Josep Maria Pujol: "There is nothing we can do against China"

Josep Maria Pujol Artigas (Rubí, 1934) is a historic figure in the automotive industry, a sector in Europe experiencing one of its worst periods in decades, threatened by technological change and the onslaught of Chinese manufacturers. Coming from a conservative family and a poor student, Pujol found his place when he opened a car wiring workshop at just 14 years old, thanks to the help of his father. Today, that small workshop is Ficosa. In this interview, we review Pujol's personal history, which took him from failing to finish school to building what is now a group that manufactures automotive components and has a turnover of nearly €1.4 billion. We also assess the future of the automotive sector, the backbone of European industry and currently threatened by China. Throughout the interview, Pujol constantly holds a pipe, an object that has been with him for seven decades.

Let's start with his personal history. He was born in Rubí in 1934. What was his childhood like?

— I left Rubí in 1936, when I was two. My father was a farmer, a sharecropper, who managed someone else's vineyards. He wasn't rich, but he was a right-wing man. Well, he bought the store from him. Just think, at that time Rubí and Barcelona were like two worlds apart, fixing up the store they'd bought when, suddenly, war broke out. A van arrived and took my grandmother, my sister, and me to Barcelona.

The war will not be remembered for long.

— I remember the war. One day, in the middle of the war, my father was missing something from the shop, and he and I went to the Mercat de Gràcia to look for it. Then a militia car came looking for him. But they couldn't find him. A hairdresser who worked across from our shop noticed and went down Zaragoza Street to see if she could find the Pope to warn him. A short walk from home, I told my father I wanted to eat something at a farmhouse on the same Zaragoza Street. Normally, my father would have refused to buy me anything, but this time he agreed. I'm a very providentialist person: since we stopped at that farmhouse, the hairdresser was able to find us and warn the Pope that the militiamen were looking for him. These are things I remember from the war. The militiamen came from time to time. In the end, the Pope hid in Sant Adrià, with some relatives.

If they were looking for him so much, was it because he was in some party?

— No, but he had had some involvement... Before, the custom was that the bodies of the dead were taken from home to the parish, accompanied by the priest and family. But they banned it; there couldn't be a priest. And when my grandfather died, my father wanted to take part in the procession at all costs. Now, I also remember that my father, in the postwar period, saw a Falangist in uniform cut in line to buy food with his ration card, and Dad forced him to go to the back of the line. This explains his personality a little.

What was his character?

— My father was a man I had here [lowers his hand very low], and my mother was always here [puts his hand up]. He was the strict one, she was the good one. Mom always protected me. And Dad hit me with his belt, he punished me… Now, as you get older and you get to know Dad more, Mom doesn't go down, but Dad goes up until he's at the same level.

You were a bad student, weren't you?

— Yes, it was. I'd never failed exams; now, cheating... whatever you want. But one of the things I owe to Mom is that, ever since I was little, she always read me a story.. And as I got older, I got used to reading, and today, at 91, I read every day. I'm a big reader.

At the age of 14 he decided to leave his studies and go to work.

— At school, one brother He laughed at me during an oral exam, and I threw the book at his head. And when I got home, I told my father, "I don't want to study anymore! I want to work as a mechanic, Dad." I mean, he had no idea what a mechanic was. My father helped me find a couple of jobs. At one of these jobs, there was a foreman, Josep Maria Tarragó, who was a few years older than me. I argued with everyone, about politics, about religion... but not with him. And I asked my father to set up a workshop for me with Josep Maria Tarragó as a partner. What was my father's reaction? If this happened to one of my sons... I'd start it. But Dad did it. He wanted me to learn a trade. And that's where Pujol Tarragó SL was born, a workshop making cables for brakes, accelerators, clutches... Josep Maria later married my sister.

That first workshop is the origin of what Ficosa is today.

— We started from scratch. Zero, zero. I always tell my children and grandchildren that in life you have to find what you like, and that's not easy. Sometimes it is, but often it isn't. Since my father wanted me to learn a trade, I tried: first making pieces, then keeping track of the workshop accounts... But I didn't like it. And the important thing in life is finding a mentor. And I found one in an uncle of mine. He was a dreamer who smoked a pipe, and that's why I've also been smoking since I was 22. And this uncle said to me: "Kid, why don't you make a catalog and sell it outside of Barcelona? In Girona, Zaragoza, or Valencia?" I listened to him and produced a very well-crafted catalog, accompanied by some typewritten letters... The mentor tells you what steps to take, and you get going. That's how I discovered my calling, which is the sales side of things. It's not that I had people skills, but I did have a lot of perseverance. Never stop, never stop. My father ended up working in the workshop, managing the accounts, but I was in charge of all the sales and expansion work. As a kid, Josep Maria ran the workshop.

