I want to be emperor

Chapter 1090 Local Protection and Cars

In the fifty years since Chengshun, the busiest and most popular topic in the Chu Empire was still cars, all kinds of cars.

Many local governments are also sparing no effort to promote the implementation of the automobile industry... If they cannot produce tall passenger cars, they will produce three-wheelers and small tractors.

If it is impossible to get the industrial bases of the four major automobile companies to build local factories, then we will promote the development of third-party automobile manufacturers.

Because many core patents of gasoline engines will expire within a few years. Optimistic estimates suggest that by about 55 years, the original core patents of gasoline engines, such as four-stroke design, electronic ignition and other patents, will gradually expire. .

This means that other manufacturers can also produce original gasoline engines for commercial activities... Of course, the expired patents only have some core basic patents, and the new patents that the four major automakers have developed and applied for over the years are still in the protection period.

Therefore, the gasoline engines developed and produced by latecomers will most likely not be able to match the performance of the four major automobile manufacturers.

But lagging performance is better than no performance at all!

As long as there are no restrictions on basic patents, so many manufacturers can use some of their own advantages to enter and directly develop, produce and sell gasoline engines, core components in the automotive industry.

The same goes for gearboxes, etc. In fact, the core patents have almost expired.

As long as there is an opportunity to enter it, it means there is a future.

Although they will be chasers for a long time, there is a chance to catch up.

At the same time, although many companies say that they cannot produce and sell gasoline engines now, it does not mean that they cannot research and develop them now... In fact, many companies have already begun to research and develop gasoline engines, accumulate technologies, and apply for patents.

Many cars have actually designed what their future gasoline engines will look like, and are just waiting for several key core patents of gasoline engines to expire.

And this means that in about five years, the automobile industry may usher in an era of blooming... Although the four major automobile manufacturers have huge advantages because of their early entry and deep technology accumulation, other manufacturers will also participate and give full play to their respective capabilities. And advantages, occupy a certain market.

After all, the empire is too big. No matter how powerful the four major car manufacturers are, they cannot monopolize all the markets.

This is similar to the steam engine market. For a long time, the steam engine industry in the Chu Empire has been firmly occupied by the three major steam engine manufacturers. However, in addition to these three major steam engine manufacturers, there are still dozens of companies engaged in various industries. Companies that develop and produce steam engines, such as the famous Lee's Iron, have their own steam engine business departments and produce some mid- to low-end steam engines... but their market share is very low.

In the future, the automobile industry may evolve into this, with a few large automobile manufacturers in the first echelon, followed by several or even a dozen second-tier automobile manufacturers, plus a bunch of less-than-stellar automobile manufacturers. automobile manufacturers.

Nowadays, many local governments cannot count on the four major automobile manufacturers... It's not that they don't want it, but the four major automobile manufacturers don't like these places... The four major automobile manufacturers now have very high standards.

The only example of an overall relocation was Hekou Machinery Company, and what city was it that poached them? It's Songjiang!

In order to lure Hekou Machinery Company, Songjiang paid a huge price, with full tax exemption for three years and half tax for two years. In addition to this half tax, Songjiang Prefecture will also return local taxes to Songjiang Prefecture. The company only Provincial and national taxes need to be paid... In addition, the provincial government of Jiangnan Province has also made a commitment, and provincial taxes will also be refunded!

This means that when Hekou Machinery Company moves to Songjiang, it will be fully tax-free for the first three years. In the next two years after three years, it will only have to pay half of the national tax, and half of the local taxes at the provincial, prefectural, and county levels will be returned.

After five years, it depends on the situation. If the production and sales reach a certain proportion and the industrial supporting facilities reach a certain proportion within Songjiang and Jiangnan Province, a certain proportion of local taxes at the Jiangnan Province and Songjiang Prefecture will be refunded.

This tax incentive is huge... Of course, this can actually be done in other places. After all, it's just a return of tax, and you don't have to pay out of your own pocket. No matter how you calculate it, you still make money.

And giving away land for free is nothing. The land in many places is not valuable. If a company of a certain scale settled in the past, people would dare to give you land rent-free for decades... Well, it is just that the rent-free official has the land rent, and will not sell it. , the state-owned land of the Da Chu Empire, except for agricultural land, can be conditionally sold to individual farmers, and it is restricted that these lands can only be used for agricultural purposes, and cannot be used for industrial, commercial, etc. purposes, nor can they be flowed into the market for private transactions, so that they can be passed on to future generations. Inherit, but if you want to sell it later, you can only sell it to the government.

Land used for other purposes has always been prohibited from being sold. It can only be rented but not sold. Even agricultural companies cannot actually purchase land but rent it.

In fact, in many places, there is government-owned wasteland, and no one wants to rent it out... If companies are willing to build factories and provide employment and tax revenue, these local governments are also willing to rent government-owned land to them for a certain period of time without rent. .

Taxes and land can be given elsewhere.

