Reborn in the red age

The office was quiet for a moment.

After a long while, Qingfeng Li stared at Zhang Yapeng and slowly asked, "Tell me, what is the quality of our factory's cars? I want to know the real situation."

"Well, well," Zhang Yapeng hesitated for a long time before sighing, "This is a long story, I can't finish it in a short time..."

"Let's cut to the chase. I have plenty of time to listen to you today. I want to know how big the gap is between us and international automakers. Tell me what you have to say and don't hide anything."

Li Qingfeng leaned back in his chair, staring at Zhang Yapeng with a burning gaze, his eyes revealing an unquestionable determination.

Zhang Yapeng scratched his head helplessly. Seeing that Li Qingfeng was serious, he could only honestly tell Li Qingfeng the defects of the new car.

"Okay, let's start with the power system. First of all, the thermal efficiency is currently only at the industry average level, and the fuel economy is not ideal."

"The engine's torque output curve is not smooth enough, and the torque increase is not linear enough in the low and medium speed range. There will be a slight sense of frustration when the vehicle accelerates suddenly."

“Although the NVH (noise, vibration and harshness) characteristics of the engine have been optimized, the noise and vibration generated during operation are still greater than those of Audi.”

"The gearbox is fine. Our technology comes from our big brother. Although the automatic gearbox technology of our big brother is poor, the manual gearbox is still very mature. In the past two years, it has been improved by international experts, and the transmission efficiency has been greatly improved. It is also at an upper-middle level worldwide."

"However, our country's fine processing is weak. The processing precision of internal gears, shafts and other transmission parts is not enough, which will cause wear and tear. The durability is insufficient. It is okay within two to three years, and the degree of wear will not affect the use, but it is prone to failure over time."

"The chassis is excellent. The only thing we can talk about among the three major parts of our cars is the chassis."

"As for the other body craftsmanship, interior craftsmanship, and in-car electronic systems, we have invested a lot of money in these. They are not inferior to Audi at all. Even the name is better than Audi. Isn't the Audi model called Audi 100? Our car is called Flying Spur 300, which is 200 more than Audi."

"In addition, the sense of technology in the interior is much stronger than Audi. Audi is still working on tapes and radios, but we have even installed the most advanced LCD screen on the central control, which supports playing CDs and watching CD videos."

At this point, Zhang Yapeng seemed to have thought of something, and added with a smile: "The leaders who watched the video liked this function very much. When it was sent for a test drive, the leaders who were sitting in the car and experiencing it praised this function highly."

After listening to Zhang Yapeng's story, Li Qingfeng's expression was very strange, okay.

The first generation of cars produced by the automobile factory actually had a color TV and a large sofa.

It is estimated that among all the car companies in the world, Mercedes-Benz is the first.

After a long silence, Qingfeng Li nodded: "Not bad, not bad, this idea is correct. Since we can't compete with them in hardware, we have to think of other ways to improve our status."

"It's all because of your instructions. If it weren't for your guidance, we would probably still be struggling with the engine and gearbox," Zhang Yapeng said with a smile.

"."

Li Qingfeng didn't know for a moment whether he was praising himself or scolding himself. When he was making the car, he just said it casually, okay? How could the color TV and the sofa be considered his own suggestion?

Shaking his head and discarding his scattered thoughts, Qingfeng Li returned to the original question: "Will our car break down within a year?"

"It's hard to say. After all, this is the first car that I designed and produced by myself. I don't know whether it will break down or not," Zhang Yapeng spread his hands and said helplessly.

"What are the test results of the engineering prototype?"

"The road test results are OK, barely meeting the standards. We really can't solve the durability problem. This is related to domestic precision machining technology. Steel can still be imported, but high-precision machine tools cannot be imported. If the machine tools cannot solve the problem, the durability problem of our cars will never be solved."

Li Qingfeng nodded in understanding. Zhang Yapeng was telling the truth. The automobile industry is a long-term accumulation process that requires cooperation from other industries. It is not possible to achieve a qualitative leap overnight.

China started late in this regard and has a weak foundation. There is still a long way to go if we want to catch up with the international advanced level.

"From what you just said about our car, you mean that, apart from the gearbox, which is prone to problems, the quality of other aspects of the car is acceptable?"

