Chapter 48 – Cars Assembly
Kirilenko and his team went back to the Soviet Union soon after signing the contract. They had left their contact details for Tai Hua Trading. This way, Tai Hua Trading can contact them once the procurement of the goods is completed, and Kirilenko can arrange for the transportation.
Kirilenko will also help Feng Yu to source for the things he wanted in the Soviet Union and will contact him to see if he is willing to accept the price they offer.
Feng Yu passed the procurement of goods to Li Shiqiang and the rest of his staffs. They went back to the suppliers which had worked with them previously. The prices were the same as last time. If the suppliers do not agree, they will look for new suppliers.
While Li Shiqiang and the rest of the staffs were busy with the procurement, Feng Yu went to the Motor Factory with Wu Zhigang.
“Manager Feng, is it about the progress of the order? Rest assured. There will certainly be no delays in your orders. In fact, the second batch is also completed.” Director Li said.
“Congratulations. I heard that the old factory director is going to retire and you will be promoted to take over his position.” Feng Yu said. (Director Li is currently the Deputy Director of Motor Factor. Number two man in the factory)
“Hahaha. It is not decided yet.” Although Director Li said so, he was smiling non-stop. The old factory Director had requested for an early retirement due to his illness. As such, Director Li was next-in-line for this position. He had proven his capability by turning around the factory from losses to profits. Who else can compete with him for the position?
“I came here today for a few reasons. Firstly, is to congratulate you. Secondly, is to check the progress of production and lastly, is to ask if the Motor Factory is interested in doing car assembly business?” Feng Yu said.
“Car assembly? I’m afraid not.” Director Li shook his head regrettably. He wanted to do it but he can’t. His factory had lots of skilled workers but their expertise was not in automobiles. The factory also can’t afford the car assembly production lines too.
“It is not complicated and does not need any large machinery. It is just installing some tires and seats, and spray painting. I think your workers should be able to do that right?” Feng Yu smiled and said.
Even Feng Yu himself is able to install the tires and seats. How can these level 8 skilled workers from the Motor Factory don’t know?
“Just tires and seats? I don’t get what you mean.” Director Li replied.
Feng Yu explained to Director Li. He told him that he will import a few batches of “scrap metal”, and then assembled into a car, refurbished the exteriors and then sell. The quantity is not a lot but he needs some workers and a place to do the assembly.
“This … Is it legal?” Director Li asked worryingly.
“The law did not say that this is illegal. I will get the permits for selling the cars. You just tell me how much you are charging me for each car.” Feng Yu replied.
“This … I need to have a meeting with the rest of the directors first. Can I get back to you tomorrow?” Director Li asked.
Feng Yu got up and said: “No problem. If you do not want to do it, I can go to the Bing Fei Factory. They are producing cars themselves too.”
After Feng Yu left, Director Li immediately called all workshop directors for a meeting to discuss if they should take up this job, and if so, how much should they charge.
When the workshop directors heard that there is a new job, all of them start to compete for this job. They do not care whether if it is legal or illegal.
Even if it is illegal, the contract would have been signed and Tai Hua Trading will still have to pay them. If Tai Hua Trading is unable to pay them, they can always confiscate the cars as their payments. Also, the Motor Factory is a state-owned enterprise and they can easily push all the responsibility to Tai Hua Trading. What can the City government do to them?
If the City government does not allow the factory to do it, or punish them, then fine. The City government can pay for the workers’ salaries themselves.
This discussion did not even last a minute and it became a competition among the workshops to get the job. Installing tires and seats is much easier than assembling a large generator. How can they not know how to do it?
Feng Yu had said that he will go to Bing Fei factory if they do not want to take on this job. Why should they pass this opportunity to them? All this while, Bing Fei factory had been better off than them!
To say that the motor factory had no money is not really true. The account had a lot of money which was the grants given by the State for research purpose. They cannot touch those grants. There were also many bad debts. The leaders of the Motor Factory had been under a lot of stress.
Since there is a job now and money coming in, how can they reject?
Just look at Wind and Rain electric fans. The fans had been selling well in the market and soon, the fans will be sold throughout the whole country. No one had any complaints that these fans were inferior goods and the factory’s reputation had not been tarnished. This Feng Yu is still quite reliable when doing business.
In the afternoon, Feng Yu received a call from Director Li personally. The Motor Factory is willing to take on the job but the quantity cannot be too small. There must be at least 30 cars each time and their profit cannot be less than 1,000 RMB per car.
Feng Yu agreed. Although the Motor Factory charges was a bit high, it was still acceptable. Once these cars were shipped back, assembled and refurbished, his profits can be a few million RMB!
Feng Yu also told Director Li that the refurbished cars will be temporally stored at the Motor Factory and he will pay them for the inventory costs. The maximum is one month and he will collect the cars.
After two days, Kirilenko finally called but it was not good news.
Feng Yu did not know that during this era, the Soviet Union was the same as China previously, where they had closed-door policies and they were self-sufficient.
The most popular cars in the Soviet Union were Poronaz, Lada, and the Volga, as well as a small number of British imported cars and Japanese cars.
Feng Yu had told Kirilenko that he does not want the Soviet car. That means there was only British imported cars and Japanese cars left. Japanese cars in the Soviet Union were mostly smuggled in and were mostly right-hand drive. As such, Japanese cars still need to do a lot of modifications. On British cars can meet Feng Yu requirements.
Feng Yu was a bit disappointed. He can only import one country’s cars. Why can’t the Soviet Union import German cars, French cars or other European cars?
It was only then it occurred to him that the Soviet Union’s relations with Germany and France were not very good. Even if there were cars from these countries, the numbers were very low.
Forget it, British cars will do. But what were the brands? Feng Yu wanted to know if there were any brands he knew from his previous life.
After Kirilenko told Feng Yu about the British Automobile brands, Feng Yu was excited again.
Rolls-Royce, Jaguar, Aston Martin, Rover, Land Rover, Bentley, and Lotus. Every single brand was considered luxury cars brands in his previous life. Although some of the brands had been acquired by other companies, the brand value still remains.
“I want the cars from all these brands! As long as the car chassis, engine and other core components have no problem, the other does not matter. I will take in whatever you can get!” Feng Yu said excitedly.
Feng Yu also wanted to change cars. This old Lada should be scrapped and replaced with Rolls-Royce, Aston Martin or Land Rover!
Kirilenko told Feng Yu about the prices of the cars. Kirilenko had contacted a businessman who specializes in British brand used cars. The last time Feng Yu signed the contract with them, had said something that let them felt humiliated.
So, Kirilenko and his business partners tried their best to not let Feng Yu humiliate them again. The businessman had not wanted to sell his cars to them as the price they offered was too low. But these Soviet Union’s Army officers’ second generations told him that these cars were for military use and if he must sell the cars to them cheaply. Otherwise ……
Anyway, the price of the cars was at the lowest. The usual prices for these cars were about 100,000 to 200,000 Rubles. Now, these cars are only less than 60,000 Rubles. Kirilenko had slightly more than 30 cars on hand now and the total price is more than 1.5 million Rubles.
Feng Yu immediately agree. He can forgo those farming tools spare parts for all these cars. Feng Yu then request Kirilenko to ship these cars as soon as possible. He will transfer the price differences over.
As soon as these cars were refurbished, Feng Yu’s assets will double!
