Chapter 882: The Exaggerated Result: The Eldest and the Second Oldest Fight, and the Third Oldest Is the Most Unlucky

"Mr. Cao, Japan and Korea are still discussing the response plan. It is said that the Japanese Prime Minister will visit the United States urgently tomorrow."

With such a big move by the United States, Nanshan Automobile Group naturally cannot be unconcerned.

After all, this is a big deal in the global automobile market.

Not to mention that behind this matter, there is a certain causal relationship with Nanshan Automobile Group's ban on General Motors and Ford in China.

So Zeng Tingting has been arranging people to keep a close eye on the progress of this matter since she heard the news from the United States.

And she will report to Cao Yang regularly every few days.

"Whether it is Japan or Korea, they dare not confront the United States head-on. Compromise and communication are inevitable."

"But I am very curious about how bold General Motors and Ford are this time."

Cao Yang is absolutely happy to see the United States suppress Japanese and Korean car companies.

Otherwise, the spearhead is pointed at Nanshan Automobile Group every day. Although he is not afraid, it is not a good thing after all.

Now let them fight each other, and I can watch the excitement from the sidelines. How nice.

"I guess those car companies in Japan and Korea must be very upset now."

"It was obviously General Motors and Ford that were fighting with our group, but in the end, they were the ones who suffered."

Zeng Tingting's idea was similar to Cao Yang's.

In recent years, Nanshan Automobile Group has also used domestic auto companies to suppress Korean and Japanese auto companies, and it has also achieved some results.

However, from a global perspective, the competitiveness of auto companies in these two places is still very strong.

This is naturally not good for Nanshan Automobile Group and other domestic brands to go global.

If the competitiveness of Japanese and Korean auto companies can be reduced by the help of America, there will be no harm.

You know, for a car company, the greater the sales volume, the lower the amortization cost of each car.

For example, if Toyota develops a Camry, if the global sales volume can reach 1 million units a year, then the development cost amortized to each car will be very low.

As long as the sales volume is halved, the amortization of development costs will double.

This is just the impact on development expenses.

There will also be chain effects in various aspects such as amortization of plants and equipment.

Even because of the sudden decline in sales of vehicle models, the production capacity load of some factories cannot reach a relatively high level, which will also bring a series of problems.

This is quite fatal for the development of a car company.

"It seems that we have to thoroughly let General Motors and Ford realize that they no longer have a share in the Chinese market."

"Otherwise, when they deal with Korean and Japanese car companies this time, they may be forced to relax under pressure."

Cao Yang knew that the United States would have such a fierce action this time, and behind it was General Motors and Ford Motors losing the Chinese market.

However, this matter has not been completely killed. Some people still have a little expectation for the resumption of production of Shanghai General Motors and Changan Ford.

And what Cao Yang wants to do is to make this possibility completely impossible.

Only when there is no way out, General Motors and Ford Motors will be more fierce in grabbing market share from Japanese and Korean car companies, and their will will be more determined.

Zeng Tingting was also aware of this.

"Mr. Cao, we actually have a lot of tricks to deal with Shanghai GM and Changan Ford."

"Some of the tricks can be used first to make some people realize that the situation has not improved."

"For example, we can pull various independent brands to recruit people from Changan Ford and Shanghai GM, but recruit them as a team, so that some of their businesses will be paralyzed. We can take action early."

"In addition, we can also do some actions in the public opinion offensive to suppress the confidence of those employees of Shanghai GM."

"And some suppliers are not well prepared and cannot produce replacement parts. We can also continue to do it."

"We can even try to push Shanghai Auto Group and Changan Auto Group to start disposing of the assets of the joint venture."

Zeng Tingting threw out several plans at once.

Although these plans cannot directly kill Shanghai GM and Changan Ford.

But it is very effective in further reducing the confidence of General Motors and Ford.

The less confidence the GM guys have in the Chinese market, the more they will try to grab a piece of the pie.

Then the pressure on Japanese and Korean car companies will be even greater.

"Well, I'll leave it to you."

"Anyway, I definitely don't want to see any joint venture between GM and Ford produce any car in China this year."

Following Cao Yang's instructions, the huge Nanshan Automobile Group immediately took action.

There were immediately more reports about Shanghai GM and Changan Automobile on the Internet, but they were all negative news, and there was not a single positive news.

This made many people who were watching this matter have different ideas.

