General Motors Headquarters in Detroit, Michigan, USA

"Young man, I apologize to you for some words in the phone call before, but now that you have proved your identity and the deposit of the G3 Fund, to be honest, I am still surprised, you must know that even with the name of Chambers Fit in the past 20 years, I dare to say that there are no more than ten subordinates under him who can directly manage hundreds of millions of asset funds, not to mention Mr. Ye, you are not only so young, but also an Asian young man, take the liberty of asking, which university business school graduated from? If you're 25 years old, I'm afraid you'll graduate in a year at most, right? ”

Smith is now full of curiosity about the young man in front of him, of course, handsome is only a trivial aspect, the key is that such a young man but deeply trusted and reused by Chambers Fett, this young man must have a unique and excellent quality, if it can, GM Investment can consider including such a talent, right? Smith, who entered GM at the age of 23, asked himself that at the age of the other party, he was almost a hairy young man, and he had nothing to do, running errands in the accounting department of the subsidiary.

"Ha, to make you laugh, in fact, I am a graduate of the School of Engineering of McGill University in the Maple Leaf Country, and I have just entered Merrill Lynch for more than a month, I plan to go to Columbia University Business School this fall, and I am afraid I don't know when it will be after graduation, and now it is just my internship at the University of Society, Mr. Smith, your beautiful secretary only gave us ten minutes, and now there are less than 5 minutes left, do you think we can get to the point?" Jiang Yelin's words were frank and straightforward, his eyes were bright and fearless.

"Haha, I really have a personality, but since I didn't drive you away, the so-called ten-minute meeting time, do you think it will be a problem of communication between us?" Smith's curiosity is even heavier, the young man in front of him is similar in age to his own boy, but little Smith is still immersed in the life of a jazz band and wandering around as a gypsy, and it is impossible to expect him to take over his class in the future, compared to the young man in front of him, but his daughter Tiffany is somewhat similar, but the talented Tiffany has just entered the business school of Columbia University, and it will be 20 months after graduation.

"This, Mr. Smith, indeed, I respect a leader of a large company like you, I can't allow myself to be an uninvited guest to squander and waste your precious time, as a fund manager under Merrill Lynch, I came to the headquarters of General Motors to investigate, is it to confirm the development direction of General Motors this year from you, the newly appointed president and CEO, for example, whether the rumors of General Electric's acquisition of Swedish Saab shares are true? Has the matter been discussed internally in GM's Board of Directors? Is there any definite answer that can be told to the majority of investors? ”

In fact, the president and CEO of General Motors is not a small role, in the 80s, the former head of General Motors, Roger Smith, once said that good for General Motors is good for American workers! Roger Berhan Smith was at the helm of GM from '81 to '90, both chairman and CEO, and after his retirement, the successor was clearly inadequate, and the oligarchy became a troika, with the result that after '90, the U.S. auto industry fell to the bottom along with GM, while Toyota-Honda took a 32% market share in North America.

"What an impatient young man, Mr.Ye, your question, in the past few weeks, on different occasions, GM executives, including myself, in interviews with the media, have given a clear answer, GM's performance in the past three years is really not satisfactory, but the acquisition of a 50% stake in Sweden's Saab is a good deal for GM, Saab makes up for GM's lack of high-end sports cars in the European market, and even in the North American market, Saab is also a very competitive first-line brand, although General Motors lost money as a whole last year, Saab Motors was profitable for the first time in three years! ”

Smith's answer obviously could not satisfy Jiang Yelin, he continued to ask, "Saab Motors has been trapped in production capacity, high costs and insufficient sales, although last year set a record annual output of 160,000 SAAB luxury cars, but the sales revenue of 32 billion US dollars only obtained 1% of the net profit, to be honest, only half of the 320 million US dollars belong to General Motors' investment income, it is not an exaggeration to say that Saab Motors is a chicken rib for General Motors, right?" ”

As far as Jiang Yelin knows, GM's share of the North American market fell to 28% in 92 years, and in the annual sales of 19.8 million units in the market, GM sold 5.54 million units, and its operating income was 133.6 billion, compared with the average new car price of Saab Motors of 200,000 US dollars. The average price per vehicle of the 5.54 million vehicles sold by General Motors in the whole year is only 24,000 US dollars, which is why Saab Motors has only 160,000 production and sales, but its operating income is as high as 32 billion, and it is also the reason why General Motors attaches so much importance to Saab's first annual profit.

