2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 807 Globalization Strategy

The road I've walked the most is the road of Boss Tan's schemes.

The subsidy policy implemented by the government has put considerable pressure on other automakers, especially BYD and Tesla.

BYD Qin's sales, like Aion S, increased tenfold year-on-year in the same month. They also have some other electric vehicle models, while Tesla's sales are due to their high prices.

The domestic sales of the Maodou S alone reached 958 units in June, and the sales in the first half of the year exceeded 4000 units. Go ahead and make up the difference, but they won't say a word.

In addition, Boss Tan's move also slapped the face of those manufacturers who were defrauding subsidies.

This month, they promoted the surge in sales of new energy vehicles, claiming to have sold a huge number of vehicles.

Take Boss Ying's Xiaodouzi for example. They claimed that their sales in July were more than double those in June, while their sales figures for June were 1371 units, making them the top seller in June.

Zhidou announced sales of 5780 vehicles in the first half of the year, leaving them completely bewildered.

These microcar manufacturers often claim to sell one or two thousand vehicles a month, but in reality, you can hardly see any on the road. Most of them are parked in car rental company parking lots. If they were to follow up with subsidies, their deception would be exposed.

However, they also have to deal with the fact that, as a leading company in the new energy vehicle sector, Weilai's actions have made things difficult for its competitors.

This move is too cruel.

Currently, new energy vehicles are not profitable. Tesla made a profit last year, but this year, due to increased investment and the establishment of a Gigafactory in its home country, it has returned to a loss-making state.

This applies to companies including BYD.

The most direct manifestation of this is Tesla, which had previously seen a strong upward trend. After Weilai announced a major promotion, its stock price fell by 2%. As the new energy vehicle company that poses the greatest threat to Tesla in the current market, the ES6 and the Model S have vastly different prices in China.

But everyone knows that's only because the Tesla Model S is entirely imported; most of Tesla's parts are supplied by domestic companies.

Taking Ningbo as an example, many of the suppliers of Weilai and Tesla are the same company, such as Top and Xushen. Some of them were even introduced by Weilai to Tesla. The strategic partnership between the two parties has truly achieved strategic cooperation.

Many resources are shared. Director Ma has a strong personality, and Boss Tan is no less so. Neither of them is afraid of being learned from by the other, which shows that they both have strong self-confidence.

Factory Director Ma has stated publicly on more than one occasion that he is happy to cooperate with Wei Lai, but it's unclear what his mindset is this time.

Boatman was also in a similar predicament; Tan Jincheng's attack caught him completely off guard.

The Maodou S is in a class of its own, as is the ES6, but the competition between the Qin and the Aion S is quite fierce. These two models are positioned exactly the same, have similar prices, and share too many similarities.

In terms of overall sales, the Aion S is better than the BYD Qin. Besides the fact that Weilai is better at marketing, Weilai also has better resources than BYD in the booming ride-hailing industry.

With its sales leading the market, if Wei Lai continues to employ this tactic, BYD has no choice but to follow suit.

On August 10, just after Wei Lai announced the subsidy policy, BYD quickly followed up with a subsidy plan for Qin users. The overall subsidy policy cannot be said to be exactly the same as that of Aion S, but it can only be said to be very similar.

Subsequently, Chery, JAC, BAIC New Energy, SAIC Roewe and other new energy vehicle manufacturers followed suit with the subsidy policies of WYD and BYD.

Tesla, the much-watched new energy vehicle brand, has not made any moves as of the end of this week.

"Look at this, this is all your doing. Everyone will have to pay a heavy price for this."

"Haha, isn't this a good thing? Look at the ride-hailing subsidy war, without these subsidies, could they have accumulated users so quickly?"

Any product that wants to be accepted by consumers needs subsidies and promotions. If OEMs want to do better, they can't just rely on policy subsidies; they also need to show some sincerity.

"But to be honest, only BYD and we are the two companies that actually spend money on subsidies. Other manufacturers are just joining in the fun."

"That's better than nothing. If it's just our family, it would be too monotonous and wouldn't generate any buzz."

Chery's flagship model is the QQ EV, a microcar. Even based on their published sales figures, they can't get much in subsidies. As for other automakers that followed suit, most of them didn't sell many vehicles, so they also couldn't get much in subsidies.

But when they follow up, the effect is different; it's only fun when everyone plays together.

Judging from the manufacturers that followed suit, it can be seen that Weilai has a certain appeal in the new energy vehicle sector. If it were an ordinary manufacturer, no matter how much noise you make, people would probably just laugh it off.

Because there is no threat whatsoever.

Wei Lai's marketing move stirred up the entire new energy vehicle sector and brought new energy vehicles into the public eye for the first time on a large scale.