As one of the parties involved, Changan Automobile Group was naturally discussing the next arrangements.

"Boss Yi, I see that Nanshan Automobile Group's posture should definitely not want to see Changan Ford resume production."

"I think the company may need to consider arrangements to stop losses in time."

As the deputy general manager of Changan Automobile Group, Zhang Lin is mainly responsible for issues related to the joint venture business.

Although the closure of Changan Ford is definitely not what he wants to see, if this result is inevitable, then some preparations in advance are necessary.

Otherwise, a lot of messy things will come out at that time, and he will still have to clean up the mess in the end.

"The group's own brand business has developed, and Changan Ford is no longer completely indispensable to us."

"Since Nanshan Automobile Group must shut them down, if we interfere, it will be more trouble than gain in the end."

Yi Jia sighed in his heart and didn't get too entangled.

Cao Yang had discussed the matter of Changan Ford with him before. At present, Nanshan Automobile Group will never allow Changan Ford to continue production.

Otherwise, it would be a slap in its face.

Even the relevant departments in China do not want Changan Ford to continue production.

It is not appropriate for them to directly shut down Changan Ford by issuing policies like the United States, but they certainly do not want their own country's enterprises to be driven out of the other party's market, while the other party's enterprises are still living well in China.

Everyone has to save face.

If China's own independent brands are completely unsuccessful, like in the 1980s and 1990s, they need international auto giants to help develop the auto industry, then forget it.

The current situation is completely different.

It doesn't matter even if all international auto giants withdraw from the Chinese market.

From the perspective of the entire China, the market is there.

Even if more than a dozen joint venture car companies go bankrupt, it doesn't matter.

Because the market of these car companies will be replaced by independent brand car companies.

In the end, whether it is GDP or employment, the overall impact will not be particularly large.

It can even further promote the real transformation and upgrading of the domestic automobile industry.

From the perspective of the entire industrial chain, China's benefits have increased.

After all, in joint venture car companies, although the shares are divided in half, the benefits of the industrial chain are definitely mostly taken away by foreign car companies and related parts manufacturers.

For example, Yangcheng Toyota, it seems that Yangcheng Automobile Group has obtained 50% of the shares.

But Toyota Motors holds 70% of the shares of the engine company.

The gearbox is purchased from Aisin, and has nothing to do with Yangcheng Automobile Group.

Many other parts are purchased from parts companies such as Denso, Yingtai, Toyota Gosei, and JTEKT, which are also Toyota's direct manufacturers.

In the end, Yangcheng Automobile Group took 30% of the benefits of the industrial chain of a car at most, and it is impossible to have as much as 50%.

But if Yangcheng Toyota is shut down, and the market is eventually replaced by independent brands such as Yangcheng Trumpchi, then all the profits will remain in China.

Various private auto parts companies can also usher in a stage of rapid development, thus turning China into a real auto power.

"Then I will contact Nanshan Automobile Group directly and convey our intention to shut down Changan Ford."

"The matter has been done, and this favor cannot be lost."

After Zhang Lin said this, Yi Jia nodded immediately and said, "I will call Mr. Cao later."

"Take this opportunity to see if we can get some benefits for our independent brands."

"As long as Nanshan Automobile Group appropriately tilts resources towards us, it can greatly make up for our related losses."

People in Yi Jia's position naturally know how to weigh the pros and cons and maximize the benefits of a thing.

Even if it is a bad thing, it is not without value.

The same thing is happening inside the Magic City Automobile Group.

Even the car companies of various independent brands are considering cutting off ties with American parts companies and not using their parts as much as possible.

After all, although the level of American parts companies such as Delphi, Lear, and Dana is very good, they are not irreplaceable in the world.

In the past, people did not deliberately target them, so they would use whoever had a lower cost.

Now the situation has changed. Even if the other party has a certain advantage, they will not consider using it.

…

"Mulally, Japan has agreed to reduce the tariff on imported beef and promised to import more than 20 billion US dollars of agricultural products from the United States every year."

"Korea will also increase imports of beef, corn and other products."

"Some people in the relevant departments have softened their stance, but I think no matter what conditions Japan and Korea offer, as long as our trade deficit still exists, we cannot give up our terms."

Seeing that the people from Korea and Japan were communicating with the United States urgently, they really gave some conditions within a week.

Such conditions had been discussed for a long time before but to no avail.

However, this is obviously not the situation that Mulally and Exxon want to see.

