Tech Giants: Starting from Bankrupt Companies

108: Chapter 108 First Batch of Hongqi H9 DeliveriesOn the morning of October 20th, Changchun was shrouded in a golden-red morning glow.

In the square in front of the Red Flag flagship delivery center, five hundred brand-new Red Flag H9s were neatly arranged, their silver-gray bodies reflecting a warm, gentle luster in the morning light.

Inside the windshield of each car, a red delivery card was placed, printed with the owner’s name and serial number.

The square was packed with people.

There were car owners coming to pick up their vehicles, onlookers, and reporters from dozens of media outlets.

Drones hovered in the air, capturing this historic scene.

Zhou Qingyu stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window on the second floor of the delivery center, watching the crowd downstairs.

He was wearing a dark blue Zhongshan suit today—not a western suit, but a modified Chinese-style outfit, with a delicate Red Flag badge embroidered on the collar.

“Mr. Zhou, everything is ready,” the assistant said softly, “The first car owner, Zhang Ming, has arrived and is in the VIP room.”

“What about Master Ma?”

“He’s downstairs, tying the red silk ribbons on the cars in the first row.”

Zhou Qingyu nodded, took a deep breath, and walked towards the stairs.

In the VIP room, Zhang Ming was restless.

This twenty-four-year-old programmer, who three months ago was still worrying about saving money to buy a car, had become the focus of national attention today.

He wore a newly bought dark gray jacket, his hair neatly combed, but the sweat in his palms betrayed his nervousness.

“Mr. Zhang, relax,” a staff member said with a smile, handing him a glass of water, “You are the protagonist today.”

“I’m just an ordinary person...” Zhang Ming muttered, “How did I become the first one?”

“Because you were the first person to believe in Red Flag,” Zhou Qingyu said as he pushed the door open and reached out his hand, “Zhang Ming, congratulations on your new car.”

Zhang Ming hurriedly stood up to shake hands: “Mr. Zhou... thank you, thank you.”

“We are the ones who should be saying thank you,” Zhou Qingyu said sincerely, “When everyone was bearish on Red Flag, you voted with your hard-earned money. Red Flag is where it is today because of thousands of supporters like you.”

At nine o’clock in the morning, the delivery ceremony officially began.

The big screen in the square lit up, playing historical footage of Red Flag from 1958 to the present.

When the footage switched to the production line of the Red Flag H9, applause erupted at the scene.

Zhou Qingyu walked to the center of the stage; he didn’t use a microphone, but his voice carried clearly through the square’s sound system:

“Fifty-nine years ago, the first Red Flag sedan rolled off the assembly line in Changchun.”

“Back then, China had to import even a single screw, but the older generation of automotive workers stubbornly hammered out our national car.”

He paused and looked at the white-haired old craftsmen in the audience—Master Ma and his old colleagues sat in the first row, wearing brand-new work uniforms, sitting ramrod straight.

“In these fifty-nine years, Red Flag has experienced glory and fallen into low points.”

“Many people said that this brand should be in a museum.”

“But today—”

He turned around and waved his arm at the five hundred new cars behind him:

“Red Flag is back! And this time, it is no longer just a state guest car; it is going to enter every household and become the pride of every Chinese family!”

Thunderous applause broke out. Many old craftsmen wiped away tears.

“Now, please welcome our special guest today—Master Ma Guodong, an eighth-level technician from the Red Flag final assembly workshop!”

Master Ma walked onto the stage, his steps a bit unsteady, but his back was straight.

He took the microphone, his hands trembling.

“I... I joined the factory at sixteen and worked on Red Flag my whole life,” the old man’s voice came through the speakers, carrying the weight of history.

“I assembled the CA72, the 770, the Century Star... Later, when the factory was failing, I thought I would never see the day Red Flag stood up again in this lifetime.”

He paused and looked at Zhou Qingyu in the audience: “But young Zhou came, President Su came, and Xinghuo came.”

“They didn’t give up on Red Flag, didn’t give up on us old folks.”

“These cars today—”

He pointed to the brand-new Red Flag H9s in the square: “These cars are better than any I assembled when I was young! It’s not that the craftsmanship is better, it’s that the heart is in it! The people who built these cars put their hearts into them!”

