When right and wrong public opinions are intertwined around Bai Teng, Dai Lei and Bai Teng have been caught in the struggle between idealized heroism and difficult survival in the past three years. From the chosen son to the lonely rivers and lakes, too many people try to give this enterprise the most timely interpretation.
However, three years is too short. Qixia has never been to several scenic spots in Nanjing.
The "Golden Age" of Communication between China and Dai Lei
Many people forget to recall their views on Baiteng and two foreign faces around him-Dai Lei and Bi Fukang-in the summer of 20 17. However, it is undeniable that this does constitute some innate characteristics of Baten, with the emphasis on its uniqueness and particularity.
Today, even if it falls in Pingyang, Baiteng is still a sample of the times worthy of being regarded as a new force to build a car for the China automobile market. Many years later, these people and events may become the most representative examples to pay tribute to those crazy and unspeakable "Nuggets" years.
20 17 was collectively unearthed by the new forces of making cars.
In September of that year, Baiteng officially released its brand in Shanghai, and the 50 million press conference laid the "high-end" background of this new automobile company. Three months later, Weilai Automobile, which spent 80 million yuan to create a sense of ceremony in Beijing Wukesong, made the whole automobile circle tremble with its superior "Haoheng".
Looking back now, there was no more "changing" moment than then.
People didn't expect that the unchangeable rules of the automobile congress were broken, the automobile could have been designed as "cross-era", and the users were once again regarded as gods and became the key words to define the new form of market transactions.
"The new world shows its sharp teeth, and we will either be swallowed up by it or ride on its neck." Just like this sentence, Baiteng and Weilai "rose from the ground", which brought unprecedented challenges to the traditional automobile industry.
On the Internet, traditional car companies have rushed into the self-inspection stage. At that time, they seemed fearless on the surface, but their inner panic was hard to hide. The next three years proved this point: in order not to be bitten by fangs, most people began to make drastic changes on the grounds of "transformation" and tried to build a firewall that could resist foreign enemies. The purpose is simple. They have to protect themselves first.
In the summer of three years ago, the most attractive thing was Baiteng's exposed teeth. People carefully observe this enterprise and dare not make a judgment easily, which can be said to be because it is special or not well understood.
This is the first case that foreigners choose to build cars in China, which is unprecedented.
When Dai Lei and Bi Fukang once again appeared in front of people as entrepreneurs, they felt both strange and familiar. However, Dai Lei was very confident. He said that Baten's team is excellent, including China, German and American. It is very international, but the culture is balanced, and it will not focus on one culture.
In this combination, the German is Dai Lei, the American is Bi Fukang, and the China is Ding Qingfen, who is now the actual controller of Baiteng.
At one time, many people believed that Baiteng, with international thinking and global vision, would really become a dark horse in the future, shaking the whole automobile circle, and Dai Lei would also become the first foreign entrepreneur in China automobile market to go down in history.
Why not?
There are too many labels about Dai Lei, and every writer who needs to write a manuscript on the theme of Rattan will take pains to mention these facts. Dai Lei is often called "China hand". He came to China from 65438 to 0998, studied Chinese at Nanjing University, met the love of his life in this ancient Qinhuai city and started a family.
According to Dai Lei himself, his love for China began in his childhood. Before coming to China, he minored in Chinese. When he had the opportunity to come to China, he didn't hesitate.
This decision, for Dai Lei, is enough to affect his life.
1998, the internet wave just arrived in China, and many computer enthusiasts lined up in the square of Haidian Theater in Zhongguancun, waiting to buy the China version of Microsoft's Windows 98. At this time, Li Bin was 24 years old. At that time, he had established the Antarctic Science and Technology and Scientific Document Information Technology Company in Beijing, which was the predecessor of Dangdang, and began to plan the establishment of the automobile website. At that time, in China, cars were still a rarity and had nothing to do with the Internet. But no one can imagine that it will be turned upside down in 20 years.
For Daley who came to China from Germany, this land waiting for excavation and application has great possibilities. Joined BMW China in 2005. Two years later, he was promoted to vice president of marketing. Although Daley majored in mathematics, it did not affect BMW's sales, which increased by 12 times.
