Rebirth of the Industrial Tycoon

Before noon, Wang Jiuyang was already yawning, and his dark circles seemed to be telling Li Weidong that he hadn't slept all night.

The freshly brewed Pu'er is very strong, refreshing you. Li Weidong handed over a cup of tea.

Thank you, I just need this. Wang Jiuyang took a sip from his teacup, and then said, I stayed up late to watch the World Cup these two days. I really didn't expect Croatia to enter the finals. They only have a population of more than four million! Let's see Look at us, more than one billion people can't make up eleven who can play football.

Li Weidong replied: The Chinese Super League has been very popular in recent years, and many world-class big-name players have been introduced. Maybe Ronaldo and Messi will come to make money when they grow old!

You said it all, the stars are here to make money, how many of them really want to play football? Relying on them, Chinese football will never develop! Wang Jiuyang sighed.

Now there are too many entertainment items, such as mobile phones, games, and film and television. Young people don't play football much anymore! There is no reserve talent, and it is normal to be more and more stretched! Li Weidong said.

It's true, our country really doesn't have that kind of atmosphere. If you look at Europe, you can find several football teams in any small town. A city with tens of thousands of people can have a football team to play in the Champions League.

Wang Jiuyang shook his head helplessly, and then said: Sometimes I wonder, if I have a grandson in the future, I will send him to play football in Europe, maybe I can also cultivate a Chinese Messi!

I suggest you let him study hard, playing football is too risky. Li Weidong said with a smile.

Sports, how can there be no injuries! Besides, for boys, bumps and bumps are normal. I used to run around the streets when I was a child, and I would fall and eat shit from time to time! Wang Jiuyang said.

I'm not referring to physical injuries. After all, football is a competitive sport. You have to play very well to have a future. If you don't play well, you may not even have a job.

Li Weidong paused, and then said: If you play very well, there are risks. There are too many temptations. If you can't hold it, it's easy to get in.

Wang Jiuyang was stunned, and didn't understand what Li Weidong meant at the first time.

Li Weidong said with a smile: Anyway, playing football in China is a high-risk occupation. If you don't play well, you won't get enough food. If you play too well, you will be jailed!

Uh... Wang Jiuyang finally understood and was speechless.

I took another sip of strong tea into my mouth,

Wang Jiuyang became much more energetic, and then talked about the main topic: In the past few years, online transactions on the Internet have developed too rapidly, and the online transactions of our products have surpassed offline transactions.

We sell small home appliances, which don't involve handling and installation like big appliances, and are indeed more suitable for the online model. Li Weidong said.

So I think we can reduce the scale of offline channels and focus on online channels. Next, I plan to expand the warehouse layout, which can speed up logistics, reduce logistics costs, and allow online consumers to have a better experience.

After Wang Jiuyang finished speaking, he picked up another document and said: It is almost confirmed that the United States will increase tariffs on Chinese products, which will most likely include our small household appliances, kitchen appliances and beauty equipment.

The Ministry of Strategy estimates that the U.S. tariffs on small household appliances and kitchen appliances may reach 12% to 15%, while the tariffs on beauty equipment may increase to 20%.

The Strategy Department is still conservative! Li Weidong said indifferently: My estimate is 25%!

25%? If the tariff is really increased to 25%, then we home appliance companies will not have to live! Wang Jiuyang said.

It's not that exaggerated. Although the United States is our largest single export market, our export market is not only the United States. What's more, tariffs are not paid by us. We still earn what we should earn. American consumers pay the bill. Li Weidong replied with a smile.

You mean the wool comes from sheep? Wang Jiuyang sighed softly; I'm not as optimistic as you. Once there are really high tariffs, the price of our products will increase, and the price of things will naturally increase. lose market competitiveness.

But our products are still cheaper than those made in the United States. Li Weidong said.

What about Southeast Asia? Vietnam's manufacturing industry has developed rapidly recently. Their labor costs are lower than ours, and they don't have such high tariffs. Wang Jiuyang retorted.

Li Weidong explained: Vietnam's manufacturing industry is still in the labor-intensive foundry stage, but we can replace one-third of the labor force by using robots, right? The production efficiency of machines is higher, and the electricity cost is also lower than that of workers. The wages are cheap.

In this respect, our average labor cost should be on par with Vietnam. If we increase the replacement rate of labor by machines and wages in Vietnam continue to rise, our labor costs may be lower than in Vietnam in the future.

More importantly, the entire upstream industrial chain is in our hands. If Vietnam wants to produce, it needs to import upstream raw materials and parts from us. We have the final say on the price of the upstream supply chain, that is, in terms of production costs. Vietnam doesn't really have much of an advantage.

As you said, tariffs will be an advantage for third countries like Vietnam, but other countries in the world do not impose high tariffs on our products except the United States.

This will also form a trend, that is, our products made in China are supplied to the world outside the United States, while the products made in a third country such as Vietnam are exclusively supplied to the United States.

Although the United States is the largest consumer country in the world, there is still a big gap between their commodity demand and the rest of the world. Just imagine, one side's production is for the whole world, and the other side's production is only for the United States, so whose production cost will be lower? The same product, you buy expensive, others buy cheap, it’s okay for a day or two, and you can bear it if you are wronged for a long time?

I understand. What you mean is that even if the United States will increase tariffs on us this time, it will not last for a long time. Once the time is prolonged, the United States will not be able to stand it first. Wang Jiuyang said.

Li Weidong nodded: Yes, that's what it means.

We Chinese have lived through hardships for decades. In recent years, we have just had enough food and clothing to endure hardships, but Americans have been rich for a hundred years. Let them remember the hardships and think about the sweetness, I am afraid it will be a burden. Can't live.

