Chapter 87
Huang Xuan didn't wait in the hotel because he had a lot of things to do such as drawing diagrams, robbing a few more well-dressed misters to pay the accommodation fee, and wandering at the market to seek business opportunities . The most important thing was to find more buyers, in which Huang Xuan was inexperienced . However, after the smooth tour in Ford Company, they would be able to convince more factories, for which Huang Xuan chose to advertise by telegrams, which was advanced and expensive in the 1930s . Because telegrams were expensive and special, and the contents were simple and intriguing, the companies who received them wouldn't throw them into the bin immediately like what the newspapers did after they received letters today, so the effect was satisfactory .
It said in the telegram: "The design of the new model car will be sold in Illis Hotel at 9 a . m . tomorrow . A company has already bid . " Huang Xuan was convinced that his performance in Rouge was supposed to draw much attention . Meanwhile, the potential buyers of the design should sense that Ford was interested in the design too . Was there a better business stunt than Ford?
It didn't matter whether other companies were interested or not as long as Ford could feel the pressure . Huang Xuan believed that Ford wouldn't abandon the V8 which was designed by himself .
Henry Ford was conceited . In fact, he was much more far-sighted than most Americans . However, he was not always right regarding the management of the company . He liked making decisions by himself, mostly instinctively . Sometimes, the decisions were wrong, for example, blindly expanding Rouge, reducing the expenses of research and development, and purchasing stocks .
Ford was a genius in design . He had built the company from nothing, made petrol engine and designed the T car . He was also a talented manager . It was him that had created the cheap car concept, the flow-line production, and the five-workday system . But his conceit was insufferable . He would rather trust himself than his team . Hence, Ford Company had always fallen behind in the development of new technology . It would be fair to say that Ford was just a huge factory with super high productivity and rather ordinary technology .
Ford had always valued productivity . He hadn't produced cars of new models in more than 20 years because he had focused on how to improve productivity . He hadn't stopped until the T cars had encountered fierce competition with Chevrolet . Then he had closed the factories and conducted a lot of research and development, but Ford still hadn't been alert . When GM had become No . 1 in motor trade, Ford still paid most of his attention on productivity .
Under this thought, Henry Ford asked when he saw the design his son had brought, "How is everything going with the design of V8?"
"Not very well . "
The V8 car of Ford was also called flat V8 . It had become very popular with the beginner racers in America as soon as it had been launched . In the 1930s and the 1940s, flat V8 was loved by the race car modifiers . The Ford cars which had used flat V8 as engines had won Monte Carlo Rally in 1936 and 1938 . From this information, it could be drawn that making such a car must demand creativity, and there had to be a lot of difficulty during the process .
Senior Ford flicked the design on the table and asked seriously, "Will it be better than this one?"
"Er… We are not sure," Edsel hesitated . "The main problem is that this is just a design . There isn't even a car model . We can't be certain whether it will meet the demands .
"There isn't a model?"
"It seems no . He only has the design and looks short of money . "
Ford frowned and sat back in the chair .
"Did he ask for 100,000?"
"Yes . "
"If the design is OK, give him," Ford said after a long moment .
Henry Ford knew that such a complicated design must need an original car model . But the other party didn't have one, which meant that the source of the design was fishy . However, for Ford, as long as he could save millions of dollars or even less, this was not a problem .
On the other end of the city, the new CEO of GM, Alfred Slone, also received Huang Xuan's ad, but he didn't pay much attention . He just asked one of his managers to check it out . Having just taken Ford's place, he wondered what Henry Ford was thinking .
At Illis Hotel, Huang Xuan was waiting in the meeting room of his suite with legs crossed . A suite like this cost 30 dollars per night, but the hotel had lowered the price several times to four dollars because of the economic depression .
Huang Xuan had decided that as long as Ford showed up with the 100,000 dollars, he wouldn't let him go back with it . If he didn't come with it, he might have to use more violence . He had brought the materials worth millions of dollars at the expense of energy which had cost a fortune . If he failed to make money, all would be for nothing .
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