Chapter 108: Three Suggestions

Xiaoxi Heshi shook his head helplessly:

"Director Fukada, our initial abandonment of the internal combustion engine industry was truly a helpless move; after all, it was a tremendous loss for us as well."

"A single misstep could have led to our bankruptcy."

"But there was no choice. The release of the Thor Battery changed the era completely. Moreover, Tianqi Energy is expanding so rapidly, and production capacity is about to soar. If we do not fully cater to this, we will inevitably be eliminated by the era, and we won't even have the chance to struggle as we are doing now."

The president of Mutian Group also sighed softly:

"Actually, none of us wanted to do this. I would have even preferred if Su Xin had publicly rejected all foreign car companies from the start. In that case, it would have instead incited a concerted boycott from major car companies and stirred up opposition from the public in every country."

"We could have then united with justification to ban the Thor Battery or demand the sharing of Thor Battery technology."

At this moment, a man in the main seat waved his hand to interrupt them and said sternly:

"Enough."

"What is past cannot be changed, so let's not mention it again. What we need to discuss next is: how do we face the competition from Long Country car companies? How do we survive in the future automotive industry? And perhaps even recreate the glories of the past."

Xiaoxi Heshi said in a sinister tone:

"I have an idea. Since the major car companies of Long Country are popular mainly because of their Intelligent Driving System, we just need to target and strike at this point."

"No matter how strong the Xiaozhi Driving System is, if we deliberately sabotage it and cause accidents, and then have the media broadcast and sensationalize it, even if we can't make everyone oppose intelligent driving, at the very least we can make people hesitate when purchasing and consider whether the current intelligent driving is perfect."

Another person nodded slightly.

"This is indeed the most effective method."

"However, intelligent driving systems are optional. Even if this matter is blown out of proportion, at most it will only erase a portion of the advantage Long Country car companies have in intelligent driving. Users can choose not to equip the intelligent driving system first and wait and see."

"After all, many people now have a mysterious trust in Su Xin's technical level."

"I have looked into the online reviews; over fifty percent of people believe the Xiaozhi Driving System is already flawless, and thirty percent believe that even if there are defects, they won't be major ones, and Su Xin can quickly resolve them perfectly."

"The remaining twenty percent either have no plans to buy a car, are against all intelligent driving, or don't pay much attention to cars."

Xiaoxi Heshi nodded:

"I certainly know this. If the Xiaozhi Driving System were so easy to defeat, we wouldn't be sitting here together today."

"Manufacturing accidents is just one step."

"The second step: we can unite with car companies from other countries to push their respective governments to impose additional import tariffs on Long Country cars, driving up the overseas sales costs for Long Country car companies. In this way, at the very least, we can preserve quite a bit of the market outside of Long Country."

"As for the Long Country market, at this point, we have to admit that we truly cannot compete with local Long Country car companies, and since we cannot use policy measures to help, we can only maintain the status quo."

The other few people whispered among themselves.

The official in the main seat also said: "This kind of thing is easy to handle. In fact, we have already held meetings to discuss policies in this regard."

"After all, although the intelligent driving programs equipped in vehicles exported by Long Country have been reduced and are only High-end Version L2 and L3 level auxiliary driving, Tianqi Equipment technology is so strong that even after declaration and inspection, no one can guarantee whether there are backdoors left in the system."

"This will increase our audit and monitoring costs. Using this as a reason to increase tariffs, even if Long Country has objections, they can't do anything about us."

Xiaoxi Heshi smiled:

"That would be best."

"As long as we can preserve the markets of the other few major countries, we will have a chance to survive and thus have a chance to rise again."

"Besides the two steps just mentioned, I have a third idea."

"We can secretly release news saying that we have already reached a cooperation intention with Tianqi Equipment, but we feel that this technology is still being verified and we dare not guarantee whether it is perfect, and coupled with the fact that laws and regulations do not support it, that is why there is no formal cooperation."

"This news, on one hand, can let some users see our emphasis on safety, and incidentally imply that Long Country car companies are irresponsible toward user safety."

"On the other hand, it can also hint to those potential users—if the technology is verified and laws and regulations support it, our major car companies will also have the best intelligent driving systems."

"In this way, even if potential users in various countries are interested in intelligent driving, they won't necessarily go out of their way to buy a Long Country car; after all, everyone will have the opportunity to be equipped with the Xiaozhi Driving System in the future."

"As for whether a cooperation intention was truly reached, since it's just news exposed by an unknown person, who would pay attention to whether it's true or false?"

The few people discussed for a while.

Finally, the person in the lead made the final decision to adopt Xiaoxi Heshi's suggestion.

Long Country, Jianghai City.

This is one of the four super first-tier cities in Long Country, and also one of the cities with the most developed economy and the deepest integration with the international community in Long Country.

After the trend of intelligent driving exploded, Jianghai City was also one of the cities with the highest acceptance levels within the entire Long Country.

Coupled with the importance major car companies placed on the Jianghai market, they prepared a large number of new cars for the various 4S dealerships here in advance. Under the frantic buying of customers, by the third day, one could see many Long Country cars with dark green license plates on the streets.

Wang Fengchen is a native of Long Country. Although his grades were average since childhood, relying on his relatively affluent family conditions, he went to Sakura Country to "gild" himself for a few years during university, and after returning to Long Country, he became a "sea turtle" talent.

Nowadays, he holds a managerial position at the Long Country branch of a Sakura Country enterprise.

His income level is neither too high nor too low.

After the intelligent driving trend exploded, he also spent over three hundred thousand to purchase a new Goyadi car at the first opportunity.

After getting off work this day.

Wang Fengchen, just like the previous two days, took the elevator to the company's underground parking lot and walked unhurriedly to his white vehicle.

The welcome lights turned on automatically.

He opened the door, sat in the driver's seat, fastened his seatbelt, and said casually:

"I want to go home."

In an instant, the vehicle started silently, the onboard screen and ambient lights turned on simultaneously, and a pleasant voice came from the speakers:

"Understood, Master, please sit tight."

In less than two seconds, the vehicle finished starting, loaded the navigation and various other programs, and pulled away from the parking space smoothly.

It left the underground parking lot with ease and drove onto the busy road filled with traffic.

It moved forward steadily but efficiently with the flow of traffic.

Occasionally overtaking or changing lanes, it was extremely flexible and decisive. If someone unaware saw such a scene, they might think it was being driven by a mature, veteran driver with many years of experience.

By the roadside.

A young man of about twenty, seeing the cars on the road slowing down due to heavy traffic, excitedly pulled out his phone and began recording a video of Wang Fengchen's car, while saying to another young man beside him:

"Look, this is the intelligent driving developed by President Su; it's truly awesome! One day, I'm going to buy a car like this too!"

"Me too..."

"Holy crap!!"

Before his companion could finish speaking, he suddenly let out an exclamation, staring blankly into the distance.

On the road not far away, the white sedan controlled by intelligent driving suddenly stopped without any warning.

A black sedan behind it slammed on its brakes.

But because they had not maintained a sufficient distance beforehand, it still crashed head-on into the rear of Wang Fengchen's white sedan.