But there are two things that other places cannot provide...or cannot afford.

That is real money and industrial supporting facilities.

In order to bring over the estuary digging machinery, the local Songjiang Prefecture provided an interest-free loan of more than three million Chu Yuan...but money has a cost, and this long-term interest-free loan would cost hundreds of thousands of yuan in capital alone, and Songjiang Prefecture gave it as soon as it said it would.

We also help contact companies in Songjiang and even surrounding Jiangnan, Northern Zhejiang and other regions to provide supporting equipment, and help supporting companies enter the automobile industry park. This is another huge expense.

We also contacted colleges and universities in Songjiang and surrounding areas such as Suzhou and Jinling to recruit talents.

Cooperate with hiring and training ordinary workers.

Not counting ordinary support, just real money and silver, Songjiang Mansion has spent millions... and this is just the beginning.

As competition in the automobile industry continues to explode, Hekou Machinery Company will inevitably need strong support from the local Songjiang Prefecture and even Jiangnan Province, and it is estimated that it will have to spend several million more Chu Yuan.

This kind of support does not mean giving money directly, but mainly based on tax policies and official vehicle purchases.

After Songhe Automobile Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hekou Machinery Company engaged in the passenger car business, was officially put into production, many senior officials from Songjiang Prefecture and even Jiangnan Province verbally requested various provincial governments in private occasions. When yamen and public institutions purchase official vehicles, they give priority to the products of local companies and support the development of local companies.

All that is needed is to directly issue a clear document requiring local governments to only purchase products from their own Songhe Automobile Company, and no other products are allowed to be purchased.

Against this background, except for a few high-ranking officials who purchased cars specially provided by the Jinling Carriage Company for dignitaries, other officials all purchased cars launched by the Songhe Automobile Company.

At the same time, patrol police, tax police and other yamen that need to use cars also purchase products from Songhe Automobile Company. This can be said to have given Songhe Automobile Company a great boost in the early stage. At least it does not have to worry about being unable to open up the situation when the car is just developed and put on the market.

Such strong support is also the reason why Hekou Machinery Company successively excluded Hantianfu after a nationwide inspection, and even chose to move to Songjiangfu at the invitation of Tianfu, Hangzhou, Zhengzhou, Chang'an and other cities... Nothing else. , Songjiang gave too much.

This is a huge cost for the four major car companies to directly relocate their headquarters!

Not to mention the headquarters, if you just build a car factory, the cost will be very high... Because the four major car companies have very high requirements for factory construction. In addition to conventional policy support, they also have to consider the local consumer market and supply chain. , transportation, local business conditions, etc., the final location of the production base will basically choose a large industrial city that can cover a large number of surrounding areas.

Take Tangshan Automobile Company, they currently have five main production bases, one in Tangshan Headquarters, Tianjin, one in Tianjin Port Industrial Zone, one in Wusong Industrial Zone, which is nominally part of Songjiang City but administratively belongs to Suzhou Prefecture, and one in Han Hankou Industrial Zone in Tianjin, and Dongguan Prefecture in Guangdong...

The five main production bases fully cover the Pearl River Delta, Yangtze River Delta, Bohai Rim, Huguang, Sichuan and other regions.

As for other cities... don't expect it at all. Tangshan Automobile Company doesn't like it at all.

And the factories of the other three major automobile companies are not something ordinary cities can expect... The main production bases of Hekou Machinery Company are a local factory in Hekou, which mainly produces agricultural equipment, and a local super-large passenger car comprehensive company in Songjiang. production plant, in addition to building a large non-passenger vehicle factory in Dangtu Industrial Zone that mainly produces small tractors, tricycles, and trucks.

Of these three production bases, Songjiang goes without saying; Dangtu is the most important heavy industrial base in the Chu Empire, and although Hekou is worse, it is also the most important port city and important industrial base in the Northeast.

Liaohe Automobile Company's production base is mainly in Shenyang. In addition, it has also built a production base in Dalian, and it has also built a production base in Hangzhou in the south.

Li's Power Company is simpler. Their production bases are currently located in Guangzhou... and they are also preparing to build a non-passenger vehicle production base in Xuzhou, Jiangbei.

This is the current and future industrial layout of the four major automobile companies. They are basically all important industrial cities, three super cities, two municipalities, and several important regional central industrial cities.

These cities, even Xuzhou, Dongguan, Suzhou Wusong, Hangzhou, Shenyang, Dalian, Hekou... these are also traditional important industrial cities with very complete transportation and industrial chain facilities.

As for ordinary cities, people simply look down upon them.

But the four major automobile manufacturers cannot pull them over, and they have to develop the automobile industry... What should we do?

Supporting third-party automobile manufacturers... This is what many cities are doing, and even many overseas provinces are doing this. For example, the three provinces in North America have united to support North American automobile companies.

