After an on-site inspection of the workshop with a group of current AMC executives, they returned to the office building. In the conference room, a secretary introduced the entire AMC company in detail, including various technical reserves and vehicle model status. and some upcoming models.
After listening to the introduction for more than an hour, Jim Hughes smiled and asked: "Eric, what else do you want from the current AMC company?"
"I won't provide a lot of professional advice, but in the future, AMC Automobile will focus on fuel economy in the research and development direction. This is what I predict. The future development pattern of the global automobile industry will not only be due to high oil prices, but also environmental protection. Pressure will also become the core of the entire automobile industry in the future." Chen Zhiwen paused and said.
Oil prices will drop rapidly after the second oil crisis. Although not as good as before 1973, they are much cheaper than in recent years. In the mid-1980s, oil prices were generally below 20 US dollars. Around 1986, the price of oil in the Middle East In order to cooperate with the United States, it even took the initiative to cut prices on a large scale, detonating the global oil market.
Even if the AMC acquired now does nothing, it will be able to live comfortably for more than ten years in a few years. Only in the year when the third oil crisis breaks out, oil prices may rise a lot, but at that time , many countries also have strategic oil reserves, and the third oil crisis was short-lived. The Gulf War was basically over when it was over, and its impact was far less than the previous two.
These decade-long and unrestrained years are actually the last chance for the American automobile industry, because after this, car brands with high fuel consumption will basically have no chance again.
In particular, the U.S. market has been seriously saturated. AMC needs to develop overseas markets. In the current overseas markets, except for the Middle East, most other regions are very concerned about fuel consumption, because oil is a more important material than gold. In any country, Yes, even more important than food.
As for the issue of environmental protection, the main reason is that Western countries will become more and more strict in this regard in the future. Although the main purpose of these people is to use this moral principle to suppress the development of developing countries, this is indeed the trend of future development. Although the amount of pollution emitted by cars is far less than that of the power generation industry, heavy industry or chemical industry, cars live in urban centers and are in contact with humans every day. Any country will hope that its cities can reduce emissions. After all, there are Special water and food are provided, but there is no special air.
Of course, the most important thing is the mainland market. In the future of the mainland with severe oil shortage, fuel saving can be said to be the most important. Japanese cars are not as good as German and American cars in many aspects, but they sell well. The core reason is "fuel saving" , electric vehicles after 2020 are also selling well. Although some are affected by intelligence, for ordinary people, the most fundamental reason is fuel saving.
Saving fuel is the way to go, at least one of them.
"Saving fuel is now the goal pursued by all car companies in Detroit. AMC has been pursuing this goal for decades. However, the most troublesome enemy now is Japanese cars. The gap between us is too big, and there are many The patents are all registered by Japanese car companies, so it is difficult to get around them," Jim Hughes said with a frown.
"Engines and gearboxes are too difficult. With our company's capabilities, we can still do it with proper optimization, but if we want to be the same as Japanese companies, it will take a long time, and Japanese brands are also constantly optimizing their own Technology." Another technical director said.
"I know this, so we have to change the direction of research and development. I hope that AMC in the future will mainly develop turbocharging technology." Chen Zhiwen said.
In fact, AMC focuses on fuel-saving in the United States and has been developing for decades.
A long time ago, the three American auto giants firmly controlled 89% of the US auto market. Other brands survived in the cracks and chose small categories. Only in this way can they avoid direct competition with the three giants.
The direction AMC chooses is a household fuel-saving type with not much space. It is mainly a sedan and is positioned as a grocery cart. Many people who live in the city center and have inconvenient parking will buy this type of car, or some families already have large cars. For cars, I bought another one as a backup, especially since some female members are not tall and it is not convenient to drive a large SUV. At this time, having a small car is very nice.
Relying on this positioning, AMC has been doing well and has reached the fourth position in the country. However, Jeep is another matter. It was acquired by AMC in the late 1960s.