The essence of trade is exchange, and wanting to restrict exchange is nothing more than restricting exchange activities and limiting the scope of exchange. If neither of these can be restricted, how can we restrict trade!

In 2018, the average U.S. tariff on Chinese goods was 2%. Later, the U.S. imposed tariffs as high as 25% on Chinese home appliances. People in industry stocks have lost a lot.

However, the rise in the price of home appliances has pushed up the cost of living of Americans. Therefore, in subsequent negotiations, the United States granted tariff exemptions to 352 Chinese products, including various consumer goods such as home appliances.

As for the trade volume between China and the United States in 2022, the U.S. Department of Commerce gave 690.6 billion U.S. dollars, and the Chinese Customs gave 759.4 billion U.S. dollars. The statistics of the two sides are different, and the figures will be different, but what is certain is that, No matter what kind of statistical caliber is used, it is a record high in the history of trade between the two countries.

...

In the laboratory of Fukang Engineering, Ding Youliang pointed to a part in front of him and said: The regulating valve we developed has passed the acceptance of the C919 project team, and will be officially used in the environmental control system of C919.

This mediation valve was originally provided by Liebherr in Germany. After we completed the design, it took us another three years and more than 100 revisions to overcome this component!

Everyone has worked hard! Thank you for your efforts. Li Weidong nodded in satisfaction.

Ding Youliang continued: Originally we wanted to do venturi tubes, but Narada was much ahead of us, so we finally reached a cooperation with Narada to complete the environmental control system for large aircraft. The localization of the environmental control system, in this way, the localization rate of the entire C919 will definitely exceed 60%!

Later generations of keyboard warriors often say that the localization rate of C919 is only 60%, what kind of domestically produced large aircraft. However, for large aircraft, the localization rate of 60% is already very high. You must know that Boeing in the United States has built large aircraft for decades, and the localization rate is only 70%.

The first-tier suppliers of the C919 all provide core components, about three-fifths of which are Chinese suppliers, and the others are from the United States, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan and the Netherlands, of which the United States and France account for the majority. most.

Many key components are actually provided to COMAC in the form of a joint venture, such as the landing gear, which is produced by the joint venture established by Liebherr and AVIC.

Ding Youliang continued to introduce; In the C919 project, we also reached a relationship with Xijing Flight Control. The hydraulic system of Xijing Flight Control is produced in cooperation with Parker Aerospace of the United States, and Parker is also a supplier of Boeing.

If we can reach a cooperation with Xijing Flight Control, our hydraulic system will definitely have a substantial improvement, catching up with Sany and XCMG is just around the corner, and the quality of our construction machinery will also be greatly improved.

It is a pity that in terms of overall manufacturing of high-end construction machinery, we are still lagging behind Sany and XCMG, let alone compared with foreign Caterpillar and Liebherr.

Ding Youliang said with a long sigh, and then said: When the negotiation with Xijing Flight Control has a result, it's time for me to step back.

There was a sense of unfulfilled ambition in his tone.

Ding Youliang is more than ten years older than Li Weidong. He is already an old man in his seventies. He has already reached the age of retirement. If he was in an ordinary enterprise, he would have retired a long time ago.

But Ding Youliang is the chairman of the Fukang Group after all, and he also owns the shares of the Fukang Group. It is impossible for an executive at this level to retire easily.

In the past few years, Ding Youliang proposed to retire many times, and Li Weidong continued to persuade him to stay. Ding Youliang never retired. Ding Youliang, who is almost 70 years old now, is really unable to do what he wants. This time, he is determined to retire.

Li Weidong looked at the old partner beside him, and couldn't help but feel a little sad. Both of them are the first batch of wavers after the reform and opening up. One is engaged in the private economy, and the other is rooted in state-owned enterprises.

In the 1990s, the two were competitors and fought to the death. Later, the two joined hands to build Fukang Engineering into a first-class construction machinery enterprise in 20 years.

Now this old friend is leaving, maybe this is just the beginning, as time goes by, those old partners of Li Weidong will also retreat from the tide of the times one by one, including Li Weidong, can not resist years invasion.

Old Ding, I think you are still in good health, why don't you work for another two years! Li Weidong asked to stay for the last time.

Weidong, I can understand what you mean. I have been working all my life. If I say I am tired, I am really tired, but if I say I am willing to part with it, I am really reluctant to part with it! But every generation has its own mission. The mission of a generation is over, so I want to step down and give the stage to young people! Ding Youliang said with some emotion.

Ding Youliang had made up his mind to go, and Li Weidong didn't want to keep him anymore. He said, Old Ding, before you retire, do me one last thing.

What's the matter? Ding Youliang asked.

I plan to expand the production line of light and small construction machinery, and at least triple the production capacity. This involves the running-in of production, the deployment of production capacity, and the supply of upstream supply chains. I am really worried about entrusting others to do it. Li Weidong said.

Ding Youliang frowned: Light and small construction machinery have low technical content and low profits. Selling dozens of units is not as profitable as one high-end machine. Is it necessary to expand production?

The profit is not big, but the market demand is huge. If we expand the production, we can also reduce the production cost. Li Weidong said.

The market demand is huge, but the competition is also very fierce! For example, small construction machinery can be produced by many domestic second- and third-tier enterprises, and even a lot of them can be produced internationally. If we want to sell them, we have to set prices. If there is no war, the profit will decrease, at most it will be a profit. Ding Youliang continued to persuade.

Old Ding, you overestimate the resilience of foreign supply chains! Li Weidong said with a smile.

