Chapter 307 The sudden rise of Peugeot in Yangcheng
The influence of the automobile industry is great.
No matter which province or city you are in, you all hope to have a powerful automobile factory in your jurisdiction.
There are now more than ten famous automobile factories in China, including FAW, Second Automobile Works, Capital Automobile Factory, Shanghai Automobile Factory, and Jinling Automobile Factory.
Unknown to the public, there are dozens or even hundreds of factories such as Southwest Light Vehicle Company and Capital Station Wagon Factory.
As the Yangcheng Automobile Manufacturing Factory, which is somewhere between well-known and unknown factories, it is natural that it also has some ideas.
In 1969, Yangcheng Automobile Manufacturing Plant launched the "Hongwei" brand truck, but because it could not compete with the "Jiefang" brand trucks of FAW and the "Dongfeng" brand trucks of the Second Automobile Works, it had to stop production in 1979. 10 The total annual output is only about 10,000 vehicles.
In combination with the policy changes of the First Machinery Department, the person in charge of the Yangcheng Automobile Factory, who was eager to get out of the predicament, proposed the idea of producing cars.
But in the 1970s and 1980s, the industrial base of Yangcheng was far behind that of other large cities such as the capital, Shanghai, and Spring City.
Cement must be imported, not to mention other industrial materials.
With no technology, no capital, and no talent, how easy is it to mass-produce cars?
At this time, the French Peugeot Automobile Company came into the sight of the Yangcheng Automobile Factory. The two parties reached an agreement on the production of light trucks, and the situation changed.
After the news of the establishment of Shanghai Volkswagen spread, the Yangcheng Automobile Manufacturing Plant also accelerated its negotiations with Peugeot France. Finally, in April this year, the two parties successfully signed a joint venture contract. .
Yangcheng Peugeot, originally the third joint venture car company in China, appeared in advance.
Many people may not have much impression of Yangcheng Peugeot, but in fact, it once had its glory days.
As the earliest French joint venture brand to enter the Chinese automobile market, Peugeot once dominated the Chinese market, and its popularity and influence are no less than those of Audi and Mercedes-Benz today.
However, the history of Yangcheng Peugeot is full of twists and challenges, from its establishment to its final bankruptcy and reorganization, showing the ups and downs and lessons of a brand in the market.
So when Chen Chenxing reported to Jiang Hui that China's second automobile joint venture had appeared in Yangcheng, Jiang Hui took it very seriously.
“Have the Yangcheng Automobile Factory and Peugeot decided on the first model to be mass-produced?”
Yangcheng Peugeot has happened in history, but now it is just a little ahead of schedule. Jiang Hui was not particularly surprised when he heard the news.
Shanghai Volkswagen has been established in advance, and it is normal for Yangcheng Peugeot to appear in advance.
"Master, I asked the No. 1 Machinery Department to find out that Yangcheng Peugeot has not yet obtained the qualification to produce cars, so the first mass-produced car is likely to be the Peugeot 504 pickup truck."
"I estimate that the main task of Yangcheng Peugeot and even the local area in Yangcheng in the future is to communicate closely with the No. 1 Machinery Department and other relevant departments to see if they can obtain car production qualifications."
Chen Chenxing is no longer that No. 1 machine department. A startled young man.
After receiving the news about the establishment of Yangcheng Peugeot, he immediately tried his best to inquire about the relevant information.
Otherwise, the Peugeot 504 pickup truck has not yet started production, and Yangcheng Peugeot has not announced this information to the outside world. How could he easily obtain this information?
“If they can’t obtain the qualification to produce cars as soon as possible and just produce pickup trucks, they probably won’t have much development prospects in China.”
Although pickup trucks are very popular in the American market, there are even many Pickup trucks have been a regular fixture on the U.S. auto sales list since 2007.
But the situation here in China is different.
In front of the trucks of FAW and Second Automobile Works, and under the attack of vans like the BMW Light, there is simply not much room for pickup trucks to survive.
Especially in China, pickup trucks are managed as trucks, which further affects the development of pickup truck models.
As for the Peugeot 504 pickup truck, if it can sell 100 units in a month, it is considered good.
