#28 - Section: Automobile Manufacturing

Lu Haifeng returned home and said, "Dad, Mom, I'm back. Huh? Where's my little sister?"

Lu's mother, Ye Ruhua, rushed forward upon seeing her son and said with concern, "Son, you're finally back. You've lost weight."

Lu Haifeng explained helplessly, "Lost weight? I've actually gained some."

"Where's your sister?"

"She went out with her classmates."

Lu's father, Lu Xingfu, asked, "Is there something you need to come home for? You rarely come home for dinner when you don't have anything to do!"

"Dad, I heard from Lao Zhang that our family has a car manufacturing license, right?"

"It seems like we do. Why do you ask?"

Lu Xingfu stared at his son as he answered, curious as to why his son was asking about this.

Lu Haifeng somewhat despised his own father and said, "Dad, when you initially registered the company, you even obtained a car manufacturing license. You must have wanted to manufacture cars, but you ended up doing contract manufacturing and making parts instead. I always thought it was just an auto parts factory."

If Zhang Yu hadn't mentioned it today, he wouldn't have known that his father once wanted to build cars. It's just that he didn't have the technology, and it eventually fizzled out. In recent years, his father rarely went to work and would claim to be critically ill even with a slight cold, asking his mother to call him back.

"Without technology, that's all I could do. What else could I do?"

"Besides, I've made a lot of money over the years. If I really went into car manufacturing, our whole family might end up sleeping under a bridge."

In recent years, his father had been focusing on investments, finding that making money in the real economy was too slow. So, he would invest whenever he had the chance. His father was usually inconspicuous and kept a low profile.

But in reality, he was a hidden tycoon; otherwise, he wouldn't have arranged for him to study abroad at a young age.

For example, when Lu Haifeng initially said he wanted to enter mobile phone contract manufacturing, his father readily took out a large sum of money to acquire a contract factory.

Firstly, to give Lu Haifeng a new place to work, and secondly, to train him. If he lost money, it would just be practice, and even if he lost, it wouldn't be much.

"Dad, it seems you've gained a lot of experience in investing over the years."

Lu Xingfu said smugly, "Of course, your dad has invested in many unicorn companies."

"Are there any companies that are about to run out of money now? Take me along."

"Not for the time being. Speak your mind, what's the matter?"

"I'm planning to enter the car manufacturing industry. I'll need your help with vehicle inspection and network access when the time comes."

Upon hearing his son's words, Lu Xingfu's face was filled with question marks: "?????"

"You want to build cars? Are you crazy?"

Lu Xingfu felt that his son must be crazy to even think about building cars. No wonder he had just asked if his company had a car manufacturing license; he actually wanted to build cars.

Lu Xingfu was silent for a moment before saying to his son, "Our family has accumulated some savings over the years, but let me tell you, even if all those savings are invested, it won't even make a ripple in the car manufacturing industry."

"Aren't you doing well with mobile phone manufacturing? Why are you thinking about building cars? Do you know how much of a pitfall the car industry is?"

"I know. Dad, take a look at this information." Lu Haifeng handed over the engine technology.

"Where did this information come from?"

"It's from the company's laboratory."

Lu Xingfu nodded and said, "Alright, it seems you've given it some thought. Anyway, you've made some achievements now. I'll hand over the company and factory to you for management. You can do whatever you want."

"If it goes bankrupt in the end, just sell the company and factory and do something else, or simply come back and sponge off me."

Lu Haifeng said, "Dad, you're thinking too much. How could I possibly sponge off you?"

He could tell that his father really didn't have much faith in him building cars. Without tens of billions of dollars in funding and a professional team, it was basically impossible to succeed.

Lu Xingfu knew that his son had studied this field. He had just looked at the engine technology, and it was good, but it was nothing compared to a professional team.

But it didn't matter. Lu Xingfu had also wanted to build cars in the past, but he had succumbed to reality.

If his son wanted to build cars, then let him do it himself. If the company went bankrupt in the end, then he could just sell the company and factory. Anyway, he still had a mobile phone factory.

"Alright, I'll hand over the company to you starting tomorrow. I'll talk to Lao Zhao later. You can do whatever you want."

"Are you two still eating? I'm going to clear the table if you don't eat," Lu's mother said.

"Don't mind your dad. If you want to make a big splash, Mom supports you. But building cars requires a lot of funding, so you need to work hard yourself. I'll help you keep an eye on the mobile phone company's finances. You can just casually manage this company and factory."

"If the losses are severe, just sell this company and factory. Don't you still have another company?"

Okay! The answer Lu Haifeng got from his mother was similar to his father's, they didn't believe in him!

The next day, Lu Haifeng went to the factory and met with Zhao Jianhua to talk about it.

"Xiao Feng, I should call you General Manager Lu now. Hello, General Manager Lu," Zhao Jianhua said jokingly.

"Uncle Zhao, please don't tease me."

Lu Haifeng looked at Zhao Jianhua, who was around 50 years old, about the same age as his father. Zhang Yu and Zhao Jianhua had been with his father for at least a decade.

Lu Haifeng often came to the factory to play when he was a child. At that time, Zhao Jianhua would make some small toys for him. It could be said that Lu Haifeng's knowledge of mechanics was also influenced by him.

"Uncle Zhao, how is the auto parts factory doing these days? How long will it take to complete the delivery of the orders we've already received?"

Although Lu Haifeng wanted to build cars and was short on time, he didn't want to breach the contract. After all, once the existing orders were breached, the penalty would not be a small amount. He wasn't short of those few months right now.

Hearing this, Zhao Jianhua said with a smile, "Our auto parts factory has been doing quite well recently. We've received several large orders in a row, with a total amount of about seventy to eighty million yuan, and a profit of about four to five million yuan. There are still more than two months before the New Year, and we should be able to complete the delivery before the New Year."

"But now that the orders we have on hand can be completed before the New Year, we need to take more orders. Otherwise, everyone will have nothing to do after the New Year."

"I'm thinking of visiting Huazhong Automobile Company in a few days to see if I can win some orders."

"I seem to have heard that they recently finalized a new car model and are looking for auto parts manufacturers on a large scale. If we can get them, it should be worth seventy to eighty million."

Hearing this, Lu Haifeng smiled. If it was a year ago, he would definitely have fought for such a large order, after all, he had to support the workers in the factory. But now, he didn't care about orders worth tens of millions.

An order of only tens of millions wasn't even enough to cover the money he made selling mobile phones for half an hour.

Besides, he had already decided to build cars and didn't have more energy to do contract manufacturing for others. It wasn't even enough to do it for himself, and he still needed to find auto parts suppliers.

So, Lu Haifeng said, "Uncle Zhao, after we complete the delivery of the orders we have on hand, let's stop the parts contract manufacturing."