2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 674: Concentrated Wealth and November Sales

The initial agreement with Wei Lan was that BMW would send a group of engineers to Luzhou, and the two sides would form a dedicated project team to jointly interpret the power battery production standards and establish the process flow.

"Don't worry, I will definitely select a group of outstanding talents in electric vehicles and batteries to cooperate with your company. At that time, I hope Mr. Tan can help solve their living problems."

"Please rest assured, Mr. Wei, that there will be no problem with your personal life."

"Once your list is finalized, Mr. Wei can tell me their living habits and where they are from, and I will arrange for someone to make arrangements. Don't worry about their accommodations, I will take care of everything."

"Haha, I've heard that. President Tan has always been good to his employees."

For several years, Flash Group has created a somewhat stereotypical impression among the public that its employees enjoy good benefits. In reality, with the increase in the number of employees, the overall salary level of Flash Group has not improved much.

The later you join, the more your compensation becomes similar to that of your peers.

Moreover, this treatment is also company-specific; companies with higher profits or those that are more valued will offer better treatment, while those with lower profits will receive relatively lower treatment.

The best signboard is naturally the North Warehouse Factory of Flash Technology. This is a signboard that cannot be changed; the company's image must be maintained.

Once a stereotype is formed, it is difficult to change unless everyone's income is significantly reduced. Even in the mobile internet era, there will be rebuttals for those who come forward to give their personal accounts of poor treatment.

Another point is that not only do they treat frontline employees well, but all the companies in the Flash Group also treat their management very well. The level of respect and treatment given to management is unparalleled.

For example, Zhang Yong, apart from needing to respect Tan Jincheng's opinion on the strategic direction of Weilai Auto, can make his own decisions on everything else. Even for some investments, Tan Jincheng will listen to Zhang Yong's opinion.

In a small, elite society, few people care about the treatment of entry-level employees. However, professional managers like Wei Lan greatly appreciate Tan Jincheng's approach to treating senior executives well, believing that professional tasks should be left to professionals.

"Haha, Mr. Wei, you flatter me. The company's success is not due to my efforts alone. It requires everyone's collective wisdom and hard work. Let the professionals handle the professional tasks."

"That's right. Alright, that's all for now. I'll have someone move the documents up to your car. That's all for today. We'll meet in Luzhou at the time we've arranged."

"Alright, thank you for making the special trip, Mr. Wei. See you in Luzhou."

It was a truly unexpected surprise. Attending an auto show actually brought Jinxin Times a crucial business deal, something Tan Jincheng hadn't anticipated.

However, this unexpected business trip changed Tan Jincheng's original plan of not traveling at the end of the year, and he had to go to Luzhou.

"Make the necessary preparations over there. I'll be going to Luzhou in a few days for a collaboration with BMW on power batteries. Also, I've informed Engineer Lü and the others that this is a major project."

"I'll send you the relevant information tomorrow."

After seeing Wei Lan off, Tan Jincheng, back in his car, called Zhang Xuhui.

Upon receiving the call, Zhang Xuhui was stunned for a moment: "Okay, I'll arrange it right away. Is there anything I need to be aware of?"

"BMW is preparing to order a batch of power battery packs from us. The requirements are very high; the standards alone are 800 pages long. I'll have someone send them over tomorrow. You and Engineer Lü will study them together. We must secure this order. You don't need to consider any other factors."

"Okay, I'll notify Engineer Lü and the others to hold a meeting right away."

This order was one that absolutely had to be secured; it seemed extremely important. Zhang Xuhui was so moved he almost cried.

For more than a year, since the head office shifted its strategic focus to car manufacturing, the support for Jinshidai has been much less. In addition, there weren't many orders to begin with, so he, as a manager, had almost no room to maneuver.

Currently, the company's main focus is on the R&D department. He cannot manage the R&D department; it belongs to the company but is relatively independent and has a specific person in charge.

He is a general manager in name only.

Among the first group of people who followed the boss, not to mention the older ones, there were senior executives of the same age as him, such as Sun Yuming and Zhao Xinyi. Everyone was very busy, and the businesses they were responsible for were developing very well, providing the company with a lot of profits.

Not only is he not busy, but Jinxin is still in a continuous loss-making situation. Although this is caused by the company's business strategy, he is under a lot of pressure at the annual company executive meeting.

While other branch offices were thriving, his branch office consistently lost money. He was embarrassed to ask employees for benefits when he went to the office, thankfully the boss didn't care.

"Finally, a big project."

After hanging up the phone, Zhang Xuhui felt much more relaxed. Whether it was a loss or not, he didn't care for the time being, as long as he had something to do.

"Let's go to the hotel."

Tan Jincheng said to Li Yaohui, "It's getting late, so we won't be going to the exhibition. To be honest, Mr. Tan hasn't spent much time at his own booth today; he's been socializing the whole time."

"Brother Li, book the earliest flight tomorrow and personally deliver these documents to Engineer Lü. Tell him how important this is and make sure the R&D department overcomes the difficulties to secure this order."

Jinxin is currently BMW's best option, but it is certainly not the only one. There are many good domestic companies in the consumer battery field, such as ATL, etc. BMW will definitely inquire with other companies.

"Ok."

