Volvo has nearly 4,000 engineers in its R&D center and about 10,000 workers in the car manufacturing plant, who are enthusiastic about the arrival of the new owner, Han Hao.

It is not easy to know that mergers and acquisitions without layoffs are not easy, and being able to keep jobs in the economic crisis is the most beautiful gift for them.

In particular, the capital injection promised by the Chinese has been put in place, and many previously stalled projects have started, and new projects continue to be established, which makes Volvo employees see a bright future.

Compared with Ford's leadership, Volvo suddenly changed immediately after changing the Chinese owner.

Therefore, when Han Hao came to Volvo's R&D laboratory, he was greeted by spontaneous applause from employees, and some people held up placards with "I love China" written in crooked Chinese.

Safety has always been the main signboard of Volvo Cars, which is distinguished from the brand connotation of BMW's control, Mercedes-Benz's luxury, and Audi's technology.

After the acquisition of Land Rover, Zhonghua Group carried out technical cooperation with it and obtained the scarce four-wheel drive off-road chassis technology. Now with Volvo, Han Hao hopes to graft safety factors onto Zhonghua Group and continue to improve the existing shortcomings.

Automobile safety is mainly divided into software and hardware, and the hardware is that the car is equipped with various safety protection equipment, such as seat belts, airbags and high-strength bodies, etc., to protect the driver from the least degree of injury in the event of a collision.

Software is now a safety assistance system that major automobile manufacturers are discussing, which can assist drivers to drive safely on the road. Even when the driver makes a mistake, the error can be corrected in time to avoid accidents. The simplest example is reversing radar, reversing image, and then the further technical content is the blind spot monitoring and automatic parking that have just begun to be applied, and the more advanced is active braking and automatic driving.

Volvo has been investing in R&D for safe driver assistance systems for a long time, after all, the best safety protection measure is to eliminate the hidden danger of accidents before they occur.

According to Volvo's R&D report, they have overcome a new function that automatically brakes when a pedestrian is present on the road. Today, Han Hao came to the laboratory, and under the influence of the warm atmosphere, he decided to act as a model to experience Volvo's safety technology.

The specific process is that Han Hao stands in the middle of the lane, and the car is ushered in at a speed of 5 kilometers per hour to see if the system can take the initiative to brake and stop.

Such tests have been carried out many times, and after continuous debugging, the on-board safety system has been able to detect pedestrians and actively brake and stop.

In addition, the speed of 5 kilometers per hour is not fast, and the engineer was specially arranged to sit in the driver's seat to prevent accidents, so Han Hao stood in the middle of the lane amid everyone's cheers.

The courage to test Volvo's products with his own safety has won Han Hao, the Chinese boss, an approachable perception.

"Tutu—"

An S0 sedan equipped with Volvo's safety assistance system started slowly and drove slowly towards Han Hao at a speed of 5 kilometers per hour.

"3m-2m-m-"

The front of the car was getting closer and closer to Han Hao, and suddenly heard a "bang", Han Hao was caught off guard and was knocked down and fell on the hood of S0.

"Squeak—"

The engineer quickly applied the brakes and stopped S0.

The scene that was still hot just now was suddenly silent, this is really a big deal, Volvo's new owner was hit by his own car.

Fortunately, Han Hao had a mind just now, and when he saw that the situation was wrong, he took the initiative to jump up to the hood, and the engineer stepped on the brakes when he saw that the situation was wrong, so he was not injured.

It shows that the new technology is still not perfect enough, and the 1 in 10,000 chance of failure is bumped into by Han Hao.

"It seems that it deliberately played a joke on me, taught me a lesson by example, and asked for more money to improve itself. I had no choice but to fulfill its wish and continue to invest in the safety assistance system. ”

Han Hao did not get angry or lose his temper as everyone imagined, but clapped his hands and stood up, saying with a self-deprecating attitude that he would continue to support the research and development of the security system.

This kind of demeanor made everyone at the scene see that China's richest man is indeed extraordinary, and he is qualified enough to become the new owner of Volvo.

In the evening, Han Hao was invited to attend the welcome banquet held for him by the Swedish king and his wife.

Volvo Cars, as one of Sweden's business cards, is also the country's royal family's designated car, and if the new owner visits, the host will naturally be warmly welcomed.

Han Hao fulfilled his promise not to lay off employees, and also began to recruit new employees to expand the team, which allowed Volvo Cars to step into the pace of recovery.

At the banquet, the King of Sweden officially awarded Han Hao the Royal Order of the North Star, which is specially awarded to people who have made outstanding contributions to the promotion of friendship between Sweden and other countries.

Han Hao acquired Volvo to make more Chinese aware of Sweden, a Nordic country, and also expanded local investment to provide employment and was eligible to wear the Polaris Medal.

