Rebirth 99 to become a car giant.

Chapter 963 The World's No. Throne

"President, our sales volume in 2014 was 828 million units, which is quite a difference from the 1000 million units we planned for the medium and long term."

"The main reason is that the performance of the American and Chinese markets did not meet expectations."

Tetsuaki Kobayashi came to Akio Toyoda's office with a heavy heart.

Although they made a lot of efforts, Toyota's performance was not very ideal in the end.

Not to mention being the world's number one, it doesn't even have a chance to be second.

“What are GM’s sales?”

Although this is bad news, Toyota's poor performance in the American and Chinese markets is not a new phenomenon.

So Akio Toyoda was actually mentally prepared to a certain extent.

"GM's full-year sales were 932 million units, which was also down compared to last year, but the decline was not as large as ours."

In Kobayashi Tetsuaki's opinion, out of GM's sales of 932 million vehicles, an estimated 100 million were snatched from Toyota.

Otherwise, if General Motors lost the Chinese market, it would certainly not be able to maintain the 900 million threshold. Even if it did not take actions to suppress Japanese and Korean car companies, it is estimated that it would not even be able to maintain sales of 800 million vehicles.

“Will General Motors be the world’s number one in sales this year?”

"No, Volkswagen is the world's number one. Their global sales this year reached 943 million vehicles, more than more than General Motors."

After hearing what Kobayashi Tetsuaki said, Akio Toyoda couldn't help but sneer.

General Motors' efforts were in vain, and in the end the throne of world number one fell into the hands of someone else.

Of course, strictly speaking, their efforts are not meaningless, otherwise it would not have the right to be the second in the world.

"If we want to surpass Volkswagen and General Motors, we have to rely on the Chinese market. Otherwise, other markets will not be able to contribute so much growth."

China is the world's largest automobile market, and Toyota is absolutely reluctant to give it up.

If Toyota abandons the Chinese market and suppresses the American market, its global situation will become very difficult.

"It seems that we need to communicate with Chuncheng Automobile Group and Yangcheng Automobile Group and give up some of our interests appropriately so that they can support the development of our joint venture in China."

"Otherwise, people think they can grow and prosper by relying on their own brands and live a good life."

Kobayashi Tetsuaki is naturally more familiar with the development of Nanshan Hongqi and Yangcheng Trumpchi in China.

The better these two companies develop, the more their two joint venture partners will shift their focus from Toyota to their own brands.

"You arrange for someone to communicate and contact them, and complete the trip to China before the Chinese New Year."

Akio Toyoda naturally agreed with Tetsuaki Kobayashi's proposal.

Toyota Motors has been able to grow bigger and stronger, and the vision of its managers must be good.

However, some things obviously cannot be solved by just having a good vision.

……

While Toyota was upset about not being the number one in the world, Chery Automobile was also worried about losing the number one position in China.

"Mr. Yin, Changan Automobile sold more than 100,000 vehicles last year than we did. As long as we make adjustments this year, we may still be able to surpass them."

As the head of Chery Automobile's sales department, Wang Ze must be under a lot of pressure at this time.

Although I don't have much confidence in my heart, I must show my confidence to my boss at the beginning of the year.

What else to do?

You can't just give up like this, right?
"How to adjust?"

"We have been adjusting over the past few years and have added several models."

"There are already more than a dozen models on the market, but sales are declining."

Yin Chuan said very unhappily.

He was very dissatisfied with last year's sales performance.

Even though he knew that the situation of several domestic brands such as Geely and Great Wall was somewhat similar to Chery, he was still very unhappy.

Because the sales of Nanshan Hongqi and Changan Automobile, as well as brands such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Xingchen Automobile are all increasing.

Even Changan Automobile's sales have exceeded 100 million vehicles, making it the first domestic independent brand to achieve annual sales exceeding 100 million vehicles.

Originally, this honor belonged to Chery Automobile, and Yin Chuan even felt that it had a chance to achieve sales of 100 million last year.

But now there are only about 900,000.

Although this result is pretty good, it is not the first after all.

"The sales growth of various joint venture automakers has basically stagnated, except for luxury brands such as Mercedes-Benz and BMW."

"Under such circumstances, competition among domestic brands will certainly become more intense."