Originally, with this kind of market positioning, AMC's small and medium-sized cars should be very popular once oil prices rise sharply. However, Japanese cars have entered the United States on a large scale. AMC's cars may be more fuel-efficient than the Big Three, but they are more technologically advanced and have more experience. , Japanese cars with lower manufacturing costs were also beaten. In addition, the original acquisition of Jeep was actually AMC's intention to enter the field of the three giants and also wanted to get a share of the large car market. Then it encountered the oil crisis. Jeep also suffered losses for several years and almost went bankrupt.
Japanese cars, the entire country’s car brand, have been researching fuel-saving technology for decades. The patent barriers and technical barriers are already very high. It is almost impossible to catch up with others on this road. If you can’t do this, then There is no way around it, and turbocharging is one of the ways.
The automobile layout of later generations, before the rise of electric vehicles, was basically Japanese light hybrids and German and American turbochargers.
Turbocharging technology appeared in 1905, but its application in automobiles only has a history of more than ten years, and is only used by a few cars. Many technologies are not yet mature. In this case, everyone’s starting line The difference is not very far, and there is still a good chance.
"Turbocharging? Are you talking about the turbocharging technology on Porsche and Saab?" Jim Hughes thought for a while and asked.
"Yes, that's it. Find a way to get the most basic underlying technology patents from Europe, and then the company will set up a specialized technical team to tackle this direction. Although I don't know much about technology, I know its principles. In theory, If the turbine is installed, the power will be stronger and the fuel consumption will be reduced. This is the effect I want." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.
"I also know that this technology is not very mature yet. If it is to be developed, it will require a lot of funds." Jim Hughes said.
"Don't worry about funding. I will inject an additional US$300 million in funds specifically for research and development. In addition to the replacement of existing models, the rest is mainly to develop turbine technology." Chen Zhiwen said.
The automobile industry is very different from other industries. For example, its market value is not high. AMC has a total market value of about US$160 million when the automobile market is not good today. Chen Zhiwen spent an extra 56 million to acquire it, and the total cost was only $216 million.
But the research and development of a car model requires hundreds of millions of dollars, or even more, and the research and development of some important parts often starts with tens of millions of dollars. If you want to develop one of the three major parts, it will cost 100 million dollars. Maybe I can’t stop it.
Therefore, it is not difficult to acquire an automobile company, but the subsequent investment is the bulk. If the automobile industry itself cannot enter a normal virtuous cycle, the money will be burned so fast that it will be absolutely shocking.
Fortunately, AMC currently has no new models to develop. Of course, the previous AMC could not afford research and development. Without the financial resources, it just optimized existing models every five years, which did not cost a lot of money.
As for the three major parts, the gearbox is completely outsourced, and the engine is assembled in-house, but many core components are also outsourced. The chassis is okay, with some independent production, R&D and patents, and some experience in chassis tuning. After all, among the three major parts, the chassis is the least difficult.
For a medium-sized automobile company, this situation is common, because those who have the ability to make the three major items themselves are giant companies. This can be regarded as saving Chen Zhiwen a lot of money. At present, he only needs to spend money to conquer the turbine first. Supercharging technology needs to be developed first in this field. Not to mention that it can become the world's top level, but it should at least have some say. After all, there are still not many global car companies developing this technology.
"300 million U.S. dollars?" After everyone heard this number, their eyes almost turned green. This amount of money is very important to the automobile giant. Maybe we can only develop half a new car, but for AMC, there is too much research and development that can be done.
"If I have this amount of funds, then I will definitely team up with the strongest team to develop this technology." Jim Hughes nodded and said, he was not very surprised, because he already knew the financial resources of the new boss, and He had had many communications with Gu Dehua, the assistant of the new boss, and knew that the other party would make a large capital injection after taking over.
"Several car companies in Europe are already developing this technology, but they don't necessarily attach great importance to it. Try to recruit teams from there, buy technology patents if you can, or recruit talents in this field in the United States." Chen Zhiwen continued. .