"Thank you very much to His Majesty King Gustav for his kindness, although the Order of the North Star was awarded to me personally, in fact her glory belongs to the entire Chinese group.

Volvo is a great automobile company with a long history, and the initial integration with Zhonghua Group is very smooth, and I hope that Volvo will be like the North Star in the future, and will always shine and bloom in the global automobile map!"

With the expansion of transnational operations, Han Hao's circle of friends has become a head higher than that of domestic entrepreneurs, and he can sit with heads of state and talk and laugh.

"Next May will mark the 0th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Sweden and China, and I will visit China at the invitation of the Chinese government. In terms of itinerary, I specially asked to visit Jiangzhou for a day to see the booming China Group with my own eyes.

I wish the friendship between China and Sweden will last forever——"

During the dinner, King Gustav of Sweden raised his glass and introduced to Han Hao.

"It is a great honour for us to cut the ribbon as a symbol of Sino-Swiss friendship when Volvo's new R&D center in China will be inaugurated.

Cheers to our bright tomorrow!"

Raising his glass in response, Han Hao was surprised and calm.

Volvo China will become the second largest headquarters in the Asia-Pacific region and even the world, and not far from the headquarters of Zhonghua Group, the construction of the new Volvo China headquarters has begun, and the first phase of the project is expected to be completed before the visit of the King of Sweden to China.

The land reserved by the Jiangzhou Municipal Government for the future development of the Automobile City officially came in handy. In addition to Volvo's headquarters in China, there are also manufacturing plants and core component suppliers that will be planned in one place, which can be connected to Zhonghua Group in the future.

First Land Rover, then Volvo, coupled with the soaring Zhonghua and Huaxia Automobile, Jiangzhou City will surpass any other city in China in the future, and truly become the automobile capital of China, even Hujiang City, which has the two joint venture giants of Volkswagen and General Motors, is not an opponent.

Unlike Han Hao, who is full of spring breeze, his old friend Akio Toyoda has been in a hurry recently.

Affected by the subprime mortgage crisis, Toyota Motor will face a loss for the first time in 50 years, which is an unprecedented event in the automotive industry. You must know that Toyota, which has always been picky, is a master of profitability in the automobile industry, no matter how other automobile companies lose money, Toyota can always make money by standing still.

Due to its heavy exposure to the North American market, where half of its annual profits come from, the subprime mortgage crisis led to a significant reduction in car sales, resulting in a net loss of more than $5.5 billion for the aggressively expanding Toyota.

To this end, former Toyota President Yoshiaki Watanabe announced his resignation, and Akio Toyoda officially took over as president and took the helm of the Japanese super car giant.

Akio Toyoda can be said to have been appointed in a critical situation, in addition to the primary goal of leading Toyota to turn losses into profits, he also had to go to the United States to urgently deal with the "acceleration door" incident.

According to U.S. media reports, some Toyota users caused serious car accidents because the foot pad stuck the accelerator pedal, and the unreasonable design of the vehicle was the main inducement. Subsequently, other users also reported that Toyota would suddenly accelerate its abnormal behavior, which caused Toyota to fall into a safety storm.

This is known as Toyota's "accelerator gate" incident, for which Akio Toyoda had to rush to the United States to deal with it in person.

If it's just a consumer complaint, the problem is that the U.S. Highway Traffic Safety Administration and even the U.S. Congress have stepped in to demand a thorough investigation into the safety of Toyota vehicles.

In other words, if the government-led investigation does not come to light, Toyota may face the risk of a ban on sales in the United States, which is the root cause of Akio Toyoda's rush to the United States to fight the fire.

Nearly half of Toyota's sales and profits come from the U.S. market, and a ban would be devastating for Toyota.

At a time when the three major auto giants in the United States are in trouble, Toyota suddenly fell into the "accelerator gate" turmoil, which can't help but make people think.

If the U.S. government doesn't intervene, even if it costs taxpayers more money to save the three auto giants, it will take three years for them to recover, and the North American market will be robbed by Toyota, a supergiant, early in the morning.

Because the manufacturing cost of a single car by General Motors, Ford and Chrysler is much higher than that of Japanese brands, and now they are in a stage of restructuring and adjustment, they will not be the opponent of Toyota.

Once Toyota is also self-sufficient, then the North American auto market will not begin to reshuffle, and the three major American auto companies will usher in breathing time.

However, the North American auto market will usher in a short-term chaos without a power vacuum, which is a predictable situation and gives other car companies a chance to grow and develop.

Han Hao could not have imagined that the opportunity to enter the American market would come so quickly, and the three major American auto giants and Toyota were all in a quagmire, which happened to be a good opportunity for new forces to enter.

However, even the major European auto giants have not been able to break through the city of American automobiles, and the American and Japanese auto companies have occupied most of the American market. （）