"I think the company should focus on competing with domestic manufacturers in the next stage and try to grab some market share from them."

"Otherwise, it may not be that easy to achieve rapid growth."

What Wang Ze said makes some sense.

After all, with the market developing to its current state, it is impossible for it to continue to grow every year.

This is abnormal and unrealistic.

Compared with other markets in the world, there are indeed many players in China's automobile market.

The key is that many players have very good sales.

At this time, internal competition will naturally begin.

"That's true, but it's not that easy to seize the market from other domestic brands."

"We want to take away other people's jobs, and other manufacturers also want to take a piece of our pie."

"After all, the cake we eat is still relatively big."

Yin Chuan is still self-aware. He knows that everyone will talk about seizing the market, but it is not so easy to actually implement it.

Especially for current domestic brands, engines and gearboxes generally use products from Nanshan Automobile Group.

If you criticize others in this regard, you are basically criticizing yourself.

If there is no way to tamper with the two most critical components, the strength of tampering in other places will be very weak.

And if the purpose is to discredit the engines developed by various domestic brands, then Chery itself will easily fall into the trap.

This situation is obviously unwise.

"It is definitely difficult, but apart from this method, it is difficult to find a better way."

"We are working hard on exports, but it will be very difficult to achieve explosive growth in the short term."

"So even if we don't want to, we will eventually participate passively."

"In this case, why don't we take the initiative and attack, maybe we can gain an advantage."

After Wang Ze said this, Yin Chuan did not refute.

The market has developed to its current situation and is indeed starting to pick up.

Then open the book.

……

As the biggest winner in China's auto market last year, Changan Automobile naturally needs to take stock of what it did well and what needs improvement last year.

But the atmosphere there is many times better than that of many other companies.

"Boss Yi, this year our sales of our own brands not only exceeded 100 million units for the first time, but also directly reached the level of 106 million units, which can be regarded as a sales record for China's own brands."

"Even Xingchen Auto and Nanshan Hongqi, which have performed very well, are not as good as us in terms of absolute sales."

"Chery, once the industry leader, has been left behind by us by more than 100,000 yuan."

"As long as we maintain this momentum, it is entirely possible to achieve the sales target of 120 million vehicles this year."

Zhang Lin is in a very good mood now.

No. 1 in the country!
As a central enterprise, it is definitely not easy to be the first in the market in terms of independent brand business.

"Last year, the two electric vehicles Changan MINI and Changan Star made a significant contribution to the one million sales."

"Our electric vehicle sales are also the highest in the country, and even the world, reaching 40 units."

"This year, we will receive a large amount of cash income just from various subsidies for new energy vehicles."

"It seems that the direction of deploying electric vehicles is completely correct."

Yijia was also very satisfied with the company's performance last year.

Although Changan Ford, once a cash cow, has been completely destroyed, it is now carrying out the relevant work of asset disposal.

However, the development of domestic brands has completely made up for this decline in sales.

Therefore, Changan Automobile's performance in all aspects not only did not decline, but instead achieved growth.

Compared with the Modou Automobile Group, which owns Modou GM, the situation is much better.

Because GM was out of business and Volkswagen's sales volume has not fully recovered, the performance of the Shanghai Automobile Group declined significantly last year.

"Electric vehicles represent the future, and everyone recognizes this trend."

"But even with the subsidies, our electric vehicles are still not profitable. We need to find ways to improve this situation in the future."

"Otherwise, the more electric vehicles are produced, the greater the impact on overall revenue will be."

The problem that Yijia mentioned is one of the pain points in the current new energy vehicle industry.

Most electric cars are not making money now.

This is still the case with subsidies. If there are no subsidies, it will be even less profitable.

"I will visit Nanshan Battery and Nanshan Auto Parts after the Spring Festival to learn more about this."

"The parts they supply account for more than 70% of our costs."

"If costs don't come down here, there's no point in our efforts elsewhere."

Zhang Lin naturally knew the problem that Yi Jia was talking about.

However, this is the situation across the entire industry, and he feels that it would be difficult to resolve it in the short term.

He also has specific information on the cost of parts supplied by Nanshan Battery and Nanshan Auto Parts.

Although it cannot be said to be extremely cheap, it is not more expensive than other mainstream competitors in the industry. As for comparing it with some unknown manufacturers, there is definitely no way to compare it.

