The ancient Ming Dynasty novel "The Surprise of the First Shooting" has clouds, and the Yellow River is not dead. This means that until there is no way out, it is not willing to die, and the metaphor does not stop until the goal is reached. The reason why I mention this old saying is to give it to Yang Rong, who "does not hit the south wall and does not turn back" in the matter of building a car. After 20 years of exile, Yang Rong once again returned to the public vision, as for the reason, it is nothing more than building cars. This time, Yang Rong once again set his sights on ZTE.
It is reported that Zhengdao Group, a Hong Kong-listed company, issued an announcement that Zhengdao Group and Hebei ZTE Automobile signed a memorandum of understanding to acquire 51% of the equity of ZTE Automobile. In response, ZTE Motor also responded, claiming that there was "indeed contact" with Zhengdao Group, but only in the initial stage of contact. From this point of view, Yang Rong's once again intimate contact has begun.
When it comes to the Zhengtao Group, many people may feel strange. But the mention of controllers is familiar to people in the automotive circle. It is The 65-year-old Yang Rong, who once created the Brilliance Empire, ran away from the United States, and has been obsessed with returning to the mainland to build cars. The Zhengdao Group is the capital platform for Yangrong to build cars. Unfortunately, Zhengdao Group has not been qualified to produce passenger cars.
However, on the road to building a car, Yang Rong is absolutely serious. Today, Zhengdao Group has invested in the field of Sandian, focusing on lithium titanate batteries containing graphene materials and micro turbine range extenders. As early as 2018, it debuted the H500, a Sedan, designed by Pininfarina Studios. This investment in ZTE Automobile is undoubtedly a "curve to save the country" for the automobile production qualifications.
Zhengdao Group recently announced that the company has entered into a memorandum of understanding with ZTE Automobile to acquire no less than 51% of the equity interest of ZTE Automobile. On March 31, Xiao Wei, general manager of ZTE Motor, responded to the matter at a media online communication meeting, saying that there was "indeed contact" with Zhengdao Group, but it was limited to the initial stage of contact. ZTE Automobile is cooperating with the best domestic new energy brands to develop range extended hybrid pickup models, the preparation of related hardware facilities has been completed, the product has entered the trial production stage, and it is planned to be put on the market in the first half of next year. In addition, five models of the passenger car platform, including new energy products, have also been announced by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and will be listed one after another.
Now, after a few years of silence, Yang Rong, the "legendary figure" of China's auto market, seems to be planning his new round of "return".
Speaking of Yang Rong, it can be said that China's most famous automobile king, debuted with China's famous financial educator, Xu Wentong, the secretary of the Party Committee of the China Institute of Finance, and soon went to Hong Kong to found Huabo Finance Company. The investor is Hainan Huayin, of which Xu Wentong is the chairman. Later, he returned to the northeast and found Shenyang Jinbei Automobile, a large state-owned enterprise that was undergoing share transformation at that time. At that time, the stock of Shenyang Jinbei could not be sold along the street.
Therefore, Yang Rong came to the door just right away, bought 40% of the shares of Jinbei for 12 million US dollars, and then changed the shares again, expanding the holding ratio to 51%, and set up Brilliance China Automobile in Bermuda, which was 100% controlled by Huabo Finance. You know, at that time, Huabo, Yang Rong already accounted for 70% of the shares, is a veritable family. Next, after some operation by Yang Rong, Brilliance acquired Shenyang Jinbei. The funds came from Hainan Huayin, which was controlled by Xu Wentong. After Yang Rong felt uninsured, he made a red hat and planned to establish the China Financial Education Foundation, the initiators of which were the Education Department of the People's Bank of China, Brilliance Holdings, China Institute of Finance, and Hainan Huayin. In this way, he has the background of the pedestrian line. With a series of capital operations, a shell company, Brilliance China actually crossed the sea in 1992 and landed on the New York Stock Exchange. Raised $72 million. I have to say that Yang Rong is indeed a wizard.
When it comes to the relationship with ZTE Automobile, it has to go back to 1999. At that time, ZTE Motor was called "Zhengye Group" and was facing restructuring for various reasons. It was also in that year that Brilliance Auto, where Yang Rong was located, took the opportunity to enter and established Hebei ZTE Automobile. Until the end of 2002, Brilliance Auto was nationalized and ZTE Auto was abandoned. In 2003, Xinhuachen withdrew from Zhongxing Automobile, ending the marriage between Brilliance and ZTE.
Now, Zhengdao Group has begun due diligence on ZTE Automobile, which is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2022, and the parties to the MouU will negotiate a formal agreement on the possible acquisition. If the acquisition is implemented, the Zhengdao Group after winning ZTE can also naturally obtain various qualifications for automobile production.
Looking at the fact that Yang Rong had released a "831111" right-way car plan, it seems that everything is really possible to become a reality. However, in order to achieve the grand goal of achieving a production capacity of 3 million vehicles, an output value of 1 trillion yuan, a tax of 100 billion yuan, an employment of 100,000 people, and a per capita annual income of 100,000 yuan in the next 8 years, it will be a long way to go for Yangrong.
Finally, I would like to ask you about the old railway, in the face of a more competitive and more responsible Chinese car market, do you think YangRong's car-making operation will be successful? Can Yang Rong's dream shine into reality?