I want to be emperor

Chapter 1149 North American Automobile Company’s Ambition

The Songjiang Automobile Exhibition in the autumn of the 53rd year of Chengshun could be said to have a relatively large influence on the Chu Empire, which was still in its relatively early stage of automobile development history.

In terms of car styling, the streamlined cars launched by Changsha Anlong Automobile Co., Ltd. to the market have formed a good combination between automotive industry design aesthetics and aerodynamics, opening a door for other car manufacturers, and even starting from a certain kind of car. To a certain extent, Changan Anlong Automobile has once again defined what a car is after the boat-shaped car.

In addition to changes in appearance, there are also many technological breakthroughs and applications.

For example, V-shaped six-cylinder engines have gradually matured. The five major automobile companies have all launched their own V-shaped six-cylinder engines to the market and applied them in their respective flagship and high-end models.

In addition, as a leader in the field of automobile engines, Tangshan Automobile Company released a concept version of their new generation V8 passenger car engine at the exhibition, and announced that it will be installed on its flagship model next year.

Of course, regardless of V6, V8 seems to be very popular, but these are engines only used in high-end luxury models, and their production and sales are actually not large.

The engine type that really has the largest production and sales volume, and is also the most competitive among the five major automobile companies, is the seemingly ordinary inline four-cylinder engine.

At this auto show, the five major automobile companies all launched their new inline four-cylinder engines. Among them, North American Automobile Company publicly released their new inline four-cylinder engines for the first time.

According to their technical indicators, although their engine is still some way behind Tangshan Automobile Company's engine in terms of overall performance, it is already comparable to the four-cylinder engine of Li's Automobile Company.

This makes people couldn't help but exclaim...the North American Automobile Company has spent all its money in vain over the past few years.

Many people know that the Songjiang Automotive R&D Center of North American Automobile Company is also the core R&D institution that develops the core components of North American Automobile Company, mainly engines, gearboxes, and chassis. Every year, R&D funds are poured into it. Millions of Chu Yuan...

It lasted for many years, and before North American Automobile Company officially reached a patent exchange agreement with the four major automobile companies, many of the things they developed were unusable... Because of the patents, they could not carry out the engine and gearbox in the first place. For commercial use, it can only be used as reserve technology.

This means that over the past many years, North American Automobile Company has spent tens of millions of dollars on technology research and development and reserves... Only in this way can it be able to provide patent exchanges to four other automobile companies as soon as possible after reaching a patent exchange agreement with them. The market launches their own core spare parts such as engines and gearboxes and applies them to their own new models.

To put it bluntly...the several car engines and gearboxes that the North American Automobile Company currently displays on its booth cost tens of thousands of dollars to produce.

Such an astonishing investment in research and development shocked many diplomats and trade officials from the vassal countries who came to participate in the exhibition... What is the concept of tens of millions of Chu Yuan?

The Chu Empire had more than a hundred vassal states, and the annual fiscal revenue of no vassal state could exceed this figure. It would even take several countries with relatively good economies combined to be able to compete with it.

Let's put it this way, North American automobile companies, which are at the bottom of the five major automobile companies, spend more on technology research and development every year than the GDP of countries such as the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of France.

It's an exaggeration, isn't it? The R&D investment of large enterprises is already exaggerated!

Some large technology companies that people are familiar with in later generations, such as Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Facebook and other super large companies, spend tens of billions of dollars in R&D expenditures every year... exceeding the GDP of most countries on the planet.

Among the top ten companies in terms of R&D investment, only one is from a major country. Well, the one that was sanctioned is far ahead... This is quite interesting, let me tell you by the way.

According to some unreliable data, there are only more than 120 technology companies in a large country that have invested more than one billion yuan in R&D. These companies include three government-run communications monopolies, as well as several well-known large-scale companies. Large consumer electronics or Internet companies and some other technology giants.

Each of these companies sounds quite famous and very profitable... But their total investment in R&D is only over 800 billion, which is equivalent to more than 100 billion US dollars... What is this concept?

It is roughly equivalent to the total R&D investment of the top three companies in the United States. No more. Any more would be an insult to Amazon, Google and Facebook... After all, Amazon alone has invested more than 70 billion US dollars in R&D.

No matter how much you compare, you still have to have some sense of shame and don't lower others' standards too low!

