In 1980, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars was acquired by the Vickers Group. A year later, Rolls-Royce PLC was also acquired by Vickers for £576 million. Originally, there was no problem with such an acquisition, but unfortunately this acquisition was only a partial acquisition, not a full acquisition, and there were quite a few additional terms in the acquisition process.

These add-ons, which now seem insignificant, set the stage for the fierce battle for the Rolls-Royce brand between Volkswagen and BMW.

Zhang Lan remembers very well that on March 30, 1998, the Vickers Group, the parent company of Rolls-Royce, announced that the German BMW automobile manufacturing company would buy its own Rolls-Royce automobile manufacturing company for 1 billion marks (about 571 million US dollars).

After Vickers Group announced in October last year that it would sell Rolls-Royce, Germany's BMW and Volkswagen rushed to buy it, but Rolls-Royce initially took a crush on BMW.

At the time, Volkswagen President Ferdinand Ferdinand Ferdinand was the president of Volkswagen Piëch was furious when he learned that Rolls-Royce had initially decided to sell it to BMW, and said at the time that he would increase the price. Piëch knew very well that if BMW was allowed to get Rolls-Royce and Bentley, his company's dream of becoming a top international luxury car manufacturer would be shattered, and Audi would be pulled further and further away by BMW.

In the face of BMW's other advantages, Piëch naturally knows that although money is the most critical factor in determining his victory, it is not the only weapon that determines victory, and he still has a lot to do before that.

As Vickers Group shareholders have the last say. Piëch organized Morgan. Stanley Investment Bank, Gavin. Anderson Public Relations and other world-class advisory groups lobbied Vickers shareholders, and even the then Lower Saxony Governor Schroeder lobbied as a member of the Supervisory Board of Volkswagen.

Schröder had visited Vickers and Rolls-Royce with Piëch, only to stop after he was nominated by the SPD as its candidate for chancellor. But this is not a violation of the rules, because at that time the Lower Saxony state government owned 20% of the shares of Volkswagen and was the largest shareholder, and the boss worked hard for his own affairs, and no one could say anything wrong with this.

Sure enough, Volkswagen's salary draw from the bottom of the kettle has worked wonders. Two of the larger shareholders in the Vickers Group expressed dissatisfaction with the sale of Rolls-Royce to BMW - and at the instigation of Piëch, these shareholders succeeded in expressing their dissatisfaction with BMW's land price: BMW was too stingy to pay such a small price to get Rolls-Royce and Bentley together?

It's just that the Vickers Group will naturally not be monolithic. History tells us over and over again. Where there are people, there are rivers and lakes, and this is the same in a company, where there are many shareholders. There will be a small river and lake, and there will naturally be various conflicts of interest. As a result, the Vickers Group wanted BMW to increase the offer, but BMW refused, saying that 1 billion marks was the highest offer.

, who dares to ask Alice Group to go public in the future, must plant that guy with lotus! Zhang Lan thought angrily: The guy who gave himself this kind of advice. There must be no kindness! Either you want to elevate yourself or you want to swallow the Alice Group!

No one is too much money. In this case, it is natural that whoever pays the higher price will sell it to whomever it wants. This point is agreed within the Vickers Group, after all, the money from the sale is also its own money. No one is disgusted that their wallets are not full enough. So on July 3, the Vickers Group decided to sell Rolls-Royce and its sub-brand Bentley, along with Cosworth, to Volkswagen for 1.44 billion marks (about a little over $700 million).

In response to Volkswagen's countermeasures, BMW has counterattacked: first, it will no longer supply engines for Rolls-Royce. Before that, Rolls-Royce engines had been supplied by BMW, and it is conceivable that if the cooperation in the heart technology of the car was stopped, Rolls-Royce would suffer huge losses. It is also reported that BMW will no longer supply other parts, and now about 30% of Rolls-Royce's parts are supplied by BMW; Second; BMW reiterates that the original £340 million offer remains unchanged. The then president of BMW, Brude, said: BMW will not spare any price for Rolls-Royce.

This is not the deadliest for Volkswagen, because BMW also has an ally that can be fatal enough for Volkswagen, namely Rolls-Royce PLC. The foreshadowing of Rolls-Royce PLC came into play: under a contract in 1973 for the separation of engines and automobiles, the name and trademark rights of Rolls-Royce were in the hands of Rolls-Royce PLC, the aviation and marine engines business. The contract stipulated that Rolls-Royce Motor Cars had to obtain the consent of Rolls-Royce PLC in order to sell to a foreign country.

