My Age of Investment

  Chapter 1280 The wisher takes the bait

   "Daren, this is our factory, with nearly 500,000 square feet of production workshop and office space, with an annual output of 500,000 cars.

   The most rare thing is that it is so close to Silicon Valley, which is very suitable for Tesla. "

   Akio Toyoda, who came from Japan, took Xia Jingxing and Straubel to visit the Nummi joint manufacturing plant in Fremont.

  Xia Jingxing glanced around and found that many facilities in the factory were a bit outdated.

   And there were not many workers in sight, all production lines were stopped, only some transport workers came in and out to carry machines and scraps.

Akio Toyoda followed Xia Jingxing's gaze and explained, "This factory was built in 1962, and it belonged to GM until 1984. After that, Toyota entered the American auto market and took a stake in this manufacturing plant. have equity to this day.

   But with the outbreak of the financial crisis and strategic adjustment, we and GM decided to shut down this factory together and sell it to a suitable buyer. "

  Xia Jing did his homework beforehand and knew that Toyota suffered a great performance impact last year.

   In the U.S. auto market, which has always contributed more than 40% of profits, Toyota's sales plummeted 21.4%;

   In fiscal 2008, a total loss of 150 billion yen was recorded, the first annual loss since 1938;

   In the Chinese and American markets, the car also experienced serious quality problems, and the frequency of recalls increased significantly.

This huge car kingdom started with a loom achieved global sales of 4.82 million vehicles in the first half of last year, successfully surpassing General Motors and becoming the world's largest car manufacturer, ranking fifth in the "Fortune" 500, but also Ushered in a huge internal worry.

   Even without this financial crisis, Toyota would have faced a massive influx of new employees, aging executives, a shortage of talent, and an over-reliance on the North American single market.

   Therefore, the president Watanabe Yoshiaki is about to be killed, and the new one is Akio Toyoda, the fourth-generation eldest grandson of the Toyota family in front of him.

  Xia Jingxing said with a smile: "Mr. Toyota, I have a question I want to ask you."

   "Please speak."

   Akio Toyoda stopped and looked at Xia Jingxing with a smile on his face.

   He still respects Xia Jun, the richest man in Asia.

   Of course, I respect Xia Jingxing's wallet more.

Therefore, after receiving the message from Sun Zhengyi, he immediately came to the United States to do business, hoping to make some achievements before he officially took office as the president of Toyota in June, so as to silence some voices against him in the Toyota consortium. mouth.

   "Now that the global economy is in recession, and the US economy has suffered the worst recession, how long do you think it will take for the auto sales market to recover to the level before the financial crisis?"

   Akio Toyoda thought for a few seconds before answering, "It will probably take two or three years."

   "The U.S. auto sales market is very saturated, the market growth rate is very low, and it has caught up with the financial crisis. I think this is the main reason for Toyota to lay off employees and sell factories?"

   Akio Toyoda nodded, smiled and said, "Yes, I originally wanted to find a suitable buyer after closing the factory, while waiting for the economy to pick up.

  When I heard that Tesla was interested in our Fremont factory, I came from Japan as soon as possible.

  I heard that Tesla has developed the second pure electric model Model S, the next main task is mass production, right? "

  Xia Jingxing and Toyoda Akio looked at each other, smiled and said nothing.

   He wanted to remind Toyoda Akio that it was during the financial crisis, car sales were shrinking, and there were not many suitable buyers.

   And Akio Toyoda apparently also investigated Tesla and knew that they urgently needed a factory to start mass production plans.

   So, Xia Jingxing changed his angle and chatted with Akio Toyoda about the Prius.

  The Prius was launched by Toyota in 1997 and was the world's first mass-produced hybrid vehicle.

  Toyota, like GM, is also the first car manufacturer in the world to focus on the new energy field.

   "Next month, we plan to launch the third-generation Prius in the Japanese market. It can travel 38 kilometers per liter of gasoline, and the fuel efficiency is 10% higher than that of the old model. It can be said that it has the highest fuel efficiency in the world."

   When talking about the Prius, Akio Toyoda was full of pride.

   Unlike Tesla’s launch of pure electric vehicles, although Toyota is also concerned about the new energy field, it is more pragmatic.

   "Toyota is planning to transition to hybrid vehicles and slowly transition to pure electric vehicles, right?"

   Akio Toyoda smiled at Xia Jingxing, "Actually, we have been manufacturing RAV4EV and Prius pure electric vehicles as early as 1997, and tentatively brought them to the market.

   However, the sales situation is not ideal. Taking RAV4EV as an example, we produced and sold a total of 1484 units from 1997 to 2003.

   The most criticized by customers is that its cruising range is very short, only 150 kilometers, and it takes 5 hours to fully charge once.

   How does this popularize the market? "

   Akio Toyoda spread his hands with a smile, "Therefore, we can only temporarily abandon the idea of ​​pure electric vehicles and slowly wait for the birth of new technologies."

   "Then do you think the time is ripe now?"

   Akio Toyoda was silent for a few seconds before replying with emotion: "The Roadster is very amazing, the endurance of nearly 400 kilometers has shocked me a lot.

  I don't know how you did it, but I know you must have accumulated a lot of battery patents.

   If the cost is not considered, Toyota can also design and launch a similar pure electric vehicle.

   But the most important thing in car manufacturing is to learn to control costs and make the best performance cars at the lowest cost.

   I heard that the price of your Model S will be significantly lower than that of the Roadster, is it convenient for you to disclose it? How much are you going to price?

   If it is inconvenient, forget it. "

  Xia Jingxing smiled lightly, "No inconvenience, we will start pre-sale at the latest next month, and the standard version of Model S is priced at less than $60,000."

   "Under $60,000?"

   Akio Toyoda was surprised and found that he seemed to underestimate this small company that built cars in Silicon Valley.

   "Yes, compared to the Roadster's price of $110,000, a price reduction of up to 50%."

   With breakthroughs in several core technologies, and with its own assembly plant, Tesla’s cost of manufacturing Model S has indeed been very well controlled.

   Of course, this is what Straubel said. If the cost overruns again, Xia Jingxing would not mind changing to a new CEO.

   Seeing the boss's gaze swept over, Straubel hurriedly laughed along, this time they were really sure that they would not make the big oolong when Eberhard was in charge of the company.

   Of course, the standard version that sells for less than $60,000 is definitely a castrated version and cannot maintain a battery life of nearly 400 kilometers.

  In the case where the sales volume has not rushed up, the cost is really not so easy to control, and it can only castrate the low-end products, forcing some users to buy high-end products.

   Akio Toyoda was really aroused and started to ask Xia Jingxing about some specific parameters of the Model S.

   Xia Jingxing didn't hide anything, he told the truth.

   "Siguoyi!"

   Akio Toyoda was no longer as calm as before, and he even burst out in Japanese. He was a little itchy and eager to see this car.

   "Daren, can I visit Tesla? I'm interested in Model S."

   Akio Toyoda has nothing to say. If the result of the visit is satisfactory, he wants to cooperate with Tesla to develop pure electric vehicles.

   It has been more than ten years since the Prius was released, and he feels that pure electric vehicles can test the waters again.

   Even if you fail, you don’t have much to lose.

  Xia Jingxing saw that the bait was hooked, and replied with a smile: "Of course, the factory tour is almost finished by now, why don't we go over now?"

   "Okay, please!"

  Xia Jingxing calmly accepted Akio Toyoda's bow, thought for a while, and returned a clasped fist.

   Akio Toyoda was stunned for a moment, did he just return the gift like that?

   (end of this chapter)