2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 833: A Press Conference Full of Highlights (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

"Give me a symbolic one pound."

Renault's response quickly reached Tan Jincheng through Kimberly. They were interested in the intangible assets of the Lotus F1 team and would be happy to take over as long as the price was agreed upon.

Tan Jincheng wanted to get rid of the burden; he didn't intend to make money through the team. He was willing to do anything as long as he could take over the debt.

Renault was also very happy. They had always longed to have a complete F1 team, and they didn't expect the new Lotus boss to be so easy to talk to. They only needed to take over the debt to achieve their goal.

The two sides hit it off immediately and quickly reached a consensus on the acquisition.

On June 27, Lotus CEO Michael Kimberly announced that Lotus would sell its existing F1 Lotus team's tangible and intangible assets, along with its associated debts, to Renault for one pound.

At the same time, Luster will cease its sponsorship of the F1 team from the date of the announcement.

When answering reporters' questions, Michael Kimberly replied that the move was to alleviate the financial pressure on the Lotus brand.

After shedding its F1 team, currently Lotus's biggest financial burden, Lotus's financial situation in 2015 will be greatly alleviated. At the same time, Kimberly announced to the public a series of operations Lotus will undertake after its new owner takes over.

The new owners will inject £2000 million into Lotus Heisel to raise wages and improve working conditions, increase production capacity, and bring Lotus back to the ultra-luxury brand category as soon as possible.

Lotus held its launch event in London, and it was quite a big deal.

Besides introducing Lotus's revival plan, this was also a new car launch event. The Evora 400 will officially begin deliveries in August this year, and it has been confirmed that it will be sold in markets including the UK, Europe, the US, Italy, and China.

Evora400中的400代表着400马力，动力方面仍然来自丰田生产的3.5升V6发动机，但一款新的增压器现在采用了中间冷却，每平方英寸提供约9磅的升力。

Previously it was 5.5 pounds per square inch. In terms of power performance and other aspects, this car is considered by sports car enthusiasts to be the best model Lotus has ever produced. Lotus management also has high expectations for the sales of this car.

European consumers are also looking forward to this new Lotus model. In terms of exterior color options, in addition to the traditional red and orange, there are other colors to choose from, making the overall appearance quite diverse.

"Boss, get me one too when you get back. I prefer the red one."

Tan Jincheng did not go on stage at the press conference. He sat in one of the audience seats, watching Kimberly explain the various features of the new car one by one.

Lotus sports cars have a distinctive design and look very stylish. In addition to brand recognition, their technology, including design and chassis, is actually on par with Porsche.

The moment the Evora 400 was introduced, Zhao Xinyi, sitting next to Tan Jincheng, fell in love with it. She was particularly drawn to the bright red one.
"Just buy it yourself when you get to China. You can get one first then."

The Evora 400 is priced at around 70 RMB in the UK and Europe, while it is priced at around 130 million RMB in China. Without the acquisition by Weilai, this model would not have entered the Chinese market so early.

"It costs over a million, which is a bit pricey. Boss, why don't you give me one as a welcome gift?"

"You're dreaming. Don't be so stingy. A million or so is nothing to you."

"Who says it's nothing? The stock market has plummeted so much lately, where would I get any money left?"

"I don't care, you can just keep driving your current ES6."

The executives at Weilai were quite uniform, all driving cars produced by their own company. Tan Jincheng didn't make any special requirements for this, but under his personal guidance, the executives were quite self-disciplined.

Interestingly, the most popular car among executives is the Tank 300, which is known for its ruggedness. Many executives drive Tank 300s, with the red version being the most popular.

The remaining reason is my preference for the ES6's intelligent driving features.

Lotus defined this launch event as a "launch," the launch of the new car, and also the launch of the Lotus brand. Facing reporters, Kimberly announced several revival plans.

By selling off its F1 team, Lotus aims to increase production capacity and expand its global dealer network to 200 dealerships within the next few years. Currently, Lotus has 138 dealerships.

In addition, Kimberly also revealed Lotus's plans to build a factory in China.

However, Kimberly did not elaborate on this point. For Kimberly now, his responsibility is to turn Lotus around and make Lotus profitable for the first time since its inception.

This would add a significant chapter to his career, and he would no longer be considered the unluckiest CEO in the industry.

Lotus has not yet announced any new personnel changes, but judging from their former employer Proton, it's clear that if they don't achieve something in the next year or two, they'll all have to leave.

Lotus's press conference also attracted widespread attention in China. Lotus sports cars have a good reputation in China, but for a period of time they withdrew from the Chinese market for various reasons.

