Germany, Volkswagen Group.
As the first car company to discover Kyushu Motors, it is naturally impossible not to be interested in these cars that are in the back garden and New York all day long.
Like Toyota and other car companies, Volkswagen will naturally not let go of research
Even the price of Kyushu Suzaku was close to 40 million.
I have made a lot of money over the years!
Several models have been shipped and have been studied overnight by automotive engineers. The marketing department and even higher-level directors have paid attention to them.
In a small conference room, several senior engineers responsible for the technology of the R&D department, the director of the marketing department, and several directors of the company sat together.
At the beginning of the meeting, 62-year-old Matthias Miller, the global CEO of Volkswagen, took the lead in asking.
"You have been studying them for such a long time. What are your specific findings and opinions on these models?"
Below, several senior engineers who were also in their sixties looked at each other, and the first one to speak was the chief engineer of Volkswagen's vehicle manufacturing technology.
The gray-haired old man, who has been studying fuel vehicles for decades, said: "From the perspective of manufacturing technology and production technology, these models are even better than our latest automobile production line.
I have compared this company's previous products, low-speed electric vehicles, and found that they are completely different production technologies and processes. They have made great progress in many aspects, even leaps and bounds.
In terms of automobile production and manufacturing technology, they even built a new automobile production plant, which did not use the previous production technology. "
The chief engineer in charge of engine power system research sighed and continued: "Although I really don't want to admit it, the fact is that the power output of the Suzaku motor is much better than today's fuel vehicles.
And our team has conducted a durability test on the Suzaku motor, which is also very good and may even be more durable than the engine of a fuel vehicle.
I have been researching it for half a month, and I still can't figure out why the motor can generate such huge power. "
"The battery performance is also very good. They use lithium iron phosphate batteries, not other anode materials with more performance advantages. The safety is also very guaranteed."
Although several veteran engineers may not necessarily have the strongest technology in the group, their years of experience and the joint research of their teams can almost be said to be the only answer they can come up with now.
Regarding Kyushu Motors, Mathias Miller is naturally aware of its powerful performance, otherwise he would not have achieved such good results in New York City, even though it is known as the Porsche back garden.
And Porsche is one of Volkswagen's brands. Volkswagen is headquartered in Germany. It's not too easy to win there.
But after so many years, there is still no car that can match the performance of Kyushu Suzaku.
Without continuing to listen to the engineers' comments on that company's technology, Matthias Miller asked: "What if we want to imitate it?"
As in the automotive industry, plagiarism and other things are normal. Copying the appearance is just a minor issue, but more about the technology inside.
It is normal for other companies to have some unique technology, and other car companies will announce it after research and have a different name but similar effects.
Facing Matthias Miller's inquiry, several old people thought for a while, shook their heads and said.
"Although I don't know how that Jiuzhou Automobile Company developed such an excellent motor in such a short period of several years.
But after dismantling it, I can confirm that it will be difficult for us to successfully reproduce it in a short time.
Not to mention bypassing the other party's technology patents and using them in our mass-produced models. "
“The same goes for battery technology. It is difficult to produce products with the same performance, and even inferior products will not be possible in a short time.
This technology may be more difficult to succeed than motor technology. "
"The controller is a little simpler than the above two technologies. It should be enough for a year or two."
"In terms of manufacturing technology, some production technologies that we didn't expect were used. In terms of machining centers, that company may also have made a big breakthrough. The overall technology is slightly better than our existing technology, but the problem is not that big."
Here, just after two engineers gave slightly better news, an engineer next to them poured a large basin of cold water on them.
"In terms of materials, it will be a very big difficulty. The special materials for the body of several Kyushu cars have been tested and the yield strength of the steel is 2100 MPa!
This is very incredible. We didn't believe it when the results came out, but after many tests, the conclusions reached are almost the same.
As for our current body materials, the steel used in high-end Audi cars has a tensile strength of 1,000 MPa and a yield strength of 810 MPa.
In other words, the body stiffness of these Kyushu Motors models is close to three times that of our Audi cars!
The strength of such steel even reaches the standards for manufacturing submarines, aircraft, and large ships. It is a complete waste to use it to build cars. "
Several engineers reported the differences in technology one by one, and even the directors who were originally observing couldn't sit still and started talking one after another.
