Land Rover Solihull Factory, 5th Floor, Design Institute, Executive Boardroom.

It is the highest-level meeting room in the entire design institute and will only be used when senior leadership meetings are held to discuss major vehicle design proposals.

In front of the huge oval conference table, a total of 23 chief designers from the design department, structural design department, electrical design department, technical design department, etc., from multiple departments of the design institute, have been seated neatly, looking at the young boss who is in the first place with curious eyes.

I heard that the boss had a lot of doubts about their design plan and was interested in guiding them. This made everyone present feel a little surprised and a little ridiculous.

A person from a small corner who doesn't even have his own brand and has a heavy industry base of about zero, what knowledge and qualifications does he have, and they are critical of their excellent design?—— they all think that Li Yadong is a Hong Kong person.

Many people snickered in their hearts, waiting to see his jokes.

Of course, as long as they are not stupid, they will not show this kind of emotion. His expression was still very focused, and he put on an open face to be taught.

"First of all, show me the results of your design, whether it is a future facelift of the model on sale or a new model plan of a new design. Li Yadong said slowly, and Jack on the side translated in a timely manner.

As a British colony of Hong Kong, anyone with a little knowledge can speak fluent English, but Mandarin, and many people speak Mandarin.

Li Yadong is actually no stranger to the Land Rover brand, he has always been more fond of this style of tough off-road vehicles, and even had the intention of buying it in his last life, and the target of his favorite is Range Rover, but the price is too high, and he has not been willing to start.

There are not many models of the Land Rover brand, and all the models in history can be counted on two hands. And in this day and age, there are even fewer models, so few that it feels shabby.

There are currently five models being produced at the Solihull plant, but three of them are local models produced in small batches, i.e. domestic cars designed according to British conditions, while there are only two truly global models: Range Rover and Defender.

Even, the Defender is not called the Defender at the moment, its name is Land Rover.

So yes, Land Rover was actually the name of a car at the beginning, and it was later used as a brand. Because since the birth of the name "Land Rover" in the 40s, for the next 22 years, the Solihull factory produced only one model, the Land Rover, and it was only in the 1990s that it was distinguished from the brand and renamed "Defender".

As an aside, "Land Rover" was not originally called Land Rover, but "Land Rover", because the "Land Rover" brand had been registered when it was introduced into China, so the Chinese name was changed to "Land Rover".

The Defender is the first model of the Land Rover brand, which has witnessed the Land Rover brand from scratch and can be described as the biggest contributor to Land Rover.

As for the Range Rover, it was only born in the seventies. Its birth greatly influenced the future development trajectory of the Land Rover brand, as well as its market positioning.

The Defender is a heavily biased model, and its design is inspired by Jeep. In fact, it started by imitating Jeep, so the configuration is simple and tough. Some clues can be seen from its name, and this car is loved by the military.

The Range Rover is a large-size luxury off-road vehicle with high-end configuration and lightweight body design, which is more suitable for ordinary people to drive.

The famous British Prime Minister Winston Churchill drove a Range Rover.

The two models have very different styles and sales are not divided (because Range Rovers are expensive), so the current development concept of the Land Rover brand is very vague, and it is not clear which direction to go.

In addition to these two models on sale, Land Rover also has two models in the design. One is the aforementioned "tough guy of steel" - the defender. One is the Land Rover Discovery.

They're like an extension of the Defender and Range Rover – the brand is polarising.

This is undoubtedly a wrong direction, the market will often only have one positioning of a car brand, tough guy and gentleman are two very different styles, fish and bear paw have never been both, so a trade-off must be made.

"Let's start with brand positioning. Li Yadong pushed away a large pile of information in front of him, looked at everyone and asked: "Everyone, talk freely, tell us what you think of the Land Rover brand, and what kind of brand will it position in?"

"Of course, it's a professional off-road vehicle manufacturing brand. Davis was the first to say.

"Be specific. Li Yadong gestured.

"We have world-class four-wheel drive technology, and we have a chassis tuning system that can adapt to most terrain, and it's the king of off-roading, that's my opinion. ”

"So in your mind, the positioning of this brand is more off-road?" asked Li Yadong.

"So to speak. Davis nodded, "The so-called off-road vehicle off-road vehicle, if it loses its off-road performance, it is like the king has lost his crown." That's why my design philosophy, and all the other details, had to be based on the premise of maximizing off-road performance. ”

"Then what do you think of the Range Rover?" asked Li Yadong with great interest.

