Chapter 458: The King of Official Cars’ Path to Godhood
When China’s semiconductor industry was turned upside down by Lingnan Semiconductor, the automotive industry did not calm down either.

Land Rover’s Highlander not only sells well overseas, but also sells well in the country.

The success of Capital Automobile Manufacturing’s Shouqi Zhiguang has led many other automobile manufacturers to focus on the development of low-priced models.

For FAW, the mass production of Hongqi A6, the first car of Hongqi BMW in cooperation with BMW Group, is definitely the most important thing at the moment.

“Mr. Jiang, FAW attaches great importance to the launch of the Hongqi A6 this time and has invited many leaders and partners to participate.”

Jiang Hui must give face to FAW.

Not to mention that Hongqi BMW also has shares in BMW Group.

Most of the parts of the Hongqi A6 are provided by our own company.

“Hongqi A6 is mainly aimed at the official car market. It is a good thing to invite more leaders to participate.”

“In this joint venture, we are mainly responsible for product research and development, and the other practical management is handled by FAW.”

“Sales business naturally depends mainly on their performance.”

While waiting for the flight at the airport, Jiang Hui started chatting with Zhou Yun.

This time, he also brought the heads of several subsidiary companies including Nanshan Engine, Nanshan Transmission, and Nanshan Technology to attend the Hongqi A6’s off-line ceremony.

“That’s true. In the area of ​​official vehicles, FAW should have a very wide range of options.”

“If all government agencies and enterprises purchase Hongqi A6 in large quantities, its sales volume may set a record.”

Zhou Yun has been with Jiang Hui for so many years, and his vision has become more and more powerful.

The overall domestic automobile market is actually still dominated by official vehicles.

Once government agencies take the lead in using it, it is likely to influence individual consumers’ car purchasing concepts in the future.

This is definitely a good thing, which is equivalent to government agencies helping with advertising.

“This is the key reason why we chose to cooperate with FAW.”

“In terms of the promotion of official vehicles, their influence is greater than ours.”

“They are also more suitable than us to go to various government agencies to promote their products.”

The Hongqi A6 is definitely a very classic car.

If it weren’t for FAW’s special influence in China, Jiang Hui could have considered producing it under the name of Mercedes-Benz.

By then, it will be worth looking forward to the sales both domestically and abroad.

However, considering that the scale of the domestic automobile market will be very huge in the future, the official vehicle market is also a link that cannot be ignored.

In addition, after the joint venture production, the main components are supplied by BMW Group, and the actual profit is little affected.

Even from the perspective of total profit, it may even become more.

After all, domestic sales will increase.

That’s why Jiang Hui readily agreed to cooperate with FAW and brought out the A6 car.

……

“Old Zhao, have all the preparations been confirmed?”

On the FAW side, Geng Weidong naturally attached great importance to this event.

FAW has not had an easy time in recent years, and Geng Weidong has been criticized by his superiors many times.

It was a rare opportunity to showcase FAW’s achievements in front of everyone, so he naturally didn’t want any mistakes to happen.

“I have personally confirmed all the processes and projects, and there will be no problems.”

“Whether it’s personnel from relevant ministries and other government agencies, reporters from various media outlets, or our partners.”

“I have arranged special people to connect with the main personnel.”

For large state-owned enterprises such as FAW, what they lack the least is reception experience.

Every year, various leaders or relevant units come to visit, inspect, study and exchange ideas.

They have already formed relatively mature reception experiences.

Even though the scale of this event is larger, there is essentially no change.

“Boss Jiang really doesn’t plan to speak on stage, so he’ll leave everything to us?”

Geng Weidong knew very well what was going on with the Hongqi A6.

He knows many of the relevant leaders and generally knows what the situation is.

But knowing this is one thing, but if all the honors go to FAW, as long as the BMW Group is willing to cooperate, no one will jump out to say otherwise.

Geng Weidong seeks fame, while BMW Group seeks profit.

Both sides get what they need.

“Yes, I’ll confirm again. BMW Group does not plan to arrange for anyone to speak on stage this time.”

“We will cooperate with our process arrangements throughout the process.”

Zhao Guangming gave his reply very affirmatively.

He must get to the bottom of such crucial matters.

Otherwise, when Jiang Hui comes on stage, he will definitely steal the limelight from Geng Weidong.

He will be very uncomfortable then.

Especially considering that Jiang Hui’s father-in-law is the head of the competent department, this matter is even more sensitive.

“Okay, then I understand.”