Of course, even if they are producing cars and they mainly assemble them through CKD, they will not be able to sell a few thousand cars a year.
The output of automobile factories in this era is completely incomparable to the annual output of hundreds of thousands or even millions of vehicles in later generations.
“Yes, I think so too, so it is inevitable that Peugeot will produce cars in Yangcheng. I think it will happen within the next three years.”
Chen Chenxing gave a very specific judgment.
He does not have the divine perspective like Jiang Hui. He was able to draw this conclusion based on comprehensive information from all aspects.
“Yangcheng Automobile Factory has produced 10,000 trucks before, and it has formed a certain supporting capability in the Pearl River Delta region.”
“We can also make use of this industry chain. , see if we can find some supporting factories to produce parts for our BMW Light.”
“Our output will definitely continue to set new records in the future, and most of the parts will only be produced by one supporting factory. It’s not enough.”
"The best thing is to have an AB point. This will be very beneficial to promoting the supplier's technology improvement and price reduction, and it will also be of great help to our stable supply."
Although for supporting factories , it is very annoying for OEMs to do AB points, but the effect is really great.
Jiang Hui definitely wants to promote this approach within BMW.
Especially now that the production capacity of various supporting factories in the country is very limited. Simply placing all output on one factory is really risky.
There are so many parts on a car. As long as the supply of one part cannot be guaranteed, the car will not be able to go offline.
"This is indeed a direction worth working towards. The strength of the Yangcheng Automobile Manufacturing Plant is not very strong, but it is better than us cultivating the supply chain from scratch."
"But there are many companies popping up in the south. Among small private workshops, it is said that some workshops directly invite engineers from large state-owned factories to provide guidance on technology and production on weekends or after get off work.” Very low.”
“I think we can contact these factories in the future to see which ones are worthy of support.”
Chen Chenxing made a suggestion from another dimension.
"It's okay to give it a try, but there is still a gap between the strength of these factories and state-owned enterprises in a short period of time."
"Especially in terms of investment in production equipment, this gap cannot be made up so quickly."
“But it’s not impossible to maintain contact and hand over some relatively low-complexity parts to them for production.”
China’s private auto parts companies will basically not be established until after 2000. Started to grow and develop.
In 1983, their influence was basically negligible.
However, there is no problem in maintaining appropriate attention. It is certainly possible to even support some relatively promising manufacturers so that everyone can develop together.
After all, no matter how powerful a BMW car is, it is impossible to make all its parts by itself, and there is no need to make all its parts by itself.
As long as you have the core parts in your own hands, that's enough.
......
As for the establishment of the Yangcheng logo, BMW is only paying attention to it for the time being, but the Shanghai Automobile Manufacturing Factory is different.
As the first automobile joint venture in China, Shanghai Automobile Manufacturing Plant maintains a high degree of attention to the emergence of any other joint venture automobile companies.
"Lao Wang, when did the Yangcheng Automobile Manufacturing Factory get involved with the French Peugeot Automobile?"
"I didn't hear any news before." Yu Jin was not in a good mood. .
With one more joint venture car company, Shanghai Volkswagen will have one more competitor.
In the global market, Peugeot is not much weaker than Volkswagen.
Volkswagen of this era was not as awesome as later generations.
Although Santana is selling very well now, Peugeot also has some models that are not inferior to Santana at all.
For example, the Peugeot 505 has better global sales than the Santana prototype Passat.
If Yangcheng Peugeot introduces the Peugeot 505, it will definitely have a great impact on the development of Santana.
Shanghai Automobile Manufacturing Plant is now vigorously promoting the localization of Santana, hoping to significantly increase the output of Shanghai Volkswagen and contribute to the development of Shanghai's automobile industry.
It would be difficult to accept if Yangcheng Peugeot disrupts the pace of development.
“I only learned about the cooperation between Yangcheng Automobile Manufacturing Plant and Peugeot France after seeing the news.”
“It is estimated that the previous contact between the two parties was relatively low-key. In addition, the Yangcheng Automobile Manufacturing Plant is in The domestic presence is not very high, and our attention has always been on FAW, Second Automobile Works and Capital Automobile Manufacturing Plant."
Wang Huiliang can naturally understand why Yu Jin is so upset.
