As for things at the national level, to be honest, Zhou Fangyuan prides himself on being just a small ordinary person. At most, it's a little more money than the average person, but to put it bluntly, that's all.

The automobile industry is naturally crucial for a country, not to mention how terrible the direct benefits contained in it are - at the end of 05, the number of motor vehicles in the country was more than 40 million, and by the end of 18, it had reached 240 million - not to mention how much money a car can make, just look at the whole country and even the world, such an industry, that is tens of trillions or even trillions of billions of scale, the direct profits that can be generated every year, can reach the level of trillions, do you say that this industry is important?

And the importance of the auto industry is not just about how much money it makes. This whole industry is actually a small industrial system, and it is a comprehensive enterprise developed on the basis of many related industries and related technologies.

Products from many sectors are used in automobiles, and a variety of processing technologies are required, from rough machining to complete vehicle assembly. Automotive parts include thousands of different parts, from floors to screws. The actual automotive production process is carried out in cooperation with several different specialist manufacturers. In order to manufacture automobiles economically and efficiently, these specialized production plants organize production and division of labor according to the principle of product cooperation.

Generally speaking, the main assemblies such as engines, transmissions, axles, and bodies are manufactured by the company itself, while tires, glass, electrical appliances, body interior parts and other small parts are mostly produced by external professional factories. It can be as small as a screw with a layer of paint, as large as the overall structure and engine of the car, and so on...... It contains countless scientific and technological achievements, each of which requires a very serious investment in manpower, material resources and time to research.

Cars are important, of course.

Let's take Europe, which was the first continent of capitalist economic development, with a high level of industrial production and a high degree of agricultural mechanization. GDP ranks first in the world, of which the gross industrial production accounts for a large proportion, of course, the relative food self-sufficiency of most countries is insufficient, but this is not within the scope of discussion for the time being.

To put it bluntly, the countries with a high degree of industrial development in Western Europe are mainly Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, followed by Belgium, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. Germany, France and Great Britain all have the highest industrial production in the world. Of course, Europe is also the birthplace of the automobile industry, which is known for its fine workmanship, elegant and trendy unique shape, and bold adoption of the latest world advanced technology. Unlike American and Japanese cars, there are many European countries, and there are great differences in geography and culture, so although these countries are located on the same continent, the design styles of cars in each country are very different.

Let's talk about Britain first, the Great Gentleman Empire has rich technical experience and scientific research personnel reserves in the automotive field. On average, the UK spends nearly £1.7 billion a year on research and development of a number of cutting-edge automotive technologies, including engine manufacturing and design. A number of universities in the UK also provide academic support and talent for automotive technology research and development. The favorable research and innovation environment has attracted many global automakers, including Jaguar, Ford, General Motors, etc., to set up their R&D centers in the UK. In this regard, China's car companies can actually obtain technical support, improve competitiveness, and obtain the support of cutting-edge and efficient scientific research forces by cooperating with overseas scientific research centers or setting up independent overseas scientific research centers.

The UK has put forward a low-carbon strategy early on, striving to achieve "green" transport with zero emissions and zero pollution as soon as possible. As the fastest receptive British consumer to new technology, the demand for energy-efficient new energy vehicles is also becoming more and more obvious. The vision of a low-carbon economy requires automakers to improve their existing powertrains and shift to hybrid and all-electric vehicles. This will be an exciting new development direction and a huge market for the global automotive industry.

The British Automobile Manufacturers and Dealers Association has released the first quarter of 2013 UK car sales data. According to the data, from January to March 2013, 605,200 new cars were registered in the UK. This represents a year-on-year increase of 7.4%.

In France, the automobile industry is also one of the pillars of France's economy, which has brought glory to France in history and spread the romantic culture of France to the world. In 2006, the total production of automobiles in France was 3.17 million, ranking sixth in the world, a decrease of 10.7% over 2005.

The same is true for Italy, which is the world's leading producer of cars and an important market for cars. According to the statistics of the Italian National Institute of Statistics on December 31, 2006, Italy has a population of 59.13 million, and the number of passenger cars is 33.5 million, with an average of 567 cars per 1,000 people, that is, less than two people have a car, which can be said to be quite scary. In recent years, the number of new passenger car registrations has remained stable in recent years, with the number of new passenger cars remaining between 2.2 million and 2.4 million per year, and the number of new arrivals of light trucks weighing less than 3.5 tons per year being between 210,000 and 240,000 units.

As for Germany, the United States and Fuso, although the automobile does not exist as a national pillar industry, its importance is still huge. As the most convenient means of personal travel that has ever appeared on the planet today, the car will not be replaced in the foreseeable decades in the future, at most the energy supply will change, but the car itself will not be eliminated so easily.

Therefore, it is a matter of course that China attaches great importance to the development of automobiles.

In recent years, China's major automobile manufacturers have launched their own products, whether it is Changan, Geely, FAW or Chery are developing their own power platforms, but until 18 years on the eve of Zhou Fangyuan's crossing, with the automobile market at that time, it seems that the research and development of core technology is still a little inadequate. The main reason for this situation is not difficult to understand, mainly because we have been "poor" for too long, when we really enter the automobile market, other countries have become mature, not only have a relatively complete core technology, but also apply for various patents, which leads to the fact that if we want to develop technology, we must first buy patents from others.

In addition to the cost of technology research and development, only the early purchase of patents is a large expense, and with the development of the automotive industry, we have lagged behind for about 50 years, if you really want to develop core technology, from a macro point of view is very unfavorable, rather than overtaking in the corner, it is better to take the nearest materials. Therefore, after the study of the relevant departments, it was decided to focus on the development of automobile manufacturing and assembly technology, after decades of research and development precipitation, coupled with a large amount of capital investment, our country's achievements in manufacturing and assembly technology can be said to be second to none.

