One humid June morning a few years back, I found myself standing at the entrance of a massive car assembly plant on the outskirts of Zibo, a sooty ind

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2025-01-02 16:30:03

One humid June morning a few years back, I found myself standing at the entrance of a massive car assembly plant on the outskirts of Zibo, a sooty industrial city about a three-hour train ride south of Beijing.

The five million residents of Zibo had no prior history in making cars. But Mr Zhang, the 40-something CEO of National Gold Motors, was hell-bent on changing that.

First thing I noticed was that the plant was huge. There was enough capacity, I learned later, to build 150,000 cars a year. Long rows of world-class Kuka robots, imported from Germany, stood idle and silent. Like shiny, disciplined soldiers.

Most of all, I noticed the quiet. There were no more than 10 workers in the plant. This operation was still very far away from production.

“Impressive.” I answered. “Very impressive.” Then I ventured my own question: “How many cars do you plan to sell next year.”