The launch event was a pleasant surprise, as it marked the simultaneous debut and launch of the Evora 400 in mainland China, a rare occurrence among international luxury brands.

It's worth noting that even the initial release of Apple iPhones in China has been delayed.

Wei Lai has less than two months to complete the Lotus's mainland China launch, which is a very tight schedule. Zhang Yong is currently urgently looking for stores in first-tier cities to serve as Lotus dealerships.

Of course, in terms of construction time, more than a month is definitely not enough time. The initial Evora400 will still be sold through Weilai's channels.

The plan is to display the Evora 400 in the company's own stores, and the related Lotus app is also under urgent development.

"The timeframe is indeed a bit tight, but it's a matter of respect. Lotus is now our brand, so I have to ensure that domestic consumers enjoy the same treatment as consumers all over the world."

"It's not just this one model; whenever Lotus releases a new model in the future, Wei Lai promises that it will be launched in China simultaneously."

After the press conference in London, Tan Jincheng, who originally planned to attend discreetly, was spotted and stopped by a sharp-eyed reporter from a domestic agency.

When asked by reporters about the tight schedule, Mr. Tan gave a very considerate answer to the question about the customer's needs.

For a long time, many high-end products have faced discrimination from domestic consumers after their release. Although the causes of these problems are multifaceted and not necessarily caused by the companies themselves.

But consumers don't understand; they only see what they can see.

As for the price, Tan Jincheng really has no way to deal with it. Even though Lotus is now under the Weilai Group, it is still priced as an imported model when it enters the Chinese market. Only after the domestic factory starts production will the price be able to come down.

The reporter from that agency wouldn't ask such an outrageous question, but they did manage to give Tan Jincheng some publicity.

"Mr. Tan, what are the plans for Lotus's domestic factory construction? Which city will it ultimately be located in?"

"The tentative plan is for the second half of next year, after Lotus has fully stabilized and transitioned. As for which city to locate the factory, that will have to wait until I return to China to decide."

Sometimes all it takes is a trigger or a signal.

Weilai's current investments, especially those related to its core business, are mostly large-scale investments. There are many issues to consider, the biggest being the need for cooperation from the local government, as well as the supply chain.

Of course, with Wei Lai's current capabilities, he is fully capable of driving the development of a city's industrial chain, because a complete vehicle factory itself needs to support many parts factories.

Over the past eight years, Weilai has transformed from a car manufacturer that was almost an assembly plant and relied heavily on local supply chain resources to one that now has its own supply chain and a certain degree of influence in core components.

Another reason for bringing Lotus to China is that Wei was attracted by Lotus's chassis tuning technology, which is something that can be felt very directly in both gasoline and electric vehicles.

There's a big difference between a rock-hard chassis and a rock-hard chassis, not to mention a silky smooth chassis.

Being abroad and encountering authoritative domestic media outlets put Mr. Tan in a good mood. He answered all the questions he could and revealed much about his experiences at the Heysel factory.

He even answered some stock market questions that people have been asking recently.

"It's already at 4000 points? The stock price of Weilai is only in the eighties? Good heavens."

Because of the time difference and work, and because Zeng Jixiang hadn't reported this to him yet, he knew the stock market was falling, but he wasn't really sure how far it had fallen.

Counting from the 15th, it's only been ten trading days, and the index alone has dropped by 30%. Tan Jincheng can't even imagine how badly individual stocks have fared.

It really is a matter of life and death. If you hesitated even slightly at the beginning of the crash, you might not have been able to escape. The deleveraging process is extremely dangerous.

"Yes, the index has reached 4000 points, and the two stocks under your management have recently experienced significant declines. I wonder if you have anything to say to the investors?"

What can I say? Just offer some words of comfort: "I hope investors can be more patient. If they are stuck with losses, they might as well take a long-term view. If they are making a profit, they might as well temporarily withdraw from the stock market and return to their work and family."

"Of course, you can also go on a trip, whether by car or other means, to relax. The stock market is just a small part of life."

The reporter was good at grasping the key points: "Mr. Tan, are you saying that the current market is not stable yet, or that it will continue to fall?"

"I didn't say that. I don't understand stock market trends. I just told everyone to be patient and to be aware of the risks." "What measures are Weilai Group and Shanchi Group currently taking to deal with the stock price decline? We heard that your company, ByteDance, had most of its employees on leave as early as the end of May. Does that mean you were aware of the risks at that time?"

"As I said before, I'll have to wait until I return to China to study this further. Our current responsibility is to get the Evora400 on the market smoothly and deliver it to consumers as soon as possible."

"As for the issue of ByteDance's employees taking leave, it has always been our tradition. We arrange for employees to take turns taking leave every year. This time it just happened to be a coincidence."