"Where did this manufacturer come from? How could ordinary car companies suddenly have such technology?"
"Behind Jiuzhou Auto, will there be Daxia's full support? With the strength of a country, maybe it can reach this level in just two or three years."
"In that huge country, the government has given great support to the development of the automobile industry in recent years."
"This company doesn't sell cars. It can make money by selling steel. Why are they just thinking about building cars?"
Listening to the remarks of the directors who were watching, Matthias Miller couldn't help but sigh: "The automobile industry is changing rapidly. After so many years, I didn't expect that a Jiuzhou Automobile company would suddenly appear."
After the voices of the directors subsided a little, the meeting continued.
The technical aspects have come to an end for the time being. Next, Martin Winterkorn from the marketing department made predictions about the changes that Kyushu Automobile may bring in the future.
"A very powerful electric car may not have a large sales volume in the short term, but in the future, it may become a mainstream car, especially in the past two years, all countries have been promoting green energy."
"If it were not for the limitations of electric vehicles, these models would be much better than our existing products in terms of product strength, quality and performance."
"Jiuzhou Auto is not like other Chinese car companies. They have their own core technology, which is even better than traditional car companies like us."
"In the short term, it will not have much impact on either our Chinese car sales business or our global car sales business."
"However, in the long term, if we do not take some measures now, it may have a certain impact on our global sales business in the future."
The fair answer is also the prediction made by Matthias Miller and the directors.
"Next, the company will set up a special research and development team to focus on reverse research and development of Kyushu Automobile's technology. In this regard, I will hold a meeting with the directors to discuss specific funding and personnel lists."
Any big decision made by a large listed company cannot be as simple as a small company owned by an individual, and requires many meetings before it can continue.
The purpose of the small meeting has been achieved, allowing the company's senior management and directors to understand the technical advantages of the sudden appearance of Jiuzhou Automobile Company and the troubles it may cause to Volkswagen in the future.
After Matthias Miller briefly explained the general direction of the company's next arrangements, he said to the people below: "Okay, everyone, let's go back and continue working. The directors will stay for a meeting."
Retire some of the engineers who cannot make decisions for the company's future, and the remaining directors are the owners who can really make decisions for the company.
Technical cracking and reverse research and development must be carried out, but it may not be possible to achieve the desired effect in the next few years.
If the time exceeds three years, more changes may occur, which makes Mathias Miller very worried.
It only took two or three years from the production of low-speed electric vehicles that they looked down upon to the current Kyushu Suzaku.
If such a high speed of product development is maintained in the future, that company may not be long before it becomes an opponent that cannot be underestimated.
And the methods of obtaining technology are not necessarily derived from forward or reverse research and development.
Everyone except the directors had left, Matthias Miller thought for a while and spoke.
"I want to acquire that Jiuzhou Automobile Company!"
After the words fell, several directors were not surprised at all, and they all gave their opinions on what Matthias Miller just said.
"Acquisition may be a good idea."
"However, if it is true that Jiuzhou Automobile has official technical support from China as I guessed just now, the acquisition will probably not be successful."
"Even if the acquisition is unsuccessful, it is still necessary to contact us. Maybe we can reach some other cooperation."
"If it were acquired, what price would be more appropriate?"
"Such a small company doesn't have much global sales. Although Kyushu Motors has good performance, the global market conditions are not mature now. A US$10 billion might be enough."
Without objections from directors, this matter would have been much easier to handle.
Matthias Miller continued: "I want to go and take a look first. If possible, acquisition is naturally the best. If not, we can only settle for the second best, obtain technology authorization and more technical information."
“However, before going ahead, we need to convene a company board meeting to discuss Kyushu Automobile’s related measures.
Clarify a rough price range, what we want to get from Jiuzhou Auto and what we can pay. "
In addition to reverse research and development, it is also common to spend money to buy technology. A large company can directly offer a price that cannot be refused, package and acquire everything from a small company, or it can buy the technology separately, or even just license the patent.
Even if it is not possible to directly acquire Kyushu Automobile Company, the next best thing is to obtain the other party's patent technology transfer authorization, which will save a lot of research and development time.
Even if technical cooperation can be achieved, the public can spend a lot of money.
(End of chapter)
