Set sail1992

Chapter 1189 It's BorgWarner's turn to have a headache

"Bob?" Walker Eriksson, global vice president of BorgWarner, president and general manager of transmission systems, was a little surprised when he received a call from Bob Brownlee, but he was more happy: "Isn't it What good news do you have for me?"

Mr. Walker Eriksson didn't think about the possibility that Bob Brownlee was in trouble in China.

Listening to Walker Eriksson's words, even though Bob Brownlee had done enough mental construction before calling, at this moment, he was still very nervous, but he had to say: " Sir, I'm sorry, our plans in Huaxia have encountered big @trouble."

Walker Eriksson on the other end of the phone frowned when he heard this, and asked in surprise, "Bob, what are you talking about?"

The most difficult thing is to speak. Now that the words have been spoken, Bob Brownlee suddenly felt a lot easier. He took a deep breath and said to Walker Eriksson: "Sir, our China plan There is trouble, and the plan we specified before can no longer be carried out."

Walker Eriksson frowned suddenly, he was silent for a moment, and said, "Bob, are you kidding me?"

"Sir, I can't possibly joke with you about such a thing."

"Well," Walker Eriksson also felt that Bob Brownlee was unlikely to use this kind of thing to joke with himself. He took a deep breath and said, "What's going on, tell me Say it, as carefully as you can."

"Well, sir, the situation is as follows..."

Listening to Bob Brownlee's narration, Walker Erickson's brows became tighter and tighter. At the back, Walker Erickson's frowns could even pinch mosquitoes to death.

"...Sir, the general situation is like this," after introducing the situation to Walker Eriksson, Bob Brownlee said to Walker Eriksson: "Facing Huateng Motors The temptation to transfer automatic transmission technology has attracted several major automakers in China, and they can no longer accept our previous conditions."

After listening to Bob Brownlee, Walker Eriksson felt a bit of a headache: "Didn't you tell them that our BorgWarner's dual-clutch transmission technology is the most advanced, Huateng Auto's parallel Shaft gearbox technology is very backward?"

"Of course I told them," Bob Brownlee said, "but they said it would be best if we could master dual-clutch transmission technology, but if our conditions were too harsh, Huateng's parallel-axis Gearbox technology is also a good option;

And they said that what BorgWarner only owns is the patent of the dual-clutch module. Even if the two parties cooperate, it will take at least five or six years to mass-produce the dual-clutch gearbox. Huateng Group's parallel shaft gearbox technology is already very advanced. It is mature, and it can be used immediately after reaching an agreement, and Huateng Group has promised that they will develop a 6-speed automatic transmission in the future, so..."

"..."

Walker Eriksson didn't speak immediately, but frowned.

Before this, the entire BorgWarner executives, including Walker Eriksson, did not feel that Huateng Motors was a threat to BorgWarner's China strategy, but at this moment, after listening to Bob Brownlee After the return, Walker Eriksson realized what a huge mistake BorgWarner had made by ignoring Huateng Motors. If BorgWarner had won over Huateng Motors from the very beginning, why would it be so passive?

He wanted to scold Bob Brownlee, but Walker Eriksson understood better that cursing is useless now...

After a while, Walker Eriksson asked Bob Brownlee, "Bob, do you think it is possible for us to use some means to kick Huateng Motors aside?"

Thinking about it carefully, Walker Eriksson believes that the Huateng Group is the biggest obstacle to BorgWarner's China strategy. Since this is the case, wouldn't it be good to find a way to kick the Huateng Group aside?

Unfortunately, Bob Brownlee's answer made Walker Eriksson have to give up this idea...

Bob Brownlee said helplessly, "Sir, I'm afraid I can't do this."

"No?" Walker Eriksson asked inexplicably, "Why not?"

"Because Huateng Automobile is not only the largest passenger car manufacturer in China, but as far as I know, they are also the leading enterprise in Lu Province in China. In the eyes of local government officials, Huateng Group is their political achievement, so..."

This Huateng Group actually has such a big influence in Huaxia?
Bob Brownlee's words surprised Walker Eriksson a lot.

