324: Chapter 324 The Leader's Instructions, the Car Company's Hidden Thoughts

Huang Tianya paused for a moment, carefully appreciating the other party's increasingly ugly expression, then continued in a very provocative tone, speaking slowly: "Do you think we can afford to wait, or can you?"

"6.8% of the shares isn't us asking for too much; it's that our patent reserves are worth this price."

Shen Fei also continued to play the bad cop. Since they had the technology, they could completely force them; there was no need for one to play bad cop and the other to play good cop—that would be too much of a waste of time.

"Either we sign according to these terms, and everyone gets what they need. You ask the people behind you for what you deserve to get, and we can cooperate with you. We only want the equity and the patent licensing. Or, you can continue to hold onto these patents and wait for them to gradually depreciate."

"I'll give you 10 minutes to consider." Shen Fei turned and walked toward the door, then gestured for Huang Tianya to follow.

"After 10 minutes, if I don't see your signature, you can head straight back to your country. Oh, that's right, the legal staff can stay; let them coordinate with our patent lawyers. By then, it won't be as simple as just shares."

Rick, this guest from Finland, witnessed this side of Transsion for the first time. Otherwise, the rumors outside were all just embellishments of them; this was simply too shameless.

Looking at the contract on the table, he also knew that what Shen Fei said was the truth. The current Nokia was long gone from the Nokia of 2008 that was at its peak. No matter how impressive the patents in his hands were, they couldn't cover up their backwardness in the smartphone era.

10 minutes later, Shen Fei pushed open the door on time. The threat on his face had long since vanished, and the stubbornness on Rick's face had disappeared. Although still unwilling, he had no choice but to concede.

"Mr. Shen, you win."

Shen Fei took the contract, looked at the signature signed voluntarily, and a smile curled up at the corners of his mouth: "Pleasure doing business."

...

After finishing with Nokia, Shen Fei received another phone call. The other party was Secretary Li, who was also a member of the Provincial Party Committee. Although Transsion was no longer under his jurisdiction, in this place... and this person was someone who might work together with his father-in-law in the future.

In the end, Shen Fei grunted twice, effectively agreeing to the matter. It wasn't anything else, but rather Secretary Li wanted to have Guangzhou Auto and Transsion cooperate, to let Guangzhou Toyota begin its transformation to new energy.

The requirements weren't high; strictly speaking, they were coming to give money, asking Transsion to provide them with batteries, electronic controls, and ESP systems. Everything would be done according to Transsion's terms. Their technology could be slightly scaled down, but it was best if it remained at the international mainstream or advanced level.

...

But while Secretary Li said this, the people below might not necessarily think the same way. Especially the Toyota side! After all, the two companies' joint venture was said to be a fifty-fifty split, but through the three major components like engines, they effectively took away more than 80% of the profits. Now that the local authorities were intervening directly... this was certainly not a good thing.

May 7th was the appointed time. Yamada Takeyuki, the chairman of Guangzhou Toyota, sat in the VIP lounge for a while longer. The tea in front of him had gone cold, and he hadn't touched it. He glanced at his watch. The appointment was for 10:00 AM, but it was already 10:15 AM.

He had deliberately left half an hour late. In his view, a Chinese car company that had crossed over from the mobile phone industry was not worth his punctuality, let alone Transsion, which had started out making mobile phones.

Yamada Takeyuki was 67 years old this year and had worked at Toyota for forty-three years. He started from the grassroots and climbed step by step to become the vice president; he was the technical founder of Toyota's hybrid power. He had watched with his own eyes as Toyota went from a Japanese car company to the world's number one, and he had also watched as Chinese car companies started from "copycatting" and wasted 30 years. Yet, they still lagged far behind in core technologies like engines, transmissions, and chassis.

As for electric vehicles, Yamada Takeyuki looked down on them in his bones. Battery technology was imperfect, charging infrastructure was imperfect, and the source of electrical energy was still coal; when calculated, the carbon emissions were even higher than those of fuel vehicles. Hydrogen energy was better! The Chinese doing electric vehicles was nothing more than following a trend. But that Musk was also just a clown.

The other members on the side, after receiving a call from Secretary Li, anxiously walked up to him: "Secretary Li called to urge us; shall we hurry and set off?" Yamada Takeyuki continued to pretend he didn't hear, even going so far as to rudely close his eyes.

This made the other members lose face. While they also looked down on Transsion, this was, after all, a task pressed down by the Municipal Party Committee, and the face-saving project had to be done properly. Even if they didn't want to cooperate, they could take a publicly funded trip and find an excuse to reject it later. But with Mr. Yamada acting like this, it was starting to look a bit ugly!

"Let's go!" The other members were instantly relieved, and on the way, they tried their best to hurry. About 10 minutes later, they arrived at Transsion's conference room. Upon arriving at the conference room, Yamada Takeyuki adjusted his suit, and finally squeezed out a professional smile on his face. But that smile only stayed on his lips; there was no warmth in his eyes.

He came today just to give Secretary Li some face. Secretary Li said that Transsion was number one in the world in terms of batteries, that China was the next frontier for new energy, and he kept hinting on the phone that they could reach a cooperation with the other party. Although he was unwilling, Yamada Takeyuki couldn't really slight Secretary Li's face; after all, the Guangzhou Toyota factory was still in Guangzhou. And it was said that Secretary Li was about to be "promoted," so this face still had to be given.

Transsion sent Wang Jianguo, the vice president. He was 42 years old and had previously worked at Volvo for 8 years, jumping ship to Transsion when Geely was preparing to acquire them. The other party didn't give him face, but he wasn't angry; he just chose to return the favor, also arriving 10 minutes late.

"Mr. Yamada, sorry. I am Wang Jianguo of Transsion Auto. Our team has been quite busy with new car affairs recently, and I couldn't welcome you the first moment you arrived; I am truly sorry." Yamada Takeyuki shook hands with him, lightly touching and then letting go.

"Mr. Wang, Secretary Li said you intend to cooperate with Toyota? My schedule today is very tight, please give a brief introduction." Wang Jianguo heard the perfunctoriness in his words. "Tight schedule," "brief introduction"—this wasn't coming to cooperate; this was coming to finish a chore. But this was different from what Secretary Li's secretary had explained?? Could it be that the other party really didn't catch the meaning in Secretary Li's words??

Wang Jianguo didn't pay too much attention to it either. Since the other party wasn't picking up on this, there was no need for him to be particularly focused. So he directly turned on the projector. "Mr. Yamada, according to the requirements of the Municipal Party Committee, Transsion can reach a cooperation in areas such as the three-electric system, High-density battery, ESP system, electric drive, extended-range system, and high-efficiency photovoltaic panels."

The parameters of the High-density battery had already appeared on the big screen. The latest generation's energy density had reached 250 watt-hours per kilogram, which was more than double that of traditional batteries. The cycle life was 2,500 times, and the capacity retention rate was 80%. It had already been mass-produced and installed in Transsion Auto vehicles.

Yamada Takeyuki looked at the screen, and his eyes moved slightly. High-density battery—Toyota was still trying to crack it in the laboratory, but no matter what, they had no way to solve the silicon problem. Transsion's scientific research was still quite unreliable, but he didn't want to cooperate. So he deliberately found fault: "Mr. Wang, is there third-party verification for this data?"