2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 897 A Lucky April
The Flash Tower, located in the center of Beicang District, remains the tallest building in Beicang.

Interestingly, Weilai doesn't have a traditional headquarters building in Beicang or even Ningbo. If there is one, it's the Weilai Research Institute's annex building near Jiufeng Mountain.

Normally, important meetings are held in the annex building, which offers good privacy and security. The senior executives responsible for specific business operations usually work in the factory.

Tan Jincheng primarily works on the top floor of the Flashpoint Building, which also serves as a meeting place for Chengzi and Weilai.

"The boss has been showing up quite frequently lately, and he seems to be in a good mood."

"That's right, the company has been getting a lot of good news lately, no wonder the boss is so happy."

The entire office space on the top floor of the building belongs exclusively to Tan Jincheng and his president's office team. The team is like a complete think tank and also serves as the administrative hub connecting the business segments of various companies. Many documents are sent out from here every day.

The entire president's office team includes core members from strategic planning, supply chain management, automotive business, light industry business, and internet business, and some of them are heads and senior executives of major companies.

For example, his boss Gu Qingqing, Zhang Xupeng of Flash Group, and even Lu Qi, who recently joined Orange Group, are all members of the president's office, but these people rarely work here.

Those who need to stay here to work on a daily basis are mostly administrative staff, responsible for handling documents that are not highly confidential.

They're quite busy with work, but that doesn't stop them from gossiping about their boss.

As they said, April was indeed a fruitful season for Tan Jincheng's new energy business.

The newly launched Weilai L1 is selling very well, and it is expected to bring Weilai nearly 30,000 units in sales throughout the year. Like the ES6 and ES8, the L1 had almost no competitors of the same type before Tesla began producing it domestically. Even without subsidies as pure electric vehicles, it still reaped the full benefits of the market.

On the 19th, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced the first batch of companies meeting the industry standard requirements for lithium-ion batteries. Two wholly-owned subsidiaries of Weilai Group, Jinshidai and Dexian Electronics, were both selected.

Besides these two, CATL, in which Tan Jincheng holds a 15% stake, and Tinci Materials' subsidiary Tinci High-Tech Materials, in which Tan Jincheng holds a 4.875% stake, are also on the list.

The first batch of approvals included only 11 companies, four of which were directly related to Tan Jincheng. If we also include CATL's predecessor, Dongguan New Energy (ATL), Tan Jincheng occupied almost half of the first batch of companies.

On April 28, the last working day before Labor Day, a company named Weichi Power Automobile Co., Ltd., with the English name NIOVOLT, quietly registered and established itself in Zhangjiagang Economic and Technological Development Zone, Jiangsu Province.

Although they try to keep a low profile, once a company's registration information appears on Qichacha, it is destined to be difficult to remain low-key. Qichacha, launched in March 2014, is a landmark software that makes it impossible for entrepreneurs to remain as low-key as before.

With a registered capital of 17 billion yuan, a legal representative and chairman named Zhang Hailiang from Weilai, and controlling shareholders Weilai Automobile and BMW Automobile, such a company would attract considerable attention even if it had nothing.

"Is this matter settled?"

During the three-day May Day holiday, Tan Jincheng visited Guizhou Province for the second time this year. The Julang Qixing Data Center project is currently undergoing the site preparation phase, and he came to attend the project's groundbreaking ceremony.

Your province has abundant tourism resources and delicious food. During the three-day holiday, Tan Jincheng brought his family to visit, which can be considered a relaxing way to work.

If the joint venture between JAC and Volkswagen was like a TV series, and people could still glean some information from the media, then the cooperation between WAI and BMW, although there were rumors, the establishment of a direct joint venture was truly unexpected.

Even the leader surnamed Chen was curious about the inside story and couldn't help but ask Tan Jincheng about it.

To some extent, as a member of the Communist Party of China who hails from Zhejiang Province and has served there for a long time, he is quite sensitive to topics such as the economy and investment. His first reaction upon hearing the news was that he was somewhat disappointed, as he had already confirmed his move to Chongqing in July.

The first joint venture after the liberalization of joint ventures, the BMW brand, is an investment project with a total amount of 51 billion yuan. The localization of the MINI brand, and there are even rumors that BMW intends to move the MINI production line located in Oxford to the local area.

Each of these keywords represents a very high-quality investment, so how did Zhangjiagang manage to secure it?

"It's pretty much settled. The National Development and Reform Commission has given us the green light all the way. I'm very grateful to the leaders. There are still some procedures to go through on the German side, but there shouldn't be any major problems."

Once the project was officially submitted, it was no longer something that Tan Jincheng or BMW could completely control.

According to Tan Jincheng's understanding, this matter was a communication between the two countries and had a significant impact. As for why it was settled so quickly, a large part of the reason was that Wei Lai and BMW did a good job of keeping it secret in the early stages, and the matter did not become as well-known as it was with JAC and Volkswagen.