At this time, Li Weidong has already begun to plan for the epidemic in a few years.

A few years later, the epidemic has enveloped the world, and the biggest impact on the construction machinery industry is not the sales of products, but the upstream supply chain. The epidemic has disrupted the global supply chain system, resulting in insufficient production capacity of many components, or unable to transport them in time, making the production of enterprises full of uncertainty.

Under such circumstances, construction machinery companies in developed countries choose to ensure the stability of the supply chain of high-end products as much as possible. profits.

So when I went to the construction machinery exhibitions in those years, international giants such as Caterpillar and Liebherr exhibited the most high-end construction machinery, and they were not out of stock.

For mid-end products, companies in developed countries are still producing them, but the supply chain is too uncertain, and the products cannot guarantee a stable supply of products, and they are often out of stock.

And low-end products with relatively small profits, such as light and small construction machinery, were directly abandoned by international giants. Even if they want to produce, there is no supply chain to provide parts.

In contrast, China's supply chain is obviously more resilient and has not been greatly affected by the epidemic. Therefore, domestic companies can still produce low-end construction machinery.

Orders for such products from all over the world have also flocked to China. Some domestic third-tier construction machinery companies have the opportunity to receive orders for hundreds of units from abroad, and even delayed delivery because the order came too suddenly.

For Li Weidong, this is an excellent opportunity to seize the market.

The profit of low-end construction machinery is not high, which is relatively high-end construction machinery.

If it is placed in the entire manufacturing system, construction machinery also has a technical threshold. Even if the production of low-end construction machinery is produced, the added value of the product is higher than the average level of the manufacturing industry, and the profit is still considerable.

If it weren't for problems in the global supply chain, developed countries would certainly not voluntarily give up this part of the market. They will continue to rely on their own brand advantages to occupy a large part of the market share.

And once this part of the market share is taken by China's manufacturing, and China's manufacturing has established a supply chain and cost advantage, it will be difficult for developed countries to regain it.

...

It's time for the Hokkaido Agricultural Machinery Exhibition again.

Li Weidong walked around the venue, and then returned to the booth of Fukang Group. Seeing many merchants stopping in front of the booth, Li Weidong couldn't help but sighed: The first time I came to Hokkaido to participate in the exhibition, I brought a few home appliances. The lawn mower, that noisy one is on top of the tractor!

Yue Ping An next to him said, At that time, I was still in the ministry. At that time, I heard that some of our Chinese exhibitors could win huge orders at the Hokkaido Agricultural Machinery Exhibition. I thought it was a joke from my colleagues!

Yeah, our technology was backward at that time, so no one cares about China's agricultural machinery! All the Chinese companies participating in the exhibition were only allocated one booth, and I didn't think they could get one at the exhibition. In the end, I got one through the relationship of a Japanese friend. Booth.

Li Weidong pointed to the surroundings, and continued: Look at the present, there are many exhibitors in our country, second only to Japanese companies. On the contrary, some European and American companies have disappeared.

Yue Anan replied: The recent Hokkaido Agricultural Machinery Exhibition has become more and more detailed, basically focusing on Japanese local brands and small and medium-sized agricultural machinery. Many European and American brands do not have production bases in Japan, so they will not come to participate in the exhibition. .

Nowadays, European brands mainly appear at the Hannover Agricultural Machinery Exhibition in Germany, the Paris Agricultural Machinery Exhibition in France and the Bologna Agricultural Machinery Exhibition in Italy. These three European agricultural machinery exhibitions, as well as the Hokkaido agricultural machinery exhibition, together with our China International Agricultural Machinery Exhibition, can be regarded as the top five agricultural machinery exhibitions in the world.

Li Weidong nodded and asked, Today is the first day of the exhibition. How is the effect? ​​Have you met any big customers?

The big customer has already sent a special person to approach. Yue Anan continued: Japanese companies still have technological leadership in rice planting machinery and small harvesting machinery. But our Chinese companies have caught up with fruit and vegetable planting and harvesting machinery.

In addition, there are unmanned smart agricultural machinery. Many companies have exhibited, such as Yanmar, Kubota, Mitsubishi, etc., have brought intelligent agricultural machinery, and Iseki has also brought a set of intelligent agricultural machinery systems. The walking accuracy of their intelligent agricultural machinery is still very high, with a minimum of plus or minus 5 centimeters.

5 centimeters? Isn't that the same as us? We can answer this kind of accuracy because of the technical support of Beidou satellite navigation. The Japanese should use the GPS system, right? Can they also achieve such a high accuracy? Li Weidong The first reaction was that Japanese companies falsified the data again.

Yue Anan introduced: Only Mitsubishi's unmanned rice transplanter can reach this level of precision, and other brands can't reach this level. So it shouldn't be a problem with the GPS navigation system. I judge that Mitsubishi should use a more advanced machine in terms of machinery. level of precision.

Japan can't be underestimated in terms of mechanical technology, but it's okay, we have advantages in 5G applications. If we continue to develop, our smart agricultural machinery will definitely take the lead. Li Weidong said quite confidently.

Yue Ping'an continued to introduce: In terms of drones, Japan is much behind us. At present, only Yamaha has drone agricultural machinery that can be sold, but its performance is somewhat behind that of other domestic agricultural machinery companies, and it is even worse than us. One level!

Li Weidong nodded: UAVs are an emerging field after all. In this regard, traditional agricultural machinery companies are on the same starting line as us! Everyone starts at the same time, and we Chinese will not lose to foreigners!