Fast forward to the 1950s. The small workshop had grown to become a supplier to the newly formed Seat. To do so, they had to outdo Castellón, which was the leading automotive cable company of the time, and Pujol and Tarragó saw it as a giant. Josep Maria Pujol remembers when, in the midst of the process of determining who would be Seat's supplier, Castellón's representatives called them "disgraceful." "That contempt stayed with me," says Pujol. He says that some time later they "devoured" them until they disappeared.

How did he defeat them?

— We were growing, and they tried to defend themselves. How? They paid commissions to the heads of corporate purchasing. It was impossible to become a supplier to Renault or Pegaso, because they paid commissions. We've never done that; we've never paid! But to fight this, even though it's cost us blood, sweat, and tears, the solution is personal friendship. Let those who need to buy from you get to know you, and make friends. You either have a commission or you have friendship. Friendship takes longer, but it's more effective. And you can only achieve friendship by insisting, insisting, insisting... And you end up making friends. Many decades ago, I traveled to German factories when I didn't speak German and had never flown.

From the initial cables, I expanded to include windshield wipers, window regulators, and rearview mirrors as customers asked for more. Until they grew up and he founded Ficosa.

— One day, it would be in the 1980s, at a meeting with shareholders, I warned that Spain would one day join the Common Market [the current European Union]. I didn't know how many years would pass, but it would. And that, when this happened, German, French, and Italian competitors would come looking for us, because we were already leaders in Spain. So I proposed that, before facing this scenario, we go to Europe ourselves. "It will be difficult and hard, but in a few years I'll be able to tell you whether we've won or lost," I told them.

At this stage, one of the biggest leaps forward came when you wanted to become a supplier to Volkswagen, the automotive giant. Another very ambitious goal.

— We were already working for Seat, and since Volkswagen had bought it, we had to comply with the approvals established by Volkswagen. But being their supplier was a different matter. Although our costs were much lower and we were approved by them, Volkswagen didn't buy anything. They wouldn't even let our German manager in! So I asked for a meeting with their head of purchasing.

— He was a very tall man. And I nailed the whole speech. When I finished speaking, he said to me: "Mr. Pujol, I want to tell you two things. First: you will not sell to Volkswagen, not a little, not a lot. Nothing. Are you clear about that, Mr. Pujol? And second: I've already announced that your German competition will establish itself in Spain. And they will annihilate you. Are you clear about that, Mr. Pujol?" What I felt inside was: "Son of a…" It was humiliating, the way he said it. If you have his mentality, it was normal: for him, we were flamenco, bullfighting, and all that. How could we expect to compete with the German manufacturers? The end of the story is that the German competition came to Spain, but failed. And today Volkswagen is our largest customer in the world. Then I repeated something similar to Ford, which also manufactured in Germany, in Cologne.

The future of the automotive industry is changing rapidly. The sector that has been the backbone of European industry is now threatened by a paradigm shift: the best manufacturers are no longer European. It's essential to end the interview by talking about the future of the sector.

It seems that the combustion engine's days are numbered, in favor of the electric motor. How do you see the future?

— This is changing. The future will be electric, hybrid, or hydrogen, but the situation in the sector today is very complicated, especially for us, for the United States, for Europe... We've had to act very quickly, when these changes are not the only car in the world. They've been able to start from scratch. But do you think it's easy for Volkswagen to go from traditional cars to electric cars in such a short time?

Traditionally, a Chinese vehicle wouldn't have been perceived as something of great quality, but now they can produce one with very good batteries and very good performance...

— We're in China, I know it very well. They have a history... The early 18th century isn't prehistory, right? It's my grandparents', in the 18th century. Well, at that time, the world's leading power was China. And it had been for centuries. Furthermore, the key there is the mentality: the one who rules is the president. The Chinese people, almost genetically, have the culture of the emperor, who rules. And they still have the same culture today: the president of the republic is the emperor. How long does the president of the United States plan for? One term. And the Chinese president, for how long?

Twenty years?

— So, who do you want to win? Those who plan for the short term or those who plan for the long term? There's nothing we can do. I think there's nothing we can do. The first thing we in the West must do is unite, because if everyone does their own thing, we won't win.

And if there's nothing to be done, should we adopt a belligerent attitude toward China or form alliances?

— Alliances with China will always be in China's favor. The great danger to our world is China.