Of course, one's own children are treated differently from other people's children. This is true not only in the family, but also in the automotive world.

The helpless BMW began the "Rolls-Royce" project on paper in July 1998: Maybach can be made into a super-sized Mercedes-Benz, but the Rolls-Royce must not be a super BMW when it changes ownership and enters a new period of development. Gault and his team have long been an iron law.

Englishman Tony. Gott worked for 18 years at the old Crewe factory in England, but now had to move to Goodwood in the south of England, because BMW only got the double R trademark, and the radiator cover and the statue of the goddess of flight, which were later obtained by agreement with Volkswagen, but other than that, a blank sheet of paper.

Although the "Flying Goddess" statue and Rolls-Royce's iconic water tank grille were in Volkswagen's hands, it was five years later, at least these things, including Rolls-Royce's production plant, were still in Volkswagen's hands.

Although Tony repeatedly emphasized that this would be the result of a complete restart without any historical baggage. But Rolls-Royce's regular customers weren't as optimistic as Tony. Not everyone can make a Rolls-Royce, or shout at the sky, "I can make a Rolls-Royce!" "It was successful, and the workers who produced the Rolls-Royce and Bentley were left in Crewe by the Volkswagen Group.

In order to make up for the embarrassment that Rolls-Royce was taken away by BMW after 2003, Bentley, which had been deliberately hidden by Rolls-Royce for nearly 70 years, began to be brought out of the dusty old paper pile by Volkswagen again.

Since the Bentley factory was sold to Rolls-Royce in the economic crisis that swept the whole European and American countries in 1931, Bentley has been deliberately ignored by Rolls-Royce as a sub-brand of Rolls-Royce, like a poor baby who was snubbed by his stepmother. In fact, at that time, Bentley was Rolls-Royce's biggest rival, and the Bentley 8L was better than all Rolls-Royce cars at that time. If it weren't for that economic crisis. I really don't know which one is better now, Bentley or Rolls-Royce.

At the same time, Bentley's dealers have also officially parted ways with Rolls-Royce, which has belonged to BMW, since January 1, 2003, and Volkswagen will naturally not leave BMW with any useful things. Even if it's a piece of paper!

Bentley's local salespeople are accustomed to explaining to their customers that "Bentley is still producing in the original factory with the same workers, and it still maintains the most authentic high quality." ”

When guests naturally ask about Rolls-Royce, although Volkswagen has built the "cheapest Bentley" (priced at 159,000 euros in the European market) and the fastest coupe (top speed of 318 kilometers per hour, acceleration time to 100 kilometers per second) Continental GT in order to expand the Bentley market. But the salespeople of Bentley, a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, often say to their customers, "BMW only bought the trademark." Other than that, they all stayed at Bentley. ”

In 2002, Bentley, which inherited the true Rolls-Royce pedigree and poured its heart and soul into it, began to reap the rewards. In 2003, Bentley proved to be the only way to prove his mettle, winning the 24 Hours of Lehman again with the Speed8. It has been more than 70 years since the last time he won the 24 Hours of Leyman for four consecutive years from 1927 to 1930.

In the same year, in order to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's accession to the throne, Volkswagen made a Bentley and presented it to Queen Elizabeth II. This Queen's special Bentley is the Benley State Limouin, which has since replaced the Rolls-Royce as Queen Elizabeth II's royal car.

This was particularly Rolls-Royce at that time, and the transcendent status of Rolls-Royce, which has always been the symbol of the British royal car, and Rolls-Royce, which has always been the best choice for the British royal family. Now he was replaced by his younger brother. How does this make Rolls-Royce embarrassed?

As a result, the market share of Rolls-Royce, which was already not selling well, plummeted. Although now Rolls-Royce is still in the hands of the public. But the public is not distressed: anyway, next year Rolls-Royce will be someone else's, and now is the best opportunity to hit Rolls-Royce!

One thing Zhang Lan remembers very clearly: as two high-end representatives of luxury brands. Rolls-Royce has been beaten to Bentley for a long time. In 2005, Bentley's global sales were 10.0 times that of the Rolls-Royce Phantom, at 8,627 units, compared with 796 Rolls-Royce sales in the same period. In 2007, the difference between the two sales was also nearly 10 times. In the past four years, although Rolls-Royce has maintained a growing momentum, its absolute sales volume is still far behind Bentley.

