Wan Feng's story attracted the senior leaders in the machinery industry, and they were full of curiosity about Wan Feng's entrepreneurial journey.
"Did you also develop that motorcycle?" Lu Changning asked patiently.
"No, this is something our group developed. We used a Jialing 50 as a reference and first produced the Jiangwei 50 motorcycle, and then developed the Jiangwei 70 motorcycle."
Wan Feng should try to say less about himself and not appear too evil, otherwise some things will become irreversible.
Although the Jiangwei 70 motorcycle is still in production, it is no longer the mainstay product of the Wahou Machinery Factory. They can no longer keep up with the changes in the motorcycle market. However, forklifts have taken over the banner of motorcycles and become the mainstay industry of the Wahou Machinery Factory.
The sales of forklifts produced by Wahou Machinery Factory are pretty good, with about 1,800 units sold every year.
Because its own company does not produce it, Nanwan Group still strongly supports the production of forklifts in Wahou.
Many of the engine and hydraulic system technologies they learned from Soviet trucks have been applied to forklifts, making the series of forklifts produced by Wahou Machinery Factory no less technologically advanced than those of the industry leader Liugong.
Although the Jiangwei 70 motorcycle is still in production, the annual output is only 20,000 to 30,000 units, supported by a relatively low selling price.
Wan Feng once asked Luan Changyuan if Wahou still wanted to produce motorcycles, he could transfer the AX100 production line over there.
The AX100 can still be sold for about five years.
Luan Changyuan didn't dare to make a decision and was discussing it with the people from the Wahou team.
Lu Changning nodded: "That's what happened. Please continue."
"Around 1984, I returned to Longjiang to study. After graduation, my family moved to Beiliao and founded the Nanwan Factory. Initially, we produced a "four-legged" vehicle, also a kind of agricultural vehicle. In 1985, when I arrived in Changchun, I unexpectedly learned that a company in Changchun had imported an assembly line and product drawings for the AX100 motorcycle and was selling them. I changed my mind and borrowed money to buy the assembly line. After the Nanwan Factory was established, we began to tinker with the production of the AX100 motorcycle. I think it was launched in 1987."
Some of the attendees nodded, and some of them still remembered the AX100 motorcycle that appeared on the market in 1987.
"Between 1986 and 1988, I engaged in barter trade with the Soviets in Heihe. At the time, the Soviet Union was in chaos and supplies were scarce. I used barter to obtain a large amount of truck information, actual vehicles, and blueprints from the Soviets. These acquisitions significantly aided our later truck manufacturing efforts. When we were making motorcycles, we were planning to enter the truck market in the future. Therefore, over those years, we systematically disassembled, analyzed, improved, and optimized these Soviet trucks, developing our own unique technical style and possessing our own intellectual property. It can be said that the small dump truck and two truck models produced by Nanwan Automobile are all derived from Soviet models such as KAMAZ and MAZ."
"Do the two trucks you produce have their own intellectual property rights?" someone asked again.
Although intellectual property was just a term in 1994, owning it still enhances a company's status.
"Nanwan Motors can proudly say that our trucks have their own independent intellectual property rights. We hold more than 2,100 patents for various trucks, covering engines, gearboxes, transmission systems and other auxiliary equipment."
Many people present exchanged glances.
This South Bay car gave them a special feeling of novelty and surprise.
"Go on."
"I think it was around 1992. Sorry, I might be a little confused about the years. I really can't remember exactly."
"No problem, just tell me what you want to say."
"A worker in our factory asked me if we could use a 480 diesel engine to build a car that could haul goods. So we designed and built that truck ourselves."
"So, using this pickup truck as an opportunity, you're planning to enter the sedan market?"
Wan Feng shook his head: "Not yet at that time. The idea of producing cars came about in 1991 or 1992. I don't remember it clearly. It was the year when the Japanese stock market collapsed. I have a trading partner in Xianggang, Juchuang Group. Juchuang Group is engaged in real estate. I have several friends in Shenzhen. The predecessor of Juchuang Group was engaged in trade in the 1970s and 1980s, and later switched to real estate. The president of Juchuang Group has a daughter who graduated from studying in the United States and took over the original trading company of Juchuang Group. She and I have some business dealings. She has a Japanese friend named Kazuko Asada. Once I went to Xianggang to discuss trade, and it happened that Kazuko Asada was in Xianggang. We met by chance. During the chat, I learned that Kazuko Asada's father was the chief design engineer of a Japanese micro-car company called Hengbida Co., Ltd."
The name Hengbida was very unfamiliar to the participants, and no one had heard of it.
"Asada Kazuko said Hengbida had gone bankrupt and her father was unemployed and at home. I thought it was an opportunity, so I bought all of Hengbida's equipment and assembly line drawings, including its patents, through Juchuang Trading."
This statement is quite shocking. It is unexpected that this private enterprise actually possesses Japanese technology, not just one aspect but the entire set, even including the other party's patents.
No wonder they dare to build cars.
Lu Changning's eyes lit up: "You bought everything in their company?"
"It's just that I can't take the factory away. Otherwise, I would have bought it back too."
"Comrade Wan Feng, please introduce Hengbida. We have never heard of this name."
Wan Feng is now like a professor answering students' questions in class, or a storyteller telling stories to a group of people.
"In addition to well-known car companies such as Toyota, Honda, Nissan, and Mitsubishi, Japan also has hundreds of lesser-known or even unknown small and medium-sized car companies. Hengbida is one such company. They specialize in mini cars with a displacement of less than 1.0 in Japan."
“What kind of cars have they made?”
These people have some understanding of Japan's enthusiasm for making small cars.
"There are three models in total. One is a 1.0-liter microvan, which is the prototype of the Light of Happiness that Nanwan Motors is currently producing. There are also two microcars with 0.6 and 0.8-liter displacements. The microcar we are applying for is a modified version of the 0.8-liter microcar."
"So the microcar you're applying for now uses Japanese technology?"
"It's not all Japanese technology. We have our own unique ideas in it. Our company never copies anything exactly. We always analyze and disassemble it to come up with a better solution."
Lu Changning leaned back in his chair and fell into deep thought.
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