What’s interesting is that of the more than 100 billion U.S. dollars in R&D investment in a certain big country, about 20% is from one company, which is far ahead, with about 20 billion U.S. dollars... The rest of the companies are basically just making up the numbers. A certain well-known assembly plant has an R&D investment of about 2 billion U.S. dollars, which is just a fraction of others...

Not to mention the rest, not even as good as an assembly plant.

And the entire semiconductor industry... Note that the entire semiconductor industry is not just one company, but all semiconductor companies. Except for the far leading ones, the total R&D investment of other companies is only four to five billion US dollars...

If you switch to the Chu Empire, if such a company appears in an indigenous country, the top leaders of Chu State will not even play with you with sanctions, but will choose to send troops directly!

Tens of thousands or more Chu troops swept through, uprooting the company and wiping out the entire country!

The earth under the control of the Dachu Empire would not allow such an awesome indigenous enterprise to exist!

At this digression, I must mention one more important thing: Don't personify a company, let alone treat capital as a good person, they are not human beings...

If a large company invests heavily in research and development and then competes with international giants for the market, it will never be because it is patriotic... but for profit!

It doesn’t love anyone but money, including your money!

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North American Automobile Company is also a typical capital-oriented enterprise. Otherwise, how could it invest tens of millions in R&D?

Aren't the management and investors drooling over the huge scale of the automobile industry and the even greater future market potential...

According to the speculations of those economists, when the automobile market matures in the future, it will be a huge market worth several billion yuan!

Compared with the huge market of billions, R&D investment of several million a year is nothing.

The huge investment in research and development also directly contributed to the patent exchange agreement between North American Automobile Company and four other automobile companies... Without the previous huge investment and the many patented technologies developed, the four major automobile companies would have ignored it. It does.

It is precisely because its R&D investment has yielded some results, or the patent results that other car companies cannot bypass, that this led to the patent exchange.

At the same time, it also allows North American automobile companies to immediately come up with mature and available technologies for the production and application of core components such as engines and gearboxes after exchanging patents.

Finally, there is the inline four-cylinder engine on the booth today!

Even though this is just an inline four-cylinder engine, it has received even more attention than the newly released V-type eight-cylinder engine from Tangshan Automobile Company.

Because the contemporary automobile market has reached the mainstream, especially in the mid- to low-end automobile market where the sales volume is relatively large and represents the mainstream of the future market, the inline four-cylinder engine is the mainstream engine.

Although the higher-level V-type six-cylinder engine seems to be more advanced, due to cost issues it can only be used as a power configuration for high-end models, especially the flagship luxury sedans of various car companies, so its production and sales are relatively small. The impact on the entire automobile market is actually relatively limited.

Although the inline four-cylinder engine is nothing new, it is technologically mature and is in a relatively balanced state in terms of fuel consumption, power, and manufacturing costs, and has thus become the mainstream engine in mid- to low-end models.

Whether they are cars from the five major automakers or mid-range passenger cars launched by independent automakers that are responsible for developing markets and making profits, they are all equipped with inline four-cylinder engines... and low-end models Also uses an inline four-cylinder engine.

Of course, the in-line four-cylinder engines used in mid- to high-end passenger cars are definitely different from the in-line four-cylinder engines used in low-end cars... There is a big gap in terms of performance and cost.

However, basically, whether they are low-end, mid-range, or high-end sedans, the engines they are equipped with are basically all inline four-cylinders.

This is the unanimous choice of the five major automobile companies based on comprehensive considerations of cost, reliability and performance.

There may be changes in the future, but it has not changed now, and there is a high probability that there will not be much change even in the next ten or twenty years.

The inline four-cylinder engine represents the mainstream of the market, sales volume, profit, and stock price!

Therefore, the competition among the five major automobile companies in the in-line four-cylinder engine is extremely fierce. Every year, they invest a large amount of R&D funds in research and development. Through the improvement of raw materials and design changes, they improve various performances, increase power, reduce fuel consumption, and reduce the increase in volume and weight. Battery life, extended trouble-free overhaul time, etc.

Reduce manufacturing costs by changing production processes.

It is also an inline four-cylinder engine, but the difference between the original inline four-cylinder engine more than ten years ago and the current inline four-cylinder engine is huge. The most intuitive one is that the difference in power can be as much as twice... Of course, this is based on the same weight and volume.

