Chapter 55 Sealing Fee

Kato Masayuki yelled, instantly attracting the attention of everyone in the restaurant, and everyone's eyes turned to Kato Masayuki.

The key point is that Kato is still calling Ya Die, which makes Li Weidong, who is sitting opposite, feel ashamed.

Kato Masayuki also noticed the gazes around him. In RB's culture, it is very rude to shout suddenly in public. Kato Masayuki immediately sat upright with a guilty look on his face, and quickly began to think about countermeasures in his mind.

Tianfeng's accelerator pedal has not been better for decades. From Carraro, Camry, to RAC4, Highlander, Land Cruiser, and even Lexus models, there have been problems with the accelerator pedal. Sometimes it is just some minor faults that will not affect normal driving, and sometimes it is a major fault that affects driving safety and needs to be recalled.

In the 1980s, there was no electronic accelerator pedal. At that time, all purely mechanical accelerator pedals were used. In order to reduce costs, Tianfeng used a new type of pin component in the design. However, this pin However, the parts may cause sticking, so that the accelerator pedal will not rebound, so that the engine will continue to output power with the slightest step of the accelerator.

Since the probability of such a situation is not high, Tianfeng Motor did not pay attention to it.

When a customer reported this problem to Tianfeng, Tianfeng chose not to admit it, and their reply was that the customer's own operation caused the problem.

This fault has been back and forth for many years, and Tianfeng has never admitted that it is a design problem. Once it is admitted that it is a design problem, a large-scale recall is inevitable.

The customers who use the car do not know the structure of the accelerator pedal. Occasionally, the failure of the accelerator pedal occurs several times. As long as it does not cause a car accident, no one will investigate it.

As a result, the problem of the accelerator pedal failure was only revealed in the 1990s, and Tianfeng at that time had already begun to use a new type of accelerator pedal.

It happened that at that time, Li Weidong was working as a trainee in RB's car repair shop. Many old Cararos came to replace the accelerator pedal. Therefore, Li Weidong had a fresh memory of the failure of the Carraro accelerator pedal. What were the reasons for the failure? , Li Weidong is very clear about the consequences.

The fifth-generation Carraro is also a very popular car in RB. The two-door performance version of the fifth-generation Carraro has a code name that everyone is familiar with: AE86.

It is the AE86 of the famous autumn mountain bike god Fujiwara Takumi.

...

As an automotive engineer of Tianfeng, Kato Masayuki also knows that Tianfeng's accelerator pedal is not so perfect. When he saw this article written by Li Weidong, he was basically able to judge that what Li Weidong wrote in the article was correct.

Once this article is submitted to the major automobile magazines, it will inevitably attract the attention of the magazines. With the strength of the top automobile magazines, they are fully capable of testing whether Tianfeng's accelerator pedal has any design flaws. But Tianfeng's accelerator pedal can't stand the test.

For a car magazine, revealing a design flaw in a hot-selling car is more attractive to readers than doing several new car reviews.

If the defect of Tianfeng's accelerator pedal is revealed, it will affect Carraro's sales, at worst, a large-scale recall will be carried out, and the most serious situation will affect the reputation of Tianfeng Motors.

The fifth-generation Carraro has sold millions of vehicles worldwide. If a large-scale recall is carried out, it will also be a traumatic loss to Tianfeng.

What's more, at this time, Tianfeng has to face not only the European and American auto giants, but also the competition from RB's domestic automakers. Especially in the US market, because the positioning of Japanese cars is similar, the competition between them is particularly fierce.

Among the other two Japanese giants, Honda's flagship model, the Civic, has only been released to the third generation, and the design concept of the third-generation Civic is obviously inferior to that of the fifth-generation Carraro. Honda has also abandoned the third-generation Civic.

Dedicated to the development of next-generation models.

Nissan's flagship model, the Bluebird, is Carraro's biggest competitor.

The appearance of the seventh-generation Bluebird is very fashionable, which is very suitable for the aesthetics of young people, and the seventh-generation Bluebird adopts front-wheel drive, which is ahead of the fifth-generation Carraro in terms of technology, so it is very popular in the American market. Influenced by the seven generations of Bluebird, Tianfeng also invested a lot of money in the research and development of front-wheel drive chassis.

Japanese cars in the 1980s are busy occupying the market all over the world. This process is like sailing against the current without advancing or retreating. At this juncture, if Carraro is exposed to have quality defects, it will be directly killed by the seventh generation of Bluebird.

...

Masaaki Kato was holding the article in his hand. He really wanted to shred this article and swallow it.

But Masayuki Kato also knows that since Li Weidong can write such an article, he can write a second one.

Kato Masayuki quickly calmed down, and his reason gradually returned to his brain.

This Li Sang, showing me this article is nothing more than seeking money, otherwise I will spend one or two thousand dollars as a hush money for him. I still have the authority to mobilize one or two thousand dollars. .

Thinking of this, Masayuki Kato said: Li Sang, can you sell me this article and then pretend that nothing happened. In this regard, we Tianfeng Motor can pay you 1,000 US dollars as the manuscript fee, which is absolutely Much more than what you paid for European and American auto magazines!

According to the official exchange rate in 1985, 1 US dollar can be exchanged for 2.937 yuan, and 1,000 US dollars is equivalent to 2,937 yuan.

And if it is exchanged on the black market, 1 US dollar can be exchanged for 10 yuan, and if 1,000 US dollars are in hand, it can become 10,000 yuan households in seconds!

In Kato's view, $1,000 is enough, and ordinary Chinese have never seen so much money in their life.

However, Li Weidong smiled and shook his head: Mr. Kato, I spent a lot of time and energy in researching the problem of the accelerator pedal. The fee of $1,000 is indeed more than what the auto magazine pays, but if I submit it to the auto magazine. , you can gain some reputation.

Well, we Tianfeng Motor are willing to pay 2,000 US dollars to buy this article. Kato Masayuki directly doubled the price.

Li Weidong still shook his head: 2,000 US dollars is indeed a huge sum of money for Chinese people. Many ordinary people can't make so much money in their lifetime, but in China, people who are proficient in Japanese are also very rare, and they are proficient in automobiles. Terminology is even rarer. In your country, would someone who speaks a foreign language and is proficient in automotive expertise get an ordinary salary?

Kato Masayuki did not refute, although RB companies adopt a lifetime employment system, and the salary is directly linked to the length of service, but the salary of employees with special skills is indeed higher.

This greedy guy! Kato Masayuki cursed inwardly, and then asked, Li Sang, how much money do you want?

Li Weidong stretched out ten fingers: I want one hundred thousand dollars!