"We definitely cannot give up, but we also have to consider the opinions of others."

"I think we can give the other party some hope. As long as Japan and Korea do not have a trade deficit with us in the future, we can agree to cancel the tariffs on cars and parts."

"Until this condition is not met, we still have to continue to implement it."

"In this way, even if Japan and Korea have opinions, they can only keep them to themselves."

Mulally is not a pushover, and he immediately thought of a compromise that all parties might accept.

Otherwise, if they just keep opposing, it might take a long time.

This is definitely not what they want to see.

"Well, this plan also gives an explanation to those people in Japan and Korea."

"All parties in the country should be able to accept it."

Exxon doesn't care that after the implementation of this plan, Japanese and Korean car companies will still be in trouble.

It is not so easy to turn a trade deficit into a trade surplus.

At that time, it is not certain whether this tariff will continue to be implemented.

Then General Motors and Ford will definitely be able to grab a part of the market from each other.

Soon, under the unanimous promotion of both sides, the United States officially launched the formal process of imposing tariffs.

This made Japan very angry.

"We have made such a big compromise, and the United States actually wants to impose tariffs."

"We have eaten all the benefits, and in the end, they painted a big pie for us."

Watanabe Jie Zhao was in a very bad mood at this time.

Toyota was the biggest victim of this incident. It would be strange if he could be in a good mood.

"There is no way. If the United States is determined to do something, we can't resist."

"At this point, we can only think of ways to change this ratio."

"Don't they impose additional tariffs on imported cars and parts?"

"Then we will promote locally produced models in the American market."

"As for parts, the impact is not that big. After all, a large part of our parts have been purchased in the United States."

Kobayashi Tetsumin is a little discouraged now. He feels that Toyota has tried very hard to coordinate this matter, but the final result is so unsatisfactory.

Fortunately, this time it is not just aimed at Toyota, but at all Japanese and Korean car companies.

To a certain extent, as long as Toyota can grab the market from other Japanese and Korean car companies, then the sales volume in the American market will not necessarily drop much.

It can even further find ways to make up for some of the losses from other markets.

There must be a road before the car reaches the mountain, and there must be a Toyota car on the road.

As a car company with sales all over the world, Toyota can take many adjustment measures.

Of course, this is because there is no way to change the situation in the United States, so they can only comfort themselves in this way.

Otherwise, who would be willing?

"I am not particularly worried about Toyota brand models, after all, most of them are produced in American factories."

"But for Lexus models, we have not built any factories overseas yet. After the tariffs are imposed, the situation will be very unfavorable."

Katsuaki Watanabe said with considerable concern.

When Toyota first started the so-called luxury brand Lexus, it was targeting the American market.

So far, America is also Lexus' largest market in the world.

If the American market is lost, it will be a disaster for Lexus.

So Toyota must consider some solutions to change this situation.

"President, has the company considered building a factory in the United States to produce Lexus models?"

"With the sales in the United States, it can support the construction of a factory."

Kobayashi Tetsumin has several plans in mind, but he needs to confirm the general direction first.

Otherwise, if his proposal is completely opposite to the general direction of the company, then he, as the person who made the proposal, will not only have no credit, but will also easily lose points in the impression of Katsuaki Watanabe.

"Although Lexus' sales in the United States are not bad, it is the result of the accumulation of many models."

"If we only look at a certain model, there are very few that are worth producing directly in the United States."

"And if we are considering building a factory in the United States, we need to build not only a complete vehicle factory, but also most of the parts and components there to truly reduce costs."

"But many of our parts and components are shared by multiple models, and the global production can barely meet the investment requirements of the production line."

"If we invest in an additional production line in the United States, then both sides will not be able to make ends meet, and the cost improvement effect may not be significant at that time."

Katsuaki Watanabe's concern is obviously not unreasonable.

The production of a car requires consideration of the entire industrial chain.

Today, the United States not only imposes tariffs on complete vehicles imported from Japan, but also on corresponding parts and components.

In this case, it is necessary to consider the issue of on-site production from parts to complete vehicles at the same time.

But this does not conform to Toyota's development strategy.

"If our factory is still located in China, then we may need to consider this issue from another perspective."

"This requires the company to communicate with relevant departments and promote some things from the perspective of the entire country."

After a moment of silence, Kobayashi Tetsumin was ready to throw out a big plan.

As the industrial overlord of Japan, Toyota's every move has a huge influence.

