"Hansan, I'm sorry to inform you that our cooperation with you will be temporarily suspended next year, because we have to prioritize the supply of Toyota vehicles.

Regarding the sudden shortage of goods on the Aisin side, although the Japanese side has repeatedly stated that the quota is due to the inability to keep up with the production capacity, the quota is allocated to FAW Toyota first, and the production capacity recovery will continue to cooperate in the future, but Han Hao knows that this is a clamping measure by the Japanese side on the Zhonghua Group.

Many people come to buy the "Qin" and "Tang" for the Aisin 4AT, and this transmission installed in Toyota vehicles has always had a good reputation.

Since New Year's Day in 2004, Zhonghua Group has been facing the dilemma of running out of stock, and it is only half a year away. Even if it wanted to increase the amount of inventory purchased, Aisin did not agree, so it had to supply according to the signed contract.

For such a situation, Han Hao was actually mentally prepared early on, after all, Toyota is starting its own strategy for the Chinese market, and it will not tolerate the existence of an opponent that is enough to threaten itself. "Qin" and Corolla are too similar, not only affecting Weichi, but also threatening after the domestic Corolla is launched.

It's just that the day came sooner than expected, and the Japanese side directly interrupted the supply without mercy.

This is the end of not having your own core components, if you can only buy out, others can get stuck in your neck at any time.

In the laboratory of the China Automotive Research Institute, the self-developed CVT transmission prototype is still working on the bench, and various data are continuously transmitted to the central computer screen for basic data collection and debugging of the transmission brain TCU.

"The domestic clutch plate still wears out too quickly, and compared with the products we imported from the Japanese factory, it is still a big difference. As for the use of new materials developed by Baosteel, the use of bearings is OK, which basically meets the requirements of stable operation.

At the same time as the bench test, we started to use two prototype vehicles for road testing, but the situation on site was not very ideal. Our CVTs lack tuning and stability of core components, which take time to overcome.

At present, the TCU of mainstream CVT transmissions on the market can intelligently provide 1,000 transmission modes and 1,500 road condition judgments, while our current prototypes can only reach 20% of their capabilities. ”

As the project leader, Xia Cheng's words made Han Hao understand that his CVT could not be listed as soon as possible.

It is basically a fantasy to want the self-developed CVT to replace the Aisin 4AT next year.

Today, the world's three largest independent manufacturers of automatic transmissions are Aisin, JATCO and ZF. The first two are related to Japanese car brands, with Toyota behind Aisin, Nissan and Mitsubishi behind JATCO, and ZF with BMW. The remaining companies that have the ability to produce automatic transmissions, such as General Motors, Ford, Mercedes-Benz, etc., do not sell their products to the outside world.

In 2002, Mitsubishi spun off its transmission business and sold it to JATCO, which became a major player in the global CVT market. However, compared to the large market share of automatic transmissions, CVTs account for less than 30% of the automatic transmissions.

Since Aisin stopped providing 4AT, Han Hao had to find a way to find another supplier to supply.

Mitsubishi has 4AT technology, but they sold it to the Jatco factory to produce it.

However, the negotiations with Mitsubishi, or JATCO, were not smooth, and the Japanese side did not agree to sell the 4AT transmission separately to the Chunghwa Group, and if it really wanted to supply, it must be sold in complete sets with Mitsubishi's domestically produced 4G engine.

"I hope you can understand that our 4AT production is limited, and we have made a cooperation plan with Mitsubishi Motors early on, and we need to sell it as a set. As for CVT transmissions, we have no plans to sell them to the outside world for the time being, and the current production capacity is mainly to meet the needs of Nissan Motors. ”

Gartco replied.

The Chunghwa Group has its own 1.8L engine, and now only needs a 4AT automatic transmission, and if Mitsubishi Power is purchased as a set, it will be a bit of a snake to add to it.

However, Han Hao did not directly return to the absolute side, but left an opening.

Automatic transmissions account for a large proportion of their own products, and if there is no automatic transmission available, not only will sales be affected, but also the brand image will be damaged.

If the Mitsubishi 2.0L engine plus the 4AT transmission is really purchased, then the flagship model of the Zhonghua Group will be homogenized with other domestic counterparts.

"According to the purchase price given by Mitsubishi, if we go at the current selling price, the profit of a car will be reduced by at least 50%. ”

Simply calculating the cost, Han Hao knew that in this way, the main engine factory really had to work for Mitsubishi and them.

The Japanese side has made limited progress, and all that remains is to ask the Germans ZF.

Thanks to the joint venture of BMW in China, Han Hao has a good relationship with ZF.

Previously, Han Hao asked ZF if it could sell AT transmissions, but was rejected by the other party. However, now that times have changed, facing the threat of Aisin being out of stock, Han Hao has to ask the other party for help again.

As the president of the joint venture company Zhonghua BMW, Han Hao will not fall behind in the dialogue with ZF, and once he becomes the head of Zhonghua Group, he will not have the confidence to cooperate with them. Because ZF is focusing on BMW, a big customer, rather than Zhonghua Group.

"ZF's AT transmissions will not be supplied to Chinese brands for the time being, which is due to market strategy considerations, and I hope you can understand. ”

The head of ZF, which is in charge of the business in China, said to Han Hao so frankly.

As a supplier to luxury car brands such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Land Rover and Volvo, ZF is one of Europe's largest independent transmission companies, focusing on strong demand in the high-end market, and they will not consider selling their star products to Chinese brands in the lower end of the market for the time being.

