2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 621 The Magical Boy in Nagasawa Yu's Eyes
"It looks like Mitsubishi is planning something big."

"How to say?"

After the farewell ceremony, Gu Qingqing and Tan Jincheng, who had finished handing out red envelopes, were chatting idly in the top-floor office.

For the next period of time, Gu Qingqing will take a good rest, return to campus life, and play her role as a student. Her master's degree will not be in the School of Foreign Languages, but in the School of Business.

My major is regional economics, and the program lasts for two and a half years.

Tan Jincheng isn't in a rush to invest in the family trust. If possible, he'd rather buy more stocks that he can remember, which would be much easier. As for specific projects, there's really no rush.

Gu Qingqing also needed to enrich herself. In the past two and a half years, Gu Qingqing's main task has been to study and reflect.

Tan Jincheng also needs to further his studies and enrich himself. Starting this year, he will gradually hand over some specific management responsibilities to the company's management team, and strive to ensure that each subsidiary has a competent manager in charge.

"Mitsubishi Motors is planning to build a headquarters in Shanghai and has also registered a new car sales company. This is an attempt to integrate domestic resources and prepare for formal competition."

With the global economy sluggish, we've managed to maintain a 9% growth rate. Look at how other Japanese brands are faring, and then look at how they're faring. Anyone with a brain would know that Mitsubishi should increase its efforts in the domestic market.

Mitsubishi's current actions include establishing a Greater China automotive sales company and appointing Yuki Nagasawa, a young and promising representative with extensive market development experience, as the company's general manager to oversee market expansion.

Gu Qingqing smiled and said, "Then you still have to bring some gifts. You have to show some appreciation for the opening ceremony."

"Haha, I have to do something nice. School hasn't started yet, do you want to come with me for some fun? I'll probably be in Shanghai for a few days. Besides signing the contract, I also need to talk to Nagasawa Hiroshi about the import of the car model."

In its early stages, Weilai Auto will definitely focus on SUVs, with the Pajero and its own brand Yuechi. Tan Jincheng's biggest wish is to introduce the 7-seater SUV Outlander to enrich the product line.

The Outlander offers three engine options: 2.0L, 2.4L, and 3.0L. The combined fuel consumption is around 8 liters per 100 kilometers, which is quite good for an SUV.

Additionally, a 5-seater version could be launched domestically. If the prices of the 5-seater and 7-seater versions can be controlled between 15 and 25 yuan, there will be a large market, especially for the 7-seater version, as there are currently almost no competing models at this price point.

Japanese cars do have many problems, big and small, but before the escalation of the island incident, they were quite popular.

No matter what, we must introduce the Outlander model to China. In fact, BAIC imported a batch of Outlanders in 04, but SUVs were not very popular at that time, and they did not sell well. BAIC has not cooperated with Mitsubishi since then.

Now, that opportunity is gone.

Mitsubishi's actions have attracted much attention. As soon as the news was released on February 4 that they would hold an opening ceremony for a new car sales company in Shanghai, Tan Jincheng received many phone calls.

Beicang even sent people to their door. Only after learning that Tan Jincheng would be invited to attend the opening ceremony and complete the formal signing did they leave with peace of mind.

At the same time, Zhang Yong was also summoned by Tan Jincheng.

"Let's urge Mr. Li to see if he still wants the Yongzhou vehicle assembly plant. If he does, we can offer a discount; otherwise, we'll just entrust it to the Yongzhou government."

Tan Jincheng wanted to focus his efforts on developing the automotive industry chain within the Yangtze River Delta region, and he didn't want to delay any longer on the issue of the Yongzhou industry.

"It's not that Mr. Li doesn't want it, but he feels insulted by your last quote, and besides, they really don't have much money."

"Haha, this old man is getting angry. I was just joking with him. How could I really let him buy it at that price?"

After Tan Jincheng gave the quote last time, he handed over the specific tasks to Zhang Yong, but for some reason, it has been delayed until now and still hasn't been completed.

How could Li Jianxin not want the Yongzhou assets? Changfeng Motors, having lost Yongzhou, is like a rootless duckweed. The main reason is simply a lack of money; Tan Jincheng's rude offer is secondary.

Zhang Yong stayed in Xiangcheng all last year to handle the post-acquisition restructuring of the industry, and even spent the Spring Festival there. This time, he finally managed to find time to come back and report on his work.

The first place to be rectified will definitely be the vehicle production base in Xiangcheng. The most pressing issue will be quality. If the quality problem is not solved, the produced cars will still not be able to be sold. The second issue will be technical problems.

The Changfeng Xiangcheng Technology R&D Center was quite impressive, and it even set up a so-called research institute. However, after Zhang Yong stayed there for a while, he found that it was nothing at all.

To this end, he did a lot of work in Xiangcheng, and the R&D center dismissed a large number of lazy and irresponsible technical staff.

