2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 789 Leave it to me, Elon!
Like most foreigners, Factory Director Ma, who was visiting China for the first time, was curious about everything.

Regardless of whether it was an act or not, Director Ma showed a friendly attitude towards China, which reassured Tan Jincheng quite a bit.

I'm afraid of those brainless people who clearly want to make money on someone else's turf but still spout nonsense.

"Tan, the roast duck tastes very good, don't you like it?"

I don’t know when it started, but when foreigners come to the capital, Peking duck seems to be a must-eat. Factory Director Ma is no exception. Tan Jincheng insisted on arranging an authentic Peking duck feast for him.

"No, no, no, it's just that I prefer the pancake to the roast duck. You don't have to mind me."

Damn, it's exciting for you the first time, but I'm already sick of it. Every time a foreigner comes over, I have to treat them to a meal. This stuff gets really cloying after a while.

"Oh, okay, then I'll enjoy it myself. There's so much delicious food in China. This spring roll is also very good, with a crispy texture."

"Haha, that's true. When it comes to food, we definitely have a say."

These past few days, while Factory Manager Ma has been busy inspecting his Tesla direct-sales store and dealing with interviews to promote himself, Tan Jincheng has also been busy. In addition to maintaining contact with Luzhou, he is also preparing to set up an office in Beijing.

In recent years, I've been coming to Beijing more and more frequently, so it's necessary to set up an office here; otherwise, it's always a bit inconvenient.

The office we rented before is no longer suitable.

The new office is also located in Zhongguancun, just across the street from Horizon Robotics. Horizon Robotics' preparations are progressing rapidly, with both technical and policy support. From its inception, Horizon Robotics was a focal point in the semiconductor industry.

Yu Kai underestimated Tan Jincheng. He thought that besides money, Tan Jincheng had no connections or resources in the semiconductor industry. Unexpectedly, Tan Jincheng handed over the assets to a research and development center, which was still Qimonda's assets left in China.

In addition, the boss actually had connections with DJI, a well-known drone company in the industry, and was one of DJI's earliest investors, which was something he never expected.

With these foundations, his work became much easier. The worst thing for a technology company is to have nothing but money, as that makes it very easy to fail.

While Tan Jincheng was busy in the capital, those in Luzhou who knew the situation were already working quickly. When they first heard the news, they all thought Tan Jincheng was joking.

It's not that they lack experience, but it's not that they're making a big deal out of nothing. A single order of 40 billion US dollars is no small matter in any province; it's enough to alarm the provincial leaders.

Moreover, this order is of extraordinary significance; it's not a large order obtained by selling clothes or other low-value-added products.

Exporting lithium batteries is a high-tech project, and such a large order has even attracted the attention of relevant departments in Beijing. However, since the contract has not yet been signed, it is not appropriate to proceed with it in a high-profile manner.

Tan Jincheng is busy in the capital, while Musk is building momentum. All relevant insiders are currently focused on these two.

Anhui Province was eager for the two to arrive in Luzhou as soon as possible, and also hoped that Wei could sign the order.

Sunday, March 3

Musk, who had changed his itinerary, finally embarked on a journey to Luzhou with Tan Jincheng. In the past few days, Tan Jincheng has witnessed firsthand what a workaholic is.

People around Tan Jincheng thought he was a workaholic, but after getting up close and personal with Musk these past few days, they realized what a workaholic really is. He gave several interviews in one day and even held a meeting with his team after returning to the hotel.

He also had some ideas about Fangcaodi's first directly operated store, and would give some pointers during the interview breaks. Some interviews were even conducted in the store, which was already almost finished with renovations.

In addition, he also participated in several public speeches organized by relevant departments and universities. Over the course of a few days, Director Ma's schedule was extremely full, which truly impressed Tan Jincheng.

"Tan, what is your hometown like?"

On the plane, Musk asked Tan Jincheng with some curiosity. He knew that Tan Jincheng did not have a high level of education, but his life was somewhat legendary. In the past few days, he had witnessed the country's rapid progress in the capital.

At the same time, it aroused curiosity about what kind of place could have nurtured a young man like Tan Jincheng with such a legendary life.

Yes, young man. If you don't consciously try to remember his age, who would guess that this young man, who is even wealthier than him, is only 28 years old?

What was he doing at 28? Well, his 28th year was quite eventful too.

"My hometown was a poor region when I was born, and it is still so today. However, it is much better than it was 20 years ago. Its changes, like those of our country, are visible to the naked eye."

"Another thing is that the food in my hometown is quite different from that in other provinces. There is a big difference between the north and the south, like two different provinces. You can experience it when you come. It will be very interesting."

