2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 731 My lord, times have changed.

Tesla's patented technologies are mainly concentrated in the areas of batteries, motors, electronic controls, vehicle manufacturing, human-machine interaction, and charging stations.

When it comes to battery technology, everyone's pretty much the same these days, and Tesla isn't much better than us.

That said, if it weren't for the $4.65 million loan provided by the US government last year, Tesla wouldn't have been able to hold on and might have been acquired.

Battery patents are irrelevant; we can do without them. Zuoyouwei Auto is focused on developing blade batteries, and the patents for 18650 battery technology will be released in a few years, so there's no rush.

What he mainly wanted were patents for motor technology. Shen Nanpeng helped him collect a lot of Tesla's patents. These motor patents were all applied for by Tesla before 2010. If they were applied for a few years later, they would definitely be outdated.

However, the technology does not necessarily have to be the most advanced. These patents cover the basic design and working principle of motors and are the foundation for the development of electric vehicle technology.

As for human-computer interaction, we don't need it now, but we can develop it gradually. Our own technology in charging piles is not bad either, so we are really on the same starting line.

If it weren't for those idiots who only cared about living off subsidies in the following years, Tesla might not have had a chance at all.

Sigh, they're all doing nothing productive. It's a pity that the government spent so much effort, provided so many subsidies and resources, and it's all been wasted.

6月8日，苹果发布了最新黑白两色版本的iPhone 4，同时还发布了8G版黑色iPhone 3GS。

The front and back of the device are made of aluminosilicate glass. It has a 4.5-inch body, a 3.5-inch screen, and only one button. The black body looks very high-quality.

"Haha, times have changed."

Tan Jincheng fiddled with the iPhone 4 in his hand; for people like them, getting a new phone early was no big deal.

Damn, this thing finally gave him a sense of nostalgia. Even the 3GS couldn't compare, especially since Apple's batteries are non-removable, unlike traditional Android phones.

Later, Android phones followed Apple's lead, and Apple truly revolutionized the mobile phone battery.

The universal charger is about to become obsolete; many people born after 00 don't even recognize it.

In Tan Jincheng's opinion, the iPhone 4 is the only true smartphone. The 3GS doesn't even qualify as a smartphone in his eyes; it always feels like it's missing something. As for Meizu's first phone, it was touted as a big deal and had a lot of significance, but it was really damn bad to use.

Android phones, including the Xiaomi 1, were generally not very user-friendly. The smoothness of early Android phones was indeed very poor, and the biggest fun was probably playing around with flashing custom ROMs.

The iOS system was designed to be much smoother than Android from the very beginning, which is one of the reasons why the iPhone 4 sold so well in China as soon as it entered the market. Showing off is one aspect, but ease of use is also a key factor.

"The build quality of this phone is really good. It's much more comfortable to use than the 3GS. The 3GS was so round that I was always worried it would slip off. The system is also much smoother."

Gu Qingqing also loved the iPhone 4. She used a white one. In this day and age, there was no such thing as a phone case. They were all smooth. The 3GS really didn't feel very good in the hand.

"Hehe, you can use phone cases. I'll have Dexian Electronics set up a small production line and open a store on Taobao to sell phone cases. The income won't be bad."

"Phone case?"

Gu Qingqing really didn't know about this thing. She was now quite detached from the masses, with people taking care of her in both work and life. She was far less exposed to gadgets than Tan Jincheng.

"Yeah, it's just putting a case on the phone, kind of like how we used to cover our books when we were kids. This phone isn't cheap, so the phone cases will definitely sell well. And look at this screen, we can even put screen protectors on it."

Don't underestimate the phone case and screen protector business. In the first few years after these products came out, it wasn't the era of 9.9 yuan with free shipping online. A screen protector could cost tens or even hundreds of yuan. With the introduction of concepts like tempered glass, street vendors made a lot of money.

