Development Route Planning

Chapter 17: Development Route Planning

With the work assigned, Xu Yifan's tasks were essentially complete.

Returning to his office, Xu Yifan relaxed on the guest sofa and instructed, "Secretary Lin, please make me a cup of tea!"

"Certainly, boss."

The beautiful female secretary quickly brought over a cup of brewed tea and placed it on the small coffee table beside him.

"Alright, you can go rest now. Please close the door on your way out," Xu Yifan said, waving his hand.

The pretty female secretary turned and left, closing the factory director's office door.

She then proceeded to the adjacent finance office, where a desk had been specifically set up for her.

Generally, Lin Wanxia had very little work to do, spending most of her day at this desk.

She didn't need to handle any company matters, mostly acting as a messenger or running errands.

Sitting at her workstation and watching the finance staff busily working under Xu Yifan's orders, Lin Wanxia murmured softly to herself, "I feel like I'm just a decorative vase..."

However, it had been two to three months since she'd been hired as a decorative vase, and the handsome boss, who was around her age, hadn't made any inappropriate advances.

"That in itself is inappropriate!" she said indignantly, her beautiful eyes flashing with anger.

"Ever since I was in school, I've always been the class beauty or the campus belle."

After her anger subsided, she couldn't help but laugh wryly, "When I applied for this job, I was worried about facing workplace harassment.

Haha, I don't even have the chance to be harassed!"

He was handsome, rich, and a perfect example of a rich second generation. More importantly, his capabilities seemed immense; he hadn't made a move until now, but with one action, he had revived a defunct factory.

If she could marry him, she'd be marrying into a wealthy family!

Calling him a prince charming wouldn't be an exaggeration!

"When I dress up, I can feel his gaze on me."

With a sigh, Lin Wanxia opened her laptop and immersed herself in watching dramas.

One-sided affection.

Next door, Xu Yifan, completely unaware of his secretary's thoughts, leisurely drank his tea and pondered the company's affairs.

Of course, even if he had known about his secretary's thoughts, he would have just smiled indifferently.

While the secretary was aesthetically pleasing and a delight to look at every day, he believed in separating work and life. Having lived another life, he wasn't considering marriage or relationships until he had had his fill of fun!

After leisurely finishing his cup of tea and lying on the sofa, he had sorted out his thoughts.

He had identified the company's current problems and how to solve them.

The company's HR department was working overtime, but even with the expanded staff, they could only produce sixty to seventy Jiuzhou Minis per day at most.

Given the current nearly empty market, there was still a significant demand gap.

"Producing and selling only sixty to seventy units a day, a monthly output of just over two thousand units..."

He chuckled at his own thought, Xu Yifan felt a slight sense of nostalgia.

When did a car model with an annual sales volume of around twenty thousand units become so casually mentioned!

Twenty thousand annual sales wasn't a bestseller, but it certainly wasn't a flop either; it occupied a middle ground.

While it couldn't compare to popular models selling tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands per month, it was enough for this small factory to live comfortably.

This was the advantage of a different market segment, a vast blue ocean where they had such a huge edge.

Major automotive brands weren't targeting this niche with little profit.

For joint venture companies, instead of manufacturing these cheap "Old Man Happy" vehicles, They would rather spend their time building a proper joint venture car and selling it in the market, making tens of thousands, or even tens of thousands of profits easily!

Didn't you see how joint venture models, which were expensive now, would drastically drop in price more than a decade later? It was common for them to drop by fifty to sixty thousand, or seventy to eighty thousand, with even models priced over a hundred thousand!

Not to mention luxury brands, which saw price drops of one to two hundred thousand.

Even French brands, once incredibly popular and sought after, could offer a C6 for twelve thousand that was originally much higher, and a C3XR for just over fifty thousand.

While significant price reductions were partly due to government and corporate subsidies, official subsidies only accounted for a portion.

Since the selling price could be halved, and other joint venture brands could also reduce prices by tens of thousands, one could understand how substantial the profits were.

This was also a major reason why many joint venture brands flocked to the Chinese market; it was profitable, pure cash, practically like stealing money!

The entire market was like a giant health pack, with many joint venture brands feasting on it, while domestic brands could only scavenge for scraps.

Internal combustion engine vehicles were the mainstream battlefield, occupied by joint venture brands with absolute dominance.

Why would they bother with the insignificant "mosquito leg" that was the "Old Man Happy"?

Or perhaps the national conditions are different, and this niche market hasn't been noticed?

However, no matter what, this presents a huge opportunity for Jiuzhou Automobile Factory.

The current market is a vast blue ocean with virtually no decent competitors.

As long as they can capture the entire Old Man Happy market share, even if the profit per unit isn't high, the entire market is worth tens of millions, still generating a massive income.

After maintaining a good reputation and dominating the Old Man Happy market, they can then forcefully enter the new energy vehicle sector, crushing traditional Joint Ventures, imported cars, and even Domestic brands!

Developing and growing stronger step by step is much better than directly confronting Joint Venture brands head-on.

Of course, this is only possible because Xu Yifan understands the automotive market changes over the next decade or so and has the system to support him.

With fuel vehicles dominating the market now, most ordinary companies lack foresight.

BYD has it, which is why they started with a poor reputation for fuel vehicles, accumulated battery technology, and then, when switching tracks to the new energy sector, soared to become the strongest new energy vehicle company in the future.

Tesla has it too, which is why it could rise from an unknown small factory to become the representative of high-end electric vehicles, even rivaling BYD for a time.

The Daxia government also has this foresight, which is why they implemented a series of subsidies related to new energy.

Although this led to some companies engaging in subsidy fraud, it revitalized the entire market and nurtured a series of supporting new energy-related enterprises, battery companies, and so on.

Without the system's help, Xu Yifan's path wouldn't necessarily be easy.

To capture the entire market with tens of millions of vehicles in circulation, it's naturally impossible for the current Jiuzhou Automobile Factory to achieve this.

With a production line capable of around 20,000 units per year, it would take over a thousand years to satisfy a market of tens of millions.

Not to mention the car replacement wave that occurs roughly every decade.

The solution for now is something Xu Yifan has already considered.

Either increase production lines or find someone else to do the manufacturing.

Setting up production lines is feasible, but it's not something the current Jiuzhou Automobile Factory can accomplish in a short period to expand capacity.

With billions in investment capital lacking and skilled workers requiring significant time to train.

Even with Jiuzhou Automobile Factory's current approach of hiring a large number of workers and mixing experienced and newly trained personnel, where veteran employees handle complex tasks and new employees learn by doing simpler ones, it would still take about a week for production to show initial results.

Xu Yifan can't wait for this slow development, so only one option remains: find someone for contract manufacturing!

Possessing unique core patents and technological advantages to ensure a gap with later brands and maintain competitiveness.

"Since that's the case, we must possess our own core technology."

Sitting on the sofa, having clarified the factory's future development focus, Xu Yifan's mind stirred, and he summoned the system panel.

Jiuzhou's development still requires its own core technology, something that sets it apart from other companies.

[Super Factory System: Level 1]
[Funds: 3.08 million]
[Buildings: Production Workshop Lv.1, R&D Center Lv.1, Battery R&D Center Lv.1, Employee Dormitory Lv.1, Canteen Lv.1, Warehouse Lv.1, Office Building Lv.2.]
[Employees: 156 (Satisfaction: 64%)]
[Products: Jiuzhou Mini (Old Man Happy) (Production Technology: Average) (Product Quality: Average) (Annual Output: Over 20,000)]
[Technology: None (Trash company with no core technology!)]