Chapter 67 Benz and Mercedes

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

Although the battleship looks very large, it is actually not bulky after it moves.

The huge guy weighing tens of thousands of tons can travel so freely in the sea, which makes people admire the changes and improvements that technology has brought to mankind.

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

The speed of the pre-dreadnought is generally around 17 to 18 knots, while the normal speed of the dreadnought-class battleship has reached a terrifying 21 knots, not to mention other main battleships built by various countries based on the dreadnought class in the future.

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

In the car, Arthur remembered that he still had one thing to do, which was to master the production technology of automobiles.

Although in this era, there has been no revolutionary progress in the various technologies of automobiles, resulting in automobiles being enjoyed only by the rich.

But as a later generation, Arthur deeply understands how huge the potential market and role of automobiles are in the future, and how important they are to the development of the country and various constructions.

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

There are currently two main problems facing automobiles, one is the problem of stability, and the other is the problem of price.

At present, automobiles are basically handmade, and the production speed is very slow. There are also various problems from time to time, and ordinary people can't afford it at all.

But with Ford's creative assembly line production technology, not only has the production speed of automobiles been greatly improved, but the production cost has also been very effectively reduced, allowing automobiles to enter thousands of households.

At the same time, because the production of automobiles uses universal parts, the specifications and models of various parts are unified, which not only reduces the problem of automobile failures, but also greatly reduces the difficulty of maintenance.

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

You know, the reason why cars are so popular is that in addition to greatly improving people's travel efficiency, the changes at the social and national levels are also very huge.

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

More importantly, the huge improvement in transportation efficiency 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 always been a headache.

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

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

But cars are different. As a smaller means of transportation, the dependence on roads is not as strict as that of trains.

Without regard to the consequences, cars can also drive up mountain roads, steep slopes and even forests. In terms of small-scale transportation, cars are more powerful than trains.

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

The core of the assembly line is to split the production of the whole vehicle into the production and assembly of parts. Each worker only needs to be responsible for the production and assembly of his own parts, not the production and assembly of the whole vehicle as before.

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

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

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

Although William II also understood the potential market and role of the new type of transportation such as the car, because the car has been developed for so long, the two major defects have not been solved, so the importance of the car in William II's mind has been reduced.

What's more, other countries are also studying the technology of the car, it's just a matter of progress.

William II would naturally not object to selling it to Australia.

However, William II also gave Arthur a difficult task, which was to let Arthur choose a suitable automobile manufacturer to buy technology.

This is a big problem. You know, the famous automobile manufacturers in later generations were basically not born in this era.

However, Arthur still knew the famous name of Karl 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, and this day was also designated as the World Automobile Birthday.

So Arthur said Karl Benz's name without hesitation.

William II was stunned. He didn't expect Arthur to know something about German car brands.

Currently, the Benz Iron Foundry and Machinery Factory founded by Karl Benz and his friend August Ritter owns the largest automobile manufacturing plant in Germany.

The Victoria car invented by Benz brought great honor to Benz's company.

But in fact, although the performance of this car is advanced, 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 excellent workers with relatively high incomes need to pay at least half a year's salary to get it.

This is not over yet. This money is only the purchase price of the car. A considerable part of the maintenance, repair costs and fuel costs will be paid later, which directly discourages most of the middle and low-income people.

This leads to a serious problem. Although Benz's company has achieved good results in honor and scale.

But as a company owner and shareholder, Benz is a failure. This invention did not bring much profit to the company, but instead put the company into a debt crisis.

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

Although recently according to the suggestion, Benz developed a cheaper "bicycle", which is actually a cheap car with various functions cut.

Because the initial mass production was achieved and some functions were cut, 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, the largest car manufacturer in Germany is currently in a serious debt state.

There are certain achievements in the automobile field and there are 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 can be invested in it, who can guarantee that Benz's company will not surpass Ford and become the record maker of car sales?

First update, please support! It has been a month since the contract was signed, and it has been removed from the new book list, which is equivalent to losing a natural recommendation position. I feel bitter, and I beg for support from all brothers.