What's wrong with me being a rich man?

Chapter 175
Wang Chuanfu and Yu Xing were halfway through their conversation when he couldn't help but ask a question out of curiosity.

"Mr. Yu, what do you want to do with this conversation?"

"In a narrow sense, I just want to show Baixiaosheng's users how elites in different industries think and practice. In a broad sense, I hope more people can gain something from our conversation." Yu Xing expressed his gratitude again, "Mr. Wang is willing to take the time to accept my visit, I am very grateful."

Although BYD's main selling model now is the F3, its revenue last year reached 277 billion yuan and is expected to exceed 400 billion yuan this year.

Simply comparing the sizes, the target of dialogue No. 3 is more than ten times that of dialogue No. 1, Liu Qiangdong. Of course, different industries cannot be directly compared in this way. The growth rate of the Internet is quite fast, but for Yu Xing, the Bai Xiaosheng he is tinkering with is too small in comparison.

I didn't think I would be able to meet anyone when I called BYD, but I was very happy to see them today.

"You're welcome. I'm not very busy this week." Wang Chuanfu looked at the young man and said honestly, "I just feel that there may be a generation gap between us. You work in the Internet industry, so what else should I talk about?"

"Let's chat casually. We don't have any assumptions. I just want to hear your thoughts." Yu Xing said with a smile, "For example, what do you think of joint venture cars?"

"Joint venture cars are great. They are our role models." Wang Chuanfu said without hesitation, "We will catch up with them after learning and digesting them."

Yu Xing nodded.

Wang Chuanfu saw that the young man did not continue to ask questions, and guessed that the other party wanted him to talk more about this topic, but he also felt that it would be more comfortable to talk about what he was good at, so he continued: "Our domestic market is a big market. For such a large market, there must be brands with good quality and reputation. BYD is moving in this direction, but all of this must be rooted in the development of the domestic industrial chain. I think this is an important significance of joint venture cars."

Yu Xing asked with interest: "What do you mean by that?"

"First of all, you have to know that different joint ventures have different attitudes towards domestic suppliers. One is positive and the other is negative. The negative ones are like BBA. They like to use their T1 in Europe." Wang Chuanfu interrupted, "You know T1, right?"

Yu Xing nodded: "Tier 1 is the first-tier supplier that directly supplies to factories. Tier 2 is the next level and mainly supplies to Tier 1."

Wang Chuanfu smiled and said, "Yes, BBA likes to use European T1s such as Bosch, Freya, and Dekosmier. Toyota likes to use its own or Japanese ones, such as Toyota Boshoku, which provides cabin interior parts, and Denso, which provides air conditioning, fuel management, etc."

"Of course they will build factories in China, which can reduce costs, but domestic factories only have manufacturing rights, and research and development are mainly in their original countries."

"On the positive side, Volkswagen, for example, gave the development rights of models such as Lavida and Phideon to SAIC at its insistence. Although Germany still holds more say, the R&D capabilities of the supply chain are much stronger in China."

"The GM I know is even better. It established Pan Asia with SAIC, giving it not only the right to develop complete vehicles, but also the right to develop new platforms. For example, the very successful GL8 was led by SAIC. This joint venture has greatly boosted our vehicle and parts R&D capabilities."

"If our industrial chain cannot develop, we will not be able to make good cars."

“This is just a matter of exchanging market for technology.”

Wang Chuanfu talked freely.

"What kind of help has the development of this supply chain brought to BYD?" Yu Xing asked.

"As for the support, we are learning and introducing standards, technologies and talents." Wang Chuanfu said this, and suddenly said, "There should be a plan for this in China."

He continued, "For example, United Electronics is a joint venture between SAIC and Bosch of Germany. It mainly develops and manufactures vehicle control modules. Many private automotive electronics companies are now founded by people who came from that company."

"Like HUAYU SAC, which developed the first generation of domestically produced steel-aluminum hybrid body welding technology, and Yanfeng, which makes many parts for the car, is a subsidiary of SAIC HUAYU and has many joint ventures that make interior decoration, seats, and electronic parts..."

"A car has 20,000 to 30,000 parts, and the three major parts are very important, but a good car needs to rely on the development of the entire auto parts supply chain to be manufactured."

