Soon after Han Hao took charge of Volvo, a team of technical experts from Volvo arrived in Jiangzhou, and they had a very important special task.

In order to allow Volvo to develop synergistically with Zhonghua Group in the future, Han Hao put forward a new idea, that is, he hopes that Volvo's SPA platform can be connected with Zhonghua Group's Pangu platform, and the newly established production line can achieve co-production of the products of the two enterprises in the future.

The immediate root cause of this idea was that Chunghwa Group was preparing to enter the U.S. market, so it was inevitable to build a factory in North America. In the future, Volvo and Zhonghua Automobile will be able to produce together in the same factory, which will greatly reduce costs and save huge investment. In addition, in the case of co-production, Han Hao actually used Volvo technology to endorse the newly unveiled Zhonghua Automobile, making it easier for the American people to accept car products from China.

Of course, Volvo will not only be overdrawn by the brand, and China Automobile will establish a joint venture with it in the United States and even Europe to jointly operate and share profits.

The two sides selected elite generals and began to work together to establish a sharing mechanism to connect data and processes, solve the technical problems of co-line production, and make R&D preparations for the construction of new factories in the future.

It is unlikely that it will enter a mature automobile market like the United States and become mainstream immediately, knowing that European car companies such as Volkswagen and Peugeot Citroen have worked hard for decades but are depressed, and Zhonghua Group is under great pressure as a newcomer.

However, Han Hao's goal is very clear, that is, Zhonghua Group does not need to become the mainstream immediately, but first begins to encroach on the low-end models of the United States and similar Korean low-end models in a small area, and then slowly develops and progresses against Japanese brands.

It will take two years for Volvo's next-generation XC60 model to land, which means that the construction of the new plant will have to wait a long time.

Han Hao plans to take advantage of the chaos in the U.S. auto market to enter now, and he has to find another way.

Co-production is a good idea, in addition to Volvo, Han Hao also thought of another partner is Tesla.

Now many new energy technology engineers of Zhonghua Group are collaborating with Tesla to develop new S-type cars, and Tesla is also worried about the construction of a new factory.

Without factories, Tesla would be a castle in the air and would be seen as a liar.

Taking advantage of the current research and development of Tesla's Model S sedan, Zhonghua Group is willing to jointly build a new factory, which can be OEM for Tesla in the future, and can also cooperate with Tesla in co-production.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is now bent on going public to raise funds and cash out, and it is also a win-win situation for him to cooperate with Zhonghua Group to build a factory, after all, he has China's largest local automobile company for his endorsement, and it is also convenient for him to tell investors about the bright prospects of the company.

Therefore, Han Hao agreed with Musk that he would invest $100 million in the early construction of Tesla's new factory, on the condition that the production line of Zhonghua Group's new energy vehicles be placed in it.

What is the technical strength of Chunghwa Group's automobiles?

It should be passable and qualified to enter the mature market of the United States.

But in order for the American people to choose new cars from China among the vast number of car brands, they must pull the banner of tiger skin and use the fame of Volvo and Tesla to stand on the platform.

According to Han Hao's schedule, after the announcement of Tesla's new model S, Zhonghua Group will also launch its first product in the United States, a pure electric family car produced in the same line as Tesla.

In order to distinguish it from Tesla's new S sedan, Zhonghua Group will launch an SUV model. This car is mainly to show that Zhonghua Group has first-class new energy technology, which belongs to the display of corporate image, so that more American people know that there is this Chinese brand.

Subsequently, it will take advantage of the 2.5% policy of the U.S. automobile import tariff to export cars from China on a small scale to the United States, and the main products will be hybrid models, seizing the U.S. market segment and continuing to maintain the image of Chinese automobiles as having new energy technology.

In addition, it will also make use of the technical advantages of Kunpeng new energy buses and the emerging environmental protection concept abroad to sell Chinese buses to the U.S. market, and continue to establish the leading image of Zhonghua Group.

After the completion of the above two steps, the sales network in the United States was gradually established, and the next step was that the Chinese Group gasoline version of the car took advantage of the low-tariff government export landing in the United States on a large scale to continue to seize the market share of American automobiles.

According to the experience of Japan and South Korea's automobile exports, when the number of imported cars from China reaches a certain level, the US government will inevitably require restrictions on Chinese automobiles, which is very likely to trigger trade frictions between the two countries. At this time, the investment in building a factory in the North American Free Trade Zone was smoothly promoted, and Zhonghua Group began to truly take root in the North American market.

