There are no permanent friends between enterprises, only eternal interests.
This is absolutely true.
Cao Yang has a very clear understanding of this.
The relationship between Nanshan Group and Ford Motor is the same.
"Chris, everything is business and everything is negotiable."
"Including our 1.5T and 2.0T turbocharged engine technologies."
Without much entanglement, Cao Yang agreed to this general direction.
Through this cooperation, if the turnover of Nanshan Engine can exceed that of Nanshan Transmission, then Nanshan Group's goal of becoming a 100-billion-dollar enterprise can be achieved as soon as possible.
As for clinging to technology, it actually doesn’t make much sense.
With Ford's technical strength, it mainly decided to turn to turbocharging in an all-round way. It would not take a few years to develop an engine of similar level.
By then, the cooperative relationship between the two parties will definitely not be that close.
Anyway, in Cao Yang's mind, after the value of this generation of engines is fully utilized, it will be time to transform to hybrid and electrification.
It is also a good idea to make a good sum of money now when the value is at its highest.
"Cao, don't worry, we at Ford will never treat our friends badly!"
"Your group's Xingchen Motors uses the dealer channel of Lincoln, a subsidiary of Ford Motor Company, for sales. We will give you an accurate answer within a week."
"At the same time, I will also quickly carry out the matters you just mentioned about dealing with Japanese car companies within the company."
"At the same time, we will also discuss with people from General Motors and DaimlerChrysler to get things done quickly."
Chris is a decisive person.
Ford is having a tough time every month right now.
Especially after entering 2006, the situation deteriorated rapidly.
So some changes are urgently needed.
"Then I'll wait for your good news."
"I happen to have an appointment with Austin from General Motors tomorrow, and I will have a good chat with him."
"By the way, I would like your help to promote the adoption of 8AT within the company."
"I think this is also a good thing to enhance the selling point of Ford vehicles."
The main purpose of coming here today is to open up the sales channels of Ziweixing and the promotion of 8AT.
However, Chris never mentioned 8AT, and in the end Cao Yang threw it out himself.
"I will communicate with the design side, but it won't be used on Ford models in the short term. It is possible for Land Rover, Jaguar, and Lincoln."
"I will give you a preliminary reply to this question within a week."
Chris felt a rare sense of relief.
Cao Yang naturally had no doubts about this.
…
"Mr. Cao, I think the engine technology cooperation plan proposed by Ford Motor Company can also be mentioned with General Motors?"
"The technology has to be licensed out anyway, so why not license it to a few more companies and sell more engines and related parts?"
Out of the door of Ford, Zeng Tingting immediately put forward her own suggestions.
"If we can cooperate with Ford, General Motors can indeed take the initiative to mention it."
"But it would be best if the engines the two companies cooperate with can be slightly different, otherwise they may have objections."
Ji Hua also put forward his own opinions.
Although General Motors is more difficult than Ford, it is larger.
Even in-depth cooperation in engine parts can significantly increase Nanshan Group's turnover.
For example, there are few in the world that can do a good job in the turbocharger of the engine above.
A turbocharger easily costs around three thousand yuan.
If it can sell 2 million turbochargers to General Motors a year, it can achieve a turnover of 6 billion.
Needless to say, in addition to turbochargers, Nanshan Group can also provide high value-added parts for engines such as generators, starters, and high-pressure oil pumps.
By then, GM may be able to contribute 10 billion yuan in revenue growth to Nanshan Group a year.
"Mr. Cao, if we supply a large number of parts to General Motors and Ford, they may ask us to build factories in North America to reduce supply risks."
"We may have to think ahead about how to deal with this."
Mi Ying, who had been silent until now, interrupted.
So far, all Nanshan Group's factories are in China.
We have only set up some offices abroad to do some daily communication with various customers.
If you want to set up a factory, the situation is completely different.
"It will depend on the situation at that time. If we really want to set up a factory, it will only be an assembly factory. All components will still be purchased from China, otherwise the cost will increase significantly."
"As for the assembly factory, we can make full use of our robotics and equipment technology to reduce the number of personnel as much as possible."
Cao Yang has no good influence on the workers here in the United States.
If you can do without or use less of these "big men", it is naturally better to use less.
If you really want to use it, you must find someone who is more obedient.
"Mr. Cao, if you want to set up a factory, it doesn't necessarily have to be in the United States. You can also go to Mexico in the south."
