.

The inspection of Changfeng's Jingmen base was brief. Since it was an acquisition, they would definitely leave something for the other party. Changfeng Group would never hand over a government procurement order like this.

Besides, government procurement relies on the other party's resources; if Wei had been in charge, he probably wouldn't have been able to come up with such a good deal.

After spending a few days in Jingmen, the inspection team headed to Xiangcheng.

At the same time, Tan Jincheng, accompanied by his secretary and driver, set off for Hunan Province to prepare for his first meeting with Changfeng Group and the Hunan Provincial State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.

After all this build-up, it's time for the main character to make their appearance. Sunday, April 20th.

Tan Jincheng and his entourage landed at Huanghua International Airport. Xiangcheng was no stranger to Tan Jincheng, as he had been there several times before, but mostly to discuss cooperation with Hunan TV.

After getting off the plane, the staff arranged by Changfeng Group took the group to the Changfeng R&D Center located in Xiangcheng Economic Development Zone.

Changfeng's R&D center, headed by factory manager Li Jianxin, was established in February 2002. It has 10 departments, which sounds impressive and is quite large.

However, it seems to have been of little use, as they couldn't even digest the Pajero's chassis technology. It's worth noting that Changfeng's cooperation with Mitsubishi began in the 1980s and 90s.

At that time, Mitsubishi was facing a major crisis and could only save itself by selling technology and assets. As a result, Changfeng acquired a large amount of Mitsubishi's technology.

Mitsubishi's technology, if placed in China during the 1980s and 90s, would be considered far superior; even now, it remains quite advanced. If they had adapted it better, they wouldn't be in their current predicament.

They established a large R&D center in 2002 and invested a lot of money, but it's unclear how they absorbed the technology.

By the way, Mitsubishi is also one of Changfeng's shareholders, and the two sides have a very deep cooperation. Pajero is also one of Changfeng's trump cards.

It takes about an hour to get from the airport to the R&D center. After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Tan Jincheng closed his eyes to rest.

With exports of electric vehicles, clothing, and 3C electronic products, power batteries, and Orange Technology, and now an automotive business, Tan Jincheng was working non-stop in the first few months of 2008, and was somewhat exhausted.

Every business segment is important. This year is the Olympic year for the electric vehicle business. We spent tens of millions to finally obtain the qualification, and we are counting on this year to see results. Of course, we cannot be careless.

In addition, the export of clothing and 3C electronic products also needs to start adjusting orders and production capacity. Once the subprime crisis breaks out, the domestic export business will definitely be severely impacted.

In the event of a known crisis, timely adjustments to the market focus are essential.

The US dollar and Eurozone markets have been impacted, but export business cannot be stopped. The Spring Canton Fair has just begun, and participation is still a must. Zhang Xupeng has already gone to Guangzhou to oversee the event.

This year, Jinpeng and Jinyi are focusing more on the white cloth market for their export business. With a piece of cloth on their heads, they have more money than they can spend. In previous years, the exchange rate was good, so they focused on the US dollar and euro markets. In addition, their product designs were simpler.

But we'll have to slow down this year and even next year. We need to launch more products that are geared towards the white cloth market. The white cloth market really likes doing business with us, and we cover a wide range of products, from military to civilian use.

This is also related to the international situation. Jinpeng and Jinyi Industrial have developed some white cloth customers over the years, but it is not enough at present, and more are needed.

I made a lot of money doing foreign trade last year, but it will definitely decline this year. However, it's always better to minimize the decline.

The Southeast Asian market is relatively poor, with limited profits. It mainly relies on low-price dumping. To be honest, the Southeast Asian market is not as profitable as the African market. Second-hand or even multi-handed clothes are bought by the ton and transported over there.

Then they sell to local distributors, where the profit margin is better than in the Southeast Asian market. There are also many African customers at the Canton Fair, and Jinpeng and Jinyi will do business with them as well.

The only business I'm not doing right now is with Indians. Unless they pay in full, I won't bother with them at all.

In the area of ​​power batteries, the cooperation with Guoxuan and Dongfeng went smoothly. Electric vehicles were not mainstream in 2008, but ambitious car companies invested a lot. BYD had already developed a complete model.

There aren't many companies in China that make power batteries right now, but Hangxin Technology is able to get some orders from customers, both large and small, which prevents its losses from becoming too severe.

It's enough to get by with the salary.

As for Orange Technology, although Tan Jincheng doesn't need to manage the specific affairs, he is indispensable in the social interactions after the listing, since no institution or local government dares to ignore him as the actual controller.

The Beicang government always consults Tan Jincheng when making important decisions. It's not that they don't respect the management of Orange Technology, but rather that it's more efficient to find someone they know well who can make the final decision.

Take the construction of the headquarters as an example; it couldn't be built without Tan Jincheng's approval.

Thinking of Orange Technology's headquarters, Tan Jincheng couldn't help but smile smugly. This thing was practically free. He had wasted so many days in Beicang just to come here and solve the problem of the Orange Technology headquarters building project.

The land plot in the future Yintai City area has now been acquired by Orange Technology through coordination. The land price was quite favorable, and the expected construction cost of 4 million yuan will not require Orange Technology to pay a single penny.

Beicang City Investment intends to take a certain share in the headquarters building. They will be responsible for part of the funding, and the rest will be provided by bank loans.

Xie Junhong is cunning. He's very familiar with real estate projects. Even if he can't get many shares in Orange Technology, taking over the headquarters building is a remedy.

(End of this chapter)