Aisin Seiki entered China in 1996 and established Tangshan Aisin Co., Ltd. as a joint venture with the well-known Tangshan Gear Factory in China in order to reduce risks. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

The company manufactures MT manual transmissions and automatic transmission lines at its headquarters in Japan, Ahon, to prevent technology leakage.

Since Toyota has not yet entered the Chinese market in a big way and localized it, Aisin Seiki, as a relatively independent third party, sells transmission products to the outside world without tight production capacity.

Although the price of the 5MT produced by Tangshan Aisin is slightly higher than the average, its excellent quality quickly opened up the domestic market and became the choice of many domestic automobile manufacturers. Tangshan Gear Factory also began to become a first-class transmission factory in China because of its technical cooperation with Aisin.

The Chunghwa Group is currently playing a very active role in the domestic auto market, with sales exceeding 100,000 units in just a few years from scratch, and Aisin is also interested in expanding such potential customers.

In addition to supplying the 4AT mainly to Toyota, Aisin is also sold to Volkswagen and the Peugeot Group, but the model is slightly different from Toyota's products. The official explanation is that due to the different tuning of the matching engine, different control programs are written on the software, but the performance is similar.

The price of 4AT is also different for different manufacturers, Han Hao contacted Aisin with an attitude of contact, but he didn't expect the other party to reply very enthusiastically.

The reason is that Aisin wants to develop in the Chinese market, and Toyota, the shareholder behind it, has not yet jointly produced models that can use 4AT.

However, in order for Aisin to provide engines, at least a certain amount of purchase must be guaranteed, and if the quantity is too small, they would rather not take such an order.

"Han Sang, 30,000 units is the minimum order quantity, if you want goods, you must book for half a year, because our factories are all produced according to plan. If you add it at short notice, we will not be able to meet your needs. ”

The person in charge of Aisin in China said.

To be honest, Han Hao wanted to purchase 10,000 4ATs, because first, the price of 4ATs was very expensive, and second, he was not sure that he would sell too many automatic transmission models.

1 4AT price 27,500 yuan, 10,000 units is 275 million, if you can't sell so many automatic transmission models, it will cause great financial pressure.

Zhonghua Sedan has never sold automatic transmission models, so it is very risky to eat so many 4ATs at once.

Although Aisin agrees to accept the "deposit + installment" payment model, according to the current distribution of Chunghwa Group's models, it is difficult to share so many 4AT transmissions except for sedans. Pickup trucks and light buses are all tool car types, and consumers are manual transmission customers, and it is useless to add AT.

The popularity of Chinese products is due to the cheap and beautiful, manual transmission MT is the main volume model, once the cost of adding AT goes up, and the price of the joint venture brand rival coincides, consumers may choose the joint venture brand.

Although the C2 Zhonghua sedan imitates the ninth generation of the Corolla, Han Hao is confident that it can be popular in the Chinese market, but he has always had concerns about whether an automatic transmission model with an additional cost of more than 20,000 yuan can impress consumers.

"20,000 units! We need to test the market first, and if we can make up for the 10,000 units in the next year. ”

On the basis of 10,000 units, the purchase of 20,000 units is already the biggest concession given by Han Hao.

"I'm sorry, but our headquarters has set a minimum sales rate of 30,000 units, and one unit below this number will not be approved. So, if you really want to use Aisin's 4AT, you can only do what you do. ”

In front of a monopoly giant like Aisin, Han Hao has almost no power to bargain. To paraphrase a very clichéd phrase, love to buy or not, do not buy for the next one! Aisin is not worried about the lack of customers, and now it is a seller's market. There are very few companies in the world that can build 4AT, and there is no such store in this village.

"On the engine, can you send an engineer to come and make a special configuration for our engine?"

Not to mention the quantity, there is also whether the follow-up service can keep up, which is also a major focus of Han Hao's concern.

"I'm sorry, but because our engineer team is already full, we won't be able to come to China for the next year to help with deployment. In addition, if the powertrain is deployed, we will charge an additional consultation fee. ”

Knowledge is money, and if you want Aisin to help with the training, you have to pay a lot of money in addition to waiting in line. Even if Han Hao agreed, Aisin could not guarantee that he would be able to send someone.

"The number of ATs you need is so small that we have to prioritize the needs of large customers who purchase more than 300,000 units. If you can purchase 300,000 units, then I can guarantee that Aisin will provide commissioning services as a gift. ”

The Japanese side was polite, but the meaning of the tactful refusal was obvious. It's already good to sell 4AT to you, but it's impossible to ask for more services like a VIP customer.

Han Hao did not make up his mind in this negotiation, and the Japanese side was not in a hurry, but he was only given half a month to think about it, and he would no longer accept orders for production after the expiration.

