Chapter 50 The Rout: A Mutual Ending

In the six months since Yang Rong was out, the receiving team seemed to have stabilized the possible chaos. The "Four King Kongs" remained in office, the "Zhonghua" car was officially launched, and they even successfully solved the "foundation problem" that made Yang Rong sleepless. In December 2002, the Ministry of Finance approved Brilliance Group to purchase 1.44 billion shares of Brilliance China held by the China Financial Education Development Foundation for 144 million Hong Kong dollars. The sales of "Zhonghua" cars did not seem to have been greatly affected. Within 4 months after its launch, 8,000 cars were sold. In 2003, 25,000 cars were sold, and the pre-tax profit was 20 million yuan.

In terms of strategic layout, Brilliance after Yang Rong showed a rapid and comprehensive return to Liaoning Province.In addition to the Ningbo Rover project that was forcibly terminated, the Renault project in Xiaogan, Hubei was also stranded. At that time, the models to be introduced had been selected and all engineering and technical personnel were in place.At the same time, Brilliance has adjusted the suppliers of parts and components. Manufacturers outside Liaoning Province have been thrown away, and a number of parts factories in the province have been re-established.The goal of the Liaoning provincial government is very firm. With Brilliance as the core, it will drive the auto parts enterprises in Dalian, Jinzhou, Dandong and other areas.

What happened next was something no one wanted to see. Just as Yang Rong predicted a few years ago, China's family car market has really reached the era of blowout. In 2002, China's car sales increased by 56% year-on-year, and in 2003 the growth rate further rose to 65%.However, in this rapidly expanding market, Brilliance's footsteps have gradually slowed down. In 2004, the sales volume of "Zhonghua" cars dropped rapidly to 10,900 units, a year-on-year decrease of 15%, with an operating loss of 600 million yuan.The sales volume of Jinbei "Sea Lion" was 61,000, a year-on-year decrease of 18%. It lost the national sales champion that had been maintained for 5 years.In the two major markets of light buses and cars, Jinbei's share is shrinking day by day, and its marginal profit is decreasing year by year.The fate of the car project hangs in the "China" vein. Due to lack of follow-up financial support, slow technological improvement, and single model models, it is simply unable to compete directly with multinational brands.

Many joint venture projects in the Yang Rong era were also unsustainable, and none of the "five golden flowers" bloomed: the Chevrolet truck and SUV projects cooperated with American GM have been in a state of loss, and were integrated by Shanghai GM in 2004; The company's Austin taxi production project also fell through due to the termination of the contract by the Chinese party, and the 70 million yuan mold fee paid could not be recovered; the joint venture with BMW to produce BMW 3 series and 5 series projects has been troubled by sales. In 2003 In 2004, BMW Brilliance lost 250 million yuan after its establishment for half a year. In 2004, it continued to lose nearly 400 million yuan. The Chinese party finally gave up the leading right in the joint venture company.

At this time, Brilliance is like a drawing board whose theme has been tampered with in half, and the situation is awkward and at a loss.The "Four King Kongs" entrusted with important tasks have not shown convincing operational management capabilities.An analyst at Peking University's vertical management company believes: "They don't understand Yang Rong's chess thoroughly, and they have to consider the issue of interest relations with the government, so they can't concentrate on running the company." In 2004, Brilliance China The profit dropped from 900 million yuan three years ago to 48.6 million yuan. The drop was astonishing. The blueprint plan that Su Qiang made in Beijing two years ago seemed like a nightmare.Under the circumstances of weak restructuring, the "Four Diamonds" began to consider their own interests. They sold their corporate equity twice in 2003 and 2004 respectively, and cashed out a total of 330 million Hong Kong dollars before and after.

After the news was exposed, investors panicked, and the stock price of "Brilliance Group" plummeted. At the end of 2004, Su Qiang and Wu Xiaoan were replaced; one year later, the "Four King Kong" all left Brilliance.Also in December of this year, PricewaterhouseCoopers, one of the world's four major accounting firms, suddenly "resolutely resigned" as an auditor of Brilliance. In the first half of 2005, Brilliance Auto released a loss report, reporting a half-year loss of 299 million yuan. In September, a reporter from the "Capital Market" magazine went to Shenyang for an interview, but they couldn't find where the office of Brilliance's headquarters was located.An official from the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Liaoning Province said that Brilliance Automobile Group is a Sino-foreign joint venture, not a state-owned enterprise, and does not fall under their jurisdiction; while an official from the Economic and Trade Commission said that it is not clear which department Brilliance Automobile belongs to, so they cannot provide information.By the end of 2005, the top management of Brilliance had changed four times in more than three years.

