Chapter 181: Stepping into F1
The implementation of the "Green Dragon" structure process within Chung Hwa Group has been quite smooth, mainly because the quality of Chung Wah Group's employees is very high and they are easy to accept new things.
According to statistics, 88% of the employees of Zhonghua Group have a college degree or above (including on-the-job education), of which the undergraduate coverage rate is more than 80%, especially the China Automotive Research Institute has reached 99%, which can be described as a concentration of middle and senior talents.
According to Han Hao's strategy of strict entry and strict exit 10 years ago, Zhonghua Group listed college education as the threshold at that time, so that it maintained a young and combat-ready team. At present, due to the recruitment of many fresh college graduates, the average age of Chunghwa Group employees is 28.7 years old, and they are in the golden stage of life.
Coupled with Han Hao's goal of "talent mobility" in recent years, Zhonghua Group has maintained a turnover rate of about 8%. Some of them were poached by competitors from the Whampoa Military Academy of the Zhonghua Group, and some were eliminated due to lack of ability, but the talent treatment of the Zhonghua Group undoubtedly belongs to the super-first-class standard in the domestic manufacturing industry.
Many graduates will enter the Zhonghua Group Automobile Research Institute as an ideal goal, both in terms of treatment and platform.
Therefore, the implementation of the "Green Dragon" framework has exceeded many people's expectations.
With the addition of "Qinglong", Zhonghua Group is not inferior to any international giant in hardware competition, but it is weaker in the output of soft culture.
Although with the status of the sponsor of the 08 Olympic Games, the China Group has been promoted to the world, so that its popularity has been greatly enhanced. However, compared with traditional car giants, the impression left by Chinese auto companies on consumers is not only cost-effective, but also difficult to remember in terms of technology. In the final analysis, it is still that the brand accumulation is not enough, the heritage is not strong enough, and more soft culture output is needed.
The most watched motorsport in the world is Formula 1.
When F1 landed in China in 2004, it can be said that it entered with the halo of the world's three top races, claiming to be on a par with the Olympic Games and the World Cup.
However, in China, which is known as a desert of car culture, promoting a world-class event like F1 requires more time than patience due to the high threshold for viewing.
Again and again, again and again, again and again.
After three years, the lively F1 China race tends to be flat, and the largest sponsor of the station, Sinopec, felt that the rate of return was too low after spending 800 million yuan, and also announced that it would no longer spend huge amounts of money on sponsorship after 2009, which gave F1 promotion in China a heavy blow.
Sure enough, F1's influence in China has been greatly reduced in the past two years, and the withdrawal of Chinese sponsors has hindered its commercial expansion process, disappointing the F1 Alliance, which originally hoped to make gold from China, the second largest economy.
The subprime mortgage crisis in 08 caused many international sponsors to withdraw from F1, and the disadvantage of opening up emerging commercial markets such as China has exacerbated the financial tension of the F1 League. In addition, Honda, Toyota, Renault and BMW, the four car giants, have announced their withdrawal from Formula 1 racing one after another, which has greatly reduced the level of Formula 1 spectacle.
It's no exaggeration to say that if F1 doesn't change, it's probably going to be sunset.
For the sake of the Chinese market, F1 Alliance CEO Bernie has been sending people to contact the China Group privately, hoping that Chinese can appear on the F1 field.
Honda, Toyota, Renault and BMW withdrew, and F1 hopes to find a comparable replacement and still have the money to afford the huge expenditure of F1, so the conditions are simply customized for the richest man in South Korea.
But what are the conditions to appear in F1?
The cost of acquiring or building a new F1 team is not less than $100 million, and the budget for participating in F1 races is not less than $100 million per year.
If you want to play the game of F1, you don't have to be a billionaire who can't even get in.
Losses are a common occurrence among F1 teams.
Even the stars of the race, Ferrari and Red Bull, are in a state of small profits, not to mention that it is normal for other small and medium-sized teams to lose money, otherwise Honda, Toyota, Renault and BMW would not have withdrawn because of huge investment and no output.
As the world's most watched motorsport, on the contrary, it has always lost money and made money, and F1's operational ability can be said to be beyond people's comprehension.
However, to pull Chinese into F1, it should indeed be said that it is a very strategic chess game.
Han Hao has not agreed before, first, he feels that the time has not come, and Zhonghua Group is basically based on the domestic market. Second, I felt that the cost was too high at the time, and it was not cost-effective to spend a huge amount of money to burn money in F1.
At this time and then, in 2012, Han Hao's mind began to change.
The most critical factor is that compared with 2008, the net worth of the richest man in Han has more than doubled, and what he used to think was expensive now looks much cheaper.
In addition, the internationalization process of Zhonghua Group has been greatly accelerated, and new carriers are needed to export its soft culture to the world.
Coupled with the appearance of Chinese F1 teams on the field, at least it can reproduce the craze of F1 entering China, and if you add the influence of the topic of Chinese drivers' debut, I believe that it will dig an oasis in China's automobile desert.
Another advantage is that the current F1 team can buy the bottom at a low price, and only about 80 million US dollars can pocket the Lotus team, which is financially overburdened and has become de facto bankrupt.
A money-burning game like F1, without the support of local tyrants behind it, cannot attract strong sponsors, and it is basically a bloody road of no return.
