Chapter 69: Trip to the United States (5)

"Father, I was convinced that little Ciano had landed in New York and showed up. He also held talks with New York Governor Al Smith and people from the business community. During the conversation, little Ciano made wild remarks and announced that he would carry out large-scale purchases in the United States. Let’s double the strength of the United Group in a short period of time!”

"Double it again?" Old Agnelli smiled, "He has invested nearly 1.5 billion lire, and if it is doubled again, it will be 3 billion. How can he get so much money for him to squander? And look at what he has produced? Apart from newspapers and radio stations, there is only one product, United Motors. How much can it cost? 40 million lire? 50 million lire?”

Agnelli obviously underestimated the output of United Motorcycles. Driven by United House at full speed, the overall sales of Fast and Furious have exceeded 100 million lire. However, due to the huge initial investment, the actual profit rate is only 21% - the book profit rate It is a loss. Leo used transfer payments to achieve tax coordination and evened out the losses of other industries.

"Now United Motorcycles has launched a second product - but its main customers are the military, police and government departments." The younger Agnelli knew the situation better than the elder Agnelli, but he was not in a hurry to add the previous sentence. He took out a photo and said, "No, this is this product. The code name given by the United Group is United Force X1. According to my understanding and information from other channels, the original design of this model was an idea proposed by the German BWM company and was later adopted Little Ciano dug up the people and the drawings together in Italy.”

BMW was really fooled by Contini: the first R32 that was taken back was transformed into the Fast and Furious series S1 by Italy. Although the R32 and S1 were unveiled almost at the same time, due to Contini's momentum and The strong appearance of the Black Paratroopers made the S1 far more popular than the R32. Coupled with the Ruhr crisis in Germany, the currency depreciation was a mess. BMW could not collect more technology licensing fees from the best-selling S1, but instead used it to Hundreds of technical talents joined in.

As for the X1 launched by United Motorcycle, it is a sidecar motorcycle built entirely on BMW's ideas. The target market is the military. However, due to the double blow of crisis and talent, BWM has not yet thought of converting this design. Figure practice. Although the X1 does not reach the level of the BWMR71 that Contini is familiar with in terms of technology and performance, the appearance has been established - a standard sidecar motorcycle! The United Group has applied for patents for everything from appearance to technology. If anyone in Italy dares to imitate it, the lawsuit will be fought until he goes bankrupt!

However, the information obtained by Agnelli is far from comprehensive. United Motorcycles actually has a third product that it plans to exit: the Elegant M1. The design idea of ​​this product was completely proposed by the two anchors Vivian and Adriana. Although riding Fast and Furious is fun, as a woman, especially an elegant Italian intellectual woman, it is difficult to ride astride like a man. It was inconvenient, let alone elegant, so the two pestered Contini to get the designers to design a product specifically for women.

If it were a general corporate consortium, such excessive demands would definitely be rejected directly, but it is not a problem here with the overbearing president. Contini had an idea and spent half an afternoon sketching a ladies-only scooter. Although the drawing was very It's ugly, but engineers and designers all understand it - through the pedal structure, the two legs no longer need to be widely separated. Although the power and speed will be worse than men's motorcycles, it will look much more elegant. In addition, Control the Noise and Weight – Not many women like roaring sounds and unwieldy weight.

The design requires adjustments to the engine layout, but engineers believe there is a way to do it, and weight reduction is not particularly difficult - the joint laboratory has developed a variety of aluminum alloys, including Duralumin, ready for Building aircraft frames and motorcycles obviously do not have such high requirements. You can achieve weight reduction by replacing materials with strong ones.

Contini set the launch date for this product in 1925. From now on, United Motorcycles will launch a new product every year as its business route. At the same time, the original product line has a three-year mid-term improvement and six-year upgrade strategy.

Old Agnelli narrowed his eyes and looked at the sidecar motorcycle: "The idea is good, United Group still has a lot of good things, such as United Motorcycle... But their financial and cash flow balance is a piece of shit, I I suspect these people don’t understand a healthy financial system.”

"It stands to reason that it shouldn't be the case. Little Ciano doesn't understand, doesn't Antonio understand? Don't other managers and the financial director understand?"

"With such a domineering character as little Ciano, it's amazing that he can listen to other people's advice..." Old Agnelli thought for a while, "Since they have dealt with the first two deals, they will find a way to push back the next few deals. Go up - but this time I have to change my mind. Don't say that refinancing is not allowed, but ask for a slight increase in interest rates first, such as half a point. After all, market interest rates are rising now, and Fiat is also starting to lend money. It is understandable that a rising tide lifts all boats... …”

Little Agnelli immediately understood and left.

