Yangling City is located in the central part of Suwu Province, which has been one of the hubs of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal since ancient times, and is included in the ranks of the Yangtze River Delta Economic Circle, and the geographical location is relatively good.

Driving from Jiangzhou, it took more than four hours to arrive at Yangling, and as soon as I entered the boundary of the city, I saw a line of motorcades guarding the roadside to greet me.

Toyota Prado, Volkswagen Passat, Audi A6L and a sub-star minibus, at a glance look tall and high-grade. On the contrary, on Han Hao's side, there is only a small fleet of two SUVs "Song" and "Tang", which looks slightly shabby in comparison.

But even so, Yangling did not dare to underestimate this small team, as long as Han Hao was in the car, it would be a pomp with a net worth of more than 100 million.

Many businessmen need luxury cars as a façade, Han Hao has already passed this stage, and his face is the biggest façade.

Han Hao was invited to get on the bus, the police car drove the road, and the mayor personally went to the boundary to greet him, and Yangling City can be said to have given him enough face.

The chairman of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce belongs to the ministerial-level treatment, and the current chairman is also the ***** of the state, which belongs to the vice-national level. Even if Han Hao is only the nominal vice chairman, Yangling City still welcomes it with the standard of receiving ministerial-level leaders, after all, such a high-level reception of the vice chairman of the Federation of Industry and Commerce is more reasonable than the name of a simple investor.

Since the two sides are interested, the red tape in the middle is directly omitted, and the team drives directly to the Yaxing bus factory.

Yaxing Bus has been in a recession in the past two years, and the identity of the major shareholder has been changed, and the workers in the factory have already been panicked. After all, the tragedy caused by the wave of layoffs a few years ago is still engraved in the hearts of many people. However, as ordinary people, we cannot control our own destiny, and can only drift with the wind in the tide of the times with the enterprise.

In the eighties and nineties, Yaxing Bus was the industry leader, once occupying more than 40% of the domestic market share. However, since the joint venture with Mercedes-Benz, the infighting between the two major group enterprises, coupled with the backward management system and the lack of attention to research and development, Yaxing has become the "Huangpu Military Academy" in the bus, and the talent has been outflowed, and it has been surpassed by the rising stars of "one pass and three dragons".

"Now Yaxing Bus has formed an annual production of 10,000 buses, with more than 2,500 employees, including more than 400 technicians, and total assets of 1.26 billion yuan. It has its own bus chassis plant and seat plant, and has also invested in a diesel engine and special vehicle manufacturing plant......"

Mayor Yangling is very familiar with the data of Yaxing Bus, and he introduced it to Han Hao, who was sitting on the side.

Of course, he also deliberately omitted some unpleasant content, such as the number of Yaxing buses with college degree or above is less than 150, and the vast majority of employees are beginner Chinese; the company's receivables in the past year reached 235 million, overdue collections also reached 200 million, and he still owed 272 million bank loans, and lost 69.3 million in 2004 alone; ST's hat Yaxing Bus has been wearing for 2 years, and if it loses again in 2005, it will be forced to delist.

As the first listed company in Yangling City, the number of employees directly or indirectly serving Yaxing Bus exceeds 10,000, so even if it smashes the pot and sells iron, the local government will keep the pillar enterprise of Yaxing Bus.

At present, the products of Yaxing Bus are divided into two categories: road buses and buses, accounting for 35% and 65% respectively.

This is contrary to the general trend of the country, the mainstream market of domestic buses is dominated by highway buses, accounting for 75% of the share, while buses are only about 25%. What's more different is that highway buses are spot cars, with high profits and fast turnover, while buses are paid in installments once a year, and profits are low.

Among them, highway buses are also divided into three types of users: passenger transport companies, tourism companies and large enterprise units. The ratio of these three is 5:4:1, and now in the market share, Yutong is leading in passenger transport companies, while the three major Golden Dragons are dominant in tourism companies.

Obviously, Yaxing Bus made a big mistake in the choice of market, did not develop according to market demand, but stuck to the old rules and did not seek change.

Customers in the four major fields of passenger transport, public transportation, tourism and groups, Yaxing chose a public transport field with the lowest market to enter, and it is not surprising that it is owed payment. Under the current situation, as a public transport company, it belongs to the public welfare sector, and losses are inevitable, and government financial subsidies are needed to survive. Naturally, in terms of capital settlement, it can be delayed for a day, and Yaxing Bus is very at a loss.

In 2004, the sales volume of Yaxing Bus was less than 4,200 units, with an income of 790 million yuan (including 235 million receivables) and a loss of 69 million yuan, ranking tenth in the industry. Compared with the industry leader Yutong Bus sales of 18,000 vehicles and revenue of 5.5 billion, there is a gap of nearly 4 times.

Han Hao quietly looked at the information provided by the entrusted third-party company, and in the introduction of the local officials, he overlapped the Yaxing on the materials with the Yaxing he saw in front of him.

China's bus market is completely different from the car market, if the car belongs to the industrial assembly line production, then the bus is still in the labor-intensive manual production.

There are more than 140 bus companies in the country, but the top 10 companies occupy more than 70% of the share, and the remaining bus companies share less than 30% of the sales. In 2004, the total sales volume of bus companies was 93,000 units, which was only equivalent to the sum of the passenger car sales of Zhonghua Group in a month.

Like retailers in the computer market, bus companies purchase core components from major engine, transmission and chassis companies in the market, and then design their own body to assemble a bus with the same core but different appearance.

Bus engine in the hands of Dongfeng Cummins, Yuchai, Weichai and other engine companies, bus transmission concentrated in ZF, Allison, Eaton and other enterprises, as for the chassis can be purchased from more than a dozen domestic dedicated production chassis enterprises, but also import front and rear axle products.