Li Weidong knows that the prospect of drones is very broad. Fukang Group started to develop drones very early. Now in the field of agricultural machinery, Fukang Group's drones are not only leading domestically, but also leading the world. Japan has always been unknown in the drone industry. Although it has forced the launch of products this time, it has fallen behind a lot.

Yue Anan continued, In addition, our smart breeding system has also attracted much attention, especially the smart chicken raising platform, which is unique at this agricultural machinery exhibition. Our smart chicken raising platform can detect temperature, humidity, Ammonia, carbon dioxide and other environmental data can also detect chicken body temperature, weight, food intake, etc. Many Japanese farmers are very interested in this!

Finally it's our turn to sell technology products to the Japanese! Li Weidong sighed, and continued; I'll leave Hokkaido to you, and I've booked a flight back home at night.

Leaving so soon? Yue Anan said a little disappointed; I planned to treat you to a hot spring, but I bought a hot spring resort hotel here in Hokkaido. I plan to move here after I retire in two years, and soak every day. spa!

Today's Yue Pingan holds the shares of Fukang Group in his hands, plus the dividends for years, and he makes some investments himself, and his net worth has reached ten figures, a safe and secure rich man.

Li Weidong replied with a smile: Don't think about retiring so soon. Ding Youliang has already retired. If you retire again, I will find someone to work for!

...

2020 is the beginning of the year.

From Puppy Medical Group, Lu Guangming came to Li Weidong with a pair of panda eyes.

All the ventilators in our inventory have been sent to Hubei. The factory will not shut down during the Spring Festival. The production line will be open 24 hours a day. We will strive to double the production capacity of ventilators this month! Lu Guangming said. .

The road in Hubei should have been closed. Can our ventilator be transported there? Li Weidong asked.

Thanks to our People's Liberation Army. I heard that we were going to transport ventilators, and specially deployed a Y-20 for us. I personally watched the ventilators loaded on the plane. If you count the time, the plane has arrived now. Lu Bright said.

Old Lu, thank you for your hard work. I personally took care of this matter. Did you not close your eyes all night yesterday? Li Weidong looked at Lu Guangming's dark circles.

There are many and urgent things, and I don't feel relieved to leave them to others. Lu Guangming continued: I'm still old. If I used to be able to get excited without sleeping for two days and two nights, I really can't do it now.

Old Lu, your son is quite competitive. He has been with you since he was a child, and now he can take care of himself. Let the young people take more responsibility. Li Weidong said and handed Lu Guangming a cup of tea.

My son is still inexperienced, and it's nothing more than ordinary things. I really dare not entrust him with this kind of important national affairs. Lu Guangming took a sip of tea and continued; Our hemodialysis machine has already been used. It's officially listed, and there are quite a few people who come to inquire about the price, but there are really few who actually place an order.

We still have to get through the procurement channels for medical equipment. You have to personally go out and try to clear the way for the Health Commission. First of all, let our hemodialysis machines be squeezed into the procurement catalog of the Health Commission. Li Weidong said.

Entering the procurement catalog, there must be no problem. We have donated so many ventilators this time, and the Health and Medical Commission has to show some face! But even if it is included in the catalog, it is still difficult to open the market.

Lu Guangming went on to say: Foreign brands have monopolized the dialysis machine market for so many years, and the products have mature performance. After all, we have just entered this field. Even if the price is lower, hospitals may not be willing to buy it. What's more, in terms of performance, we are indeed It’s not as good as the German ones.”

Li Weidong said optimistically: In the past, we had no choice but to use imported hemodialysis machines. Now that we have domestic products, I believe that the country will definitely support domestic dialysis machines in terms of policy.

Medical resources are allocated on demand, and priority should be given to inclusiveness, that is, to allow everyone in need to use medical resources. However, the population of our country is too large. If we want to achieve universal benefits, we must have sufficient medical resources.

For the same kind of medicine or equipment, the import price is several times that of domestic products, so in order to achieve inclusiveness, it is natural to purchase domestic products, so that more people can use medical resources. Therefore, in the future, it is imperative to control the procurement costs of public hospitals, and this is our opportunity!

In recent years, the centralized procurement system in the medical industry has been implemented well, which is a great benefit to enterprises like us with certain research and development capabilities. Even if our products are slightly inferior, as long as we make good use of the centralized procurement system, we can expand the market in a short period of time.

I hope so! If domestic public hospitals are willing to purchase domestic equipment, then we will have funds to invest in research and development, which can form a virtuous circle, and making MRI in the future is not a dream! Lu Guangming said .

Be down-to-earth, step by step, there will always be that day! Li Weidong said enthusiastically.

...

At the Jaguar Land Rover BYD Joint R\u0026D Center, a large SUV is placed in front of Li Weidong.

This is the result of our Yangwang plan! Temporarily named Yangwang No. 1!

The chief engineer pointed to the SUV, and then introduced; We have successfully applied the Yisifang technology to Yangwang 1. This car is equipped with four wheel-side motors, so that the maximum horsepower of the electric drive assembly system can exceed 1,100 horsepower. The maximum speed can reach 20500rp. Such data is not to mention beating fuel vehicles, even compared with light tanks!

The acceleration of zero hundred and three seconds is also at the level of supercars, and the zero hundred acceleration of the No. 1 in the desert and in the snow is far better than other performance SUVs. At the same time, we also have the function of turning around in place.

In addition, in terms of off-road type, Yang Wang No. 1 is also the top in the world. This car has a wading function. If it accidentally enters a deep water area, it can activate the emergency floating mode. Relying on the precise four-wheel torque vector distribution, the four wheels can use Reasonable rotation to obtain the driving force similar to a paddle, and the ability of the vehicle to float and get out of trouble.