On October 20 13, Dai Lei officially took over from Britain and finidi as the general manager of China business department. At that time, British finidi was in a very bad situation in China, and was gradually marginalized under the strong pressure of Cadillac and Lexus. In this situation, after Dai Lei arrived with the business card of "China Connect", he gave finidi a brand-new brand spirit with the marketing idea of "Dare to Love", and then made finidi famous by betting on variety shows such as "Where is Dad?", which directly brought 65,438+050% sales to the company within three years.
Is this a cow? I think so. Later, recalling those years, people once called it? "Dai Lei era".
Dai Lei "happened to meet" the gold master's past.
However, Dai Lei's success could not be separated from the fertile soil provided by China at that time. Otherwise, there won't always be people obsessed with Daley's major. "What does a math student have to do with a car?"
However, it is undeniable that Daley has an innate quality as a professional manager, whether born or acquired. Those brushstrokes and paintings printed on the credit book will not be completely eliminated because of the failure of Baiteng.
He is still an experienced, professional and excellent professional manager. However, as a first-time entrepreneur, Dai Lei has the same impression as Bai Teng at the beginning-it is difficult to judge.
Behind this, in fact, more is full of doubts and confusion. How do foreigners start businesses in China? How do professional managers become entrepreneurs? How does marketing become a helmsman? The first point alone is a very difficult thing.
But Dai Lei is special. He got some opportunities that others didn't.
The fate between him and Bai Teng actually started from 20 16. At that time, the white rattan was not called white rattan, but called harmony and prosperity. This company was jointly established by Feng Changge of Harmony Automobile, Foxconn and Ma of Tencent. And horses have always been famous. This need not be explained too much, but Feng Changge is really unknown to outsiders.
In fact, he is a veritable secret rich man.
Feng Changge originally studied law, but he was involved in a wide range of industries, including real estate and, of course, his Harmony Car. Unlike others, he only sells luxury goods and ultra-luxury brands. Long-sleeved and good at dancing, in 20 13, Feng Changge successfully sent Harmony Car to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and three years later, he ranked 52 nd in the automobile industry on Hurun's global rich list. ?
Many interesting stories happened before this. In 2005, Feng Changge was authorized by the first BMW brand in Henan Province and established Henan Zhongdebao Automobile Sales and Service Co., Ltd., which is the predecessor of the famous Harmony Group in the future and the starting point of Feng Changge's tens of billions automobile dealer empire.
During his time as a BMW agent, Feng Changge met Dai Lei, CEO and co-founder of Batten. At that time, Dai Lei was the business development director of BMW Greater China. After all, they were old acquaintances.
So after the establishment of Harmony Futeng, Feng Changge immediately thought of two people, one is Bi Fukang, the father of BMW i8 and vice president of BMW, and the other is Bi Fukang. At that time, Bi Fukang was the CEO before Dai Lei, and the Chief Operating Officer was the CEO after Dai Lei.
Perhaps this is the wonder of life, but an accident is enough to change a person's life. When talking about this topic, Dai Lei once vowed: "Harmonious car is definitely beyond the concept of ordinary electric car, and this opportunity is very rare. I know it is difficult to start a business, but if I don't do it now, I will definitely regret it later. "
If Dai Lei had foreseen today's results four years ago, I wonder if it would have been so indomitable. However, in the face of such an opportunity, for Daley, choosing to join Baiteng is only a choice for the next stage of life. In fact, this is a question that must be asked in life, but "choice" is always risky. If it becomes, it will be an unprecedented new force to build a benchmark for automobiles. If it fails, it is a liar who uses PPT to circle money.
This is the essence of public opinion. As the saying goes, winners and losers, no one will sing praises for losers.
Compared with the high spirits three years ago, Baiteng was once one of the most likely new forces to succeed with Weilai in people's minds. Persuasion comes from two aspects, one is the star team dominated by Bi Fukang and Dai Lei, supplemented by companies such as BMW, Tesla, Apple and Google, and the other is the first mass-produced car M-Byte that can catch people's attention.
20 18 65438+ 10 month, Dai lei takes BYTON? Concept(M-Byte's M-Byte concept car) went to the CES show in North America. It rained heavily outside the exhibition hall that day, and the Baiteng WeChat index reached about 4 1.3 million, up 34,600% year-on-year. Dai Lei couldn't hide his joy. He told the guest media from all over the country that the strategy of this exhibition is very correct! This has made Barton widely concerned by the United States, Europe and Asia!
In the glory of Las Vegas, this is the real highlight of Dai Lei and Barton. ?
