The Industrial Giant Reborn.

Chapter 472 Mini and Rolls-Royce

"You want to acquire a British car brand? That's right, I almost forgot, you also have an AMC car company in the United States." Thatcher paused and said.

Naturally, she had already checked Chen Zhiwen's information very clearly, but his main industries were still in electronics, real estate, and finance. He also had a beverage company with a good scale, but he didn't know the specific profit status, and the investment in the United States The automobile industry is also mentioned in the information submitted by the following people.However, although the automobile industry is heavy on investment, small-scale automobile brands are more like a hobby investment compared to Chen Zhiwen's current net worth.

"Yes, but AMC can only have some sales channels in the United States, and even a few resources in Europe are not enough. If we can acquire a European car brand and use existing channels, then AMC's cars can also be sent to Europe. On the other hand, European brands can also use AMC's channels in the United States to sell, which is a win-win situation." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

In fact, this is the case in theory, but in practice it is another matter, because cooperation between two powerful forces can indeed complement each other, but it is difficult to say if two general or even rookie levels cooperate, and a car brand enters a new market. , especially when the market has matured and there are a large number of competitors, foreign brands have almost no chance. If you want to give it a try, you have to invest huge funds in publicity. For this alone, even two ordinary car companies Merger may not have the ability. After all, the cost of ocean transportation is not low. If American cars are shipped to Europe for sale, or conversely, European cars are sold in the United States, the cost must be higher than that of local production.

Even cooperation between two giants may not work. In 1998, Mercedes-Benz acquired Chrysler of the United States and ended up leaving the company with a loss of US$8 billion after 200 years of merger.

However, it is still the 80s. Even in Europe and the United States, the local economy still has a lot of room for growth in the future. In other words, as long as we survive the 80s, it is very likely that these car brands will not be able to recover in the future. of the pinnacle.

Of course, these just depend on luck. The most important thing is to have the opportunity to enter the domestic market, which is the best market for automobile companies. If you enter early and build your brand reputation, you can take off along with the mainland economy.

"Eric, I need to be honest with you." Thatcher said: "Although many British car brands are ready for sale, we internally prefer to sell to traditional car brands, such as Volkswagen, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz. , Toyota or several major auto giants in the United States, because we do not want to leave it alone, but hope to save these companies with the capital, technology, and market support of these large companies."

The British automobile industry has been in decline since the 70s. Ultimately, it is because before the 60s, the relationship between Britain and Europe was average, and the local automobile industry also had strong protective tariffs, so internal automobile brands They all rely on the local market plus some colonies and the Commonwealth, and they can survive reasonably well.

But as the British national power weakened after the 70s, the purchasing power of local people declined, and its influence on the colonies and the Commonwealth also declined. Exports were affected. And most importantly, due to various geographical relationships, the United Kingdom joined the European Union in 1973. Tariffs on European car brands also fell.Of course, British cars can also enjoy low tariffs for export to the European market.

British car brands, which have been locked in a cage for a long time, are completely vulnerable to their car counterparts in Germany, France and even Italy. In order to save the auto industry, the British government spent a lot of money to convert many car brands into state-owned enterprises. Unfortunately, the car industry The industry is a super gold-swallowing beast. If the product is not strong enough, it will lose everything. The British government's finances have been affected by the economic crisis and the Falklands War. They no longer have the ability to support these car brands and a bunch of state-owned enterprises that are losing money.

At the same time, Thatcher's governing policy was to liberalize the market, so she launched a vigorous policy of privatizing state-owned enterprises.However, the purpose of privatization, in addition to reducing the government's burden, is also to ensure that enterprises can continue to survive, so as to maintain employment.

In the situation of the British automobile industry, it seems that only the automobile giants can save it.

"There are at least more than 20 car brands in the UK now, right? With so many brands, it's impossible for all the big car giants to be interested, right? And in terms of funding, I won't have much of a problem here, but the technology may be really bad. One thing, as for the market, I can reveal one more thing. I am going to invest a lot of money in the global market and lay out terminal sales stores in the automotive industry. I think this will be of great help." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

This is also true. In the future, when your own funds come out of the Japanese market, or the U.S. IT market in the 90s, or the returns on other investments, when the amount of funds is too large, it will be impossible to continue investing in stocks as before. With doubling growth, the upper limit of financial investment has basically reached, and except for the Internet industry, other markets have basically solidified. In the Internet industry, initial investment does not require a lot of money.