"This is clearly intended to make us the culprit!"

Back in Jiangzhou, Han Hao called a meeting of his subordinates.

Knowing that Aisin mandated a minimum of 30,000 units to be sold, and not even 1 unit less, Ling Yunzhi said angrily.

"Now the self-owned brand cars on the market are all MT models, and there are almost no 4ATs, so it is impossible for Aisin not to know this. ”

"Maybe you want us to act as guinea pigs to see how their own 4AT monetizes on China's roads, paving the way for Toyota in the future?"

……

This opportunity is both good and bad.

On the bright side, Aisin is indeed rare to sell 4ATs to Chinese automakers, and if Aisin AT transmissions can be installed, it will be a quality improvement for Zhonghua "Qin".

The bad side is that there is too much pressure on the goods, and if it cannot be digested, it will form a financial burden. And Aisin means that it only sells goods without after-sales, and I don't know how well the 4AT works with the autonomous Pangu engine.

At this time, if a helper is brought in to share the burden, then there will be much less pressure on the Zhonghua Group. Han Hao thought about it for a while and dialed Jin Yangyong's phone.

Although Jeongdo Sedan has not been launched, Kim Yangyong has always been dissatisfied with the use of Mitsubishi engines, and now he is preparing to introduce Rover engines, which should be in demand for automatic transmissions. Since Zhengdao sedan is mainly aimed at the middle and high car market, the manual transmission configuration is definitely not possible, and there must be an automatic transmission model.

"Aisin's 4AT, this is a good thing, Toyota has proven its reliability, I can't believe they agreed to sell it to you!"

Han Hao plans to pull Jin Yangyong to jointly purchase 30,000 units, so that both parties can reduce the risk.

Knowing that Aisin would only start supplying goods in August 2001, Kim Yangyong estimated that Jeong-do cars should be on the road by then, so he agreed to Han Hao's joint proposal. However, he kept an eye on it, that is, he asked to start officially receiving orders until March 2002, leaving himself enough time to adapt.

As a man who only has 100 yuan in his pocket and dares to take out 99 yuan to invite guests to dinner with the same expression, Jin Yangyong has always dared to take risks in his heart.

"In the future, the two of us can cooperate more to jointly compete with foreign car brands, and we Chinese must first be united in order to survive the fierce competition." ”

Kim Yangyong intends to form a strategic alliance with Han Hao and cooperate in many aspects.

"Our common enemies are all foreign brands, so I agree with your proposal. We can work together in terms of technology, procurement, etc., to communicate and reduce costs. ”

This time, Jin Yangyong happily agreed to cooperate with him, and Han Hao thanked him and thought more about the future.

Aisin knew that the two companies, Zhonghua and Brilliance, would jointly purchase 20,000 units, and Zhonghua would order 20,000 units, and the remaining 10,000 units would be covered by Brilliance. In addition to the accident, I readily agreed to this plan.

30,000 4AT transmissions is a big order in the Chinese market.

After making a deposit, Aisin began arranging production plans to supply specialized 4AT transmissions to customers from China.

The year 2000 went fast, and at the end of the year, another big event happened.

On a national highway in a western province, a Mitsubishi Pajero is driving happily on a mountain road, and with its superior off-road performance, it is very suitable for China's mountainous road conditions.

"Xiao Huang, drive slower, we are not in a hurry. ”

The vehicle of the Provincial Bureau of Geology and Mines received three experts from the capital at the airport and was heading towards their destination. Seeing the bends in the mountains, the vice president of the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, who had just gotten off the plane, commanded.

"Don't worry, I'm used to walking this road, and I can get there on time when I close my eyes. Huh—"

The driver was about to brag about his driving skills, and there was a big bend in front of him, and a Dongfeng truck came on, and suddenly found that his foot was on the brake and there was no movement. If you make a slight mistake and don't slow down, you will have to collide head-on with a large truck.

At the critical moment, the driver Xiao Huang used his rich experience to pull up the handbrake, downshift and slow down, and at the same time hit the steering wheel to the side of the road, and used the friction with the mountain to stop the vehicle.

There was a flash of sparks, the front of the car rubbing wildly against the rocks, and the car finally slowed down. Eight seconds later, relying on a slightly protruding rock, Pajero finally stopped and narrowly passed by the Dongfeng truck.

"Oh hell, hell!"

When he was frightened, Xiao Huang secretly thanked God for his blessing.

If it can't stop, the off-road vehicle may be hit and fly out by the fully loaded Dongfeng truck, ushering in the consequences of the car being destroyed and killed.

The Pajero I just bought was less than a year old, and the journey was only more than 20,000 kilometers, so it is very unusual for such an accident to occur.

