2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 629 Yue Chi Speeds Up

Upon returning to the workshop at the Xiangcheng manufacturing base, Tan Jincheng could clearly sense a significant change in the morale of the workshop employees.

Tan Jincheng was, after all, a big boss who managed thousands of workers. He could tell at a glance what the mental state of an ordinary worker was like.

The company is not doing well, and wages cannot be paid on time. It would be a miracle if the workers were to work hard.

Although the company has been undergoing reform and training for the past six months, it now has a capable new boss. Not only are salaries paid on time, but those who stay can also get a raise.

The manufacturing base in Xiangcheng was only three years old when we took over last year. Apart from the difficult-to-manage group of brilliant employees in the R&D center, the workshop employees are relatively honest.

There weren't many people who took advantage of their status as state-owned enterprise employees to bully the new management, and there weren't that many retired employees either.

Zhang Yong was quite cunning. At the time of the renovation, the Yongzhou manufacturing base was still under his control. If there were employees who were not convinced by him, he would not forcibly fire them, but instead transfer their personnel files to the Yongzhou manufacturing base.

It has to be said that this move is really ruthless. Either you obediently obey the management, or you go to Yongzhou to sit on the sidelines.

Now, Tan Jincheng has handed over all these burdens to Li Jianxin with a single contract, and the other party has happily accepted it, which can be described as a win-win situation.

"Is the Xiangcheng production base currently able to resume normal operations?"

Accompanied by Zhang Yong and the workshop director, Tan Jincheng inspected the factory while asking questions.

"It's ready. We can now produce cars according to the latest national standards. We plan to start with the Pajero," Zhang Yong replied.

The Pajero model is now under the Weilai brand; the original Changfeng Motors only produced the Cheetah series of off-road vehicles.

The sales of the Cheetah series off-road vehicles under Changfeng's control are very stable, around 2 units per year, not much more or less.

ZF and JUN's procurement has turned off-road vehicles into a business that guarantees profits regardless of drought or flood; they're truly unparalleled.

Perhaps it is this kind of business that guarantees a steady income regardless of drought or flood that has led to a lack of ambition and drive among Changfeng Motor's grassroots employees.

Thinking about it, it makes sense. Take the Changfeng Cheetah Black King Kong series for example. The market guidance price is 25.8 yuan. There must be something fishy about such a high price. It's government procurement, after all.

If it weren't for the losses from other businesses, Changfeng would still be a large automaker with an annual output value of 50 billion yuan if it focused solely on off-road vehicles. As long as government procurement didn't stop, they could still live very comfortably.

Li Jianxin's previous idea of ​​buying back the companies he had sold might actually be achievable; after saving for a few years, he has accumulated wealth again.

"That's fine. Let's practice with the Pajero first. We need to get the production line up and running as soon as possible. Also, we need to speed up the production of our own cars."

Generally, a new gasoline-powered vehicle needs to go through multiple steps from research and development to market launch, such as bench testing, real-road testing, problem fixing, small-scale trial production, production line adjustment, and finally, formal production.

The entire process typically takes at least 26 months.

However, with the intensification of market competition, some brands, especially domestic brands, are now able to launch new cars in just over ten months by improving efficiency, and there are many companies that launch one or even several new cars a year.

However, no matter how much efficiency is improved, the necessary processes are still essential. Vehicles that have not undergone refinement often mean that there will be many problems and areas for improvement after they are launched on the market.

Consumers have essentially become test drivers, continuously optimizing vehicles based on feedback from sold vehicles. This is something that most companies, especially domestic brands, are currently doing.

The reasons for the poor reputation are mostly here. It can be said that the first batch of buyers of each new car from a domestic brand are guinea pigs. The difference is whether the domestic brand is conscientious enough.

Take the Zhongtai 2008, for example. It was a mature model, but after changing owners, it was rebranded as a batch of licensed vehicles.

The 100 vehicles that Tan Jincheng bought as gifts for his employees were specially produced. They weren't exactly custom-made, but they were still given special attention. Even after two years, they still had constant problems.

Even when Boss Ying wanted Tan Jincheng to order another batch, practically giving it away for free, he didn't dare to take it anymore.

That's so damn undignified.

"Okay, I'll get on it. I'll schedule more overtime work recently."

Zhang Yong joined the company in April last year. At that time, the Yuechi A1 was already under design. Even if we start counting from then, it has been 12 months.

According to the plan to launch the Yuechi A1 in early 2010, there was a period of at least 21 months. It can be said that Tan Jincheng gave it a long enough time. Compared with most domestic brands, it is quite generous.

FlashCar has also used consumers as guinea pigs, but Tan Jincheng always remembers that reputation cannot be ruined too much, and they cannot be as shameless as Zhongtai. "We really need to speed things up. We must have a prototype car at the Guangzhou Auto Show."

