My autobiography is definitely not a tragedy!
Chapter 676 - 424 Local Automatic_2

Chapter 676: Chapter 424 Local Automatic_2

"Uh..."

So... in less than five minutes, Mr. Bao had jogged all the way to Hu Yifei...

Facing Hu Yifei’s unfriendly expression, he could only muster an awkward yet polite smile.

"Uh... hahaha! President Hu, it’s been a while, you still look so dashing!"

Ignoring Mr. Bao’s extended hands, Hu Yifei tugged at the corner of his mouth and sneered.

"Ha! Mr. Bao, did you ride a rocket? You got back from France so quickly?"

He certainly had reason to be angry, it was this guy in front of him who had made a dazzling presentation; yet with one announcement about reducing subsidies, everything fell apart.

It almost led to a break in his cash flow, a disaster from which he might have never recovered...

If it weren’t for having a mission, he really would have liked to beat someone up today to vent his anger.

"Uh... Mr. Hu, please don’t be angry, I really had no choice, did I?

In the last few days, not only investors and suppliers have been blocking my door every day, but I’ve also received several court summons.

I’ve become a discredited person, can’t even afford high-speed train tickets to jump into Poyang Lake, let alone fly to France..."

Looking at Mr. Bao’s bitter face, playing poor and pitiful.

Hu Yifei felt the anger within him, and suddenly didn’t know where to channel it.

He was, of course, aware of the other party’s current situation. If it were a competition of misery, Mr. Bao would definitely have a place in the "Most Miserable Person of the Year" for 2018...

Speaking of which, Mr. Bao had been in the new energy sector since 2006, entering the field around the same time as BYD’s Mr. Wang, a veteran in the industry.

Having the foresight to see the future development of electric vehicles, he boldly went all-in on making pure electric vehicles, enough said about his vision.

Rising from an electric car parts dealer to a well-known domestic new energy manufacturing enterprise, his personal capabilities are self-evident.

If it hadn’t been for over-reliance on policy dividends, and the announcement hadn’t been so abrupt, he might really have been able to go public next year according to plan, taking Idol to the next level.

Although he did emerge by relying on subsidies.

But for a start-up enterprise lacking in funds, without the ability to invest in large-scale R&D, seizing every opportunity and condition for growth, even if it means relying on subsidies, is not blameworthy.

This could be considered a legitimate exploitation of loopholes in the rules.

Being labeled a "Subsidy Enterprise" by outsiders, while not unjust, perhaps only Mr. Bao himself can understand the helplessness behind it...

It’s all about timing and fate.

Seeing that Hu Yifei’s anger wasn’t as intense, Mr. Bao now carefully proceeded with a smile.

"Mr. Hu, you have seen the situation with Idol; the company’s account is truly out of money, and even next month’s payroll is yet to be secured.

If you want to withdraw your investment, well, you can take anything you like from my office!"

"Don’t play those tricks with me; I may be short of money, but I don’t need your tables and chairs!

I’m not here this time to ask for money!"

Mr. Bao’s eyes suddenly lit up!

"So... so you really are here to invest?"

Isn’t that the very reason he rushed over here?

Even if there’s just a glimmer of hope, he had to grasp it as his last lifeline.

Hu Yifei looked at Mr. Bao with a sardonic expression.

"That’s right, I am here to invest!"

"Really?"

Mr. Bao was overjoyed!

To think Idol, in its current sorry state, still has someone who doesn’t want to withdraw but instead intends to invest even more... what kind of "altruism" is this?

"Then... how much do you plan to invest?" Mr. Bao asked, full of hope.

Hu Yifei smiled weirdly and pulled a steel coin from his pocket.

With a flick of his thumb, the coin clinked and danced before landing in front of Mr. Bao.

Mr. Bao: "..."

Staring at the rolling one-yuan coin that finally came to a stop on the table, his face instantly darkened.

One yuan?!

So, you came here to mock me today?

"For this one yuan, we want all your shares, including the land, production line, buildings, and other fixed assets, as well as the production qualifications for Idol’s pure electric passenger cars."

One yuan, to buy assets worth hundreds of millions?

You... you’re planning a downright robbery!

Thinking of the other’s identity, Mr. Bao felt a shock in his heart, and sweat instantly covered his back.

