Chapter 382 The best era of cooperation
"BRONCO is indeed a very classic product of our company and represents Ford's most advanced level in the field of off-road vehicles."
"It has better performance than the Jeep SUV offered by AMC."
Peterson chatted with Jiang Hui for about ten minutes before starting to visit the booths of Nanshan Technology and other companies.
During this visit, he became interested in the 5MT manual transmission of Nanshan Transmission.
"What is the approximate sales price of your 5MT?"
Peterson did not follow Jiang Hui in circles and went directly to the topic.
"This depends on the number of orders, but as long as the annual sales volume can exceed 20,000 units, we can make it more than 300 US dollars per unit."
Jiang Hui knew this was a good opportunity to introduce 5MT manual transmission to Ford vehicles.
The Nanshan gearbox team had contact with people from Ford before, but the progress was not particularly smooth.
Now that the CEO of Ford Motor Co. is coming to visit and communicate, it is natural to promote it well.
In this era, the U.S. transmission market is mainly dominated by Aisin Warner, a joint venture between Japan's Aisin and BorgWarner. Germany's ZF takes a share of some orders, and the rest are some car companies' own transmissions. departments and other companies.
Since Aisin Warner relies on Toyota Motor, it has no worries about lack of sales of its products, so the price cannot be said to be particularly favorable.
Jiang Hui had roughly learned about the other party's supply prices to Ford Motor and General Motors before.
The 5MT, which costs more than 300 US dollars per unit, basically has about a 30% advantage over Aisin Warner.
For Nanshan Gearbox, taking into account various impacts such as export tax rebates, it can actually obtain a profit of more than ten points.
5MT is a stepping stone, so earning less is acceptable.
The next automatic transmission is the focus of the development of Nanshan Transmission.
"If it can really cost more than three hundred dollars per unit, then if there is no performance problem, our procurement center will definitely recommend your 5MT to the R&D center."
Grant, the purchasing director, made a commitment on the spot.
This positive and cooperative attitude was a bit beyond Jiang Hui's expectations.
When did Americans become so easy to talk to?
It seems that the operating pressure faced by Ford Motor is still quite high.
In the United States of this era, workers' treatment was very good, far beyond what Japanese companies could match.
It’s just that the treatment of workers is so good, but the corresponding production costs and production efficiency are not so ideal.
"When I graduated from university, I designed a 4MT manual transmission as the research object of my graduation project. Today, this transmission is the transmission with the largest production volume in China and is used by more than a dozen automobile manufacturers."
"Basically, all Chinese passenger car companies use this product."
“It can be said that it has achieved a very good balance between cost and performance, and there has been no bad feedback from the market in recent years.”
"The 5MT in front of us is developed on the basis of 4MT. The performance has been greatly improved, but the cost has not changed much."
"Compared with the same product from ZF and Aisin Warner, we have achieved a significant cost reduction with the same performance."
Since the other party was interested in using Nanshan gearbox products, Jiang Hui naturally wanted to convey his confidence to them.
The design of Nanshan Transmission's 5MT manual transmission is very mature, and it will not need to make any major improvements in the next few decades.
At most, some efforts should be made in the processing accuracy of materials and parts to maximize its performance.
For such a classic gearbox product, Jiang Hui has great confidence in it.
"Jiang, I have long been known for your design talent. Are you interested in cooperating with Ford to help design a car or off-road vehicle?"
After chatting for a while, Peterson formally mentioned the car exterior design to Jiang Hui.
This can be regarded as the thing that he is most concerned about today.
Peterson is very clear about how important a classic car's appearance is.
Even if American consumers don't mainly look at appearance when buying cars, there is no way to ignore the importance of appearance.
Why was the Kia Motors of Korea able to develop rapidly and seize its own territory in the international market?
It's not because Kia Motors has made great efforts in appearance. In the ten years after 2010, the styling of each model they launched is amazing.
The development history of modern cars is actually similar after entering the 21st century.
If the brand power is not enough, then let industrial aesthetics come together.
As long as the appearance is beautiful enough, it can definitely attract the love of a group of consumers.
Jiang Hui is also ready to let BMW take a good walk on this road.
In the early stage, it relied on appearance to build its reputation, and later on, it slowly worked on safety performance.
When the technology has accumulated to a certain level, you can compete with others in terms of performance data.
At that time, BMW's popularity was completely spread all over the world.
"Peterson, I'm very happy that you recognize my design level, but during this period, BMW is developing two new models at the same time, and I feel like my brain has been hollowed out."
How could Jiang Hui help Ford design new models so easily?
Wouldn’t that be difficult for yourself?
When the time comes, the products designed to compete with BMW will be completely shooting itself in the foot.
Even if you can get some parts orders for Ford after designing a new car, it's not worth it.
At least the current 5MT is not worth it. After all, the United States has begun to fully shift to automatic transmissions.
Most of Ford's models are equipped with 4AT automatic transmissions on a large scale.
After Nanshan Transmission's 4AT is mass-produced, if the other party is still willing to use it on a large scale, then everything will be easy to discuss.
"If you want to sell your new products in the American market, you can also consider cooperating with us at Ford Motor Company."
Peterson originally did not expect Jiang Hui to easily agree to his needs.
So after listening to Jiang Hui's words, he immediately changed his request.
In his view, if BMW can cooperate with General Motors, then there will naturally be no obstacles to cooperation with Ford.
"Of course I am very willing to cooperate with Ford Motor, but you also know that the Buick Forest cooperation case was earlier. General Motors made it clear at that time that they had the priority to cooperate in future projects."
"Unless GM doesn't plan to introduce new models produced by BMW, I may not have any more choices."
Jiang Hui directly put the problem to General Motors. If Peterson can handle General Motors, then Jiang Hui actually has no objection to cooperating with Ford Motor.
