For General Motors, the world's top manufacturing company that was once brilliant, General Motors in the past ten years has gradually entered the difficult situation of the hero's end, since it filed for bankruptcy protection, the whole enterprise seems to have been drained of its soul, and for a long time after that, this enterprise has been wandering around the periphery.

GM's biggest problem has always been that there is too little innovation, and the market segmentation and compliance is not enough, which Japanese companies have always done the most meticulous and professional, which is why Toyota has been able to kick GM off the altar and step into the world's top hegemony.

Whether it is Buick, Chevrolet, Cadillac, or even the niche GMC and Saab, there are so many brands under General Motors, and none of the models can really achieve high sales and reputation in the global market, the reason is simple, their products have long been soulless.

GM China has previously launched a number of confusing low-end models, with market promotion, has achieved good sales, such as the smash hit Chevrolet Cruz, and the low-end van launched by the Wuling brand, this kind of product, placed in the Chinese market, may be regarded as conforming to the law of the market, but if you look at the global market, it is basically difficult to have enough competitiveness.

Now, GM China has long been unsustainable, and GM's North American mainland has suffered from Dongchen's transoceanic impact, and it has not been long since the total collapse.

And it was precisely because of his desperation that Carter decided to adopt the way of obeying the market and the hegemon. No longer stands on the opposite side of Dongchen. Instead, he simply cooperated with Dongchen and became Dongchen's helper in conquering cities in North America, and only in this way could he exchange a certain profit for himself, instead of continuous losses that would never stop.

Because Zhang Wenhao's fluency in English has far exceeded Carter's expectations, the Chinese-English translation he prepared in advance did not come in handy, and Carter, in order to show his sincerity, did not bring any negotiation assistants this time, although there were some company executives who accompanied him to China. But at the negotiating table, he hopes to be able to do it alone with Zhang Wenhao.

Zhang Wenhao was also very interested in Carter, he didn't expect that Dongchen had just entered the North American market. There are local companies in North America seeking cooperation, and the way of cooperation is the lowest-end production cooperation: OEM.

OEM business is a walking dead without a soul forever, no matter how big he does, it is the same, he is just a body, a body that obeys others' orders and does things for others, but where a great enterprise is never a core business, just like Apple. For any of their products, Apple is basically only responsible for the development and design, and then the production process is handed over to the world's foundry factories, such as Fushikang.

Fushikang produces more than 90% of the world's Apple mobile phones, but how many people will give this company a thumbs up? How many companies will praise this company? When people talk about Apple's mobile phone, they always talk about Apple, and only when there is a problem with the equipment in their hands, they will complain about the processing level of the OEM factory, which is the key to the soul of the enterprise.

At the outset, Carterus had a very sincere expression. He said to Zhang Wenhao: "Mr. Zhang, the current sales volume of Dongchen in the North American market has set a sales record for any foreign brand in the early stage of entering North America, which makes me believe that Dongchen will achieve more long-term development in the North American market in the next step." Although they are also competitors, I have to say something. Dongchen Automobile is really a great company, which has created a new era in the entire automotive field. ”

Zhang Wenhao smiled humbly and said: "Mr. Carter, you have won the award, and Dongchen is just an ordinary private enterprise that has grown up in exploration, but it is just a little luckier." ”…,

Carter smiled slightly: "Mr. Zhang, I never believed that any automobile company could form a monopoly in this industry, but Dongchen made me see the possibility of this day, consumers' enthusiasm for Dongchen Automobile is too high, beyond everyone's imagination, and in front of Dongchen, all automobile brands have lost their living space and competitiveness." ”

Speaking, Carter said: "We GM once made a comparison between Dongchen's models and its own brand, we have our own set of cost-effective evaluation schemes, the lowest is 1, the highest is 10, the higher the number, the higher the cost performance, all GM's models, the cost performance is not more than 5, Dongchen, but in this set of evaluation schemes, the average score of 8.9, much higher than us." ”

"Toyota has been doing better than us at this point, after our evaluation, their cost performance is about 5.7, we have also tried to get closer to Toyota's cost performance, but, due to different concepts, different development directions, we are compared to Toyota, what we lack is not only ideology, but more, is the Japanese persistence and possessiveness of the world economy, when we think there is no need to develop too many models and waste too much money in the development and testing process, the Japanese just don't do it, They launched as many models as possible, with great detail and precision in the division of the market level, and the coverage was very wide, however, their efforts also paid off with remarkable results, and when we woke up and began to try to divide the market in detail, the Japanese had already seized the opportunity, and our additional investment dragged our business into a difficult situation. ”

Zhang Wenhao asked curiously: "I don't know what kind of process and method your company's cost-effective evaluation plan is?" ”