"In North America, there are free trade agreements between several countries. By setting up our factory in Mexico, we should be able to meet customer requirements and reduce costs at the same time."
Ji Hua had studied abroad in Germany for many years and was quite familiar with overseas affairs.
"Many Japanese parts companies have factories in Mexico. I think Mr. Ji's proposal is indeed very feasible."
Zeng Tingting also expressed her own opinions based on the information she had.
"Nanshan Group wants to provide parts and components to various OEMs. The improvement of global supply capabilities is definitely a topic that cannot be avoided."
"The sales department is also planning ahead to see which countries it will set up branches in the future."
Although Cao Yang wants to keep all his industries in China, sometimes the requirements of customers are there.
If you don't listen, you may miss this order.
So we still have to face this problem after all.
"No problem, I'll arrange for someone to sort it out right away, and also check some policies in various places in advance to avoid being in a hurry later."
For Zeng Tingting, there are more and more customers now, and it is becoming more and more difficult to manage.
All kinds of reasonable and unreasonable demands need to be considered.
Among them, the question of building factories overseas is one that is often asked.
In the next few days, Cao Yang led a group of people to visit General Motors, Dodge Motors and other customers.
On the Ford side, Chris quickly gave a reply that satisfied Cao Yang.
"Mr. Cao, have they really agreed to sell Ziweixing at Lincoln dealers?"
Zeng Tingting couldn't hide the joy on her face.
It is very challenging to build a sales channel from scratch.
In particular, Xingchen Motors only has a car like Ziwei Xing, which is a high-end luxury coupe.
This way it becomes even more difficult.
Now that Ford and Lincoln are available, things will be much easier to handle.
"Tomorrow we can arrange for logistics companies to begin transporting the first batch of Ziweixing to several nearby major cities."
"Our Ziweixing will be officially launched in the United States."
As soon as Cao Yang said this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
The promotion of 8AT and the overseas launch of Ziweixing are the main purposes of this business trip.
There is no particularly obvious progress in 8AT at present. Fortunately, Ziweixing has some good news.
In the next few days, Cao Yang and the others were naturally busy surrounding the listing of Ziweixing.
But after all, this is an away game. It is obviously unrealistic to make a big splash like the domestic listing.
Fortunately, there is an advantage here, that is, Lincoln's sales channels are sound enough, and each dealer's distribution alone has cleared out the first batch of transported cars.
The second batch of vehicles transported from Yangcheng is still floating on the sea.
"Chris, a Chinese coupe actually dares to sell for US$119,900 and US$124,900."
"Where do they get their confidence?"
As Ford Motor's vice president in charge of sales, Melgen naturally knew about the fact that Ziweixing was placed on consignment in Lincoln's sales channel.
It was only after he nodded that the project could continue.
Now that the other party's model is officially on the market, the people below will naturally report the relevant situation to him.
Because this project was proposed by Chris, the purchasing director, within the company, Melgen couldn't help but complain to Chris after a joint production, sales and supply meeting.
"This price is indeed not cheap, even a bit high."
"But the appearance of their car is no worse than that of Porsche or Mercedes-Benz and BMW."
"It is the first model in the world to use 8AT and LED headlights, and its performance in all aspects is still very good."
“Now it’s just less well-known, and not many consumers know it.”
Chris naturally also learned a lot about Ziweixing.
Otherwise, how could he dare to promote this project within the company at will?
“Don’t the models designed by Chinese people always like to copy the appearance of other manufacturers?”
"This Cao Yang is really a weirdo."
Melgen felt that he couldn't understand this matter.
It's not like he didn't know how powerful Cao Yang was.
After all, the F150 is the appearance design given by Cao Yang.
But it's a bit surprising to be able to design amazing models again and again.
"Cao Yang is indeed a very special partner. Now we not only have in-depth cooperation with them on 6AT, but we will also start technical cooperation on engines soon."
"This kind of thing was simply unimaginable in the past."
"But now it's slowly becoming a reality."
Chris and Melgen were chatting there.
As the target of small talk, Cao Yang unexpectedly received a call from Zhang Songwen.
"Mr. Cao, I heard that Hollywood is preparing to film "Transformers", and there are many characters in it that can be embedded in car advertisements."
