Becoming a Russian Oligarch After Rebirth
Chapter 1135 - 967: New Investment_2

Chapter 1135: Chapter 967: New Investment_2

With the investment of several billion CNY from Joy City, Wang Ye might have already invested over ten billion CNY in Peng City, which is not a small amount.

Therefore, when Mayor Zhang thought about seeking more investment, he found it somewhat embarrassing to mention...

...

He felt too embarrassed to say it, but Wang Ye spoke up for him.

"Mayor Zhang, actually, I have another investment plan in China, and I’m considering which city to choose. Are you interested in hearing about it?" Wang Ye said with a beaming smile.

Mayor Zhang was extremely interested!

His eyes lit up immediately, and he said eagerly, "Please tell us, Mr. Mikhail! As long as you wish to invest in Peng City, our local government will definitely cooperate to the greatest extent, and we will offer the greatest sincerity we can!"

This project wasn’t an impromptu idea from Wang Ye, but had been planned for some time.

This is a project of the Russian Auto Group—building a large automobile production base in the country.

After all, starting last year, the three major brands of the Russian Auto Group, Land Rover Jaguar, and Volvo, began to officially enter the Chinese market in a big way.

However, since these three brands are foreign and produced abroad, they face a significant issue when sold domestically.

That is the high import tariffs!

With the addition of hefty transportation costs, a Land Rover that sells for 100,000 US dollars abroad would have to double its price in China just to break even...

This makes the price very high!

Although, given the positioning of Land Rover and Jaguar, selling for over a million is normal, as other luxury brands operate the same way.

In those years, domestically produced joint venture brands, including BBA, only brought over their lower-end models for joint production, while high-end models were always produced abroad and then imported.

So, the pricing of Land Rover Jaguar wasn’t unreasonable.

Moreover, during market promotion, there was a strong emphasis on Land Rover and Jaguar’s "British Royal lineage," and indeed, quite a few members of the European Royal Family and high-level figures from Russia were driving Land Rovers and Jaguars.

Hence, these two brands sold quite well after entering China, especially the Land Rover Range Rover; even at a high price of one or two million CNY, they still sold out!

However, Volvo was a bit awkward.

The brand was originally mid-range; although it was not a cheap Japanese car, it wasn’t very expensive abroad either.

Once in China, with tariffs and transportation costs, the price seemed a bit high, about the same as BBA.

But the brand didn’t have the influence that BBA had, so its sales were poor.

Kaja had discussed with Wang Ye a while ago about setting up a production base in China to localize Volvo.

But according to the regulations in China at the time, foreign automobile brands wanting to produce and sell domestically had to establish joint venture companies, and Chinese capital had to be the majority, only then could they localize production.

Kaja hesitated, as she didn’t really want to hand over the controlling stake to others; once she did, the decision-making power would be in someone else’s hands. She could only provide technology and capital, and only get a small portion of the profits, which seemed a bit unfair...

She had contacted several of China’s large automobile groups, including FAW Group, GAC Group, and Dongfeng, but these companies were quite demanding and gave strict joint venture terms.

They had no other choice; these companies already had good partners, so naturally they wouldn’t show much interest in the Russian Auto Group.

Those in the automobile industry knew that the three brands Land Rover Jaguar and Volvo had changed hands several times in recent years and were once on the brink of bankruptcy...

Now in the hands of the Russian Auto Group, what the future held was anybody’s guess.

So, during this trip back to his country, Wang Ye had planned to talk with the relevant departments before leaving to see if he could take a "shortcut."

That would mean having the Russian Auto Group set up a wholly-owned company, not cooperating with domestic enterprises, or at least having a dominant share in a joint venture.

Don’t think that Wang Ye was trying to "take advantage" by using the name of foreign investment to exploit policy loopholes.

He was not that kind of person.

Unlike other foreign investments, the distinguishing feature of Wang Ye’s investments in China was that the profits were not transferred abroad; rather, they were "digested" locally and reinvested.

He continued to expand his investment scale in China, created more job positions, and paid more taxes...

Therefore, it can be said that the money he earned in the country was quietly being fed back to the nation and its people!

Because it was so, Wang Ye could, without any guilt, ask the country for some special policies and treatment.

Since the plan was to build a manufacturing base, the decision was where to establish it.

Wang Ye originally wanted to build it in his hometown, the capital city of the province, as a way to contribute to its development.

But after going back for a visit, he felt that the timing wasn’t right because the capital city of the province was developing too slowly and completely lacked supporting enterprises.

If he insisted on locating the production base there, he would face various problems in the future.

So, after much consideration, he decided to choose Peng City, a place he was more familiar with.

At the very least, this city is a developed coastal economic city, and it boasts very comprehensive supporting enterprises, especially since GAC Group, a massive powerhouse, is located in Yangcheng.

The automobile production industry’s entire supply chain factories are all available!

Peng City is right next to Yangcheng, and can also utilize Yangcheng’s supporting enterprises.

...

If it hadn’t been for today’s encounter with Mayor Zhang, Wang Ye wouldn’t have specifically contacted Peng City’s officials but would have let Kaja and her team come over to discuss after returning to Moscow.

But since he met Mayor Zhang today and they got along quite well, Wang Ye decided to talk to him directly.

This was also why Wang Ye revealed his true identity to him.

Facing the expectant look of Mayor Zhang, Wang Ye calmly said,

"The Russian Auto Group company under my leadership is in the automobile business, and we plan to build a production base in the country to manufacture cars for the Asian market.

Currently, Peng City is one of the choices, and Yangcheng is also a good option."

In business negotiations, of course he wouldn’t directly commit to investing only in Peng City.

Indeed, Yangcheng was also within Wang Ye’s considerations, as it offered a wider area, more land availability, and it would be easier to acquire a sufficiently large industrial park.

Upon hearing this, Mayor Zhang became anxious. A large-scale production base, especially in the automobile industry!

This was undoubtedly one of the best investment projects.

Because the automobile industry is a sector that requires intensive capital, technology, and personnel!

It can also drive the growth of the industry chain!

For any city, this would be an excellent project; naturally, he didn’t want to miss out on it.

He said hurriedly, "Mr. Mikhail can rest assured to place the project here in Peng City. Our conditions here are even better than those in Yangcheng!

Moreover, as you also mentioned before, Peng City’s development plan should be to further reduce industrial and commercial land use. Once I return, I will discuss this matter with the city, and we will quickly come up with a plan.

Then, your automobile production base will be able to enjoy more preferential policies. In terms of land and taxes, Peng City will provide the most relaxed policies and environment!"

Wang Ye smiled slightly, "That is not the most crucial issue. There is a trouble that needs to be resolved before the project can be implemented.

As you know, Mayor Zhang, foreign automobile enterprises who want to enter the domestic market need to have joint venture companies.

But currently, I don’t have a suitable partner. So, could the city government and Russian Auto Group jointly approach the higher authorities to apply for the establishment of a sole proprietorship?

Oh, if that proves too difficult, then we could change it.

That is, to allow Russian Auto Group to hold controlling stock rights in the joint venture."

Wang Ye could accept either of these two proposals.

If it’s a sole proprietorship, that would certainly be great—complete control over production, research and development, and sales.

If it really comes down to needing a joint venture, Wang Ye would also accept that.

And he had already thought of a potential joint venture partner—the Peng City BYD...