After Divorce, I Can Hear the Future-Chapter 984: Shameless for the Sake of Profit

"Where’s Liangzi?"

"Who’s this crewcut dark-skinned guy?"

"It seems like Liangzi is watching the show from down there?"

At 2 PM, the Tianxing car launch event began on time, and related topics immediately hit the trending searches.

After all, there were already leaks online that Tianji is a seven-seater large business vehicle, rumored to be quite expensive, not something an average family could use, so the viewers of the live stream came mainly for Lu Liang, hoping he’d say something outrageous.

However, when they opened the live stream, they saw a young man with dark skin and a crewcut standing on the stage, while the much-anticipated Lu Liang was sitting in the audience.

"Hello to all the distinguished guests present and the online viewers. My name is Zhuo Yifan, I’m 29 years old, and currently the product manager at Tianxing Automobile."

Zhuo Yifan, wearing a blue suit with a white shirt underneath, stood on stage, smiling and speaking with ease: "Perhaps you’re surprised to see me hosting the new car launch, but honestly, I’m surprised too."

"After all, what kind of good boss gives you only thirty hours and then tells you to host a launch event?"

"But then I thought, it’s Lu Liang we’re talking about, so it all makes perfect sense."

"Thanks to Mr. Lu for giving me this opportunity!"

Zhuo Yifan suddenly clasped his hands and bowed to Lu Liang with humor, instantly causing the audience to burst into laughter.

Lu Liang couldn’t help but smile too, and this moment was perfectly captured by the venue’s cameras, sparking heated discussions online.

"I thought Tianxing only had Xiao Chen as a prodigy, but it turns out there are stronger ones out there?"

"Zhuo Yifan is different from Chen Jinchun, just look up his resume."

"What the heck? He’s the second secretary? His predecessor was Wen Chao, and his successor is Xu Jiawei? That’s impressive?"

It wasn’t until someone leaked it that the online community knew the crewcut dark-skinned guy in front of them was the legendary mysterious second secretary.

Over the years of Lu Liang’s career, there have been four secretaries.

The first, Wen Chao, has become the CEO of Tianxing Financial Group, making waves in the international financial market.

The third, Xu Jiawei, was dispatched to Neon, responsible for expanding offline financial services in the East Asian market, basically a Governor.

The fourth is Lu Liang’s current secretary, Sun Zheyuan, while the second secretary, Zhuo Yifan, became elusive.

Some said that Zhuo Yifan wasn’t valued by Lu Liang, although he still worked at Tianxing Automobile, he was only given the tough, menial work.

For example, traveling across the country for the 225-store plan, working in the production department for two years, participating in the construction of the Su City Tianxing Park, and leading the installation work of the second-phase production base and production lines at Wuhan.

With Zhuo Yifan hosting this car launch, the truth finally came out. It wasn’t that he wasn’t valued by Lu Liang — he was too valued, being groomed as the next successor for Tianxing Automobile, which is why he rotated through various grassroots positions.

On stage, Zhuo Yifan continued to use humorous words to downplay the impact of Lu Liang not hosting this launch event.

Below the stage, Lei Jun sighed: "You trust a 29-year-old to run Tianxing Automobile?"

"Give it a try, young people need a chance," Lu Liang smiled and added, "I’m only 35 myself."

Lei Jun was momentarily at a loss for words, almost forgetting that Lu Liang was just 35 this year, and Wen Chao was only 31.

At this moment, rousing music played in the venue, and Zhuo Yifan’s voice suddenly rose: "Today’s protagonist isn’t me, but it, the Tianxing Tianji, our domestically developed luxury large MPV."

A gray-silver car, with a front end resembling the Harmony Train, slowly appeared at the center of the stage.

With a length of 5.3 meters, a wheelbase of 3.3 meters, a 2+2+3 seating layout, and equipped with a 107-degree Qilin 5C battery.

The 5C supercharger can reach a maximum power of 520 kilowatts, requiring only 12 minutes of charging for a 500-kilometer range.

With dual motors, intelligent four-wheel-drive mode, it accelerates from zero to 100 km/h in 5.5 seconds, and the entire series comes with the Tianxing OS smart cockpit.

The fridge, TV, and large sofa are standard configurations, and the second-row twin seats can both use the zero-gravity seat mode.

"Making riding an ultimate enjoyment!"

Zhuo Yifan shouted the slogan, and then announced that besides the standard range and long-range versions, a new extended-range version had also been added.

With a 55-liter fuel tank, a 78-degree lithium battery, equipped with Tianxing’s self-developed 2.0T range extender, high-efficiency fuel, and strong power, with full fuel and full battery, the maximum range can reach 1380 kilometers.

"Tianxing with its thick eyebrows really went for an extended range version?"

"What’s with the promised new energy? A refueling and recharging old gadget qualifies as new energy?"

"Liangzi really doesn’t care about face anymore just to make money."