In addition, we have also solved the problem of high-speed tire blowout. When Yangwang No. 1 has a high-speed tire blowout, the sensor will detect it immediately, and continuously adjust the torque of the four wheels at a very high frequency to keep the other three driving wheels reasonable. The grip is controlled by the air suspension to control the body posture to avoid loss of control.

Mr. Li, are you satisfied with our Yangwang No. 1? Mr. Wang from BYD next to him asked proudly.

I thought I was watching a sci-fi movie! This car is a monster in this era! Li Weidong sighed, and then asked, Is this car energy-produced?

For energy production, although more sensors will be used, our chips can basically be autonomous. It's just that the production cost of this car will be relatively high. If the price is less than 1 million, it will definitely lose money. Mr. Wang Open your mouth and say.

Li Weidong thought for a while, and said: The value preservation rate of new energy vehicles is inherently low. If the price exceeds 1 million, if you sell it under the BYD brand, the risk is still relatively high. I suggest selling it under the Land Rover brand first! When the cost is reduced in the future, this technology will be used in BYD's models.

It's the same as I thought. Mr. Wang nodded, and continued: The most valuable brand under Land Rover is Range Rover.

Li Weidong understood what Mr. Wang meant, and he answered, Then the new car might as well be called a Super Range Rover. How about a price starting at 2.5 million? Isn't it a bit cheap?

2.5 million is still cheap! Mr. Wang curled his lips: I'm worried that it won't sell for such an expensive price!

The beggar version of our domestically produced Range Rover has sold for 1.2 million, and the Super Range Rover sells for double the price, as a matter of course! Li Weidong paused, and then said: By the way, the interior needs to be made more luxurious, and the conspicuous place Use crocodile skin, make the buttons into crystals, and see where you can insert a diamond. The local tyrants who spend 2.5 million on a car must make them feel that they are worth their money!

Since the joint venture, Jaguar Land Rover and BYD have completed some share swaps. BYD and Jaguar Land Rover have essentially become a family.

For auto companies, the new energy era may come too fast, so that almost all traditional auto companies are not ready at all. When they reacted, they suddenly found that new energy vehicles have been recognized by the market. And I am not even a little bit behind!

When new energy vehicles first started to rise, the general judgment of traditional car companies was that the new energy era would not come until around 2025, but the real time was about five years sooner.

The result is that traditional car companies collectively lose themselves in the field of new energy, while emerging brands expand rapidly. Tesla and BYD have rapidly developed into new auto giants, and Wei Xiaoli behind is not to be outdone.

Of course, traditional car companies also want to transform to new energy sources, but transformation is not easy!

After a century of development, the automobile industry has already formed a complete ecosystem. If traditional automobile companies want to transform, they need to abandon the original ecosystem.

This requires giving up the technical advantages in fuel vehicles and turning to research and development of new energy technologies; it is necessary to rebuild a new production line. It’s okay to say that the key is to build a new supply chain, which is the most difficult.

Giant companies such as Volkswagen, Toyota, and General Motors also involve extremely large supply chains. Too many companies rely on this supply chain to make profits, and too many workers rely on this supply chain to provide employment. Even if traditional car companies want to form a new supply chain, those old supply chains will not agree.

The cost of giving up fuel and transforming to new energy is too high. Traditional car companies will not try unless they are forced to survive. Even though some countries have proposed a timetable for banning the sale of fuel vehicles, traditional car companies still do not Willing to transform, still relying on fuel vehicles.

Anyway, banning the sale of fuel vehicles is just an empty promise, and we can recommit to a new time at that time.

In the field of fuel vehicles, luxury brands must have more advantages. Compared with ordinary passenger cars, luxury cars must have certain advantages, such as better engines, better chassis, and better vehicle tuning.

When luxury brands transition to new energy sources, they have to give up these advantages and become completely newcomers to get on the starting line with other brands. Therefore, the transformation of luxury brands will be more difficult.

For example, BMW has the advantage of good handling. Many people buy BMW because it is comfortable to drive. If BMW is allowed to give up this advantage, what other selling points does BMW have?

Therefore, the energy vehicles launched by BMW cannot be sold at all. If you spend so much money to buy a pure electric BMW, but lose the controllability of a fuel BMW, why should consumers buy it?

The same is true for Mercedes-Benz. Luxury has always been the biggest selling point of Mercedes-Benz. The bosses are keen on the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, and they also like the luxury of the S-Class. When you lie down on the rear seat, the feeling of enjoyment comes immediately. .

However, the electric version of the EQS has not improved the sense of luxury in the slightest. The chassis of the electric car has lost the original ride comfort, and the key cruising range is still low.

Jaguar Land Rover also encountered the same problem. The chassis and suspension of Jaguar Land Rover are still very good. If new energy is used, the advantages of Jaguar Land Rover's chassis and suspension will no longer exist.

Fortunately, BYD has provided enough technical support. In the field of new energy vehicles, BYD is definitely a king-level existence. Jaguar is too lazy to do research and development again, and simply uses BYD's platform to build cars.

In terms of sales, Li Weidong directly resorted to the price war most commonly used by Chinese companies, reducing the price of Jaguar New Energy to the level of Volkswagen and Ford. It is equivalent to selling luxury cars at the price of ordinary cars. This also helped Jaguar quickly seize the European and American markets.

It's just that it's not so easy for a new car brand to make a presence in the European and American markets! Consumers in European and American countries still recognize traditional car brands more.

Although the start of traditional car companies in the field of new energy vehicles is half a beat late, the so-called thin camels are bigger than horses. After they start to exert their strength, they should not be underestimated.