"As I said just now, our domestic market is so large, and the introduction and absorption of technology has been ongoing. There should be a strong enough domestic brand. It may be BYD, or it may not be BYD, but we are working hard in this direction."

Yu Xing wrote down the key word "industrial chain" in his mind, and then asked: "Since BBA and Toyota can do that, why do Volkswagen and GM do such a joint venture?"

"The interests of car companies are not unified, they compete with each other." Wang Chuanfu paused and said, "I don't know if there is such a factor, but SAIC has not yet obtained the manufacturing rights of Audi, while FAW obtained it more than ten years ago."

He shook his head and took a sip of tea: "There are benefits and costs, but what I can see is that the progress of the domestic industrial chain is already obvious. The road is tortuous, but the future is bright."

Seeing that the boatman had started talking, Yu Xing also drank a sip of tea and then focused his next questions on the industrial chain.

The two hours of conversation passed in a flash.

When the secretary knocked on the door to remind him of the meeting time, Yu Xing felt a little unsatisfied.

"Mr. Yu, I didn't prepare any manuscripts, and you didn't ask any questions. We talked so much, and I basically just talked about whatever came to my mind." Wang Chuanfu stood up and shook hands. "I was quite long-winded. If you publish it, please be concise."

Yu Xing smiled and said, "The posts on our website don't look like news reports. Besides, Mr. Wang's words today were particularly sincere."

"I'm going to a meeting. Let Xiao Wang take you there." Wang Chuanfu took two steps and greeted the secretary outside.

Yu Xing thanked the boatman again and prepared to leave.

Wang Chuanfu took a few more steps and suddenly asked, "Mr. Yu, you asked so many questions. Are you interested in making cars?"

Yu Xing was stunned for a moment, then shook his head and said, "I still prefer asset-light operations. When I started the company last year, we quickly hired hundreds of people. I felt very tired at the time. This year is much better. It's better to leave the task of making good cars to experienced brands like BYD."

Wang Chuanfu smiled and said, "We have only been making cars for five or six years. When I was making batteries, I never thought of entering this industry."

Yu Xing hesitated for a moment and asked, "Why would Mr. Wang ask me such a question?"

"Because when I was interviewed before, the reporters liked to ask about the future, goals, and revenue the most. Today, you like to ask about the industrial chain and the business and development of companies in different links." Wang Chuanfu joked, "Those manufacturing things are so boring and have never been very popular."

"Well, actually, I was thinking about the story of selling shovels during the conversation. There are many people panning for gold, but the one who gets rich is the one selling shovels." Yu Xing said seriously, "When I have money, I might consider making good shovels."

Wang Chuanfu thought for two seconds and nodded, "Not bad. If there is a chance, Mr. Yu's shovel is welcome to become our T1."

Yu Xing finally shook hands with the boatman and bid farewell to the boss who had been making cars for 6 years.

6...

Yu Xing left BYD's headquarters, and while in the car, he was still thinking about the time mentioned by the boatman. He had always had a special misunderstanding, always thinking that BYD was the car company that had accumulated a lot of experience, but now it has only been six years since BYD started making cars in 2003.

BYD became the world's second largest mobile phone battery manufacturer in 2003, and then chose a battery-related industry and decided to make electric cars. It acquired Qinchuan Company and spent a year to make a "316", but it was canceled the day after the actual car was displayed due to dealers' expectations.

It took more than a year before the BYD F3 rolled off the production line, and 14 units were sold in 10 months.

It has been 3 years since the F4 rolled off the production line.

How could a battery manufacturer dare to make cars? This was probably the most mainstream question at the time.

Yu Xing found this matter particularly interesting.

When he returned to the hotel, he shared with Xiaoying his conversation with the boatman today and talked about the boatman's last question to him.

Liu Wanying's first reaction was: "What do you want to do? Do you also want to cheat a car company for subsidies?"

"Hey, Xiaoying, do you have a misunderstanding about me?" Yu Xing said helplessly, "I shared the latest conversation with you, why are you asking if I'm lying right away? I didn't say I wanted to build a car."

Liu Wanying hesitated for three seconds and asked, "Are you trying to find out about subsidy fraud in the auto industry? Or have you, a know-it-all, found some unusual information?"