"This is not a problem, it's just that the entire automobile market in the United States is currently in a downturn. Both the market in the Middle East and this new technology are relatively far away. Therefore, I hope to obtain a sum of funds to conduct research on AMC's cars. A big promotion, appropriate price reduction to increase sales,” said Jim Hughes.
"Yes, but we have to wait." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said, "One more thing, you may not know, I have an agreement with Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca. I will acquire the 330 car retail stores owned by Chrysler. These car retail stores are in very good locations and will become AMC’s main retail points in the future. Promotions will be held in these stores, which can kill two birds with one stone.”
"330 retail stores? Boss, do you want to turn these stores into our exclusive stores?" Jim Hughes's eyes lit up.
Although there are more than 10,000 automobile retail stores in the United States, most of them serve the three major automobile giants. Nowadays, Japanese cars are selling well, and these stores will also take the initiative to sell Japanese cars. However, it is too difficult for other brands. Many stores simply do not sell them. Ignore them, or even if they are introduced, they will not be placed in a good position, nor will they be promoted as the main force.
It's like all the snacks are sold in a large supermarket chain. Although they are in, but the location is not good, how many people will buy them?
In order to provide more benefits to terminal channels, these companies have to offer more favorable conditions, such as higher rebates, etc., but their costs themselves are not as good as those of big-brand cars with higher sales, and they still need to pay for these. The competitiveness is even lower.
Of course, the best thing is the specialty store. There are only products of this car brand in the specialty store. If a customer comes and likes them, they are all from the company. However, there are not many such stores in the United States. Most of them are Is it a luxury brand or a giant company.
"This won't work. AMC's current car classification is not enough. However, I will let these sales stores vigorously promote AMC cars. In this case, it will increase sales to some extent. In addition, if you want to advertise, you can also It’s not a problem, I can increase the marketing budget,” said Chen Zhiwen.
"That's also very good. In this case, at least the entire company will not have to take vacations frequently." Jim Hughes said with a smile.
"One more thing, you should know about Costco, right?" Chen Zhiwen said again.
"I know, it's also Boss's business. There's one in Detroit. We go there often. It's very discounted." Jim Hughes looked at the people around him and said with a smile, and a few people nodded.
"Costco has a lot of traffic. I will ask all Costcos in the United States to leave a space at the door to store AMC models, and then you will arrange salespeople who can talk to me. The purpose is not to use me. I said it, whether it can be sold depends on your ability." Chen Zhiwen continued.
Although Costco's traffic is not as good as Wal-Mart's, its staff is relatively concentrated, and they are all middle class with a certain spending power. Some of these people will definitely be interested in changing their cars. They are their own business, and they will naturally not make it easier for outsiders. .
"This is a very good idea." Everyone in the conference room was shocked. Supermarkets are one of the places with the largest flow of people. Costco is now one of the largest supermarkets in the United States, and its development potential is still very high. If you put your car at the door of Costco, the effect is probably even greater than that of 330 specialty stores.
In fact, this kind of method is not unavailable. Many brands will also send their cars to supermarkets for advertising, but the time is not long. After all, the main business of supermarkets is not this, and they need to charge a lot of fees. It is impossible for car companies to lease them for a long time. The location of the supermarket.
But now, AMC and Costco are owned by the same company, which naturally has an advantage. In the final analysis, for Costco, it is just a few cars on the open space at the door, but for AMC, it is just a few cars. Millions or even tens of millions of member users in the future may become its customers.
"First ensure basic operations. At the capital level, I will find ways to increase terminal control capabilities. In the United States, due to antitrust laws, I cannot invest too much. But overseas, I will make arrangements. If exports have a certain sales volume, Then AMC can also come back to life." Chen Zhiwen said.
In the Middle East and Southeast Asia, his influence is not too great yet, but as long as he continues to develop, he will always have the ability to enter here, especially the existence of the Taishan Society. If it attracts the rich in Southeast Asia, it will have a great impact on its layout in Southeast Asia. Big meaning.
"Okay, as long as there is a market, our quality will never be worse than GM." Jim Hughes said with a smile.
(End of chapter)