After a week of development, more and more manufacturers have joined the subsidy program, attracting significant attention.

At this time, even the government took notice of this promotional event in the new energy vehicle sector, and CCTV's financial channel even produced a special episode on the history and current status of new energy vehicles in my country.

This week, the 20,000th Aion S, a new energy vehicle brand under Weilai, rolled off the production line in Luzhou. This is the first domestic electric vehicle model to reach a production capacity of 20,000 units. In terms of sales, over the past few years, the Aion S has sold nearly 18,000 units.

Riding the wave of the ride-hailing craze, Aion S embraced the ride-hailing industry from the very beginning, setting aside its pride and achieving a phenomenal start.

Benefiting from the subsidy policy, the Aion S has won the favor of electric vehicle users, and orders continued to pour in in August. Based on the current order expectations, the Aion S has raised its sales forecast for this year to 1.5 units.

In addition, the sales volume of ES6 from January to July reached 3307 units, and the sales target for this year has also been raised to 7000 units. The expected sales volume of the two models has already exceeded the total sales volume of new energy vehicles for the whole year last year.

The new energy vehicle sector, which was relatively calm in the first half of the year, began to explode in July.

BYD also raised its sales forecast for this year to 20,000 vehicles this month. Although this is somewhat different from Tesla's annual sales forecast of 35,000 vehicles, it is still a significant improvement considering that Tesla operates in the global market.

Neither WooLand nor BYD has ventured into North America, currently the largest market for electric vehicles.

However, at this rate of growth, it's only a matter of time before we surpass the North American market share. In August, we also passed the EU standards, and the Aion S was officially confirmed to be introduced to Europe.

In addition, Weilai has also begun to make formal plans in Southeast Asia, including the Yuechi A1, Yuechi A3, and Tank 300 models, all of which are planned to enter the Southeast Asian market.

Having learned from the major setback of motorcycles in Southeast Asia, from electric vehicles to cars, Weilai has always taken a steady and pragmatic approach to developing the Southeast Asian market, without sacrificing quality or focusing solely on low prices.

It's okay to sell fewer cars, but we must establish a strong brand image. The Flash series of electric cars is already quite popular in the Southeast Asian market.

In the automotive sector, Tan Jincheng also plans to follow this approach. However, there are still some difficulties in automotive development, namely the lack of a suitable platform, as the infrastructure in Southeast Asia is generally too poor.

Given the poor infrastructure and similar cultures, it's uncertain whether these gasoline-powered vehicles can adapt to the Southeast Asian market, especially the Tank 300, a pure off-road vehicle.

"Should we acquire a Southeast Asian car company?"

Boss Tan once again had the idea of ​​acquisition. Whether it was Flash Motors or the current Weilai, rapid expansion through capital operations and acquisitions has always been something Boss Tan is good at.

The North American market is difficult to develop, but there are always opportunities in markets such as Europe, Southeast Asia, and even Africa.

In the domestic and European markets, the focus is on new energy vehicles. In Southeast Asia and Africa, we can use gasoline vehicles to enter the market. Once the infrastructure in these regions is developed, we can then introduce electric vehicles through various channels.

For any car company with ambition, a globalization strategy is something that must be considered in its development process.

Now that Weilai has core technologies in the field of power batteries, it is indeed time to consider a globalization strategy. The growth rate of domestic SUVs cannot continue at the current level. So how should the excess production capacity be absorbed in the future?
As August ended, the sales figures for the Aion S were 2219 units, while the ES6 sold 1072 units that month. The Aion S achieved monthly sales of over 2000 units for two consecutive months, and the ES6 achieved sales of over 1,000 units for two consecutive months.

The true value of electric vehicles' sales figures can only be understood by those within the industry.

When it comes to the new energy vehicle industry, Weilai can be considered a breath of fresh air. With the current large amount of national and local subsidies, Weilai Group has not even included the vehicles needed for its own car rental company in its sales figures!
The sales figures for both models are entirely driven by the consumer market, a fact readily apparent from registration numbers, making it impossible to falsify data.

In other words, the data released by Wei Lai is more credible than the data released by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA), because their own data is lower than that of the CPCA.

Wei Lai has his own approach to data release.

At the end of this month, the listing price of Weilai was finally determined to be 25.14 yuan, with an issue price-to-earnings ratio of 22.99 times, raising a total of 53.52 billion yuan, exceeding the expected 50 billion yuan.

Based on this offering price, Weilai's market capitalization before listing was fixed at 546 billion yuan.

After several updates to the IPO prospectus, the final shareholder list was finalized. With the issuance of new shares and reduction of holdings, Tan Jincheng's shareholding decreased from 62.56% at the beginning of the issuance to 51.304%.

Based on the issue price of 25.14 yuan, Tan Jincheng's shares are worth 280 billion yuan.

