Chapter 200 Automobile Industry
"Choose Orange Computer and enjoy a technological life."

A simple advertisement of less than ten seconds has been airing on major television stations in the United States in the past two months, marking the official entry of Orange Technology's computers into the North American market.

The general agent for the North American market is still the Lyon chain of home appliances and Walmart stores.

Lyon and Liu Zhicheng jointly operate the North American Xintiandi electrical appliance chain, which now has more than 100 stores in North America. It can be said to be the number one professional electrical appliance store in North America.

After Lyon became the agent of Orange Computer, with the support of Liu Zhicheng, it started to spend money in the advertising industry.

The three major TV stations in the United States, NBC, ABC, and CBS, naturally would not think that the US dollars are too much, and they do not care which country the customers are from.

With a large amount of advertising investment, Xintiandi and Orange personal computers gradually became familiar to people. Coupled with their high cost-effectiveness, they began to gain some fame in North America.

"Mr. Liu's computer is very good, but the hardware is just common goods on the market and has no unique features," Jobs said directly.

The hardware on Orange Technology's computers is actually not complicated. They are all common electronic components in the world and are assembled.

“Although the hardware is not as good as Apple computers, I found that its software is more powerful and more playable than those games.

I have to say that Orange Technology is really good in the field of games. If you don’t believe me, you can ask Mr. Lyon.” Jobs continued to comment.

Not only are the games fun, many Apple computer customers have called Apple, hoping to have similar game software on their computers.

This put Jobs under pressure, even though customers didn't say it explicitly. If Apple computers couldn't do that, they would stop buying them.

Apple computers’ sales model partly relies on local retail outlets, so the New World electrical appliance chain in Lyon also has an agent.

Lyon has the most say on these issues, but for Lyon, it doesn't matter whose computers he sells, as long as the profit is reasonable.

"Mr. Jobs' words are very trustworthy. I have received a lot of feedback." Lyon said with a smile.

This is not a good phenomenon, and the problem is quite serious. If it becomes a monopoly, there will be endless troubles.

"We have patents for these game software, Mr. Jobs." Liu Zhicheng said with a smile.

"I know this, but if you only configure it on your own computer, there will be some trouble. Of course, I'm just reminding you."

Fortunately, Liu Zhicheng was well prepared. The game software of Orange Technology was independently operated. When no one in the market knew about it in the early days, it was only installed on its own computers for promotion.

At the beginning, you can indeed use these software to develop the market for your computer and promote your own software at the same time, killing two birds with one stone.

Now is the time to release a wide range of game disks of all configurations.

"Thank you for your kind reminder, Mr. Jobs. This problem is easy to solve. We are going to release game disks to the market, and they will be available in all configurations."

Due to the special nature of games, once a patent is registered, others will not be able to copy it. Besides, among the current computer companies, there are really few companies that are proficient in game development.

"It seems that you are eyeing the gaming software market." Jobs understood a little.

"Yes, when it comes to computer hardware, our strength is far from enough to compete with the major manufacturers," Liu Zhicheng said modestly.

"This is a win-win result. You make software and I make hardware, so we are no longer competitors." Jobs felt a little happy.

In his eyes, Liu Zhicheng is a very visionary person. In addition, he is a shareholder of Apple and has sufficient financial support behind him.

If you compete with such people, the pressure will be very high. Now that both parties are on different tracks, it is good for everyone.

"There is one thing I need to say to Mr. Jobs. Now that I have my own computer brand, I am no longer suitable to be an Apple shareholder. Next, I will gradually sell off the Apple shares I hold." Liu Zhicheng said slowly.

The original investment in Apple was purely for "profit", and it was most appropriate to sell the stock at Apple's peak moment.

After Jobs left, Apple's stock has been sluggish for more than a decade. If you insist on holding on to it, it would seem a bit uneconomical.

Moreover, Liu Zhicheng still needs this money from Apple for new investments.

"You want to withdraw your investment in Apple?" Jobs was shocked.

Liu Zhicheng is the original major shareholder, and his withdrawal of investment will be a huge blow to any company.

