When I met Xia Qing the first time one year ago, I never thought of him as an important figure in race field. It’s obvious that he is a businessman traveling around the world. He is mysterious for others. Without introduction of him by marketing directors of Shanghai Volkswagen, you can never know that he is the boss of the Shanghai Volkswagen 333 Racing Team, and he will never attract so much attention from the media.

One year later, we have to look at Xia Qing with new eyes. He not only meets the needs of sponsor but also gives those racing car drivers professional career. It might be a phenomenon worth consideration in China, where car race just starts its journey. A layman who knows little about car race quickly becomes a hot spot figure, and turns a costly sport into an opportunity of making money.

“Ant warrior” creating fortune

After one-year attention to and interview with him, I find that for Xia Qing, entering the race cycle is rather for new business opportunities than for personal interest. To this day, he does not care much about personal fame. He announced clearly to the media that popularizing the team and sponsors was the most important. He said that he just managed the racing team as an industry, and had set a two-year probation period. He will go on if he succeeds, and will leave, fails.

Several times, I wanted to have an interview with Xia Qing on the topic of race, but he was never available. He takes the mobile phone as his companion nearly all days, and speaks more through mobile phone than speaking directly to other people on the ground. According to his introduction, he went into this field (race) by accident. Two years ago, the former 333 racing team of Shanghai could not continue its business because of bad management and business situation. Through introduction of friends, this team asked him to take the office. Xia Qing said that he took the office without hesitation at that time. He prefers judge the “general trend”, and always feels himself driven by “telekinesis”.

“I like driving, but know nothing about racing. I found I had boarded a pirate ship after entering this field. However, it’s easy to come but hard to leave”, said Xia Qing, “It’s an industry that needs too much money to burn.” As a businessman, he unconsciously considered why the former team was sold.
Businessmen don’t abstain themselves from the belief of “profit is most important”. After analyzing the reason why car race cannot become a popular sport in China, Xia Qing learned that the key problem was that it was not run as a business. Although car race has become well known for five or six years, it’s just in the recent two years that it becomes a popular sport in real sense. Undoubtedly, this should be attributed to the participation of car manufacturers. Whereas, it still has a long way to go to develop the market of car race.

Nevertheless, Xia Qing set a two-year probation period, during which he just take pleasure in and accumulate some initial experience of the industry. This year, he is less than 40 years old, and has been doing business for 10 years in Shanghai. During that period, he gets acquaintance with many friends and becomes more and more familiar with this city. He likes the atmosphere of a metropolis, and even feels there is “temptation of money” in the air. Many years’ business life enables him to grasp and operate business opportunities correctly.

“I love Shanghai. This city gives me a lot of exciting inspiration”, said Xia Qing when he drove his Passat B5 to Songjiang to attend a race. Frequently, self-confidence and proud of being “new Shanghai people” emerges from him. He told me that he was always stimulated by racing, and the aspiration of getting more victory drove him to march on.

Wisdom behind business operation

“There is the largest profit margin in an industry that nobody is in”. This law also applies when Xia Qing manages to explore economic benefit of operating race business.

Xia Qing introduced that it was fortunate for him to have a racing team based in Shanghai, where Shanghai Volkswagen and Shanghai GM, two auto giants, are also based. In addition, Shanghai enjoys the atmosphere as an international metropolis and profound social resources. What’s more, people are more passionate about buying private cars for their own families, and the whole society pays more attention to and participates more often in cars. As a result, it’s impossible that car race has no attraction to the public. This sport must be combined with market. To be exact, car race must have support by auto manufacturers, and the race, in turn, plays the role of advertisement of auto manufacturers. So, we should popularize car race as a kind of auto culture, attract more participators, and turn this sport into a new fashion of amusement.

The second fortune for Xia Qing was that he met Rodhan, German manager of SAIC Volkswagen and a man who knows how to use car race for brand advertisement. Honestly, car race in China cannot continue without support of sponsors. It’s FAW Volkswagen that took the lead in organizing manufacturer team in China. Many became its users because they appreciated “racing car performance ” of Jetta. Xia Qing said, “I remembered clearly that SAIC Volkswagen jointly established by China and Germany just officially started its business when I discussed sponsorship with the company. After having contacts between the two parties, we know each other’s intention clearly. And then, we began setting up training ground. All this ensured me to have a racing car team operated in line with international practices. I think all these are like investment of money to ensure output. Getting prizes in a competition is the best reward to sponsors, which also marks my success.”

