2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 603 Guangzhou Auto Show
Guangzhou, Pazhou Guild Hall.

"Guangzhou is my lucky place, but I haven't been here for a long time. Coming back now feels a little different."

There's an interesting story about what happened before we went to Guangzhou. Zhang Xupeng gave Tan Jincheng a set of keys. It turned out that he had bought a house for Tan Jincheng years ago, and Tan Jincheng hadn't been to Guangzhou since then.

Not only did Tan Jincheng not remember this, but he himself had also forgotten about it.

No wonder there are so many empty houses, no one lives there and no one rents them out. It seems that they are all like Zhang Xupeng and Tan Jincheng, who bought houses when they first became rich without any asset management plan, and then forgot about them after a long time.

The Guangzhou Auto Show, one of the four major auto shows, is also the last auto show of the year. With just over a month left before the end of the year, automakers are employing a variety of marketing strategies to boost sales.

"Damn, these days are so much better. Auto shows are full of car models, unlike back in the days of new energy vehicles, when it was all about the bosses showing off."

Every auto show is a gathering place for LSPs (Luxury Personality Samples), with graceful car models and photographers or exhibitors holding DSLRs snapping away at them.

These days, it's rare for big bosses to personally attend auto shows for promotion. Times have changed, and bosses are still too proud to admit it. Tan Jincheng's appearance at the Guangzhou Auto Show attracted a lot of attention from the media present.

"Mr. Tan, could you tell us when Weilai Auto will launch its new car? What is the purpose of participating in this exhibition?"

"Mr. Tan, why are there three Serena sports cars on your booth? Is there a reason for this? Or is it that Weilai Auto is preparing to make high-end sports cars?"

"Mr. Tan, will the assets divested from Changfeng Group that your company acquired be restructured into Weilai Automobile?"

Tan Jincheng's appearance made his and Weilai Auto's booth one of the focal points of the entire event. Weilai Auto's booth displayed two yellow Camaros, a silver Mustang, and a red S7 sports car.

The exaggerated design makes it very eye-catching and attracts many consumers visiting the auto show. The three sports cars have a high reputation all over the world, and Camaros have been seen on the streets quite often over the years.

The most eye-catching model was the Sailin S7, whose bright red color attracted the attention of both men and women. With these three sports cars, Weilai Auto quickly became one of the most popular booths in the venue.

Several days ago, this red S7 was spotted on the streets of Beicang and on the campus of Ningbo University, causing a sensation on the internet.

The S7 is very famous in the sports car world, but there are not many of them on the road, mainly because of limited production and the lack of purchasing channels in China.

S7s are extremely rare in Ningbo, let alone on campuses.

In 2008, it was quite novel for a sports car with an exaggerated design to appear on a regular university campus. Within a day, the owner was identified as Gu Qingqing, an outstanding graduate of Ningbo University.

Meanwhile, the owners of the S7 cars that appeared in Beicang were also identified as Tan Jincheng and Zhang Xupeng, the two founders of Flash Group. Including Gu Qingqing, the owners of all three S7 cars were identified.

Netizens have a lot of free time. According to the media, neither Tan Jincheng nor Gu Qingqing owns a car. It is quite surprising that the usually low-key Tan Jincheng and Gu Qingqing, along with Zhang Xupeng, are openly driving sports cars.

Of course, this is also partly due to the influence of Flash Group's online marketing team; otherwise, a few photos wouldn't have sparked such a huge discussion.

Now, seeing the three Sailing sports cars at the Weilai Auto booth, the media have realized that the intricacies involved are not so simple.

"Thank you to all the reporters for your attention, and thank you to all the car enthusiasts and friends who came to visit the Weilai Auto booth. During the exhibition, we have prepared drinking water, hamburgers and ice cream for everyone. If you get hungry, you can come here to rest, have some ice cream and drink some water."

Next to the booths of Weilai Auto, one was a well-known domestic private car company, and the other was a joint venture brand. I just felt that Tan Jincheng's business tactics were really dirty.

Damn it, not only did they bring a few sports cars and a bunch of long-legged car models to attract attention, but they also put on some food and drinks. They're clearly trying to steal all the crowd from the exhibition. Is this how you do things?
With just a few pickup trucks like yours, none of which even have their own brand, is it really necessary to go to such lengths?
"Please remember to help us promote this. Also, I'd like to address why our Weilai Auto booth features three Sailing series sports cars."

When the crucial point was reached, the reporters stretched out their microphones one by one.

"When Orange Technology went public in the United States in May this year, with the help of Mr. Shen Nanpeng, I met with the chairman of Celing and wanted to learn about the US automotive industry."

"As we chatted, we started talking about the promotion of Sailing and the development of Weilai. In the end, we hit it off and reached a cooperation agreement. Weilai Auto acquired the global market except for North America."