This third-party automobile company founded by Song Erniu, after a long process of manufacturer establishment, equipment procurement, and worker training, its automobile R&D center in Songjiang also successfully completed the research and development of their first car and carried out Production.

This car is not a passenger car or a truck in the traditional sense, but a car that takes into account both passenger use and cargo transportation. This thing is actually the later pickup truck.

This kind of pickup truck probably doesn't have a very good market elsewhere, but it has been welcomed by many farmers in North America... The riding comfort of this thing is good, because many designs are based on passenger cars. At the same time, there is a compartment at the back that can be used to pull goods, and the design emphasizes off-road capabilities, allowing it to drive on unpaved roads in the vast rural areas of North America.

Although this thing was only launched fifty years ago in Chengshun, the market feedback is very good, and it is estimated that the annual sales may exceed 5,000 units... This is already a great deal for a third-party automobile manufacturer that requires external procurement of core components. Very good results.

And this thing is not cheap...especially the high-configuration model uses a four-cylinder engine and a three-speed gearbox. The power configuration is actually no different from the high-end models in passenger cars.

Because the sales volume was too large, in order to avoid irritating the four major automakers in the country and cutting off the supply of core parts, Song Erniu quickly made a trip to East Asia to find Li's Power Company, which had just developed the engine, and negotiated with the company. The company has reached a purchase business for gasoline engines and gearboxes.

In this way, the four major automakers have all become engine and transmission suppliers for North American Automobile Company, and there is no need to worry about conflicts with one of them, which will lead to the supply of core components being cut off.

At the same time, their R&D center in Songjiang is also developing its own gasoline engine and gearbox... Well, it is wrong to say it is R&D. In fact, it is plagiarism and reverse push... We will wait for those core patents to expire in five or six years. , began to develop and produce the two core components of engines and gearboxes.

Even if the technology and performance of the engine and gearbox that I develop by then are not good enough, at least I will have a safe choice and can also be used in some mid- to low-end models.

North American automobile companies in the Americas are doing this, and third-party automobile manufacturers in other regions are also struggling, but they are not as good as North American automobile companies.

How can I put it, it is too difficult to compete directly with the four major car companies... They are not stupid, they will not sell you good things, what they can sell to you are second-class things, and the prices are It’s not cheap. You have to use all their core components and produce a car of the same level. The cost is a huge disadvantage... Some third-party manufacturers with poor cost control do this. It is estimated that the cost is higher than other people’s cars. The selling price is still high.

Therefore, third-party car manufacturers cannot engage in head-on competition... If you want to engage in head-on competition, let alone competition, the four major car manufacturers will immediately cut off the supply of core parts as soon as they react. They are not stupid, they will not Create competitors for yourself.

Therefore, third-party car manufacturers tend to produce cars with relatively large limitations and niche categories... Even so, it's okay to do it on a small scale. If it goes big, the four major car companies will give you one right away. Cut off the supply of parts and components, and at the same time enter these automobile segments.

This is the problem that North American automobile companies are facing now... They have done so well in the vertical category of pickup trucks that the four major automobile companies have also taken a fancy to the field of pickup trucks. Then Liaodong Automobile Company was the first to take action. Their pickup truck was launched on the market... In fact, their sedan was reskinned and turned into a pickup truck.

But this thing is not easy to sell in most parts of East Asia for a while. The best places to sell it are in the northwest and Eastern Europe, but the consumption power of these places is not good!

In fact, there is only one North American region that has high public acceptance and sufficient spending power... But the three provincial governments in North America, in order to support North American automobile companies, have secretly put in place a lot of restrictions... Ordinary cars have to come in It can be sold in North America and is very welcome, but pickup trucks... Haha, it is definitely impossible to stop it on the surface, but there are many other ways to stop it.

Don’t underestimate the determination of local governments to protect core local businesses!

How the local governments of the Chu Empire protected their own textile industry back then, today they will protect their own automobile industry.

Unless you set up a factory to produce directly locally and create jobs and tax revenue, it would be extremely difficult to sell cars directly and squeeze out the pickup business of North American Automobile Company.

Today I will check your tax, the day after tomorrow I will check your fire safety, and the day after tomorrow I will give you a report saying your car has quality defects, etc... The local government doesn’t want you to come in, so it doesn’t matter how good your car is.

This is also the basis for North American Automobile Company to survive in the three provinces of North America... Without these local protectionisms, it would be impossible for North American Automobile Company to survive.

But precisely because of these local protections, it is difficult for the four major automobile companies to get involved personally, and they can make a lot of money selling gearboxes and engines, so they simply sell engines and gearboxes.

This is why in the future, the automobile industry may flourish... On the one hand, it is a technical issue, and on the other hand, it is naturally a local market issue.

The reason is very simple. The automobile industry is so important...an industry that can be compared with the textile industry. Local government officials are eager to block all the automobile markets in their own jurisdictions, not allowing cars from outside the area to enter, leaving only automobile companies in their own territories. .

Because this means jobs and taxes!