What behind “the first barrel of gold”

“Sometimes management capability is more important than material factors like capital.”

Someone once took Xia Qing as an example and commented that car race in China might go from “burning money” to “make money”. In the recently ended Wuhan Station of 2002 Asian & National Rally Championship, Li Junyi /Li Jia and Wang Rui /Zhang Jian, major drivers of the Shanghai Volkswagen 333 Team got both champion and runner up of the Group 1.6L Cup. Last year, the reorganized Shanghai Volkswagen 333 Team won the championship of the China Auto Sports Federation Cup and the annual championship of Auto Manufacturer Cup. Finally, the team got the title of “excellent racing club of 2001”. These accomplishments significantly promoted the brand of Santana and corrected the previous bias that Santana could not be used as racing car. The indirect effect was that sales of Santana cars soared that year. This team contributed a lot to the effect. Xia Qing said that he hoped more and more merchandisers would realize their value.

It’s said that it is inconceivable that a newly formed racing team doesn’t suffer from loss at the first year. However, he went through the tough time of initial phase, created fame, and set up a brand due to support of powerful sponsors and sport department of Shanghai government. He has to admit that he has got “the first barrel of gold”. He said that car race was a profitable industry overseas, so why not in China? He is determined to take car race itself as the resource of capital, not only relying on investment of sponsors.

He has disclosed to the media that money spent on the team surpassed 10 million yuan last year. It’s estimated that the input will be more this year. At present, besides aid from Shanghai Volkswagen, a group of accessory manufacturers, such as Castrol (oil), Haoma (hub), Sarx (vibration absorber), Feijing (tire), Gairuite (turbo supercharger), have become sponsors of the 333 team. Insiders have noticed that advertisements have extended from car body to clothes of drivers. This means an era of wealth has come. Xia Qing noted that he offered a high and attractive price for the drivers he needed. Therefore, there are four couples of top drivers who have won championship in China in his team. It’s their vigor that created a myth in the history of car race in China, that the first time a team driving cars of the same brand gets all the prizes in a single match.

How to assess this team? It’s said that its success should be attributed to strength and team spirit. Through one-year exploration, Xia Qing says that although strength and team spirit are very vital, good management and environment are also crucial. He believes that all this are “software” for building a good team.

Rally needs “intelligence”

“Input doesn’t result in output necessary, while output must result from input”.

What Xia Qing says points out the key problem many teams face when they cannot continue their operation. In his point of view, car race industry is still a “sand mine” waiting for exploration because it has not evolved into a market. This viewpoint is his instinct of judging “business opportunity”. To be exact, the current car race industry is still in the phase of “following instinct and trend”, instead of being commercialized.

One year ago, the office of Shanghai Volkswagen 333 Team was in an apartment located in Siping road. Nowadays, it has been relocated in the administration office of Hongkou football stadium. Administrative staffs of the team are very young, having diplomas and good at foreign language and computer. The atmosphere in their office is relaxed. Those sponsor plans and publicizing materials, undoubtedly, are workshops of “intelligence industry”! Flags flying in the stadium for enrolling club members also prove this impression. It’s impossible for Xia Qing to be only involved in car race industry because he is a businessman. He has planned to develop related industries by utilizing car race brand he has established. For example, he’s going to set up car race schools designated to incubating race drivers, establish professional racing clubs to produce racing stars, and provide car race lovers with ground for their training and amusement. At the same time, he is going to hold activities, such as “short track challenging match for citizens”, “small field match”, “field speed match for members”, and “self-driving tour and rally exploration for fans”, to facilitate business operation and development.

Settled in Shanghai, Xia Qing still involves himself in printing industry. He says that he must depend on his previous job for living, and the car race industry is still in the “incubation period”. Seen from over one-year “warming-up”, it seems that he has begun to know more about this industry. The arena of the car race industry is much bigger than that of the industry he was in.

This is a fantastic and attractive career. When wheels begin rotating, a real hero must have a sharp mind to identify roads and superior driving skill besides courage of marching on despite setbacks. A short moment can decide success or failure. Sometimes, destiny will be rewritten.