Rebirth 99 to become a car giant.

Chapter 162 Aisin starts to take action

Spring City Automobile Group has a good relationship with Aisin.

After all, Aisin's major shareholders Toyota Motor and Spring City Motor jointly formed Spring City Toyota.

Therefore, through Spring City Motors, Aisin successfully obtained a Nanshan 6AT sample.

Although Aisin's R&D center is in Japan, they already have a factory in China with certain gearbox testing and testing capabilities.

The 6AT in Nanshan was quickly dismantled by Aisin technicians.

Then some basic technical parameters began to appear continuously.

As a result, things immediately became serious.

"Minister, judging from the current analysis by the Technology Department, the structure of Nanshan's 6AT is not quite the same as our 6AT. At least they are not directly copying our 6AT."

"This situation is worse than we expected."

Zhang Hao would rather see Nanshan 6AT copy Aisin 6AT.

That way, regardless of whether the lawsuit can be won, at least Nanshan will not really bring too much competitive pressure to Aisin.

But the current situation is developing in the worst direction.

Nanshan 6AT is independently developed and is different from the 6AT of Aisin and ZF.

This would be troublesome.

"The technical department is currently only comparing our own products with ZF's products. Is it possible that Nanshan 6AT copied Honda 6AT or another manufacturer's 6AT?"

Saburo Sato was still a little reluctant to believe the analysis report shared by the technical department.

This will make the work of Aisin China Sales Department passive.

During this time, Sato clearly felt that the attitude of those customers towards him had changed.

When I'm on the phone, the tone of the other person's words is obviously different.

During this period, various car companies frequently visited Nanshan to discuss 6AT cooperation.

In addition, he saw reports on Nanshan 6AT on China TV a few days ago, and Sato became even more anxious.

"Whether this is the case will be confirmed soon."

"The technical department has sent relevant analysis data to the headquarters research center."

"They have dedicated people there to do industry comparisons. Whether it is ZF or JATCO, or the 6AT developed by Ford and Honda, some people are familiar with it."

"However, both Ford and General Motors have chosen to cooperate with them. I think it is very likely that Nanshan has really independently developed its own 6AT."

"This is a little hard to accept, but it's probably true."

When Zhang Hao said this, his mood was quite complicated.

After graduating from college, he joined Aisin.

At Aisin, he fully understood the gap between the domestic gearbox industry and international giants.

Deep down in his heart, he actually hopes that some domestic company will rise.

It's just that in the past few years, no one has given him hope.

Now Nanshan stands out, but it immediately threatens Aisin's living space in China.

This directly affects his income and bonus.

"Nanshan just hired a professor from Beijing Institute of Technology who studies gearboxes. Did it produce results so quickly?"

"I asked a professor at Huaqing University to find out that although the vehicle engineering major at Beijing Institute of Technology is very good, the research on automatic transmission of passenger cars is actually just like that."

"So far, in the laboratory of BIT, only an AMT gearbox has been actually used in commercial vehicles."

"How is it possible to come up with a 6AT that can be commercialized and mass-produced so quickly?"

Saburo Sato also has a detailed understanding of Nanshan Technology Co., Ltd.

In his opinion, Nanshan cannot spend too long researching in the field of gearboxes.

The biggest possibility is that Ji Hua brought technology from Beijing Institute of Technology.

But this logic doesn't seem to make sense.

"Minister, I think the most important thing now is not to confirm where Nanshan's 6AT technology comes from, but to confirm whether Nanshan's 6AT is really what they advertise and is better than our and ZF's product technologies. It’s better and cheaper.”

"If this is the case, then we will be in big trouble."

When Zhang Hao said this, Saburo Sato's heart sank.

The last thing you want to see seems to be happening.

"I'll urge the headquarters to see when they can come up with the final results."

"At the same time, we also need to discuss with the sales headquarters to see what the next step should be."

"No matter what the level of Nanshan's 6AT is, we certainly cannot let them develop."

Sato Saburo quickly made a decision in his mind.