"I just have this feeling. I think I can get rich by making some shovels." Yu Xing replied.

"If you want to get rich, then you can slowly sift through the information. If we can make the deal between Sino-Forest and Alibaba this time, our capital will be greatly increased, and we will have strong revenue-generating capabilities when we operate it." Liu Wanying said seriously, "Since you mentioned light asset operation, what else can be more asset-light than this?"

Yu Xing groaned: "Hmm..."

"If you believe Wang Chuanfu's judgment that new energy is the future, or if you have such an expectation yourself, by the way, I see that you are also paying attention to Tesla in the United States." Liu Wanying said, "In this case, what's the point of making shovels? Shouldn't the biggest plus be to also build a car company?"

She is now used to dividing things into two directions, one is short selling at the financial level, and the other is long selling in terms of business operations.

Yu Xing pondered again: "This time..."

But as soon as he uttered these four words, he thought of new energy vehicle companies such as Ideal, NIO, Xpeng, Nezha, and Lingpao, which had not yet appeared at that time.

Liu Wanying didn't know what Boss Yu was thinking, so she expressed her own opinion: "There's a saying that goes, the best time to do something is ten years ago, the second best time is now."

Yu Xing wondered, "Xiaoying, what are you doing? Are you encouraging me to build a car?"

"Of course I object." Liu Wanying said clearly.

Yu Xing was even more puzzled: "Then why did you tell me for so long?"

"From my perspective, I don't think making cars is a good choice," Liu Wanying said frankly. "But if you think this is interesting and you're willing to invest, after we've done a few things, it's not that we can't give it a try. I'm against this thing, but I support you as a person."

"Well, should I thank you? However, I don't seem to be very excited." Yu Xing said with a smile, "Just wait for Paulson to increase its holdings. I will rely on them to spend money."

Liu Wanying mentioned the latest news: "Paulson's footsteps are really getting closer. I saw him mention the companies he is optimistic about on Wall Street, including Sino-Forest."

Yu Xing hopes that Paulson can increase his holdings quickly, as Alibaba is also waiting for news.

After the long phone call was over, he returned to the room, but did not see Zhong Zhiling and Ge Xingwen. He wondered if the two of them had gone out to enjoy the city scenery.

Yu Xing sat at the table, pulled out the hotel's small notebook, took out a pen and wrote a word on it: shovel.

The second word comes next, supply chain.

If you want to make money, you can just rely on investment opportunities without having to go through so much trouble.

Yu Xing is different now. Although he is not as good as the big guys he met before, he can also mobilize some resources initially. As time goes by, these resources will be able to appreciate in value quickly.

He then wrote down a third word: build cars.

Yu Xing examined these three words carefully, and just like his conversation with Xiaoying, he did not feel any excitement in his heart.

After a moment, he suddenly thought of Xiaoying's first reaction, and silently wrote down the fourth word on the paper: subsidy fraud.

Ziliu!

I don’t know why, but I suddenly felt excited.

There is indeed a lot of confusion in the automotive industry, especially before and after the development of new energy. This will inevitably bring a lot of mechanism verification to Bai Xiaosheng, including his former boss Accountant Jia who also got involved.

It would feel great if I could personally help my former boss' career.

Yu Xing circled the last word and unconsciously thought of more things. Subsidy fraud not only happens in China, but also occurs abroad because CATL has occupied the battery market.

A company called BeiDou that is dedicated to the manufacture of automotive batteries has emerged in Europe. It hopes to reduce its dependence on Asian battery companies. It has raised more than $150 billion in seven years and chose to build a factory in a small town in the Arctic Circle in Sweden, saying that there is plenty of sunshine here and that using solar energy can reduce costs and improve competitiveness... The final outcome was that it filed for bankruptcy protection.

The founder of CATL made three comments on this: their design was wrong, their process was wrong, and their equipment was wrong...

When Yu Xing thought about this, he felt that there were so many scammers in the world...

But then a small thought came to my mind. Since it was all a scam, why not let me do it...

No, no, no, I'm doing serious business.

Yu Xing quickly stopped thinking, not realizing that he could do such a thing, and quickly crossed out the words he had written on the paper. But inexplicably, he did become extremely excited.

(End of this chapter)