"You're not planning to imitate Jiuzhou Mini and make your own products, are you?"
Hearing the young man across from him spell out exactly what he was doing, Wei Xiaojun instinctively wanted to deny it.
I'm not. I didn't. Don't make things up!
But then he thought about how the two factories would become competitors anyway. It was only a matter of time before the other side found out.
Besides, they were right there in his own factory. Was he going to let them get the upper hand?
So he admitted it outright. "It's called taking inspiration. Our two cars don't even have the same body. In the auto business, how can you call that imitation or plagiarism?"
"Since we've laid everything out, there's no harm in speaking frankly."
"You make cars too. Every new car factory has done this sort of thing. It's perfectly normal. If your factory's product sells well, you should expect this to happen."
"There's nothing we can do. Your factory didn't take the whole market, so you can't blame us for coming in and taking a share."
Wei Xiaojun wore a broad smile, utterly untroubled.
To openly admit to imitating their product right to their faces and act as if it were perfectly reasonable—one word: satisfying!
He'd expected to see panic on the two young people's faces, or perhaps to hear them beg him to manufacture the cars for their factory.
But when Wei Xiaojun looked at them, he saw not a trace of fear.
His smile turned awkward.
"Very good. Quite impressive!"
Xu Yifan spoke calmly.
Then he looked at Wei Xiaojun and shook his head, his expression full of pity. "Unfortunately, our factory is different. We're no longer afraid of other factories copying us. Take my advice: it'd be best not to enter the low-speed electric vehicle market."
"Consider it a warning. You don't want to watch what little capital you have go down the drain, only to end up with a car that nobody will buy!"
The young man's confidence—and the way he pitied Wei Xiaojun instead of fearing the competition—left Wei Xiaojun feeling strangely unsure of himself.
The pretty woman standing beside him hadn't shown the slightest hint of nervousness either.
At first, Wei Xiaojun had planned to ignore them. Whether they were angry or helplessly pleading, he could simply wave them away and return to his office to get dinner.
But now, he hesitated.
After a moment of silence, he asked quietly, "What do you mean by that?"
Xu Yifan smiled, but his words grew even sharper. "That's all? You're taking it this calmly?"
"I came here to save your factory. If things keep going the way they are, do you believe your factory could be at risk of going bankrupt within three months?"
"We're competitors. Enemies understand each other best. Since you could think of copying our product, do you really think I wouldn't have anticipated it?"
"Do you know why I haven't rushed to expand production capacity? We've already got orders lined up three months in advance. So why haven't I?"
The barrage of questions left Wei Xiaojun rooted to the spot, his expression shifting from one moment to the next.
Xu Yifan asked one final question. "Would you be interested in discussing this in your office? I've got a surprise to show you."
Wei Xiaojun's thoughts were in turmoil. He'd believed low-speed electric vehicles would be Xichuan Automobile Factory's chance to rise to prominence. But now, it seemed that might not be the case.
Was this young man trying to scare him?
Was he deliberately putting out a smokescreen to shake their resolve to build low-speed electric vehicles?
It was just selling cars. Surely they weren't going to use bluffing tactics from the Thirty-Six Stratagems?
Still, if it was a bluff, these two young people were excellent actors!
Perhaps he could talk to them a little longer and find out more. If they were lying, the more they said, the more likely they were to make a mistake. Then he'd be able to tell whether they were genuinely confident or just bluffing.
And if what they said was true, talking with them could help him minimize his losses.
Having made up his mind, Wei Xiaojun gestured for them to come in.
"Please!"
The office door opened, revealing a room no better than Xu Yifan's own.
Wei Xiaojun sat behind his desk. Xu Yifan took a seat nearby, while the pretty secretary stood behind him.
There was no beautiful secretary bearing fragrant tea. In fact, there wasn't even a glass of water!
After they had sat down, Wei Xiaojun impatiently asked, "Now, can you explain exactly what you meant?"
"What do you mean, you're not afraid of imitation? Why are you so sure our factory will go bankrupt?"
Xu Yifan shook his head and sighed. "You don't even have a cup of tea. Sigh, I don't feel like talking."
Wei Xiaojun got straight to the point. "You came here to ask us to manufacture your cars, didn't you? Give me a reason. If what you say makes sense, a partnership isn't out of the question."
"Fine, forget the tea. I'll explain it all to you." Xu Yifan straightened up and spoke seriously.
"Whether other companies would imitate our products was something I considered from the very beginning, when I first made these low-speed electric vehicles, which aren't particularly advanced technologically. I came to the conclusion that they definitely would."
"The market is there, and your product is selling well. Naturally, similar products will appear. That's how the market works. Even if you have patents on the design and other features, countless companies will still find ways around them."
"The established automakers have already shown us how to deal with this: develop core technologies of our own—technologies other companies can't imitate—and make our products more competitive. When consumers compare them with a competitor's product, better technology will make them choose ours!"
After listening closely to Xu Yifan, Wei Xiaojun kept his expression neutral and asked coolly, "Are you done? I already know all that."
Xu Yifan smiled. "Don't rush me."
"Jiuzhou Automobile Factory didn't have any core technology before, so all we could make were cars like Jiuzhou Mini. But things are different now. We have core technology of our own!"
"Since we've made low-speed electric vehicles, we know all their strengths and weaknesses. They have plenty of advantages: they don't need gasoline, and you can drive them without a license. But their biggest weakness is that the current Jiuzhou Mini uses Lead-Acid Batteries."
At this point, Xu Yifan smiled at Wei Xiaojun. "If nothing unexpected has happened, your factory will be using the same setup, right?"
Wei Xiaojun didn't deny it. He simply confirmed, "Yes."
As Xu Yifan had expected, most car manufacturers would use Lead-Acid Batteries. They were cheaper to buy than lithium batteries, and there were more of them available.
Besides, lithium batteries weren't nearly as common now as they would be in the future. Whether for two-wheeled electric vehicles or these small low-speed electric cars, Lead-Acid Batteries were the standard.
Xu Yifan continued, "The battery is the biggest weakness of these low-speed electric vehicles. An ordinary Lead-Acid Battery lasts about two years, and replacing one costs several thousand yuan."
"For a low-priced car, that's a fatal drawback. Aside from some consumers who aren't sensitive to price, many are put off by it."
"To be honest, our Sales Department's market research shows that sixty percent of consumers who want to buy a car have decided against it because the Lead-Acid Battery needs replacing roughly every two years. Without this battery issue, consumers would have far fewer concerns."
Ever since electric vehicles had started to gain attention, people online had been saying that they saved on fuel but didn't save money, since the cost of replacing the battery could cover a lot of driving with gasoline. This had become one of the main reasons many potential buyers changed their minds.
Finally, Xu Yifan looked at Wei Xiaojun and asked, "If there were a low-speed electric vehicle whose battery capacity wouldn't suffer serious degradation, so you wouldn't need to replace the battery—and the brand was also the first to bring low-speed electric vehicles to market, the mini electric car made by Jiuzhou Automobile Factory—"
"You're a consumer. What would you choose?"
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