The phone cases are also expensive. Dexian Electronics originally made 3C accessories. Although its main business has shifted to mobile phone batteries in recent years, it has not given up its 3C accessories business.

The business is small, but the profit margin is very high.

We can't give up on the peripheral businesses related to smartphones; we have to develop them, as they can at least provide some cash flow.

Phone cases and tempered glass screen protectors don't require much technology, especially phone cases. Once the molds are made, a few injection molding machines can be used for rapid production.

If we can hold out for two or three months, we can quickly launch it on a large scale, and then Apple's Chinese version will also be able to enter the domestic market.

"You really don't let any money slip by, you even have your eye on this kind of small business."

Gu Qingqing couldn't help but smile.

"Haha, this amount of money is nothing to us, but if the entire industrial chain is connected, it will be a good thing for ordinary people and can increase their income significantly."

Dexian Electronics certainly wouldn't set up a street stall; it would naturally go the wholesale route, shipping to places like Huaqiangbei. If it had opened up this industrial chain sooner, it could have earned more from street vending.

Now that everyone has money, they'll naturally want to buy cars.

It's not just big-ticket items that drive the economy; small businesses are the most effective way to improve people's living standards. Only when living standards improve can people have the desire to consume. And anything that promotes consumption requires people to have money in their pockets.

Small businesses can also achieve great things.

To be honest, if Tan Jincheng were reborn now, he would definitely set up a small plastic factory to make phone cases. The investment would be small, but the profit margin would be very high.

It doesn't require much effort, and this industry is really good for making your first pot of gold.

"I wonder if Lao Huang has acquired any shares in O-Film and Luxshare Precision."

Tan Jincheng's task for Huang Ming was to acquire at least 5% of the shares in these two companies and become their major shareholder. Besides being able to enjoy the benefits of the secondary market during the market capitalization growth, the most important thing was to establish connections with these companies.

In the future, companies like Luxshare could cross-share with Dexian Electronics, and Dexian Electronics could also go public independently and acquire some Apple supply chain companies to formally enter the Apple supply chain.

If it were still an offline subscription like before, Huang Ming wouldn't need to show up in person. However, this time he wanted too many shares, so Huang Ming has been quite busy lately. There are quite a few small shareholders in OFILM and Luxshare Precision, and he has been contacting them privately.

As I said before, all minority shareholders know that the stock price will rise, but they can't sell during the lock-up period. These days, many minority shareholders of listed companies are from humble backgrounds and are products of the times, with no financial knowledge whatsoever.

They only knew that money in their hands was their own money. Huang Ming raised the price to the issue price and negotiated with each party one by one, and actually managed to negotiate quite a few deals.

He first approached Luxshare Precision, whose total share capital of 1.74 million shares was larger than that of OFILM's 9600 million shares, making negotiations easier, though it still took a considerable amount of time.

To acquire 5% of the shares, 870 million shares need to be purchased, which is a considerable undertaking. Huang Ming has been traveling all over the country recently to acquire shares.

To date, Luxshare Precision has acquired 600 million shares, not far from its 5% target, while OFILM has acquired 300 million shares.

O-Film's issue price was 30 yuan, and Luxshare Precision's issue price was 28.8 yuan. Calculated based on 5% of the shares of the two companies, the total cost would be nearly 4 million yuan, of which Luxshare Precision's acquisition cost would be approximately 2.5 million yuan.

Huang Ming felt a little heartbroken, mainly because he felt it was too much of a loss to have acquired everything at the issue price.

However, in Mr. Tan's view, this deal was simply too good to pass up. Luxshare is a company with a market value of hundreds of billions in the future. Acquiring 5% of the shares for 2.5 million yuan will be worth at least 50 billion yuan in 10 years.

It's like picking up money off the street.

Apple's release caused a huge sensation. Since 2008, smartphones have gradually become more and more popular, and the popularity of smartphones in China has been increasing. In particular, the release of Meizu M8 last year and the entry of HTC have allowed the public to have a comprehensive understanding of smartphones.