If you don't even have a demo car at the Guangzhou Auto Show in November, what's the point? You can't just sell pickup trucks and minibuses, can you? Besides, we haven't even secured the minibus license yet.

As for Sering's sports cars, Tan Jincheng never intended to sell many. He boasted that they were the world's number one supercars, but in China, they were just niche products and could never compete with Ferraris or Porsches.

It's just a facade; if Tan Jincheng could sell 100 of them a year, he'd be laughing in his sleep.

To be honest, Tan Jincheng, Zhang Yong, and even the current designers at Yuechi all have high hopes for the Yuechi A1. In terms of design alone, this car is absolutely superior to other domestic brands.

The design is stylish and the power is not bad either. As for the price, there are currently no competitors among domestic brands. If the quality is not too bad, it will definitely sell out when it is launched.

Although it drew inspiration from many car models, Yuechi can actually be considered an independently designed product.

Producing a prototype in small batches within 19 months is a significant challenge for the newly established Weilai Auto. However, since the boss has already made this decision, Zhang Yong, as the person in charge, has to work tirelessly, even if it means working day and night, to get it done by hand.

Zhang Yong's treatment in Weilai was undeniably high. Tan Jincheng gave him a great deal of autonomy in his work, including product design, quality control, the establishment of a marketing network, and even some personnel authority.

In terms of compensation, he was provided with a villa as his residence as soon as he took office, an Audi A6 as his car, an annual salary of 300 million yuan, and stock options after completing his tasks.

In terms of treatment alone, it far surpasses his previous treatment in Futian, not to mention the great autonomy he has at work, which gives him a lot of room to grow.

Zhang Yong, who has just entered middle age, still has great passion for his work. Having a car company where he can give full play to his talents is something that many people dream of.

After more than a year of working together, Zhang Yong had come to admire Tan Jincheng, the boss, from the bottom of his heart. Many people in the Flash Group thought the boss was domineering, but in Zhang Yong’s view, the boss’s domineering attitude only applied to the company’s strategic planning.

In practice, he rarely interferes directly with his subordinates' work progress. He sets a goal for you, and how you do it is your business. If you do well, you will be rewarded; if you do poorly, he will not punish you if it is his fault.

Of course, if it's your fault, you will be punished accordingly.

Another detail that Zhang Yong noticed was that whenever the boss was interviewed, he referred to the company's employees, regardless of their position, as "colleagues," without any air of superiority, which made people feel very comfortable.

The boss's domineering attitude stems more from his confidence. Look at what he does, the strategic planning of the various subsidiaries, it's as if every step is perfectly timed. How can such planning not be domineering?
In 2008, many domestic companies encountered difficulties due to the financial crisis, but the actions of these bosses were incredibly shrewd.

Before the subprime crisis, Orange Technology went public on the US stock market and successfully reaped a high market value. After the subprime crisis came, they went to short the US stock market and reaped another round of profits from the Americans.

By the end of the year, they bought back the shorted shares, playing a really clever game.

In the domestic market, Flash Group successfully listed its subsidiary through a backdoor listing and also acquired a well-known car company, enabling the newly established Weilai Automobile to grow rapidly through capital operations.

Whether it's Orange Technology's IPO or Flash Group's big moves, besides connections and resources, what they need most is a large amount of capital. The repeated exploitation of Americans has provided the group with a lot of funds.

The subprime crisis was a crisis for some businesses, but it seemed to be an opportunity for some business owners.

"You have a lot of work to do this year, Mr. Zhang. You need to take care of your health."

Tan Jincheng patted Zhang Yong on the shoulder and said earnestly, "This old guy is indeed like the character he portrayed in short videos from my previous life. He's not good at communicating with people and is just a pure tech guy."

Take the matter of Yongzhou assets with Li Jianxin as an example. He couldn't let go of Li Jianxin, a former state-owned enterprise employee.

However, this does not mean that Zhang Yong is easy to bully. His ability to transfer a group of unruly and unruly employees from the Xiangcheng manufacturing base to Yongzhou was truly beyond his expectations.

Tan Jincheng's conventional thinking is that if you don't listen to him, you're fired and the company will compensate you. I really didn't expect there to be such an operation.

That saved me a lot of money.

Zhang Yong chuckled. The task was indeed very heavy for him. Yangzi Automobile's sales target for this year was 2 vehicles, and now the Yuechi A1 needed to be accelerated.

The boss is also thinking about acquiring Huanghai Automobile. If the acquisition fails, that's fine, but if it succeeds, it will be his problem, and he will need to spend a lot of time integrating it.

"We still need to hire more people. It seems we need to bring in some more management talent, otherwise we'll be exhausted."

(End of this chapter)