Chapter 426 Jinling Ferrari R&D Center
"Is there such a thing?"
Chang Haonan was just about to turn on the computer, but the movement of his hand stopped in mid-air.
Fiat, the name itself should not be famous in China.
If you are not interested in cars, you may have never heard of it.
But Fiat Group has many well-known car brands.
Such as Maserati, such as Alfa Romeo, such as... Ferrari.
Of course, there were also later Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, etc.
They all have one common characteristic.
That is, regardless of whether they are high or low, the sales in China are very poor.
At least that was the case in the past timeline.
If we say that the Korean and French systems can still be said to have reached their peak after their brilliance, then they are no longer at their peak.
So it means...
Laughing to death, China's passenger car market has never seriously appeared.
There are only two short-lived models, which can barely make some splash.
However, tool carts like Iveco have always been selling well.
Of course, these are all things for later.
At this point in time in the late 90s, when Italians look at Iveco, which is almost popular all over the country, they definitely have reason to have illusions about the future of their own passenger cars in China.
Under such circumstances, it was logical to find our old friend Jinling Automobile Company.
Now compared to the previous life, it is only two years earlier, so it is not a big deal.
What really surprised Chang Haonan was the jointly established automotive research institute.
This is 1997, not 2023.
Not to mention Italian cars, even industrial waste like Lada can be sold to China in large quantities.
Didn’t you buy one without seeing Wu Yifan?
Which foreign brand would come over to cooperate with China in car research?
To put it bluntly, if you take the technology of the previous generation or even previous generations and replace it with a new shell, it will sell well. How can you cooperate with others?
Chang Haonan is not yet confident enough to think that the impact of the technologies he has developed can be as great as this.
Technology in the aviation industry will indeed spread downward to other industries, but this process takes time.
Especially these days, cars have almost no serious electrification equipment, and they hardly consider aerodynamic issues such as wind resistance and wind noise. The two areas that Chang Haonan is best at cannot enter the field of automobile research and development at all.
At least it cannot enter the field of domestic passenger car research and development.
If I have to say it, it may be of some use in the structural design of the entire vehicle.
But this is still a part that is more biased towards commercial vehicles.
After all, no one was using hot-formed steel and die-cast bodies on family cars in the 90s.
Therefore, after a while, Chang Haonan finally nodded and replied:
"As long as the research institute is opened in China, it doesn't matter if you use the software, not to mention that Fiat is also a trial user who has passed the application."
In fact, there is generally no need to be so careful about this kind of problem.
After all, the TORCH Multiphysics obtained by Jinling Motors is only a publicly released large cup, not a super large cup only for some users.
It's just that the situation of Torch Company is quite special, and it is obviously a company that is under the priority of the above.
The other party may be afraid that he will be hit by an iron fist if he messes around, so he wants to be foolproof.
"Then I'll reply to the letter after I get back..."
Yang Huimei, who received a positive answer, was about to stand up, but was stopped by a curious Chang Haonan:
"Did they say what specific research areas this automotive research institute is responsible for?"
Among the previous list of applicants for software trial, Fiat Group was one of the only foreign commercial users.
However, because this involves some more complex legal issues, the trial version software applied for in non-mainland areas has not yet been shipped.
But it seemed like the other party couldn't wait any longer.
Logically speaking, we shouldn't be in such a hurry.
If Fiat really had such enthusiasm for the research and development of new cars, it would have left the Chinese market twice, so that the alliance formed later was called the "Alliance of the Losers."
"That's not true. The other party just sent us a letter explaining the situation. But if you want to know more specifically, they also left their contact information at the end of the letter."
……
Later in the day, Jinling.
General Manager Li Liangyi's office was knocked open, and his secretary strode in from the outside.
"Mr. Li, I just received a call from Manager Yang from Torch Company, saying that as long as the jointly established R&D center is set up in China, there will be no problem. A formal reply letter and authorization document will be sent later."
"That's good. You can arrange a time and let the person in charge of external cooperation start discussing other cooperation details with the people at Fiat."
Li Liangyi raised his head, took off his glasses and put them on the table.
In fact, before sending the letter, he expected that there was a high probability that it would be approved. However, although the other party was not large in scale, its background was too strong. He only added such a procedure for insurance.
It was also delayed for nearly a week.
Thinking of this, he warned his secretary again:
"Tell Xiao Yu and ask him to improve some efficiency. The domestic passenger car market is changing day by day. If we can sell the car a day earlier, we will make dozens or millions more profits!"
Upon hearing this, the secretary took out a document from his briefcase and placed it on Li Liangyi's desk:
"In fact, Manager Yu has been communicating informally with Fiat representatives during this period. A preliminary agreement of intent has been formed. Please take a look."
"Oh?"
Although contacting each other privately falls into a gray area to some extent, these days everyone basically emphasizes letting themselves go, and many express rules are not strictly enforced, let alone such marginalia.
So the latter didn't get angry. He just put on his glasses again and started to read them one by one.
As almost the last mainstream car series to enter the Chinese market, the sincerity shown by the Italians this time is quite sufficient.
As for Jinling Fiat, a joint venture between the two parties, in addition to the Fiat brand, Maserati, a high-end luxury brand, and Alfa Romeo, a sports brand, are also included in the contract.
Although the latter two are only assembled domestically, this is enough for Li Liangyi to pay attention to.
After all, although several car companies such as Volkswagen, Jeep, and Peugeot have already entered the country in the form of joint ventures, when it comes to the luxury brand of the joint venture, there is only one Audi.
Also assembled in one piece.
As for the automotive research institute, at first glance, it seems to be just a by-product.
Because it is different from joint venture production and technology introduction, the main partner of this research institute is Ferrari, which is also owned by Fiat.
It’s not that Li Liangyi is belittling himself and building a supercar. Jinling Motors now has neither the ability nor the will.
Fiat specifically requested that the research institute be operated independently from the joint venture company and must be named Jinling Ferrari R&D Center.
This is just a play on words, because according to the current joint venture regulations, Jinling Automobile must be in the front.
But if it is called Jinling Automobile-Ferrari R&D Center, the latter probably feels that it cannot afford to disgrace that person.
So omitting the word "car" can make Jinling sound like just a place name.
Li Liangyi had no objection to this. He was happy to let the Italians take advantage of this in exchange for some more practical benefits.
For example, the three major parts production lines have a higher proportion of localization.
As for the other one, it's more interesting.
The Ferrari F1 team is willing to leave a sponsor advertising position on the front wing, rear wing or side of their car from 1998.
As long as it doesn't violate the regulations, Jinling Motors can paint anything on it.
Li Liangyi frowned when he saw this.
He is not interested in racing, but he is the boss of an automobile group after all, so F1 still knows about it.
But he knew it was useless. There was no F1 broadcast in China, and it was impossible for Jinling Motors to export to Europe in a short time.
So this advertising space that was supposed to be worth some money was meaningless to him.
"Xiao Liu, please contact Torch Company again."
He put down the documents in his hand and said to his secretary:
"Ask them if they are interested in advertising in Europe?"