The driver, Xiao Huang, calmed the pale experts, walked back to the place where the brakes failed at the moment of the accident, and found a puddle of unknown liquid.

Almost lost his life, this can't be treated sloppily, and with the help of experts from the capital, a secret about Mitsubishi Pajero is revealed.

After inspection, among the more than 300 Pajero vehicles in the province alone, 23 vehicles had worn and perforated brake pipes, and other vehicles had varying degrees of wear and tear in the same location.

The situation was serious, and then this abnormal failure was reported to the State Inspection and Quarantine Bureau.

The Mitsubishi Pajero off-road vehicle, which has long been famous in China, has been exposed to serious quality problems, which has aroused great concern from the Chinese government.

Due to its strong off-road ability and the price in the early 300,000s, the Pajero has become an official car for many government agencies. Especially in the border provinces, Pajero is the first choice for many people to travel because of the mountains and roads.

According to statistics, more than 200,000 Pajero have entered China through formal and informal channels, and it belongs to the leading off-road vehicle brand in China.

But Pajero, who is praised by many Chinese, was found to have caused a number of traffic accidents in China due to retrospective investigation of brake failures, resulting in many injuries and deaths.

After investigation, it was found that it was a design problem, and the Mitsubishi Pajero rear axle brake oil pipe, in the case of driving on bumpy roads for too long, was prone to wear and perforation, resulting in brake fluid leakage and making the brake function ineffective.

Mitsubishi Motors did not accept the conclusion of the Chinese investigation, believing that it was caused by the poor road conditions in the Chinese market and that there were not many problems in terms of design. If it has been used on flat roads, the brake hose will not be extremely damaged.

Since there is no car recall law in China, Mitsubishi is not willing to take responsibility for the recall, and there is no compensation for people who are disabled due to Pajero's brake door failure.

Mitsubishi Motors' arrogance and irresponsible attitude angered the Chinese side, and major media such as CCTV made a special feature on the Pajero brake door incident.

At the same time, the National Inspection and Quarantine Bureau also announced that it was prepared to ban the import of Pajero until Mitsubishi Motors had properly handled the quality incident.

Not only in China, but also in China, Mitsubishi Motors has been exposed by the Japanese media to have been hiding the scandal of quality problems. There was not much money to be made, and if the recall would cost a lot of money, the senior management of Mitsubishi Motors decided to cover their ears and steal the bell to deal with it.

From the altar to the mortal world, from being sought after every day to being shouted and beaten by everyone, Mitsubishi Pajero has achieved a perfect diving performance in China.

The fall of Pajero has vacated a large market and given domestic auto companies opportunities.

Compared with the passability of sedans, SUVs have better outdoor performance and are beginning to have a unique market share.

At the same time as following the facelift of the ninth-generation Corolla, Toyota also released another popular model replacement. Due to the rise of the SUV trend in the U.S. auto market, this SUV born from the sedan chassis is increasingly favored by consumers.

Therefore, Toyota has upgraded its RAV4 model, the second-generation RAV4 has the same chassis as the ninth generation Corolla, and the exterior and interior have also made breakthrough improvements. Both in terms of performance and appearance, it far surpasses the first generation. Toyota began to exert efforts in the sedan and SUV markets at the same time, in order to overturn the dominance of American car brands.

Aiming to share the sales of 20,000 units of the 4AT, Han Hao plans to launch a Chinese SUV model that imitates the Toyota RAV4 next year and enter the SUV market, which is gradually emerging in China.

I had previously studied the first-generation RAV4 when I was using the eighth-generation Corolla chassis, so I had a certain amount of accumulation of SUV technology. Waiting for the second-generation RAV4 prototype to return to China, it can be disassembled and analyzed, and it should be launched in 2001 after the C2 Zhonghua sedan, the first year of the Chinese brand SUV.

Now that sedans occupy the mainstream, Chinese like cars with heads and tails, SUVs don't have ass I don't know if everyone can accept it?"

At the internal debate meeting, some people put forward such a view.

"The Mitsubishi Pajero used to be popular because of its strong off-road performance, but our replica RAV4 is an on-road SUV that can't take any bad roads and can only be driven on flat paved roads. Now Great Wall Motors is also developing SUVs, but they are launching outdoor tool vehicles, which are different from our urban off-road vehicle positioning. If you invest a lot in this unknown market, you don't know what the future benefits will be?"

There is a lot of internal opposition to Han Hao's decision to enter the SUV market.

At present, the battle line of the Zhonghua Group has been stretched for a long time, and it has entered many new fields in just one year. Before the new field is not bigger and stronger, and then rush into the next field, it is easy to overturn.