The most enthusiastic applause erupted from the audience. Some people stood up to applaud, and many more were wiping away tears.

Master Ma took a red silk ribbon from a staff member—not ordinary red cloth, but specially made silk embroidered with the golden characters “Red Flag”.

“Red Flag’s old tradition: new cars leaving the factory must have red ribbons tied to them.”

The old man walked to the first car, which was Zhang Ming’s.

He carefully tied the red ribbon to the rearview mirror and made a beautiful knot.

“Child, drive this car well,” Master Ma patted Zhang Ming’s shoulder, “It won’t let you down.”

Zhang Ming nodded vigorously, his eyes reddening.

The subsequent delivery process was full of ritual.

Each car owner received three gifts: a customized car key with a miniature classic Red Flag badge embedded on the handle; a hardcover album ”Sixty Years of Red Flag,” containing all models from the CA72 to the Red Flag H9; and a ”First Owner Certificate” signed and numbered by Zhou Qingyu.

Zhang Ming was the first to receive the key.

His hands were shaking as he took the key, and he said to the camera: “My grandfather always wanted to ride in a Red Flag, but he passed away last year... Today, I’m going to drive it to his grave and tell him: Grandfather, our Red Flag has really come back.”

This sentence was later edited into the news clip and became an iconic image of Red Flag’s revival.

At ten o’clock in the morning, five hundred Red Flag H9s ignited at the same time.

The sound of the engines starting was low and uniform, like a well-trained orchestra.

The owners drove slowly out of the square, each car with a red silk ribbon tied to its rearview mirror, fluttering in the autumn wind.

Meanwhile, Red Flag 4S stores across the country were also conducting deliveries at the same time.

Four thousand five hundred owners in over four hundred cities witnessed this moment together.

The real test was just beginning.

The first thing Zhang Ming did after picking up the car was to make a decision: he was going to do the most authentic review.

As a veteran digital blogger, he knew the unspoken rules of the automotive industry—the test drive cars provided by manufacturers were all specially tuned, with fuel consumption and performance superior to mass-produced cars.

He wanted to see how his mass-produced Red Flag H9 really performed.

On the afternoon of the delivery day, he filled up the gas tank, reset the odometer, and began a three-day real-world road test.

On the first day, during the morning and evening rush hours in Changchun, traffic was heavy.

The 48V mild-hybrid system of the Red Flag H9 performed excellently in frequent stop-and-go traffic—the motor-assisted start was smooth and quiet, and the engine intervention was almost imperceptible.

When he returned home in the evening, the dashboard showed a fuel consumption of 4.5 L/100km.

On the second day, he drove on the highway from Changchun to Jilin.

With cruise control set at 120km/h, the car was so quiet inside that he could hear the sound of the air conditioning vents.

The car audio system was good, but he was even more pleasantly surprised by the navigation—it used the ”Beidou + GPS” dual-mode navigation self-developed by Xinghuo, and the positioning accuracy was significantly higher than the mobile navigation he used before.

Highway fuel consumption: 4.1 L/100km.

On the third day, mixed road conditions.

After a final one thousand kilometers, the displayed combined fuel consumption was: 4.3 L/100km.

The official data was 4.8 L/100km.

“Reverse false reporting?” Zhang Ming laughed to himself as he typed this title in front of his computer.

The ”Red Flag H9 1000km Real Fuel Consumption Report” he posted on the Dongchedi forum received over 100,000 views within an hour.

The comment section exploded:

“Is the OP sure the calculation isn’t wrong? 4.3? My Corolla takes 5.2!”

“Measured lower than official? Red Flag is playing dirty!”

“The ’wait-and-see’ crowd is crying; ordering a car now means waiting three months...”

“At this fuel consumption, isn’t that the same level as the hybrid Camry?”

A more professional review came from ”Tech Xiaoxin.”

This digital blogger with five million followers on Bilibili got a media test drive car.

But he didn’t do a routine exterior and interior review; instead, he focused on the in-car system.

The video title was eye-catching: ”Is the 150,000 car system smoother than a 500,000 one? In-depth review of Red Flag H9 car system.”

Xiaoxin used professional equipment to test: cold start time of the car system, 3.2 seconds.

The industry average is 8 seconds.

Navigation software opening time, 1.1 seconds.

