Rebirth 99 to become a car giant.

Chapter 536 F1 team, Xingchen Motors is going to cause trouble
Just as the Internet was abuzz about Nanshan Carbon Fiber, Rao Yongxiang, vice president of research and development of Xingchen Motors, was reporting to Cao Yang on the latest progress of an acquisition project in Europe.

If you want to become a luxury car brand, simply continuously improving configurations is definitely not enough.

Participating in some top events is also an important marketing tool.

Through these events, conveying one's superior strength is also a way that is highly recognized by consumers.

F1 racing is one of the most important competitions.

Whether it's Ferrari, BMW, or McLaren, they all have their own F1 teams.

Among them, Ferrari started in 1950 and has not experienced any interruption until now, becoming the most famous team in F1 racing.

And this result has also brought a lot of feedback to Ferrari's sales.

Xingchen Motors has always had the idea of ​​participating in F1 events.

But before the financial crisis, if you wanted to join the F1 race, the threshold was very high and the cost was also high.

At that time, the necessity of F1 racing was not that high for Xingchen Motors.

The situation is a little different now.

On December 12 last year, Honda withdrew from the F5 race.

Honda has been participating in the F1964 race since 1 and has achieved some good results and even won three grand prix championships.

According to data released by Honda, they spend more than US$1 million on F3 every year, which is definitely not a small amount.

The most important thing is that since 2000, the Honda team has not won any impressive awards.

Coupled with the impact of the financial crisis, withdrawing from the F1 race is a choice that must be considered.

Since that time, Xingchen Automobile has started preparations related to F1 again.

In the past, it was just a small effort to make some technical reserves and forward-looking research and development, but now a dedicated project team has been set up to develop F1 racing cars.

In this case, Rao Yongxiang naturally went to buy the F1 team in person.

"Mr. Cao, BMW has officially announced today that after the end of the 2009 season, the BMW Group will no longer continue its F1 activities."

"This means that they have withdrawn from this field just three years after joining F1."

"According to BMW CEO, this is part of BMW's strategic restructuring."

When Rao Yongxiang reported the news, his mood was actually a bit complicated.

On the one hand, Xingchen Auto has more choices.

Whether it is the Honda team that has already withdrawn, or the BMW team that will withdraw soon, it is still an option.

However, with so many teams announcing their withdrawal from the F1 race, does that mean that Star Motors' choice to join the F1 race may not be so correct?

Rao Yongxiang had some such concerns in his heart.

"For BMW, maybe the F1 race will not bring any particular boost to their sales, and it is not surprising that they give up this field."

"We happen to have a good relationship with BMW. We can talk to them and acquire it if the price is right."

"However, I also heard a piece of news. Although it has not been confirmed, you can use it when negotiating with BMW."

Speaking of BMW's withdrawal from the F1 race, Cao Yang immediately recalled Toyota's withdrawal from the F1 race.

It can be said that at this stage of the financial crisis, Honda, BMW, and Toyota have all withdrawn from F1, which has had a lot of negative effects on this event.

Even when the Honda team withdrew, there were rumors of transferring it for $1.

Of course, with such a bargain, there must be some debt behind the team.

This means that no one may take notice of their team.

No matter what you are selling, if there are no buyers, it means that the industry is in a bit of a bad situation.

After all, buying up or down is the choice most people make.

The most obvious one is buying a house. When the price goes up, everyone is rushing to buy it. Even if the negotiated price goes back on the price and continues to increase, some buyers will accept it.

When house prices start to fall, the situation is completely different.

That also means that the industry is starting to have problems.

"what news?"

Rao Yongxiang asked very cooperatively.

It would be the best to successfully win the BMW team.

After all, the Honda team is not as famous as BMW.

And it was sold to Ross Brawn in March this year and became the Brawn Racing Team.

So if you want to buy it, you can only buy it from Ross Brown.

In this case, even if the Honda team performed better than BMW in the past, it would be meaningless to Xingchen Motors.

After all, apart from the driver factors, the most critical reason for a team's performance is the car itself.

After Xingchen Motors joins F1, it will definitely launch its own racing car.

Then the results accumulated by the team in the past are of little significance.

No one will pay too much attention.

"Toyota is also considering withdrawing from F1 and will no longer participate in the 2010 season."

