2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 600 The 4 Trillion Plan!

"Is the bridge expected to open to traffic by the end of 2009?"

As they passed by the road under the Meishan Bridge, Zhang Yong asked Tan Jincheng, who was standing next to him.

"Pretty much. They said it would open to traffic at the end of 2009, but I guess it will be delayed a bit. I hope it can be completed before our new cars officially go into mass production, otherwise transportation on this route will be a real hassle."

Speaking of the early construction of the Meishan Highway Bridge, it should have been completed a year or two later. I remember it was opened to traffic in 2010 or 2011, realizing the connection between Meishan Island and the city.

“Generally, the construction of these kinds of highways is delayed, but I hope it won’t be delayed for too long.”

The expected opening times for highways, bridges, and subways are the least reliable.

The two of them came to Meishan today to check on the progress of the new car factory. Part of the production capacity of the first SUV will be arranged at the Meishan factory, but the main production capacity is still planned to be placed at the Xiangcheng base.

The Meishan Industrial Base is based on the future, but it can't all be shut down. It has to set up a factory to support the workers, which is also a way to give Beicang District some explanation.

"I'm planning to set up another R&D center in Ningbo, and also move the headquarters that Changfeng Group acquired to Beicang. What do you think, Mr. Zhang?"

Tan Jincheng largely agrees with Changfeng's 4421 plan, which includes 4 industrial bases, 4 core component production bases, 2 R&D centers, and 1 headquarters.

Weilai Automobile plans to continue with the plan, but the focus should definitely not be on Hunan Province.

"It's certain that the headquarters will be moved to Ningbo. As for the R&D center, I suggest placing it in Luzhou," Zhang Yong replied after thinking for a moment.

"Luzhou?"

"Yes, Luzhou University of Technology is a cradle of talent in the automotive industry. The educational resources in Ningbo are still too weak. I think it is more suitable to place the R&D center in Luzhou, and the location is also good."

Tan Jincheng suddenly realized that the fastest and most economical way to conduct technical research was still to cooperate with universities.

"Mr. Tan may not know this, but although Luzhou University of Technology may not be that famous among universities nationwide, it is a very famous engineering university. Most of the senior executives of companies like Dongfeng, FAW and Chery are graduates of Luzhou University of Technology."

"I forgot about that. In that case, let Mr. Zhang make the arrangements. Mr. Zhang has some connections at the university, right?"

In truth, this was all Tan Jincheng's fault. He found Zhang Yong based on his reputation from his previous life, and he didn't even look at the information the headhunter gave him. He only glanced at his academic background on Baidu Baike.

I only found out later in Zhang Yong's onboarding documents, which almost caused a huge misunderstanding.

Zhang Yong smiled and said, "There is a bit of that. If we want to cooperate, I'll talk to them. But as for the Luzhou R&D Center, Mr. Tan will have to talk to them himself."

Tan Jincheng nodded. In the Luzhou Municipal Government, his influence was indeed more effective than Zhang Yong's. He had to negotiate the preferential policies for the R&D center and the land himself.

"Okay, I'll handle that myself. How's the sales network for Yangzi Pickup going? And what about the plans for Lhasa and XJ?"

Zhang Yong's skin had darkened by one shade, all because he had recently been traveling to western China to build a pickup truck sales network, where the sun was much stronger than on the plains.

"The sales network is almost complete, but the product line of Yangzi Pickup was not rich enough before. If we want to make pickups better, we need to enrich the production line."

"I've also noticed this. Currently, we only have some low-end models. Pickups are a very important market, and we definitely need to expand our product line in the future. We want to make both mid-range and high-end models."

Tan Jincheng was quite familiar with pickup trucks. There were a lot of pickup trucks on the outskirts of Beicang. Most small factory owners owned one or even more pickup trucks. In his previous life, Tan Jincheng and Zhang Xupeng had both bought pickup trucks.

The company has even more pickup trucks in this generation. When Flash Technology was founded, they got a pickup truck, which was almost always Sun Yuming's car at that time.

The pickup truck market in Beicang is mainly dominated by Jiangling. For the mid-range segment, we can learn from Jiangling's design. As for the high-end segment, that's Great Wall. Tan Jincheng remembers brands like the Great Wall Cannon.

We need to have a full range of products, from low-end to high-end; this is essential for all our products.

"In addition, the design of the current low-end models also needs to be changed. For some reason, I feel that the current shape looks a bit awkward to me."

Zhang Yong smiled and said, "It looks a bit like an off-road vehicle, doesn't it? It doesn't look like a pickup truck?"

"Ah, yes, yes, that's the feeling, it looks weird."

Zhang Yong curled his lip: "It's not surprising. All of Changfeng Group's models are just like off-road vehicles, and they all look out of place. To be honest, regardless of product quality, with their design level, bankruptcy is only a matter of time."

In Zhang Yong's view, Changfeng Group's R&D center was a complete waste. Almost all their products were just modified off-road vehicles presented as new models, or they were just getting by with Pajeros. It was utterly unambitious. Zhang Yong had decided that after the restructuring was completed, he would thoroughly reorganize the Xiangcheng R&D center.