Even during the initial factory construction inspection in Zhangjiagang City, the purpose was always to build a new factory under the guise of Wei Lai, without mentioning the joint venture project with BMW.

This goes without saying that Tan Jincheng's credibility is questionable. With Weilai already having an annual production capacity of 20 vehicles, no one doubted his claim that he would build another new energy vehicle factory in Zhangjiagang City with an annual production capacity of 10 vehicles, and eventually 16 vehicles.

According to market forecasts, Weilai's current production capacity is sufficient until 2018, not to mention that the second and third phases of their factories in Ningbo and Luzhou are still under planning.

In addition, Weilai's production capacity in Xiangcheng is also ramping up. Last year, the production capacity of the Xiangcheng production base reached 10 vehicles, and in the next two years, the production capacity of the Xiangcheng production base will reach 20 vehicles.

In addition, of the two plots of land acquired from Lifan, after careful consideration, Wei kept one for himself and gave the other to Yangzi Automobile. It goes without saying what he did with the land.

With annual sales not exceeding 100 million vehicles and so many production bases, the local government had no doubts when Wei said he wanted to build a new energy vehicle production base in Zhangjiagang with a capacity of 16 vehicles. This is thanks to the reputation that Tan Jincheng has built up over many years of investment.

In the words of the local governments, whatever amount Boss Tan said he would invest, he really would invest. As he was transferred from the city government to other places, this reputation spread to other places, and his reputation has been established for more than ten years.

As long as it is an investment personally handled by Boss Tan, local governments generally do not question it.

In fact, when it comes to the production base in Weilai, Tan Jincheng's plan is quite clear: to develop his industrial layout along the Yangtze River.

Starting from the mountain city in the upper reaches, and moving to Xiangcheng and the mountain city in the middle, after entering Anhui Province, the route moved up to the Luzhou and Chuzhou area. The main reason was that the Wuhu area was occupied by Chery, and since the city itself was not large, squeezing in there would not take up much space, and its status was not as high as in Luzhou and Chuzhou.

With its presence in Changzhou and Suzhou, and now Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu Province's layout is basically finalized, with its headquarters in Ningbo and a branch in Shanghai. These two locations are now essentially connected.

We will establish our industrial layout along the entire Yangtze River, plant our flags, and make adjustments to our plans based on production capacity needs. If there is a year of explosive growth in production capacity in the future, we will make further adjustments in other areas as needed.

For example, in Guangdong Province, Weilai's industries are somewhat weak, with only Dexian Electronics in Shenzhen and a parts industrial park in Huizhou. The parts industrial park in Huizhou was acquired from Changfeng Motors.

It's unlikely that Shenzhen will increase its investment any further due to the high costs. If it wants to expand its production capacity in the future, it will focus on Huizhou.

As for the North, Weilai has not considered it for the time being, unless there is a major sales surge.

The main reason is market considerations. The main consumer group of Weilai Auto is in the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, and second- and third-tier cities in the south (Yuechi A1 users). In the north, the user group is also mainly concentrated in large cities.

The leader surnamed Chen sighed and said, "You're really good at keeping things confidential. You've helped the higher-ups solve a lot of problems, which is why everyone is willing to help you."

The longer you get to know him, the more you realize how clever Tan Jincheng is. Volkswagen and JAC had been negotiating for more than half a year, but he managed to secure the first joint venture after the threshold was lowered.

The chosen partners are also very suitable for Wei Lai's current situation.

What he found most ingenious was that, despite his usual marketing skills and love of publicity, he maintained a low profile on such a significant matter. Even the National Development and Reform Commission was unaware of Wei Lai's cooperation with BMW until the documents were officially submitted.

This approach is incredibly clever. During this sensitive period of policy, the higher-ups need an example, but not the kind of example that's made a big show of things before anything is even done. Wei Lai and BMW only submitted a formal letter of intent for cooperation after completing all the preliminary work and resolving all concerns.

This not only solved unnecessary trouble for the leaders, but also provided a suitable entry point for the higher authorities to implement policies.

According to internal sources, a decision has been made regarding lowering the investment threshold in the new energy sector, and it will be announced in two months. At this time, the cooperation between Weilai and BMW would be a very good publicity opportunity.

"No, we're just doing our own thing. Actually, I think it's best to keep a low profile before things are done well. If things fall through, wouldn't that be embarrassing for us?"

Tan Jincheng also knew that Wei Lai's cooperation with BMW would be a major publicity breakthrough. Otherwise, with his influence in the Yangtze River Delta region, he could have suppressed the spread of information even with just a company registration information and nothing else.

It would have been fine to suppress it for at least a month or two before exposing it. However, it spread rapidly on the internet in less than three days after registration, and it seems to be getting worse. This is clearly intentional.