Hearing what Cao Yang said, Rao Yongxiang was stunned for a moment, but soon he thought of the financial report released by Toyota in May this year, and said: "Mr. Cao, your news is probably true. Affected by the financial crisis, Toyota Motor has In Japan’s fiscal year from April 5 to March 2008, its net loss reached 4 billion yen, or approximately US$2009 billion.”

"Especially in the first quarter of 2009, Toyota Motor's losses reached 7658 billion yen, approximately US$76 billion."

"This figure exceeds General Motors' loss of US$60 billion in the first quarter of this year and is far beyond people's expectations."

"Among Toyota's five major markets in the world, all European, American and Japanese markets suffered losses, with sales in the North American market decreasing by 5% year-on-year. The European market suffered a loss of US$25 billion, compared with a profit of US$14.7 billion in the same period last fiscal year."

"Under such circumstances, launching a non-profitable F1 event can be considered an important option to improve the financial situation."

"After all, F1 will cost Toyota two to three billion US dollars in one year."

F1 racing is a very expensive project.

This is really something that an average small company can afford.

Of course, if you play it well, the effect will be very good.

The most successful one is probably Red Bull Racing.

Because of the results of the F1 event, Red Bull's brand power has been increased to an unknown extent, and there is no way to quantify the benefits.

The annual investment of two to three billion US dollars has achieved very good advertising effects.

So this is also an important reason why people can persist in the future.

Anyone who quits quickly midway will basically not enjoy the dividends.

Those who have been reluctant to leave will most likely reap the benefits.

This is true for Ferrari, and so is Red Bull.

Cao Yang hopes that the same will be true for Xingchen Automobile in the future.

If Xingchen Racing Team can continue to appear in F1 events from next year, and even move some F1 events to China in the future, it will have a huge impact on the brand power of Xingchen Motors and Nanshan Engine.

Even Autohome's "Need for Speed" game can benefit from it.

In the entire industry chain, Nanshan Group can take a large part.

"Yes, so negotiating with BMW at this time and letting the other party know that we have more choices will definitely be a help."

“If they don’t sell it, it’s a direct loss to their hands.”

"How much can it sell for?"

Although the relationship between Nanshan Group and BMW has eased, Cao Yang does not want to spend an extra penny to buy a BMW fleet.

Although BMW's style is higher than that of Honda and Toyota, its strength is not actually stronger.

Especially the Honda team, the results are actually very good.

Of course, the reason is because Honda has made great efforts in F1 racing engines.

If Nanshan Group really buys the Honda team, it will eventually be unable to own Honda's F1 engine, which will not improve future results.

Of course, Nanshan Group can also be like Red Bull Racing and purchase all engines from outside.

From a cost perspective, this may be more economical. .

But Nanshan Group is different from Red Bull. The other party has no intention of promoting engines. After all, Red Bull sells drinks.

As long as the team performs well, it doesn't matter who produced the engine.

But Nanshan Group is different. One of the purposes of engaging in F1 competition is to highlight the technical level of Nanshan Engine.

If F1's engines are all outsourced, then it's better not to play with them.

At that time, it will become an excuse for others to attack Nanshan Engine and play a negative propaganda role.

"No problem, I'll contact BMW again right away."

"However, we don't have many acquaintances at the BMW headquarters. I wonder if we can also visit the people from BMW Asia Pacific and BMW China so that they can help us push forward?"

Obviously, among Honda, Toyota and BMW teams, Rao Yongxiang still prefers to acquire the BMW team.

Not many domestic consumers know much about cars. When Nanshan Group acquires the F1 team, everyone will only think that the BMW team must be better than Honda and Toyota.

After all, BMW's domestic popularity is definitely not comparable to that of Honda and Toyota.

But when it comes to actually acquiring the team, the price of the BMW team will most likely not be higher than that of Honda and Toyota. After all, in the field of F1 events, the performance of the BMW team is actually not good.

Even if they boast that they have achieved good results after joining the F1 team for three years, they can only lie to themselves.

"No problem, I will communicate directly with Phillips and Aimoha. I believe they also have more information than us. Without our purchase, the BMW team would have no buyers."

Because of the cooperation with Nanshan Battery, the relationship between BMW and Nanshan Group has become much closer. Cao Yang also has direct contact with personnel from BMW Asia Pacific.

Especially with the rapid growth of China's automobile market this year, BMW does not want to ruin its relationship with Nanshan Group.