The construction progress at the Meishan factory is going well. Wearing a safety helmet, Tan Jincheng listened to the on-site management personnel's introduction with great satisfaction.

"If this plan is followed, the equipment can be delivered to the factory in the first quarter of next year, right?"

"Yes, Mr. Tan, the equipment will be fully installed in the factory by March next year at the latest, and we will be able to start mass production by April or May."

"That's not bad, but we should try to be as fast as possible. The sooner we have the capacity to start production, the sooner we can train the workers."

The main focus in Meishan is on recruiting new workers, with fewer skilled workers. This reduces costs. We'll learn from Dizi, but the pay will be slightly better than Dizi's, so we don't become the target of future criticism.

"Okay, we will speed up the construction process while ensuring quality. Please rest assured, Mr. Tan. The district is also very concerned about our project construction."

The Weilai Automobile Beicang Production Base was a key project of Beicang District in 2008, and also one of the key projects of Ningbo City in 2008. It is only natural that it has received attention from the government.

After touring the factory, Tan Jincheng and Zhang Yong had a general understanding of its progress. The Meishan production base was the first production base that Weilai Automobile had built entirely on its own. Although the current production line platform was imported, it would definitely be upgraded independently in the future.

"If you have some free time, please keep an eye on the progress of the project here. Also, please come to the Guangzhou Auto Show on November 19th. This will be your first appearance as the general manager of Weilai Automobile, so please take it seriously."

Then Tan Jincheng joked, "Don't go on business trips recently. Take care of your skin. If you go to Guangzhou looking all tanned, people might misunderstand."

This year's Guangzhou Auto Show is scheduled to be held from November 19th to 25th, lasting for a week. Major manufacturers are gearing up for the event. Weilai Auto, which is exhibiting for the first time, doesn't have many cars to sell, but it hopes to make a name for itself at the auto show.

The planning for this auto show was a joint effort between a professional automotive exhibition team and the marketing headquarters of Flash Motors Group. The details were also sent to Zhang Yong's email address.

Zhang Yong usually watches these, mainly to learn how his boss does marketing planning.

“Okay, I happen to have a few sales outlets to set up in South China, I’ll head over there in advance,” Zhang Yong replied with a smile.

There weren't many cars on display. The main exhibitors this time were the Serin series and the brand-new pickup truck. In Zhang Yong's opinion, it was just for fun. If you don't have any cars to sell, how many sports cars can you sell?
“That works too. Our cars are being transported from Lao Mi’s side. A batch of exhibition cars will be going through Guangdong customs. You can go and receive them then. I can only go there on the day of the auto show.”

Tan Jincheng has no plans to set up production lines in China for the three sports cars, as these things don't sell many a year, but they will definitely be sold in China.

The initial plan is to open one 4S store each in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. As for other cities, we will evaluate them after the first year's sales figures are released.

"Is Orange Products Club particularly busy with Double Eleven?"

Orange Products' second Double Eleven promotion has already begun. Zhang Yong has been feeling the overwhelming publicity from various media outlets for a long time. Internet companies are really damn rich.

"Yes, it's Orange Products Club's Singles' Day."

This year's Double Eleven saw Taobao, JD.com, and Vancl all join in, making it even more lively and competitive than last year's Orange Products Fair's surprise attack. However, Tan Jincheng's purpose in staying in Beicang was not because of Orange Products Fair's Double Eleven.

With last year's experience and the addition of Sun Tongyu, Orange Products doesn't need to worry about how to organize Double Eleven.

Tan Jincheng's main reason for staying in Beicang was actually because of the 4 trillion yuan stimulus plan!

Of course, the on-site inspection by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) was also a factor.

Tan Jincheng has received reliable information that the 4 trillion yuan plan will be officially announced and implemented this month. Along with the 4 trillion yuan investment plan, there will also be ten major industry revitalization plans.

In her past life, she had nothing to do with Tan Jincheng, who was just a small business owner, but in this life, their relationship is much more significant.

Things like the VAT reform, expanding domestic demand, and financial support for economic growth are all closely related to Flash Group. In addition, there's real estate. Although Tan Jincheng doesn't want to get involved in real estate, he can still acquire more commercial land plots.

Acquiring more commercial land plots allows for the construction of more employee housing, which can be sold at a lower price, thus alleviating some of the employees' financial burden.

The era of inflation has arrived. Housing prices in Beicang have risen significantly, from less than 6000 at the beginning of the year to more than 8000 now. If nothing unexpected happens, they will reach 10,000 by the end of the year.

The average price in the city center has risen to 1.3 yuan per square meter, while the sea-view villas in Beicang, which are being sold as deceptively, are selling for as high as 1.5 yuan per square meter, with an average price of around 1.2 yuan per square meter. Even so, there are still a lot of people vying for them.

Housing prices add so much pressure to our lives.

(End of this chapter)