Having lived two lives, it's hard to say how well Tan Jincheng knows his hometown. After all, his memories from both lives are mostly before he turned 18. This life is a little better; he has the opportunity to go back from time to time, but it's just a fleeting visit.

However, Luzhou, where they were going, had indeed changed a lot in recent years. Luzhou had invested quite generously in municipal affairs, which was of course related to the province's overall efforts.

Taking export data as an example, the province's total export value was 267 billion US dollars, with Luzhou alone accounting for 113 billion US dollars, almost half of the total. The economic structure is quite unbalanced. If Tesla's order can be signed this time, the imbalance will be even greater.

It's understandable that other areas in the province have grievances against Luzhou. Not only did you, as the big brother, take all the food from your little brothers, but now the little brothers who followed you have been divided up. This is why Ma'anshan, after taking over two counties, turned around and followed Brother Nan.

However, from an economic strategy perspective, this is also a helpless move. There is no way to develop in an all-round way, so we can only take care of the big brother. Southern Anhui is mostly mountainous, which makes economic development very inconvenient. Northern Anhui is the main grain-producing area, which also has certain limitations in terms of industrial development.

Furthermore, leaders in other cities don't have the same guts as those in Luzhou. They are truly willing to go all in, and this kind of all-in is not just about vision; it even involves risking their careers. Very few people would dare to do that.

Take Tan Jincheng's development of the power battery industrial park a few years ago as an example. A few years ago, this thing had almost no production capacity. The investment was basically a loss-making endeavor. When it could be mass-produced was just a prospect.

For technology research and development companies, it's essentially a gamble. The initial development takes a long time, and whether it can be truly applied depends on the market. In fact, this is the case. Although Xuanwu Battery has developed many customers in recent years, its production capacity has never been able to increase.

Besides BMW and Yutong, whose orders are relatively stable and of good quality, other domestic companies also order battery packs from Weilai, such as Zhongtai, BAIC, and Dongfeng, which have good relations with Weilai.

However, the overall number of orders is very limited. These companies can't sell more than a few electric vehicles a year, and their combined sales are less than those of JAC Motors in the same city.

JAC's popular Aiyi brand has purchased a considerable number of battery packs from Weilai. However, for this electric vehicle, which is almost identical to the Tongyue, the actual number of batteries purchased is relatively limited.

"Besides emotional reasons, the biggest reason we chose to locate our battery factory in my hometown is the government subsidies. Just like in the United States, the subsidies for electric vehicles vary from province to province or city to city."

"We can achieve lower costs than others, not only because we have mines, but also because of the policy subsidies. Elon, you should understand."

Musk nodded. They also survived on low-interest loans from the US government, and the subsidies varied from state to state. They are currently still repaying the low-interest loans from the US government.

In China, Luzhou's biggest advantage is that in addition to national subsidies, it also receives local subsidies, making it one of the first five cities to offer local subsidies.

For the average consumer, buying a Weilai ES6 elsewhere can get a maximum subsidy of 60,000 yuan, while in Luzhou, the national subsidy plus local subsidies can reach up to 83,000 yuan.

Similarly, a JAC Aiyi can be bought for as low as 7.5 yuan in Luzhou, while it would be more expensive in other cities. This is Luzhou's advantage in new energy vehicles, and it is also the reason why Luzhou has the largest number of new energy vehicles in the country.

After securing Shanghai and Hangzhou, Kuaidi's first foray into Luzhou was not Shenzhen, and this was also based on considerations for this reason.

Before seeing the Luzhou factory, Musk couldn't offer much of an evaluation. However, during his many days in China, he wasn't just busy promoting himself and Maodou S; he also commissioned a renowned business research firm to conduct a comprehensive investigation of the Weilai Group.

Although Tesla is currently just a small player in the automotive industry, and its CEO's net worth isn't that high, it is still very strict in its selection of suppliers.

This is also true of Tan Jincheng and Lei Jun of Xiaomi. They never cheat when it comes to finding suppliers. Tan Jincheng is even more extreme. If there are no qualified suppliers, he would rather support them himself. They must meet his own corporate standards.

The data in the investigation report given to Musk by the business research firm was very good, which greatly exceeded Musk's expectations.

Weilai Motors, which was founded five years later than them, has already achieved an annual turnover of 50 billion US dollars. Their development speed is much faster than Tesla Motors. It seems that this era still belongs to gasoline cars.

In addition, Weilai Auto has a very good reputation. It enjoys a good reputation among the public and its suppliers, and it also has a strong relationship with government departments.

This point is very important to Director Ma. Having been saved by low-interest loans, they do not think there is any harm in maintaining close contact with government departments. On the contrary, many things can be made easier.