However, the consequence of this is that due to the lack of core technology, we can only rely on the introduction and joint venture to produce automobiles, which leads to a blank in the field of mid-to-high-end automobiles.

However, some people don't think so, because at present, in the international automotive industry, no car manufacturer can complete the vehicle research and development alone, just like Pagani uses the Mercedes-Benz AMG M158 series engine, McLaren uses the BMW M series engine, and most car companies currently use the transmission is Aisin 6, 8 or 10AT transmission. In this regard, Zhou Fangyuan wants to say, this is a false proposition at all, is there really anyone who thinks that McLaren's selling point is only the engine? His system tuning, the materials used in the whole vehicle are extremely exquisite, and it was designed by the very talented Gordon Murray, if he is asked to design a car in China, I am afraid that someone will buy the generator of the tricycle.

Compared with traditional car manufacturers, Pagani is more like a modified + assembled car dealer, and an AMG engine with a low price can burst out with up to 730 horsepower after tuning.

Another example close to life, some important parts of the Kia K5 engine in Nanxian come from the military Mitsubishi, but no one dares to underestimate him, mainly because he has his own core technology, which can play a different role in these parts, so it seems that manufacturing and assembly can be purchased globally, but the core technology does have their own. And we have to understand that these manufacturers don't share their technology with us, so we also need to focus on the research and development of core technologies when developing the traditional automotive industry.

In fact, it is easy to find from the current automobile market that we are not short of innovation, such as the Changan series from the beginning of the development to today and even to the future, whether it is from the appearance of the body, the sense of science and technology, practicality or driving safety, the innovation is very strong and has been recognized by the people. On the other hand, in terms of power, we are lacking, which can be seen from fuel economy, power feedback and scalability, there are still big shortcomings, so our country's own automobile market is not lacking in innovation, what we lack is core technology.

If you want to make up for the lack of this part of the technology, the only way is to innovate and reform, after all, our current automotive industry has already achieved profitability, and it is okay to invest part of the funds in research and development.

Therefore, if you want to rely on an investment, it is impossible to bring the technology back to China, the first appearance is unrealistic, and secondly, the automobile industry is not just an engine or some technology or something, there are too many things in it, even if you can really bring the technology in, all kinds of debugging with a variety of matching, I am afraid that it will be studied for several years, unless it is completely designed in accordance with the set of MG. But once that's the case, what's the point? If we don't eat it ourselves, but imitate it completely, our country won't be where it is today.

Therefore, investment is investment, just make money, don't think too much. The big things have little to do with the small people, that is something that needs to be considered in the national policy and layout, and it is far from Zhou Fangyuan's turn to worry about it.

He invested in MG, in addition to making money, in addition to improving his personal status and status, he also had an idea, that is, he could change cars casually in the future. No matter how much the car is to the outside world, as the boss of the company, it is not easy for him to change the car, and he can even let someone design a car for himself, which is amazing.

The people who can make car manufacturers specialize in designing cars are not those super super celebrities, or politicians from various countries, and no matter how rich you are, at most you can buy whatever people design. At most, it's a little special in the interior of the car, but to put it bluntly, there is actually nothing to change, the space of the car is still too small, unlike private jets, there is enough space to toss around. The car is not good, and the interior is mostly changed within the scope of others, and to be honest, it is not very interesting.

But it is different when it comes to cars directly, according to the requirements and preferences of the boss, gather a group of designers, start from scratch, start from scratch, and turn the imaginary content into reality little by little, and then ...... How cool is it to go out in such an exclusive car? In this regard, there is a little difference between a car and an airplane and a yacht, that is, an airplane and a yacht, if you want to talk about changes, it is more in the interior space. Because the interior space is large enough to be tossed around at will, but on the other hand, there is nothing to be done about the outside.

Whether it's aerodynamics or fluid mechanics or something, there is an established standard, and if you build an airplane and build a shipbuilding, in the final analysis, you have to do it within this range. What is the shape, what is the specific size, what is the layout of various mechanical aspects, can not be nonsense. But for the car, it is relatively much more relaxed, and the interior has basically not changed, but the appearance can be changed somewhat. Many car manufacturers launch new models at every turn, on the one hand, the technology has improved, of course, to come up with better things to make money, on the other hand, there are also some very interesting changes in the appearance, which can also attract people's attention.

So this is also one of the parts that Zhou Fangyuan likes.

His sensibilities for MG's cars, the shape, have always been good. In contrast, like BMW, Audi, Daben, the regular series has always been like that, and there are some small changes, and the time to watch it is gone, and I am tired of it, and I am too lazy to look at it. You can say that it is a classic, but it can also be said that there is no change, on the contrary, MG's models can often always have some interesting changes, which is another reason why Zhou Fangyuan invested in MG.

However, the idea is good, and it is okay to want to invest. But the specific investment amount and the attitude of the other side are really not easy to say.

Anyway, as far as the current situation is concerned, in the initial contact, MG is more able to accept the fact that foreign funds are investing in shares, but their asking price is quite high, which is somewhat beyond Zhou Fangyuan's expectations. He has invested a lot of things recently, especially this year, with loans or something, tens of billions of funds have been thrown out, even if he has cash cows at hand, he is not playing like this. So he actually has a headache recently, for MG, he has love, but the asking price is high, he can't accept it, he can only hope for the negotiation team to see how far the price can be pressed in the end.

If you can't do it, you can only find a way to sell some shares in other companies.