Dai Lei makes cars, which is close to the water tower.
For many people, it is a pity that M-Byte has not been mass-produced so far. Because at that time, the effect it achieved was "amazing", especially the 48-inch penetrating central control large screen, which was once used as a design reference by first-line luxury brands. In the recent two years, among the new models released by various brands, there are also many designs that strengthen the "big horizontal screen".
Everything that Batten showed was once considered a "subversive" operation. For this reason, this enterprise has set a high tone from the beginning, and all payment items related to making cars are not necessarily the best, but they must be the most expensive.
For example, Batten asked Bosch to develop a vehicle controller, and the outsourcing price was nearly 100 million yuan, which was several times larger than that on the market. In the welding workshop, the orange color of KUKA robot was considered ugly, so it was all changed to the custom color of Baitengjin. In China, it costs thousands of dollars to make a box of employee business cards, which is more than three times the price of ordinary business cards. In North America, more than 300 people spend more than $7 million on office snacks every year.
Later, some people attributed this "high consumption" to the failure of Baiteng, which was biased. Because Baiteng was not short of money and had abundant funds at that time, it doesn't mean that he did something wrong to make the best quality at the most expensive price and provide generous treatment for employees.
Speaking of money, a very sensitive topic, I wonder if you can recall the situation of Baiteng in the B round of financing. 20 18, the auto market suffered the worst year for the first time, but people who want to invest in Baiteng still flock. Including the main investor FAW Group and the power battery unicorn enterprise Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd.. Up to now, Baiteng is still the only new car-making force invested by Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd.. In addition, there are Tiqi Holdings in Tsinghua and the Belt and Road Fund in Jiangsu.
According to the internal statement of Baiteng at that time, it was still time for Baiteng to take the initiative to reject investors.
Why are there people waiting in line to get Baten's number plate?
Chief Affairs Officer Ding Qingfen told this story in one sentence: "Many investors will see whether the government supports them at this moment, which will be a very important indicator of whether they vote for you. I am not only talking about China, but also overseas investors. "
Since Baiteng decided to settle in Nanjing, it shows the identity of the "golden owner" behind Baiteng-the Nanjing government. Nanjing not only invested in Baiteng's equity, but also gave many subsidies, including land and creditor's rights. Baiteng Nanjing Advanced Factory was once listed as a major project in Jiangsu Province, with a total investment of110.07 billion and a planned annual production capacity of 300,000 vehicles.
When the Nanjing factory opened, the secretary of the Nanjing Municipal Party Committee personally made a platform for Baiteng. His original words were as follows: "Baiteng is the son of the Nanjing government, and we must support it no matter how good or bad it is." With the court guarding, Bai Teng is full of confidence.
There are many reasons. Dai Lei studied in Nanjing and got married in Nanjing. The German identity is a living business card of the Nanjing government. Not only the Nanjing Municipal Government, but also Dai Lei won a personal honor-China Government Friendship Award in June 20 18. That day, Dai Lei spread the news through a circle of friends, which attracted the envy of countless people.
How much does this prize weigh? It is the highest award established by the China government to commend foreign experts who have made outstanding contributions to China's modernization and reform and opening up. This "extra allowance" that Dai Lei got by virtue of its special status is unique. In terms of Baiteng, it plays a role in "strengthening the confidence of investors, whether at home or overseas."
In this process, Ding Qingfen played an inestimable role.
When Dai Lei was still in finidi, Ding Qingfen served as the public relations director under him, and then started a business in Dai Lei, accompanying Ding Qingfen all the way. Before that, Ding Qingfen was the chief reporter of China Daily, mainly responsible for government news reports. Nearly ten years of work experience has made her accumulate a lot of contacts. It can be said that this kind of government resources has added a lot of aura that other new car manufacturers can't reach.
Ding Qingfen is Dai Lei's right-hand man in dealing with China affairs. Like Dai Lei, she has expectations for this enterprise that is neither grandiose nor pragmatic. In her eyes, "Rattan can grow normally and healthily. As long as he doesn't make mistakes and does the right thing, there is no problem. "
But no one told them that it is difficult to grow up smoothly. Of course, they don't know it themselves.
The dispute over "Dai Bi" made Bai Teng suffer.