Tan Jincheng understood perfectly well who was behind this, but it was all for the best, as it gave Weilai a free publicity opportunity, and might even boost Weilai's sales during the May Day holiday and throughout May.

Countries around the world, especially in Europe, have been taking a much more aggressive approach to environmental protection in the past two years, announcing their own timelines for phasing out gasoline-powered vehicles and replacing them with cleaner electric or hybrid models. Norway is the most radical, setting its phasing-out date for gasoline-powered vehicles at 2025, followed by India at 2030, and the UK and France at 2040.

Against this backdrop, we are forced to confront this issue. The Minister of Industry and Information Technology has also given an interview, stating that the matter is currently under consideration, but without giving a specific timeframe.

According to media and industry insiders' predictions, and referring to the timelines of several European countries, our ban on the sale of gasoline-powered vehicles will definitely be 10 to 20 years later than that of Western countries, at least until after 2040.

Tan Jincheng doesn't know whether Norway will be able to completely ban the sale of gasoline-powered vehicles by 2025, but as of now, Norway is indeed the country with the highest penetration rate of new energy vehicles. With the current market share of new energy vehicles being less than 1%, Norway's penetration rate of new energy vehicles has already exceeded 50%.

However, in a market with such a small land area, even if gasoline-powered vehicles were completely phased out, it wouldn't have much of an impact.

In his view, the so-called timetable for the complete phase-out of gasoline-powered vehicles by European countries is nothing but a farce. However, it has to be said that it has indeed accelerated the development of new energy vehicles, and various multinational car companies are indeed in a hurry.

Volkswagen is rapidly advancing its partnership with JAC Motors, and there are also rumors of cooperation between Ford and Zhongtai. Even Brilliance Auto, which is also part of the BMW camp, has its subsidiary Jinbei Automotive rumored to be planning a cooperation with Renault.

Meanwhile, state-owned car companies are also making significant moves. The rise of private car companies has gradually put established state-owned enterprises in a passive position. Unlike private companies that are increasingly turning to joint ventures, traditional state-owned companies seem to be forming alliances.

FAW, Dongfeng and Changan, three national team members that had just changed their leaders, jointly launched a smart mobility platform, which became the well-known T3 Mobility a few years later.

During the period when Didi had its problems, T3 Mobility was very successful. The three companies involved in the "Oath of the Peach Garden" even brought in companies like Ali, Tencent, and Suning to participate in the development of the platform.

The goal is to integrate the transformation of traditional automakers with internet technology, thereby revitalizing traditional automakers.

Since the conclusion of the Two Sessions, capital operations in the automotive industry have clearly accelerated significantly, and the rapid approval of the joint venture project between Weilai and BMW is also based on this broader context.

What's rather amusing is that the three members of the national team have formed a sworn brotherhood, excluding all privately owned brands from the platform. Their plan is to use only their own vehicles to promote new energy vehicles.

To build a travel platform, one cannot do without internet companies, and one cannot do without Gaode Maps.

Tencent, Ali, and Suning can provide strong financial and resource support, but in terms of basic map services, no travel platform can bypass Gaode Maps.

Tan Jincheng, who owns the largest internet map service provider, is practically invincible. No matter which company wants to launch a new travel platform, they can't escape his notice, including Cao Cao Mobility, which Geely itself established two years ago.

When T3 first started discussing the project, they approached Tan Jincheng, but he stipulated that Orange could participate, but ByteDance could not invest.

Clearly, these three companies are quite wary of Weilai, which has a very high market share. If ByteDance invests, it may introduce Weilai's new energy vehicles, which would be detrimental to their promotion of their own brands.

When Tan Jincheng heard this request, he was amused by their actions.

If it's a self-established mobility company like Geely, then it's understandable that Tan Jincheng only uses its own brand. Weilai also has its own mobility platform, Xiangdao Mobility, which also only uses its own car models.

The same applies to Shouqi Car Rental. It's understandable that car companies creating their own ride-hailing platforms only use their own products. However, since three companies have joined forces to establish this platform, it's a bit narrow-minded to still choose partners, especially since it's a state-owned enterprise.

In addition, Tan Jincheng also learned about their equity distribution method. The three major state-owned enterprises held equal shares, which means there were three voices. How can they play the game like this?
Internet ride-hailing platforms emphasize efficiency. With this kind of equal equity structure, it is obviously difficult for three voices to develop. This is probably why, during the period when Didi had problems, although they seemed to make a lot of noise, their actual performance was not as good as some smaller platforms.

At the time, Didi was facing such big problems that its app was even taken down. We couldn't say we could take away its market share, but at least we could expand quickly and grab a piece of market territory. However, the performance of the T3 was not satisfactory.