Domestic infrastructure in the future will be a good place to invest, but firstly, he cannot invest too much money in it. Secondly, not everyone in the country will give him this opportunity. An appropriate amount is enough, and he himself only invests in those If you are interested in highways between big cities or large-scale projects in big cities, everyone with a discerning eye knows that the competition is fierce for this kind of lucrative investment. It is okay to eat part of it, but it is unlikely to eat too much.As for the farm, although it looks large, it does not consume too much money. After all, it does not need to consider food issues for more than 1 million people like Japan, and it is also the world's number one farmer. The name is almost enough.

Then entering the retail industry is a good choice. In addition to traditional retail industries such as Costco, automobile terminal retail is also a very huge market. When the scale is large enough, it can also have a negative impact on big brand automobile companies, and this The market demand for funds is also very high, and future earnings are also very stable. After all, in 50 years, even if electric vehicles are transformed, everyone will still need to buy cars offline, and the Internet will not affect car stores.Even if small brands are sold in shopping malls, the shopping malls also have a layout.

"So, Eric, which car brand do you want?" Thatcher asked after thinking for a moment.

Although she wants to sell so many British car brands to international car giants, Chen Zhiwen is right. If you want to sell to someone else, you don’t have to. Even if you want to, it will take a long time. She doesn’t know how long it will take to complete the transaction and the quantity. There are so many, and it is estimated that he may not be able to sell them all when he retires, and now that a not-so-ideal but still suitable buyer comes to inquire, there is no reason to refuse.

"I want Mini and Rolls-Royce." Chen Zhiwen said.

There are many British car brands, and many of them will do well in the future. However, things have to be settled gradually. It is impossible for him to acquire too many British car brands at once, and the acquisitions also have time points.

Rolls-Royce and Mini are two companies that most people have heard of in later generations. The former is a world-famous luxury brand and takes an extremely high-end luxury line that only the wealthy can afford. If you can afford it, even in Hong Kong now, the number of people who own Rolls-Royce is only a few hundred people. This does not mean that only a few hundred people in Hong Kong can afford it, but those who are willing to buy this car are basically worth a few hundred. billionaires or even higher.

Of course, Rolls-Royce's own internal business methods also have certain restrictions. They are not ordinary people, and they will not sell them even if they have money.Although this kind of restricts itself financially, it also marks the high-end nature of the brand. It’s hard to say whether it’s good or bad.

As for Mini, this car also has a certain reputation in the mainland in later generations. Before the rise of trams, many wealthy people bought this kind of car and it was more convenient to drive in the city.The original appearance of the mini actually happened during a Middle East crisis in the 50s. When oil prices rose, the British company BMC launched a small car, which was favored by the market.

It stands to reason that this kind of small car should be very popular in the context of the two major oil crises in this decade, but the British brand did not seize this opportunity because they did not promote this internationally in the early years. Brands want to open up the market in a hurry, and they don’t have much publicity budget. It’s not easy to export. After all, European or American customers have never seen or heard of this brand, how can they buy it?

This is just like a few decades later, Fiat in Europe and Chrysler in the United States have large sales in Europe, the United States and even South America, but they have not developed the mainland market. No matter how good the quality of the car is, there will not be many mainland consumers to pay for it. , this is still the case in later generations when the Internet can be used to check information. Nowadays, no one who has never heard of a new brand of car will touch it.

But Chen Zhiwen knows that Mini will be very popular in the future, because its product strength is not bad, and it only needs a lot of publicity to succeed. For example, in Japan, in 1985, the national sales volume was less than 1000 units, but by 92 it exceeded 12000 units.

Therefore, Mini Car is the brand that Chen Zhiwen can easily expand after acquiring it. It is very consistent with the business model in the next few decades: fuel-efficient, small and easy to travel in the city. Although it can basically only be used by female consumers, it can When it comes to cars, except for the most common sedans, everything else has differentiated customers.

"Mini and Rolls-Royce?" Thatcher thought for a moment and then said: "Eric, these two brands, Mini may still be able to discuss, but Rolls-Royce is the highest-end luxury brand, even if it is Our government doesn’t have much decision-making power.”

(End of this chapter)