Chapter 432 Let’s get an electric car

“I’ve bought a lot of things recently and spent a lot of money.

I guess for the time being, I'm afraid there's not enough money to expand the factory.

The current sales volume is good, and the profits are also good. I think that this year we can generate nearly 10 billion in foreign exchange.

That’s fine, that’s it.”

Fang Xiang paused and rejected Huo Zhenting's idea of ​​expanding Shanghai Automobile.

It is now the second half of 88, and the situation in the Soviet Union is as bad as it was in the previous life.

Although the Soviet Union has tried hard to keep the news within the country secret, there are still a large number of journalists from Western countries who continue to report on their current predicament.

Everyone knows that the Soviet Union's heavy industry is strong, but its light industry is very weak.

But you may have no idea how bad it is.

Let me put it this way, in 88, in most supermarkets in the Soviet Union, there are basically no more than a hundred kinds of items on the shelves.

Even most of the shelves were empty.

The lower class people could barely guarantee the supply of the most primitive food, and even the most basic products such as vodka and textiles were difficult to buy.

The speed and magnitude of the ruble's depreciation in the past two years have far exceeded that of the previous decade.

This is also the important reason why a few years later someone exchanged several carloads of canned sausages and clothes for two large airplanes.

Under such circumstances, it was obvious that Su Guo could not hold on for much longer, and on Nan Nan's side, Lao Zhong was still bleeding him.

It is not surprising that Huizong was able to face the reality and take the initiative to visit China.

And as Huizong lowered his head to visit China, the hostility between China and the Soviet Union would no longer be as intense as before.

Then the decade-long border conflict will come to an end.

This change in the situation naturally caused a change in the mind of the United States, which had been determined to get China to join NATO to fight against the Soviet Union.

I originally recruited you to fight against the Su Kingdom, but now you are unilaterally reconciling with the Su Kingdom? Do you still want to save my face?

Soon, the change in Lao Mi's mentality brought the ten-year honeymoon period between the two parties to a freezing point.

The end of the honeymoon period led to the closure of the originally open North American market.

If Shanghai Auto is to expand on a large scale now, it will face a situation where there is no market in half a year. Isn't that courting death?

Now the annual production of Second Automobile Works, GAC Motors and Shanghai Automobile is approaching one million units.

Although it was already 88, there was still no such large market in the country to accommodate such a large output.

The Central and Eastern European market was quickly lost within three years, leaving only Southeast Asia and South America. Fang Xiang knew best what the consequences would be.

But Huo Zhenting didn't know.

"Mr. Fang, the situation is so good, but the country has no money to expand it. Why don't we invest some of it?

I can accept not giving you shares, as long as you increase production!"

Sure enough, Huo Zhenting still simply thought it was just a matter of money.

“Don’t worry, the profits are already very considerable, just maintain them.

Blindly expanding production may not necessarily be a good thing.

If the production volume increases by another 200,000 or 300,000 units, have you calculated how much the profit margin will drop?"

Fang Xiang naturally wouldn't explain it so clearly to Huo Zhenting.

In fact, he didn't tell anyone, he just emphasized the profit from the side.

"But..."

"Okay, don't worry about it so much.

The continued increase in production will not only bring profits, but also a series of problems related to raw materials, workers, and upstream and downstream supporting facilities.

Now the production of one million units has reached a bottleneck.

Many things in the country are barely being supplied, and many materials still need to be imported from abroad.

It would be better to calm down and lay a solid foundation.

You have done a good job in recent years, and the country has noticed it.

So be it. "

Fang Xiang waved his hand and interrupted Huo Zhenting's plan to forcefully persuade him.

There is no way. If he says now that the honeymoon period between Huami and Xiaomi will be interrupted next year and they will return to a hostile confrontation, I am afraid no one will believe him.

Since there is no way to explain it, we can only avoid talking about it and be prepared.

"All right..."

Huo Zhenting was speechless, but he also knew that he could not get rid of Fang Xiang.

This is indeed the case. Unless Fang Xiang nods, no one can make the decision in the domestic automobile industry.

Huo Zhenting had no choice but to give up his previous plan.

In fact, capitalists are like this. If they have a profit of 100 million, they will want 1 billion. If they have 1 billion, they will want 10 billion.

Never-ending greed.

Maybe he himself is satisfied with the profit, but what about the people behind him? What about the capital behind him?

Often times, they are also poor people who are carried away by capital. They can only roll forward and then be crushed by their own capital.

This kind of thing has been repeated countless times in the history of the world, but how many people know how to retreat from the current situation?

"There is something I need your help with."

Seeing Huo Zhenting seemed a little depressed, Fang Xiang changed the topic to another matter.

"What is it, please tell me."

Huo Zhenting raised his head, with some reluctance evident in his eyes.

"Please help me keep an eye out for the more famous motor factories in the world."

Fang Xiang has actually been thinking about developing electric cars for more than 20 years. However, before that, the opportunity was not ripe and the technology was not in place, so he could only think about it.

But now it’s different. In fact, there are already some talented people in China who have made electric cars.

Although the charging speed and battery life are a bit worrying, it at least shows that this technology has reached the civilian stage.

What’s more important is how to scale up and mass produce.

Moreover, Fang Xiang did not intend to eat a big meal at once and directly develop the pure electric car of the future.

Yes, he plans to start with extended-range electric vehicles or hybrid electric vehicles.

Just like the CT21H launched by Lexus in the early 200st century, the first mass-produced hybrid car.

In fact, hybrid and extended-range are two completely different concepts and two completely different tracks.

But for Fang Xiang, it’s actually not that difficult.

It’s just a matter of whether you want to do it or not.

"Electric motor factory? What kind of electric motor factory?"

Huo Zhenting was a little confused. They were chatting happily, why did the topic suddenly turn to motors?

“I’m planning to build an electric car.

It’s not really an electric car, it’s more of a hybrid or an extended-range car.

This technology is needed.

As for circuit boards, there is a research institute in Shanghai that has made some breakthroughs recently.

But we can achieve independent design and production of chips.

I think this is a brand new market, and maybe it can be made into a new big cake.”

That’s right, since the research institute was established in 85, in addition to helping Fang Xiang study vehicle functional configurations, circuit boards and chips have always been the focus of their research.

Later, we added technical support from Hong Kong Great Wall Electronics and purchased a large number of patented technologies and equipment from abroad.

After another three years of hard work, we finally had the initial ability to design and produce chips.

Although the technology was about three years behind that of foreign countries during the same period, this was beyond Fang Xiang's expectations.

Who says there are no capable people in the country?

As long as there is enough R&D funding, coupled with sufficient trust and platform, we can still create miracles, right?

"Electric car? Hybrid? Extended range?"

When Huo Zhenting heard these terms for the first time, his eyes widened.