"It looks like it can be listed within the year, but it would be best if it were after October 27th."

With the price set, Boss Tan was very happy. Raising an additional 3.52 million yuan showed that the capital market still had high hopes for Weilai Group. If they could get approved at this rate, they could go public before 2015. "Speaking of which, the extra 3.52 million yuan raised this time is thanks to your operations over this period. Otherwise, the various institutions wouldn't have been so accommodating."

After six months of hard work, Shen Nanpeng has been in charge of the listing plan for Weilai Group. He can finally take a good rest now, as he will no longer need to personally handle the listing process.

The rest of the days are just waiting for time to pass, and then we'll go to Shenzhen to ring the bell at the stock exchange.

"That's not quite right. I'm just running a normal business. It's mainly your efforts that have convinced investment institutions to approve our fundraising amount."

As a major shareholder, Shen Nanpeng's role in helping Weilai go public can be considered part of his job, but ultimately it is Tan Jincheng's responsibility. If he doesn't step in, others have to take charge.

For example, Zhou Shouzi, who helped Xiaomi go public, and Wei Lai, most of the people here are professional and technical talents. Li Xiang did try to go public on Autohome, but it was not successful in the end. There are not many people who understand this.

"Haha, you can't say that. A successful IPO would benefit us all, and we'd have many more opportunities to cooperate in the future."

Shen Nanpeng completely ignored Tan Jincheng's mention of the listing after October 27th.

October 27th is the day this year's Forbes Rich List will be released, and this guy still hopes to keep a low profile on the list.

Since returning to China to become a partner at Sequoia Capital and establishing a company to handle domestic investments, Shen Nanpeng has never had the idea of ​​going it alone. He can handle small venture capital projects on his own, but for large investment projects, he has always advocated that everyone should work together.

In recent years, Sequoia Capital's major projects have all been undertaken with or alongside investment partners, or through Shen Nanpeng's circle of friends, which has significantly increased the success rate.

"Haha, the next company we invest in to go public should be Xiaomi. If it's Xiaomi, you won't need to work so hard. They are much more professional in this area than we are."

Tan Jincheng had just glanced at it in his mind. It seemed that Xiaomi was the fastest company to go public among the companies they had invested in. Other companies on the A-share market were unable to go public after the stock market crash in the second half of 2015.

For companies like Ele.me, Meituan, and ride-hailing services that Shen Nanpeng himself invested in, going public is actually more difficult.

It's not that they can't list domestically, nor is it because they can't make a profit; it's that these companies are single-mindedly focused on listing overseas, but most of their data is sensitive. In the end, Meituan could only list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Capital can be really greedy sometimes, not because they can't see the situation.

Shen Nanpeng touched it and it seemed to be true.

"By the way, Mr. Shen, do you have extensive connections in Southeast Asia?"

After having the idea of ​​globalization, Tan Jincheng began to make preparations. The first thing he naturally considered was to collect information on which car companies in Southeast Asia had good qualifications and see if there was any possibility of acquisition.

"I don't have any investments there, but Redshirts have some connections. What's up?"

"We want to acquire a car company there as a springboard to enter the Southeast Asian market."

Tan Jincheng didn't intend to hide anything. If he wanted someone to help with the preliminary preparations, he had to be sincere. Last time with the Americans, the information Tan Jincheng wanted was collected by Shen Nanpeng through Red Shirt.

"Not bad, you have a good vision. Wei Lai can definitely pursue a globalization strategy now."

Shen Nanpeng was not surprised at all. He had seen Tan Jincheng's ambition from a long time ago. Traditional businessmen, if they don't have great ambitions, will only focus on running their businesses and won't engage in so much capital operation.

Among domestic car company executives, only Mr. Li from Geely shares the same mindset.

Boss Ying of Zhongtai could be considered one in the early stages, but he had poor judgment and acquired only scrap metal, which did not help the company's development in any substantial way. Moreover, they have started to stagnate in the past two years.

"When we get back, I'll contact them for you and ask them to help collect information on car companies there. You can also talk to Mr. Ma from Tencent about this; they have a good network of connections in Southeast Asia."

Pony Ma made a big move this year: in March, he acquired a 17.6% stake in Jingdong by combining resources such as Paipai.com and cash. Jingdong successfully listed on Nasdaq in May.

This month, Pony Ma continued to increase his stake in Jingdong, raising it to 21.25% and making him the largest shareholder. This is another way for him to maintain pressure on Ali after the Spring Festival red envelope campaign.

In June, they invested in companies such as Dianping and 58.com, fully focusing on e-commerce and local life services.

Meanwhile, Dianping invested $8000 million in Ele.me, which means Tencent has indirectly entered the food delivery field. Meituan is still under Alibaba's umbrella.