"To be honest, I don't think it's a very good off-road vehicle, and it's born mainly with another model segment. And it turns out that even with all the money we spent, the sales of Range Rover models are in the middle of the pack compared to Land Rovers that have been sold for decades. ”

I also don't feel like you're a very qualified leader. Li Yadong sighed in his heart.

It's not that Davis is bad, in fact this man is very talented. However, his design concept is not quite in line with Land Rover's future brand positioning.

"Stephen, what do you think?"

"Okay, boss. Stephen nodded, "Truth be told, I led the development of the Range Rover, and I have a big disagreement with Mr. Davis on that front. At present, there are many manufacturers in the world that produce hard-core off-road vehicles, such as Jeep, Hummer, etc., the origin of our brand is based on Jeep models, and if it is consistent with their development direction, it is difficult for us to take the advantage. So I personally think that if the Land Rover brand wants to grow and grow, it must find another way and take a path that no one else has taken. Just what the hell is this road, I ...... It's not clear yet, it's still being explored. ”

There was a sudden burst ......of applause in the conference room, which made everyone slightly stunned, and the voice came from their boss.

"Good. Li Yadong cast an appreciative eye to Stephen, this is a real talent with a development vision.

"I'll tell you what this path is. After Li Yadong paused, his eyes glanced at everyone present, and said word by word: "We want to be a Rolls-Royce in SUVs!"

As soon as the words "this ......" came out, many people at the scene looked at each other.

They are naturally no stranger to the Rolls-Royce brand, which is the pride of their British, the world's supreme car brand, luxurious to the extreme.

And it is this kind of luxury, but it is completely contradictory to the design concept of off-road vehicles, the nature of off-road vehicles determines that its practicality must be greater than comfort, which is almost a truth in the automobile industry, and no one can break it.

It can even be said that if an off-road vehicle is built according to the Rolls-Royce process, then it may no longer be an off-road vehicle.

Doesn't it seem incongruous to combine luxury with a durable off-road vehicle?

Of course, there are also a few people who hold their cheeks thoughtfully, and their eyes become brighter and brighter. Stephen is one of them.

"It's impossible, how can you combine off-road performance and luxury?" Davis retorted, frowning.

Li Yadong glanced at him and said lightly: "Then sacrifice part of the off-road performance." ”

"What?!" Davis was shocked and said continuously: "Boss, you have to be clear, we are a professional off-road vehicle manufacturer, if we sacrifice off-road performance, it is equivalent to cutting off our arms, which means losing our core competitiveness, then what are we left with?"

"There's a lot left. The luxury of a sedan, coupled with the passability of a car is our biggest selling point. ”

"Then why don't we just build a car?" Davis was a little angry, and stood up suddenly, already scolding Li Yadong's ancestors for eighteen generations in his heart.

Before Li Yadong could say anything, Jack on the side squinted slightly and said, "Mr. Davis, please pay attention to your attitude!"

"I'm ......" Davis suddenly realized that the person in front of him was his own boss, and sat down a little unconvinced.

Li Yadong looked at him deeply and asked, "Davis, can you accept these ideas of mine?"

"No, you can't. Boss, your philosophy is wrong......"

"That's good. ”

Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by Li Yadong waving his hand, making a gesture of please, and said, "You can go now." ”

"Huh?"

Not to mention Davis, everyone on the scene was instantly stunned.

"You...... Say what?" Davis said in disbelief.

"I now formally inform you, Mr. Davis, that you have been fired from Land Rover. Li Yadong said lightly.

He actually didn't want to do this, but he had to do it, the key is Davis's identity, he is the leader of the design institute, if his philosophy is inconsistent with his own, how will the work be carried out in the future?

After all, he has worked in the design institute for so many years, and he has accumulated prestige for a long time, which will inevitably have a certain impact on the work of his successor.

"Damn Hong Kong people, you will regret it, soon you will pay the price for your actions, the Land Rover brand fell into your hands, it is simply a disaster, I am sure, within three years, this brand will definitely be abolished by you!"

Davis scolded and brushed his sleeves away, he did not whisper and begged Li Yadong to keep him, he is a design genius, with his own tsundere, with his experience, he can find a good job wherever he goes.

Li Yadong did not "kill chickens and set an example for monkeys", but it made the needles fall in the conference room for a while, and everyone was a little like pins and needles.

They are no better than Davis, they don't have a perfect resume like him, even if they don't worry about work, they don't necessarily have a better working environment than Land Rover, and no one dares to touch the mold of this new boss.

His ruthlessness, contrary to his kind appearance, was obviously the opposite, and on the first day of inspecting the design institute, he dismissed the chief designer, which is not insignificant.