In fact, even the car engines used in early cars, such as the A-3 series high-end cars produced and sold by Tangshan Automobile Company many years ago, have in-line four-cylinder engines with 20 horsepower... Commonly used in today's mid-range cars The engine horsepower is also around 20 horsepower.

It seems that the horsepower does not seem to have changed much!

But in fact, the changes have been huge. The weight and volume of the engine have been reduced by at least twice, the displacement has been reduced a lot, the fuel consumption has also been reduced a lot, and more importantly, the reliability has been greatly increased.

There were many problems with cars in the past, and the engine, the core component, was no exception. The trouble-free time was very short. Otherwise, how could it be called a rich man’s toy? Because the early primitive cars could not run for hundreds of kilometers, and the engine Some parts inside need to be replaced...such as the most core spark plug!

But the engines used in today's cars have a significantly longer time between failures. If used normally, they can run for several thousand kilometers without much problem... and then they can continue to be used by replacing some easily worn parts.

This means that today's cars are more mature and reliable to use, and the cost of use is also lower... This is also the reason why contemporary cars can be quickly promoted and accepted by various enterprises, institutions and the public.

Because it is truly practical, not just a toy that looks good, but also a very expensive toy.

This is the importance of today's mature and available inline four-cylinder engines, and why the Big Five car companies attach so much importance to this class of engines.

The North American Automobile Company released their inline four-cylinder engine at the auto show, and also released two models of different specifications at the same time, which were used to install on their mid-to-low-end models and mid-to-high-end models, and were released simultaneously. bought two new cars.

One of them is a pickup truck positioned in the mid-range, with a standard model priced at more than 380 yuan. The pickup truck model has always been the flagship product of North American automobile companies. It has mature technology and a large number of exclusive patented technologies. The product is mature. It is reliable, so the market acceptance is also very high... This pickup truck is equipped with their new in-line four-cylinder engine and transmission kit developed by them.

There is also a small car positioned at the mid- to low-end. The model is relatively compact. It is also equipped with their self-developed mid-to-low-end inline four-cylinder engine and self-developed gearbox. The appearance of this car still uses a typical The box-shaped structure has a raised center.

This kind of appearance is not very good, but it saves body materials, reduces vehicle weight and saves material costs.

In the end, they lowered the price of the popular mass-market version of this car to 199 Chu Yuan, directly lowering it to less than 200 Chu Yuan.

As for this low-priced car, North American Automobile Company has high hopes within it, hoping to use it to truly pry open the low-end and mid-range passenger car market in East Asia.

Although their pickup trucks are selling well, they are not so good in the sedan field. Their sedans are barely okay in the American market, but they are terrible in the local East Asian market. They are always at the bottom among the five major automobile companies. And it’s still at the bottom, just a short distance away from the top four companies!

The reason why they can still occupy the fifth place in the car market is because there are only five serious car companies, and the rest are in vertical fields, relying on special models, or local support and protection, etc. Survive third-party independent vendors.

North American automobile companies are naturally unwilling to accept this. They have always wanted to increase the market share of the sedan category, especially to expand sedan sales in the local market in East Asia.

Therefore, this time they spared no expense and created a truly low-end car ready to be launched on the market!

They are also ambitious!

One hundred and ninety-nine Chu Yuan, this price is already very low, especially for the sedan products of the five major automobile companies.

This relatively miniature car is also the first time that the five major automobile companies have truly lowered the price of this category of cars to less than 200 yuan... a real volume model!

Instead of the previous symbolic price of less than 200 yuan, the actual selling price is often more than 200 yuan.

The five major automobile companies used to like to lower the price of low-end versions of low-end models to less than 200 yuan... But this kind of low-end version is just a propaganda gimmick. The actual production volume is very small, and they are all made of Come to sales in special channels for publicity.

To put it bluntly, a small number of low-priced models are produced for advertising...the money earned is treated as advertising fees.

However, when a customer goes to a car shop and says he wants to buy this thing, he will tell you that it is out of stock, and the shopping guide will instead recommend to you a mass-market version worth more than 200 yuan.

Cars with real prices of less than 200 Chuyuan are basically no-name low-end cars produced by some third-party independent car manufacturers. Basically, they are between 150 Chuyuan and 200 Chuyuan, and they are often used. They are low-end engines and gearboxes with backward technology sold by the four major automobile companies... They are very worrying in terms of performance and reliability.

