Countercurrent 1982

Chapter 1775 Substitute Player
"If we talk about the technical strength of our group's automobile transmission, it is considered to be the leader in the whole country, especially the related equipment technology introduced from Volvo this time, which has narrowed the gap between us and the advanced level of international automobiles in one fell swoop." When we were here, Zhang Weiping’s face was somewhat proud, and he continued: “There are also those Soviet experts, I always thought that the Soviet cars were still at the level of the 60s, like the ones I stayed in before. The Dandong Automobile Factory is made of reverse imitation GAZ cars, which are stupid and hard to drive. They are durable and easy to repair. But I didn’t expect that the manufacturing technology of Soviet cars is not bad, but the economy is not good. We have not introduced it in our country..."

"Soviet cars were once brilliant, but because of their national system, they didn't pay much attention to the development of commercial cars, but if you want to talk about technical reserves, they are not bad at all." Duan Yun paused, then continued: "It's like the planetary gearbox used by the Soviet Union on the T64 tank. Compared with the gearboxes used by other cars in the world, the complex structure can withstand such harsh environmental requirements. From this point alone, the Soviet Union's Transmission technology is internationally leading, so you can’t use the standard of commercial cars to measure other people’s technology, because what they value is military, not business.”

In fact, the former Soviet Union was an out-and-out superpower, and it was the only country in the world that could wrestle with the United States before the 90s.

So in the early days, the automobile industry in the Soviet Union was actually very developed.During World War II, the GAZ trucks of the former Soviet Union were used as military vehicles, and made great achievements for the former Soviet Union in the European battlefield at that time.

In addition to GAZ trucks, the former Soviet government also launched a car brand called "Volga" in 1956, which focuses on the high-end market and is mainly used for travel by leaders.In communist areas such as Eastern Europe and East Asia at that time, Volga cars were a symbol of luxury and status.Under the construction of the car factory, equipment and technical assistance from the big brother of the former Soviet Union, the first car in New China, the Jiefang CA10, officially rolled off the assembly line on July 1956, 7, and the prototype of this car is the one mentioned above. Passed GAZ 13 truck.

As for the high-end Volga car, even the big brother of the Soviet Union agreed. At that time, New China, which was still a socialist "little brother", naturally recognized it very much. Therefore, most of the Chinese leaders traveled by Volga at that time. Even the Hongqi CA71 sedan we launched later was actually designed after the Volga.

In addition to being widely recognized in Eastern Europe and East Asia, the Soviet-era auto industry even achieved good sales in Western Europe.In the 80s, the Soviet Union's automobile production had reached the third level in the world (after the United States and Japan).

Especially France, perhaps because Germany and France were hostile during World War II, so the French did not recognize German cars, but preferred Soviet products.Just like the Volkswagen Polo and Lada Samara entered the French market at the same time in the 80s, the price of Lada was more expensive, but it was loved by more French people.

Due to the continuation of the Cold War, the United States began to gradually increase the suppression of the Soviet Union's economy. Facing the crisis of national sovereignty, the Soviet leaders instantly fell into an extremely nervous mood, and nervousness would make mistakes. In order to ensure their military strength, they decided to Begin to give up light industry and civilian fields, and concentrate all the energy and financial resources in the military industry field.And this decision also caused the Soviet Union's annual military expenditure to soar directly to 20% of GDP at that time!At this time, the United States, as a competitor, only had about 5%.

The Soviet automobile industry naturally stagnated without any resources.

The Soviet Union is stagnating, but other countries on the planet are not idle. The automobile industry in Western European capitalist countries is developing rapidly, and even the automobiles of Japan and South Korea have begun to improve.Under such circumstances, the overseas market that once belonged to the old Rada of the Soviet Union was quickly eroded step by step by its opponents until it completely lost its overseas competitiveness.

But a lean camel is bigger than a horse. Even if it has been stagnant for many years, the Soviet Union's automobile technology is still not to be underestimated. It is only the export blockade in the United States, Europe and other countries, and the low commercialization of Soviet automobiles, which led to the early 90s. At that time, Soviet cars did not have much presence in the world, coupled with the slander and smearing of the Soviet Union by Western countries, so people felt that the Soviet car technology was very backward, but it was not the case.

If there is a good design of commercial models, as well as the currently introduced Volvo technology and equipment, plus the technical accumulation of these Soviet auto experts, then Duan Yun can design a car suitable for the Chinese market.

"We do have the hardware conditions to enter the automobile industry now, but in this localization plan of Professor Sattana, it is not easy to get more orders." Zhang Weiguo pondered for a while, and then said: "The main It is our opponent in this competition. They are the sons of the SH municipal government, and two years ago, the samples they made have already been recognized by the German public. Our joining this time is at best a substitute role ..."

"I know this, but if we can control the quality and cost very well, there is still hope to replace our opponents." Duan Yun said.

In fact, as early as last year when he met with Ruiyang, Duan Yun already knew the current process of the localization of Santana's gearbox, and had a relatively in-depth exchange with Ruiyang for this.

In fact, the localization of the gearbox for Santana cars has been completed. In 1990, the Shanghai Automotive Gear Factory had already produced a sample of the gearbox. After it was sent to Germany for testing, it was affirmed by the German Volkswagen and approved He became a supporting supplier of Shanghai Santana sedan.

But there are two main reasons why the SH municipal government still invites Tianyin Group to participate in the localization plan of Santana cars.

First of all, although the samples of Shanghai Automotive Gear General Factory have been affirmed by German Volkswagen, only the samples have passed the inspection, but in the actual mass production process, there are very big problems.

On the one hand, it is because the factory’s processing equipment mainly uses domestic machine tools and self-made special machine tools. Years, unable to adapt and meet the requirements of mass production.

At the beginning of this year, the Santana sedan has completed the delivery of the [-]th sedan, and in the next few years, tens of thousands of Santana sedans will be produced every year, and the current output of the Shanghai Automotive Gear Factory is, Far from meeting the needs of SAIC.

(End of this chapter)