Lai Yiu-fai didn't ask any more questions. His boss would usually assign him some tasks like a secretary or assistant, either important tasks that couldn't be handled by others or more private matters.

However, whatever can be entrusted to him, he must pay special attention to it; otherwise, with a dedicated team of assistants, there would be no need for him to appear in person. "Tell Engineer Lü to call me if he has any questions. Also, tell Zhang Xuhui that BMW will be sending someone to liaise with him soon, so he can prepare for the handover."

"Oh, and while you're at it, have him check if there are any townhouses not far from the company or in a nicer environment. If so, could you buy me a few?"

"Okay, how many sets do you want to buy?"

"Let me think about it. Let's start with 10 units for the engineers BMW is sending. If that's not enough, we'll see."

Good heavens, ten townhouses all at once! The developer must be ecstatic.

Tan Jincheng smiled helplessly, "It seems we'll have to build some new residential complexes for Jincheng later on, buying them like this isn't cost-effective."

In 2009, housing prices in Luzhou were not expensive, with an average price of around 4300 to 4500 yuan per square meter. However, no matter how cheap it was, nothing was more cost-effective than building your own house. It's just that we don't have the conditions to do so yet.

Sure enough, once a company reaches a certain stage of development, you really can't avoid real estate development; you can't avoid it even if you want to.

Tan Jincheng has been trying to avoid getting too involved in the real estate sector, but the Flash Group already has a considerable amount of industrial land, residential land, and commercial real estate such as shops, and there will be more in the future.

Land has always been a constant source of wealth.

"Indeed, once wealth is concentrated in one place, it becomes very difficult to control."

Looking at the Forbes rich list, we can see that wealth is becoming increasingly concentrated. Even some billionaires whose wealth has shrunk significantly this year have only seen a decrease in the value of their stocks, and these stocks have a high probability of rising this year.
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The bustling Guangzhou Auto Show lasted for a week, attracting a total of 50 visitors, making it the most lively and chaotic Guangzhou Auto Show in its history.

The organizers clearly did not expect so many people to enter the venue, indicating a significant lack of preparation.

However, for each car company, as long as nothing goes wrong, the more people the better.

The exhibition area of ​​Weilai Auto is the largest in the second exhibition area, featuring six models of Yuechi A1, including Yangzi pickup trucks, Sailing sports cars, and high, medium and low-end models. In addition, as in previous years, they have maintained the tradition of providing food at lunchtime during the exhibition.

With 50 visitors, the Yuechi A1 was rated as one of the most anticipated models at the exhibition. In addition, the large-scale publicity over the past two months brought a large number of visitors to the Weilai booth.

Not to mention that food is provided during the lunch break, so with so many people, it's not so easy to go out to buy food and come back in.

That's just too thoughtful!

"The sales figures are out?"

Today is December 1st. Tan Jincheng, who is in Luzhou, has been paying close attention to the sales of his own car model. In November, he took advantage of the exhibition, where major manufacturers offered significant discounts.

Yuechi also offers many discounts, which undoubtedly greatly increases product sales.

"It's out! Congratulations, boss! In November, we sold a total of 8066 Yuechi A1s, ranking fourth in SUV sales, surpassing the Highlander."

Zeng Jixiang said happily, and handed over the data he had compiled.

"Over 8000 vehicles? Haha, that's awesome!"

Zhang Xuhui, standing to the side, was also smiling happily. The company's sales exceeded 8000 units in its first full month after its launch, which is outstanding among domestic brands and even joint venture brands.

"These data are indeed quite good."

Tan Jincheng took the form and was very happy after scanning it. This was data compiled by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, which had a certain degree of credibility before the sales figures were falsified.

In the SUV rankings, the CRV remains in first place with monthly sales of 9391 units. The Haval SUV series, including the H3 and other models priced under 10 yuan, ranked second with a total of 8943 units sold during the major promotional period.

The third is the RAV4, with monthly sales of 8284 units, only 218 units higher than the fourth-ranked Yuechi A1.

The top three remained largely unchanged, but the Hyundai Tucson, which ranked fourth in annual sales, and the Zhongtai 5008, which ranked fifth, saw a significant drop in monthly sales, indicating a lack of momentum.

Fourth place was taken by the unexpectedly rising Yuechi A1, while fifth place was taken by the Highlander, and even sixth place was snatched by the unexpectedly rising Sportage.

These two models sold 6215 and 5295 units respectively, still showing a significant gap compared to the former leading group.

Zeng Jixiang pointed to a list below and introduced: "The Yuechi A1 has sold a total of 11629 units so far, and it is almost certain to be among the top 10 in the annual SUV sales list."

Goodness, Cheetah Black King Kong is currently ranked 12th overall, while Zhongtai2008 is ranked 11th.

The manufacturers of both of these models have quite a history with Wei.

"We probably can't catch up to 10th, but we can fight for 11th."

The Nissan Qashqai ranked 10th, having sold over 25,000 units. It's simply impossible to catch up. On the other hand, the Nissan X7 2008, whose sales dropped by over 45% this month, couldn't suppress the rising momentum of the Nissan Elantra.

It must be said that in 2009, an era of great development and change in the automotive industry, Zhongtai, which had enjoyed great success in the previous two years, made a series of mistakes and fell far behind mainstream car companies.

(End of this chapter)