Go back in time and be a chaebol

Chapter 1353 Thank you Big Brother for your sponsorship (First update, please subscribe)
What about us?

After Zhang Sen left, Wang Yunjie, the general manager of Volkswagen, looked out through the thick glass window opposite his desk. In the distance was the vast Pacific Ocean!
He was completely silent.

At this time, it was dusk in Dongning's central business district. There was a sea of ​​lights around the Volkswagen Building. The lights of the tall buildings had been turned on. However, after eight o'clock in the evening, these lights would be turned off. Sometimes, public opinion would judge whether a company affected its employees' fulfillment of their national obligations based on the lights of the building.

Here, the national duty is to have children. There is a kind of "paranoid" enthusiasm for having children. Most NBC people are shouldering the political and historical mission to reproduce. Having children is a "supplement" and "blood transfusion" for the insufficient population.

Coupled with the traditional view that having many children means more blessings, people here like to have children. The state's advocacy, folk traditions, and public opinion supervision have made the fertility rate extremely impressive.

Even Wang Yunjie's daughter, who is still in junior high school, has set her life goal early on: to have 6 children!
Of course, Wang Yunjie doesn't care about this. He will get off work after eight o'clock, go home, take a hot bath, watch TV and read newspapers with his wife and children, and enjoy the beauty of life.

However, today Wang Yunjie was a little uneasy and gently turned on the desk lamp.

At this time, Miss Hannah came back, put the report he needed on his desk, then stepped back to the wall, opened the door and left the office.

This report is from NBC Automotive's participation in the Le Mans race.

The Le Mans race, also known as the "24 Hours of Le Mans", is known as the most grueling individual event - three drivers form a crew, driving a racing car, and completing 3 consecutive hours of competition!

Held every June in the small French city of Le Mans, it is the most famous automobile race in the world.

And NBC... participated in the competition in 51.

The first to join the competition was Porsche!

Looking through the report, Wang Yunjie thought for a while, then leaned forward and pressed the switch of the intercom again.

"Please tell Mr. Laiside from the Overseas Marketing Department to come see me, Miss Hannah."

What do workers hate the most?

The most annoying thing is getting called by the boss just when you are about to get off work!
This is common to all workers in the world.

However, although he hated it, after receiving the call, Lai Side still left the office and took the elevator to the top floor.

Hannah, who was sitting outside the general manager's office, greeted Lai Side warmly when she saw him. They were both of German descent.

"Hannah, do you know what the boss wants to see me about?"

"Who knows? But he just found some information about Le Mans."

Le Mans!

After receiving this news from Hannah, Lai Side raised his brows slightly and muttered to himself.

"Is the general manager going to Le Mans?"

At this time, Hannah had already contacted the house through the intercom on the table.

When the intercom broke the silence in the office, Wang Yunjie turned around.

"Minister Lai is here, General Manager."

He walked across the room, approached the switch on the wall, turned on the main light in the room, then Wang Yunjie walked to the table and pressed the switch of the intercom.

"Let him in, Miss Hannah."

There are generally three reasons why middle-level employees have the opportunity to be summoned to this office on the 38th floor: the first is to listen to the instructions from the general manager, or to make a report that he personally wants to hear, in which case they are discussing business; the second is to be scolded endlessly by him, in which case this place is hell; the third is that the general manager decides to encourage his subordinates whom he has personally cultivated, and most people desire this.

Laiside walked to the door. He was a 39-year-old mid-level employee who was competent and capable at his job, and he needed it. Now he knew clearly that the first of the three reasons had brought him there.

Wang Yunjie walked up to him with a smile from the middle of the office.

"Ah, come in, Laiside, please come in."

As Laiside approached the room, Miss Hannah closed the door behind him and returned to sit down at her desk.

Wang Yunjie gestured to the employee to sit on a chair. Then he asked directly:
“Do you know the Le Mans race?”

It is not popular for people at NBC to beat around the bush in their conversations, because Li Yian has said more than once that this is hypocritical. If an official reports a problem in a roundabout way, there is only one result waiting for him, which is demotion.

The same is true in the company.

Gradually, the kind of beating around the bush that Tangshan people are used to has disappeared from NBC. People speak directly, instead of using false courtesy to cover up or let others speculate. "There is some understanding."