"Therefore, Sailing Auto can now be considered one of Weilai's sub-brands. Weilai Auto currently owns two brands: Yangzi Auto and Sailing Sports Cars. In addition, our independently designed Xingyue SUV model is also under full development."

Tan Jincheng didn't mention the Cheetah series, as it's still in the process of restructuring, and Changfeng Group hasn't resumed trading yet. There are some things that can't be announced before the restructuring is complete. At least, he can't say anything casually before trading resumes.

"Does Mr. Tan mean that all sports cars under the Serin brand, except for those sold in the North American market, belong to Weilai Motors?"

Before Tan Jincheng could finish speaking, the professional automotive media couldn't wait to ask a question.

Holy crap, the contract was signed in May, and now it's already November. How come Weilai Auto was able to refrain from advertising this before then? What kind of bizarre marketing strategy is this?

Acquiring a top foreign sports car company? Wouldn't any other company be making a huge fuss about it all over the world? Is this some kind of crazy scheme?

"Yes, in addition to the brand, we have also reached a cooperation agreement with Sering on some technologies. We hope to digest some of the world's top sports car technologies and use them in our Xingyue SUV and other new models we develop in the future, so as to make our domestically produced models achieve a better driving experience and serve consumers."

Speaking of the technological cooperation of Sering Automotive, there is a technology that Tan Jincheng finds very bizarre, namely Sering's "old man's car". In his previous life, that swindler surnamed Wang used this "old man's car" to swindle 66 billion yuan.

The technology for this "old man's car" was developed by Celing's office in Hong Kong. It was not mass-produced, and Celing did not pay much attention to it. Now, the technology and design drawings for this "old man's car" have been transferred to Wei.

In 2014, during the boom of new energy, this kind of "old man's car" was nothing special, with extremely low barriers to entry. But back in 2008, it was something special. Zhang Yong had seen its technical patents and design drafts, and this was Zhang Yong's assessment.

New energy vehicles are essentially just larger versions of old-age electric vehicles. This technology can contribute to the technological accumulation of Weilai Auto's research in the field of new energy vehicles.

In addition, if any local government takes a liking to this project, Weilai Automobile is not unable to produce electric vehicles for the elderly.

There is a large market for this stuff. If a local government takes a liking to the elderly recreational vehicle project, they can cooperate and sell it. There are no technical difficulties. They can acquire a bankrupt car factory, modify it, and start production.

In other words, there was no prototype vehicle. If there had been, Tan Jincheng would have brought it over.

The market for "old man's cars" (vehicles for elderly people) should not be ignored. When new energy vehicles were booming, the entire market size was worth hundreds of billions. Vehicles like the Hongguang MINI can be considered "old man's cars," but they are compliant with regulations.

If done well, this model will be a highlight for the group, at least during the period of large subsidies for new energy vehicles. Tan Jincheng remembers a popular brand in Ningbo called Zhidou, which was initially very expensive.

In reality, it was all for subsidies. Very few people actually bought them; they were all bought by related parties and then put on the market in the form of rentals.

To put it bluntly, this is basically just a recreational vehicle for the elderly.

Reporters at the scene were stunned by Tan Jincheng's acquisition of the Sailing sports car. On the first day of the auto show, Tan Jincheng released such a bombshell, which piqued the interest of the reporters. Other car manufacturers who had also received the news rushed over to the scene.

The Weilai Auto booth was bustling with activity, and Tan Jincheng was delighted; the desired effect had been achieved.

Zhang Yong, who arrived a few days early to set up the exhibition, sighed with emotion. Due to the global financial crisis and fierce market competition, joint venture brands are paying more attention to the domestic market, making the Guangzhou Auto Show a focal point.

Weilai Auto doesn't face much sales pressure, but it's quite difficult to gain brand recognition in a highly competitive market; they need to come up with something special.

"Food and drink, beautiful women and sports cars, newsworthy topics—isn't the highlight simple?"

During a break in the interview, Tan Jincheng watched people come and go and casually remarked to Zhang Yong.

Tan Jincheng won't be staying at the Guangzhou Auto Show for long. He has a lot of things to do. He's here to support Wei Lai, check out the new models from various automakers, and gather some information. He'll be leaving in two days.

Zhang Yong is the person in charge here. This guy is not good at dealing with the media, and Tan Jincheng is really afraid that he will say something wrong.

"If any reporters want to interview you later, decline if you can, and try to steer the conversation toward the Sailing sports car if you can't decline. One thing to note is that you shouldn't mention Changfeng Group. Before the restructuring is completed, Cheetah can't really be considered ours."

Changfeng Group is a large enterprise, and it will take at least one or two months to complete the handover. However, Changfeng Group must resume trading before that.

The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission has approved it, the China Securities Regulatory Commission has agreed, and the two parties have signed an agreement. It is indeed time for trading to resume.

(End of this chapter)