Contini, who is far away in New York, is not aware of the changes in the country. He is still visiting New York and waving his checkbook:

On July 17, United Group and Standard Oil Company of New York signed an oil exploration service contract worth US$1 million and an additional production contract of US$3 million (to be effective once an industrial crude oil well is discovered). Standard Oil of New York used to be Standard Oil Company A part of the company, it was later broken up into seven companies due to anti-monopoly laws, but its strength cannot be underestimated;

On July 24, the United Group signed an agreement with Westinghouse Electric Manufacturing Company to build power plants for the four major industrial areas of the United Group (Rome, Milan, Genoa, and Venice), with a total installed capacity of 1.4 million kilowatts;

On August 2, the United Group signed an agreement with General Electric to introduce a series of motor technologies and products, with a contract value of US$5 million;

On August 18, the United Group signed an agreement with Wright Corporation to introduce 9-cylinder air-cooled aircraft engines;

On August 24, the United Group and General Motors signed a preliminary agreement to prepare to build a new truck and large bus production line worth US$6 million...

In addition to these economic contracts, Contini also announced the establishment of a US$1 million Italian-American Youth Friendly Exchange Fund: American scholars and experts are welcome to visit Italy for study, exchange or short-term teaching, and to provide funding for outstanding Italian students to study in the United States. Of course, for reasons that are always understandable, the scope of exchange is limited to science, and all liberal arts are cut off - this makes Al Smith very regretful, as he originally wanted to spread free ideas in Italy.

But he couldn't say this to his face, because Contini provided him with a $20,000 political donation and publicly supported him to participate in the 1928 presidential election. At the 1924 Democratic National Convention, which ended not long ago, Al Smith's Catholic beliefs and opposition to prohibition led to a long confrontation with William Gibbs McAdoo, the candidate who advocated prohibition. Neither of them won the nomination. The ambitious Al Smith decided to make a comeback, and Contini certainly had to cater to his wishes. The $20,000 was just a favor...

The whirlwind of the United Group even blew into the fashion industry and commercial streets: due to Contini was busy with business and political figures every day. Ada, who had no say, only enjoyed the night view several times accompanied by Contini, went boating in New York Harbor or went to the opera house to watch performances. She attended a few upper-class gatherings reluctantly. However, the room was too small, and the guests had no reason to greet each other except smiling. In addition, she was Mussolini's daughter and had a domineering president by her side, so there were no upper-class disciples who were not open-minded to show their courtesy. In the end, she could not participate in anything - forcing her to participate would only be a living hell, so she went to the mall to buy things accompanied by Monica.

Every time the two appeared, there were 20 vigilant bodyguards behind them, and then all the major specialty stores immediately closed their doors to receive them.

The two never looked at the price when shopping, so they left an unforgettable legend in the mall: "I don't want this, that, and that one, I want to pack all the others!" In the end, the bodyguards filled the truck with things and left in a Mercedes-Benz bulletproof car.

Is it luxurious?

That depends on how you understand it.

Ada had no concept of money and was a little restrained when looking at things. Everything was handled by Monica: the latter was much more efficient. In addition to Ada's purchase, there were also gifts for Vivian and Adriana, gifts for the Mussolini couple, the Ciano couple, the Antonio couple, the company's main management, and gifts for Monica and several other secretaries. It was not easy for everyone to come to the United States, so of course everyone should get a share - the domineering president was still very generous to his subordinates.

In Contini's words: "Buy, buy hard, don't go back to the country until you buy enough US$1 million - this is the advertising fee of the United Group!"

Without this kind of purchasing whirlwind and spending money lavishly, how can you be worthy of the foundation of the United Group - in fact, when it comes to luxury goods, Europe is the world's fashion center, and coming to the United States for large-scale purchases is just to show off.

Even the always conservative Antonio agrees with this kind of pomp: you say you are rich, but you dress very ordinary, your car is also ordinary, and you always think carefully about spending money. Even if you are really rich, others will not believe it. For the United Group, a company that relies on the continuous inflow of funds, image and reputation are everything! Why did the young master charter half of the boat, why did he bring so many guards, and why did he bring a plane in addition to a bulletproof car? These are all part of the company's strength. What's 1 million? Can't it be treated as advertising fees and social expenses?

What's more, Contini's large purchases apparently cost more than 20 million US dollars, but in fact a large part of it was earned back again: General Electric, General Motors, Westinghouse and other stocks all had a significant reaction in stock prices due to contract factors. They were originally in an upward channel, and the rise was even better because of the real contracts-and Contini held large positions in the stocks of these counterparties!

After negotiating a $20 million deal, the reputation and brand of the United Group were also established, and now they can go to Wall Street and bankers to discuss financing...