Chapter 1019 Visit to the Commonwealth

"You are the most confident man I have ever seen. Although I don't know where this confidence comes from, it is so endearing." Pamela Mountbatten hugged her husband's neck. If their children hadn't been there, she would have been there right now. Going to take a rocket ride.

Alan Wilson's trip is to visit Commonwealth countries, collude with each other, uh, review traditional friendship. But the main thing is to come here to see my wife and children and be a good father, husband, and brother-in-law...

Out of his love for the royal family, is it too much for him to care about Princess Margaret's life? Anyway, he personally doesn't think it is too much.

In order to persuade Australia and Britain to adopt a unified position, the Western Australia Regional Commissioner came to convey the latest progress. Alan Wilson met with the other party at Mountbatten House.

"Secretary General, there is a traffic jam on the road. I am not unfamiliar with the road conditions to Mountbatten House. I'm sorry." Ekberg was sweating on his forehead, obviously feeling uneasy about having his immediate boss wait.

Alan Wilson made a face at his son, turned around and nodded gently and asked, "What kind of car does Ekberg drive?"

"Uh, it's Holden." Ekberg was stunned for a moment, not knowing why he was faced with this question.

Holden Motors is the pride of the Oceania automobile industry. In 1948, the first self-produced car on the Australian continent, "48215", was driven out of the Holden factory. Holden's logo is a red circular relief of a lion rolling a ball. Holden is famous for forging powerful engines, so the red lion is even more symbolic.

Australian cars are similar to American cars in that they are both large-displacement gas giants, which is also closely related to the living environment.

But as a British commissioner, driving an Australian car?

"The guests here all ride in Mercedes-Benz and Rolls-Royce." Alan Wilson lit a cigar and threw the rest towards Ekberg, "You are a Holden, no wonder you are stuck in traffic jams."

"Okay, you should stop saying a few words." Pamela Mountbatten understood, put down her youngest son and said, "Commissioner Ekberg's car will be handed over to me. Originally, the Rover was more suitable, but last year the Rover launched a new The model has become famous, and it is too luxurious to be used as a car for civil servants. I think it is more appropriate to choose a Jaguar as a transportation tool for the commissioner."

"There is a problem in our automobile industry. Every brand is attacking the high end. There are not many mid-range models, let alone low-end cars. Without huge mass-market models, the British automobile industry will be in danger. How much can we sell at the high end? What?" Alan Wilson said angrily, "If the Empire's preferential system is wiped out, with the strong exchange rate of the pound, I can't imagine what kind of sky-high prices it will fetch when exported."

Without enough mass-market models, the British automobile industry will definitely not be able to beat Japan and Germany. The reason why the sales volume of later Japanese cars can surpass that of German cars is also because Honda and Toyota overwhelmed Germany in terms of high-volume models.

In any country, including Japan, the three German giants can crush Toyota and Honda's high-end models. Lexus has insufficient production capacity. Just listen to the Japanese who lie about their cost performance. Even those who play hunger marketing are no match for the three German giants.

German cars are stable Japanese cars in the mid-to-high end, and the high-end German cars are lower than Land Rover Jaguar here in the UK. This is very embarrassing. German cars are just positioned as higher-end than Japanese cars, and the total volume is Already being left behind by Japan, what will be the fate of the British car brands that started out with similar positioning to Porsche?

However, the success of Japanese cars is not without hidden dangers. At its peak, Japan was also a country where hundreds of flowers bloomed, and many industries were in a leading position, at least before the Plaza Accord.

This is not the case in Japan, which was bloodied by the Plaza Accord. In Japan, which was in decline in its previous life, the entire national economy was already 30% dependent on the automobile industry. In other words, if anyone can defeat Japan in the automobile industry, Japan, which has lost automobiles and derived materials, parts, and paint industries, will definitely see its per capita income plummet.

Ekberg, who was delighted to receive the new car, made a solemn promise with a grateful face, "I will try my best to get Australia to side with the United Kingdom. In fact, Australians are very brave if they are not against the United States."

"As much as possible may not be enough. Of course, I don't know the specific situation, but I hope you can do it." Alan Wilson said with a smile, "Ike, in fact, you are not bad as a regional commissioner. The Mountbatten Group is here, can you Give you a lot of convenience."

A slap in the face gives a sweet date. What Alan Wilson said is actually not true. There are actually many headquarters of the Mountbatten Group. If you compare it, it looks like the five-capital system in the Wei and Jin Dynasties. The headquarters of Asia are in Malaya and East Malaysia. There are one headquarters each in Kuching and Kuala Lumpur, West Malaysia.

The African headquarters is in Northern Rhodesia, and the North American headquarters is registered in Newfoundland, but the office is in Montreal, Canada. The headquarters of the Middle East is in Dubai, and of course we cannot forget London, the capital of the United Kingdom.