According to the sales figures released by the German BMW Group and the Volkswagen Group, Rolls-Royce sold 106 vehicles in China and 1,010 units worldwide in 2007, and the increase in sales mainly came from the Phantom soft-top convertible coupe. During the same period, Bentley sold a total of 10,014 cars worldwide, and Chinese customers bought 338 cars.

Although the battle for the Rolls-Royce bloodline in 1998 ended with BMW winning on the surface, it was clear that Volkswagen had taken revenge in this one-year dark war. BMW seems to be victorious, but Rolls-Royce has already been tossed by Volkswagen in the past few years.

In recent years, Rolls-Royce's new models have become younger and younger, and in order to catch up with its former peers, BMW is being forced to put down the empty shelves of the aristocracy, hoping to regain lost ground through a younger and more fashionable brand transformation.

Zhang Lan, who finally figured out the whole development of the matter, secretly made up her mind that she must not let BMW and Volkswagen intervene in this matter and ruin their own plans!

As for the future operation of these two luxury car brands, with the two masters of Volkswagen and BMW in front of the way, Zhang Lan is naturally not worried: since Bentley can bring nearly two billion dollars of profits to Volkswagen every year in the hands of Volkswagen, there is naturally no reason to fail by copying Volkswagen's methods.

As for Rolls-Royce, there is a BMW master, plus the loyal customer base that Rolls-Royce has accumulated over the years, there is no big problem, and the key problem now is that he must catch up with BMW and Volkswagen to take Rolls-Royce, Bentley and Cosworth from the hands of Vickers.

The next day, Zhang Lan told Xiao Chenxi and Alice the two girls what she thought of in history, of course, only today, July 1997, not these things that will happen later, and then on the basis of these previous facts, it was like a military chess deduction - in fact, it was a retelling of all the possible situations at that time - and finally concluded: "If we want to win these three brands, Be sure to start planning now, before Volkswagen and BMW! Even if you plan for the worst, the worst is to give up Rolls-Royce and win the two brands of Bentley and Cosworth! ”,

Rolls-Royce is more of a symbol for its own company, symbolizing that the Alice Group has entered the ranks of the world's top luxury car manufacturers, but this symbol can be fully realized through Bentley. As for Cosworth, this is truly priceless to himself!

Zhang Lan's simulation of the development of the matter, and why the participants in this event are only, and will only be BMW and Volkswagen, involved in it, and the analysis is very close.

Xiao Chenxi and Alice understand that if Vickers really intends to sell these three companies, only Volkswagen and BMW have the strength and demand: GM has Cadillac, Ford has Lincoln, and Mercedes-Benz has Maybach, which has just made a high-profile appearance at the Tokyo Motor Show in Japan.

What about Volkswagen, what does Volkswagen have? Volkswagen has a Phaeton, but the Phaeton with the Volkswagen round VW logo, even if his performance and comfort are not inferior to the BMW 7 Series and Mercedes-Benz S Series models, but still few people think that it should be a luxury car. Or in people's concepts, as long as it is a car with a round VW logo, it means that it is a car suitable for ordinary people, and then up, at best, it is just a mid-to-high-end car.

Of course, Volkswagen also has an Audi, but Audi, a luxury car brand that is more than above and more than below, after losing China, which is the most likely base for Audi in the future, Audi's brand image has declined sharply - in the international community, it feels that since even poor Chinese people are not willing to use Audi, are we poorer than Chinese? -- Audi's current situation has made the Volkswagen Group even more gray-haired.

Well, if it is counted in this way, Zhang Lan can be regarded as the "culprit" who indirectly promoted Volkswagen to get involved in Rolls-Royce and Bentley.

What about BMW, what does he have? Like Mercedes-Benz, BMW AG pursues high quality, high performance and high technology in its cars, and enjoys almost the same reputation as Mercedes-Benz cars in the world's automotive industry and users. BMW's acceleration and high-speed performance are among the best in the world's luxury car industry, so the first choice for police cars in various countries is BMW. BMW's motorcycles are the most expensive in the international market, even surpassing luxury cars, selling for around $30,000. Because BMW products are designed in the style of racing, BMW cars often make a big splash at world motorsport events.

BMW is indeed great, really like a BMW horse that dominates the field, but it is precisely because BMW has always been a representative of high-end sports luxury sedans that people have left people with the deep-rooted concept of "driving a BMW and riding a Mercedes-Benz", which has made BMW successful at the same time, but it has also limited the pace of BMW's further development.

PS: It's still four more

align="center">