In addition, the business research agency also did a simple investigation into Tan Jincheng's other industries. If all these industries were concentrated under one group, it would be a super-large enterprise with revenue of nearly 200 billion US dollars.

Its business encompasses a wide range of sectors, including light industry, automobile manufacturing, high technology, the internet, and investment, making it far more powerful than Musk imagined.

When the plane landed at Luogang International Airport, representatives from Weilai Group and Luzhou had already arranged to pick them up. The reception was not ostentatious but very warm. "We're a little early. If we had arrived two months later, we would have had to go to the new airport."

With few planes at the airport, Tan Jincheng explained to Factory Director Ma with a smile that Luogang International Airport would cease operation on May 29th of this year, and the new Xinqiao Airport would open on May 30th.

Over the years, Luzhou's infrastructure development has indeed matched its growth; without such investment, it would have been impossible to attract so many businesses to settle in.

"Thank you, Tan. You made me feel warm and welcoming, and you arranged our itinerary very well. I am also very grateful to your assistant."

Zeng Jixiang was indeed extremely busy during this period, having to juggle both sides. He handled many of the intermediary communications, and he was also the one who made the arrangements for the trip to Luzhou in advance.

"Haha, let's not talk about that, let's go."

While in Beijing, Musk conceived the idea of ​​building a factory in China. However, current policies require a joint venture, meaning Tesla would have to find an automaker to partner with and establish a new joint venture if it wanted to enter the Chinese market.

Furthermore, even with joint ventures, there are restrictions on domestic car manufacturers. You can't just choose any company you want; there are basically only a few that you can choose from.

This doesn't even include Weilai. Although it could cooperate with two car companies, Weilai has been too successful in recent years and has already cooperated with Mitsubishi, so it's probably unlikely. Therefore, Factory Manager Ma has temporarily put an end to the plan to build a factory in China.

Let's import it then, let's test the waters first. Our production capacity for the next few years is sufficient anyway. Besides, Director Ma never really wanted to build a joint venture factory.

Furthermore, Tan Jincheng didn't push this matter forward. He wouldn't gain any benefit from it, so why would he do something so thankless?

But component companies are different.

It was already noon when they arrived in Luzhou. After lunch, Musk said he wanted to visit the battery factory. This efficiency left the leaders in Luzhou looking at each other in disbelief.

"That's just how Old Mi is, even when he was in the capital. Besides, his time is quite tight, and this trip to Luzhou was arranged at the last minute. Please forgive him, leaders."

Tan Jincheng shrugged and explained to Wu Rong and the others in a low voice that the accompanying personnel from Luzhou this time were of a high rank, including the city's second-in-command.

"Haha, that's good. We can go and take a look first. It seems that those who cooperate with President Tan value efficiency."

Wu Rong and the others, realizing what was happening, laughed and said that Tan Jincheng and his company were known for their efficiency, but they didn't expect someone even more anxious to come along.

It's definitely a good thing. Tan Jincheng isn't afraid of him visiting the factory. The battery factory in Luzhou is one of the most advanced in China right now. After several years of continuous investment, the first phase of the project has already been completed.

"Our first phase of the project has a total of 9.2 square meters of factory buildings, which have already been completed. The construction site you see now is our second phase of the project, which is planned to be 12.5 square meters. Our production capacity plan extends to at least 2018."

The first phase of the project has an annual production capacity of 19.2 sets of power battery systems and 9.6 GWh of power batteries. As for the second phase, the planned annual production capacity is 10 GWh of battery cells and power battery systems.

Of this year's 30 billion yuan investment, a portion will be allocated to battery-related equipment.

Musk was amazed by the magnificent factory: "I didn't expect you to have such a large battery factory. This must be a huge investment."

Although there weren't many workers and the production capacity wasn't at full capacity, Musk really admired Tan Jincheng's courage. How much must he be optimistic about electric vehicles to dare to build a production capacity of nearly 20GWh?

"It's definitely not cheap. In US dollars, it's around 16 billion US dollars, and the expected scale is 100 billion yuan."

Because the investment was made relatively early, the land and factory buildings were basically free, and they were definitely not needed in practice. However, Tan Jincheng wanted to make Weilai Group's battery project like Ningwang's, so he was naturally willing to invest.

Tan Jincheng was not lying about the 100 billion yuan scale. Jinxin Times' company is still in existence. The battery project was merged into Weilai Group in order to better invest in the lithium battery project.

Since 2004, Tan Jincheng has actually made a lot of money, but his net worth is only over 300 billion yuan. This is partly because he deliberately suppressed his wealth, and partly because most of his money has been invested in factories and equipment.

The power battery project is currently the most expensive project in all of Tan Jincheng's businesses, because it can basically be regarded as a type of project with no income and pure investment. The annual R&D investment alone is a considerable amount.