Along with Aisin China's actions, a meeting was also being held at the Aisin headquarters in Kyoto, Japan.

"Judging from the current analysis, there is no obvious infringement of our patents by the other party. They have very cleverly circumvented our patents."

"Judging from the current experimental testing, the fuel economy of this gearbox is very good, and the cooling system is also very cleverly designed."

"As long as there are no problems with reliability, it will be the best among all 6ATs currently."

Okumura, the head of the Aisin Sales Headquarters, looked very ugly when he heard the speech of R&D Director Hiroyuki Nakazawa.

When the sales director of the Huaxia branch reported to him about the Nanshan 6AT, he didn't take it seriously at all.

Although Nakazawa Hiroyuki didn't know that Okumura had heard of Nanshan 6AT earlier.

But Okumura was still in a bad mood.

"Director Nakazawa, didn't you analyze before that China would never be able to produce an automatic transmission that can compete with the world's first-class automatic transmissions?"

"Why did the situation change so quickly?"

Okumura felt that Nakazawa’s previous words had been misunderstood.

Otherwise, when Aisin was planning to set up a factory in China, he probably would not have voted in favor.

"Under normal circumstances, it would take a long time for Chinese people to figure out the heat dissipation system and cooling system of the automatic transmission, let alone the control system."

"Up to now, I also feel that it is impossible for other Chinese companies to produce qualified 6AT."

"This Nanshan is an accident."

"They have very deep technical accumulation in fields such as bearings and bolts, and then they invited senior transmission experts from China, who happened to have some experience in control systems."

"Many factors coincided together to create this situation."

Hiroyuki Nakazawa also heard the meaning behind Okumura's words.

Although Okumura is a director of Aisin, his status is higher than that of his R&D director.

But everyone is not on the same page, and Zhongze is not afraid of him.

"I don't care so much, I just want to know if China's Nanshan Technology Co., Ltd. will really pose a threat to us?"

"Many customers from China have now begun to seek cooperation with Nanshan, which is very detrimental to our development in China."

"What's even more troublesome is that they're at Ford and General Motors, and they're already affecting us."

"If the situation is allowed to develop like this, we will be in big trouble."

Okumura feels that this responsibility for research and development must be shouldered.

If any West China company can produce a 6AT that is better than Aisin, it must be because the products originally developed are not competitive enough.

"Director Okumura, I suggest that the company treats Nanshan as an opponent like ZF."

"The best thing is to find ways to suppress them before they have officially developed."

"Otherwise, the situation will be more troublesome in the future."

"In this regard, you can also communicate with ZF and JATCO personnel to see how everyone can act together."

Nakazawa's words made Okumura feel cold.

Did he really underestimate Nanshan before?

……

"Mr. Wang, people from Aisin took the initiative to contact us and said that their 4AT can be matched with our H3 model, and they will make some special adjustments to the 3-liter four-cylinder naturally aspirated engine used in the H2.4 to make it more efficient. Good use of strengths.”

Wei Qiang had just finished answering a phone call and came to General Manager Wang Ying's office.

"And they also said that the 4AT automatic transmission will further reflect the effect of localization and give us an unprecedented preferential price."

H3 is an SUV model that Great Wall Motors has high hopes for.

Great Wall Motors also attaches great importance internally to the gearbox installed on this car.

Otherwise, Wang Ying would not have personally led a team to Nanshan to inspect and seek cooperation some time ago.

"Aisin now knows that the price will be reduced?"

"Why did you go early?"

Wang Ying is very smart and naturally knows the important reason for Ae Shin's sudden change in attitude.

"Nanshan 6AT has become completely famous in the domestic automobile industry during this period."

“Even Ford and General Motors have endorsed their technology.”

"Domestic GM and Changan Ford have confirmed that they will use Nanshan 6AT, and many other car companies will also launch models equipped with Nanshan 6AT next year."

"It would be weird if Ae-shin doesn't react at all."

Wei Qiang is quite satisfied with the current situation.

I didn’t expect that Aixin would bow down to him one day.

