2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 558 Another outrageous move!

"The air doesn't even taste sweet."

Shen Nanpeng gave Tan Jincheng a wry smile: "President Tan is still as humorous and mischievous as ever. For you, can anything sweeter than President Gu?"

"Haha, don't worry, I'll be careful with my words and make sure they don't cause any negative impact on the company."

When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Tan Jincheng understands this. It's not shameful to flatter the host appropriately.

Tan Jincheng arrived on May 3rd local time. Shen Nanpeng personally picked him up at the airport, and all the arrangements for his trip were made perfectly, making him look like a true host.

The May Day holiday is almost over, and Tan Jincheng and others did not enjoy any holiday at all. However, there were two things that had a great impact on Flashcar during the May Day holiday. One was that the revised Road Traffic Law was officially implemented.

Secondly, the Hangzhou Bay Bridge officially opened to traffic on May 1st, meaning there's no longer a detour for those traveling from Ningbo to Shanghai. Tan Jincheng used the bridge for his connecting flight from Shanghai this time.

Shen Nanpeng nodded: "Get in the car. It's not as safe here as it is in China, so be careful."

"Alright, I'll follow your instructions once we're here."

Tan Jincheng's character in this life is limited to going abroad to Hong Kong. When he was doing foreign trade, he handed over all the matters that required going abroad to Zhang Xupeng. Gu Qingqing was the same. This is the first time that Lao Mi has come here.

He's quite influential abroad, and Shen Nanpeng was genuinely worried that he might not be able to adapt to the pace of life here.

In 2008, a new president came to power. Although there were some frictions between us during his term, it was probably the most comfortable period for Tan Jincheng's generation to have a relationship with the president.

The global village is working together to develop clean energy, and companies like Tesla officially began developing new energy vehicles around this time.

You see, capitalist markets are also driven by policies.

When you can make money, they ignore you; when you can't make money, they start criticizing you in all sorts of ways.

"I heard you've been doing quite well in the country lately, launching a car manufacturing project?"

After getting into the car, Tan Jincheng began to examine the interior. It was a Cadillac, an American brand that still held a dominant position in the joint venture market in China, even though Wei Lai’s first car was designed based on the CRV.

"I wouldn't call it that. It's just that I bought a small car company, and it's been a long time coming up with this."

"Is Changfeng Group, one of the top 10 off-road vehicle manufacturers in China, considered a small car company?"

Shen Nanpeng truly lives up to his reputation as an investor; his insight is truly sharp. Even though he is in the United States, he can guess from the information he has gathered that Tan Jincheng's target is the entire Changfeng Group.

"Ha, Mr. Shen, you're overthinking it. I bought Yangtze Automobile, a subsidiary of Changfeng Group, just to resolve the issue of car manufacturing qualifications." Tan Jincheng, of course, wouldn't admit it.

"However, this time when I come to Lao Mi, I still need to ask Mr. Shen for a small favor."

Shen Nanpeng smiled slightly, knowing that this kid wasn't just there to ring the bell. Shen Nanpeng had mentioned this a long time ago, but at the time he really didn't want to come. He didn't know if it was because he didn't care or because he was afraid of dying.

"Besides ringing the bell, is there anything else important? I can help you if you can, but there's nothing I can do if you can't. You know I mainly invest in internet technology and pharmaceuticals."

"I want to give Weilai Auto a brand image, that is, to create a luxury car brand. Mr. Shen, could you help me gather some information, including some luxury car and sports car brands? Of course, we don't need to investigate those that are doing well."

Tan Jincheng couldn't possibly target a well-run car company.

The US economy will be severely impacted this year, making survival extremely difficult for some niche luxury car brands, which presents a good opportunity to snag a bargain.

"Do you have that much money? There are indeed quite a few poorly managed luxury car brands in the US, but buying one wouldn't be a small expense. Your company already has a large presence in China; aren't you afraid of your cash flow drying up if you buy one?"

"Do you know how much the rumors on Wall Street are about India acquiring Ford's Land Rover? Ford hasn't even agreed to 20 billion US dollars yet, not in RMB!"

Sequoia Capital has a much stronger foundation in the US than it does in China, and they are the first to know about any rumors circulating on Wall Street.

Ford is currently looking to restructure its supply chain and sell off its underperforming Land Rover and Jaguar models. An Indian company is interested in taking over, offering $20 billion, which is equivalent to 140 billion yuan.

Even selling both Flashpoint and Orange Technology wouldn't necessarily generate this much cash.

Gu Qingqing, who had been sitting in front listening to the two chatting, smiled when she heard this. She had thought of this question when she was in China, but she was too embarrassed to ask.

Flash Group's business scope is very broad. The power battery and automobile industries are industries that consume a lot of cash flow. Even with the three major cash flows of clothing, electronics and electric vehicles, it may not be able to sustain itself under such a large-scale acquisition.