I can't say any more, or I'll make a mistake.

The price of Weilai can still be maintained at over 80 yuan because Weilai, as a leader in the new energy concept, has been receiving continuous positive news recently. Although the car market was sluggish from January to May, Weilai was still able to occupy more than 30% of the domestic new energy market share.

It is almost certain that China will become the world's largest producer and seller of new energy vehicles this year.

Holding such a leading enterprise, as long as it's not leveraged, you'll always feel at ease.

Those who chased the high-dividend-paying stocks of Flash Technology suffered a lot. Flash Technology's stock price was driven up to a high of 41.88 yuan, and its market value of nearly 430 billion yuan was obviously in a bubble.

After this round of stock market crash and widespread plunge, the stock price of a stock with limited room for growth has fallen back to around 22 yuan, and its market value has been nearly halved. Those who bought at the high price and are now trapped may never be able to get out of their predicament.

FlashTech is an excellent leading company, but precisely because of its excellence and the single nature of its business, there is not much room for imagination in its stock price. In the past few years, FlashTech's stock price has been very stable.

It was after October of last year that the stock price surged due to the bull market and the high stock dividend payout.

To be honest, FlashTech's biggest potential probably comes from its 1% stake in Meituan. Currently, it's not just ride-hailing companies that are waging a subsidy war; the food delivery market is also fiercely competitive.

Having tasted success in the ride-hailing sector by burning money to cultivate the market, Ali and Tencent have now set their sights on the food delivery and local services sectors. Ali and Tencent, each with their own subsidiaries, are engaged in fierce competition.

Ele.me and Meituan even required their frontline employees to practice free fighting, saying that if they couldn't win an argument, they should fight.

What's interesting right now is that Meituan is still a subsidiary of Alipay, while Ele.me is a subsidiary of Tencent. Just like at the beginning of the first round of the ride-hailing war, Alipay has occupied a leading position in the market by virtue of Alipay's unique payment advantages.

However, Tan Jincheng knew that Wang Xin, this "traitor," was about to defect. In fact, at the first Internet Conference last year, Tan Jincheng had already sensed Wang Xin's determination to defect.

At that time, Wang Xin had expressed his dissatisfaction with Ah Li to Tan Jincheng. Wang Xin, who had always wanted autonomy, could not accept Ah Li's desire to control the entire group.

Otherwise, Wang Xin wouldn't have accepted Tan Jincheng's investment. From the perspective of the capital circle, Tan Jincheng is an independent giant, but from the perspective of the Internet field, people are more accustomed to classifying Tan Jincheng's Internet industry under Tencent.

Just like Didi and other ride-hailing services, they all ultimately chose to get closer to Tencent.

Meituan and Ele.me are locked in a fierce battle, burning through a lot of money. Zhang Xupeng and Tan Jincheng were chatting a few days ago when Tan mentioned that Wang Xin privately complained that their cash reserves would probably only last for about six months.

Similarly, Ele.me is also struggling to survive. At this point, it's a matter of who can outlast the competition.

MD, from last year to this year, CD has raised a total of 10 billion US dollars in two rounds of financing. 10 billion US dollars can only last for one year. They really went crazy.

Meituan's financing is quite extravagant, and Ele.me's is not bad either. Last May, Dianping invested $80 million in Ele.me, but by January of this year, it was almost gone.

That was Ele.me's Series D funding round. Dianping is backed by Tencent, and the Series D funding round was essentially handled by Tencent.

In January of this year, both sides were preparing to fight. It was definitely not feasible for Tencent to handle it alone. Pony Ma organized a group of partners, including Dongzi, Sequoia Capital, ByteDance, and Zhongxin Industrial Fund, to invest a total of 3.5 million US dollars in Ele.me.

At the time, Ele.me was valued at $3000 billion, and ByteDance's advertising platform did the same thing as Meituan, acquiring a 1% stake for $30 million.

Including the $5 million investment made by ByteDance's advertising platform in November 2013, along with Sequoia Capital and other institutions, ByteDance currently holds a 1.5% stake in Ele.me. Additionally, FlashDrive Technology is also an electric vehicle supplier for Ele.me.

Frankly speaking, from a purely financial investment perspective, Tan Jincheng no longer values ​​a one or two percent stake; it wouldn't make much money and would only waste his energy.

Investing in these companies is more about strategic considerations, and also about personal relationships. A startup will have a lead investor in a certain round of funding, and the lead investor will bring in their friends to participate in the follow-on investment.

For example, in the rounds of investment in ByteDance led by Jùliàng Engine, Tan Jincheng also brought in Sequoia Capital, Shunwei Capital, Tencent, and other investment institutions that he had worked with frequently.