Since the beginning of this year, in addition to the gradual rollout of 3G networks, the mobile phone market has been a vibrant and competitive arena, with five major operating systems—Cybernetic, Android WM, iOS, and BlackBerry OS—vying for market share.

The competition in the mobile phone industry has shifted from simply competing on features to fierce competition on hardware, operating systems, and software resources.

The iPhone 4, Nokia N8, and the first-generation Galaxy S are about to start competing head-to-head. The most impressive one is still the first-generation Galaxy S, which will be launched in March this year and will sell for 4999 yuan in China.

Even at this price, demand still exceeds supply. To snag a unit immediately, you have to buy from scalpers. In the past two years, a new type of mobile phone store has emerged in the Beicang area, selling so-called Hong Kong and Japanese versions of the phones at different prices every day.

The first-generation Galaxy S, also known as the I9000, ran on Android and was virtually unbeatable after its March release. Its official price in China was as high as 4999 yuan, and demand still far exceeded supply.

During this period, there were mobile phone stores all over the country. The stores were small, some even located in alleys, and they sold grey market mobile phones, such as Hong Kong and Japanese versions.

The mainland China version of the I9000 is priced at 5000 yuan, while the Hong Kong version is cheaper. The price changes every day, and business is booming.

What was the price of the iPhone 4 in China? I think it was around that price, 5000 yuan is really not cheap. In Beicang, it can buy one square meter of housing, and in other areas, it can buy two or three square meters.

However, there are quite a few people willing to spend this money. The price is a bit expensive, but when it comes to being ruthless, you have to look at Nokia. Starting in the early 2000s, their flagship phones dared to sell for seven or eight thousand yuan. Goodness, you couldn't save up enough money for a year to buy one.

Lei Jun paid close attention to Apple's launch event. Considering that he had chatted with Tan Jincheng before and heard a lot of fresh ideas about smartphones from him, Lei Jun even made a special phone call to talk to Tan Jincheng for a long time.

Xiaomi's current focus is on developing MIUI based on the Android system. According to Lei Jun, it will be available for internal testing in about two months, around mid-August. The company only officially opened on April 6th, and internal testing is already underway in August – this speed truly surprised Tan Jincheng.

The system development, with just a few people in their company and administrative matters, was able to be put into internal testing in three or four months. That's what you call internet speed!

In comparison, the speed of Weilai Motors is really a bit slow.

Since the beginning of the year, each group—fuel vehicles, new energy vehicles, buses, and pickup trucks—has its own R&D team. However, so far, the progress has been only so-so. They are all engaged in R&D, and it depends on the speed of the internet people.

No, we need to urge them on. There's no rush with gasoline-powered vehicles; they're available for sale now. But we need to speed things up with new energy vehicles, especially with Huanghai Bus.

When local subsidy policies are implemented, the first thing to order is new energy buses. By building good relationships with local governments, you can make a good business and receive subsidies securely without having to resort to underhanded methods.

The policy of subsidizing 60,000 yuan per vehicle for private purchase of pure electric vehicles has been widely reported in the industry by Tan Jincheng. Many manufacturers who previously had no interest in electric vehicles have decided to launch electric vehicles.

Needless to say, they must have been exploiting loopholes in the policy. They subsidized each car with 60,000 yuan, secretly selling them to themselves, transferring money from one hand to the other. They didn't need many; with 1000 cars, they would have received 60 million yuan in subsidies.

Fraudulently obtaining subsidies for 1000 vehicles a year isn't much. If those 1000 vehicles are distributed across the country, and he claims they were sold to remote areas, the authorities are unlikely to investigate. It's really not a big deal. Someone with a more ruthless and daring heart could easily get 10,000 vehicles on their own.

The weather in June is getting hotter and hotter.