Voice recognition response latency, 0.3 seconds.

Half an hour of continuous operation, no lag, no overheating.

”The most terrifying thing is this.” Xiao Xin showed a detail in the video, ”I opened navigation, music, and vehicle settings, three apps, and switched between them quickly. Look—zero lag. What’s behind this? It’s the 28-nanometer automotive-grade chip developed in-house by Spark Power, a modified version of flint one.”

He dismantled the center console panel—of course, in a professional facility with engineers guiding him. ”Look at this main control chip, it has the Xinghuo logo on it. I checked the data, and this is the first mass-produced domestic automotive-grade chip in the country. Not to mention how powerful its performance is, but its stability and smoothness completely crush a crowd of joint-venture cars using old Qualcomm chips.”

At the end of the video, Xiao Xin said something profound: ”Many people think that domestic cars are just about piling on features and making fancy interiors. But the Red Flag H9 tells us that the real core competitiveness lies in the foundation—chips, systems, and algorithms. What Spark Power is doing is a revolution from the roots.”

This video exceeded ten million views on Bilibili and hit the site-wide trending list.

The long-term test report from Autohome focused more on details. After driving for two thousand kilometers, the editor wrote a ten-thousand-word article, a paragraph of which was widely cited:

”We measured the body gaps of the H9. The gap between the hood and the fender is 3.1 mm on the left and 3.2 mm on the right, with extremely high uniformity. The flatness of the door against the body, measured with a ruler, has an error of less than 0.5 mm. What does this data mean? It is stricter than the manufacturing standards of Volkswagen.”

”We recorded the sound of closing the door and performed a spectral analysis. The peak frequency is concentrated at 120Hz, which is the recognized frequency range for a ’solid feel.’ Many luxury cars specifically tune the sound of the door closing, but this sound in the H9 is brought about by its structure, not tuned.”

”Opening the engine compartment, the layout is as neat as a textbook. The wiring harnesses are all wrapped in corrugated pipes, the battery has an insulation cover, and the fuse box is clearly labeled—these are the detail standards of German cars. But the H9 does it even more extremely.”

The conclusion of the report: ”This is not a perfect car—the interior materials are indeed average, and the brand premium is indeed insufficient. But regarding the product itself, the Red Flag H9 offers 30% more value than joint-venture cars at the 150,000 price point. If a car like this doesn’t sell well, then that is the tragedy of the Huaxia automotive industry.”

The explosive spread of word-of-mouth brought about a second surge in orders.

From October 20th to 25th, in five days, the Red Flag official website and 4S stores nationwide received 23,000 new orders. Averaging 4,600 units per day, this number even exceeded the popularity during the initial release of the H9.

Cumulative orders exceeded 80,000 units.

The production plan of the Changchun factory was disrupted. The originally designed monthly capacity was 20,000 units, and the limit capacity with three shifts was 25,000 units. With 80,000 orders, it would take four months to complete at this speed. But many car owners couldn’t wait—someone in the forum was already complaining: ”If I order a car now, I have to wait until next February?”

On the evening of October 25th, an emergency meeting was held at the Red Flag headquarters in Changchun. The meeting room was filled with smoke; although smoking was prohibited, several old smokers couldn’t help but light up. The pressure was too great.

Production Director Old Chen reported first: ”General Manager Zhou, all three production lines are fully operational, workers are on two shifts, working twelve hours a day. But the monthly capacity is 25,000 units at most; this is the physical limit—equipment needs maintenance, and people need rest.”

The supply chain director continued: ”The biggest bottleneck is the 48V motor. Spark Power has limited capacity, and they didn’t expect us to sell so well.”

Sales Director Wang Lei’s data was more direct: ”General Manager Zhou, I have received calls from more than thirty dealers, all urging for cars. Some customers say that if they can’t wait, they will cancel their orders and buy joint-venture cars. Some scalpers are also flipping orders—some people are paying a premium of 5,000 yuan to buy the priority delivery rights of early orders.”

Zhou Qingyu sat in the main seat, hands crossed on the table, his face solemn. Outside the window, the autumn night in Changchun was already very cold. But the meeting room was as muggy as midsummer.

”How is the progress of the Chengdu branch factory renovation?” Zhou Qingyu asked.