E-commerce, local services, ride-hailing, and other hot topics in the mobile internet era—Tencent, through its WeChat account, was among the first to gain a foothold in these sectors, and its business overlap with Ali's is increasing.

Meanwhile, Ali has also been busy. It has relisted, and Ali Cloud, Cainiao Network, Ali Pictures, and Yintai Department Store have all been incorporated into Ali's portfolio. Recently, they have also been working on Ali Health.

Ali has confirmed that it will relist on Nasdaq in September.

In addition, they are in contact with UC to launch a search engine in cooperation, which immediately alerted Baidu.

This year's internet scene has been incredibly exciting, and Baidu has made some significant moves. At the beginning of the year, they fully acquired Nuomi.com, along with 91 Mobile Assistant, which they acquired from Tan Jincheng, as well as Baidu Maps, which they developed themselves, and Bumblebee, which they invested in.

To accelerate their transformation to mobile internet, the three BAT companies have been making frequent and significant moves.

Actually, if it weren't for the bugs, Ahri would be quite deceptive now. Before 2014, Ahri was a legitimate tech company.

Ali Cloud started in 2010, and in 2012 they developed a mobile operating system, which was earlier than Huawei. In 2013, Cainiao Network solved the last-mile problem of express delivery. These are all attempts based on high technology.

In addition, this old guy usually likes to give speeches everywhere, always saying that we will help so many small businesses and make business easier and easier. In short, he makes all sorts of high-sounding boasts.

With its development strategy and substantial investments, Ali has indeed fooled quite a few people.

However, Tan Jincheng knew that the so-called high-tech Ali stopped in 2014. The relisted Ali clearly adjusted its business strategy. In 15, they launched Liangbei and entered the financial industry, and that was the end of it.

Looking at Lao Ma's public statements, it is quite obvious that 2014 was a dividing point. Before 2014, although he liked to boast, he basically had something to say.

His subsequent remarks were somewhat nonsensical, including claims that working 996 was a blessing, not to mention the explosive statement that caused him to disappear from the public eye.

"Let's talk about it when we meet him in November. Our little Ma probably won't have time right now, so let's discuss this when we meet in November."

"You're going in November too? Do you have the time?"

"Nonsense, of course I'm going. Even though I'm not physically on the internet, I still have a place there, okay?"

"Haha, you're right, there's definitely a place for you; alright, my task is done, I'm not going to waste any more time with you, I'm leaving now, remember to let me know if there are any good investment opportunities in the future."

If it's still difficult to see ByteDance's potential, then Tan Jincheng's introduction of him to invest in Xiaomi is absolutely worth Shen Nanpeng's strenuous help.

In 2014, ByteDance was still considered a joke in the internet industry, mainly because Zhang Yiming's actions were simply bizarre for a traditional internet company.

Not only has the company reduced its staff to the extreme, but it also avoids spending money whenever possible. The most bizarre thing is Zhang Yiming's way of distributing products. It's like doing wholesale, releasing more than a dozen products at once and focusing on promoting whichever product is most effective.

Even apps have to compete for positions, which has shocked the industry. In addition, many people don't actually understand its algorithm.

The November they mentioned was actually the first World Internet Conference, held in Hangzhou and Wuzhen. Orange Technology still holds the record for the fastest listed company in China. In addition, as an investor, Tan Jincheng has successfully invested in a number of mobile application software companies, such as Xiaomi, ByteDance, and 36Kr.

In addition, Orange Technology has also incubated Orange Live, which is currently in the process of its IPO.

Boss Tan wasn't exaggerating. He's not in the internet industry, but his legend lives on. It's only natural that he received an invitation to the first Internet Conference.

If it's a general industry conference, and it's not his main business, Mr. Tan doesn't want to attend.

He doesn't like these kinds of public occasions, but the Internet Conference is different; we can't say who pushed it.

Well, I'll go to the event and listen to Lao Ma brag. The first Internet Conference coincided with Lao Ma's most spirited period, and the relisted Ali helped him become the richest man in China for the first time.

He was ranked eighth last year.

Tan Jincheng could already imagine the scene; he would probably get roasted again, after all, he had genuinely stolen Gaode's business, and he had also contributed to the development of WX.

Given Lao Ma's personality, will he give him a piece of his mind on the spot?

After all, this guy isn't exactly magnanimous. The other two BAT companies don't have much conflict in their businesses, but the conflict is quite obvious in their battle with Ali. Besides, Jack Ma really likes to have a little bit of everything.

They were getting along well with Tencent, but then they launched Shenma Search. Didn't that incur the wrath of Li Dashuai? Old Li may not care about anything else, but he keeps a close eye on search engines.

(End of this chapter)