From the three-wheeled bicycle to the V12 Mercedes-Benz S, the car story of Zong Qinghou, the head of Wahaha

On February 25, Zong Qinghou, founder and chairman of Wahaha Group, passed away at the age of 79. This legend of China's business rivers and lakes started with pedaling three-wheeled delivery. What kind of cars have been accompanied by his business story?

We've learned a lot about the experiences of legendary wealthy businessmen and cars, as well as the stories of owning various cars. Zong Qinghou and the car are relatively "the most" simple. For a successful businessman who has topped China's rich list three times, he does not own more cars than a county "tycoon".

The back of a pedaling tricycle

Looking back on Zong Qinghou's business experience, the story of Zong Qinghou's three-wheeled delivery is always particularly eye-catching. A super boss once personally pedaled three wheels of delivery, so the contrasting story sounds legendary.

It was in 1987, Zong Qinghou's first venture, he set up the "Hangzhou Shangcheng District School-run Enterprise Distribution Department" in Hangzhou, and the label was hung with a wooden sign. This enterprise has the remarkable characteristics of that era, including the manager Zong Qinghou, a total of 4 employees, 140,000 yuan of loans, and more than 10 square meters of workshop-style business space.

At this time, he was 42 years old. As a general manager, he "only" wholesaled stationery, paper, popsicles and beverages to elementary schools, and he still made money on his tricycle on the streets and alleys as he did eight years ago.

In Hangzhou's "Zheshang Museum", friends who have visited have a lot of memories of a rusty tricycle, which is the car used by Zong Qinghou in the 80s, and it is also the car when he started his business.

There is a widely circulated photo of Zong Qinghou riding a tricycle, revealing a back, mixed in with a group of energetic elementary school students. This photo is his working state back then, and since then, he has never changed his state of running on the front line. After the second year of entrepreneurship, Wahaha developed children's oral liquid, and Zong Qinghou also dug the first pot of gold in the market.

I love the Mercedes-Benz S-Class

In the 90s, Zong Qinghou had become the owner of a well-known drink, and his car was changed to a Daben that was very "face-saving" at that time. W140 generation of Mercedes-Benz S, chassis number W140 Mercedes-Benz was born in 1991, that is, the seventh generation of Mercedes-Benz S, this generation of Mercedes-Benz S-class is known as "Tiger Head Ben". W140 generation Mercedes-Benz because the exterior design and the front grille are very similar to the king pattern on the forehead of the Siberian tiger, so it has the nickname of "Tiger Head Ben".

After the W140 generation Mercedes-Benz was retired, Zong Qinghou's car was replaced by a Mercedes-Benz S with chassis number W220. In 1998, Mercedes-Benz introduced a new flagship S-Class sedan (chassis code W220). The W220 is sold in China with a V6 engine for the S280 and S320 and a V8 engine for the S500.

Because the headlights are shaped like butterflies with wings spreading, the W220 Mercedes-Benz S is also nicknamed "Butterfly Run". At the same time, the car was produced around 2000 and is also known as the "Millennium Ben". We don't know when Zong Qinghou owned the car and when it was retired, but what we can surmise is that he owned the car after 2000. Because when he had a "tiger head run", everyone persuaded him that he was still reluctant to change cars for more than ten years.

After the W220, Zong Qinghou's car was replaced by a Mercedes-Benz S with the chassis code W221. Zong Qinghou's car is a Mercedes-Benz S codenamed W221 or an S600 with a V12 engine. In addition to the luxurious configuration, the S600's 5.5-liter V12 twin-turbo engine is also attractive, and the V12 logo makes people feel that it is powerful, with a maximum of 517 horsepower. In addition to performance, the interior of the Mercedes S also represents the high specifications of this generation of executive-class models.

The Mercedes-Benz S600, which is an executive-level benchmark, is a bit far away for ordinary people. But for such a business tycoon with a net worth of more than 10 billion, it is not an exaggeration, and there is even some low-key.

The teenager's "auto repair dream" was shattered

Interestingly, compared with other business tycoons, Zong Qinghou is not fond of it, but he is one of the first entrepreneurs to get in touch with automobiles. After the 16-year-old Zong Qing, he bid farewell to his student days and officially stepped into society.

The young Zong Qinghou had a dream of auto repair, his first job was an auto repair apprentice, in that era, cars were still very rare, and all jobs related to cars were very popular. Under the arrangement of his parents, the teenager Zong Qinghou followed a master in an automobile factory to learn to repair cars. Unfortunately, at that time, he was thin and could not do too heavy work, and the auto mechanic was very dissatisfied, and after a short time, he was dismissed.

Perhaps it was also this experience that had no chance with cars that made him "uninterested" in the later tide of "cross-border car building". At the end of August 2018, Zhejiang Wahaha Entrepreneurship Co., Ltd. established a new company "Zhejiang Deqing Wahaha Science and Technology Innovation Center Co., Ltd.", and "new energy vehicles and automotive intelligent technology" are among its business scope.

However, Wahaha then refuted the rumors on the official WeChat, saying that the company will not set foot in the automotive field, and the new company is mainly responsible for technology research and development, incubation and transfer in biomedicine, intelligent manufacturing, etc., and has nothing to do with car manufacturing.

In fact, Zong Qinghou's low profile in the car is also reflected in his daily travel.

On various online social platforms, Zong Qinghou went on a business trip alone with a trolley suitcase, taking photos of second-class seats on high-speed rail and economy class on airplanes. A casual search will reveal a lot. This business legend, who is always on the front line of business, walks with a suitcase, just like the back of the tricycle more than 30 years ago.

Xiaoxiang Morning News reporter Hu Xiong