"Claiming to be for the environment back then, isn’t he just slapping himself in the face now?"

As soon as the news came out, discussions sprang up both online and offline.

Though there had been rumors about an extended-range version for Tianji before, the news had not been officially confirmed.

The sudden announcement caught people off guard.

It also seemed to provide a resolution to a long-standing debate.

After all, even Tianxing Automobile has released an extended-range model, suggesting that extended-range might be the trend of the future?

"A 2.0T range extender?" Lei Jun furrowed his brow, perplexed at how such a large range extender could fit inside, then gleefully added, "I reckon Li Xiang and Yu Dazui will give you some trouble."

The Li Xiang models priced around four to five hundred thousand, and the Avatar models priced at five to six hundred thousand, have always been criticized for their Dong An 1.5t range extenders.

Before the appearance of Tianxing Tianji, they could deflect critique by claiming that 1.5t power was adequate, and a 2.0t size was too large.

But now that Tianxing has pioneered the use of a 2.0t range extender, regardless of its utility in daily driving, having it is better than not.

In the future, it will be hard for the two main extended-range luxury brands to continue their excuses.

Lu Liang laughed lightly, "With Tesla acquired by General Motors, the catfish is gone. Without anyone to spur them, I’m afraid we might see a new cycle, just like before with joint-venture car companies, resting on their laurels without motivation for new technology development."

Lei Jun fell silent. Clearly, Lu Liang already considered Tianxing Automobile as a leader in the industry. In the foreseeable future, Tianxing Automobile might become the Apple of the automotive world.

For market players like Xiaomi Auto, this is not a good sign, having already suffered under Apple’s dominance.

"The market is very large, large enough to accommodate several leading brands coexisting. Mr. Lei, there’s no need to worry," Lu Liang said with a smile.

"Let’s hope so."

Lei Jun forced a smile, turned back to the stage, and asked again, "Is an extended range the trend of the future?"

"I don’t know, but it’s never a bad idea to try new things."

Lu Liang spoke of their research department still working on internal combustion engines, transmissions, and other so-called outdated technologies.

Lei Jun was stupefied and sighed deeply, "An extended range model is already enough to collapse your persona as the father of domestic new energy. If people find out Tianxing is still developing internal combustion engines, there’s no telling how they will criticize you."

Lu Liang chuckled, "They can say whatever they wish. Some technologies may not be needed, but can’t be absent."

"There are only a few people I admire in my life, Mr. Lu, and you’re one of them." Lei Jun straightened his expression and gave a thumbs-up.

After all, they well knew that environmentalism was just a slogan, a means to fool the average person; the real intent was to upgrade the industry.

Even though they proclaimed that oil cars were a thing of the past, no one genuinely believed that oil cars would be eliminated from the market.

At least for a long, long time into the future, oil cars will undoubtedly remain the mainstream model of this world.

After all, in terms of a country with such dense charging resources, globally, it’s just them.

So developing oil cars indeed still has a market, but this process is destined to be challenging.

Lu Liang smiled faintly, well-deserved.

As the conference neared its end, Zhuo Yifan announced the three versions of Phecda’s prices: the standard version at 528,900, the long-range version at 558,900, and the extended-range version at 598,900.

"Some people are going to lose sleep over this."

Seeing the price at that moment, Lei Jun’s anxious heart finally settled.

A fifty-thousand range MPV clearly has designs on not just the MPV market but also the large SUV market, such as Li Xiang L9, NIO ES7, and Denza...

"Are these people including you, Mr. Lei?" Lu Liang asked curiously.

Lei Jun shook his head, smiling with squinted eyes, "Even if Xiaomi were to launch a new car, it would only be a small to mid-sized SUV."

Tianxing Automobile had already paved the way. If Xiaomi just followed steadily, it would be hard to fail.

Lu Liang was speechless but couldn’t be bothered to comment further. As Zhuo Yifan bowed to the audience, it also marked the end of the conference.

He got up and said, "Let’s go, see you later."

Taking a walk to the backstage, Lu Liang found Zhuo Yifan standing solemnly, like a soldier awaiting inspection, eyes glued to him.

"Relax a bit, you did well today." Lu Liang fully affirmed Zhuo Yifan’s performance.

After all, he wasn’t one of those stubborn old fossils and could take some good-natured ribbing.

"Mr. Lu, the pre-orders just surpassed five hundred units," Hu Weiwei came over and said.

"Not bad," Lu Liang nodded with a smile, clearly ready for the possibility of a lukewarm response.

"The overseas market response seems quite positive as well," Wang Xiaofeng said.

Flannery had just called, inquiring when the U.S. version would launch, and several customers had called their stores for inquiries.

"This car won’t have a U.S. version for the time being. If there’s demand, let’s just proceed with export," Lu Liang pondered for a moment and made the decision.

After all, as an MPV, it’s a commercial vehicle, with relatively small demand. It clearly isn’t cost-effective to run a separate production line just for the U.S. version.