In the European market, sales of new energy vehicles launched by local brands such as Volkswagen, Renault, and Fiat are still not impressive. For example, the Volkswagen ID series, which almost no one cares about in China, has surpassed Tesla in monthly sales in Europe from time to time. In the U.S. market, Ford's sales of new energy vehicles can also pose a threat to Tesla.

In the field of hybrid vehicles, the Japanese top three are still in the leading position. Especially in the EU market, there have always been many restrictions on plug-in hybrid vehicles, and plug-in hybrid models are precisely China's strengths. It is difficult for Chinese plug-in hybrids to enter the EU market, which gives Japanese hybrids a chance to occupy market share.

China's new energy vehicles exported to Europe in later generations are also dominated by the MG brand under SAIC Motor. Although the sales of emerging brands such as BYD in Europe are rising, the amount is not large.

MG, which has no presence in the domestic market, can compete with Peugeot, Skoda, Fiat and other brands in the European new energy market. This is the effect of brand recognition. In the eyes of Europeans, MG is a British brand no matter where it is produced.

In terms of brand recognition, Jaguar is obviously higher. After all, it is a traditional luxury brand. Just the words exclusively for the British royal family are enough to raise its profile in Europe.

When the epidemic came, the global supply chain was in disorder, which led to serious problems in auto parts, especially in automotive chips. There was a chip shortage. Many auto manufacturers could not get enough chips and had to No reduction in production capacity.

In terms of automotive chips, Li Weidong started the layout a few years in advance to realize the independent production of automotive chips. During the epidemic, China's supply chain was not affected. Jaguar's production capacity has not been reduced, but has been expanded.

Other brands have to wait for several months, or even more than half a year to pick up the car, but Jaguar has sufficient supply of existing cars, so many consumers choose Jaguar, and Jaguar's new energy vehicles have successfully expanded its territory.

Today's Jaguar new energy has excellent technology, low price, and high brand value. In the field of new energy vehicles of traditional brands, it can already be regarded as Europe's first brother.

...

In an industrial park in the Pearl River Delta, a car is driving slowly. There are several cameras on the top of the car and sensors around the body.

There are two experimenters sitting in the front row of the car. They are not controlling the car, but are collecting various data with a computer.

This is a driverless car.

Not far away, Rebs was holding a tablet computer, and the pictures taken in the car were directly transmitted to the tablet computer.

I just heard Rebs say: The automatic driving system we developed can only realize the low-speed operation of the vehicle. Once the speed is too fast, the probability of risk will increase greatly. If you want to achieve high-speed driving, you must Better hardware support is needed.

Li Weidong nodded: Huawei has given up making cars, and has focused its research and development on smart car parts. I think this strategy is correct.

If Huawei also makes cars, it will inevitably become a competitor of other car companies. At that time, no one will dare to use Huawei's auto parts. On the contrary, as it is now, Huawei focuses on being upstream, and car companies can rest assured to cooperate with Huawei.

I heard that Mr. Wang of BYD is not very interested in the driverless system? Rebus asked.

He feels that unmanned driving cannot be applied on a large scale in a short period of time, and the risk is relatively high. Instead of spending a lot of energy on unmanned driving systems, it is better to develop advanced assistance systems, which are more practical.

Li Weidong went on to say: I also agree with Mr. Wang's opinion, but I am more optimistic about the development prospects of unmanned driving. When 6G appears in the future, cloud computing can play a vital role. Networked information transmission should be able to make up for the lack of hardware.”

You are not optimistic about unmanned driving, but the Internet of Things! Rebs said with a smile.

Aren't you the same? The Internet of Everything is our common ideal! Li Weidong changed his voice, and then asked; I heard that you went to Vietnam for inspection a few days ago, and you were received by Vietnamese dignitaries?

I wasn't the only one who received the interview. Apart from me, there were several other entrepreneurs. We went in a group. I just pretended to be a number and yelled at everyone.

Rebs went on to say: Ho Chi Minh City has developed quite well in recent years and is a very dynamic city. In addition, I also visited Samsung's mobile phone foundry.

Vietnam also hopes that Xiaomi will build a factory there! They should offer a lot of preferential terms, right? Li Weidong asked tentatively.

Rebs shook his head: Although Vietnam promised good investment conditions, the market in Vietnam is too small, and there is no need to set up a factory. The profit margin of our mobile phones is not high. If we can't rely on the huge market , definitely can't make money.

Moreover, there is no mobile phone supply chain in Vietnam. I discovered this problem when I inspected the Samsung mobile phone factory. All parts are imported from South Korea, even screws. Later, I also did some research. Although Vietnam produces so many Samsung mobile phones, less than 1% of the components can be provided by Vietnam itself.

Vietnam is also responsible for Samsung's relatively low-end foundry chain. Samsung's flagship mobile phones are still produced in South Korea, and they are not handed over to Vietnamese for OEM. It seems that the quality of Vietnamese workers is still not enough. Make sophisticated high-end products.

Li Weidong smiled slightly: A lot of self-media say again that the manufacturing industry has gone to Vietnam, and China's manufacturing industry is going to be hollowed out. They don't even look at what kind of companies are running! They are all low-profit and low-income companies. end foundry industry.

There is a smile curve in the manufacturing industry, as you must know, the corners of the mouth of the smile curve are technology patents and brand services, which are also the two most profitable sectors in the manufacturing industry, while the lips are the assembly manufacturing, which is also the least profitable in the manufacturing industry part.

The lowest end of assembly and manufacturing is foundry! Taiwan Province started with OEM. Their entrepreneurs once used the term Maoshan Taoist to describe the OEM industry. % to 4% gross margin.

