Chapter 287 Shanghai Volkswagen arrived early, and FAW was anxious
“Lao Wang, the sedans from the Capital Automobile Manufacturing Plant will be on sale within this year.”
“Jiang Hui’s side has also formed a We have established a dedicated team to develop new models for BMW.”
“The domestic automobile market will definitely undergo great changes, and the competitiveness of our Shanghai-branded cars will no longer be maintained. . ”
As the director of Shanghai Automobile, Yu Jin is under a lot of pressure.
For a long time, Shanghai brand cars have been the most produced cars in China.
The cars used by leaders of many units and taxi drivers are Shanghai brand cars.
For a long time, Shanghai-brand cars have been a symbol of the Chinese car industry.
When FAW's "Hongqi", as the mount of relevant leaders, was shrouded in mystery in the hearts of the people, "Shanghai" became a China's car closest to people's lives.
At that time, many companies in Shanghai collaborated, through technological transformation and research, to continuously improve the production process and assembly, complete the production of complete sets of stamping dies, and put an end to the backward production method of relying on manual hammering of car bodies.
If this flagship product is suppressed, the operating conditions of Shanghai automobile manufacturing plants will suddenly become serious.
"Director, our joint venture negotiations with Volkswagen have clearly discussed most of the differences. Both parties have made some concessions, and further results will be available soon."
"When the time comes, we will import advanced sedan products directly from Volkswagen, and there will be no need to worry about the influence of Capital Automobile Manufacturing Plant and BMW."
Wang Huiliang, as Director of Shanghai Automotive Design Department , has now been promoted to deputy factory director, and also serves as the director of the design department.
He admired the new BJ212 designed by Jiang Hui, but in terms of the technical level of the car, he felt that even if Jiang Hui took action, it would not be better than Volkswagen's mature products.
“Volkswagen’s requirement is to import parts from Germany in the early stages of the cooperation and assemble their Santana models on our production line for Shanghai brand cars.”
“This will definitely lead to our Shanghai The production of branded cars will be affected, and a lot of foreign exchange will be consumed. The First Machinery Department may not approve it.”
Yu Jin is still a little confused about the current cooperation plan.
He himself is very aware of the strength of Shanghai Automobile.
They have no way to independently develop a new competitive product, whether it is a car or an off-road vehicle, he has no confidence.
Wang Huiliang, who is also the director of the design department, has already explained this to him.
In order to avoid half-finishing the project and spending the funds, but there is no way to produce results, the best way is not to bother.
But in the face of changes in the domestic automobile market, if there are no new products, it will definitely not work.
The sales volume of Hushang brand cars is declining every month. After the cars from the Capital Automobile Manufacturing Plant are put on sale in the future, the sales volume of Hushang brand cars is expected to be even lower.
This is definitely not the situation Yu Jin wants to see.
Therefore, cooperation with international automobile giants is an inevitable choice.
Because of the emergence of a large number of imported cars in the past two years, many people have realized that the quality and ride comfort of foreign cars are much higher than domestic ones.
People would rather spend high prices to buy imported cars than domestically produced Shanghai-branded cars.
“I think these two problems are actually not particularly big problems.”
“The current sales volume of Shanghai-brand cars is not very good. When the Santana is produced, it will definitely be even better. Few people would consider buying a Shanghai-branded car.”
"So taking the opportunity of cooperating with Volkswagen to change the production line of Shanghai brand cars to the production of Santana, it is actually an asset reuse and it saves money for the factory."
"As for spending foreign exchange from Deutschland I think it is acceptable to import parts as long as we make it clear to the First Machinery Department and other relevant departments that this is only a temporary measure.” We can use foreign exchange to import parts.”
“Besides, we can definitely formulate a plan for the localization of Santana sedans and strive to gradually increase the proportion of localization starting from the second day of mass production and reduce the consumption of foreign exchange. "
Wang Huiliang said this, and Yu Jin thought it made sense.
As long as explanations are done well, these changes are not unacceptable.
"Then we will have another meeting with Volkswagen to discuss it as soon as possible, finalize all the contents, and then formally report to the relevant departments and formally sign the cooperation agreement."
Time is running out. Waiting for others, seeing that the new sedan of Capital Automobile Manufacturing Plant will be launched this year, the sales volume of Shanghai-branded sedans will definitely be even worse.
If we quickly cooperate with Volkswagen now, Santana can be assembled using imported parts next year, which will definitely greatly improve the operating conditions of Shanghai Automobile.
After the decision was made, Shanghai Automobile took action quickly.
On August 22, 1982, under the witness of relevant departments, Shanghai Automotive officially signed a joint venture contract with Volkswagen Group.