Many companies in Japan are watching Toyota's actions and taking countermeasures.

So Toyota also has the strength to influence Japan's policies.

"If you have any ideas, speak up boldly."

Watanabe Jie Zhao still trusts Kobayashi Tetsumin very much, knowing that this subordinate is very capable.

At the moment, he has not thought of any better way, so he is naturally willing to listen carefully to Kobayashi Tetsumin's proposal.

"In the past two years, the exchange rate between the yen and the US dollar has been running at a high level. The appreciation of the yen is actually very unfavorable for our export business of automobiles and parts."

"But in this case, the models we export to the United States are still selling well."

"If we can promote the depreciation of the yen to promote the development of export business, then we can alleviate the impact of the US tariff increase to a certain extent."

"For example, now 1 US dollar can be exchanged for about 100 Japanese yen, which is a relatively high level in the past few decades."

"You should know that in the 1980s and 1990s, we once reached the point where 1 US dollar could be exchanged for 150 or even 160 Japanese yen."

"If If the yen depreciates, from 100 yen to 150 yen per dollar, then we can also export Lexus products to the United States. "

"Even if we take into account the increase in tariffs, after combining the impact of the exchange rate, the terminal sales price in the United States can be lower than it is now."

"Of course, such a large exchange rate depreciation will definitely take some time."

"We can communicate with the relevant departments and continue to promote the depreciation of this exchange rate over three years, even five years, or ten years."

"As an export-oriented country, a moderate exchange rate depreciation is more beneficial than harmful to us."

When Kobayashi Tetsumin put forward this plan, Watanabe Katsuaki's eyes lit up immediately.

Although this plan cannot immediately solve Toyota's predicament, it is indeed a good solution in the long run.

Even if the relevant departments in Japan take bigger and more radical actions, the exchange rate can be depreciated by 10% this year, which can offset part of the impact of the additional tariffs.

Even because of the exchange rate depreciation, Toyota's exports to other markets can increase a little.

In the end, Toyota's global sales may not only not decline, but also increase.

The eight major automakers in Japan all have considerable export businesses, and promoting exchange rate depreciation is in the common interests of all automakers.

So Toyota is not fighting alone.

Even other industries such as home appliances and equipment are export-oriented industries.

This plan is also in their interests.

Considering these, Watanabe Jie Zhao believes that Kobayashi Tetsuo's proposal is very reasonable.

Of course, such a big thing is definitely not something he can handle alone.

The first thing Watanabe Jie Zhao needs to do is to obtain the approval of Toyota's board of directors, and then obtain the support of shareholders and consortiums behind it.

However, as long as there is a direction to work hard, everything will be much easier.

Of course, the outside world is not aware of Toyota's actions now.

In the eyes of many people, the policy introduced by the United States this time is completely suppressing Japanese and Korean automakers, and the other party is helpless.

"Mr. Cao, I got the news from Chuncheng Toyota. People from Toyota are very depressed. They think Nanshan Automotive Group has to take the blame for the conflict with General Motors and Ford."

"Toyota seems to be planning to ease relations with Nanshan Auto Group."

As an intermediary, Zhu Zhengfeng called Cao Yang.

Although Chuncheng Auto Group already has Nanshan Hongqi, a rising star, Zhu Zhengfeng would be happy to see Chuncheng Toyota develop well.

So after Toyota expressed its intention to ease relations with Nanshan Auto Group, he did not refuse.

After all, Toyota is now the world's largest automobile company.

If the other party is willing to cooperate with Nanshan Auto Group in some areas, Zhu Zhengfeng thinks it is a win-win situation.

For example, Toyota mentioned Nanshan Battery separately this time, and they intend to use Nanshan Battery products in newly developed electric vehicles.

China's new energy vehicle market is developing so fast, Toyota naturally cannot have no action at all.

So even if Toyota has always believed that electric vehicles do not represent the future, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are the future.

But in the end, for the sake of the market, Toyota is still preparing to launch several electric vehicles for the Chinese market to test the waters.

To this end, they are also preparing to expand their R&D capabilities in China, and mainly entrust the development of electric vehicles to the research institutes in China.

This change is also very huge.

After all, international auto giants have always only built factories in China, and R&D work is still placed at the headquarters.

In particular, the speed of localized R&D work in Japanese and Korean automakers is very slow.

Now Toyota is obviously going to speed up this action.