The McLaren Group family came to Manchester from Woking immediately after a phone call from Chen Bo.

"Ron, I've thought about it, and now it's going to turn around McLaren's loss-making situation, and it's still who continues to lose money on sports car sales every year. I'm afraid that electric vehicles will not be able to hold up before they are assembled. Chen Bo told him directly that if you don't count the 80 million pounds spent on the acquisition of Cosworth Engine, the book loss in 05 is about 50 million pounds, which is already quite high.

As for the cost of sponsoring Manchester City, it is only a passing off its books and cannot be counted as actual expenses.

McLaren, on the other hand, only has two sports cars, F1 and MP4, and has no way to compete with Ferrari and Lamborghini, let alone Porsche, which has higher sales.

"You're right, the performance technology of the battery is not enough to fully support the vehicle drive, and it will be achieved in 09 years at the earliest."

"I think we can take two steps now, the first one is to bring down the shelf of the supercar, which is more accessible to the people. Second, the rapid entry into the civilian vehicle market, especially now that the demand for automobiles in developing countries continues to grow. ”

"I can understand the second point, but how can a supercar be close to the people? Wouldn't that become a mass-produced ordinary car? ”

"Of course not, like the F1 series, although you decided to discontinue it, I can understand that. It's a means of hunger marketing that guarantees the scarcity of its supercars. But we can customize it on the original platform. In addition to the main series, and then the launch of low-profile models customized for celebrities to attract their fans to buy, Porsche Boxer is only priced at 20,000 or 30,000 pounds? But it doesn't affect his status in the hearts of fans. ”

"So how do you control your costs?"

"Private customisation is only open to guests at the McLaren Club, and we are selling not only the technology of F1, but also the high-end bespoke service that reflects their status, and creates an atmosphere that is not something that the rich can have. Only for high-end consumers such as London, Dubai, Hong Kong Island and New York. If we want to make the car sell before it is produced, we are not a Rolls-Royce, but we want to be the Vertu of cars! In this way, it can not only maintain the status of the supercar, but also allow people who cannot afford to buy the low-spec version. ”

"I see, you're the master of the marketing circle." Ron nodded, already understanding his intentions.

Nokia's Vertu mobile phone is full of gimmicks, although a mobile phone costs 40,000 US dollars, but it is still rushed by many local tyrants, this is to flaunt the particularity of identity, the choice of rich people has always been disdainful of being consistent with ordinary people.

"Also, how much do you know about MG and Rover?" After Chen Bo finished speaking, he asked again.

"Bankrupt, BM lost more than 3 billion euros to them since the acquisition." Ron shrugged, "The UK has a long history of car culture, and these two are just two of them, not too popular, but also somewhat well-known. On the contrary, their Jaguar, Land Rover, and MINI are much more famous, but they were sold to Ford a few years ago to stop losses in time. ”

"What if we enter the civilian market through these two brands?" Chen Bo asked tentatively again.

"This ......," Ron hesitated, "the property rights are a bit complicated, I heard that there are two car companies from Huaxia negotiating acquisitions, but Ford has the right of first refusal to purchase the brand trademark, and the negotiation between the two parties has changed to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms." ”

"Well, that's true, but if we want to enter the commercial car field, we need a separate brand, and it is impossible to use McLaren anymore." Chen Bo sighed, "The people from Shencheng Automobile Company approached me and wanted McLaren to make a turnaround from the middle, but I refused. Since they are all fighting, it seems that there is still some value, so it is better for us to take it directly. ”

"Ford is now losing a lot of money, and the reason why he bought Rover's trademark is that he wants to package it and sell it with Land Rover, and the price will be high."

Depend on! Chen Bo secretly scolded in his heart, how could he forget this link. Land Rover's English name is Land Rover, and Rover's English name is Rover, making it clear that the former is a derivative brand, and it must be combined to have more commercial value.

It's no wonder that Ford made such a strange deal in the first place, and BM actually agreed.

Buying a Land Rover? That's impossible, firstly, the price is high, secondly, the excessively high fuel consumption and rising oil prices are not applicable in the European and American markets, and the domestic tyrants alone cannot support this market, which is completely a money-losing goods.

He wants to buy a low-end, slightly well-known car brand, not only in Europe and the United States to have some sales, but also to catch up with a wave of domestic economic demand. It is not so that McLaren has lost too much in recent years, although he can afford to lose, but he does not want to waste resources idlely.

With so much investment in technology development, it's really a loss if you don't use it.

"Why don't we try to buy Lotus?"

"Lotus? In whose hands are they? ”

But all British car brands have long been acquired by foreign capital, and the rest are all strange or classic cars produced by handicraft workshops, and there is not much production in a year. The last one fell into his pocket, so Chen Bo asked this question.

