The Industrial Giant Reborn

The return on investment in the automotive industry is definitely not comparable to that of the electronics industry and the future Internet industry, but as his own dream, even if the return is a little lower, it is worth his large asset-heavy investment in Southeast Asia, and in terms of influence, With the automobile industry, it is even more powerful.

Although the scale of AMC is much smaller than that of the Big Three in the United States, its annual sales volume is 400,000 to 500,000 vehicles, but most of them are small models, and the individual value may be a little lower. It is not Japanese, but the safety of American cars is still better than Japanese cars, and they will have their own advantages. As long as you take advantage of the opportunity when Japanese cars are still conquering the European and American markets, you can first deploy in Southeast Asia and promote your brand first. That's enough to take some of the market here.

Of course, the same is true in the mainland, but there is no way to directly invest in the terminal market. A law was promulgated that automobile factories are not allowed to invest in terminal sales, that is, 4S stores. In the future, he can only honestly build cars in China.

The next day, Guo Henian took Chen Zhiwen to a parallel import car city with an area of ​​thousands of square meters in the south of Kuala Lumpur city center. This was the first goal that Guo Henian thought of.

Guo Henian's reputation is quite high, as soon as he came here, the owner of the shop immediately recognized him, and hurriedly greeted him politely, while Chen Zhiwen walked around to have a look.

As I expected, although Malaysia is very poor per capita, there are still many rich people. There are imported cars everywhere in the car city, and the most common ones are Japanese cars. After all, it is closer to Japan, and the transportation cost will definitely be lower. , Japan's influence will also be greater, and there are some GM and Ford in the United States, Volkswagen, Fiat, and Citroen in Europe, but the number is a little smaller.

Inside the store, there are luxury cars, including Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Lincoln, Audi, Cadillac, etc. The most central exhibition area is Rolls-Royce, but it is surrounded by railings.

An hour later, several people left the auto trade shop.

"Chen Sheng, I arranged for someone to investigate last night. In every big city in Malay, there are such auto dealerships, big and small, with different scales, and the bosses behind them are all independent. This will lead to no right to speak when importing cars. If we purchase and operate in a unified manner, we may be able to talk to those car traders who transport across the country in terms of procurement.” Guo Henian said with a smile.

"Yes, as long as our scale increases, they will need to rely on us." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said: "These auto trade stores are all independent, so it is convenient for us to acquire them, but how to manage them in a unified way still needs to be solved." Thanks for your hard work, Guo Sheng."

Doing business in Southeast Asia is the retail industry he is relatively good at, and with the low-cost procurement chain of Galaxy Trade, he is not sure that he can make a profit here alone, let alone the inexperienced auto trade industry.

Recruiting professionals is one thing, but if you don't have local resources, or don't understand the local human culture, etc., you will definitely suffer a big loss. Therefore, the business of the auto dealership also needs to absolutely rely on Guo Henian.

Of course, as long as this business itself is done well, it will not lose money. Even if the profit is not much, Chen Zhiwen can also compensate Guo Henian in other places. If there are countless investment opportunities in the Mainland, Chen Zhiwen can bring Guo Henian together. Be strong on your own.

This is the benefit of mutual benefit. If you lead others to make money in the field you are good at, then others can use his resources to help you succeed in the field you need but are not good at.

"Chen Sheng, please be polite. In the future, the business of my group in Hong Kong or in the mainland should be taken care of by Chen Sheng." Guo Henian said with a smile.

"No problem." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said, "Did Guo Sheng invest in the Shangri-La Hotel in Shanghai?"

"No, I haven't contacted the inland side yet, I just sent someone to check it out. I'm going to build one in Puxi, but I heard that some large hotel projects in eastern Guangdong Province are not going well, which makes me a little I'm worried." Guo Henian said hesitantly.

"That's because it involves foreign exchange, so you will always encounter problems. This is actually quite normal, including hotels in the Taishan Club. You may also encounter such problems. Let your staff solve them slowly." Chen Zhiwen shook his head with a smile Said.

At present, except for projects in Shekou or those approved by the central government in China, they all require joint ventures. Hotels are important, but they are not subject to special approval by the central government. Naturally, the inland municipal governments cooperate with foreign capital.

Half of the two parties, so the foreign capital will only pay half of the funds. In this case, if many things in the hotel come from overseas, it will cause a tense situation in foreign exchange. This is the reverse scale of domestic investment at present, and it is the most important weapon of the country. Investment in the auto industry must ensure foreign exchange balance.