In addition, the production line was shut down for rectification, and the skilled workers were retrained. Those who were not qualified were dismissed no matter what the cost was. At the same time, they were also instilled with new business concepts.

In short, it's survival of the fittest, more work, more pay; you can't just coast along like you did in a state-owned enterprise anymore. To be honest, Zhang Yong has been under a lot of pressure lately. Doing these things always involves offending people. Although FlashCar gave up a lot of profits during the acquisition process, its foundation in Hunan Province is still not deep.

Many of the dismissed employees caused trouble, some even quite a bit, which gave Zhang Yong a real headache dealing with.

Back in Futian, he didn't need to deal with these things; Zhang Yongzhen had visibly become much more haggard.

"How about this, a fixed price of 1.5 million, payable in three installments. You contact Mr. Li and see if he agrees or not. We can still recoup some funds."

Tan Jincheng rubbed his head. Flash Motors is not short of money, but Weilai Motors is. They should try to get as much as they can, even if it's just a few million or tens of millions.

The 4 trillion yuan stimulus plan started this year, with the automotive industry being one of the key sectors to be supported. Once Weilai Auto grows rapidly, it will be able to obtain many resources such as loans.

“Okay, I will contact Mr. Li.” Zhang Yong nodded.

With a reduction of tens of millions and payment in three installments, I believe Mr. Li will definitely accept it. These conditions are already very lenient. If he still doesn't agree, it means he really doesn't want it, and there's nothing more to discuss.
-

Wednesday, September 2th.

In Shanghai, located in the Lujiazui Free Trade Zone, Yu Nagasawa stood at the foot of his newly rented office building, smiling and greeting guests. As one of the representatives of the younger generation, Yu Nagasawa has experience working in Europe, North America, and headquarters.

Ken Iida, Mitsubishi's previous manager, will be transferred back to headquarters. The handover signifies a shift in Mitsubishi's market strategy. Compared to Hiroshi Nagasawa, Ken Iida is more inclined towards the imported car market.

In other words, importing cars from headquarters and selling them in China is a light-asset operation. In previous years, there were indeed many operational strategies for the imported car market, but this has clearly not worked in recent years.

With the rise of domestic car manufacturers and Mitsubishi lacking any particularly high-end models, the imported car market is simply untouchable.

"Mr. Tan, it's been a long time! Happy New Year!"

After Tan Jincheng and his group arrived, Nagasawa Yu warmly came down the steps to greet them. Mitsubishi has been operating in China for many years, and they may not have made a lot of money, but when they get serious, their ability to investigate information is definitely very strong.

During the Lunar New Year holiday, in addition to his normal work procedures, Nagasawa Yu mainly had the company collect Tan Jincheng's personal information.

When he obtained all of Tan Jincheng's personal information, even he, a seasoned businessman, was incredibly surprised.

Born in 1985, her parents are ordinary workers, and her family background is simple and clean. Except for the information from July 2003 to September 2004, which is not detailed enough, all the information can actually be found.

He had good grades in school, but due to an accident, he did not go to university. After that, he started his own business. From this detailed information, we can see that Tan Jincheng truly started from scratch in the process of starting his business.

Logically speaking, even a young person without a background would need a long time to succeed, but this young person was able to build a company that alarmed high-level figures in such a short time, which shows that his ability is truly extraordinary.

A leading company in the electric vehicle industry, with over 200 offline stores for its apparel brand, its physical businesses maintain close ties with local governments, and its internet business has attracted the attention of many well-known investment institutions, making it the fastest-listed company in China.

What an amazing young man! I hope his collaboration with Mitsubishi will have a good outcome.

"Happy New Year, Nagasawa-kun. Thank you for your invitation."

Tan Jincheng gestured for Zeng Jixiang to present his gift, and Chang Zeyu quickly thanked him. The little people were indeed impeccable in terms of politeness. Putting aside emotional factors, doing business with them was actually quite a good experience.

Jinpeng Trading also exports a lot of its clothing to small businesses, Hong Kong, and Europe and America, all of which are major trading clients under Shanchi.

"I might be a little busy today. If we don't have enough time, how about we sign the contract tomorrow?"

Nagasawa Yu also gestured for his assistant to take the gift, and then chatted with Tan Jincheng with a smile. This was the place where Nagasawa Yu felt most comfortable, as he had worked in Europe and America for a long time and was fluent in English.

And this amazing kid in his eyes actually had pretty good English. Although there were some grammatical errors, the two of them could chat and communicate in English without any problems.

How did someone who never even went to university learn to speak such fluent English? No wonder, as he said, it was his wife who taught him?
"Sure, no problem. We'll talk about it after Nagasawa Yu finishes his work. I'll be staying in Shanghai for a few more days this time, no rush."

He approached Tan Jincheng to sign the contract right after the New Year. Changze Yu's efficiency suited Tan Jincheng's taste. This time, he brought a whole team, especially the legal team, just to ensure a smooth signing.

(End of this chapter)