Mexico and Canada are both ideal countries to invest in factories if you have a choice, and considering that the three major U.S. auto companies are being dragged down by powerful labor unions, you know that investing in the U.S. is not the first choice. But thanks to the subprime mortgage crisis, which has made a big concession to the powerful auto unions, the treatment of having to actually invest in the United States in the future should be better than before.

According to the scale of U.S. car sales to remain at 15 million, Han Hao hopes that in the next ten years, the Zhonghua Group will occupy a share of 1 million vehicles, which is on par with other international giants. How to gain a firm foothold in the U.S. market and achieve certain results will be one of the priorities of his work in the next ten years.

Of course, the above plans are highly confidential to the Zhonghua Group, even in front of the chief, Han Hao will not tell in detail, but simplified the words that will be one step ahead of the new energy vehicles exported to the United States, taking advantage of China's cheap cost to seize the local market.

Exporting cars to the United States, but the feat that really proves the strength of China's automobile industry, many domestic automobile companies have been shouting for more than ten years but have achieved nothing, and now whether the Zhonghua Group can achieve a breakthrough of zero is a hot spot that the whole country is extremely concerned about.

If it really gains a firm foothold in the U.S. auto market and gains a certain market share, then no one will question the identity of Chung Hwa Group as a multinational auto giant.

With a "bang", an SUV Tang underwent a special crash test.

I saw that the front of the car hit the test wall at high speed at a quarter of the area in front of the driver's position, and the entire engine compartment immediately collapsed and sank, and the tires burst and scattered, but the A-pillar was not deformed at all, and the dummy was not injured as the airbag was ejected in time.

Compared with the European E-NCAP standard of 40% frontal collision, the quarter, or 25%, of the collision area, is more of a test of the safety strength of the car.

To enter the U.S. market, it must be tested by NHTSA and IIHS, two of the world's most demanding automotive crash standards. Among them, NHTSA is organized and implemented by the U.S. Highway Safety Administration, which is equivalent to an official certification on behalf of the government. The IIHS is the leading organization of the American Highway Safety Insurance Association, because the car accident has to be claimed by the insurance company, so the insurance company attaches more importance to the safety and quality of the car, and the establishment of a third-party collision agency of the industry association belongs to the official certification from the market.

Compared to the two, the IIHS crash standard is higher and more credible, because they only buy the lowest spec model for testing and publish the crash score with the lowest spec. This means that of all the models, the IIHS only selects the shortest plank in the barrel for testing, and then extends up to the other planks.

From the perspective of consumer safety, this is the best choice, if the minimum configuration safety factor is sufficient, there is no need to worry about buying a high configuration.

But from the perspective of OEMs, they really hate IIHS. Originally, the low configuration was to reduce costs and subtract many configurations, such as the lowest configuration in China, with only one airbag or even none. At present, in order to pass the IIHS test, the number of airbags and other safety facilities have to be increased, which greatly increases the cost.

In the mature U.S. auto market, consumers will not choose to buy the brand car if there is no IIHS score reference, so OEMs can only increase the cost to let the lowest-configuration model pass the IIHS assessment.

It can be seen that China's C-NCAP is a primary school student role compared to IIHS. If you score 100 points in the Chinese test, you may not even pass the passing line in the United States, which is the invisible threshold in front of the automobile industry in various countries.

The 25% crash test is not included in the IIHS assessment scope for the time being, and they are now only 40% crash test like Europe. However, it has been reported in the media that stricter standards should be implemented, and 25% is the new benchmark they advocate, after all, many casualties occur at the impact point of less than 40% of the collision area.

The all-electric "Tang" will be the first Chinese mass-produced car to make it to the United States, and it is now working hard to review and demand advanced safety standards to achieve good results in the IIHS crash test in the future.

As a pathfinder, Han Hao finally chose the trump card of "Tang" and used the hot tide of SUVs to complete the combat plan of beach-grabbing landing.

It seems that the crash test has been successful, and the all-electric "Tang" has undergone new improvements, especially in front of the left driver's seat of the front crash beam, and has been integrated with the overall body structure using computer simulation, withstanding the test of 25% of the crash area.

Chunghwa Group has already begun to contact the IIHS, hoping to use the "Tang" as the first vehicle to voluntarily undergo a 25% collision area test, showing great confidence in its products.

According to the development progress of Tesla's S model sedan, it will likely be unveiled before the end of the year and announce the mass production plan, when the pure electric "Tang" will also land in the US market as Tesla's cousin, and a new chapter in the first quarter of next year will open a new chapter in China's auto counterattack on the North American market.