Turning the time to 2006, in the Chinese auto market, Brilliance, which has become a sick body, is no longer the "Chinese" warrior who dares to compete with multinational brands. Its profitability has been declining year after year, and its financial situation is deteriorating day by day. In January, Qi Yumin, vice mayor of Dalian, became chairman of Brilliance Holdings.He said: "When I came, Brilliance lost nearly 400 million yuan, and the production status of the factory was almost at a standstill. I came to Brilliance in a daze. After I came, it was like falling into a pit of fire." Reborn, he reorganized parts suppliers, launched a new Junjie car, and successfully raised 1.5 billion yuan in Hong Kong.However, there is a long way to go for Brilliance to truly regain its glory.According to Brilliance China's data, in 2002, the company sold more than 200 million US dollars of convertible bonds, with a conversion price of 4 yuan, due in 2008.And the company's stock price hovered below 2 yuan for a long time.If Brilliance's stock price cannot recover to 4 yuan per share in 2008, this alone will bear the repayment pressure of 2 billion yuan.In terms of independent innovation of automobiles, Li Shufu and his Geely company, who came from the grassroots, have already replaced Yang Rong and "Zhonghua" cars as the standard bearers of the new generation of domestic automobile brands.

A majestic and majestic game of chess has been played into a bad game in just over two years.Success or failure is short-lived, and I don't know where to start. Yang Rong's "industry-finance" layout will be criticized in the future.Some people think that even if the "Foundation incident" does not happen, it will be difficult to deal with the situation in time.However, at least when he left, it was still a scene full of vitality.In the history of war and business, those masters who have turned the tide and achieved dominance for a lifetime often have strange and unexpected thoughts and actions, and what they rely on is actually only the word "general trend".The so-called general trend, broadly speaking, is the trend of the times and industry trends, specifically speaking, it is the momentum of military strategists and entrepreneurs.If his qi is like a rainbow, he can gather his qi to form a momentum, which is unstoppable.The tragedy of Yang Rong was that he was suddenly squeezed out when his aura gradually gathered.This is like a peerless master who was forced to leave the field after playing more than half of his moves. His successors may not be able to continue even if their skills are only slightly inferior.What's more, that group of people still had their own ideas and refused to do their best.

In August 2005, Yang Rong accepted an overseas interview by "Chinese Entrepreneur".Reflecting on the cause and effect, he said: "I really didn't expect that putting the project in Ningbo would cause so many troubles... If it was put in Dalian, nothing would happen." He also gently described the dispute over property rights a few years ago For a "misunderstanding": "Looking at the current Brilliance, I feel bad. Although there was a big misunderstanding by accident, I believe that the misunderstanding is almost explained today. If there is a chance, I can come back I think this position will be a win-win situation. Of course, this is my personal wish, and the perfect result depends on the sincerity of both parties.” This entrepreneur who “mistakenly entered” the auto industry from the capital circle still has unforgettable memories of Brilliance and Auto : "To tell you the truth, to stop slipping for this enterprise now requires more than ordinary means, the cost is very high, and the possibility of being saved is only one percent. So should I advance or retreat towards Brilliance? Considering my own physical and mental health, I can stay away from Brilliance, and still have a clean name. But if I really have the opportunity to take over Brilliance, I will not look back. I would rather lose my life and life, but also save its "Waterloo". .”

As a creator, Brilliance has surpassed the meaning of career, money and even honor to Yang Rong, and it seems to be his life itself.This subtle and inexpressible complex is difficult for people outside the entrepreneurial community to fully understand.However, in China's political and business atmosphere, the probability of Yang Rong being able to return to Brilliance is probably even lower than the probability of saving it. When Yang Rong said those sad and decisive words, he was already a devout Christian.In the "Bible Psalms", there is a long and sad poem: For people, life is like the grass in the mountains, like the flowers in the field, once so luxuriant.When the breeze blows past and away, the earth knows all has changed.

In the history of Chinese automobiles, Yang Rong and his Brilliance are like all the "flowers" that once bloomed and the "green grass" that once flourished.