Carter explains: "There is a lot of data that we have to measure, for example, what percentage of the car's power can be compared to the sales price; Compared with the sales price, what is the ratio of fuel consumption, handling performance and safety performance of this car? Compare the power and fuel consumption of this car, and then compare the actual cost of use; Based on the car's follow-up maintenance price, the average cost per kilometer or mile is calculated, and finally through a complex formula, these results are all calculated, and the result is a comprehensive index of cost performance. ”

Zhang Wenhao nodded. Appreciatively said: "This way of calculating. It's the first time I've heard of it, but it sounds very reasonable. ”

Karl nodded and smiled: "The rationality is exquisite, at present, in addition to Dongchen Automobile, the world's most cost-effective car, its index will not exceed 6.2, China's domestic brand cars, the cost performance is generally relatively high, but the biggest problem is that brand awareness, brand expansion and delivery ability is too low." Therefore, their high cost performance can only be exchanged for a certain market share in the local market, but for companies like Dongchen. If you add brand awareness and brand ability, the comprehensive competition index is something that other companies cannot catch up with in ten years. ”

After speaking, Carter said: "We once evaluated that if we want to achieve 5.5 cost performance, our profit will drop by at least 60%, and if we achieve Toyota's 5.7, then our profit will fall to the freezing point, that is, we will not only not be able to build a car of such a high level as Dongchen." There is also no ability to reduce the price to a level that is enough to compete with Dongchen in terms of cost performance, but still maintain a certain profit, unless we sell the low-priced Cruze to less than 40,000 yuan, otherwise, we will not be able to get a higher price-performance index, I think, in this case, if we continue to stick to the current situation and fight against Dongchen, we can only hit the stone with an egg, as the Chinese say. Therefore, I think that if GM cooperates with Dongchen, then it will be a win-win opportunity. ”…,

Zhang Wenhao smiled slightly: "Dongchen really didn't expect the response of the North American market to be so good, which makes us have an output plan of three or four million vehicles a year." The overall North American market seems to be a bit overwhelming, and. These three or four million vehicles are all the production capacity that Dongchen can take out to overseas markets, and if we put all this surplus capacity into the North American market, then other markets will not be able to take care of it, so Dongchen also intends to find overseas enterprises for production cooperation, so that it can increase the total production capacity of Dongchen to a greater extent. ”

Carter smiled: "This is great, after all, we at General Motors, with a maximum annual production capacity of more than 10 million units, are definitely the best choice for Dongchen." ”

Zhang Wenhao opened his mouth and asked: "Mr. Carter, I don't know how much production capacity GM is going to reserve for Dongchen?" ”

Carter smiled bitterly and said: "Our product line is on the verge of collapse by Dongchen, the two largest markets in China and North America, we have no competitiveness, but Dongchen has not been able to form a comprehensive coverage of the world in a short period of time, so we are ready to reserve 30% of the production capacity to cover those markets that Dongchen has not yet been involved in, in other words, we use this 30% of the production capacity, dare to make the last profit before Dongchen does not come to compete." ”

Zhang Wenhao nodded lightly, Carter is right, Dongchen now does not have the strength to really squeeze GM in the global market, and GM is a big plate, this big plate to maintain operation, it is necessary to ensure that at least more than seventy percent of the production capacity is effectively utilized and create actual benefits, if once the production capacity is less than seventy percent, implicated by idle capacity, this enterprise may gradually enter the predicament, GM now has a part of the production capacity, it is possible to make money in other markets, but the biggest problem is, The idle production capacity is too large, as if only one arm of a person's limbs can be used, and it is too hard to use one arm to drive the whole body, and sooner or later it will collapse, but if the other parts are handed over to Dongchen, then not only can 30% of its own production capacity be profitable, but 70% of its own production capacity can be profitable in cooperation with Dongchen, at least, it can maintain the continuous operation of this large plate.

Seventy percent of the production capacity, about 700 to 7.5 million units, the economy has rebounded in recent years, the annual sales of the North American market is about 14 million units, if Dongchen and GM cooperate, then the total number of cars that can be delivered to overseas markets every year will exceed 10 million, about 11 million units, but if 11 million units are all sold to the United States, I am afraid that the US government will not agree, therefore, Dongchen's current annual output of three or four million vehicles in the North American market is already the peak, but if it cooperates with GM, then, Dongchen's own production capacity of more than 3 million vehicles can be recovered and put into other markets, and then half of GM's production capacity can be used to cover the North American market, and then the other half can also be put into other markets, such as Europe.