This is the status quo of the low-end OEM industry. When I went to grab the OEM orders from Panasonic and Whirlpool, the gross profit margin was only 3%. Later, I started to develop and produce parts by myself, and gradually controlled the upstream industry. , and gradually have higher profits.

Our Chinese manufacturing industry cannot always count on the kind of OEM order with a 3% gross profit margin. Such an order will keep us from starving, but it will not make us rich. We have to grab the profits of the upstream and downstream, the upstream is engaged in technology, and the downstream is engaged in services. This is the manufacturing industry we need.

It is not a bad thing for emerging economies such as Vietnam and India to steal part of our low-end foundry industry. This will force us to upgrade our industry, force us to do more innovation, and develop more advanced research and development. Advanced technology forces us to use brands and services to gain profits.

Speaking of this, Li Weidong's eyes radiated a ray of pride: It took us a generation to accumulate the foundation of the industry, and it took another generation to make the manufacturing industry scale. Now it's time for quantitative changes to lead to qualitative changes. It's time. The next industrial revolution may be tomorrow, and our Chinese manufacturing will become the leader of the industrial revolution!

...

Dongshan Group, Zhao Jinshan had a depressed expression. After seeing Li Weidong, he immediately said: Silicon Valley Bank is thunderstorm, do you know? I lost a lot of money! I think some economists said that this Another Lehman Brothers.

It's not like Lehman Brothers. After all, the scale of Silicon Valley Bank is much smaller than that of Lehman. And the nature of the two is different. Leigh Bank has too many non-performing assets, while Silicon Valley Bank was run on in a short period of time. In fact, Silicon Valley Bank still holds a lot of bonds, but it can't find a taker in a short time.

Li Weidong paused, and then said: This is all caused by the Fed's interest rate hike. When depositors find that there are higher interest rates, they will naturally withdraw their money to save high interest rates. Silicon Valley Bank invested too much in long-term bonds before. These The interest rate on long-term bonds is not high, and they cannot be exchanged in a short period of time, and there is a problem with the flow of funds.

In fact, if these bonds mature, Silicon Valley Bank can still obtain corresponding profits. So you don't have to worry, I guess the United States will rescue the market, after all, those long-term bonds can be used as collateral to exchange for financial guarantees from the Federal Reserve. Once the funds are in place, there is still a chance to get back the money you deposited.

After listening to Li Weidong's analysis, Zhao Jinshan calmed down a lot, and he said, I hope so! I used to think that it would be safer to put money in a big American bank, but now it seems that the big American bank is not safe. Looking back, I will Deposit your money in Switzerland!

Money in Switzerland? You just came out of the wolf's den and into the tiger's mouth! Li Weidong said with a smile.

What? Isn't Switzerland safe? Zhao Jinshan asked rhetorically.

Li Weidong opened his mouth and replied: In the Russia-Ukraine conflict in the past year, Europe has been severely sucked by the United States, and a large amount of funds have left from Europe to the United States. The Silicon Valley Bank incident has occurred in the United States that has sucked blood. , don’t you think a blood-sucked Europe wouldn’t be worse?”

Zhao Jinshan nodded suddenly: According to this, the banks in Europe are going to be hit by thunder!

Sooner or later, and the more blood is sucked in which country, the easier it is for the country's financial system to be thunderstormed, and the worse it will be after the thunderstorm.

Li Weidong expressed his own judgment, and then continued: If you want to keep your funds safe, you should go to Hong Kong Island! Although the Hong Kong dollar is denominated in the US dollar, it is actually guaranteed by our Chinese credit. The Chinese government is definitely better than the US government. Believable!

There is no problem with the funds going to Hong Kong Island, but there are really no good projects to invest in on Hong Kong Island. Zhao Jinshan sighed.

I think if you invest, you should wait first. It may not be a bad thing to have funds in hand. Nowadays, the decoupling of finance and real economy is accelerating. This is the current global trend. In this case, even I can't find it. Appropriate item.

Li Weidong went on to explain: In the traditional economic model, the financial system serves the real economy, the financial system provides funds to the real economy, and the real economy creates value through production, which brings benefits to the financial system, thus forming a virtuous circle.

But it is different now. The financial system can obtain income through its own operations, and in many cases, the income from pure financial operations is higher than that of investing in the real economy. Therefore, for the financial system, investing in the real economy is unnecessary.

I don't quite understand. Zhao Jinshan blinked in confusion.

Li Weidong explained: Let me take the United States as an example. You can think about how many financial derivatives have been added to Wall Street in recent years? In the past ten years, the Federal Reserve has printed so much money, and how much has entered the entity? Economy?

Since the Federal Reserve started quantitative easing, the extra dollars printed have become U.S. debts, that is, U.S. dollar bonds. Those bonds have been packaged by Wall Street and entered the financial system.

Investors believe in the credit of U.S. debt and believe that U.S. debt can bring benefits, so they are naturally willing to bear the financial risks involved, so this financial system can continue forever.

To put it simply, the Fed’s continuous printing of money is to turn debt into credit, and then turn credit into risk. Wall Street packages risks into various financial derivatives and sells them, which generates income. With income, the financial value of US debt The system can work.

This process produced tens of billions of figures on the books, but did not produce a single screw or a single brick. All operations were at the financial level, and the real economy did not generate any income. This is what I call the decoupling of finance from the real economy.

In my opinion, it has entered a vicious cycle. The more the Fed raises interest rates, the less finance will invest in the real economy. The faster the decoupling between finance and the real economy, the more the real economy will shrink and inflation will increase. . The higher the inflation, the Fed can only raise interest rates.