A five-star hotel in eastern Guangdong Province was also invested by a rich man from Hong Kong. He intended to build a super luxurious hotel in Guangdong City, so he invited European designers to design it. According to European and American rules, this The cost of the design team may need about 5% of the budget, which is 4 million U.S. dollars. From the domestic point of view, this is simply outrageous, and contradictions arise.

It was finally resolved later, but many materials in the hotel were imported, which caused conflicts. In short, there are many problems, and no one can predict if they do not arise.

Therefore, Chen Zhiwen is too lazy to invest in the hotel now, but handed it over to Hu Yingxiang, and let him go out. Anyway, the hotel is not his main business. Even if he will be involved in this industry in the future, it should be after 1986. At that time Whole foreign investment is allowed in China. If you want to invest in chain hotels in China, you can just invest money directly. It is all your own funds, and the efficiency will be much higher.

Anyway, the country is so big that even a Shanghai stock market can accommodate hundreds of five-star hotels. There is no capital to monopolize it, and there is no rush.

"I know, so I am summing up the experience of arranging people to collect other people, and be prepared." Guo Henian said with a big smile.

"If you are not in a hurry in Shanghai, you can consider staying in Shenhai City. The service to the outside world is much better here, the cooperation is also high, and there are more internal foreign exchange, so it is convenient to do things. My father's Hengyi Group is going to be in Shenhai City. There are two five-star hotels being built in the city, and Guo Sheng can also go and see them." Chen Zhiwen said again.

Hengyi is currently preparing to gradually fade out of the Hong Kong real estate market. After listing, it will have at least 2 billion+ funds in its hands. It is only a child's play to invest a small part of it in Shenhai City.

"Shenhai City, that's fine. Next time I go to Hong Kong, I'll go and have a look." Guo Henian nodded and said.

"Next time you go to Hong Kong, let me know in advance, and I will arrange my plane to pick you up." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

"That's great. I haven't been on such a luxurious plane before." Guo Henian said with a smile. Although he is known as the world's sugar king, he also has his own private jet, which is small, and it is not as good as Chen Zhiwen's Boeing 747. a bit far.

In the next few days, Chen Zhiwen also went to inspect the situation of ParknShop Supermarket and RT-Mart Supermarket in Kuala Lumpur. The business was good and exceeded his expectations. With the cheap procurement chain of Galaxy Trading and the logistics and transportation efficiency arranged by Guo Henian , RT-Mart and ParknShop have a strong advantage over other supermarkets in terms of item prices, which is a blow to other brands.

According to Guo Henian, if it is not considered that many small husband-and-wife supermarkets in the local area will close down, the prices of the two supermarkets will drop even more. However, in this way, the gross profit margin of the supermarkets will also be much higher. , can be regarded as killing two birds with one stone.

Guo Henian also invited Chen Zhiwen to invest in real estate projects in Southeast Asia, but Chen Zhiwen declined. After all, he knows many high-quality investment projects, so there is no need to take risks in places like Southeast Asia.

Although the trip to Malaysia was only for a few days, Chen Zhiwen also had a general understanding of the development of this retailer here, and made preliminary preparations for the future development of AMC cars in the Asian market, which can be regarded as a complete success.

On November 12, Chen Zhiwen took his own private plane and returned to Hong Kong.

During the period of time away, real estate prices in Hong Kong were still on the rise, especially the land auctions on Hong Kong Island or Causeway Bay in Tsim Sha Tsui. Many Chinese real estate giants and British foreign firms were willing to participate. The price of the king of land is now changed every month.

Although Hutchison and Wharf do not participate in various auctions, they are still making every effort to develop their own land and properties in order to prepare for more cash.

After a little understanding, Chen Zhiwen stopped paying too much attention to it. After all, at such a time of high land prices, it is still very easy to cash out his own land. As for the old man, he is preparing to go public.

The only thing that Chen Zhiwen is more concerned about is the research and development of Midea's first-generation computer. Various details are still being optimized. Some games specially adapted to the computer have also been developed, and some software connected to it has also begun to take shape. At the request of the Ministry, all patents are registered worldwide.

Just wait a few more months of testing before it's ready for release.

While Chen Zhiwen was paying attention to the computer, in Yanjing City, thousands of miles away, in an administrative office building, the senior management of the First Machinery Department was about to start a high-level meeting.

In December, Yanjing City was already extremely cold under a Siberian cold current. Although there was heating in the conference room, the group of people who had just stayed outside for a long time were still shivering from the cold.

The conference staff gathered quickly, and after a handsome leader in his early 60s with gray temples walked in, everyone fell silent.

"Everyone, I'm sorry, because there is an urgent matter, I have to call everyone back to Yanjing City from various places." The visitor said with a smile, without any airs of leadership.

