All the employees of the Automobile branch factories, including Li Mingde and Zhang Ruiqiang, were excited when they heard that there will be a big boss from Russia visiting the factory. This big boss will place a significant order if he is satisfied with the cars.
Zhang Ruiqiang was invited by Li Mingde to represent the City to meet this Russian boss. This can also be considered the City’s support of the Machinery Company.
When Feng Yu and Kirilenko arrived at the automobile factory, Kirilenko’s men had already reached. The streets leading to the factory were lined with banners written in Russian, welcoming Kirilenko.
Kirilenko saw the banners and was very excited. The Chinese were too passionate. Were all these arranged by Feng Yu? The next time when Feng Yu goes to Moscow, I must welcome him this way. I cannot let him think that we, Russians, are not as welcoming as the Chinese.
Actually, these banners were arranged by Li Mingde. In the past, when the Machinery Company was still a state-owned enterprise, they would also do the same thing whenever any big businessman visits. Of course, those “big businessman” and their “huge” orders amounted only about 1 million RMB worth of agriculture machinery. Now, even a 10 million RMB deal will not get this treatment.
“Mayor Zhang, Old Li, this is the businessman from Russia. Mr. Kirilenko. Brother Ki, this is our Bing City’s Mayor Mr. Zhang Ruiqiang, and this is our Machinery Company’s General Manager, Mr. Li Mingde.” Feng Yu introduced both parties.
Zhang Ruiiqiang warmly shook Kirilenko’s hands and even greeted him in Russian. Kirilenko shook his hands for only a second. If it wasn’t for Feng Yu introducing this person, he was not interested to know him. In Russia, the number of top regional officials who had dined with him was more than double digits. He was not interested to know some City’s mayor! (Russia’s regional top official was equivalent to China’s Provincial Governor.)
But Kirilenko shook Li Mingde’s hand longer. He had met Li Mingde twice before. Li Mingde was puzzled. This Russian does not know who had more authority? He was reluctant to shake the Mayor’s hand and greeted Li Mingde so warmly?
Kirilenko had visited the Machinery Company before, and Li Mingde had also met him previously. But to Li Mingde, all Caucasians look the same. He was still thinking in his heart, why was there so many Russians named Kirilenko? Was this their surname?
Kirilenko’s were glued to the vehicles the moment he stepped into the factory. These were Volga’s cars?
I knew Feng Yu was exaggerating. How could he produce any good cars? These cars were the exact replica of Volga’s cars. Kirilenko turned and look at Feng Yu.
Li Mingde immediately explained: “These Volga’s cars were manufactured using the technologies we got from the former Soviet Union. We will be using this car for comparisons later.”
After hearing the explanation from his translator, Kirilenko looked at Li Mingde in doubt. Using Volga’s car for comparison? That means you have successfully built better cars than the Volga?
So what? Kirilenko had also admitted that Russia, including the former Soviet Union, does not have any good cars. Many of the Russian politicians also prefer to sit in England cars. Those cars were much better than Volga’s cars. Moreover, you had built this Volga’s car using the old technology. The current Volga’s models were much better than this car.
Also, this Volga car you had assembled might even be worse than Volga’s older model. It was never easy to develop new automobile technologies.
“Manager Li, can I let my men test drive this vehicle?”
“Of course. No problem. This car had been tested by our engineer hired from Petersburg. He said that the quality of this car can be compared to the best Volga’s model in Russia.”
Li Mingde pointed to a big sized man with a thick beard. This mechanical engineer was hired by the Machinery Company from the former Soviet Union.
Kirilenko frowned. He had forgotten Feng Yu had hired some engineers from the Soviet Union previously. That means this Volga’s car should not have any problems.
But Kirilenko still asked his own mechanical engineer to inspect the car. Feng Yu had invited him over for business. What if there were problems with the quality of these products? He would make a loss if he were to place orders for defective goods. Feng Yu also do not know much about Russia’s automobile market. His judgment might also not be so accurate.
The engineer opened the bonnet to take a look. Then he climbed under the car to check the undercarriage. After that, he entered the vehicle to inspect the interior. He made a thorough inspection of the vehicle.
While the engineer was inspecting the vehicle, Li Mingde was telling Kirilenko about the factory. He was telling Kirilenko things like how big this factory was, the number of workers and professional engineers, the initial investments, the yearly production, etc. Li Mingde had a flair for telling others about the company’s history and past achievements. But he was unable to showcase this skill as the Machinery Company’s automobile factory was very new.