Although Rolls-Royce PLC is also part of Wix, it is relatively financially independent, and a series of seemingly boring add-ons play a role at the moment, Wickers, the parent company of Rolls-Royce PLC, is helpless to do anything about what his younger brother does, even though his younger brother's actions are not in the interests of his own boss.

The Rolls-Royce PLC company, which has the veto power, is obviously more optimistic about BMW, and what is more fatal is that not only Wickers has a stake in Rolls-Royce PLC, but BMW also owns 10% of the company's shares.

This is very funny, in the same company, the buyer and the seller actually hold shares at the same time, that is to say, the seller and the buyer are the bosses of this company, but there are inconsistent opinions between the two bosses, and the intricate relationship makes Zhang Lan feel crying and laughing when he thinks of this: he must not make such a mistake in the future!

The day after the announcement, Rolls-Royce Aircraft Engine stressed that it still likes BMW. The company said that "it is possible to enter into an agreement with BMW for the use and protection of the Rolls-Royce name rights and trademark rights," but did not say anything about Volkswagen's new price tag. Eventually, Rolls-Royce PLC, which manufactures aero engines, decided to authorize BMW, with which it does business, to use the Rolls-Royce double "R" trademark and logo instead of Volkswagen. \\\\\\

In this way, there was a strange stalemate in the most famous battle in the history of automobiles: Volkswagen bought the Rolls-Royce Crewe factory, the "Flying Goddess" logo and the rights to the radiator grille, but there was no way to build the "Rolls-Royce" brand car; Similarly, BMW got the "Rolls-Royce" designation, but did not have access to the badge and radiator grille. Rolls-Royce cannot be produced without a factory, and can a Rolls-Royce be called a Rolls-Royce without the "Flying Goddess" and the iconic tank grille? ,

But I have to admit that BMW bought the name of the Rolls-Royce car and the trademark "RR" for 40 million pounds. A lot of reviews consider this to be the most valuable essence property in the whole deal.

120 million marks (40 million pounds), BMW used a fraction of Volkswagen's bid to control the Rolls-Royce brand, Volkswagen was stuck by BMW's neck, Volkswagen took Rolls-Royce's old and dilapidated factory for 10 times the price, and also faced the bleak situation faced by BMW after refusing to provide spare parts.

In order to avoid a lose-lose situation, Volkswagen and BMW finally reached a settlement: on July 28, Volkswagen announced that it would cede Rolls-Royce to BMW less than a month after spending a lot of money on it. In response, BMW agreed to continue supplying parts to Rolls-Royce, while Volkswagen would only be able to produce Rolls-Royce until 2003, after which BMW would build a new site to produce Rolls-Royce. From then on, only BMW could produce Rolls-Royce cars. Volkswagen bought the Rolls-Royce/Bentley Motors division to produce only Bentley cars.

As for the hapless Cosworth, BMW, which already has its own F1 engine production department, naturally looks down on them, and Cosworth is once again depressed as an addition to the property of Volkswagen. As for Volkswagen, they now look down on Cosworth, believing that such a money-eating company is not in the interests of their own company, so after retaining Cosworth's civilian engine division, they sold Cosworth to Ford Motor Cosworth.

Now that I think about it, in this operation, the one who has achieved the greatest benefit is the Vickers company, which was previously considered a super stupid impostor! This guy not only makes money on both sides, he sells the same thing for two prices, but he also pretends to be innocent on one side!

Zhang Lan couldn't help wiping a cold sweat: It's so dangerous, I used to laugh at Vickers Company's stupid hat, but I didn't expect that I almost became a super stupid person in someone else's mouth! If it weren't for the boredom of my idleness, my natural sixth sense would be so developed and sharp (Narrator: Stinky Beauty!). How could you think of such a big conspiracy that Vickers had committed? If it weren't for the fact that he knew about the development of history, maybe in the end he would have bothered to get Rolls-Royce, Bentley, and Cosworth, but Vickers hid aside and laughed at himself for being a super stupid person!

, this is the master of pretending to be a pig and eating a tiger!

But Zhang Lan understands that although the relationship is complicated, involving all aspects of the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom, if he settles this matter, he will get not only a Rolls-Royce, but also Bentley, which also belongs to the world's top luxury car brand, and Cosworth, the world's top engine manufacturing and research and development company. As long as you can get your hands on these three companies, it is worth paying a certain price!

Of course, Volkswagen, which spent nearly 1.5 billion marks but only got Bentley, and suffered a dumb loss on the surface, naturally would never give up like this, and Volkswagen soon made BMW suffer: in the past few years when BMW was waiting to take over Rolls-Royce, in order to clear the market obstacles for his son Bentley to a greater extent, Volkswagen almost let his son Rolls-Royce for BMW stop in style, production and technology.

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