“I’ll go to the scene in person later to make sure everything is safe.”

Geng Weidong breathed a sigh of relief, everything was going according to plan.

FAW can finally stand up again.

……

“Director Geng, the exterior design of your Hongqi A6 is a classic in the field of automotive design, demonstrating Hongqi’s profound understanding of luxury and elegance.”

The Hongqi BMW’s production line roll-off ceremony was very grand.

The leaders took turns to speak on stage, and then visited and experienced the Hongqi A6.

Zhu Jiansheng knew that Jiang Hui was responsible for designing the appearance of this car, so he naturally praised it even more.

“Yes, from the overall outline, the body lines are smooth and full of tension. The seamless roof arc and slender body proportions create a stable yet dynamic visual effect.”

“The perfect body proportions and long wheelbase design not only enhance the spaciousness of the interior, but also enhance its majestic aura in appearance.”

“For the front face, we designed an iconic single-frame grille. This highly recognizable design language will become a feature of the Hongqi family in the future.”

“The grille is decorated with chrome, which not only enhances the texture, but also shines brightly in the sun, highlighting the noble temperament of the luxury brand.”

“The headlights on both sides are sharp in shape and closely connected with the air intake grille to form a whole, further widening the visual width of the front face.”

“The advanced lighting technology used inside the headlight not only provides excellent lighting effects, but its exquisite internal structure is also like a work of art.”

Geng Weidong would definitely not miss such an honorable opportunity.

He is already familiar with the advantages of Hongqi A6 in all aspects.

Nowadays, I can express various contents skillfully without any draft.

“On the side of the car, a sharp waistline runs from the front headlights to the rear, like a line carefully carved by a sculptor, giving the car a strong sense of three-dimensionality and muscle.”

“The slightly upward lines below the door add a touch of agility to the entire vehicle.”

“The multi-spoke aluminum alloy wheels are exquisitely designed and complement the body of the car, which not only ensures good driving performance but also visually enhances the grade of the vehicle.”

Geng Weidong became even more excited when he saw the reporter from China TV filming him speaking.

“The rear part of the car has a simple yet layered design.”

“The wide chrome trim runs across the trunk and connects to the taillight cluster, visually widening the rear of the car and creating a calm and composed posture.”

“The dual exhaust layout on both sides under the rear bumper further emphasizes the vehicle’s sporty performance.”

“It is no exaggeration to say that the exterior design of our Hongqi A6 combines luxury, elegance and sporty elements, showing unparalleled charm and will surely become a classic example in the history of automobile design.”

After listening to Geng Weidong, Zhu Jiansheng couldn’t help but lead the applause.

On the contrary, Jiang Hui, who was not far away, felt that Geng Weidong was exaggerating a bit too much.

But he certainly won’t sabotage at this time.

Just let Geng Weidong blow it.

It would be best if it would benefit the sales of Hongqi A6.

“FAW is China’s first automobile factory and carries the expectations of many people.”

“The Hongqi A6 lives up to expectations, and the ministry is definitely fully supporting it.”

“For all subsequent official vehicle orders, the Hongqi A6 will be given priority.”

Without Geng Weidong asking for anything, Zhu Jiansheng took the initiative to deliver the order.

The target users of Hongqi A6 are various government agencies, and it aims to become the “king of official vehicles.”

In this case, as the competent department, we must first express our support.

Then we will promote it to other government agencies and provinces, cities and counties.

“Our Hongqi A6 production line is built to produce more than 10 vehicles per year.”

“In addition to meeting domestic demand, we will also continue to expand into the international market.”

“Such an excellent product, I believe it will be very prestigious for overseas institutions to use it.”

Geng Weidong happily communicated with Zhu Jiansheng.

Zhu Jiansheng never gave him a good look when he went to the ministry to report several times before.

The situation this time is obviously different.

“This is a good idea. We can further influence the local market through overseas offices.”

“There may be local dealers willing to cooperate with you in depth.”

Zhu Jiansheng naturally supports Hongqi BMW’s export and foreign exchange earnings.

BMW Group has set a good example in exporting and earning foreign exchange, making everyone have more expectations for other car companies.

Compared with exporting cheap products such as shirts and socks, exporting cars is undoubtedly a very good result.

……

Many people at Second Automobile Works came from First Automobile Works.

This time, in order to show off, Geng Weidong invited the heads of major manufacturers such as Second Automobile Works, Capital Automobile Works, and Shanghai Automobile Works.