"Secretary General, please wait for my good news. I will arrange a meeting with Australia." Ekberg showed his reliability.

Alan Wilson nodded, watched the other party leave, and then picked up the thermos cup on his own, "Just take this opportunity to see if Australia treats Britain as usual."

"Where else are you going?" Pamela Mountbatten asked softly, "Why doesn't Macmillan come out on his own?"

"Can a foreign minister do such a small thing? Jogging parallel to the earth? Which minister would do such a thing." Alan Wilson sighed, "It's not us who are the underlings who can get everything done. They come out to harvest the labor." fruit."

"Actually, what I want to ask is, are you sure about this diplomatic dispute with the United States?" Pamela Mountbatten looked at her husband with burning eyes, obviously wanting a correct answer.

"No. But sometimes victory is defeat, and failure is victory. If results can be achieved in Australia, after visiting New Zealand and Canada, I will also visit the United States. I will persuade the United States and the United Kingdom to adopt a common stance and sanction German biopharmaceutical companies." Alan Wilson went around and around to tell his wife his thoughts.

"The United States will not agree. The more you try, the greater the chance of failure." Pamela Mountbatten shook her head and said, "I don't know why you want to get entangled in this matter and do something that is destined to fail."

"Failure is victory, victory is defeat. My dear, you have to have a long-term vision to reach beyond." Alan Wilson smiled but did not answer. He will ask the United States on behalf of the United Kingdom to take into account the special relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States and stand on the side of the United Kingdom to impose sanctions on Germany. .

It would be better not to mention this matter. If the United States is mentioned, it will give the green light for German drugs to enter the U.S. market.

"If you have time, you'd better pay attention to things about cars." Seeing his youngest son confused, Alan Wilson picked up his wife and put her on his lap. "With the manufacturing costs in the UK, car companies are still focusing on high-end cars." The situation faced by the manufacturing and automobile industries is quite dangerous. Labor costs must be reduced, and the children who came to Malaya have grown up and can do some technical work. It is good to retain high-end brands locally and divide labor in this way. cooperate."

The profits of traditional manufacturing are not high, and a 5% profit for labor-intensive industries would be good. The profits of some high-end industries are less than 10%. The diversion of the British automobile industry is a good thing. Selecting some automobile brands to increase sales is also good for the UK.

The way to contain major manufacturing countries is simple: suppress high-end manufacturing and control the origin of the lowest-cost raw materials.

Just letting opponents settle on 5% to 10% of profits at the mid- to low-end is enough to deal with the average manufacturing power.

Isn’t the shipbuilding industry capacity of the three East Asian countries terrible in the future? Taken together, the profits are not as large as those of the French LNG ship patent holder.

The cost of each 170,000 cubic meter LNG ship is approximately US$200 million. GTT charges patent licensing fees not based on its own research and development costs, but directly charges 5% of the cost of each ship as patent licensing fees. That's about $10 million.

The profit from manufacturing LNG ships is about 5% to 7%. In a better situation, it can leave 2% profit for East Asian shipbuilding companies.

Therefore, there is no need to worry that the transfer of the automobile industry to Malaya will expand the colony. There will be some fluctuations in the raw material market, and patent barriers are enough to suppress Malaya's manufacturing industry. There is no need to use the simple and crude method of garrisoning.

Not to mention Malaya, even the Soviet Union with terrible production capacity, Alan Wilson was not afraid. Based on the profits of the Soviet industry, if the Soviet Union had stock trading, it is estimated that the stock king of the Soviet Union would be vodka, which is the same as the liquor industry being sought after. .

"I'm waiting for Marina to give me a quote to see how much Land Rover is willing to sell it for." Pamela Mountbatten nodded, then lowered her voice, "My dear, I have recovered now."

"What good news." Alan Wilson, who received the signal to board the rocket, said in a tone of understanding.

In the meeting arranged by Ekberg, Alan Wilson explained the current British foreign policy. Regarding Australia's concerns about diplomatic friction between Britain and the United States, he said that he did not deny that there was a certain degree of diplomatic friction, but the main reason was hostility. Regarding Germany and Iran, we have not forgotten to put the blame on Germany and Iran and talk about Aryan ambitions and so on.

As for the deterioration of relations with the United States, Alan Wilson flatly denied it, saying that there was no conflict between the United Kingdom and the United States. The last stop of his trip was to Washington.

In the end, Australia took into account the sentiment that blood is thicker than water. Before Alan Wilson left, he officially announced that he would follow up on the decision to sanction the German biopharmaceutical field and issue a ban on German biopharmaceuticals. Three days later, New Zealand announced follow-up sanctions, and before Alan Wilson arrived in Washington, Canada announced follow-up sanctions.

"At least now, the Commonwealth still has some effect." Alan Wilson walked out of the airport with a smile on his face, mentally prepared to be disgraced in the United States.