Leon
LTC autogroup Inc创始人、
General Manager of Tianjin Lingtu International Trade Co., Ltd
2023 Hurun U30 China Entrepreneurship Pioneer
Graduated from the University of Toronto with a double major in Statistics and Actuarial Science. From 2012 to 2017, he was engaged in the used car industry, and founded LTC Autogroup Inc in 2017, Lingtu International Trade Co., Ltd. in 2018, and Lutaichun Automobile Sales Co., Ltd. in 2020. Canada is the only company with a full industry chain, with nearly 1,000 vehicles imported and exported annually, and the turnover exceeds one billion. In 2023, he will return to the family liquor business and is now the deputy general manager of Tianjin Weijiu Group.
Interview with Hurun Report and Ang Leon
Hurun Report: Tell us a little about yourself and the company. Tell us about market changes or innovations in your industry in recent years?
Ang Lee: I'm Ang Lee, graduated from the University of Toronto, and am now the General Manager of LTC Autogroup Inc. We are a transnational trading company with a whole industry chain, mainly engaged in automobile import and export, overseas warehouse finance (receiving, tax rebates, import and export pledges), automobile sales and other businesses, with an average annual import and export of more than 600 million-level automobiles. In recent years, affected by the epidemic and the update of domestic emission standards, our company has successfully transformed from overseas procurement and sales of the whole industry chain to providing back-end financial services and import and export services for more than 100 B-ends.
Hurun Report: After going through a difficult period, how did you survive the damage during the three-year special period of the epidemic?
Li Ang: To be honest, it was really tough, around 2019, when the pandemic broke out and the most stringent emission standard in the country's history, China 6, hit at the same time, and it almost destroyed the industry. However, the greater the turbulence, the greater the opportunity, at that time, it was to muster up the courage to strictly control the funds in hand, choose the right time to buy and replenish the position, and increase investment, at the peak of the warehouse there were hundreds of million-level cars, which was also the most difficult moment. Later, as the experiment was successfully passed, the supply of automobiles was greatly reduced due to the epidemic, so as to overcome the difficulties.
Leon with former French President François Hollande
Hurun Report: Choosing to start a business must be a process of getting out of your comfort zone, in the process of establishing a brand/company, have you found yourself a different side? (What are your weaknesses in the process of starting a business, how to balance them, and even transform them into characteristics?)
Li Ang: That's right, to succeed in entrepreneurship, you have to get out of your comfort zone. In 2017, my partner and I founded LTC Autogroup Inc, and then we did a little bit lax in the early days because we had quite good resources in the US and Canada. Then it was hit head-on by the ensuing trade war, 5 countries and 6 emissions crossing. But it is precisely because of these troubles that we have changed our shortcomings of being at ease with our encounters, opened up more business sectors, and achieved a whole industry chain trade platform.
Leon with former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi
Hurun Report: The difficulties encountered in entrepreneurship may be the beginning of growth, sometimes, failure is more hierarchical than success and the need to tell the story, for you, what is the biggest "pit" you have stepped on?
Li Ang: The biggest pit is still very impressive, and I am very grateful for this pit, and I really have to remember a sentence not to give the initiative to others. I remember that at the beginning of the business, the customer had just ordered a few cars from us, and there was no deposit or anything out of trust, but just after the car, the trade war ensued, and the customer directly released the pigeon. A car was going to lose more than 100,000 yuan at that time, so I returned to China and set up an automobile trading and sales company in China. At that time, I felt that it was also an opportunity, and it was impossible to fight a trade war forever, so I established a domestic company integrating import, customs declaration, sales, after-sales and other businesses, and completely opened up the domestic business field.
Leon with former Mauritian President Amina Gurib Fakim
Hurun Report: In terms of your observation of the market, how has everyone's consumption logic/wealth logic changed in recent years (what are we consuming today?)
Li Ang: I think the young people in the new era have a big change in their concept of consumption, and they will choose what they like and what they think is worthwhile. will not be blindly kidnapped and bound by many traditional things, so in the future, young consumers will have to "do what they like".
Hurun Report: In your opinion, where are the dividends hidden in the future, and how to lead the team and individuals to do things that follow the trend?
Li Ang: Food, clothing, housing and transportation, but no one can do without these four words. Now the general environment is sluggish, the economy is sluggish, and the high consumption is decreasing, which is also a great impact on the luxury car market, but I believe that there will be a big explosion with the economic recovery. At the same time, most of my energy is now focused on developing the liquor field, because I think it is important to lay a solid foundation in the market because of the endorsement of my family's brand. Now that there is no dividend, the era can only usher in an outbreak when an industry digs deep into the end.
Li Ang and Hurun (Hurun awarded the Hurun Best Performance Award for Lutaichun North Sauce to Lutai Chun Bei Sauce for Best Performance of Comfortable Sauce Flavored Liquor)
Hurun Report: How to judge opportunities, capture market demand, and get results again and again in a limited market environment?
Li Ang: I think opportunities always appear in turbulent and unstable times, if everything is stable and the rules and order are stable, the giants have already achieved monopoly opportunities. If you get results in the current limited market environment, then you must choose a good track, dig deep in the end, only if you study deeper than others, there will be more opportunities than others.
Li Ang attended the 2023 Sino-French Cultural Forum
Hurun Report: From the perspective of the entrepreneurial spirit that Hurun Report has always admired, why did you choose to start a business? In your opinion, what exactly is business ability?
Li Ang: Entrepreneurship is a good opportunity to realize self-worth and gain social status. At the same time, it will also shoulder more social responsibilities, such as providing more jobs, paying taxes according to regulations, and making more contributions to society, which are excellent entrepreneurial spirit. I think the most important thing in business ability is to work hard to persist in your own industry for many years, and at the same time have a keen sense of smell and the courage to take a gamble, and be able to retreat or soar into the sky when danger or opportunity comes.
This article is an exclusive interview with Hurun Report, and the material comes from the interviewee
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