Watching Geng Weidong and Zhu Jiansheng talking animatedly, and then looking at the heart-thumping Hongqi A6 in front of him, Chen Liangrong felt extremely complicated.

“Are you confident that your design department can design a sedan similar to the Hongqi A6?”

“It doesn’t have to be better than the Hongqi A6, it just needs to be half as good as it.”

The issue of whether or not to produce sedans has been discussed for a long time within Second Automobile Works.

The final conclusion is to do it.

And in order to develop sedans, they plan to divide passenger cars and commercial vehicles into two segments for management.

The next step will be to focus on supporting the development of passenger cars. On the one hand, we have finalized the cooperation with French Peugeot Citroen to establish a joint venture to produce passenger cars.

On the other hand, Second Automobile Works designs and produces some passenger cars on its own, striving to gain a foothold in the domestic market.

However, the progress of the latter measure is not particularly smooth at present.

“Director, the exterior design of the Hongqi A6 is obviously designed by Jiang Hui himself.”

“With this design, even if we bring in designers from world auto giants like General Motors and Toyota, they can’t do better.”

“Although our design department has been upgraded to a design center, the size of its staff is still very limited.”

“It is still very difficult to design a product comparable to the Hongqi A6 in a short period of time.”

“But we have already tried to follow the Capital Automobile Manufacturing Plant’s path and use Nanshan Engine’s 1.5L engine to produce an economical car.”

“The work in this area should produce results this year.”

Zhang Fan smiled bitterly. He really didn’t dare to make an unreliable promise.

As a professional automotive engineer, he is very aware of the classic nature of the model in front of him.

Although there was a lot of bragging in what Geng Weidong said just now, it was basically true.

The Hongqi A6 is definitely a classic car in the history of China’s car development, and even in the history of the world’s car development.

This kind of product is something that international auto giants can only dream of.

It is considered very good if an automaker can have a car model that can be called a classic at a certain period of time.

Looking back at history, there are not many car models that can truly become classics.

“Hey, before the Hongqi A6, there was no big problem with your design.”

“After all, Shouqi Zhiguang has already been successful.”

“But after I got the Hongqi A6, I became a little worried.”

“Although the price of this car will not be particularly cheap, Hongqi BMW will definitely not have only this one model.”

“When they launch smaller models like the Hongqi A5 or A4, they will soon take over the entire official car market.”

“This is very detrimental to the future development of our sedans.”

Chen Liangrong could naturally feel the huge lethality of Hongqi A6 in the official car market.

That moderate yet elegant design is simply born for a business car.

No matter which model of official cars are used by various government agencies now, they cannot compare with it.

Even the Mercedes-Benz sedan produced by the BMW Group is classic enough, but as a business car, it seems to be inferior to the Hongqi A6.

No wonder Chen Liangrong was jealous.

“The domestic automobile market has developed very rapidly in recent years, especially economy cars other than official cars.”

“I think the factory should just focus on doing a good job in this market first.”

“As for the rest, we can only consider it after our own strength is further improved in the future.”

Chen Liangrong was not very satisfied with Zhang Fan’s proposal.

But he didn’t have any better solution.

This is the only way for now.

……

“Director, once the Hongqi A6 comes out, it will be very difficult for our Shouqi Zhiguang to move up and try to enter the official car market.”

As the director of the R&D center of Capital Automobile Manufacturing Plant, Lu Jianqiang also came to participate in the event today with the factory director Chen Qi.

FAW and BMW Group both have a special position in China’s automobile industry.

Everyone is curious about what the product of the collaboration between these two giants will look like.

Looking at it now, Lu Jianqiang felt very disappointed.

Its own products such as Shouqi Zhiguang are completely not on the same level as Hongqi A6.

The only thing to be thankful for is that the price of Hongqi A6 should be much higher than that of Shouqi Zhiguang.

This should not have a particularly big impact on the current sales volume of Shouqi Zhiguang.

After all, the customer groups are different.

However, Capital Automobile Manufacturing does not want to give up the official vehicle market and wants to develop an upgraded model to enter this field.

Now, Lu Jianqiang feels that it is necessary to reconsider this idea.

“Jiang Hui’s design talent is still as admirable as ever.”

“This Hongqi A6 is simply born to be a government vehicle.”

Chen Qi is also a man who knows what he is talking about.

There is no need to emphasize how excellent the Hongqi A6 is; you can feel it for yourself.

As a factory director, if his company did not produce cars, he would also hope that his official car would be a Hongqi A6.