After all, Ford is also considered a long-established automobile giant in the United States, and its influence is no worse than that of General Motors.
Next, the two parties communicated for a while and ended the meeting.
As the CEO of Ford Motor, many people in the auto parts exhibition area know Peterson.
Everyone saw that Peterson was so interested in the booths of Nanshan Technology and other Chinese companies, so they naturally joined in the fun and came to take a look.
At this glance, an opportunity may appear.
During the entire parts exhibition, Nanshan Technology and other companies signed orders with several American after-sales chain companies.
Although it is generally not a particularly huge order, it is definitely a good start.
When everyone comes into contact for the first time, it takes a certain amount of time to build a trust process.
After the cooperation started, the order scale was completely different.
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……
"Jiang, let me tell you some good news. Your bellows, battery, and wheel bolts are all going to be used by General Motors on some models."
“It will be officially installed on mass-produced models as soon as next year.”
When people's good luck comes, sometimes it can't be stopped.
Jiang Hui felt that he was very lucky this time he came to the United States.
I gained a lot from the parts exhibition. After that, I went to Detroit to visit several major automobile giants, and the trip went smoothly.
The purchasing directors of several major automobile companies are willing to arrange time to meet with Jiang Hui, which is already remarkable.
Normally, when the CEO of a supplier visits an OEM, he may not necessarily be able to meet his purchasing director.
The key is that the schedule is relatively tight, which makes it even more difficult.
Whether you are the purchasing director of General Motors or Ford Motor Company, your daily work schedule is actually very full.
If you don't make an appointment in advance, it will be extremely difficult to meet someone at short notice.
"General Motors was once the largest automobile company in the world, and I believe it can maintain this position in the future."
"Toyota can rely on Japan's relatively low costs to develop rapidly in the American auto market, and General Motors can also use China's cost-competitive parts to achieve cost reductions."
"At that time, whether it is to provide more benefits to consumers or to improve General Motors' profitability, it will be very beneficial."
When the two parties cooperate, they cannot blindly think that it is charity from the other party, otherwise it will be difficult to cooperate smoothly for a long time.
General Motors took a fancy to China's low production costs, and Jiang Hui took a fancy to General Motors's huge demand. Both sides got what they needed, and there was no need to think that one was superior to the other.
At least that's what Jiang Hui felt in his heart.
And it was precisely because of Jiang Hui's confident attitude that Austin gave him a high look.
After all, in recent years, there have been many people who respected Austin, the design director of General Motors, but there were relatively few people like Jiang Hui.
"Buick Forest has been on sale for several months. If there are no obvious problems within a year, then General Motors will increase the pace of importing auto parts from China."
“Not only your bellows, fixed calipers, and bolts will be used, but we can also consider wheel bearings.”
When Austin mentioned the wheel bearing, he smiled meaningfully at Jiang Hui.
When Jiang Hui sold the wheel hub bearing patent, he helped a lot.
Strictly speaking, Jiang Hui's real capital was obtained from the sale of wheel bearing patents.
At that time, Jiang Hui only sold the patents outside China and allowed BMW Technology to produce the same type of products in China.
Now using the wheel bearings produced by Nanshan Technology in China and exporting them to the American market, whether it is considered a violation of the original agreement is a matter of debate.
After all, when the contract was signed, Jiang Hui stated that Chinese companies could produce wheel hub bearings locally. As for whether they would be sold locally, he did not mention it at all.
"Compared with the first-generation split wheel hub bearings, the integrated wheel hub bearings now produced by NTN and Timken have achieved a certain reduction in cost and significant improvement in performance."
"But in fact, the cost of wheel hub bearings can be reduced a lot. After all, the structure of this part is not as complicated as everyone imagines."
There is no other way. If Nanshan Technology wants to enter the international market, it will definitely have to start a price war at the beginning.
Otherwise, why would anyone use you?
Unless you can produce products that others cannot produce, you can earn profits that far exceed those of your peers.
For example, the intercontinental ballistic missile launch vehicle produced by the Polytechnic Special Vehicle Factory has an extraordinary profit margin.
"I am very confident in Nanshan Technology. If you can make wheel hub bearings and other bearings well, then Nanshan Gearbox can improve the quality of the gearbox, and we will have a lot more confidence."
"General Motors sells our products all over the world, and our factories are not just in the United States."
“The potential for cooperation between our two parties is huge.”
"After I came back from my last exchange with BMW, I specifically reported to President Murphy about the off-road vehicles and pickup trucks you are developing."
"When it goes on the market next year, our cooperation will be even closer."
Austin is not here to do charity. He has such a good attitude towards Jiang Hui and actively cooperates with BMW. Naturally, it is not for friendship, but for profit.
Buick Forest can now provide General Motors with more than 10 million US dollars in profits every month. If the next two cars can perform similarly, it will contribute hundreds of millions of dollars in profits a year.
Even for General Motors, which has deep pockets, this is something that cannot be ignored.
After all, this was hundreds of millions of dollars in 1985.
"Nanshan Technology, Nanshan Transmission and Beiping Battery Factory and other supporting factories are auto parts manufacturers with the highest technology and management levels in China. The products they provide will definitely not disappoint General Motors."
"Of course, in order to better improve the quality of parts and processing accuracy, we will increase the purchase of high-precision machine tools in the future. We also hope that Austin can help recommend some good machine tool manufacturers to cooperate with us."
This is the best era of cooperation. In a few years, it will not be so easy for China to import high-precision machine tools from the United States.
Especially when the weakened state of the polar bear is revealed in front of everyone, even if it has not yet fallen, the attitude of the United States will immediately begin to change.
When you are the boss, you always need to set up an opponent for yourself, so that the younger brothers can better surround you.
(End of chapter)