On the one hand, it's about working together; on the other hand, it's about sharing the risks.

Like Pinduoduo, when they are about to launch a large-scale financing round, Juliang will also bring in its partners.

In fact, it can be seen from the historical process of many well-known companies that many venture capital institutions emerged in groups after their financing scale gradually increased.

For example, Ali's major investments are often accompanied by SoftBank, and DST often appears in the later stages.

This is the process of their capital development. Tan Jincheng's major investments in ByteDance's ByteDance Engine over the years, whether as lead investors or follow-on investors, have basically been accompanied by companies such as Sequoia Capital, Tencent Capital, Shunwei Capital, and Qiming Venture Partners.

With these companies as the core, and by expanding their respective investment circles, Tan Jincheng's investment empire was essentially formed.

What's interesting is that nowadays, smaller investment projects rarely have ByteDance as the main shareholder. Instead, they are invested in by unknown companies controlled by ByteDance or controlled by Tan Jincheng, Huang Ming, Cheng Linfeng, and others.

For example, a special talent who has connections with Tan Jin or his companies might be interested in a project and have his own network of contacts, but lack funds. In this case, an unknown small investment company under his actual control would come in handy.

Invest in these small companies and make some money with this person.

In the film and television industry, which has been very popular this year, investment institutions such as Ali, Tencent, and ByteDance have invested in some small film and television production companies. Is it because wealthy people like Tan Jincheng really believe in this industry?

No, a small company like Jiji can only earn a few hundred million a year at most. Would someone like Da Ma or Tan Jincheng even look at a company of that size?

A single fluctuation in Weilai Shares could equal several years' worth of their profits. They were simply making a little money with these people. If there was an opportunity to go public, it would be a good investment. If it didn't go public, it wouldn't be a big deal.

After concluding the press conference in London, Tan Jincheng did not return to the small village of Heysel, but stayed in London to conduct some research activities.

As for Li Xiang and Hu Zhengnan, they will remain in Heysel.

Hu Zhengnan is here to learn, while Li Xiang, as the successor to CEO, will stay at the Heysel factory for a long time to learn and prepare for taking over as CEO in the future.

"Hey, Xiao Zhao, what's the best way to translate Evora?"

Lotus is not targeting Ferrari, but Porsche. Porsche's classic models all have Chinese names, such as Cayenne, Panamera, etc.

Lotus models need to have Chinese names when they enter the Chinese market; they can't keep using English names for marketing and advertising.

Zhao Xinyi thought for a moment and said, "How about we name our car models after a certain flower? After all, in China, more people still call Lotus."

As early as 1984, a company in Guangdong Province called Wuhua Automotive Electrical Factory registered the Lotus trademark. After the company was restructured in 2003, it still held these two trademarks.

It wasn't that Tan Jincheng didn't want to use the Lotus trademark, but according to the first-to-file principle of trademark law, when Lotus entered the domestic market, it could only use the transliteration '路特斯' (Lutes), and could not use the more widely known "莲花" (Lotus) trademark.

"That's a good idea."

To be honest, Zhao Xinyi's suggestion was actually quite good. Although the Lotus trademark cannot be used now, Tan Jincheng will definitely find a way to buy it back, since the Lotus sports car is one of Lotus's hallmarks.

Imagine if the Lotus trademark were to return in the future, then we could promote the Lotus sports car XX Flower series.

By using the Lotus XX Flower series for advertising and marketing, consumers can associate Lotus sports cars with the brand without violating trademark laws.

"Then tell me, what flower would be more suitable to call Evora?"

In terms of transliteration, Evora could be a city in Portugal. Of course, translating it as "Eula" is also acceptable, but it loses some of the meaning.

If he were to name it after a flower, Tan Jincheng couldn't think of a suitable flower for the time being.

This is actually the first true sports car from Weilai.

Zhao Xinyi shook her head: "I can't think of anything for the time being. How about we hold an online poll? We can also promote Evora at the same time."

She only needs to provide an idea; she wouldn't dare suggest a specific name.

"That works too. Let's hold this kind of poll as a form of advance publicity. You can contact the domestic authorities to make the arrangements. Also, please speed up the development of the official website and the app. Our time is still very tight."

The simultaneous launch of the Evora400 in China was a decision made on a whim by Tan Jincheng. Now that he's made such a bold claim, he can't afford to disappoint.

Luxury brands need to have the features of luxury brands, such as official websites, official blogs, apps, and dedicated 4S stores.

P.S.: What translation do you all think would be most appropriate?
(End of this chapter)