"Well, we need to communicate properly."

"It is not normal that all our electric vehicles are losing money, but the companies that produce various parts for electric vehicles are making very good profits."

Although Changan Automobile has a very good relationship with Nanshan Automobile Group.

However, no matter how good it is, there will definitely be some conflicts when it comes to one's core interests.

For parts like batteries and motors, Nanshan Battery and Nanshan Auto Parts would certainly like to set the prices higher so that they can recover their investments.

But for Changan Automobile, they hope that the cost of these two parts can be significantly reduced so that their electric vehicles will not lose money.

It sounds like both sides have a point.

But it is hard to say who will take a step back in the end.

"Nanshan Battery and Nanshan Auto Parts have a very strong ability to integrate the industrial chain."

"Especially in the battery field, they are the world's largest battery manufacturer, and Nanshan Battery has formed a certain brand effect."

"Some electric vehicle companies even use Nanshan batteries for special promotion when launching new products."

"Under this circumstance, Nanshan Battery is unlikely to make too many concessions."

Although it was Zhang Lin who took the initiative to propose to negotiate with Nanshan Battery, he did not want to give Yi Jia too much expectations.

In case I can't handle it by then, I won't be too stressed.

"Everything depends on human effort. At least we need to convey our ideas to others. Otherwise, they will not take the initiative to reduce costs."

Yi Jia was naturally clear about what Zhang Lin was talking about.

So there is no direct high goal set.

……

Compared to Changan Automobile which is struggling with costs, Nanshan Hongqi is now fully focused on the goal of increasing sales.

All other issues can be compromised for this matter.

"Mr. Cao, our layout in overseas markets has already begun."

"Especially in the African market, several embassies have recommended us, and it has achieved certain results so far."

"However, just as everyone worried before, the financial situation in some places in Africa is not so ideal. Even if they want to buy our cars, they may not have sufficient funds."

"So I am also considering whether Nanshan Hongqi can cooperate with some institutions to purchase our cars through various flexible payment methods such as accepting mineral deposits in some parts of Africa as collateral."

Zhu Zhengfeng came to Yangcheng specifically to discuss with Cao Yang some specific actions of Nanshan Red Flag this year.

For him, this is the most important task this year.

"I think it's perfectly acceptable to have some flexible payment options."

"However, we also need to pay attention to risk control in the process. After all, the collateral in some places may not be reliable."

The situation in Africa is still very complicated. There are more than 50 countries, and most of the names are unknown to everyone.

Under such circumstances, it is normal for the internal situation to be unstable.

The person signing the contract with you today may be one person, but in a few months, it may be a different person.

In many places, it is normal for the current partner to not acknowledge some of the things done by the ex.

“It’s definitely an issue that needs attention.”

"But as long as it can significantly increase our sales, I think a certain amount of risk is worth considering."

Open up the export market and increase the sales volume of Nanshan Hongqi to 100 million.

This is what Zhu Zhengfeng is most concerned about this year.

The domestic automobile market has begun to expand, and Zhu Zhengfeng has already felt these changes.

Although Nanshan Hongqi had a very good development momentum last year, it is hard to say whether it can achieve substantial growth so smoothly this year.

“In addition to the flexible handling of collateral, I think the way we find partners in different places can also be more flexible.”

"Some markets in Africa are suitable for us to directly arrange sales teams to develop."

"But the development of some markets may involve cooperating with some powerful local tribes, which may yield unexpected gains."

"Then we may also need to fully consider local needs to see whether some configurations should be modified or refitted."

"Nanshan Automobile Group also has a dedicated modification company. If necessary, we can hand over part of the modification tasks to them."

"And if the African market develops well, we can also consider launching some special vehicles."

Zhu Zhengfeng wants to develop the African market well, and Cao Yang will definitely support him.

So let's take this opportunity to have a good exchange.

……

After seeing Zhu Zhengfeng off, Cao Yang was immediately taken by Mi Ying to listen to Honor Technology’s summary report.

As the most outstanding performer among Nanshan-affiliated companies, Xia Qingqing naturally had to report last year's achievements and then present this year's grand plans.

"Boss Xia, Honor Technology is now the largest technology company in China, and everyone is very satisfied with last year's performance."