"I've also thought about it for a long time, but we all produce computers and I don't want to cause unnecessary trouble." Liu Zhicheng still felt it was better to be cautious.

The probability is not very high, but Liu Zhicheng has seen a lot in his previous life, so sometimes he can't help but think too much about it.

"Okay, I'll notify other shareholders. It'd be best if the transfer is through an agreement." Jobs said after thinking for a while.

"That's the best. I don't want any trouble." Liu Zhicheng nodded.

If Liu Zhicheng released the news and looked for capital to take over, or sold it through the open market, it would definitely cause the stock price to fall.

In this way, not only will he suffer huge losses, but it will also affect his other investments in the United States.

After Liu Zhicheng and Jobs parted ways, Liu Zhicheng and Lyon flew to their next stop: Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Although Detroit is the current automobile capital of the United States and more than half of the cars in the United States are produced in this city, it mainly produces small cars.

Detroit is the automobile city now and the sin city in the future. The changes in this name can reflect the rise and fall of the automobile industry in the United States.

When Lyon said on the phone that there was a car factory in the United States and that he could sell related technology, Liu Zhicheng was a little bit unconvinced.

Because the manufacturing industry in the United States is still very strong and has not yet reached the point where it has to cut its own flesh to survive.

"Mr. Liu, this time Mark Company is only selling its truck technology and engine technology," Lyon introduced.

"As far as I know, can't all North American auto industries get financial support? Why does Mark want to cut his own flesh and blood to save his life?" Liu Zhicheng asked.

"Mr. Liu, you don't understand. For North American auto factories, financial support is just a drop in the bucket, just enough for them to survive.

If they wanted to grow, they had to find new money, so when I was looking for a suitable car factory in the United States, they came to me.

Although they only sell truck technology and related diesel engine technology, and the price is not high, I think it is suitable, so I informed you. "

"Oh, so that's how it is." Liu Zhicheng nodded and didn't ask any more questions.

After several hours of flight, the plane arrived in Philadelphia, the capital of Pennsylvania.

Sam, a representative of Mark Company, came to pick them up at the airport. Liu Zhicheng and Leon got on the business car arranged by Mark Company and headed to Allen Town, the headquarters of Mark Company.

On the way to the Mark factory, we saw several different parts supplier factories, but some of them seemed busier, with many workers gathering at the door to strike.

"The American automobile industry is still not doing well recently?" Liu Zhicheng asked with a smile.

Liu Zhicheng knew that the direction of the American automobile industry has always been to pursue large and powerful vehicles, and no one has ever cared about fuel consumption. Because the American people are rich, and the fuel price was low in the past, it naturally doesn't matter.

Following several oil crises and wars, oil prices have now risen tenfold compared to seven years ago. In order to save energy and reduce consumption, the White House has directly issued a ban on the production of vehicles with extra-large displacement.

Since RB is seriously lacking in oil resources, the RB automotive industry is currently focusing on researching and developing ways to save fuel.

In other aspects, the technology is not much worse than that of German and American cars. Before the oil crisis, RB cars could only be sold in its home country and a few other countries.

However, as the oil crisis deepened, it suddenly occupied the European and American markets, further squeezing the market of North American local brands.

"Now is indeed the darkest time." Lyon nodded.

Before the shale oil technology revolution, the United States was the world's largest oil importer, so oil prices were also high.

Coupled with the ongoing conflict in the Gulf region, global oil tensions have led to continued strength in oil prices.

The surge in oil prices has worsened the global economy, leaving a large number of Americans unemployed and companies either bankrupt or suffering heavy losses.

The first to be hit is the American automobile industry.

For America's auto giants, the surge in oil prices can be said to be a fatal blow.

Before the 70s, V8 engines were standard equipment in ordinary cars in the United States. Isn’t that crazy?

However, no matter how much Europeans and Americans like high-powered engines, if they spend a hundred dollars on gas, it will be gone in a few days.

What choice would an ordinary American with a monthly income of only one or two thousand US dollars make?
As a result, ordinary people began to choose small-displacement cars for transportation, causing the three giants to completely decline and barely survive in the past few years.