“How low are they willing to lower their prices now?”

"9980 yuan, this is their current informal quotation."

"It's a full 2000 yuan lower than before. It's really too dark."

"For a 4AT automatic transmission, they originally earned at least 3000 yuan, or even more."

Speaking of this, Wei Qiang's heart was bleeding.

Great Wall Motors only earns a few thousand yuan by selling an H3.

Nowadays, one gearbox costs so much money.

Although the price has been reduced, the profit inside is definitely quite a lot.

"So, isn't their 4AT price more expensive than Nanshan's 6AT?"

Wang Ying was obviously dissatisfied with the price.

Although Aisin is more well-known, the brand premium should not be that much.

"Nanshan's 6AT will cost 1 yuan if the annual purchase volume is less than 5 units. If the purchase volume reaches 9500 units, the price can be reduced to [-] yuan per unit."

"When the purchase scale reaches 10 units, the price is 9000 yuan."

"As for the annual purchase of more than 20 units, the price can reach 8500, which has no reference significance for us."

Obviously, at this stage, Nanshan is not suitable to offer domestic OEMs a lower price than Ford or General Motors.

Especially when the number of units purchased is small, it is natural that the price will be higher.

If the number of units purchased can be close to Ford's, Nanshan will not sell it at a high price.

"We estimate that we won't be able to achieve 10 units next year, but there is still hope for 5 units by then."

"After calculation, Nanshan's 6AT is still cheaper than Aisin's 4AT."

"Did Aisin say how much their 6AT costs?"

The international auto parts giant obviously has a relatively high status in the minds of many people.

If the prices are similar, Wang Ying would prefer to use Aisin's gearbox.

This is more conducive to the promotion of cars.

"They don't have much intention to sell 6AT. Even if they want to sell it, the price will definitely be above [-]."

When Wei Qiang said this, Wang Ying gave up.

"Then use Nanshan's 6AT. Aisin's side, there's no need to reply to them for the time being."

"Unless their 4AT can be priced below 8000 yuan, we will not consider it."

……

Spring City Automobile Group.

"I've been studying for more than a month, but there's still no progress?"

Zhu Zhengfeng looked at Chang Lei a little dissatisfied.

As the first automobile company in China, they have not been able to produce decent engines and gearboxes until now. This is something that Zhu Zhengfeng cannot accept.

Especially automatic transmissions, this project has been studied internally by Spring City Automobile Group for a long time.

But so far, let alone 6AT, I haven’t even copied Aisin’s 4AT clearly.

Either there was overheating during the test, there was lag in shifting, or the endurance test failed.

Anyway, Spring City Automobile Group just didn't understand the automatic transmission that didn't have many components when it was disassembled.

"Mr. Zhu, the technology of Nanshan 6AT is very unique. Unless we have their complete drawings and obtain all the software from TCU, it will be impossible to copy it in a short time."

“The institute discovered a problem during the analysis process, that is, the bearings used by Nanshan 6AT are very special and should be specially designed for this 6AT.

"Even if you randomly replace a SKF or NTN bearing that seems to be about the same size in all aspects, the performance of the gearbox will change greatly."

"I think we should purchase a batch of 6AT from Nanshan first, and we will learn slowly in the process."

"In a few years, maybe we'll figure it out."

"Anyway, the 6AT automatic transmission should not be outdated even in the next ten years."

Chang Lei could only comfort himself like this.

Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to find a better way.

China has been working on it for so many years but still can't figure out the automatic transmission. This is not the problem of Spring City Automotive Research Institute alone.

“Isn’t Spring City Toyota using Aisin’s gearbox?”

"We will contact Aisin and Nanshan to see which of them is willing to set up a joint venture with us to produce gearboxes."

"We can't always buy our gearboxes from outsiders."

Zhu Zhengfeng is relatively dissatisfied with the current situation of Spring City Automobile Group.

But he didn't have many ways to change him.

These are problems that have accumulated over decades.

It can be said that it is hard to come back.

Unless he has the courage to burn all boats to reform.