Wang Chuanfu's mask business is really making money.
Recently, the California governor's office said in a video conference that the state has reached an agreement with BYD, which will provide the state with much-needed personal protective equipment, including masks, worth a total of about $1 billion.
Just recently, SoftBank Group Chief Executive Masayoshi Son (Masayoshi?Son) revealed that SoftBank Japan would partner with BYD to produce masks, supplying 300 million masks a month to Japan, including 100 million N95 masks and 200 million general medical masks.
Domestic sales to export
In the domestic epidemic has calmed down at the moment, most of the domestic production of masks and respirators and other medical equipment has been from the "anti-epidemic relief," the general direction of the return to the business itself, and is still in the stage of hot and cold foreign markets have become the best domestic producers to dig for gold.
That said, but now the domestic mask manufacturers have mushroomed, compared to the SUV market in 2018. Under such conditions, it is also a skill to get a big order. And after BYD connected two international big orders, no one will question Wang Chuanfu's strategic vision when he switched to full production of masks.
In the words of Mark Kilarducci, director of emergency services for the state of California, "BYD's North American subsidiary, BYD America, is able to connect directly with China domestically, and has the ability to create a sustainable, large-scale supply pipeline of personal protective equipment to help California fight the epidemic."
As Kiralduchi perhaps BYD is not the most specialized in producing masks or the most cost-effective, but at this point in time, it is capable enough to be a bridge between the Chinese side and the U.S. side.
Who is helping BYD to sell masks to the United States?
Is it Warren Buffett?
Warren Buffett, who is 90 years old this year and is known as the God of Stocks, has always had a soft spot for BYD.
In 2008, Buffett subscribed for 225 million BYD shares at about HK$8 each. At present, Buffett still holds BYD shares, its latest share price of 58.9 Hong Kong dollars, earnings have been more than seven times.
Whatever the ups and downs of BYD's share price over the years, Buffett has always stuck to his commitment to "value investing," which has contributed to BYD's market value growth. In addition to his close financial dealings, Buffett himself is also a "Di Blow".
Not long ago, Buffett posted a recent photo on the Internet. In the photo, he is wearing "I want to live a long life. So far, so good. (I?intend?to?live?forever.?So?far,?so?good.)" And underneath the photo, he wrote in his own handwriting, "And now, my BYD mask is helping me reach my goal! Thanks!"
In this BYD mask "with goods" state soon after the release of BYD and California's 1 billion dollars of the mask single instantly completed, have to marvel, the god of the stock market Buffett not only the ability to lead the first-class investment, its "with goods" ability to be more Excellent. And BYD and California between the big single whether this predator around, its causes and consequences are also quite intriguing.
Is Li Ke?
In 2017, the China-U.S. Policy Foundation awarded Ms. Li Ke, president of BYD North America, the China-U.S. Business Leadership Award in recognition of her leadership of BYD's outstanding contributions to the U.S. market.
Notably, Li Ke was joined on stage by Mr. Cui Tiankai, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People's Republic of China to the U.S., who received the "Outstanding Achievement in U.S.-China Relationships Award" at the ceremony. Receiving the award on the same stage as Mr. Cui Tiankai reflects BYD's growing influence in the United States.
As the man at the helm of BYD's U.S. efforts, Li played a key role in negotiating the deal. But beyond this deal, there are more "bright" moments for BYD in the U.S. market under his leadership.
In February 2020, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced that the city had purchased the largest order of all-electric buses in U.S. history -- 155 units, 134 of which came from BYD.
And just two years ago, in 2018, the U.S. returned a shipment of BYD-produced electric buses, claiming legal responsibility for quality issues, making it a major blow to BYD in the U.S. market.
It took a full decade for BYD to gain the trust of Americans, from being unchallenged to grinding out questions to taking the biggest orders.
In April 2010, BYD's U.S. headquarters was opened in the city of Los Angeles. A few years later, in the small Southern California city of Lancaster, 110 kilometers north of Los Angeles, BYD built the nation's largest electric bus factory, covering 41,000 square meters (about the size of six standard soccer fields). Not far from this factory, 154 acres of land purchased by BYD is being used to plan the next piece of cloud-rail manufacturing.
Behind Li Ke's awards and successive large orders, BYD's "internal" effectiveness in cultivating the U.S. market has come to the fore.
Is it Sam Jammal?
During a rocky decade, BYD never gave up on the U.S. market. Because electric buses, cloud rail and other projects involve government levels, BYD is once again ahead of the curve in communicating with U.S. political and business relations.
And after that, BYD is even more netting talents in multiple fields, in November 2018, BYD America (BYD?America) official website announced that Sam?Jammal will be the company's senior manager of government relations (Senior?Manager,Government?Relations).
Jammal, who has more than a decade of experience working in U.S. legislation, policy and clean energy, previously served as legal counsel for Elon?Musk's SolarCity and Tesla, two new energy companies, from 2015-2017.
But his quality resume at Tesla aside, his resume is even more impressive, as he also held key positions in the U.S. Congress, and former President Barack Obama's administration from 2009-2015.
Being able to handle such a key person is a silent proof of BYD's "popularity" in the U.S. market. In addition to government relations, the construction of its factories in the United States is also quietly "buy people's hearts". In an interview with the media, BYD's U.S. plant in Lancaster, the mayor of Lancaster, Parris revealed that BYD built a plant here, Lancaster, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. crime rate fell by 40 percent, the unemployment rate also fell from the original 24 percent to 4 percent.
Who were the key players in BYD's deal for the masks? Perhaps all of them contributed in different areas, but the answer to that question is Wang Chuanfu. Without the visionary's transformation more than a decade ago, Warren Buffett wouldn't have made a value investment in BYD; and without his U.S. strategic deployment appointments, key talents such as Li Ke and Sam Jammal wouldn't have shown up at BYD's U.S. headquarters.
And in the "World's 25 Greatest Epidemic Resistance Leaders" list published by Fortune magazine not long ago, Wang Chuanfu was honored to be the only Chinese car company leader on the list. Not long ago, in the Chinese edition of Fortune magazine, Wang Chuanfu was named "Chinese Businessman of the Year," making him the only recipient of this title.
On the one hand, he has responded to the country's call to lend a helping hand to foreign epidemics, and on the other hand, he has relied on his mask business to make up for the profit crunch of the current cold winter in the car market. I have to admit, this is perhaps the most "fame and fortune" of Wang Chuanfu's business.
This article comes from the author of the automobile home car, does not represent the views of the automobile home position.