Chapter 71

At this point, SAIC Motor naively believed that as long as they proved their capabilities to their partners, they would earn their respect. However, they failed to realize that the appearance of the Santana 2000 had already put the Wolfsburg on guard. The Wolfsburg's thinking was simple: SAIC, as a "partner," should just focus on being a good production plant for Wolfsburg. Developing new car models? Such high-end and sophisticated tasks should be left to Wolfsburg.

After the Santana 2000 project was a huge success, Wolfsburg almost overnight intensified its efforts to undermine SAIC Motor's R&D team: putting them in difficult positions, poaching, offering high salaries... Wolfsburg used all kinds of fair and foul means to dismantle SAIC Motor. In terms of business tactics, SAIC Motor was no match for Wolfsburg. In just a few years, Wolfsburg had almost succeeded, turning SAIC Motor, which once had a complete car R&D team, into one of the two major Chinese production plants for Wolfsburg, devoid of any R&D capabilities or market development skills, completely dependent on Wolfsburg.

As an aside, Chen Geng was also poached by Wolfsburg at this time.

Another aside, after the Passat B5 was a huge success, SAIC Motor planned to revitalize the company. To prevent SAIC Motor's ambitions and make them obedient, what did Wolfsburg do? They handed the production of the new mid-size car, the Passat B6, to FAW-Volkswagen.

This car is known as the Magotan in China.

This was Wolfsburg's punishment for SAIC Motor's "disobedience," a warning to SAIC: without Wolfsburg's support, you are nothing, and you will only starve to death. In the future, just listen to us and be a good production plant, don't think about anything else.

Without new models to produce, SAIC Motor had to develop a new flagship model based on the Skoda Superb, called the Passat Lingyu. The deep connection between the Lingyu and the Skoda Superb, which had not yet entered the Chinese market, was evident: 98% of the internal and external molds could be shared.

After this, SAIC Motor seemed to have become obedient... at least on the surface... obediently acting as a production plant for others. For this "obedient" SAIC Motor, Wolfsburg was not stingy with rewards: in 2010, Wolfsburg authorized SAIC Motor to produce the new mid-size car, the Passat B7.

Of course, FAW-Volkswagen also received the authorization, and in 2011, SAIC Motor launched the new Passat.

However, under pressure from various sources, SAIC Motor never gave up its efforts to become independent. Actions such as acquiring the British Rover and the MG brand from Nanjing Automotive Group were signals to Wolfsburg: without you, we can still survive and thrive.

The results were not bad; at least Wolfsburg no longer treated SAIC Motor as arrogantly as before.

This is a process of mutual competition, and in the foreseeable future, this competition will continue.

"What are you talking about?" Zhang Xiangyang looked at Chen Geng and Jin Deli, who were grinning, with a puzzled expression. Although Chen Geng and Jin Deli were speaking in German, their expressions were obvious, and he instinctively felt that they were plotting something.

"Oh, I was discussing with Mr. Jin Deli whether we could hire some experienced workers from the SAIC engine plant. He said it's no problem," Chen Geng explained to Zhang Xiangyang in the simplest terms.

"Really?" Zhang Xiangyang's eyes lit up immediately.

He didn't care about the nuances of the conversation between the two, but he knew one thing: the workers and experienced workers from the SAIC engine plant were the most valuable assets that Ronghua Industry currently lacked. If they could hire these experienced workers, Ronghua Industry's technical capabilities would significantly improve.

This would be a great deal for Ronghua Industry if it could be done.

"Of course," Chen Geng nodded, "Not just the SAIC engine plant, but also the SAIC chassis parts plant, the SAIC gear plant... as long as we need them, we can try to hire them."

"Why?" Zhang Xiangyang frowned, indicating that he couldn't understand why Wolfsburg would allow this: "They are SAIC's partners, and this wouldn't benefit them, right?"

"On the contrary, if it didn't benefit them, do you think they would allow us to do this?"

"…That makes sense, but I still don't understand," Zhang Xiangyang scratched his head.

"I'll explain it to you later," Chen Geng patted Zhang Xiangyang's shoulder, "Let's go. By the way, we should buy some gifts. I interned here for a few days last year, and the experienced workers were very kind to me."

"Right, we should buy some gifts. It wouldn't be polite to visit without bringing anything," Zhang Xiangyang nodded.