Therefore, people who have been paying attention to Baiteng will find that Baiteng did a lot of things in 20 18, except making an appearance at CES, completing the Nanjing headquarters, obtaining the production qualification of FAW Huali at a transfer fee of one yuan, and introducing the B round of financing. In any case, I feel that this is a diligent car company that keeps making progress in order to realize the ideal of building a car.
The only thing that puzzles people is that there is no news about the progress of M-byte mass production in the dazzling news clues. Prior to this, Baten's original plan was to carry out mass production in 20 18.
At this time, many people still stubbornly believe that "a good meal is not afraid of being late." But in fact, 20 18 has been recognized as the "first year of delivery" of the new forces of car making. For them, every minute counts.
That year, Wei came to the United States to ring the bell and became the first China electric car company to go public. Later, they also made a bet of "10,000 vehicles delivery race" with He of Xpeng Automobile, and both of them wanted to prove their core competitiveness in the new power circle. For a time, the conversation between the two became the focus of the car circle.
As time goes on, the situation becomes more and more anxious. Other new forces are thinking about how to beat their opponents in the fastest time. So what is Baten doing at this time? Within them, the factional struggle between "Dai" and "Bi" has begun.
According to Future Auto Daily, although Barton's headquarters is in China, its products, technology and R&D have invested heavily overseas. Among them, Baiteng North America R&D team is responsible for important R&D businesses such as car networking, autonomous driving and Sandian, and has absolute right to speak in Sino-US exchanges.
These resources and the right to speak are concentrated in Bi Fukang's hands. Dai Lei is only responsible for finance and recruitment in China market.
The bigger the plate is, the more likely it is to be divided because of interests, and the weakness of human nature is doomed to be exposed. This is the case with Bi Fukang and Dai Lei. Under Bi Fukang's unilateral control, Baiteng is more and more like a company with beautiful attributes, but Dai Lei still wants to make Baiteng a more integrated enterprise.
He said that Baiteng is a China enterprise, and on this basis, it has an international vision. I can understand the thinking of China team, and I can also understand the thinking of foreign executives. Finally, I hope to create a culture of mutual respect and recognition.
Unfortunately, Daley is too thin, and the natural gap between China people and foreigners cannot be bridged overnight. ?
How do people in China do things? Dai Lei described how he felt when he first came to China: "The entrepreneurial atmosphere here is unimaginable in Germany. Every entrepreneur is competing for who can run faster. Many people pursue their dreams like crazy people. This is the most desperate place in the world. " In Dai Lei's eyes, this is the original motivation to stimulate his inner entrepreneurial factors.
But how do foreign teams do things? According to insiders, they can't contact anyone on weekends strictly according to the fifth day.
Power struggle, including communication barriers between R&D personnel and China, directly affected the mass production progress of Batten. To make matters worse, at the end of 20 18, the attitude of the capital market towards the new forces of car-making became cold, and Baiteng had no money in his hand because he spent too much money in the early stage.
After Baiteng's board of directors met in early 20 19, Baiteng issued a notice to adjust the company's internal structure. The company no longer has a president, and the chairman and CEO are Bi Fukang and Dai Lei respectively. This means that Dai Lei will undertake more implementation work, and it is clear who will lead the next development of Batten.
After that, the rumors that Bi Fukang was about to leave Baiteng were rampant.
At the 20 19 Shanghai Auto Show, when Baiteng was still doing public relations for the so-called "rumor", Bi Fukang stood directly on Iaconik's booth and announced that he had found a new owner. For this unconventional operation, Dai Lei and Ding Qingfen appeared in front of the media together, which clarified people's doubts directly.
"The impact of Bi Fukang's departure on Baiteng is not as great as the outside world imagined." Dai Lei said. He looked good that day, but he still wore a dark gray suit, which made no difference in peacetime. Dai Lei seems determined about production cars and financial issues. He told People: "The whole company is busy with the production of the first mass-produced model M-Byte. At present, he only gets 20% of his salary, and the other 80% is in the form of options. The senior management took the initiative to convert part of their salary into options, which is directly linked to the company's performance and strategic goals. "
Even so, people will not see the M-byte production car until 2020 at the earliest. Of course, this was just the plan at that time, and it was far from simple to implement.
Entering the C-round financing stage, the problems exposed by poor management of Baiteng became more and more obvious, and cost control became the most important thing in the second half of 20 19. At that time, except for the normal promotion of production car projects and employee salaries, most other expenditure items were cut off.