”The handover procedures for the former Hyundai factory have just been completed, equipment removal will take one month, and our production line installation will take two months,” Old Chen said. ”The earliest it can go into production is next January, with an initial monthly capacity of 5,000 units.”

”Too slow.” Zhou Qingyu shook his head. ”Is there an emergency plan?” Everyone was silent.

At this moment, a young marketing manager said in a low voice: ”General Manager Zhou, I have an idea... I don’t know if it will work.” ”Speak.” ”Find BYD to do the contract manufacturing.” The young man gathered his courage. ”They are transforming into new energy, and many fuel car production lines have been vacated. Moreover, they have rich experience in contract manufacturing—they have manufactured for Mercedes-Benz and also for Toyota.”

Whispers erupted in the meeting room. ”Let BYD manufacture Red Flag? What about the brand image?” ”Can quality be guaranteed?” ”Will General Manager Su agree?”

Zhou Qingyu thought for a full minute. ”Contact President Wang of BYD,” he finally said. ”I will go talk to him personally. But the premise is—quality control must be supervised by our personnel stationed at the factory, and the production lines must be renovated according to Red Flag standards.”

He looked at everyone present: ”I know what you are worried about. But now is a special period, and we must use every means to ensure delivery. If we lose customers because of production capacity issues, that would be the greatest damage to the Red Flag brand.”

The decision was quickly communicated: 1. Start the renovation of the Chengdu branch factory, targeting production by next January with a monthly capacity of 5,000 units. 2. Negotiate contract manufacturing cooperation with BYD, targeting a monthly capacity of 5,000 units. 3. Issue an official announcement: Promise to complete the delivery of all 80,000 orders by January 31, 2018. 4. For customers waiting more than two months, provide a choice of one of three: free first maintenance, one-year extended warranty, or a 5,000 yuan trade-in subsidy.

After the announcement was released, public opinion was polarized. Some praised Red Flag for its honesty, while others questioned its production management capability. But most car owners chose to understand—after all, good products are worth waiting for.

That night, Zhou Qingyu received a call from Su Chen. ”Qingyu, this battle was fought beautifully.” Su Chen’s voice came from Shenzhen. ”But remember, delivery is just the beginning; after-sales service is the long-term battle. The revival of Red Flag has only truly started now.”

”I understand, General Manager Su,” Zhou Qingyu said. ”I am already assembling an after-sales service training team, and all technicians in 4S stores must be retrained. Red Flag’s service standards must align with Lexus.”

”Good.” Su Chen paused. ”Also, regarding the chip... there was a bit of a problem. Be mentally prepared.”

Zhou Qingyu’s heart tightened: ”Is it serious?”

”The first tape-out failed. The yield is less than 1%.” Su Chen’s voice was calm, but Zhou Qingyu could hear the heaviness in it. ”The news might leak tomorrow, and the public opinion pressure will be huge. The current success of Red Flag will instead become a comparison—they will say that Spark Power only knows how to make cars, not chips.”

”What do you need me to do?”

”Nothing needs to be done; doing Red Flag well is the greatest support,” Su Chen said. ”The road of chips is inherently ten times harder than cars. We were mentally prepared for this long ago.”

Hanging up the phone, Zhou Qingyu stood by the window, looking at the night view of Changchun. This city was once the cradle of the Huaxia automotive industry, later declined, and is now struggling to revive. And Spark Power carries not only the dream of an enterprise, but the hope of an industry.

He remembered what Wang Jianjun, a taxi driver turned ride-hailing car owner, said when picking up his car today. He had watched that video; the forty-five-year-old man choked up in front of the camera: ”I drove a Santana for twenty years and always felt that foreign cars were solid. This time I used all my savings to switch to the H9, originally worried that domestic cars were unreliable... But now I take orders every day, and passengers all say, ’Master, your car is really quiet and spacious.’ I say it’s a Red Flag, and they don’t believe it.”

At the end of the video, Wang Jianjun wiped his face: ”I am not a shill; I just want to say—we Huaxia people can finally build cars that make people feel at ease.”

Zhou Qingyu saved that video. He wanted to remember this feeling—the pride from the bottom of his heart when a product truly wins people’s hearts.

The night grew deeper. But the lights of the Red Flag factory were still bright tonight.