Of course, after the second oil crisis is over, the world will experience a long period of low oil prices.

This also allowed the three major automobile giants in the United States to seize the opportunity and successfully get out of the quagmire.

Of course, for Mark Company, although it produces trucks, it was also affected by the oil crisis and its sales were seriously affected.

The car soon arrived at the gate of Mark Automotive Group's headquarters, which is a large industrial area.

In front is a 6-story building, which serves as an office building and R&D center, and behind is the Mack Truck factory.

Several white people were waiting for Liu Zhicheng at the door. After Liu Zhicheng got off the car, everyone came forward to welcome him.

Although Mack Automotive is a long-established truck company in the United States, it is now a thing of the past.

Not to mention that Liu Zhicheng came here to discuss buying and selling, just based on Liu Zhicheng's fame in the United States, it is worth it for the management of Mark Company to come downstairs to greet him.

At this time, an old man came up. He was Hughes, the current CEO of Mark Company, and said, "Mr. Liu, please come in."

After everyone greeted each other, Hughes quickly invited Liu Zhicheng in.

Inside Mark's company, there is a sign in Chinese at the door welcoming Liu Zhicheng and his party. It is quite thoughtful and it seems that today's trip will not be in vain.

Liu Zhicheng did not go directly into the office upstairs, but asked to go to the workshop first to take a look at the production line.

It is normal for buyers to check out the goods first, and Mark Company has made preparations for this.

After arriving at the workshop, the environment inside the entire workshop was also very good. Many workers greeted Liu Zhicheng and his group politely when they saw them.

Mack trucks were born in 1900, and their famous logo is the golden bulldog statue on the front of the truck.

After decades of development, we now have a large truck assembly workshop, as well as an engine and transmission assembly workshop in Allentown.

In 1979, Mack sold more than 1.2 trucks.

However, due to the impact of the oil crisis, skyrocketing oil prices and the global economic recession, the entire heavy truck transportation industry has been hit, and truck sales have also been affected.

The production workshop they are visiting now is the best-selling heavy-duty truck of the Mack Group.

Before industrial PLC (automatic control technology) was widely used, many processes in automobile production relied on manual labor, and production costs seriously restricted the development of the automobile industry.

However, it is also because of this that the investment in automobile production lines is much lower, many small-brand cars have been born, and competition in the industry has intensified.

"How many units can be produced in a day?" Liu Zhicheng asked after walking around.

"Our maximum daily production capacity is 50 units, but the market is not good at the moment, so we usually only produce 30 units a day," Hughes said.

Liu Zhicheng nodded and didn't ask any more questions.

A production capacity of 10,000 units per year is actually very good, but the only issue is whether the current sales can keep up.

Sure enough, when Liu Zhicheng visited the parking lot, he saw it was full of trucks that had just been produced.

It seems that Mark's trucks are in serious oversale.

After touring the Mack truck assembly line, Liu Zhicheng and Hughes came to the president's reception room and had a private discussion.

"Mr. Hughes, why does Mack want to sell truck technology?"

"Mr. Liu, as you have just seen, there are problems with the sales of Mack trucks, and I urgently need funds to lay off employees." Hughes said directly.

The protection of workers' rights in the West is very strict. If layoffs are necessary, a settlement must be reached with the union and the workers themselves, and a large sum of money must be compensated.

Liu Zhicheng nodded, showing his understanding: "I think the market will get better one day."

“I believe so, but what we urgently need to solve is the overcapacity problem that we have to deal with now.

The union just doesn't agree with our layoff plan, they think our compensation is too low." Hughes said.

Liu Zhicheng was not in a position to make too many comments on this issue. After the greetings, he went straight to the point.

"This time I want to take away Mark's truck technology, engine technology, and transmission technology. I wonder how much Mr. Hughes wants?"

"One hundred million US dollars." Hughes opened his mouth loudly.

"Twenty million US dollars." Liu Zhicheng also returned the money.

"Mr. Liu, no one bargains like you do." Hughes said with a smile.

(End of this chapter)