"Malaysia's Proton Motors, controlled by a state-owned investment company, and Japan's Mitsubishi, the previous partner, withdrew in '04, and apparently they are not having a good time. Management is approaching the company everywhere to cooperate, but refuses to give up control. Lotus is a representative of lightweight and easy handling small sports cars, and is known as one of the three major sports car brands along with Porsche and Ferrari, and the public acceptance is relatively high, and some cars are cheaper than the boxer. We can use it to launch a mid-level civilian, which is much better than Rover. ”

"Will Proton sell?"

"All we need is a British factory and a brand, other technologies and things like that don't matter to us, and the Lotus is more likely to be recognized by the upper class, he was founded by Sir Chapman, and he gave one to the Queen, and then it became popular among the nobility."

"What year was that?"

"I think it was the '60s, when I was in high school. By the way, Lotus won seven championships in F1 that year, which is only one ...... less than us."

"Okay, seeing that you're a lotus pollen, you can go talk about it. Hopefully the price won't be too high, or I'll have to borrow money again. The look on Ron's face had betrayed him, and Chen Bo simply fulfilled him.

"Ten years ago, it was only sold for £30 million, so it's definitely worth the money."

“…… That's cheap, you go get in touch. But by the way, I want to talk about BM and Ford, I want to see what they think on the other side, and muddying the waters is not necessarily a bad thing. "Let's figure out the situation first and then talk about whether to help or not, although he rejected Xu Zhixin, will he definitely stand by and watch? Unless the other party is really that tendon. After saying goodbye to Ron, Chen Bo went to find Mansur again, this is a big fat sheep, how can he only get it once?

When he arrived at a mansion in the city centre, he was well acquainted with his entourage from Abu Dhabi and took him to the drawing room without hindrance. I saw Mansour and a blonde woman sipping afternoon black tea and talking happily.

"Vincent, you've come just in time to introduce a friend to you." When Mansour saw him coming, he stood up directly and greeted, "Amanda Staveli, not only is the head of the Dubai investment group DIC, but also well-known in the London financial circle, and has a wide range of contacts." ”

"His Highness Mansour is exalting me too much, but I just rely on my friends to mix up some food." Staveley said modestly on the side.

But what Chen Bo is thinking at the moment is that there is another Amanda, this name is too cheesy, and I have known no less than three so far. But seeing this woman in her early 30s, dressed as a capable strong woman in the workplace, she has nothing to say about her temperament.

An Englishwoman who has developed in Dubai, and is well-connected, the combination of this information and her identity is naturally revealed. Brokers, that is, high-end intermediaries, this kind of people move between the capital and the governments, and they are good at dancing with long sleeves on all sides, and each of them is not a good stubble.

"It turned out to be the person in charge of DIC, and I've been famous for a long time." Chen Bo said politely, "I have been to Dubai many times, and I have always wanted to find an opportunity to visit, but unfortunately because I am busy with work, I couldn't do it, but I didn't expect to see it here." ”

"Mr. Chen really can speak, and it's my honor to know you, but I still have some things to do today, so I'll invite you to coffee alone another day." Staveley smiled in response, picked up the bag and said goodbye, obviously knowing that the two of them had something to discuss, and left with a sense of humor.

"No problem, feel free to compliment."

When the woman's figure disappeared at the door, Chen Bo turned his head and said to Mansur, "What is the origin of this woman, why haven't I heard of it?" Probably not your father-in-law's confidante? ”

"That's not clear." Mansour touched his nose sheepishly, "She's not simple at all, she was born as a farmer and worked as a model. Prince Andrew's ex-girlfriend, but this relationship ended without a hitch, and he came to Dubai alone in the 90s, which was deeply appreciated by Maktoum, mainly helping him buy assets in the UK, Legoland Park, the London Eye and the Scottish Engineering Company. ”

"In this way, this woman is really not simple." Chen Bo said that if he was born a commoner, he dared to hook up with the queen's second son, and he could get out of the house and find another cash cow in Dubai.

"But she's really well-connected, do you know what she's doing this time?"

"Then I don't know." Chen Bo pouted.

"I took a stake in the city sports company, but I refused, the two of us worked well together, and there was no need for one more person to share the food. So she decided to go to Liverpool and Arsenal to try the waters! ”

"Huh...... If you have enough guts, you see, the fans will definitely boycott it. By the way, Belgium's Genk, France's Metz, and Bird have already bought part of the shares, and these two have good youth training, and they will be Manchester City's satellite clubs in the future. ”

"Well, you can continue to buy a few more foreign teams, so that you can have Manchester City as the core and the others as the auxiliary. Form a well-known and influential brand promotion platform all over the world! Mansour squinted, "But you're not here to talk to me about this today, are you?" ”

(End of chapter)