Rover Motors has been bleeding BMW in the hundreds of millions of dollars per year, and when the two sides jointly developed the highly-anticipated Rover 75 model in 1998, which failed to perform well on the market, BMW finally decided to sell it to the outside world because it could no longer drive this pig-like teammate. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

The Rover 75 can be said to be a completely new model that BMW is deeply involved in, with engineers from Germany involved from the first drawings, and it is envisaged that the target is a sub-luxury sedan such as Volvo and Audi.

"We have only one competitor anywhere in the world, and that's Mercedes!"

Although Audi, Volvo, and even the later Lexus brand claimed to be luxury cars, in the eyes of BMW and even Mercedes-Benz, only each other was the only opponent of each other, and they cherished each other and fought happily.

"Rover Motors is just a glimmer of sunset in the empire on which the sun never sets, and it should have been swept into the dustbin of history long ago, and this is the final fate of the liars!"

When McKinsey, a third-party consulting firm, received negative information about Rover Motors through fraud and deliberately concealing huge losses, the upright Germans did not believe that they had been tricked by the British, but the cold and detailed investigation report would not deceive. BMW had thought that it would be wishful thinking to bring Rover back back to life in 1999, and there was no prospect of profitability as it stands.

The members of the board of directors of the Covante family, who control BMW, were so angry when they learned of this.

In order to become bigger and stronger to avoid being eaten by other auto giants, I agreed to merge Rover, knowing that Rover was rotten but not knowing that it was so bad, now it has become the fuse that BMW will be really eaten, because Rover has made BMW's stock fall endlessly, and it is easy to become the target of a hostile takeover.

Former BMW president Brude, who single-handedly led BMW's acquisition of Rover, stepped down and was replaced by a technologist, Millberg. When BMW informed other international auto giants such as Volkswagen, General Motors and even Ford that it was planning to sell Rover cars, it was met with an offer that bordered on extortion.

Because the target of these more financially powerful giants is not Rover, but BMW, which is in turmoil, and they want BMW shareholders to sell 25% of their shares as a dowry for the acquisition of Rover.

Volkswagen even went so far as to suggest that the merger of BMW and Volkswagen would be the best option to ensure that the glory of Germany, which belonged to Germany, would not be abducted by the Americans.

Xiang Zhuang danced the sword with the intention of Pei Gong, and the Covante family, who controlled BMW, flatly rejected these bids, and they did not want to lose control and independence of BMW.

But the sale of Rover cars must be agreed by the British government and trade unions, and a reckless sale would lead to lawsuits and reputational damage to BMW.

Rover's hot potato makes BMW really unable to advance or retreat, and it must be thrown away, but how to do thunderbolt means and maintain a decent departure is the focus of controversy among the board of directors.

Knowing that BMW is going to get rid of Rover, he chooses to close or sell. If it closes, BMW will have to pay a huge severance pay, but a large number of workers will lose their jobs as a result, and the British government does not want to see this outcome. As a result, the sale became the only option that the British government and BMW could agree on.

At the beginning of 2000, BMW dismembered the Rover Group into three, retained the MINI brand and production plant for its own use, sold the Land Rover off-road vehicle sub-brand to Ford for 1.8 billion pounds ($3 billion at the time), and transferred the remaining Rover and MG brands to the British Phoenix consortium for 10 pounds, and also gave 400 million pounds worth of inventory cars, plant and production equipment, and finally promised to provide the newly established Rover MG Group with an interest-free loan of 427 million pounds for its transition period.

In other words, after selling the only valuable Land Rover brand to recoup $3 billion, BMW only gained the MINI brand, and was able to take a symbolic price of 10 pounds and a price of nearly 827 million pounds (a total of 1.36 billion US dollars) to say goodbye to Rover's nightmare.

In the six years since the acquisition of the Rover Group, BMW has lost more than $6 billion in the acquisition project, calculating the $3 billion paid by Ford to the Land Rover brand.

However, BMW also has to thank the Phoenix Consortium, a receivership established by the former chairman of the Rover Group, despite the suspicion of taking advantage of the fire and robbery, the empty glove white wolf got close to 1 billion pounds in assets, but it still got BMW out of the quagmire in time!

BMW's strong man broke his arm, which was widely welcomed in the stock market, and the stock price started a strong rebound after changing the previous decline, rising nearly 18% on the first day.

Why was the Phoenix Consortium, which was just an empty shell, able to get the consent of the British government, the trade unions, and BMW to take over the new Rover MG Group? It was because it swore to guarantee the jobs of more than 7,000 workers, to find new partners for Rover MG, and to ensure that 200,000 vehicles a year would be produced, so that Rover MG would turn a profit within two years.

The seemingly flawless plan, although no one can guarantee that it will be realized, but the plight of the Rover Group has made everyone try to imagine on the positive side, and the Phoenix Group is like a Knights of the Round Table to save the Rover brand from the withering.

Rover, which even BMW, one of the best car companies in the world, can't save, is still willing to come in and take over?

Although it is not easy to integrate with Chrysler, Mercedes-Benz still intends to adhere to the Mercedes-Benz + Chrysler dual-brand strategy, especially to enter the long-coveted American ordinary car market.

Finally got rid of the big trouble of Rover, BMW was relaxed, seeing that Mercedes-Benz was carrying a new burden, and secretly rejoiced and looked forward to Mercedes-Benz to continue to walk. So far, there have been few successful cases of mergers and acquisitions of multinational automobile brands, and only General Motors has played relatively skillfully.