ZF's AT transmissions are 50% more expensive than Japanese brands, and imports from Europe to China are expensive for long-distance transportation, coupled with the high price itself, in fact, it is not the first choice of Zhonghua Group.

Now I want to buy it, but the other party refuses to sell it to you, I really can't buy it with money.

Han Hao had already expected such a result, but his main goal was the next conversation.

"I noticed that you ZF actually have CVT transmissions, and Chery Qiyun uses this product. Since it can be sold to Chery, then we should be able to treat our Zhonghua Group equally, right?"

As soon as Cowin's new car came out, Zhonghua Group had already purchased it and disassembled and analyzed its competitors, and Han Hao was naturally impressed by the ZF CVT it carried.

"We also noticed that Chery Qiyun is equipped with CVT products, which frankly belong to a batch of parallel products, which entered the Chinese market through other channels and have not been officially certified by us. For this matter, Chery also sent people to communicate with us, hoping that we could provide warranty and after-sales products.

To be honest, these CVT transmissions are mainly supplied to the European and South American markets, and they should not be in the Chinese market. This was a big headache for us, because they were really ZF products, but they didn't fit into our marketing and after-sales strategy.

For this purpose, we have applied to the headquarters in Germany, and they will make the final decision. ”

Talking about Chery's CVT, the person in charge of China was also bitter, and there was an inexplicable trouble.

When Chery imported this batch of goods, it didn't think too much about after-sales problems, and it didn't come to the door until the raw rice was cooked and ripe, which made ZF quite passive.

"As far as I know, your CVTs are mainly supplied to the MINI and Rover brands, but both seem to be in average sales, especially the Rover brand car factories are basically shut down. In this way, ZF's CVT should urgently need to find someone to digest the production capacity, and our Zhonghua Group is a potential high-quality customer, with an annual purchase volume of 100,000 units. ”

Han Hao's ultimate goal is a ZF CVT transmission, which is a win-win business from the actual situation in the market.

"Mr. Han, in addition to the heavy-duty transmissions for trucks and AT transmissions for cars, CVT transmissions are not under our jurisdiction, they are under the scope of the European Business Department.

To be honest, we have no right to interfere with it, but I can respond to your request to the headquarters as soon as possible, and they will forward it to the European business unit.

100,000 units is a lot of business, and I believe they will take this request seriously enough. ”

The person in charge of China introduced to Han Hao that he really can't get involved in the CVT field.

Even if ZF CVT is willing to supply, there are two major hurdles.

The first is the price problem, Han Hao must keep the CVT transmission at a reasonable price, so as to be profitable. The second is the matching problem between the new CVT transmission and the Pangu engine, which will have a great impact on the product if the match is not good.

While Han Hao was waiting for ZF's reply, another major event happened in the domestic auto industry.

Aisin Seiki and Tangshan Gear Factory terminated the contract, ending their seven-year joint venture.

When it first entered the Chinese market to test the waters, Aisin Seiki found a joint venture with a local Tangshan gear factory to avoid risks. Now, with Toyota's large-scale entry into the Chinese market, Aisin will usher in a period of rapid growth in the foreseeable future and reap large profits.

After China's accession to the TO, it promised not to impose mandatory joint venture restrictions on core automotive components such as engines and transmissions, and to allow foreign parties to directly invest in the construction of factories.

Since the Chinese side is inferior to itself in terms of technology, capital, and talent, Aisin Seiki intends to leave the Chinese and do it on its own, so as to not only account for all profits but also avoid technology leakage.

The joint venture Tangshan Aisin Plant will become a wholly Japanese-owned plant, and will produce MT and AT transmissions for Japanese brands such as Toyota.

On the grounds of withdrawing capital and technology, the Japanese side demanded that the Chinese side transfer the equity of the joint venture factory to the Japanese side, so as to turn the joint venture into a sole proprietorship.

In order to avoid the bamboo basket being empty, Tangshan Gear Factory had to agree to the Japanese side's conditions and get a large amount of equity transfer fees. Since then, the skilled workers, existing production equipment, and land and buildings in the joint venture factory have become Aisin's assets.

Although the Chinese side was compensated, this is a drop in the bucket compared to the profits that will be reaped by Aisin's wholly-owned factories in the future.

Once again, it proves that there is no core technology of its own, and it can only be kicked away by others after using it, and in the end they are busy in vain.

Behind this move is still the figure of Akio Toyoda, who regards the Chinese market as the next chess game, and keeps falling in hopes of making Toyota the world's No. 1 in the future.

Aisin's decision to abandon its Chinese joint venture partners and go its own way shows that if the Chinese government changes its policies, such as allowing foreign auto brands to build independent factories, the domestic auto industry will inevitably change dramatically, and foreign auto brands will not be able to suppress the impulse to monopolize profits and seek independent operations.

The words of Nissan President Ghosn a while ago are still fresh in my memory, and in the eyes of foreign parties, the contribution of China's local joint venture partners is almost zero. In that case, why do we need joint ventures?

Therefore, some domestic media took advantage of this incident to speak out.

"A new auto industry policy will be formulated soon, and foreign brands must adhere to the principle of local joint ventures when entering the Chinese market, and the shareholding restrictions of joint venture automakers must be adhered to, and foreign investment cannot be allowed to exceed 50%. I have adhered to the strategy of changing the market for technology for 20 years, but now the technology has not been changed, and we must always be vigilant that the market cannot be lost in the future!"