Many other factory directors and heads of government agencies must have similar ideas.

It is absolutely not easy for a Hongqi BMW model to achieve such appeal.

“That’s true. No wonder FAW has invited a large number of personnel from relevant agencies to attend today.”

“It seems that they have already prepared for the Hongqi A6 to enter the official car market.”

When Lu Jianqiang said this, his mood was definitely very complicated.

He also hopes that the products of Capital Automobile Manufacturing Plant can enjoy such treatment.

But it is not easy to realize this dream.

“Minister Zhu has just expressed his support for the Hongqi A6 to enter the official vehicle market.”

“The orders from the factories and research institutes under the Ministry of Machinery and Electronics Industry alone are enough to keep Hongqi BMW busy for a while.”

“Not to mention the potential impact of other government agencies and overseas institutions helping to promote the business.”

“It seems that Hongqi BMW is completely determined to make itself the king of official cars.”

Chen Qi now understands why BMW Group wants to cooperate with FAW.

It is certainly not easy for BMW Group to establish a monopoly position in the official vehicle market by relying on itself.

Even if it is finally achieved, it will easily lead to all kinds of criticism.

Especially when Jiang Hui’s father-in-law is the head of the Ministry of Machinery and Electronics Industry.

But the situation is different after we established a joint venture with FAW.

At this time, BMW Group does not need to do anything on its own. FAW will use all its strength and connections to expand the market.

BMW Group just needs to make money without doing anything.

Otherwise, why would they bring out such a good model to show FAW’s achievements?
……

“Boss Jiang, I apologize for the poor hospitality yesterday.”

Yesterday was the highlight of Geng Weidong’s life, and naturally he was drunk that night.

However, he was able to get up the next day in high spirits, which is an admirable ability.

When many people get older, they usually need some buffer time to recover to a normal mental state after getting drunk.

It turns out that Geng Weidong, who is in his fifties, doesn’t need it.

“Director Geng, what are you talking about?”

“You entertained so many guests yesterday in an orderly manner.”

“I want the people below to learn this ability.”

Jiang Hui had no intention of stealing Geng Weidong’s limelight when he came here this time.

Now, there is naturally no need to accept other people’s apologies.

There’s nothing to apologize for.

“We have arranged a production target of 6 Hongqi A2000 vehicles this month, and the number will increase to 5000 vehicles next month.”

“In the future, depending on the needs, we can challenge ourselves to produce 1 vehicles a month in the biggest case.”

“By then, our Hongqi A6 will become a model that can be frequently seen in many important occasions.”

“One day in the future, we can even see the shadow of our Hongqi A6 in the news reports of Huaxia TV every day. That would be perfect.”

One advantage of being a government car is that it has the opportunity to appear on camera on various important occasions.

Whether it is receiving foreign guests or leadership inspections.

Whether it is the ministry or the province or city, it is inevitable to use official vehicles to participate in some activities.

When the relevant footage is filmed and then broadcast on TV, it will seem normal.

China Channel and TV stations in various provinces and cities have the opportunity to broadcast images related to Hongqi A6 every day.

This kind of advertising effect can definitely not be achieved by just spending money.

“I am also very optimistic about the Hongqi A6. It undoubtedly has the potential to become the king of official cars.”

“As the result of the cooperation between FAW and BMW Group, I believe its performance will not disappoint everyone.”

Jiang Hui’s words were indeed the truth.

He also really hopes that the Hongqi A6 can sell better.

In this way, BMW Group can also earn more.

No one would complain about having too much money.

In particular, the BMW Group’s annual investments are now very large and the costs are staggering.

“In terms of expanding international markets, our staff at FAW do not have much experience.”

“By then, we will need strong support from the BMW Group.”

Geng Weidong came to see Jiang Hui again today, of course not just to say “sorry”.

Instead, it is preparing to implement the sales increase of Hongqi A6.

We are all shareholders, so there is no reason for FAW to have to do all the work.

Besides, FAW really doesn’t understand the foreign market.

“No problem. We can share some of our original sales channels with Red Ball BMW.”

“Then we will work together with overseas agencies to promote our Hongqi A6.”

“This is something that is entirely in the interests of both our shareholders.”

Jiang Hui agreed without any hesitation.

This is also what he wanted to do before.

The two shareholder leaders have figured out the general direction of things, so it naturally becomes much easier for the people below to do their work.

This will prevent disputes between shareholders in joint ventures.

(End of this chapter)