"That's the theory. The factory has invested a lot of money in the manufacturing of the new car. The possibility of problems with the engine and other parts is relatively small. The only thing to worry about is the gearbox."

Li Qingfeng lit a Peony and took a deep puff. "If it's just the gearbox, then there's no need to worry. Just do as I say. First give 586, no, cars to the higher-ups for free. Let them use them for a year. If there's no problem, then pay them. If there's a problem, you don't have to pay a dime."

"The manufacturing cost of one of our vehicles is close to 190,000. If they don't pay us after using it, we will suffer a huge loss," Zhang Yapeng persuaded.

Li Qingfeng rolled his eyes at Zhang Yapeng, spread his hands, and said unhappily: "I didn't say that one car broke down, so I won't pay for these 600 cars. If that car breaks down within a year, then that car will be exempted from the bill, and the other cars will still be paid for."

"Oh, that's fine. But if a car breaks down and all the expenses are waived, that would be too scary. After all, no one can guarantee that the machinery shipped out of the factory will not malfunction 100% of the time."

Zhang Yapeng's expression hadn't relaxed for long. As if he remembered something, his face tensed up again. He said with a strange look, "After these vehicles are sent out, the local authorities won't do anything and deliberately damage them, right?"

"Sigh~"

After hearing what Zhang Yapeng said, Qingfeng Li couldn't help but take a deep breath. Wow, this seems to be possible.
Even if the vehicles are designated by the state, the money is still paid by local finances.

The market price of a new Mercedes-Benz car is 250,000 yuan, and the official internal purchase price is at least 200,000 yuan, so two cars cost 400,000 yuan.

Given the current local financial situation in the country, it is not ruled out that some financially constrained regions will deliberately damage cars to exploit this loophole in order to save the 400,000 yuan.

There was another silence in the office. After staring at each other for a while, Li Qingfeng slowly spoke: "There's nothing we can do. We can only bet that the local leaders still have some dignity."

"Um, do people involved in politics have any shame?" Zhang Yapeng asked, tilting his head.

“It seems not.”

"."

There was no other way. In the end, I could only try it before buying as Qingfeng Li said. I didn't have the time to wait for them to test drive the car. It would take at least half a year or a year to finish the test drive.

The wave of layoffs in Northeast China will really begin this year. Li Qingfeng felt his scalp tingling when he thought that starting from this year, there will be one million new laid-off workers in the three provinces of Northeast China every year. Tens of thousands of people are waiting for jobs provided by Feichi Automobile. Every day now is precious.

The sooner the Mercedes-Benz car becomes an official car, the sooner it will become famous in the country, thus affecting the sales volume of Mercedes-Benz in the market.

He had a long talk with Zhang Yapeng in the office. When he sent Zhang Yapeng downstairs, Li Qingfeng saw the real car of Mercedes-Benz for the first time.

Looking at the brand new Mercedes-Benz in front of him, Li Qingfeng was still very satisfied with its appearance.

The car body lines are smooth and elegant, and the black paint shines with a unique metallic luster in the sun. Its appearance and size are not inferior to the Audi 100, and it looks high-end and classy.

The first impression you get is that this car is not cheap.

It's a pity that the quality is poor and it's just for show.

Standing in front of the car that was running at 300 km/h, Zhang Yapeng said with a smile: "Teacher Li, the car you designed is really good-looking and looks classy. It attracts a lot of attention when you drive it on the road. If it weren't for the Chinese characters on the rear of the car, many people would think it was an imported luxury car."

Qingfeng Li pursed his lips and said nothing.

Just kidding, the appearance of this car is copied from the 2010 old Bentley, but the size is reduced.

Bentley's designers' aesthetic taste is indeed on point, and there is nothing wrong with the exterior design, which gives people a sense of luxury at first glance.

Taking the car keys from Zhang Yapeng, Li Qingfeng opened the car door and sat in the driver's seat. He stepped on the clutch with his left foot and lightly pressed the brake with his right foot. He flicked the key lightly, and then the sound of the engine starting came in.

There's nothing much to say about the vehicle's clean and quick start. If a new car can't do this, then why build it?

Releasing the clutch and closing the car door, feeling the sound and vibration inside the car, Qingfeng Li shook his head slightly.

Although the noise inside the car is much louder than before, it is still behind Audi.

You can still feel slight vibrations when holding the steering wheel.