When Li Mingde starts to explain about the Songjiang Motors’ vehicles with a colored brochure, Kirilenko’s engineer had finish inspecting that Volga’s car.
“This car’s performance is outstanding. This is definitely a new car and had used our Volga’s technologies. The technologies used are about our standards ten years ago. The performance of this car only loses to the current Volga’s models slightly.”
Kirilenko nodded and turned to Feng Yu. Heard that? This car is about our standards 10 years ago and not as good as our Volga’s cars now. What can you prove by using this car to compare?
Feng Yu also knew about this. But Volga’s technological upgrades was the slowest among the major automobile manufacturers. It could not even be compared to China. The Volga’s newest models of cars were not much better than 10 years ago.
Later when Kirilenko saw the Songjiang Motors vehicles, he will have nothing to say.
Kirilenko had also noticed that the exterior design of Songjiang Motors vehicles was gorgeous. All 3 types of cars had captured his attention.
The Olympic model looked grand and was suitable for businessmen and families. The Off-road model looks rugged and domineering. The Red Star model looks like a van but does not have a bulky feel.
Overall, Kirilenko likes the designs of all three models. But no matter how beautiful the exterior designs were, it was the performance of the vehicles that matters the most. Cars were for driving and not for display. If he really wants to compare the exterior designs, he still thinks his sports cars in his garage were more beautiful.
But not everybody could afford to own a sports car. These cars which cost tens of thousands USD were still the automobile mainstream. These were also Russian consumer’s preferred vehicles.
Kirilenko passed the brochure to his engineer for him to give his professional opinions.
The engineer saw the pictures of the cars and was captivated by the beautiful designs. This is an SUV? The width seems to be quite wide. The interior must be very spacious. The angle of the front portion of this car should be able to lower the air resistance, and the whole body was sleek. It was really stunning.
That’s for sure. This Songjiang Off-road designed was based on Audi Q7 from the future. After Liu Michael’s numerous modifications, it looks different from Q7, but it still seems better than Jeep and Cherokee.
Kirilenko waited for a while and saw his engineer not saying a word. What was this guy doing? Why was he keeping quiet after looking at the brochures for so long?
Kirilenko coughed, and the engineer jumped. He was too engrossed with the brochures.
The engineer immediately flips to the last few pages of the brochures, where it states the specifications of the vehicles. The engineer’s jaw dropped with he saw the specs.
How can this be possible? This is impossible!
China’s cars can have such technologies? These technologies were not only ahead of Russia. These technologies were ahead of Russia by at least 10 years. The vehicles’ performance can be compared to European cars!
Li Mingde was feeling proud when he saw the shocked expression on the engineer’s face. When he knew about the specs of Machinery Company’s vehicles, he was also shocked like this engineer.
Li Mingde had thought their vehicles would catch up with Santana at most after they had combined the technologies bought by Feng Yu. He never expects that after adding the Motor Factory’s engine, turbocharge technology, suspensions, etc., their vehicles would reach such high standards!
Although the overall performance still could not be compared to European and Japanese cars, their cars were the best in China!
When Li Mingde looked at the manufacturing cost, he was alarmed. The cost was about the same as those joint-partnership cars, but the performances were much better.
At that moment, Li Mingde believed what Feng Yu had said in the past. We will build China’s best cars, and our goal in the future will be producing the best cars in the world!
Li Mingde had never thought that the goal of building China’s best cars could be achieved so easily. Also, the cost of their factories, compared to First Automobile Works (FAW) and Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC), were much cheaper. The production lines bought from the former Soviet Union were considered a steal when compared to FAW’s production lines.
Although the production lines bought from the former Soviet Union were old, FAW’s production lines were also old models. There was not much difference between both production lines. The production lines from the former Soviet Union were noisy and had many other flaws, but they were durable.
Li Mingde was very impressed with Feng Yu’s guts and foresight.
He now firmly believes what Feng Yu had said in the past. More than 50,000 Songjiang Motors vehicles will be sold annually within 3 years.
The sales of their vehicles were not doing well now, but it was because they had not started any large-scale marketing campaigns yet. When the commercials were aired after the Lunar New Year, the sales will definitely pick up. Furthermore, Tai Hua Trading’s selling capabilities were one of the best in China.
Also, CCTV had already purchased Songjiang Motors vehicles. This means that the market was willing to recognize their cars!