Lai Side said directly:
"Le Mans is different from other races. Soon after the invention of the car, around the 1900s, especially with the start of the Grand Prix of the Automobile Club of France in 1906, the "Grand Prix" became the main form of racing in European countries. The so-called Grand Prix means the fastest one wins. To be more specific, it's about who is faster!
When the 1923 Hours of Le Mans race came along in 24, the rules showed that the original intention of the 24 Hours of Le Mans was not to focus on the ability of car companies to build the fastest machines, but on the ability of manufacturers to build sporty and reliable cars. This was made clear from the initial rule that only production cars with more than 30 units could participate.

Glancing at the general manager, Lai Side continued:

“Because endurance racing requires the car to stay in the pit as short as possible, it has extremely high requirements for fuel consumption and car durability. It is for this reason that the Le Mans race is taken seriously by major car manufacturers. The Le Mans 24 Hours Endurance Race is actually a test of car manufacturing capabilities!

Winning the competition here means that our car manufacturing ability is the best!"

When saying the word "best", Lai Side emphasized the tone.

"That's why Porsche, Alfa Romeo and now BMW are trying to win Le Mans, because we are the second largest car manufacturer in the world, but at Le Mans we are still a nobody."

"You're absolutely right."

Wang Yunjie said,
"You know, although we don't care about first or second place, Le Mans is recognized as the race that best reflects the performance of cars. In the past, I didn't think we needed to participate in such a race. After all, we make cars that can meet people's needs. As for the competition, let Alfa Romeo, Porsche, and BMW work hard, but we can't just be satisfied with being a 'grocery car'."

When saying the three words "grocery cart", Wang Yunjie paused slightly.

"A grocery shopping car - this is how the world positions Volkswagen, an excellent family car that is fuel-efficient, durable and spacious.

Such a car is simply...perfect!

The perfect grocery cart!

This also means that the "Volkswagen" will always be just a "grocery shopping car"

Then Wang Yunjie said:

"This is our success. We have successfully opened up our market all over the world, and our cars have also left this impression on the world, but..."

Staring at Lai Side, Wang Yunjie said:

"But how can we be satisfied with this? When people mention luxury cars, they say BMW; when they mention sports cars, they say Porsche; when they mention performance cars, they mention Alfa. What about our Volkswagen? It's just a grocery car, just like Wuling and Rongguang, they are all the same, just a grocery car!"

Although the "grocery cart" is a success for Volkswagen, Wang Yunjie knows that it also restricts Volkswagen's development. As the manager of the company, he is not willing to be just a "grocery cart."

Lai Side asked: "Manager, what do you mean?"

"Le Mans!"

Wang Yunjie said:
"We want to enter Le Mans. After all, Ford is also competing in Le Mans. We want to prove ourselves on the Le Mans track like them and beat the European manufacturers."

In fact, Ford's entry into Le Mans was completely stimulated. For Ford, who was now at the peak of his career, he originally wanted to acquire Ferrari. However, not only was he rejected by Ferrari, but Ford II was also ridiculed as just "Ford II" instead of "Ford". Faced with such ridicule, the stimulated "Ford II" immediately came up with the idea of ​​defeating Ferrari in Le Mans. In the past few years, they have been developing new sports cars.

Of course, this is not what Wang Yunjie cares about. Now, he cares about his own people.

"So, Minister Lai, do you have any suggestions?"

Wang Yunjie continued,
"I know you are very familiar with overseas markets and you are also an expert in racing, so I want to know what we need to prepare if we want to enter Le Mans?"

Facing the general manager's inquiry, Lai Side thought for a moment and replied:
"General Manager, this is simple, we need money!"

Looking at the general manager, Lai Side spoke in the most straightforward language.

"If we want to win Le Mans, we need to have sufficient funds, we need to have the funds to find the best car engineers and the best racing drivers. As long as we have the funds, everything will be fine."

Sometimes things are just that simple, just having money is enough!
In fact, this is the truest side of the world. No matter what you want to do, as long as you have enough funds and enough money, then everything will be fine.

“Sufficient funds.”

Faced with this answer, Wang Yunjie fell into silence and did not give an answer immediately. However, after thinking for a while, he said:

"Funding is not a problem. After all, the business between us and the Russians this time made us earn hundreds of millions of yuan. Hmm..."

Wang Yunjie smiled:

"So we have enough funds to prepare all this. Thanks to Big Brother for the sponsorship!"

(End of this chapter)