There was nothing fancy about the interior, which was copied from the interior of a Mercedes-Benz from 2,000 years ago. Li Qingfeng adjusted the electric seat, shifted the car into first gear, and slowly released the clutch, intending to go for a drive on the road to get a feel for the driving experience of a Mercedes-Benz of 300 km/h.

The car started very smoothly, which made Li Qingfeng feel a little relieved. At least in the most basic driving operation, the car did not fail.

During the gear shifting process, the gearbox feels relatively clear and the gear shifting is relatively smooth without any obvious jamming. The acceleration response is also good without any dragging feeling.

However, when the car speed reaches the medium speed range and wants to accelerate to overtake, problems gradually emerge.

The disadvantage of the engine's torque output curve being not smooth enough began to show. Li Qingfeng could clearly feel that when he stepped on the accelerator hard, the vehicle's acceleration was not smooth and seamless, but there was a slight jerk.

As the speed increases and the engine speed rises, the noise and vibration, which were originally optimized but still louder than Audi, become more and more obvious.

Fortunately, it is within an acceptable range. Although it is not as good as Audi, it is not too bad. It is slightly better than Santana and barely meets the standards of a high-end car.

The chassis is really amazing, it is worthy of being the only thing that can be shown off. Engineers poached from Citroen and Peugeot upgraded and improved the original Volga chassis.

It retains its original advantages and improves the problem of skidding on washboard roads. Now it is as stable as a rock on all kinds of road conditions.

Whether it's the solidity of the chassis, shock absorption, or suspension, it has reached the standard of a luxury car and is only stronger than Audi.

After circling the nearby roads for a few times, Li Qingfeng drove the car back to the downstairs of Huaxin Building.

Zhang Yapeng took the initiative to help open the car door and asked with a smile: "How is it? Is the driving experience okay?"

"It's OK, but the transmission is a little bit lacking. The manual transmission always feels like something is missing. We need to tackle the research and development of automatic transmission as soon as possible and try to launch automatic models as soon as possible." After getting out of the car, Li Qingfeng handed the car keys to Zhang Yapeng and gave instructions.

"We have been researching it, but the progress is slow. After all, our technology comes from Big Brother. Big Brother's automatic transmission is quite poor and completely useless. We can only start from scratch here."

"Why do we need to do research and development on our own? Now that Batumi has been cancelled, we should go around the world and see which car companies are willing to sell us automatic transmission technology, and then buy it back."

"Isn't it necessary? Audi 100 is still generally manual transmission. I think in the next ten years, the mainstream of the domestic automobile market will definitely still be manual transmission. Automatic transmission will only be equipped on a few vehicles. Are we too hasty to buy it now?"

"If we are targeting low-end cars, your idea is fine. Within ten years, manual transmission will still be the mainstream gearbox in China."

At this point, Qingfeng Li paused, pointed at the Fei Chi 300 in front of him and said, "But our positioning is a luxury car, at least a mid-range car. Within five years, automatic transmission will become the standard for mid-range cars. If Fei Chi cars do not have automatic transmission as standard for all models within five years, let alone luxury cars, even mid-range cars will not be able to be maintained."

Zhang Yapeng nodded slightly, then said a little embarrassedly: "Old Li, what you said is indeed reasonable, but buying technology is not something you can do just by buying it. Even if there is a car company willing to sell it, the price will definitely not be low, it must be an astronomical figure. The funds given by the factory are definitely not enough, and we will need the headquarters at that time."

"Money is a small matter. As long as it can buy good technology, I can provide you with whatever amount you want."

"Okay, your words are enough. After I finish discussing the purchase with the higher-ups in Sijiu City, I will immediately organize an inspection team to go abroad to inspect the gearboxes."

Li Qingfeng nodded and was about to turn around and go home when he suddenly thought of something.

He stopped and turned around, looked at Zhang Yapeng and said, "Didn't you say that we don't have high-precision processing machine tools and high-quality steel?"

"Yes, if we have these two things, the durability of the cars we make will be no different from that of Audi."

Li Qingfeng touched his chin and said with deep eyes: "Now that COCOM has been cancelled and we no longer have the embargo, we should be able to buy things like high-precision machine tools, right?"

"Theoretically, I should be able to buy it, right?" (End of this chapter)