"Whether we can stabilize the situation and move to a higher level is the most critical thing."

Cao Yang has roughly looked at Honor Technology’s sales data last year.

The annual mobile phone sales exceeded 2 million units, reaching a historic 2.12 million units. This achievement is absolutely remarkable.

Especially in November and December, sales exceeded 11 million units for two consecutive months, surpassing Samsung to become the world's number one, which was even more difficult.

"Last year, our annual sales exceeded 1.5 trillion yuan. We are striving to break the 2 trillion yuan mark this year and become a new benchmark for Chinese technology companies."

According to the current development plan, Honor Technology will launch a new series of mobile phones this year.

Although it will not be launched until the middle of the year, Xia Qingqing believes that this phone alone will contribute more than 5000 million units of sales to Honor Technology.

By then, if other traditional mobile phones and computers make some efforts, it will not be impossible to increase the turnover by 5000 billion this year.

And with the increase in the number of Honor mobile phones, the various APPs on the Honor mobile phone operating system are becoming more and more abundant.

Apple takes 30% of the revenue from all apps sold in its own store.

This is like an Apple tax.

Honor phones are not that shady, but they are also prepared to charge a 10% fee.

The profits contributed by this part can definitely support Honor Technology to make its mobile phones and computer operating systems better.

For China, it has its own various operating systems, which are also highly used.

After all, the localization rate of various software is still relatively low compared to other products.

"In addition to traditional hardware products, Honor Technology can also appropriately increase its R&D investment in more cutting-edge technologies."

"For example, virtual imaging, human-computer interaction, and various technologies related to life and health, many of which can be combined with Honor mobile phones."

Honor Technology makes a lot of money, but simply making money doesn’t mean that much to Cao Yang.

After all, money is just a matter of numbers for Cao Yang now.

No matter how much he spends, he can't spend that much money.

In this case, it becomes very important to consider the research and development and investment in new technologies.

After all, the direction of choice is more important than working hard itself.

"Mr. Cao, these are very expensive, and the results will be slow after all."

Xia Qingqing felt that there was no problem in developing new technologies, but she had to check with Cao Yang in advance so that he wouldn't have such high expectations in terms of time.

It's normal to take several years to achieve some results.

Otherwise, why are many companies unwilling to engage in such forward-looking research and development?

Because it’s really too expensive.

"As long as the technology has a promising future, there is no need to be afraid to invest."

"In addition to the areas I just mentioned, such as AI technology and other forward-looking technologies, you can communicate with brother companies such as Nanshan Semiconductor, Nanshan Automobile Group and Venusstar Technology to see how we can work together to develop some new technologies."

It is impossible for Cao Yang to come up with all the technologies by himself.

The company has developed to this point and has the ability to independently develop new technologies.

This action has actually been done all the time.

It’s just that Caoyang now pays more attention to it, and it will be the focus of development of Nanshan companies in the next ten years.

After all, whether it is marching to the moon or to Mars, there are so many new technologies that need to be involved.

If we blindly use existing technologies, many goals cannot be achieved.

"No problem, I will set up a special project team to follow up on these matters."

Xia Qingqing stopped hesitating and prepared to roll up her sleeves and get to work.

Honor Technology earns hundreds of billions of RMB a year. Others may not know this number, but she is very clear about it.

It would be a waste if you keep so much money in the account and don't spend some of it.

It is a good opportunity to develop various new technologies to further establish Honor Technology's high-tech image.

It can even participate in some aerospace products of Venusstar Technology, making Honor Technology one of the representatives of China's high-tech.

By then, with Honor Technology in one hand and Venus Technology in the other, no one can ignore the influence of the Nanshan Group in China.

If competitors from other countries want to mess with Nanshan Group’s companies, it would be equivalent to messing with China.

"In the future, relevant departments will tend to prefer domestic brand computers and domestic brand operating systems when purchasing computers."

"This is also a brand new opportunity for Honor Technology. If we can take over this market, then Honor's computer business will definitely be greatly improved."

"You can pay attention to the developments in this area, and even try to promote it."

Cao Yang is still very well-informed.

When he is in this position, even if he doesn't ask himself, some people will take the initiative to tell him some information.

(End of this chapter)