"Minister Rao, what's the rush to get all of us together so urgently?" asked a 50-year-old man.

"Our negotiations with German Volkswagen have reached an impasse. Everyone knows this. However, a major event happened in the US auto industry. The fourth largest US car company, AMC, was acquired by Chen Zhiwen, a Chinese from Hong Kong. .” Minister Rao didn’t talk much nonsense, and went straight to the topic.

"AMC? Haven't you heard of it?" Several officials present began to whisper to each other. They really didn't know about this company, but Chen Zhiwen, an official with some status in Yanjing City now knows it. After all, Jingjintang Such a large expressway project will benefit tens of millions of people in Yanjing City and TJ City, and maybe they have a lot to do with the automobile industry. If the road is good, the requirements for cars will be much better, and the cars will not be easily damaged.

"Xiao Wang, let me introduce you briefly." Minister Rao said to the young assistant beside him.

"Okay, Minister Rao." Secretary Xiao Wang said: "Everyone, everyone must know the three major American auto giants, but in addition to GM, Ford, and Chrysler, there are also many small and medium-sized auto companies in the United States. Small and medium-sized companies refer to the comparison with auto giants. In fact, their scale is also very large, and the smallest one has a scale of hundreds of millions of dollars.

AMC is the company second only to the three giants in the entire United States. Its main models are small cars and some SUV models. Last year, their total sales of cars in the United States were 457,000. "

"450,000, isn't that a lot?" After listening to the introduction, the people in the meeting room were shocked. Compared with the current largest automobile company in the mainland, Shanghu Automobile, the annual production capacity is only more than 20,000. .

"The capitalists in Hong Kong have the ability to buy such a big company? As far as I know, don't most of them just build houses in Hong Kong and sell them? Can they make so much money building houses? Buy such a big car company? "An old man in a gray Chinese tunic suit said incredulously. For some rich people in Hong Kong, they also know that many of them rely on selling houses, but Hong Kong has only so few people, how many houses can they sell? But can earn so much money to buy a car company? You know, a domestic car, not to mention imported, is domestically made, and it can be exchanged for two sets of small courtyard houses in Yanjing.

"This Mr. Chen does not rely on selling houses. His business is mainly electronic products, just like the Yanjing No. 1 Electronics Factory, but the scale is much larger. It is said that the products sell well in Europe and the United States, and he can earn hundreds of millions of dollars a year. That's why we have the ability to buy the fourth largest automobile company in the United States." Rao Bing explained that although he didn't pay much attention to the situation of the foreign non-auto industry, since he was going to cooperate with Chen Zhiwen, he naturally checked some information in advance to understand some.

To be honest, it is unbelievable that a Hong Kong Chinese can develop to such a degree. When he first learned about it, he was also shocked. And such a person has acquired a small car giant in the United States, which is a great thing for the country.

"Minister Rao means that you want to cooperate with AMC and introduce AMC models?" Another middle-aged man asked.

Minister Rao nodded and said: "Yes, after I heard the news, I had this idea, but because I had no contact channels, I was not in a hurry, but a friend of mine in the United States, who works in General Motors, accidentally I heard that Mr. Chen from Hong Kong intends to build a factory in Asia after the acquisition of AMC, most likely in the Bay Area, so I think we need to take action, at least communicate with each other first.

If AMC decides to set up a factory in Wanwan, then we have no chance. Although AMC is not as good as Volkswagen in terms of technology or reputation, the board of directors of Volkswagen has a lot of opinions on whether to invest in China, and this Mr. Chen is at least Willing to invest domestically. "

Since 1978, China has sent several teams to visit international auto giants in order to cooperate. It is because the quality of domestic cars is too poor, and it is easy to stall when the speed is increased normally, and the fuel consumption is also high. The domestic road itself is not very good. I don’t know how many cars are often spread on the road. Although the importance of cars is not as important as that of trucks, there is always a strong demand. The quality and quantity cannot keep up, which has seriously affected the efficiency of economic operation.

But when negotiating with so many big companies, only GM and Volkswagen have the intention to cooperate, and the others are basically disdainful. Because of the veto of the board of directors, GM can only stop negotiations, leaving only Volkswagen.

It’s just that in the past two years, the two parties have gone through more than 30 negotiations, involving many issues that no one in the country can think of, and then resolved them one by one. However, many aspects still fail to meet the requirements of the public, and the public’s internal investment is not very good. It was monolithic, and many people also held opposing opinions, which led to a stalemate in the negotiations.

The automobile industry is a big industry that the central government pays attention to by name, which also puts pressure on the officials of the Ministry of First Machinery.