Last year, thanks to the bull market in A-shares, and with a cash-flow-strong investment company like ByteDance's AI platform supporting domestic acquisitions, 6 million in cash is simply not enough to acquire foreign brands. Tan Jincheng laughed, "Who told you I was going to buy one?"

"What do you mean? How can you give Weilai Auto a good reputation if you don't buy it?" Shen Nanpeng was a little confused.

He agreed with Tan Jincheng's thinking: a company needs to have its own brand. For example, although Flash Technology manufactures electric vehicles, it also has a high-end electric vehicle brand. You may not be able to sell many of these, but you must have one.

The same is true in the automotive industry. The reason why domestic brands are now looked down upon by most consumers is because they do not have a high-end product line.

"I definitely can't come up with 2 billion US dollars. If I could, I would definitely compete with the Indians. I would even try if I had 1 billion US dollars. Why don't you lend me some?"

"Get lost, you want to borrow for free again? Tell me what happened, so I can help you find out."

Shen Nanpeng chuckled, but his eyes were darting around as he considered whether he could gain any benefit from this. Although he mainly invested in internet technology and healthcare, he couldn't ignore the booming trend of the automotive industry both domestically and internationally.

Especially in China, the automotive market is growing rapidly, and there are many car companies that intend to go public. If the opportunity arises, Sequoia Capital would also invest.

"Take Land Rover for example, I do want it, but I definitely don't have that much money. Just because the Indians can't negotiate a deal for 20 billion US dollars doesn't mean we can't. After all, Ford still values ​​our domestic market. If Sequoia Capital or other organizations cooperate with us, then it's more likely."

Shen Nanpeng smiled and nodded, continuing to listen.

"We can partner with investment institutions to acquire Land Rover, operate it, and make money together, or promise to buy back your shares within a certain timeframe—these are all possibilities, but now is not the time to discuss that."

“Acquiring a car company that is about to go bankrupt certainly has its advantages, but it also comes with debt and risks. If this were in China, we could handle these things through connections and such, but this is in the US, where we are unfamiliar with the place.”

"so what?"

Shen Nanpeng smiled thoughtfully, as if he had guessed something.

Tan Jincheng is right. Foreigners can be even more ruthless when they want to scam you, and you don't even know their situation. If the benefits of acquiring a company don't outweigh the risks, you have to be extremely careful.

"So, all we need to do is operate to obtain the authorization and global agency rights of a certain brand. It's the same as the model we used for GXG. We can use their brand to promote and deceive people without acquiring it."

"We can announce to the outside world that it's a full acquisition. We just need to tell the brand owner, and outsiders won't know anything about it."

Shen Nanpeng laughed heartily. Just as he had expected, Jinpeng Industry's GXG brand had indeed secured the domestic agency rights.

It didn't cost much, but it quickly enabled Jinpeng Industry to gain a foothold in the independent apparel brand market, and it was no longer just a foreign trade middleman.

"But the public announcement says it's a full acquisition, isn't that a lie, false advertising?" Gu Qingqing finally couldn't hold back.

“How can doing business be called cheating? I legitimately run a factory and genuinely invest money in counterfeiting. It's just a bit of bragging. At worst, the advertising law will fine me a little.”

If you do nothing but use this authorization to fool local governments across the country into investing, without building factories or bringing in equipment, then you are indeed committing fraud. But Weilai Auto has factories and production lines that are ready to be built soon.

"Haha, you're really good at using one trick to get by. Your methods are really flashy, but they do work."

In business, many things are just a thin veil; once it's broken through, everything is fine. It has to be said that Tan Jincheng's unconventional tactics have undoubtedly helped to boost the brand awareness of Weilai Auto.

Other car manufacturers may not be unaware of these things either, but they haven't broken out of this mindset for certain reasons.

It has to be said that young people are more daring and enterprising when it comes to business.

"It's not exactly ethical to do this, but we're short on funds. If you can get people to help me acquire Land Rover, then there's nothing more to say, let's do it."

Land Rover was later sold to Chery in China, and Geely's acquisition of Volvo is another example of success. However, the acquisition process was also very risky, especially for Geely, which almost caused its own cash flow to dry up during the acquisition of Volvo.

This is because too much self-raised funds are used, because these days, that's how business owners in the real economy do it—they do everything themselves.

Tan Jincheng is different. He has seen the capital operations of later generations, and Orange Technology has also established connections with large investment institutions. If they are interested, he doesn't care about giving up most of the shares in a joint acquisition.

"Alright, let me find out for you first, what niche luxury car brands are really short of money? That shouldn't be too difficult."

"As for the plan to acquire Land Rover, I'll think about it. We'll have a meeting about this."

This kid is really flamboyant, even more so than investment firms.

(End of this chapter)