"I intentionally filmed it once more than ten years ago, and it was relatively unsuccessful. It is said that the preparations for "Transformers" this time were not so smooth."
"Neither General Motors nor Ford are willing to spend too much on advertising."
"I think we can consider making Ziweixing a character in "Transformers"?"
Zhang Songwen knew very well that Cao Yang cared very much about Xingchen Automobile.
This time when I went to the United States, a very important task was to work on the listing of Ziweixing.
Now that he had the opportunity to place advertisements in Hollywood blockbusters, he naturally wanted to report it to Cao Yang.
Whether it works or not is another matter.
"Transformers?"
Cao Yang was shocked. Has the filming of this movie not started yet?
He really couldn't remember clearly.
Later, six or seven films were made in this series. Although I cannot say that every film was very successful, overall it is a very classic film.
The most important thing is that few movies have been more successful in car implantation.
"Yes, it has been in preparation for a long time. If there are no surprises, it should be launched in a few months."
"It should be available next year."
"However, the investment in Hollywood movies is relatively large, and the cost of advertising placement is often relatively high."
Although Zhang Songwen has not been involved in Hollywood, as a person who loves acting, he must have a good understanding of the situation in Hollywood.
Not to mention the huge difference in the salaries of various actors, the investment amounts of the films are even more different by more than an order of magnitude.
People can easily invest hundreds of millions of dollars.
In China, an investment of over 100 million yuan is as rare as a giant panda.
"Can you get the contact information of the crew?"
"I'll contact you personally."
Forget it if you don’t know. Now that he knows there is still an opportunity for advertising placement, Cao Yang will definitely not give up.
Even if it is more expensive, it is not unacceptable.
Even direct investment of a portion of the funds is acceptable.
"I will send it to your email shortly. This is the contact information of an assistant director on the other side."
Obviously, Zhang Songwen had already made preparations before making the call.
Soon, after receiving this contact information, Cao Yang contacted the other party.
Lang Youqing was interested in concubine, and the two parties immediately agreed to meet and talk the next day.
…
Cao Yang's trip to Hollywood went smoother than expected.
The appointment was with the assistant director, but when we met directly it was director Michael Bay.
This is definitely a good thing for the cooperation negotiations between the two parties.
"Cao, I heard that you want to embed a car advertisement in "Transformers"?"
After greeting each other for a few words, Michael went straight to the topic.
So far, there have been a lot of advertising placements in the movie, but they have not yet reached Michael's expectations.
The main reason is that several domestic car companies in the United States are not very competitive this year and are unwilling to pay big prices.
Some car companies in other places do not want to destroy some settings in the original comics.
That is to say, China has been developing very fast in recent years. Michael was wondering if he could do something, so he was willing to talk to Cao Yang.
"Michael, this is our Ziweixing. It was just launched a few days ago. What do you think of this look?"
Considering that the other party is not from the automobile industry after all, even if he has recently done research on the automobile industry due to advertising placement, the research subjects must not include Ziweixing of Xingchen Automobile.
So Cao Yang took the initiative to introduce the situation.
"This is the fastest coupe in the world, equipped with 8AT and LED headlights for the first time in the world..."
"Our Purple Star can now be purchased at Lincoln brand dealers owned by Ford Motor Company."
"Its price is $119,900 and $124,900..."
Before talking about advertising placement, Cao Yang briefly and quickly introduced the situation of Ziweixing.
As a major Hollywood director, Michael definitely doesn't want to find a very ugly car to embed in his movie.
However, seeing the purple star shape shown by Cao Yang, Michael's expression changed obviously.
"China is the most populous country in the world, although the current film market is not very big."
"But it is foreseeable that the market in the future will be very broad. Embedding an advertisement for a Chinese automobile brand will be very beneficial to the promotion of "Transformers" in China."
"And when I explain it to investors in the future, there will be many stories to tell..."
Without waiting for Michael to express his opinion, Cao Yang directly explained his own opinion.
Knowing the trend of the movie market in the future, he can naturally easily find some points that make Michael's heart beat.
"Cao, advertising placement in Hollywood movies is very expensive."
"I heard that China's investment in making a movie is often only a few million dollars."
Michael is obviously not ignorant of the situation in China.
Therefore, before formally negotiating the price, first feel out the bottom line of both parties.
"We are Ford's largest parts supplier, with sales of nearly $10 billion last year."