The predecessor of the Lotus team is actually the Renault team, they have created a period of glory, 05, 06 won the F1 team championship, but then the decline and the subprime mortgage crisis caused Renault to withdraw, in 2009 by the British Gini Capital. Gini Capital originally thought that taking advantage of the subprime mortgage economic crisis to pick up a big cheap long-term investment could make the team appreciate, but it did not expect that the F1 money-burning rules would not change, and the Lotus team's losses could no longer be sustained, so it had to privately seek transfer to return blood.
At this time, the appearance of Chinese with deep pockets can be described as just right.
One wants to sell, the other wants to buy, but there is a big gap in price.
Gini Capital took over the Renault team for $80 million, and now they want to sell it in the hope of recovering their investment at a premium, so they offer $100 million. However, Han Hao sees the decline in F1's global influence, and the team's valuation is no longer the same, and he is only willing to bid $60 million at most.
If Han Hao wants to participate in F1 and does not plan to buy the Lotus team, he can apply to the F1 Alliance to participate in the name of the new team, but the formation of the team will not be able to officially participate until the next year. If the Lotus team can't find someone to take over and can't continue to invest huge sums of money, it can only be managed first and then automatically withdraw from the F1 alliance without making a penny.
Both sides are playing games and are not willing to budge.
In the end, under the mediation of Formula 1 League CEO Bernie, Gini Capital finally nodded and agreed to transfer the team to Han Hao, with a price of 70 million US dollars, which is equivalent to everyone giving a step.
The negotiation process has been kept secret, but in the final stage, a powerful reporter got the inside information and knew that the Chinese were preparing to step into F1.
"F1 will usher in China's savior!"
The headline was eye-catching, using the word savior to reflect the declining F1 movement.
You must know that China is already the world's largest car market, and if it can develop and popularize F1 sports in China, it will bring great dividends and business opportunities.
"The preliminary estimate is that if Chunghwa Group can join F1, it will bring more than $100 million in commercial sponsorship every year. In terms of spectatorship, there will also be a big improvement, after all, Chinese cars are very topical.
Imagine what a magical moment it would be if the Chinese were on the constructors' championship podium, and I believe that 1.3 billion people will go crazy for F1. ”
For the entry of China Group, the reporter used a win-win situation to describe it. First, the Chinese need to promote their automotive technology on the world stage, and second, the F1 alliance will open up the world's largest car market.
As soon as the news was exposed, it immediately sparked an enthusiastic response, and the F1 team belonging to Chinese is a lifelong dream for many fans.
"As long as you can see the Chinese technology car on the F1 scene, even if you finish at the end, it is worth going to the scene. ”
"Even Toyota can't play F1, so the Zhonghua Group shouldn't be here to play tickets, right?"
"Han's richest man finally woke up and should have gone to the F1 arena to win glory for the country. ”
......
Opinions differ, but there are two points of consensus.
First, everyone is very satisfied to see the Chinese team appear in the F1 field, and second, they are not too confident in the team's performance.
If you want to win the F1 Constructors' Championship, you have to burn money, but there is no guarantee that you will win the championship. Ferrari burns more than $300 million a year, but it has not been able to touch the championship trophy for 4 consecutive years, and has always monopolized Red Bull, which burns more money. Mercedes-Benz announced a new budget of up to 500 million US dollars, and for the third consecutive year of high investment, it is ready to challenge for the constructors' championship in the coming year.
Until the final signing was signed, the Chung Wah Group remained silent. But after the dust settled, the two sides reached a $70 million delivery team, and finally officially announced that the Chinese had stepped into F1.
"The Lotus team will be renamed Zhonghua Racing Team, and we will invest no less than $100 million a year to win the Constructors' Championship in the next five years. The new F1 team will be composed of technical talents drawn from Land Rover, Volvo and Chung Hwa Group, and it is not excluded that Chinese drivers will sign up for the competition in the future......"
In a public statement, the Chung Wah Group has touted the desire to compete for the Constructors' Championship, which of course is just a joke for fans familiar with the F1 schedule.
Many small and medium-sized F1 teams are chaperones, and it is difficult to even earn constructors' points, which are used as green leaves to set off big red flowers like Ferrari and Red Bull. Even if Han is the richest man who is willing to burn money, he has to pay tuition for a few years before he can find the doorway.
Han Hao will definitely not give up, since he is here, of course he has to win the championship once to be worthy of the burning dollars.
As soon as the official news came out, it was definitely a big positive for F1.
First of all, Hujiang City, which may withdraw from F1 China due to losses, announced that it would continue to sign a contract with F1 for 7 years and firmly integrate China into the F1 map.
Secondly, many businesses in China have approached the F1 League to inquire about advertising sponsorship, and the event is facing a situation that is once again popular in China.
Thirdly, China Racing announced that it had received an annual advertising sponsorship of 50 million US dollars from Zhonghua Group, and also announced that it had reached a preliminary cooperation intention with 3 sponsors, with a total amount of no less than 20 million US dollars per year. According to this trend, in addition to the large sponsorship of Zhonghua Group, the Zhonghua team will also receive an additional advertising sponsorship of nearly 50 million US dollars.
With the participation of Chinese, I believe that F1 should be much more lively in the future.
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