Chapter 67 Benz and Mercedes-Benz

In order to fully demonstrate the power of this Braunschweig-class battleship to Arthur, William II specifically ordered the German Navy to board this huge warship and circle it twice in the Western Baltic Sea.

Although the battleship looks very large, it is actually not cumbersome when it moves.

With tens of thousands of tons of giants swimming so freely in the sea, one has to admire the changes and improvements technology has brought to mankind.

But at the same time, Arthur is also looking forward to the birth of dreadnoughts in the future. As a new main battleship that surpasses battleships in all aspects, dreadnoughts have also made considerable progress in speed.

The speed of former dreadnoughts is generally around seventeen to eighteen knots, while the normal speed of dreadnought-class battleships has reached a terrifying twenty-one knots, not to mention other main battleships built by various countries based on the dreadnought-class blueprint.

After getting off the warship, Arthur and Wilhelm II took a car together and embarked on the journey back to Berlin.

In the car, Arthur suddenly remembered that he still had one thing to do, which was to obtain the car's production technology.

Although in this era, the various technologies of automobiles have not made revolutionary progress, resulting in automobiles being only enjoyed by wealthy people.

But as a latecomer, Arthur has a deep understanding of how huge the potential market and role of automobiles are in the future, and how important it is to the development and construction of the country.

It can be seen that there are only a few years left before the launch of the Model T. If you want to plan for the European car market, you must act as soon as possible.

There are currently two main problems faced by cars, one is stability and the other is price.

Current cars are basically hand-made, and the production speed is very slow, and various problems may occur from time to time. Ordinary people simply cannot afford them.

However, Ford's creative assembly line production technology not only greatly increased the production speed of automobiles, but also effectively reduced production costs, allowing automobiles to enter thousands of households.

At the same time, because common parts are used in the production of cars, the specifications and models of various parts are unified, which not only reduces car faults, but also greatly reduces the difficulty of maintenance.

As a result, the Ford Model T, which was cheap and relatively stable, quickly dominated the automobile market in the United States and even the world, and even directly set a world record for the production of a single model.

You must know that the reason why cars are so popular is that, in addition to greatly improving people's travel efficiency, they also bring huge changes to society and the country.

For a country, the development of transportation and transportation industries can drive infrastructure and economic development, thereby promoting the development of all walks of life.

More importantly, the huge transportation efficiency improvements brought by cars can also be used in the military.

Whether it is the transportation of strategic materials and equipment or the transportation of soldiers and troops, it has been a headache before.

Although railways and trains can solve transportation problems on a large scale, train stations are not everywhere.

If people want to transfer to another city, they have to go to the train station to board the train. Moreover, you have to worry about the safety issue of whether the railway will be blown up on the way.

But cars are different. As a smaller means of transportation, trains are not as dependent on roads.

Cars can also drive up mountain roads, steep slopes and even forests without recklessness. In terms of small-scale transportation, cars are more powerful than trains.

At present, the most fruitful countries in terms of automobiles are the United States and Germany. Although the assembly line was invented by Ford, in fact, it was just a new production idea, not a technology.

The core of the assembly line is just to split the production of the entire vehicle into the production and assembly of parts. Each worker only needs to be responsible for the production and assembly of his own parts, instead of being responsible for the production and assembly of the entire vehicle as before.

One person only does one thing, which greatly improves the production efficiency of the car, as well as labor and time costs.

As long as you have automobile production technology, you can slowly study the assembly line, and sooner or later you will find a more suitable assembly line production method.

After hearing that Arthur wanted to purchase automobile production technology, William II nodded indifferently.

Although William II also understood the potential market and role of cars as a new type of transportation, because cars have been developed for so long, the two major shortcomings have not been solved. Therefore, the importance of cars has not been in William II's heart. reduced.

What's more, other countries are also researching technologies like automobiles, and it's just a matter of speed.

Naturally, William II of Australia would not object to its sale.

However, William II also gave Arthur a difficult problem, which was to let Arthur choose the right automobile manufacturer to purchase technology.

This is no small problem. You know, most of the automobile manufacturers that will become famous in later generations have not yet been born in this era.

However, Arthur still knows the famous name of Carl Friedrich Benz, the father of the automobile.

Karl Benz successfully developed the world's first single-cylinder engine three-wheeled car on January 26, 1886. This day is also designated as the birth day of the world's automobiles.

So Arthur said the name of Karl Benz without hesitation.

William II was stunned. He didn't expect that Arthur actually knew something about German car brands.

At present, the Benz Iron Foundry Company and Machinery Factory founded by Karl Benz and his friend August Ritter own the largest automobile manufacturing plant in Germany.

The Victor Dea car invented by Benz brought high honor to Benz's company.

But in fact, although this car has advanced performance, the price has reached a high price of 3875 marks, which is about 193 pounds.

You know, such a high price is a huge sum of money for ordinary people. Even outstanding workers with relatively high incomes need to pay at least half a year's salary to get it.

This is not over yet. This fund is only the purchase price of the car, and a considerable part of the subsequent maintenance, repair costs and fuel costs will be paid directly, which will directly dissuade the vast majority of low- and middle-income people.

This leads to a serious problem, although Benz's company has achieved good results in terms of reputation and scale.

But as a company owner and shareholder, Benz failed. This invention did not bring much revenue to the company, but instead caused the company to fall into a debt crisis.

After all, whether it is Benz himself or his friend Ritter, they are just ordinary people who cannot afford the company's huge consumption.

Although Benz has recently developed a cheaper "bicycle" based on suggestions, it is actually a cheap car with various functions reduced.

Because preliminary mass production was achieved and some functions were reduced, this so-called "bicycle" brought a certain amount of sales to Benz and the company, which allowed the company to barely survive.

In other words, Germany's largest automobile manufacturer is currently in a relatively serious state of debt.

He has achieved certain results in automobiles and has serious financial problems. This is the most suitable acquisition target for Arthur.

If Benz's car company can be acquired and a large amount of money is invested in it, who can guarantee that Benz's company will not surpass Ford and become the car sales record creator?

First update, please support! It’s been a month since I signed the contract and I’m on the new book list, which is equivalent to missing a natural recommendation spot. I feel so miserable, and I beg you brothers for support.