There is also a slogan for bus companies: there is no one that is exactly the same bus!

That is, bus companies are order-based production, according to the different requirements of customers in the market to purchase a variety of parts, such as customer requirements for the engine must use Yuchai, air conditioning to use imported goods, seats can be adjusted before and after, etc., resulting in the same batch of buses have a variety of models.

Generally speaking, the car belongs to the brand machine in the computer, and all the configuration OEMs are good enough, and consumers can only passively choose. The passenger car belongs to the assembly machine in the computer, and what configuration you want is what the consumer says, and what the main engine factory purchases on the market to help you produce.

One of the reasons for this is that the bus market is narrow, and the one-time purchase of 10 buses belongs to the level of large customers, and the bargaining power of consumers is very high.

Therefore, when you come to the Yaxing workshop, you can see that unlike the large-scale assembly line operation of the car, it is equivalent to a small workshop where workers are knocking on it, and the basic work is to assemble the body.

Unlike foreign bus companies, China's bus companies, including "one pass and three dragons", do not have their own engines, transmission products, everything is purchased externally, and the core research and development is to design various bodies, which belongs to the ranks of integrated manufacturers.

Compared with foreign bus companies such as Volvo and Mercedes-Benz that can produce their own engines and transmissions, the core competitiveness of China's bus companies is still very insufficient.

Workers on the shop floor were installing seats on new cars, ignoring the crowd of leaders pouring in at the door, as if their fate had nothing to do with the company.

In recent years, with the failure of Yaxing Bus in the market, the morale of the workers has been almost exhausted, and those who have the ability have jumped to other places.

"Master, how much money can you get a month for working here?"

Han Hao walked up to a worker with gray hair and asked.

"More than 1,000 is less than 1,200 yuan, there used to be bonuses, but now they are gone. In previous years, the income was okay, but now it can't keep up with the rise in prices. ”

Seeing that Han Hao should be one of the leaders in the crowd, the worker replied unhurriedly.

According to the average wage level in Suwu Province, the monthly salary of front-line workers should be more than 1,600 yuan, and it is obvious that the salary of Yaxing Bus is far behind.

No wonder the workers are lazy in their work, the money is not in place, and everyone has a complaint in their hearts. Yaxing Bus is overwhelmed, the production capacity is not released, and it is facing losses, resulting in poor treatment. After the previous boss, Gu Chujun, came in, he only increased the salary of the management, and the wages of technicians and ordinary workers remained unchanged, which caused a lot of controversy.

Another place to visit, Han Hao strongly wanted to see how the R&D department was doing.

When I came to Yaxing's R&D department, I found that they were still using the design 3D software three years ago, and the informatization of the whole company was lagging behind the times.

Similarly, Han Hao asked about the salary level of an undergraduate student who had just graduated.

"More than 1,600 yuan, my hometown is here in Yangling, and I can maintain the level of food and clothing. ”

Han Hao has always attached great importance to research and development, and the reason why Zhonghua Group can develop rapidly is because the core technological achievements continue to emerge, attracting many talents to defect, and they are the company's greatest wealth.

With such a low salary level for a R&D personnel, it is no wonder that Yaxing Bus has not launched a decent new product over the years.

"I can't compare with my classmates in Xiaojinlong, who earn more than 3,500 yuan a month, not counting bonuses. If it weren't for my parents, I would have been ready to change jobs. ”

The newly graduated college student recognized Han Hao's identity, and there have been rumors in the factory that Zhonghua Group will come in to buy it, and now it seems that it is true. Anyway, he had the intention of changing jobs and leaving, so the college student ignored the eyes of the factory leaders and said whatever he wanted.

"Now everyone is inseparable from two reasons, one is that the money is not enough, and the other is that they are wronged and feel unhappy. The market economy is to allow the free flow of talents, and those who have the ability to eat everywhere. But I suggest you wait and see, maybe you sleep and find a different environment the next day. ”

Han Hao answered with a smile.

In his opinion, although Yaxing is in a predicament, there are three things that make him excited.

First, it has an A-share listing platform, which is a rare financing channel in China. Second, although Yaxing Bus has declined, this brand still enjoys great popularity in China, and the customer relationship is maintained. Third, the enterprise has relatively complete production hard power, and is not a shell enterprise.

As long as we inject high-quality assets, explore the potential of the enterprise, build our own core competitiveness, and straighten out the management system, Yaxing Bus is still very likely to be revitalized.

In Han Hao's new energy vehicle layout, hybrid and pure electric vehicle technology is easier to use in buses than cars, which is the priority to practice.

Moreover, through Yaxing Bus, Zhonghua Group will also enter the development of diesel engines and realize the strategic layout of new engines.

"Once we enter, then the goal must be the first in the bus industry, although the bus industry is fiercely competitive, but now has not yet formed a monopoly situation, everyone still has a chance. ”

When negotiating with the local government, Han Hao clearly expressed his expectations for Yaxing Bus.

This is great news for the Yangling Municipal Government.

Previously, Mercedes-Benz approached the government and said that the joint venture between the two sides had lasted nearly 8 years, and the company had only sold more than 400 Yaxing Mercedes-Benz buses, and the losses were too great. They are willing to transfer 50% of the joint venture company to the local government at a cost of 1 euro, and at the same time compensate 10 million euros to resettle the workers, so as to get out of the hole of the Mercedes-Benz of Asiastar.

Now the Zhonghua Group is willing to station, at least after Mercedes-Benz is gone, there is still hope and hope.

Therefore, Zhonghua Group wants to acquire Yaxing Bus, and the local government hopes that it can also take over the assets of Yaxing Mercedes-Benz, so as to merge the two into one and reorganize the new Yaxing.

However, all this has to be renegotiated and dealt with by the governments of Mercedes-Benz, Zhonghua and Yangling.