Tan, who doesn't like to travel around, has been motivated by Lei Jun's Xiaomi speed lately, and now he goes to the headquarters every day to keep an eye on the development progress.

The research institute is not yet completed and there are not enough staff, so they are temporarily housed in the headquarters building.

There are three floors in total. Boss Tan had the construction workers make some modifications, and the elevator security check was also re-set. No one can enter without an internal card. At the same time, a confidentiality mechanism was also implemented for employees.

Due to limited resources, we can only make do for now. This is also why Xiang once said that the single apartments are almost full. Technical personnel transferred from various places are temporarily housed here.

It's convenient to commute to and from get off work; it's just a short walk.

To the existing technical staff at Flashpoint and Weilai, these conditions seemed so-so, but to Zheng Weixin, Huang Qin, Chen Gang, and others poached by BYD, this treatment was absolutely amazing.

Living in the main urban area, they can get to work at 8:00 AM and still have time to get up at 7:50 AM. When have they ever had such treatment at BYD? Zheng Weixin and other former middle managers at BYD had even better treatment.

Living in a one-bedroom, one-living room, one-kitchen, and one-bathroom studio apartment, their income is more than double what it used to be. Since the apartment is not rented out to the public, it is used by employees of the Flash Group.

Bachelors like them don't even need to wash their clothes. There are dedicated staff who collect them and take them to the laundry room to be washed and dried. After that, dedicated staff will also bring them back to them.

There's no need to worry about meals; the headquarters cafeteria provides four meals a day, and the taste of the food is worlds apart from that of the BYD cafeteria. He lives like a young master.

"Hey Lao Zheng, I heard your old company is starting to lay off employees. If you know anyone you think is good, remember to introduce them to me. They don't have to be in the new energy vehicle business, even production line workers are fine."

Spurred by this, Boss Tan focused all his time on the development of new energy vehicles. He didn't want to engage in subsidy fraud, but the development progress really had to be accelerated. He had created such good conditions for everyone, so he had to produce some results.

Look at the project team that Renjinxin is collaborating with BMW; they've already achieved results in just a few months. We can't fall behind in the field of new energy vehicles either.

Zheng Weixin and the other two remained in the same project team, still under Zheng Weixin's leadership. Boss Tan continued to have them work on the research and development project at BYD. As for whether there would be any infringement, he had already inquired about it. Since the results were not yet available, Dizi had not applied for a patent.

If no patent has been applied for, then let's ignore it and put morality aside for now.

Over this period of time, Zheng Weixin and others have become quite familiar with this young boss. Putting aside their identities, the boss is actually quite amiable, and the working atmosphere in Weilai is relatively relaxed.

Aside from the need to work overtime like BYD, everything else is quite comfortable. However, they prefer the overtime system at Weilai, as there is overtime pay and project KPI testing.

There are rewards for producing results within the specified time; if you achieve results ahead of time, the rewards are even greater. In short, the more you work, the more you earn.

The boss also said that the intellectual property rights of the developed technology belong to the company, but the application will be made in their personal names. In addition, they can also enjoy the benefits of the patented technology together with the company.

Tan Jincheng deeply understands the importance of technology in the automotive industry. No matter how good the marketing is, it is still better to make good cars. Being in a leading position in technology is always the winning formula for car companies.

One person's plan is short-sighted, but many people's plans are long-sighted. Even if Tan Jincheng didn't understand technology, a large enterprise couldn't rely on just one person. The most crucial thing is to bind technical personnel to a community of shared interests.

"Um, boss, where did you hear that from?"

Zheng Weixin was a little confused. Usually, their social circle at BYD was actually very small. They buried themselves in R&D every day, working overtime until late at night, and had no interest in finding out company gossip. He never expected that his former employer would start laying off employees.

For a moment, Zheng Weixin felt a little sad. Last year, the company was doing so well, so why is it starting to lay off employees this year?
Tan Jincheng curled his lip: "Layoffs are necessary. You set your goals too high last year. At this rate, you'll be lucky to achieve 60% this year. Layoffs were inevitable."