Audi A6 officially announced the price in China on December 25, 1999, as high as 40-650,000 yuan, as soon as it was listed, it ushered in a hot sales situation, especially the official car market opened an explosive market.

Although it does not see Audi as a direct competitor, BMW sees the potential of China's luxury car market from Audi's hot sales.

The number of BMW cars entering Chinese mainland through various channels is between 6,000 every year, which is enough to give BMW the incentive to set up local factories for production. What's more, now Audi has made a good start, as well as the best-selling Honda Accord and GM Buick, which made a profit when the factory was established, and BMW is determined to follow into China.

In terms of the selection of partners in China, BMW has been vacillating between Zhonghua Group and Brilliance Group, and the president of BMW has personally visited China for this purpose.

Judging from the news obtained by China, now Zhonghua Group has taken the lead in Brilliance Group, and has preemptively obtained the 7-digit car production catalog, and the balance in BMW's heart has begun to favor Zhonghua Group.

Under the bilateral agreement reached between China and the United States on the WTO, China and Europe will start negotiations in 2000 to make the final sprint on China's accession to the WTO.

BMW intends to take advantage of this opportunity to secure a partner to enter the Chinese market, as the Chinese government's approval process requires at least two years to complete the entire process of the joint venture.

In order to determine the final partner, BMW once again sent a large-scale delegation to China, this time led by Chairman Pang Ke himself, including President Milberg and others, to start an unofficial visit to China.

What is an unofficial trip is that BMW's trip is mainly a business visit, scoring partners, and does not participate in meetings with high-level Chinese government officials. Generally speaking, at the head of an investor of BMW's size, China will arrange a reception and meeting with senior leaders to express goodwill and welcome to the investment. Since the Rover project had just been completed, BMW had decided to send a delegation to China, so it did not communicate with the Chinese government's senior management in the itinerary.

This time, the BMW delegation directly put the first stop in Jiangzhou, and took the lead in inspecting Zhonghua Group, showing a different arrangement from the previous two times, revealing BMW's different minds.

Seeing that Zhonghua "Qin" is coming down from the production line, and the supporting enterprises of the entire car project are relatively perfect, especially seeing that the Zhonghua car production line is not inferior to BMW, Chairman Pang Ke and President Milberg are satisfied with the strength of Zhonghua Group.

On the last visit, Chunghwa Group only produced low-end mini car products, and a year later, compact cars have become the main product, showing that the company really has positive vitality. Milberg appreciates Han Hao's attitude, and now BMW needs such a partner with the ability to take action to develop the Chinese market.

"If BMW decides to make a joint venture with China, how do you think about the future operation of the joint venture? As far as I know, joint ventures in China sometimes have irreconcilable contradictions between Chinese and foreign parties, such as the Chinese side will require foreign parties to transfer technology, and it is mandatory for Chinese parts companies to participate in joint ventures. ”

Mr. Punk, chairman of BMW, asked Han Hao that in his opinion, the hardware conditions of Zhonghua Group have been fully qualified, but in terms of software, especially in values, I don't know whether the two sides are consistent.

"We will adhere to the belief that the joint venture company is the first, since the two parties have established a joint venture, then it is an independent legal person. In the old saying of us Chinese, children and parents are separated, they are independent individuals, and parents cannot impose their will on adult children. No matter what contradiction is encountered, as long as it is beneficial to the joint venture, then it is the right way to deal with it. Our Zhonghua Group will not ask the joint venture company to provide technology or even force the installation of parts manufacturers, because the strong twisted melon is not sweet, and we have our own development plan and path. Of course, if you are willing to share BMW's advanced technology and ideas, we will not refuse, as long as the price is reasonable and worth trying. ”

Of course, Han Hao has a learning attitude towards the joint venture with BMW, and it is impossible to ask the other party to transfer technology and other requirements in reality. Unfortunately, the Chinese government advocates the exchange of technology from the market, but it does not mandate the transfer of technology. China does not allow foreign-funded auto companies to build factories directly, they can only choose domestic enterprises to cooperate, and joint ventures between foreign parties and Chinese partners are a last resort.

"In the future, the joint venture will adopt the AB post, an original management method in China, and any key decision can only be carried out after the unanimous consent of the managers of both the Chinese and foreign sides of the AB post, and the standard is the first guiding principle of the joint venture. BMW and Zhonghua will form a market pattern in the future, with no competition between each other, and more of a benign complementary position. The joint venture company is serious about the BMW brand, while our group continues to produce Chinese cars, and everyone performs their duties without interfering with each other. ”

For BMW's joint venture project, Han Hao adopts a fairly open mind. Of course, he would not be stupid enough to believe that after the joint venture, BMW would give everything to the Zhonghua Group, and there would be a price for everything in the world, just depending on the size of the price. BMW is not a philanthropist, the main purpose of coming to China is to make money, and the quality of the joint venture is its consideration. As for the partners, BMW will not care too much.

Volkswagen's technological blockade of China's two major partners, SAIC and FAW, shows that the Germans' monopoly on technology is incomparable. If Zhonghua Group wants to develop, it still has to rely on its own efforts, and it will have the strength to bargain with BMW in the future.

During the conversation, Han Hao "unintentionally" revealed that China Automobile has reached a preliminary restructuring with Jiangnan Automobile, and it is very likely to obtain a truly independent 7-figure car production catalog after national approval.

This is another big plus point, so the fact shows that Zhonghua Group has obtained the acquiescence of the Chinese government and has become the first private car manufacturer.

Next, the German guests threw out another blockbuster question, that is, after the joint venture with Zhonghua Group, how should the second automobile deal with it?