In the end, the world may form two economic circles, one is finance-oriented economic circle, the main body is various financial derivatives based on sovereign currency; the other is the real economy-oriented economic circle, the main body is energy , food, industrial products, etc.-based trade network.

It sounds like my scalp is tingling! Zhao Jinshan sighed lightly, and then said: Actually, I put the funds in Silicon Valley Bank, not to speculate on finance, but to be optimistic about the development of the US technology industry. The ChatGPT that was released the other day is very popular online.”

Actually, I have a similar product here. Xiaomi's laboratory is also doing research and development in this area. Li Weidong said.

How does the performance compare with this ChatGPT? Zhao Jinshan asked.

To be honest, our artificial intelligence is indeed lagging behind. Our algorithm is fine, but it is a year behind ChatGPT in terms of computing power.

Li Weidong went on to explain: AI artificial intelligence calculation chips are mainly provided by Nvidia. At present, this kind of chip is banned by the United States and Chinese companies are not allowed to buy it. In the final analysis, he was still stuck in the neck by the chip.

It won’t take too much time. If Moore’s Law is true, the performance of traditional chips will soon reach its limit, and the leader will have to stand still. For us who are catching up later, it is a good thing.

And our artificial intelligence research and development direction is also different from ChatGPT. ChatGPT is more like an intelligent search tool that can answer your questions, and our artificial intelligence is developing towards the direction of the Internet of Everything.

Zhao Jinshan nodded: I hope our high-end chips can make breakthroughs as soon as possible! Even a layman like me knows that artificial intelligence is the development trend of the future technology industry. We cannot lose this battle!

But I tried this ChatGPT, I can draw and write articles, at least the articles are better than me. If it really comes to the day when artificial intelligence is widely used, how many jobs will disappear and how many people will lose their jobs!

Li Weidong shook his head indifferently: I have a different opinion. New technology will inevitably eliminate many jobs, but it will also bring more new jobs. When computers appeared back then, there was a similar saying that computers It will replace a lot of manpower and make many people lose their jobs.

But in fact, at least one-third of the existing occupations only appeared after the birth of computers. After the birth of computers, human jobs have actually changed more. So I am not worried that the application of artificial intelligence will bring about mass unemployment.

For example, when the camera appeared, a group of portrait painters were unemployed, and a group of photographers were born at the same time. Today's AI painting will make a group of original painters unemployed, but it is bound to create new occupations.

...

In 202X, on a certain day.

Puppy Group is included in the US Entity List

The U.S. House of Representatives approved the inclusion of Fukang Engineering in the sanctions list of enterprises related to the Chinese military

The US House of Representatives will hold a hearing to investigate whether Xiaomi's Internet of Everything system endangers US national security

The United States announced a new round of sanctions list, including 12 companies and 7 individuals, including the famous entrepreneur Li Weidong

Almost all of its industries have been sanctioned, Li Weidong's darkest moment!

For more than ten days in a row, it was all bad news. The United States played a set of combined punches, and the climax of the combined punches was to smash the stick of sanctions on Li Weidong's head.

Not long ago, the domestic lithography machine finally made a qualitative breakthrough, and the US chip containment strategy failed. Among them, Puppy Electronics has provided a lot of technology, and Li Weidong's layout for many years has finally exerted its effect.

On the land of the Middle East, infrastructure projects have sprung up one after another. Fukang Group not only provided construction machinery, but also invested in many projects.

The Internet of Everything system developed by Xiaomi Group has quickly become popular all over the world, and this has also been labeled by the United States as collecting information and endangering the national security of the United States.

And the root of all this is Li Weidong. So the personal sanctions against Li Weidong finally came!

...

He Anan held a few ties and gestured on Li Weidong's chest, with a look of worry in his eyes.

She knew that this wave of US sanctions could be described as comprehensive, taking almost all of Li Weidong's industries. If he can't survive this time, Li Weidong's decades of hard work will be ruined!

Li Weidong seemed to see his wife's anxiety. He smiled slightly and said, Don't worry, I haven't seen any big storms and waves over the years. Isn't it just sanctions, and it's no big deal.

I read some analysis on the Internet that this sanction is even more severe than what they did to Huawei back then, and it is a comprehensive ban on you. He Anan said with some anxiety.

But it also just proves that the path I am taking is correct. In fact, I should thank the United States for this sanction. They use this method to tell us to give up illusions and welcome the battle!

Li Weidong reached out and touched He Anan's head, and continued: Actually, foreigners will never understand that if they want to restrict China's development, the best way is not to suppress it, but to dump it. Whatever we need, they should open up. , In this way, we will not be in a hurry to develop.

On the contrary, the more we are suppressed, the less we will give in, the more we will fight and strive to break through! The civilization of the Chinese nation can continue to this day, not by compromise, but by continuous struggle.

Our nation has struggled with the sky, the earth, and the people for five thousand years before we can survive until now. This kind of resilience has long been engraved in our bones, and this is our gene!

While speaking, a strange light flashed in Li Weidong's eyes, revealing incomparable confidence.

He An'an seemed to see that Li Weidong, who was rebellious and pointed out the world when he was young, was back again. That proud look seemed to be omnipotent, which was what she admired.

He's still so charming! He An'an felt warm, then picked up a tie, and said, Just use this tie, it looks more dignified.

Li Weidong pointed to a red tie next to him: I think this leader suits me better.

Haven't you worn this tie for many years? Red, isn't it too bright for your age? He Anan asked with a smile.

Li Weidong picked up the red tie, hung it around his neck, and smiled: I like red, not only because it is a festive color, but also because it is the color of battle!