Haifeng blinked.
"Wait—you want dealership rights for an entire province?"
Even with Liu Zihao's wild reputation, that request came out of nowhere.
Did he not realize how risky it was? If the Audi brand failed, 1.5 billion RMB would go up in smoke.
But Zihao didn't flinch.
"Yes. Full province."
"Don't worry, Brother Feng.
You've seen our family's strength. We've been in auto sales for years."
"Honestly, if I had more funds, I'd ask for even more."
Haifeng gave it some thought, then shook his head.
"No."
Zihao opened his mouth to protest, but Haifeng waved a hand.
"Let me finish."
"It's not about you. Even if you had ten times the capital, I wouldn't approve it."
"China Star Auto will never grant a full province's dealership rights to a single company."
Why?
Because monopolies were dangerous.
One company controls a region.
That company controls the pricing, the supply chain, and customer experience.e
Over time, the dealer becomes more potent than the manufacturer
Haifeng had seen this happen in his past life. Once a dealer gained complete control of a territory, they could even dictate terms back to HQ.
He wasn't going to let that happen.
"We're building direct-sale stores across every tier-one, -two, and -three city," Haifeng said.
"They'll act as supervision points. Dealers must compete and cooperate."
"Even if our brand is new, we won't hand over our future just for fast cash."
Zihao paused.
He understood.
"You're right. Monopoly would make us lazy."
"Alright. Let's do it your way. Give me twenty stores instead—scattered."
"That'll use up my 1.5 billion. Just tell me which cities I can pick."
Haifeng smiled.
"No more than five per province. No more than two per city.
Choose quickly. Others are applying fast."
"If you're too slow, someone else will get the good spots."
Zihao saluted.
"You got it! I'll go back and finalize with my dad right away."
As he dashed out, Haifeng couldn't help but smile.
Earlier, he was all swagger and bluster. Now he's got ambition?
He didn't know Zihao's confidence came from one thing:
His father said any profits would be his alone.
Status Update: Dealer Recruitment
In the first few days, only fifty dealership rights were approved
Of those, twenty belonged to the Liu family
The rest of China's dealers? I'm still watching and waiting.
"It's too early."
"Let's see how the first wave performs."
"Maybe the Audi brand won't last."
China Star Auto's network was tiny compared to legacy giants like Otto or BaoLai, with thousands of 4S stores.
But Haifeng wasn't worried.
Over 200 direct-sale stores were under construction.
Even if no one joined, he could cover the early phase alone.
The Real Problem
Just as he was planning the Audi A4 launch conference, trouble arrived.
Liu Jianyu barged into his office, face pale, laptop in hand.
"President, something's wrong on Weibo."
He placed the laptop down, eyes tight with frustration.
Two trending posts were sitting in the Top 20:
#Huawei Honor 3X crushes Xingchen Series and Xiaomi#
#HiSilicon Kirin is the pride of China, beats A-Series quickly #
Haifeng stared at the screen.
Then, he slammed his hand on the desk.
"Bullying. Shameless propaganda!"
He had expected Huawei to fight—but not with dirty PR tactics this early.
The chip war had just escalated from labs… to public perception.