It's no wonder that Walker Eriksson doesn't know about Huateng Group. Although he is one of BorgWarner's global vice presidents, he is in charge of the transmission system. That is to say, before that, Walker Eriksson Kesen is mainly in charge of Europe and the United States, and he doesn't know much about the situation in China. Coupled with the natural arrogance of Americans, he didn't take Huateng Group seriously before this time. Brownlee hit a snag with the Huateng Group, and Walker Eriksson began to have the intention to face up to the Huateng Group.

After a while, Walker Erickson, who had digested the content of Bob Brownlee's words, asked Bob Brownlee again: "I see, Bob, if we extend to Huateng Motors now With an olive branch, do you think it can resolve our troubles?"

Bob Brownlee asked cautiously: "The olive branch you mentioned is..."

"For example... Is there any way to get them to abandon their previous practices and stand on our side?"

Bob Brownlee understood what Walker Eriksson meant, but he shook his head without hesitation: "I'm afraid...it's difficult."

Unlike Walker Eriksson who knows almost nothing about the Chinese market, Bob Brownlee has a much deeper understanding of the Chinese auto market than Walker Eriksson.

"why?"

Walker Eriksson became more and more puzzled.

Bob Brownlee explained: "Because Huateng Motors has already made a commitment to sell parallel shaft gearbox technology to several of China's largest auto manufacturers, and those Chinese auto companies are similar to state-owned banks. Such a state-owned enterprise, so it’s fine if Huateng Motors didn’t make a promise before, but if they return after making a promise, they can’t afford the anger of these super-large conglomerates.”

Walker Eriksson doesn't know much about China's situation, but no matter how ignorant he is of China's situation, he has heard of the names of the large state-owned banks in China that are listed in North America. Enterprises have extraordinary influence in China. If the enterprises that Huateng Industrial Group promised to transfer technology before are large enterprise groups of this level...

Thinking of this, Walker Eriksson couldn't help swallowing, and then realized how naive his thoughts were just now: This is the same as a North American company slapping super giants such as JPMorgan Chase and Zion Bank. What's the difference? !

Any company that offends a giant of this level, what good results can it have?

In the same way, Huateng Motors obviously did not dare to do so.

After a while, Walker Eriksson asked, "So Mr. Brownlee, what's your suggestion?"

In the final analysis, Bob Brownlee is responsible for this matter, so there is no question at all from Walker Erickson-you have encountered a problem, but it is up to you to figure out how to solve this problem Method.

Speaking of which, it has not been a day or two for BorgWarner to covet the Chinese auto market. It is not too much to say that it has been planned for a long time, and with the rapid development of the Chinese auto market, they are becoming more and more envious: this huge market , even if you only sell clutch discs, the annual turnover is not a small amount!
Entering China's passenger car automatic transmission field is a decision made by BorgWarner executives after nearly 10 years of follow-up. In the first half of this year, the total sales volume of China's auto market has exceeded 500 million. In 1050, the total annual sales volume of Huaxia's auto industry was only 2000 million vehicles. From the annual sales volume of less than 179.1 million to more than 180 million vehicles, Huaxia only took 10000 years. The overall market size is second only to the United States, ranking second in the world!
Facing such a huge market, which auto industry practitioner would not be tempted?
The same is naturally true of BorgWarner. During the years of entering the Chinese market, they have been looking for a point that can continue to bring them high profits. With the success of the dual-clutch gearbox jointly developed with Volkswagen, BorgWarner Warner believes that he has found the golden key to open the Chinese car market - although in the past few years, China's car sales have maintained rapid growth, but in such a huge market, the proportion of sales of manual transmission models is as high as 70%, this situation is unique in all countries in the world. Even in Europe, where manual transmission models are more preferred, the sales of manual transmission models do not exceed 50%.

As for why such a strange phenomenon occurred, BorgWarner naturally analyzed the reason, that is, the Western auto industry has monopolized the patents of automatic transmissions, so that although China has the foundation and ability to develop and manufacture automatic transmissions technically , but there is no way to bypass these patents, and these are opportunities for BorgWarner, and also the reason why BorgWarner dares to put forward those harsh conditions to the Planning and Development Commission: I am willing to help you develop automatic transmissions. What's wrong with being more demanding?
But what Walker Eriksson never expected was that Huaxia actually produced Huateng Industrial Group, a company that did not play cards according to common sense. Facing the information Bob Brownlee told him, Walker Eriksson Rixon wanted to scold his mother: How could there be such a freak as Huateng Motors?

(End of this chapter)