Chapter 853 Hidden Dangers

This situation is of course an excellent opportunity for Natixis to acquire Commerzbank.

If it can acquire the 25% of Commerzbank held by the German government, Natixis's shareholding in the bank will reach 34%, becoming its largest shareholder, thereby controlling Commerzbank.

Of course, as the president of Natixis, Lagarde's goal is to facilitate the merger between Natixis, the third largest bank in France, and the second largest bank in Germany, which will make the merged bank one of the largest banks in Europe and gain a wider market and higher synergy.

However, the most important thing is the attitude of the German government - Barron knows that in his previous life, the German government sold some of their shares in Commerzbank one after another, and only half of the shares were left, which were also prepared to be sold in the end.

But in 2024, when UniCredit, the largest banking group in Italy, was preparing to acquire Commerzbank, it was not accepted by the German government.

Of course, the current situation is different from that time. Since the original time and space, the situation of Commerzbank has improved greatly, so there is no need to sell it - except for the government's willingness to sell its shares at a high level to make a profit.

But now Commerzbank has not recovered from the impact of the subprime mortgage crisis and has a considerable proportion of non-performing assets.

Coupled with the subsequent European debt crisis, many European countries' debts purchased by Commerzbank are in danger.

Now, the shares of Commerzbank held by the German government are more regarded as a burden than an asset.

If Natixis Bank can acquire Commerzbank, it will be a way to save the bank.

In addition, there is another point, which is the relationship between Lagarde and the German government...

In this year's French election, I am afraid that German Chancellor Merkel is the one who cares most about the results outside of France.

Because in the previous European debt crisis, Sarkozy and Merkel represented France and Germany respectively, and the cooperation was relatively good.

Before the election, Hollande made many remarks about "France needs to re-examine its responsibilities as a country in the euro zone", which made Merkel a little uneasy.

After all, France and Germany are two core countries in the eurozone. Solving the European debt crisis depends on the cooperation between the two countries. If the new French government changes its attitude at this time, it will definitely not be an expected result for the euro.

Therefore, Lagarde, who once had a tacit cooperation with Germany, has taken office as the president of Natixis Bank and promoted the French bank to acquire Deutsche Bank. I am afraid that after the French change of government, when Germany and France need to re-establish a tacit understanding, the German government will more or less need to consider what negative impact it will have on the relationship between the two sides if it refuses this merger.

Barron also hopes to see that the German government has such concerns, which creates a good opportunity for Natixis Bank to acquire Deutsche Bank.

…

"When we tested the test car of the TYPE electric coupe, we found that there were safety hazards in the battery cooling system. The entire system needs to be further improved, which may delay the official release time of TYPE..."

When Barron returned to London, he received such news from the British Motor Group.

Previously, Jaguar, a subsidiary of the British Motor Group, used their research and development results on electric vehicles to prepare to launch an electric coupe TYPE at the end of this year.

According to Jaguar's internal investigation, the safety hazard discovered this time appeared in the battery cooling device.

In order to cool the battery, the battery cooling system of TYPE is equipped with a coolant pipe outside the battery, but because the aluminum material used for the terminal connection accessories is soft, it is easy to wear and break during use, causing coolant leakage, battery short circuit or even fire.

It is also because of the discovery of such safety hazards that Jaguar needs to cooperate with the Electric Vehicle Technology Center of the British Motor Group to find a perfect alternative solution to avoid such accidents, so it may not be launched at the scheduled time for the release of the new model.

In fact, the main electric vehicle technology framework adopted by the British Motor Group on the Jaguar TYPE is almost the same as that of Tesla's Model S-after all, the electric vehicle R\u0026D centers of both parties can share the results of research and development.

After the safety hazard was discovered, the British Motor Group also found the same problem on the Tesla Model S...

"We have informed Tesla of this safety hazard, but they have not made it public yet."

On June 22 this year, Tesla delivered the first batch of 100 Model S to users. Thanks to the funds Tesla received before, the transformation of the Fremont factory in California was accelerated. The delivery speed of Model S is faster than the original time and space. It is expected that Tesla will be able to complete the delivery of more than 3,500 Model S this year.

From now on, it seems that Tesla is prepared to keep this issue secret.

In Barron's previous life, there were also reports that Tesla had discovered safety hazards in the battery cooling system of the Model S long before the Model S was delivered, but they still chose to deliver it as planned and did not solve these problems immediately.

After all, although there are safety hazards, the failure rate is not high, because Tesla has been under great pressure in the development of the Model S and is eager to deliver the vehicle, so it still made such a choice.

However, unlike Tesla, which is still a "newcomer" in the automotive field, Jaguar itself is already a well-known car brand. Since such a hidden danger has been discovered, it is naturally impossible to choose to take risks. It can only sell the TYPE electric coupe after solving this problem.

"It is right to do so. For us, we are not in a hurry to enter the field of electric vehicles. At present, users in this field still need to be cultivated, which can leave us enough time, but if there are safety hazards, it will be fatal to our brand..."

"Then Tesla..."

Barron understood the meaning of this sentence by Van der Hauck, CEO of the British Automobile Group.

On the one hand, the British Motor Group is a major shareholder of Tesla. After the successful delivery of Model S, Tesla's stock price has risen slightly. At present, its stock price has exceeded 34 US dollars. If the safety hazards of Tesla's Model S are exposed, it will definitely have a great impact on its stock price and will also cause losses to the British Motor Group.

On the other hand, when Jaguar launches TYPE, it means that the British Motor Group will enter this track. Postponing the release of new models in order to solve safety hazards will also be their positive publicity for consumers, especially compared with Tesla...

"Don't interfere too much with their decision-making. As for the safety hazards found in the TYPE test car, this matter will be kept confidential for the time being."