Judging from the current situation, Tan Jincheng basically already knows his fate. Indeed, it is difficult for a partnership with ulterior motives to grow and become strong.

However, Tan Jincheng did not refuse investment. After all, something is better than nothing. At least he has a channel to understand information. For example, Cao Cao Mobility and Shouqi Car Rental, although they are independently controlled by car companies, will not refuse investment from Internet companies. Gaode has a small share in these companies.

His own company, Xiangdao Mobility, has also received investment from internet companies.

"I invited you and your family here today not only to attend the groundbreaking ceremony, but also because of my own wishes."

After exchanging pleasantries for a while, the leader surnamed Chen got down to business.

"Please tell me."

Tan Jincheng had a rough idea of ​​what was going on. When the other party invited him to invest in Guizhou Province last time, they mentioned Chongqing without warning. After the Two Sessions, everything was officially settled.

“I will be transferred in two months, but don’t worry, the Seven Star Data Center project will not have any problems. You can continue to push the project forward as you see fit.”

This is what An Tan Jincheng is thinking. After all, with a change of leadership, no one knows what will happen next. However, Tan Jincheng, who took over the leadership position from the Chen family, is somewhat familiar with him. He served as the head of the Anhui Provincial Government from 2006 to 2010.

That period also marked the beginning of Tan Jincheng's investments in Anhui Province and Luzhou, so there was some connection between them.

"I completely understand, and I wish you all the best in your new job."

There was nothing he could do about this. This person was clearly there to put out a fire, and the fact that he specifically invited him over to talk about these things meant that he couldn't just be trying to put his mind at ease; there must be some follow-up arrangements.

Besides, this is a national-level investment project, a strategic investment with official backing. As long as he guarantees the investment, there's no need to worry about anything going wrong.

"You're a smart person, and you're also quite lucky. Mr. Sun and you are old acquaintances, so I think the Seven Star Data Center project will progress smoothly."

The biggest problem with investing in an unfamiliar city is either being completely clueless or having a different manager. It has to be said that Tan Jincheng was quite lucky.

Most importantly, the place where the leader surnamed Chen went to put out the fire was a crucial part of Weilai's industrial layout, which is truly remarkable.

Running a business inevitably involves dealing with local governments, and this was the most difficult part for Tan Jincheng, who started from scratch. His cautious approach to investment in the early stages, and his extreme distrust of even his hometown, stemmed largely from this, in addition to not wanting to take too big a step and risk disaster.

Tan Jincheng has now passed this stage, which is why it dares to increase and accelerate investment and construction.

To put it bluntly, even if a project fails in one place, it won't have a significant impact on him; he'll just lose some money, unlike in the early stages when the failure of one project could mean the collapse of the entire industry.

From this perspective, Ningbo and Beicang were truly his benefactors. In the early stages, many of his investments in other places were even coordinated and facilitated by Xie Junhong.

Of course, Tan Jincheng also gave Ningbo a sufficient return: a listed car company with a market value of nearly 3000 billion yuan, the first listed two-wheeled electric vehicle company in China with a market value of over 200 billion yuan, and an internet company ranked eighth in market value.

In addition, there is Orange Live, which was incubated. Although its market value is not high and its profitability is average, it is still a company listed on the US stock market. Beicang District has the intention to build an electronics industrial park based on the Orange Group to attract more Internet and technology companies to settle in.

It can be said that Tan Jincheng's emergence has enriched the industrial structure of Beicang and even the entire Ningbo city, and this rate of return is something that any city would envy.

"Haha, I'm glad you understand. Also, thank you for your blessings. But there's something I'd like to ask for your opinion on."

"You're being too kind by asking questions. Please tell me what it is."

"Then I won't stand on ceremony. I mainly want to ask about your investment projects in the mountain city; of course, you don't have to tell me if it involves your company's secrets."

This is paving the way for his own appointment. Even so, his attitude is truly admirable. This is probably what real investment attraction looks like.
"You want to ask me about my attitude towards Lifan and my subsequent investment plans, right?"

After acquiring some of Lifan's assets, Weilai did not invest much in Chongqing. He only took the lead in transforming some of Lifan's original factories to expand the production capacity of the Qilin series pickup trucks, and this progress was not fast.

The slow progress, and even some neglect, is clearly inconsistent with Weilai's consistent investment plan and is also a point of confusion for the public. However, the changes in Shancheng since last year have provided some answers.

For the leader surnamed Chen, knowing about Wei Lai's investment plans in the mountain city would be extremely beneficial for his appointment.

Wei Lai's most valuable assets in Shancheng right now are two plots of land and the buildings on them. However, based on his understanding of Tan Jincheng, this young man doesn't seem to be that enthusiastic about hoarding land and waiting for it to appreciate in value. He must have a purpose in buying the land.

(End of this chapter)