ABT ### Chapter 0111: Mitsubishi's Attitude
Fang Hui stormed out of the office in anger and immediately contacted the Sukura side. The company's top management then relayed the message to Mitsubishi.
The venture capital deal falling through was not unexpected for Mitsubishi. In their thinking, there’s nothing in the market that can't be solved with capital. If one hundred million doesn't work, then two hundred million. If five hundred million doesn't work, then how about seven hundred million?
So, the next day, another venture capital manager from Sukura arrived at Zhengxin, and the offer was increased. However, this poor manager didn't even get a chance to hand out his business card before being kicked out by Li Fanyu.
Are you kidding? Why did we develop this engine in the first place? To take you down. Do you think I'm an idiot to let you in?
Then, Mitsubishi Motors couldn't sit still anymore.
They had no choice but to be anxious. Currently, there were five automakers in the Chinese market with engine procurement projects under negotiation. With the emergence of China Heart, all five had slowed down their negotiations and started to observe.
Speaking of Mitsubishi, it's a company with quite a history. Since World War II, it has been serving the Japanese military, covering various industrial fields from nuclear energy and aerospace to papermaking and bicycles.
Not to mention, the automotive division alone boasts a glorious history, with the most famous model being the Pajero.
At its peak, the Pajero chassis was almost exclusively used in the Qatar Rally. It had excellent off-road performance and speed. Contemporary off-road vehicles paled in comparison.
However, in the current automotive industry, engines have almost become Mitsubishi's main business. The reason boils down to two words—self-sabotage.
The year 2000 was almost a watershed for Mitsubishi Motors.
First, in the overseas market, being one of Japan's top automakers, it repeatedly broke out in scandals. The top management of the American division was accused of sexual harassment of employees, concealing a large number of customer complaints, and deceiving consumers, resulting in a lawsuit from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Next, in Japan, the headquarters were involved in gang activities, and numerous vehicle quality issues frequently came to light.
However, these incidents were not known in the Chinese market.
What truly caused Mitsubishi's decline in China was the V31 and V33 incidents of the Pajero.
On February 9, 1999, a car owner named Li Zhongliang in Wenzhou lost control and ran off a hill due to brake failure, almost completely wrecking the vehicle.
On September 5, 2000, a driver named Huang Guoqing nearly caused a major accident when his Pajero's brakes failed.
On December 25, 2000, in Changsha, a Pajero V31 lost its brakes while traveling at a low speed of 30 km/h, hitting a woman named Lu Hui, causing her to be permanently disabled.
In just two years, over twenty brake failure accidents involving Mitsubishi's V31 and V33 were reported.
NX Exit-Entry Inspection and Quarantine Bureau's monitoring revealed that Mitsubishi Pajero had serious design flaws. The V31 and V33 models, when driven on bumpy roads for extended periods, suffered severe wear on the rear axle brake oil pipes, causing brake fluid leakage and resulting in brake failure.
After the inspection report came out, many victims of previous Mitsubishi car accidents understood why they had accidents and filed lawsuits against Mitsubishi Motors.
Subsequently, the China Inspection and Quarantine Bureau issued a notice; revoking the import safety quality licenses for Mitsubishi Pajero V31 and V33 models, and prohibiting the use of all V31 and V33 Pajero models in China that had not undergone repair and replacement with the new design brake oil pipes.
Yet, even after the notice was issued, Mitsubishi Motors shamelessly claimed that the issue was due to poor road conditions in China!
However, shameless people are bound to get slapped in the face eventually. Just two weeks later, an insider from Mitsubishi revealed that these two cars were specifically designed for the Chinese market. Furthermore, in 2000, Japan's Ministry of Transport discovered that Mitsubishi Motors had deliberately concealed defects in a total of 810,000 vehicles across 21 models. The production dates ranged from December 1990 to 2000, spanning a decade!
This revelation caused a stir in the global automotive market.
In the same year, Mitsubishi Motors announced a recall of 1.5 million problematic vehicles worldwide. However, the 72,000 V31 and V33 vehicles in China were not included in this recall; only 55 Galant cars were recalled.
This led to an uproar among domestic car owners, sparking a wave of boycotts. Even now, some people still bring this up. This recall incident seemed to mark the beginning of the differential treatment by Japanese car companies towards China. Over the following decades, Japanese car manufacturers repeatedly applied this discriminatory practice to the Chinese market.
As a result, Mitsubishi Motors has struggled in China ever since. Various models under its brand have repeatedly faced setbacks in China, forcing the company to transform itself into the largest engine supplier to China.
(As a side note, Mitsubishi has still not reached an agreement with the owners of the accident vehicles regarding compensation proposed by Ms. Lu Hui.)
Now, if China's domestic engine development rises and takes its market share, Mitsubishi could indeed be in danger.
The discussion in Mitsubishi's conference room in China had been going on for over two hours without a conclusion.
Some believed it was too early to worry since the ZGX888 had not yet been approved, and that they should wait to see its performance after mass production before deciding how to respond.
Others thought the threat should be nipped in the bud and not allowed to grow.
Still, others felt they should closely monitor the situation and remain unchanged unless necessary. After all, the Mitsubishi G series engines currently hold a 40% market share in the Chinese automotive market, with some car manufacturers even using Mitsubishi engines as a selling point.
The arguments were lively, but no conclusion was reached in the end. Thus, all parties compromised and decided to wait and see.
Two days later, the Zhengxin Automotive Laboratory in Tiancheng City held another press conference—the ZGX888 engine had been submitted for approval.
Shortly after, the proposal made by Mayor Cheng Gang of Tiancheng City at the provincial economic development seminar, advocating for increased support for independent research institutions and expediting the approval process without violating principles, was passed.
A week later, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology approved the testing of 15 prototype units of the ZGX888 engine.
That evening, Xinhua News Agency reported—China’s first domestically developed engine had passed approval, filling the gap in the domestic engine field.
When the top media outlet made this announcement, it effectively solidified the reputation of the China Heart series engines. Subsequently, numerous reports about the ZGX888 flooded in.
Finally, Mitsubishi could no longer sit still.
NEXTNEXT