The sales target is in the millions. A difference of 40%, or 400,000 vehicles, is a huge gap. Geely ranked 10th in sales in 2009 with a total sales volume of only 330,000 vehicles. This difference is equivalent to knocking out a Geely.

It would be a miracle if they didn't lay off employees; they really overdid it and messed it up.

After the boss explained it this way, Zheng Weixin probably understood.

"Okay, I'll ask my friends over there. If there are any laid-off employees with good reputations and skills, I'll ask them to keep an eye out and introduce them to me."

The layoffs that Tan Jincheng mentioned are targeting BYD's automotive division. BYD's troubles are really getting bigger and bigger. It's not going to collapse, but it could really go back to square one.

Since the other party was about to lay off employees, Tan Jincheng felt no guilt about poaching people.

"Keep an eye on it, but the main thing is to speed up the R&D progress. If you need any cooperation from Jinxin, remember to contact Engineer Lü and the others."

A few days ago, Tan Jincheng had a meeting with the senior executives of Weilai. They said that they must speed up the development of new energy vehicles, especially pure electric buses. Even if mass production cannot be achieved before the end of this year, they must at least produce a prototype.

With the prototype in hand, we can hold an order fair and seize the market as quickly as possible.

"Okay, I understand. I will coordinate with Jinxin."

Zheng Weixin is now a middle-level manager at Weilai. He knows about the company's technology development progress policies. He nodded in response. Although he is a section chief at BYD, apart from having a higher salary than his colleagues, he has not really experienced much of what it's like to be a manager.

Especially recently, the boss has been spending every day in the New Energy Business Unit, chatting with each project team, just keeping an eye on the progress.

The boss is watching the progress every day, and I must say, the pressure is quite high.

A month is not a long time. In addition to handling daily affairs, Boss Tan kept an eye on the research and development progress of the pure electric vehicle. Whenever he had time, he would take a stroll in the R&D department. As a result, the progress was visibly accelerated.

"Looks like this thing really needs to be kept under my nose."

Boss Tan was quite emotional. It was the right decision not to set up the research institute in Luzhou. This thing really needs to be kept under his nose.

It's not good to have only benefits without pressure. Over time, it's easy to develop laziness. It's true that you need to put some pressure on employees from time to time.

We should conduct these kinds of inspections more often in the future.

As the company grew larger, Tan Jincheng no longer had the energy to care about everything as before. In his view, those entrepreneurs who talked big in public and claimed to pay attention to every single thing in the company were just talking nonsense.

If you pay attention to every little thing, you'll be busy even if you work non-stop. You'll die of exhaustion after six months.

This isn't how you run a business; you'll just ruin your life.

Before we knew it, it was the end of June. Many people in the company knew that the boss's wife's due date was approaching, which was no secret.

The boss hasn't been around for the past few days, which has finally put the R&D staff at ease. Although the boss isn't exactly harsh on them, it's still quite uncomfortable to have him watching them every day.

I wonder if the landlady gave birth to a boy or a girl?

What's his name? This little guy is really lucky to have been born into such a privileged family. He's destined to inherit the boss's billions right from birth; he's practically living a life of ease.

Thursday, March 6th.

Five days before Gu Qingqing's due date, she has been admitted to the special care ward of Beicang District People's Hospital. There are also many people on guard around the special care ward, and the senior management of Beicang District People's Hospital is somewhat nervous.

Goodness, even though they've seen a lot, they've never seen anything like this before. Everyone says that Boss Tan of Flash Motors is the son of Beicang District, and now he should be considered the richest man in Beicang. Boss Tan's wife is about to give birth.

Modern medicine is advanced, and there shouldn't be any accidents during childbirth, but no one can guarantee that there won't be any problems at all. Judging from this situation, if something goes wrong, everyone's life will be difficult.

(End of this chapter)