Maybe Dai Lei hasn't tried, but it's too late to mend.
Baiteng is no longer "complete"
In 2020, when Daley took M-Byte to Las Vegas again, it was very different from the grand occasion two years ago. Times have changed. In addition to the two "familiar faces" of FAW Group and Nanjing Government, only South Korean parts manufacturer MS? Myoung, a subsidiary of Autotech? Shen? Co. and Marubeni Corporation of Japan participated in the capital injection, and the amount was only several million dollars.
Prior to this, Ding Qingfen was still cheering for the employees in Batten China: "Have you read the recent report? Everyone is still very optimistic about us. "
However, in the face of some uncontrollable things, optimism cannot play an absolute role. If 2020 is not so magical, maybe Barton still has a chance to fight. However, the reality is that this year's epidemic has spread all over the world and the automobile industry has been hit hard. The huge traditional car companies have been unable to fight back, let alone worship Teng.
Under the action of external force, the result came earlier than expected. Since April, Baiteng began to spread negative news one after another.
For example, some employees in China were suspended from paying part of their salaries according to different ranks, some employees in the United States stayed without pay, and some employees in the German office shortened their working hours. The core management collectively reduced their salary by 80%. In the discussion forum in Weibo, the suppliers complained bitterly. At the gate of Baiteng factory, 100 employees gathered to ask for wages. By the end of June, Baiteng had been in arrears for three months, amounting to 90 million yuan.
In the face of public opinion, Baiteng held a board meeting on June 29th, and all shareholders were present, including more than 800 employees who left and worked. The press conference lasted for five hours, and the final result was announced by Dai Lei: the business in China was suspended from July 1, leaving about 100 employees, and the production and R&D were equally divided. The salary arrears will be paid as soon as possible in stages. In addition, offices in North America and Germany have initiated bankruptcy applications.
"I finally understand the taste of starting a business." A person close to Baiteng expressed helplessness. Perhaps this is the best result that Dai Lei can give.
In 2020, black swans flew frequently, and Bai Teng was not spared. After China District stopped operating, Baiteng spent 84? 1 100 million yuan has not yet built a production car and was reported by CCTV. Dai Lei, an entrepreneur who once held numerous resources and medals, encountered the darkest moment in his life.
Three months later, Dai Lei was exposed to leave, and Ding Qingfen continued to push forward the next work.
Before that, in fact, Baiteng had been reborn in another way. This new company is called Shengteng, which is interpreted by the outside world as "victory or defeat", and it does not hide the biased interpretation of the homophonic "defeat" before. The company plans to raise 2 billion yuan, which is actively promoted by shareholders such as FAW Group.
In addition, there is good news. According to insiders of Baiteng Automobile, Baiteng's restructuring plan has been approved by the shareholders' meeting and is being implemented. This means that since the "shutdown" at the end of June, Baiteng is expected to restart quickly and continue to promote R&D and mass production of M-Byte. The current plan is 202 1 formal mass production.
But after Dai Lei left, was Baiteng still a complete Baiteng?
The answer is different.
No one has ever questioned whether Dai Lei, a foreigner, can tell a good entrepreneurial story in China. Baiteng is not short of Dai Lei. However, some people say that Daley has many labels, which makes it unique among automobile manufacturers. Without Dai Lei, this is absolutely impossible. Once upon a time, those people were moved by Dai Lei's determination to make cars. They splashed ink on M-Byte because they believed that the German boy would realize his dream in this land where he had lived for more than 20 years.
But in the end, Dai Lei became most entrepreneurs who survived. Dai Lei, who chose to leave, may have only one reason to comfort himself, as he said at the beginning-"I will never regret having failed".
Today, thanks to Ding Qingfen, Bai Teng's last glimmer of hope remains in people's hearts. She is also one of the entrepreneurs who show enthusiasm for this profession, which is reflected in many details. Ding Qingfen once said that when interviewing new people, I will definitely talk to him face to face and stare into his eyes to see how enthusiastic he is about doing this job.
"Go all out and have a clear conscience" is her interpretation of Bai Teng.
As the "former" leader of this new car-making enterprise with a high starting point, Dai Lei will become a fragment of the times, cleaning up the car-making environment under the new rules for countless entrepreneurs, or riding on its back or being swallowed up by fangs.
For Bai Teng now, Dai Lei is yesterday's Dai Lei.
This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.