"This, Mr.Ye, the so-called benevolence and wisdom of the wise, what I can say is that the board of directors of General Motors has no regrets about the purchase of Sweden's Saab Motors three years ago, and we especially do not plan to discuss the sale of Saab Motors' shares with others when Saab Motors has already begun to make profits, even if the other party is General Electric, which is far above us!" Smith frowned, Jiang Yelin's aggressiveness made the newly appointed head of General Motors feel as if he was offended!

"With all due respect, GM has a newly established Saturn car in the low-end models, and the high-end is of course Cadillac's world, and the porcelain doll like Saab is actually not suitable for GM to have, GM's single car cost is actually 70% higher than Toyota, and 12% and 8% higher than Ford Motor and Chrysler, in this case, Saab will become a regular bomb that drags down GM at any time, which I saw from a research analysis report of Merrill Lynch Securities Research Department, and I deeply sympathize, What is Mr. Smith's take on this argument? ”

Jiang Yelin made an axe in front of the head of General Motors to discuss the cost control and sales market strategy of the automobile manufacturing industry, Smith couldn't help frowning slightly when he heard this, Jiang Yelin said a good point, General Motors has 320,000 employees worldwide, but has to bear the burden of pensions and lifetime annuities of more than 500,000 retired employees, which is the glory of the American automobile manufacturing industry is also a heavy burden today, and large Japanese companies, in the United States, the automobile manufacturing industry is almost all family work inherited from the father's business, Moreover, the power of the auto manufacturing unions is quite strong, and the president, governors and congressmen dare not offend these unions in the slightest for the sake of votes.

"Saab's competitor is Porsche Ferrari, even BMW and BenZ are not enough to be called Saab's opponent, I don't think Cadillac and Saab Expo form an internal competitive relationship, the audience of these two models is different, Cadillac is a high-end business passenger car, and Saab is a luxury sports car with a flamboyant personality...... "Smith said that in fact, Cadillac is a high-end all-round model, the official car of a large company, the private car of the rich, Government agencies especially like Cadillac's dignified and lofty style, while the Saab is a fashionable luxury car full of enthusiasm!

"Mr. Smith, what you said is good, but investors don't see it that way, the Wall Street Journal has been full of articles about the high cost of General Motors, the tight cash flow leads to the rise in financing costs, and the heavy pension burden eats up GM's original huge profits, Saab Motors is certainly touted by the market, but the cost of Saab Motors is higher than GM's own, the gross profit margin is only 12%, R&D and maintenance costs remain high, and manufacturing costs occupy a lot of cash flow. For a long time, Saab Motors is completely a useless porcelain doll, with a bright appearance but can not provide stable profits, but will become a big loser again at any time!! ”

Jiang Yelin's words made the president of General Motors fall into deep thought, similar arguments will be quarreled every time the board of directors meets, the acquisition of Saab Motors was the result of the dictator of General Motors at that time, Roger Smith, the result of the public opinion, after acquiring 50% of Saab's shares in 90 years, in fact, it has dragged down the overall performance of General Motors for two consecutive years, only last year Saab Motors ushered in the spring, of course, only 1% of the net profit still made the acquisition of a lot of money criticized.

In the past three years, every time GM has held a board of directors, among the many assets that are considered to be streamlined and sold, compared with other GM-owned brands and manufacturing plants, Saab Motors, a bad boy raised by his mother, will be pushed to the forefront every time, although GM only owns 50% of Saab Motors, but actually controls the board of directors and daily operations of Saab Motors, and it is indeed not easy to manage and tune when the Swedes are axed!

"Mr. Smith, I wonder what your long-term plans and views you have for the newly established Saturn Company under General Motors?" Jiang Yelin saw that Smith was silent, and turned to another topic, which is one of his two major goals for coming to General Motors, one is of course the equity ownership of Saab Motors, and the other is Saturn, a wholly-owned subsidiary of General Motors, Saturn is considered to be General Motors' new Volkswagen model against Toyota and Honda in North America.

"GM's board of directors has high hopes for Saturn cars, Toyota and Honda in the North American economy car market - will usher in the Saturn car head-on attack, the American people should use their own economy cars, fashionable and generous, smooth shape, low fuel consumption and maintenance-free In short, all elements are taken into account, Tong Guò GM's constantly improving global procurement channels to reduce costs to the lowest ever, to provide North American people with a model that can really compete with Toyota and Honda in terms of cost performance and beat each other!"

Speaking of Saturn cars obviously made the GM president and CEO feel a lot better, although he was still entangled in thinking about the question of whether to stay in Saab cars, but he obviously spared no effort to advertise the new Saturn cars.

"Mr. Smith, has GM's board of directors considered spinning off Saturn and going public independently?" Jiang Yelin's words were earth-shattering.