No way? Could it be that the other party, out of fury, is ready to use the power behind them...

"Of course, we can also take over your debts."

One sentence brought Mr. Bao back from Hell to Heaven!

"This... Can this be true?!"

Idol was now in a major sales slump and supplier debt crisis, and was already insolvent.

Last month, Idol electric cars had a meager total sales of only 354 units, which was practically just 10% of the same period last year.

From this data alone, you could see how Idol’s revenue had plummeted off a cliff.

It could be said there was almost no possibility of continuing to operate.

At such a time, buying all the equity and bonds for one coin, allowing him to extricate himself from this quagmire, that deal was definitely a profit for him!

"That’s right, and you could also remain the general manager, and all company positions could be kept for one year."

The words of Hu Yifei gave him an enormous surprise.

For Idol, a company he had created with his own hands, which was like his own child, it naturally wasn’t so easy to give up.

But... could there really be such a good deal in this world?

He asked with some disbelief.

"Mr. Hu, perhaps you’re not very clear about the situation with Idol—the cars are not selling. If this issue isn’t solved, the company can’t possibly continue operations.

I myself have already despaired and can’t come up with any solutions.

Are you sure you want to buy it?"

He did not understand what the point would be, apart from inheriting a heap of debt.

"Since we dare to buy it, naturally we have a way to solve the issue of the cars not selling," Hu Yifei said confidently.

"Your solution isn’t to cut prices, is it?" Mr. Bao asked skeptically.

After all, it seemed that to solve the issue of unsalable stock, there was only this "killer move" left...

He advised with a wry smile, shaking his head.

"Mr. Hu, it won’t work! After the subsidy rollback, our current price is already at our cost line. If we cut prices further, that would mean losing money on each car sold.

Other companies might be able to burn cash like that, but our company no longer has money to burn..."

"Cut prices? Our solution is not such a poor idea."

"If it’s not cutting prices, then what is your plan?" Mr. Bao was completely puzzled.

You, a second-generation who has no practical experience and whose investment acumen is quite concerning, what idea could you possibly have?

"Have you heard of automatic driving? Have you heard of smart mobility?"

"Uh..."

Mr. Bao was dumbfounded, and beads of confusion quickly formed on his forehead.

Smart mobility was one thing, but automatic driving?

My cars are A0-class mini cars, okay!

Do you think I’m making Teslas?

I thought I was good at making PPTs, but it turns out there are stronger players out there—you’re better at talking nonsense than I am!

Looking at Hu Yifei, who was full of inexplicable confidence, Mr. Bao struggled to suppress the desire to retort and kindly warned.

"Cough! Mr. Hu, currently automotive-grade lidar costs tens of thousands... and I’m talking US dollars..."

Basically, one accessory for automatic driving costs enough to buy an entire car of his own...

With what would you implement automatic driving?

"Who said we need lidar?" Hu Yifei glanced at him.

"According to our research, your recently launched main model, the Idol D3, should be equipped with active and passive safety configurations like lane departure warnings, front collision warnings, pedestrian detection warnings...

And there are cameras in the front and back, as well as an integrated ADAS warning and dashcam function, right?"

Mr. Bao was surprised that Hu Yifei could list the configurations of the new car in such detail as if he knew their own products inside out.

He immediately understood that the other party wasn’t making baseless claims and might have indeed come prepared...

"Yes, that’s correct. Uh... you guys don’t intend to go down the ’pure vision-based automatic driving’ route, do you?

The cost is indeed lower, but the technical difficulty is too high.

Okay, even if you have the technology, Idol D3’s configuration would simply not meet the most basic hardware requirements for automatic driving...

Even Tesla can’t do that."

Even for pure vision-based automatic driving, there are basic requirements for vehicle hardware.

Like the angle and number of cameras, as well as on-board chip and circuit modifications, etc...

Even if Hu Yifei and his team really could solve these technical issues, the Idol D3 would have to undergo major modifications.

And major modifications to the production line mean a massive investment, which is a task the current Idol simply cannot undertake...

"Hehe!"

Faced with skepticism, Hu Yifei just chuckled.

If we can’t do full automatic driving, we can start with partial automation!

For example...

Parking... something like that...