Thinking of this, Zhang Wenhao said: "The proportion of seventy percent is still very reasonable, I have no opinion." ”

Carthus breathed a sigh of relief. Nodding and smiling: "Then let's talk about the cooperation model next." And the specific profit sharing. ”

Zhang Wenhao said with a smile: "Dongchen is not ready to cooperate with OEMs for profit sharing, we will make the cost of localized production of each model in the United States according to the actual production cost in the United States, and then give GM a certain OEM production cost, for example, the manufacturing cost of an S1 in North America is 10,000 US dollars, then, we will raise the OEM cost to 11,000 US dollars, GM will produce it, and we will pay according to the total OEM price." ”

Carter smiled awkwardly. But there is bitter water in my heart. …,

If it really follows Zhang Wenhao's model, then GM will be reduced to a pure OEM enterprise through and through, not even a joint venture, when GM previously had a joint venture with China Shipping Automobile Industry Group. Or the two sides each contributed 50%, and then divided the production profits 5:5, now, Dongchen does not let GM meddle in the profit sharing link at all, but only determines how much processing fee GM can get for processing a car for Dongchen, which way, GM is still a company that once won the hegemony in the automotive field? It won't even be long before people forget the word generic, because GM produces. It is Tecton, not GM Tecton, which is a joint venture

Carter was unwilling, why did GM and other foreign brands enter China in the first place, but when Dongchen wants to enter North America, it uses the pure OEM model? Is it because of the different degrees of openness in the markets of the two countries, or because the gap between the two brands is really huge?

Damn the US government!

They only know how to conform to the market and environmental protection, energy saving, and low cost, and they never thought of imposing more entry restrictions on Dongchen, who let the White House gang be too restrained by ignorant people?

Come to think of it. Carter suddenly remembered something and blurted out: "Mr. Zhang, in fact, the fact that Dongchen is now impacting the U.S. market in large numbers is something that the U.S. government has not considered before. However, the momentum of Dongchen's entry was so fierce all of a sudden. I think the U.S. government will do the same, right? ”

Zhang Wenhao nodded and said: "I have already thought of the actions they will have, either they will restrict the import and export links and raise tariffs to force Dongchen to increase the price in the North American market, so as to fight for the survival space of domestic brands; Either that, the U.S. government mandates that Tecton must localize production in North America, or it will impose restrictions on the number of imports and exports, so as to prevent Tecton from exporting too much to North America and causing a significant increase in the unemployment rate of the North American auto industry. ”

Carter was stunned and said in surprise: "You have already thought about these in advance?" ”

"Of course." Zhang Wenhao said with a smile: "No government will sit idly by, they used to be the same as us, underestimated the recognition of Dongchen by consumers in the North American market, and now they were caught off guard by the huge market reaction, and there was no action for a while, but it does not mean that they will never act, the United States is a free economy, I think the biggest possibility of the White House in the end is the latter, forcing Dongchen to localize production in North America, in order to ensure domestic tax revenue, domestic employment rate, in recent years, the unemployment rate in the eyes of the US government, On the contrary, if Dongchen one day develops North America into a global production base, so as to provide a large number of jobs and tax revenue to the US government, they will be more friendly to Dongchen than to its own companies. ”

Speaking, Zhang Wenhao said: "I don't want to enter a certain country's market in a purely destructive way, otherwise, waiting for me, it is very likely that there is a ban on entry, or many restrictions, the large-scale export of the North American market is only a precursor, and the localization of a large number of products covering the North American market is the most harmonious way of development, in fact, in addition to retaining S3C and above, C3C and above and SC1 These models are reserved for local production in China, and other models exported abroad, All of them can achieve local production in the region. ”

Zhang Wenhao has long tried to imagine what kind of restrictions the US government will impose on Dongchen when the US government comes to his senses, so as to stabilize his country's automobile economy, since sooner or later there will be such a day, and GM has come to the door one step in advance, it is better to cooperate with local American companies to ensure local productivity and employment rate in the local industry.

Carter secretly praised in his heart, shook his head and smiled: "I didn't expect Mr. Zhang to take everything into account a long time ago, or rather, GM can accept Dongchen's cooperation model, but I hope that the profit margin left for GM is as large as possible, at least, after we put aside all costs, there can still be reasonable profits." ”

Zhang Wenhao nodded and smiled, and said: "Of course, the cooperation between Dongchen and GM will be the first case of cooperation between Dongchen and overseas manufacturers, and I hope that this first case can be imitated by other manufacturers, rather than excluded, so it will definitely leave a reasonable profit margin for GM." ”

Carter finally put his mind at ease, he already knew very well in his heart that he and Dongchen had no room for negotiation, and now what GM is seeking is a way to live, not a road to prosperity, to survive the global encroachment plan launched by Dongchen, it is already a great success, and Carter also knows very well in his heart that his cooperation with Dongchen is also to seek skin with the tiger, once Dongchen solves the production capacity problem by itself, GM will be kicked away immediately, however, before that, It is already extremely rare to be able to stabilize the market, and he has enough breathing time to slowly transform GM in the market. (To be continued.) If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendation and monthly passes, and your support is my biggest motivation. )