Soon, Cao Yang called Phillips directly and had a smooth exchange of his thoughts with Phillips.After Phillips finished chatting with Cao Yang, he would naturally give feedback to the headquarters immediately.

He also knows about the poor performance of the BMW team in F1.

The company announced that it would launch competitions for next season, and he knew about it.

In this case, if no better buyer emerges, it would not be a bad thing for BMW to promote it and sell the team to Nanshan Group.

Of course, considering that Aimoha, who went to China, knew Xingchen Motors and Nanshan Group better than he did, he also communicated with Aimoha.

"Do you think Star Motors, with the blessing of the F1 competition, will bring more pressure to us?"

Phillips' first consideration was the competitive pressure Xingchen Motors would bring to BMW.

After all, as China's largest luxury car manufacturer, Xingchen Automobile's sales have reached a level that cannot be ignored.

Even Phillips is not confident that BMW sales in China will surpass Xingchen Motors in the future.

Unless the headquarters launches the X3 and X1 as soon as possible, as well as the localization of the BMW 1 Series, the threshold for car purchase will be lowered as soon as possible.

At that time, relying on the price advantage, it will achieve a counterattack in terms of sales.

"Phillips, actually I don't think the impact of the F1 race on sales is that big. Most of the technologies in F1 cannot be directly used in mass-produced cars."

"Whether our BMW team is sold to the other party or not, the pressure they put on us is still there."

"Besides, in addition to the BMW team, they also have the Honda team to consider."

"Even what they revealed about the Toyota team preparing to withdraw from F1 competition is probably true. We can ask the team to make some insinuations, and maybe we can get the news."

Aimoha expressed his views very directly.

With Nanshan Group, cooperate if you can, and don't provoke the other party.

Unless you don’t want the Chinese market.

Otherwise, people have many tricks to deal with you.

Aimoha has seen this before.

It can even be said that he suffered a loss.

"After I finished the phone call with Cao Yang, I went to the websites in China, Japan and other places, but I couldn't find any news that the Toyota team was withdrawing from the F1 competition."

"If the other party's news that Toyota is preparing to withdraw from the race is true, then it means that Nanshan Group is paying attention to the F1 race for more than a day or two."

"Can we let the headquarters take this opportunity to raise the price appropriately?"

Although Phillips wants to promote cooperation between the two parties, the higher the selling price, the better.

However, Aimoha's opinion was different. He said: "If Nanshan Group has been paying attention to the F1 event for a long time, then it will be very clear about the situation of F1. Now there are three teams to choose from. We want to raise the price at all. It’s just impossible.”

"After all, whether it's the Toyota team or our team, they all want someone to take over."

"Unless we can find more companies to come forward with the idea of ​​buying, it may be difficult to raise the price."

Aimoha does not want to hold back Nanshan Group’s acquisition of the BMW team.

As the general manager of the China Branch, the sale price of the BMW fleet has nothing to do with him.

If the relationship between BMW China and Nanshan Group deteriorates because the BMW team was sold for tens of millions more dollars, then the gains outweigh the losses.

Soon, Phillips slowly realized this.

So he stopped worrying and started reporting to the headquarters.

However, when he reported this, Toyota was surprised.

"President, yesterday someone from the BMW F1 team inquired about information from our team and asked whether Toyota was going to withdraw from the 2010 season."

"This news has just been brought up internally. It has not been formally approved by the board of directors, and it has not been announced to the outside world. However, people at BMW know about it."

"Someone at the top of the company should have leaked the news to the outside world."

Kobayashi Zhemin came to Watanabe Ketsaki's office with a serious face and reported bad news.

Any car company will keep strictly confidential information about its new products.

Although the confidentiality level of the Toyota Racing Team is not as high as that of the development of new models, it cannot be disclosed casually.

In particular, key information involving whether the team will withdraw from the F1 competition is not suitable to be leaked before it is officially announced to the public.

Japanese companies are very sensitive to this aspect.

"Are you sure the people from the BMW team asked this casually as a joke, or do they really know our news?"

Katsaki Watanabe was unfazed.

BMW has officially announced that it will withdraw from the F1 competition, so the people from the BMW team asked other teams with similar poor results if they would also withdraw from the competition. There is nothing special about this matter.