"As long as the character is attractive, we are willing to pay advertising fees that match the cost."
Cao Yang looked confident.
Putting it on Michael's side gives people the feeling that money comes quickly because people are stupid.
"Which character do you value in the advertising?"
Michael combined Cao Yang's analysis just now and made a decision in his mind.
"How much does Bumblebee cost?"
"Bumblebee? That's the role that General Motors' Chevrolet is interested in. Are you sure you want to compete with them?"
"General Motors lost almost 10 billion U.S. dollars last year, and today the board of directors asked them to drastically cut costs. I believe they will not invest too much advertising money on the Bumblebee character."
When Cao Yang said this, Michael did not refute.
In fact, it was because of the poor advertising placement of local American car brands such as General Motors and Ford that he was willing to meet Cao Yang.
Otherwise, where would the Huaxia Automobile Brand matter be?
Even if the Chinese market is important, it will only happen in a few years.
"$5 million!"
"As long as you are willing to pay US$5 million, the shape of the Bumblebee belongs to Ziweixing."
Michael immediately opened his mouth like a lion.
"Michael, as you said, the investment in a Chinese film is only a few million dollars."
"Five million US dollars is enough for me to invest in shooting a movie in China."
"You have seen the appearance of Ziweixing. It will definitely become a dazzling scenery in "Transformers"."
"Of course, I also know that the film investment is huge and you are under a lot of pressure."
"So I am also willing to express my sincerity belonging to Xingchen Automobile."
"The price is US$3 million, but the premise is that whenever the sequel to "Transformers" is filmed in the future, Bumblebee will need to use our Purple MicroStar, and the price will also be US$3 million."
"And in China, the copyright of the Autobot Bumblebee belongs to Xingchen Automobile."
Although Cao Yang bargained hard, Michael was not angry after hearing this.
He himself doesn't have much confidence in "Transformers", after all, there have been failures there before.
But looking at Cao Yang, he seems to be very confident in this movie.
Otherwise, why would you be willing to sign such an agreement?
"Cao, do you mean that even if we film the second, third, or even fourth or fifth sequels in the future, you are willing to invest US$3 million to purchase advertising placement for Bumblebee?"
Michael looked at Cao Yang with twinkling eyes, trying to see where the other party's confidence came from.
"Yes, as long as the producer continues to shoot "Transformers", even if it is 10 movies, I will be willing to place advertisements."
Normally, sequels tend not to be that successful.
Especially when it comes to the third and fourth sequels, the likelihood of success is even lower.
"$3.5 million, if you want, you can sign today."
Michael returned the offer.
Cao Yang thought for a moment, then stretched out his hand and said, "Happy cooperation!"
The two bosses finalized the direction of cooperation, and then naturally it was left to the lawyers of both parties.
Hollywood has a very mature process, so Cao Yang doesn't need to be particularly worried.
He just specifically reminded that the agreements related to the sequel should be written clearly to avoid ambiguity.
In order to prevent Xingchen Auto from being unable to successfully implement advertising placement in the future.
"Mr. Cao, did you say the contract was signed in the name of Nanshan Film and Television?"
Over in the Imperial Capital, Zhang Songwen quickly received a call from Cao Yang, telling him that he had won the Bumblebee advertising placement for "Transformers".
I still invested based on the reputation of Nanshan Film and Television.
Now I'm just waiting for him to come over with some seals and the like to complete some formalities.
This made Zhang Songwen very excited.
Although it is just an advertisement placement, it also means that Nanshan Film and Television has begun to intersect with Hollywood.
In 2006, the expectations of the domestic film and television industry for Hollywood could not be exaggerated.
Zhang Songwen is very clear about the benefits that the signing of this agreement will have on Nanshan Film and Television.
"Yes, everything has been settled."
"You can see how to use this news to expand the popularity and appeal of Nanshan Film and Television in the circle."
How to make the most of a piece of news, sometimes you don't need Cao Yang to teach you, Zhang Songwen and the others know it well.
The news that Nanshan Film and Television has invested in "Transformers" and that Nanshan Film and Television has begun to enter Hollywood is specious and half-true, and it can definitely attract the attention of a large number of people in the industry.
It can be regarded as a good advertisement for Nanshan Film and Television.
It’s still very effective!
On the last day of July, veterans who still have monthly passes in their hands, don’t waste it~
(End of chapter)