The two parties formed a 50:50 joint venture to introduce internationally advanced models from Volkswagen and make full use of Shanghai Automobile's existing production lines to produce cars.
In the future, both parties will build a new factory to promote the introduction of more models.
This process is several years faster than in history.
The title of the first automobile joint venture in China has finally fallen to Shanghai Automobile.
The impact of this incident on the domestic automobile industry is quite large.
"Old Zhao, hasn't Volkswagen been negotiating with us all the time? Why did it suddenly sign a contract with Shanghai Automobile?" "Shanghai Automobile is at a lower level than us and cannot mobilize as many resources as we do. Don’t they know?”
When Geng Weidong heard the news that Shanghai Automobile had signed a contract with Volkswagen, his face became ugly.
In the domestic automobile industry, many people know that FAW is negotiating cooperation with Volkswagen. Even Geng Weidong himself has been to Stuttgart twice to discuss cooperation plans with Volkswagen.
Judging from past exchanges, Geng Weidong feels that although the two sides have some differences, they both have the intention to cooperate.
In this case, Volkswagen suddenly cooperated with Shanghai Automobile. He felt that he was being manipulated by both Volkswagen and Shanghai Automobile.
In state-owned enterprises, sometimes face is very important.
For the sake of face, sacrificing some practical interests is something that can be considered.
“Shanghai Automobile’s requirements for share ratio are not that high, and they are willing to form a 50:50 joint venture with them.”
"But when we were negotiating with Volkswagen before, we hoped to form a joint venture in which we hold 60% of the shares and they hold 40% of the shares."
"In this way, the say in the joint venture is in our hands. "
When Zhao Guangming said this, Geng Weidong became even more angry.
Obviously the conditions they insisted on were good for China, but Shanghai Automobile gave up first.
As a result, FAW is very passive.
"Volkswagen's competition in the domestic automobile market is not that prosperous, especially in the past few years when Japanese car companies such as Toyota and Honda have continued to enter the international market. Volkswagen's life should be relatively difficult."< br>
“We in China have the largest population in the world. We are now in a state of reform and the economy is developing rapidly. The prospects are worth looking forward to.”
“They must also be aware of this. , so we are more active in discussing cooperation with domestic manufacturers.”
“When you are negotiating with the other party, you can emphasize our FAW’s domestic influence with them.”
“We are not a simple company, we can also formulate and influence policies in the automotive industry.”
"If Volkswagen wants to achieve rapid development in China, it cannot do without cooperation with us."
When Geng Weidong said this, he was quite confident.
Many domestic experts who formulate automobile industry policies are from FAW or have various connections with FAW.
If they want to impose a policy on a certain car company, it is entirely possible to do so.
Of course, it would not be good if you do this kind of thing too much.
"Well, I will immediately make an appointment to communicate with the other party."
"Although Volkswagen cooperates with Shanghai Automobile, they currently only produce Santana."
"We previously cooperated with Volkswagen The exchange there is more about the introduction of Audi brand models to provide assistance for the upgrading of our Hongqi sedan.”
“By then, Volkswagen will be able to cooperate with Shanghai Automobile and us at the same time. . ”
Zhao Guangming knows that there is no way to stop the cooperation between Volkswagen and Shanghai Automobile.
Then we can only promote Volkswagen to cooperate with FAW at the same time.
Just like this, it is equivalent to Volkswagen having two partners in China, and a lot of the right to speak is in the hands of Volkswagen.
After all, there will definitely be competition between FAW and Shanghai Automobile, and there will be some concessions in terms of conditions in order to win the introduction of some Volkswagen models.
“This is the only way we can do it. We are already one step behind and we must find a way to catch up as soon as possible.”
“The First Ministry of Machinery is now encouraging the development of the car industry. The Capital Automobile Manufacturing Plant and Shanghai We got into the car and started moving.”
"It is said that the Second Automobile Group Co., Ltd. is also communicating with French car companies, and they probably want to discuss cooperation."
"In this case, some of our terms can also be selectively lowered. Decide on the cooperation project as soon as possible.”
The situation is stronger than the people, and the establishment of Shanghai Volkswagen has made FAW become anxious.
As the eldest son of China's automobile industry, it would be very embarrassing if he was surpassed by Capital Automobile Factory and Shanghai Automobile in succession
Geng Weidong will definitely not be able to accept this situation. It is also something that will affect his future.
"No problem, our cooperation with Volkswagen will definitely be finalized within this year!"
Zhao Guangming can be regarded as issuing a military order.
As the deputy director, he can naturally feel the pressure that FAW is facing now.
Now is not the time to blame each other.
(End of this chapter)