Chapter 713 Chief Designer

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"This is the best news I have heard to-day!, but I wonder what offer your Excellency and the management of Scottish Power will accept?"

"It's too early to tell. It really makes sense to wait for Pacific Energy Group's asset appraisal team to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of us before quoting... What does Mr. Guo think?"

Looking at the smiling man opposite, Guo Shouyun smiled and nodded.

"I will ask Pacific Energy to send an asset appraisal team to contact Scottish Power as soon as possible, and I hope that you will cooperate with us when the time comes. ”

"Of course... If possible, we hope that Mr. Guo will be able to visit in person. We at Scottish Power have a lot of people who look up to you as an idol. In particular, your entrepreneurial story is widely circulated within the company. I think they would be excited if they knew that the company would be part of the Pacific Energy Group!"

"Personally, I really look forward to being friends and colleagues with the people at Scottish Power, including Mr Neff!"

"It's my pleasure... By the way, congratulations to Mr. Guo on the acquisition of Rover Motors and Manchester United, both of which are very high-quality assets, and the former has only encountered a little difficulty temporarily. I believe that under Mr. Guo's leadership, Rover will once again become the world's top car brand. ”

"Thank you, I'll do my best to make Rover successful!"

Thomas Neff nodded, "How long will Mr. Guo stay in the UK?"

"It could be another week or so. … Is there something wrong with Mr. Neff?"

"I heard that Mr. Guo likes art collecting, and it happened that three days later there was a Bonhams auction, which included a lot of porcelain from China, and the finale was Picasso's "Woman Running by the Sea"!"

Since the Bruce Fund spent a whopping $101.46 million in the first half of this year to auction Pablo Picasso's masterpiece "The Boy with a Pipe" from Sotheby's, setting a record for the world's highest art auction, Guo Shouyun's largesse in art investment has also begun to be known to the world.

Now, whether it is Sotheby's, Christie's, or Guardian and Poly in China, or those auction houses in other countries, whenever there is any auction, they will send him invitations.

The same is clearly true of Bonhams. However, Bonhams is not a little better-known, and the Georgian auction house in England has become one of the top 10 auction houses in the world since its merger with Philip Sun and Neil three years ago. He has extensive experience in the field of books and porcelain. Of course, after the company has expanded over the years, it has also begun to involve more categories.

"I've always been interested in art collecting. However, the CEO of Bonhams is very well-connected, and he can actually ask Mr. Neff to help!"

"I'm afraid Mr. Guo doesn't know that my son Ronan is the CEO of Bonhams!" Thomas Neff did not hide it, and there was no need to hide such a thing that could not stand up to verification. If you say it earlier, you will seem to be more open-minded.

"I see!" Guo Shouyun suddenly said.

"Mr. Neff has an excellent son!"

"Thank you! It's a pity that compared to Mr. Guo, Ronan is still too far behind!"

For a while, this old man who was very well maintained looked at Guo Shouyun's eyes full of emotion of 'giving birth to a son should be like Sun Zhongmou'.

Guo Shouyun smiled, it was not appropriate to say anything at this time.

"Mr. Guo, I had a very pleasant chat with you this time. I hope to have a chance to discuss it more deeply with you next time!"

After holding the other party's outstretched right hand, "Mr. Neff is in such a hurry to leave?"

"I also wish I could talk to Mr. Guo for a while, but the people around me don't want to see this happen!"

Guo Shouyun understood the meaning of his words. With his status and influence today, and the fact that he rarely attends banquets, how could those who wanted to get to know him miss this rare opportunity. From the faint glances around him, or from the naked eyes, he knew that he was destined to have a not very quiet night today.

Of course, he had thought of this situation when he came, but he didn't think anything about it.

"I'll be at the Bonhams auction in three days' time, and hopefully with Mr. Neff!"

Thomas Neff had a happy smile on his face.

"It is a great honor to be with Mr. Guo. … See you in three days!"

"See you in three days!"

Looking at his back as he turned to leave, Guo Shouyun's eyes showed a hint of a smile. He chose to buy Scottish Power not only because of the addition of Rover Motors when he traded with Phoenix. Instead, it was noted that Thomas Neff, as the chairman and CEO of the company, was ready to retire. For such a person, you just have to make a good offer, plus a sufficient pension guarantee, and he will not mind selling the public company Scottish Power to Pacific Energy.

This was the main reason why he chose Scottish Power over the other five of the UK's six major power companies.

In a company acquisition, management is always the biggest obstacle, but also the best support.

No one asks if you are poor in the downtown area, but you have distant relatives in the mountains!

There is no shortage of climbers around successful people! After Thomas Neff left, someone soon came along. There are only two types of people who come: one is to take the opportunity to expand their network, and the other is to seek cooperation opportunities.

Guo Shouyun coped with them one by one, and he had already bid farewell to his youth, and he used his skillful social skills to win many admiration or respectful glances until the end of the banquet tonight.

Needless to say, the Bonhams auction three days later will not miss the art he is interested in, especially Chinese art.