By robbing Peter to pay Paul, along with loans and subsidies, the total investment in the power battery project has indeed exceeded 10 billion yuan. The mineral resources purchased overseas alone represent a considerable sum.

It's fair to say that if Tan Jincheng hadn't pursued the power battery project and had simply followed Great Wall Motors' path, he would be living a very comfortable life right now.

However, if you want to make new energy vehicles, you have to work on this. Right now, only BYD is doing it, but after the new energy vehicle boom, companies like Chery, Geely, and state-owned car companies have actually partnered with Ning Wang to build their own battery factories.

"Give us the order, Elon. We can deliver the two billion battery cells you requested on schedule. Also, you can provide me with Tesla's technical standards. We were able to overcome BMW's technical standards before, so we can meet Tesla's as well."

"Don't hesitate any longer. We can also handle the shipping. We won't overcharge you; we'll just set the price at the current two dollars. How about that?"

I am so grateful to BMW. Without their strict requirements, Tan Jincheng wouldn't have had the confidence to boast to the client.

Back in his office at the factory, Tan Jincheng didn't bother with small talk with Director Ma and got straight to the point.

Masla did not answer immediately, her fingers tapping lightly on the table, producing a series of soft tapping sounds that echoed in the quiet office.

Wu Rong and the others were not fluent in English and could not converse with Musk as freely as Tan Jincheng. With the help of a translator, they understood Tan Jincheng's request. Wu Rong gave Tan Jincheng a strange look.

"Tan, can you tell me your original intention for making batteries? What made you dare to invest so much money when you had no technical knowledge? I know that you have spent most of your earnings on this project."

Tan Jincheng was surprised that Musk, who had been silent for a long time, would ask such a question that was unrelated to the current topic.

After thinking for a moment, Tan Jincheng organized his thoughts and said, "Many companies, because they don't understand, imagine technology to be at a daunting level. This fear is precisely the kind of industrial intimidation that competitors create for newcomers. They keep telling you that it's impossible, that the investment is huge, and that research and development is very difficult, until you give up."

"Actually, the problems you can't solve aren't because you lack ability, but because you lack courage."

"It's like your rocket. Back then, Wall Street kept telling you that your rocket couldn't possibly launch successfully.

This time, Musk was stunned; he hadn't expected Tan Jincheng to give such an answer.

But it has to be said that this is very much to his liking. Isn't this just a matter of courage? Isn't it the same principle he used when he started SpaceX?
Musk stared blankly at Tan Jincheng for a long while, then slowly clapped his hands and said, "Well said, you've convinced me. When shall we sign the contract?"

Yes, why should we accept Panasonic's technological intimidation? Without them, would Tesla's electric cars be unable to drive on the road?

Although it was somewhat risky, he was still very clear about whether to choose $40 billion or $70 billion.

“Anytime is fine, but we need to finalize the battery joint venture deal first. You can have your team and legal department prepare the contract now.”

Damn, inspirational quotes still work! I had no idea why I did the battery project back then; it was just so I could eat more meat.

As for whether it will succeed or not, who cares?

After listening to the translator's account, Wu Rong couldn't suppress a smile. He hadn't expected the negotiations to be so easy, and it seemed that some of the subsequent arrangements wouldn't be necessary.

Musk smiled and nodded, glancing at everyone in the conference room before asking Tan Jincheng for a quiet office and leaving.

"That's it? 40 billion US dollars, it's that simple?"

After Musk left, the smiles in the conference room could no longer be suppressed. Even Wu Rong couldn't believe it and couldn't wait to ask Tan Jincheng. At this moment, he didn't seem like the second-in-command of the city.

Tan Jincheng laughed and said, "Actually, it's not that complicated. Our technology can indeed challenge the world's top level. What we lack is just an opportunity. In addition, Musk is also a very charismatic entrepreneur. You can talk to him more directly."

Weilai desperately needed this large order, which was also the reason why Musk's trip was arranged so comfortably. With such a large order, Weilai's battery project could secure the top position in the country, or even the world.

However, this doesn't mean we should retreat blindly. After all, for the same quality, we are indeed much cheaper than Panasonic.

There's no reason for Factory Director Ma to turn down money.
"Mr. Tan has a clear vision; how about this, I'll make the arrangements tonight, so that Mr. Tan can sign the cooperation agreement with Tesla as soon as possible, and that will put our minds at ease."

Wu Rong was somewhat moved. He could sense Tan Jincheng's attitude towards foreign affairs. Unlike most entrepreneurs, Tan Jincheng exuded strong self-confidence and always placed himself on an equal footing.

(End of this chapter)