The launch of Santana has made the life of Shanghai Automobile Manufacturing Factory much better.
Although the monthly production quantity is small, the sales price is high and the profit is huge.
Relying on the production of thousands of Santanas every year, the operating conditions of Shanghai Automobile Manufacturing Plant are much better than last year.
Now this situation may be damaged, and everyone is naturally nervous.
“Go and inquire and see what models Yangcheng Peugeot plans to introduce and when they plan to mass-produce and sell them.”
"There is a high probability that the other party will assemble models through CKD first in order to quickly seize the market. This is very detrimental to us."
At this time, Yu Jin must do something and cannot let it go. The development of Peugeot in Yangcheng.
However, before he understands the situation, what he can do is very limited.
As the big brother of China's automobile industry, the situation at FAW is different.
The speed at which people obtain information in the industry is obviously faster than that of local car companies such as Shanghai Automobile.
"Director, although Yangcheng Peugeot has been established, they have not obtained the qualifications to produce cars at all and will not pose any threat to the development of our FAW Audi."
Zhao Guangming reported to Geng Weidong with certainty. Looking at this hot event in China's automobile industry, there was no look of panic on his face.
As the big brother, FAW is not just a car manufacturer. It can influence industry policies.
As long as FAW feels that the development of Yangcheng Peugeot poses a threat to itself, it can suppress the other party through some policy means.
This is a capability that ordinary car companies do not have.
When FAW entered into a joint venture with Volkswagen in later generations, it was able to maintain a relatively strong position, and even its shares exceeded the 50% requirement for general joint venture car companies. It was all because of this reason.
"No qualifications for car production?"
"Then what models do they produce?"
Geng Weidong did not expect that Zhao Guangming would bring such news to him.
According to his understanding, Yangcheng Automobile Manufacturing Plant has had ten years of unsuccessful experience in trucks and should not choose this field.
Now the First Ministry of Machinery encourages various automobile factories to enter the production of cars. It is most appropriate for the joint venture company to first choose to produce cars.
“Pickup trucks, they will first introduce the Peugeot 504 pickup truck model.”
“Since pickup trucks are managed as trucks, Yangcheng Automobile Manufacturing Plant has the qualifications in this regard.”
“If you want to produce cars in the future, you need to apply for car qualifications from relevant departments.”
After Zhao Guangming explained this, Geng Weidong basically understood.
In order to set up the joint venture as soon as possible, the Yangcheng Automobile Manufacturing Factory couldn't wait to go to the relevant departments to obtain the qualifications for car production, so it couldn't wait to announce that the two parties had established a joint venture.
But if you think about it from the other party's perspective, Geng Weidong also feels that he can understand it.
At this time, there were no car factories that could produce in Yangcheng City or even in Lingnan Province.
Compared with the capital, Shanghai and other places, the development level of the automobile industry in the entire province still lags far behind.
In the context of reform and opening up, Yangcheng definitely hopes to improve its economy.
The automobile industry is an important area that drives the economy, and everyone wants to do it well.
A car can easily cost tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands.
As long as there is an output of 10,000 vehicles, there will basically be a direct output value of several hundred million, or even more than one billion.
With the impact on the entire industry chain, the output value has increased by billions.
In an era when the per capita monthly income is only a few tens of yuan, an output value of several billion is something that cannot be ignored anywhere.
During this period in China, the annual output value of most cities and counties was less than a few billion.
You can imagine how powerful a large automobile factory is in attracting local people.
It is normal for the Yangcheng Automobile Manufacturing Factory to eagerly enter into a joint venture with Peugeot of France and introduce the other party's models.
“You specifically ask people to find out what Peugeot’s best-selling cars are and whether they compete with Audi’s models.”
“If Yangcheng Peugeot produces Peugeot cars, it will give FAW Audi's development poses a threat, so find a way to let them obtain car production qualifications later."
Geng Weidong knew that this was not the time to be merciful.
The main growth point of FAW is now on FAW Audi. If it fails by then, Geng Weidong feels that the position under his butt will be unstable.
This is absolutely unacceptable.
It is not easy for Yangcheng Peugeot to stand out from the crowd.
(End of this chapter)