But, whether it's a dinner at Clarence Palace or an auction at Bonhams, it's all about the minutiae. Even Manchester United's football team is just out of their own hobby, and it's Rover who really matters. If you count the $2 billion that has just been raised and has not yet been used, the debt of the entire Rover is already as high as $7 billion!

While $1.2 billion is interest-free, the remaining interest is less than 4 per cent and will not be repaid until three years later. But it's also a staggering amount of money.

Under the pressure of such a large sum of money, Guo Shouyun naturally hopes to make Rover start making profits as soon as possible. So, after dealing with the affairs in London, he took Wang Jue and Wu Xiaojing to Birmingham again.

At this time, Bo Ruituo's reform of Rover had already begun.

"Boss, this is Mr. Peter Cyrill, now the chief designer of Red Star Automobile Company!" said Bo Ruituo.

Looking at the German who was wearing a black suit, a red tie, and black-rimmed glasses, with a non-smiling expression and curiosity in his eyes, Guo Shouyun smiled and stretched out his right hand.

"Mr. Cyril, the world's top automotive design master, I have heard your name for a long time!"

If Guo Shouyun is most dissatisfied with any department of Rover Motors, in addition to sales, it is industrial design.

Appearance is justice, although this sentence is somewhat generalized. But it also fully illustrates the importance of appearance. What are the cars designed by Rover before! Especially the 'Rover City Discoverer' designed in cooperation with the Tata Group in 03 has the same face as a van, and dares to sell it for 90,000 pounds?! Not only did it make the whole UK scold, it consumed the goodwill of Rover's luxury cars, but also caused a loss of more than 100 million pounds! This cooperation was a complete disaster for Rover!

Therefore, after the acquisition of Rover, the first thing he asked Brutop to do was to reorganize Rover's design department, and spared no expense to poach Peter Cirrell, one of Europe's three major automotive industry designers, from the position of chief designer of the Volkswagen Group.

He designed a number of well-received models such as the new Beetle, Audi A6 and Audi TT, and then served as the chief designer of Audi and Volkswagen, leading the design language of Audi for an era. After becoming the chief designer of Kia, he successively launched a series of highly subversive design models such as Sumai, Zhipao, Xiuer, K5, K2, K3, K9, etc., reshaping Kia into an impressive brand in the world and the world's fifth largest automaker.

Guo Shouyun's tiger roaring grille designed for Red Star Automobile is from this person's handwriting.

"Mr. Guo has won the award! But I want to know, those car design drawings I saw are really from Mr. Guo's handwriting?"

Guo Shouyun knew the meaning of his words, and in order to pull this from Volkswagen, he authorized Bo Ruituo to take out the design drawings of the classic models he copied last time. Anyway, he has registered patents, and he is not afraid of piracy. Of course, during the cautious period, the confidentiality agreement still has to be signed.

The effect of taking out these design drawings is also obvious, and Peter Cyril, who was instantly shocked, came to the UK with a good salary and couldn't hold back his curiosity.

"Of course, I think Bo Ruituo should make this matter very clear!" Guo Shouyun said with a smile.

"It's unbelievable! Such a great industrial design came from someone who has nothing to do with the shape of the car!" Peter Cyril shook his head.

“… Mr. Guo really hasn't been in the design industry before?"

"I used to take sketch classes for a while when I was in middle school!" Guo Shouyun shrugged.

"Sketch class?"

Peter Cyril was stunned, although sketching is the foundation for cultivating aesthetics, but it is also too far from design.

"Mr. Cyril, art comes from life. I just turned the style of the car I liked into the actual blueprint, no fuss!"

"No, no, no, art does come from life. But these automotive industrial designs are indeed incomparable classics, and I believe that as long as we can successfully launch them on the market, Rover, no, Red Star Motors will create a new brilliance!"

Looking at Peter Cyrill, who looked excited, Guo Shouyun smiled and said, "This is going to ask Mr. Cyril!"

"Actually, Mr. Guo doesn't need me, he can also use these blueprints to complete the transformation of Red Star Rover...!"

After waving his hand to interrupt his words, "These designs of mine can only be used for a while, and if Red Star Rover wants to become a great car company, an excellent automotive industrial design department is indispensable." As the best car designer of this era, Mr. Cyril is the most suitable person to serve as the chief designer of Red Star Rover Motors. ”

"Thank you for your attention, I will definitely do my best!"

"I look forward to your good news!"

"Boss, this is Lauren Cunningham, Chief Engineer at Red Star Rover. ”

The middle-aged man in a dark blue suit was the original chief engineer at Rover Motors and the only one of Rover's many executives remaining. Rover's famous K-series engine came from him.

“… This is Maurice Green, Marketing Director of Red Star Rover, responsible for sales in the European and American markets. ”

Red Star Automobile has two marketing directors, one is Zhang Ruidong, who is in charge of the Chinese market, and the other is Maurice Green, a German who has just been poached from BMW in front of Guo Shouyun.

。 m.