As for the price range of less than 150 yuan, there are very few passenger cars, which are often the price range of three-wheeled vehicles. Some larger regular three-wheeled vehicles equipped with twin-cylinder engines for carrying cargo or passengers are often That is between one hundred Chu Yuan and one hundred and fifty Chu Yuan.

Then, the types of cars below 100 yuan are small and medium-sized three-wheeled vehicles or two-wheeled vehicles using single-cylinder engines.

Basically, between 50 Chu Yuan and 500 Chu Yuan, there are various types of cars.

The largest sales are various tricycles between 50 Chu Yuan and 150 Chu Yuan. The sales volume of this thing is much larger than that of passenger cars... After all, this thing is actually a production tool, even if it is Ordinary people will also save money to buy a car and use it to attract customers and goods to make money.

And the best-selling passenger cars are not low-end cars in the true sense... Low-end cars these days are not cheap either. Those from third-party brands cost more than a hundred or even more than 200. Those from the five major car companies It basically costs two to three hundred Chu Yuan.

Generally, people who can afford this price tend to buy better entry-level mid-range models, which cost more than 300 yuan.

People who buy cars these days are actually considered wealthy people... You must know that there are no car loans these days. You have to pay the full price to buy a car. Only a very small number of people can get the corresponding loan from the bank to buy a car. .

However, this kind of loan is not a pure car loan, but more similar to a personal credit consumer loan. Therefore, it is more troublesome to apply for this kind of loan. Not only does it require you to have a job with a stable and high-income source, but you also need to have certain qualifications. Fixed assets are mortgaged.

In an era when there were no large-scale car loans, if you wanted to buy a car worth hundreds of dollars, at worst you had to be a middle-to-high-income group with an annual income of several hundred dollars... and in fact, even this income group was very small. Buy a car.

Because their family expenses are not small, and they also need to purchase real estate and other large items first, they have to save money for several years before they can afford an ordinary car after completing other large expenditures.

Therefore, in terms of overall proportion, there are actually not many such people... But you can't stand the fact that the people of Chu have a population of 800 million!

No matter how small the proportion is, it can turn into a huge number in the face of this huge population base.

Therefore, the passenger car market in the Dachu Empire is also very large, second only to the tricycle market!

When these people buy cars, they don't like the low-end ones and can't afford the high-end ones. They think the price/performance ratio is too low... So in the end, most people will choose to buy mid-range models.

That is, a mid-range model in the range of about 300 to 400 yuan.

Small cars in this price range are currently the largest in sales and are mainly responsible for generating revenue and profits for the five major automobile companies.

As for high-end models with an overall price range of over 400 Chu Yuan and an overall price range of 500 Chu Yuan to 700 Chu Yuan to 700 Chu Yuan, overall sales volume is relatively small... After all, this price range has exceeded the affordable range of ordinary middle- and high-income groups. , only truly high-income groups can accept it, but models in this price range can barely be regarded as mass-market models, and popular models can sell tens of thousands of units a year.

As for models of this level from eight hundred Chu Yuan to one thousand Chu Yuan, they are basically in the field of luxury cars from the five major automobile companies. They are mainly purchased by the rich and powerful, or purchased by some large companies for business purposes. .

As for Anlong Automobile Company's An series luxury cars, that's even more exaggerated... Although that thing is also a car, it cannot be regarded as a passenger car in the conventional sense, but a toy belonging to the rich and powerful... Don't look at it It was very hot, and a lot of people were very keen on discussing it, especially because there were many reports in newspapers and it aroused heated discussions.

However, although many people are keen to discuss the An-series luxury cars that cost more than 2,000 yuan and are so popular, it does not mean that they can afford it...

Therefore, Anlong Automobile Company's luxury cars have always been loud and quiet, and have received a huge response. In fact, they only sold a few thousand cars at the end of the year. This year's momentum is good, and it is expected to produce and sell annually. The sales volume exceeds 10,000... But the main sales volume is the model with more than 1,000 Chu Yuan. The flagship version with more than 2,000 Chu Yuan can only sell 1,000 units.

Even if the production and sales volume exceeds 10,000, it is still not worth mentioning compared with the five major automobile companies that frequently produce and sell hundreds of thousands of cars.

Just low production does not affect Anlong Automobile's ability to make money...Anlong Automobile Company is really profitable...recognized as the lowest cost-effectiveness and highest gross profit margin in the industry!