...

Without needing a guide, Chen Geng, who had interned at the SAIC engine plant for a while, headed straight for the engine assembly workshop.

An engine is divided into several core processes: crankshaft manufacturing, cylinder block casting, piston casting/forging, and connecting rod forging. Each core component has its own production and precision machining workshop. After completing the process in their respective workshops, the components are sent to the assembly workshop for final assembly. The assembly workshop is the largest in terms of area and has the most workers in the entire engine production plant.

The precision machining capability of components is the best reflection of an engine manufacturing plant's technical level. The main product of the SAIC engine plant is the Jin Feng 680QK 2.2L inline-six gasoline engine used in the Shanghai SH760/SH760A compact car, with a maximum power of 90 horsepower and a maximum torque of 166 N·m. These figures are not impressive, with a specific power of less than 41 horsepower per liter, far below the 67 horsepower per liter required by the state in the future. However, as an engine from the 1960s, its overall performance is still considered decent. For comparison, the 1.6L inline-four gasoline engine used in the first batch of CKD-assembled Santana cars had a maximum power of only 87 horsepower and a maximum torque of 128 N·m.

However, Wolfsburg itself probably felt that the 1.6L gasoline engine's performance was embarrassing and did not reflect their capabilities, so they replaced it with the 1.8L inline-four engine with 97 horsepower, which began production this year.

What surprised Chen Geng was that even before he reached the assembly workshop, he noticed that the large workshop was completely empty. How did he know? Because such a large workshop was completely silent, which was clearly abnormal.

What's going on? Is production stopped?

He peeked into the workshop and confirmed that production had indeed stopped. The large workshop was completely empty, with no one in sight, and the engine assembly stands were still filled with engines at various stages of assembly.

"Is this the engine production workshop?" Zhang Xiangyang, who had never seen the engine assembly process before, was amazed, "But where are the people?"

"This is the engine assembly workshop. The processed parts are sent here for final assembly..." Chen Geng explained to Zhang Xiangyang. Since there was no one in the workshop, he didn't want to stay any longer and was about to leave. But before he could turn around, he heard someone ask suspiciously, "What are you doing here?"

The voice sounded familiar.

Turning around, Chen Geng smiled, "Mr. Xia, it's you."

This was an old acquaintance of Chen Geng. Last year, when Chen Geng interned at the SAIC engine plant, Mr. Xia was his mentor. By the way, Mr. Xia's name is Xia Shifu, which sounds like "Mr. Xia," a very convenient name. No matter whether you call him Xia Shifu or Mr. Xia, he doesn't lose out. Chen Geng admired Mr. Xia's father, who was definitely a genius.

"Are you... Xiao Chen?" Seeing Chen Geng, Mr. Xia, who had been suspicious, immediately looked surprised.

It was impressive that Mr. Xia, who was over 50 and had only spent about 10 days with Chen Geng, and hadn't seen him for at least eight or nine months, still remembered him so clearly.

"Yes, I'm Xiao Chen," Chen Geng shook Mr. Xia's hand and asked curiously, "Mr. Xia, why is no one in the workshop?"

As soon as Chen Geng mentioned this, the old man's face, which had just shown a hint of a smile, turned serious. He glared at Jin Deli, who was standing next to Chen Geng, and said irritably, "What else could it be? Since the Santana went into production, our Shanghai cars haven't been selling well. We've only sold a little over 1,000 cars in the past three months. The factory has enough engines to last for three or four months. What else can we do but stop production? Should we produce them to feed the pigs?"

Only 1,000 cars in three months? The situation was that serious? Chen Geng was taken aback.

Mr. Xia said sarcastically, "Our engine plant is still doing better. We just stopped production yesterday. I heard it's even worse at the assembly plant. They've been stopped for half a month, and many old colleagues are considering early retirement to let their children take over."

Chen Geng immediately turned to look at Jin Deli.

Jin Deli, without any embarrassment, shrugged and said, "Survival of the fittest, it's a natural law of the market. Your Shanghai cars are not as advanced as our Santana, so it's inevitable that they will be eliminated by the market."

Mr. Xia's face turned red with anger, and he glared at Jin Deli, as if he wanted to say something. But in the end, possibly considering Jin Deli's position, he said nothing.