Even if the secret is really leaked, it will not have a particularly big impact on Toyota's operations.

Of course, if it is determined to be a man-made leak, then we must investigate it carefully to see who leaked it, whether it was intentional or unintentional.

"I thought so at the beginning, but after some confirmation, we can basically judge that the other party really knows that we intend to withdraw from the F1 competition."

"President, although this matter will not have a big impact on the company's operations, if the news suddenly gets known by the media and we don't know the situation, we will be very passive."

"So I think we still need to pay attention to this matter."

Kobayashi Zhemin is now in charge of Toyota Motor's research and development work and is relatively sensitive to leaks.

Today, a senior executive leaked internal information about the Toyota team. Will someone leak other information tomorrow?

The key is to find out the person who leaked the secret. He will have trouble sleeping and eating.

Who knows what's the story behind this?

"Not many people know that the team is withdrawing from F1 competition. Let the company's confidentiality committee talk to everyone one by one to confirm and see if anyone can take the initiative to come forward and admit this matter."

"As long as it's not intentional and he admits it proactively, I can forgive him."

It takes a lot of time and energy to simply investigate things like leaks.

Besides, the level of personnel involved this time was relatively high.

If the investigation goes too far, it might have some bad effects.

Therefore, Katsaki Watanabe also hopes that big things will be reduced to trivial matters.

However, the situation may not be what he imagined.

On the same day, Tetsuaki Kobayashi, who is the vice chairman of the Toyota Motor Confidentiality Committee, informed relevant insiders about the leak.

However, no one admitted that they had leaked information about the Toyota team.

As a result, Xiao Lin Zhemin was also very annoyed.

He planned to take this opportunity to investigate the internal situation of the company.

Of course, it is destined to end in vain in the end.

Just when Tetsumin Kobayashi began to investigate this matter, in order to minimize the impact of withdrawing from the F1 race and avoid the passive situation caused by being first exposed by other media, Toyota held an emergency press conference to make an official announcement in advance. He has decided to withdraw from the F1 competition next year.

In less than a month, BMW and Toyota teams announced their withdrawal from the competition.

This time, the situation immediately became lively.

"Ai Moha, it seems that the Nanshan Group is very well-informed. They knew about Toyota Motor even when there was no information in the media."

"I feel that Toyota's press conference this time was a bit abrupt, as if it was brought forward due to a sudden accident."

This time, Phillips saw the power of Nanshan Group again.

Is it possible that the other party has eyes and ears inside Toyota?

Otherwise, how could it be possible to obtain such inside information so quickly?

"Judging from the questions asked by reporters at the press conference, Toyota probably just recently decided to withdraw from the F1 competition."

"After all, Toyota's financial report last year was ugly, and the situation in the first and second quarters of this year was not ideal either."

"For Toyota, this should be considered a loss that has not been encountered in decades."

"So they began to think of ways to cut costs internally and turn losses into profits as soon as possible."

"I even heard news that Toyota is investigating leaks internally."

"So this time it was indeed Nanshan Group that got the news in advance."

Aimoha gave his judgment with certainty.

And he firmly believes that China should have a good relationship with Nanshan Group.

"I am going to propose to the headquarters to reach an agreement with Nanshan Group on the sale of the BMW F1 team as soon as possible. Otherwise, they will have more and more choices and may be in trouble."

Phillips felt that it was better to cut the knot quickly and sell the BMW team to Nanshan Group as soon as possible.

After all, mosquitoes are meat no matter how small they are.

If it falls into your own hands, the value of one euro will be gone.

After all, in terms of communication, Japanese companies must communicate better with China than German companies.

Rather than being robbed of the opportunity by Toyota and Honda, it would be better for BMW to fight for it on its own.

"Indeed, we need to make the headquarters aware of this, otherwise we may end up preferring to lose it to our own hands rather than sell it at a low price."

"That is actually a lose-lose solution."

The conversation between Aimoha and Phillips still had a positive impact on BMW's internal judgment on whether to sell the F1 team and at what price.

Rao Yongxiang, who was far away in Germany, quickly felt the change in attitude of BMW's contact personnel.

The progress of Nanshan Group's acquisition of the BMW F1 team was quickly raised.

Since the differences between the two parties were not particularly big, it didn't take long to basically reach an acquisition plan.

Now we just wait for the official press conference.

(End of this chapter)