Rebirth of the 1980s: The Military Industry Empire

"I remember when we went to find Mercedes-Benz heavy trucks, they simply ignored us and proposed harsh conditions. We couldn't even discuss cooperation. At that time, Qin Zong, it was your idea to take us to find the Austrians for cooperation, which ultimately led to the Steyr trucks."

Although Old Yang didn't participate in this matter, he had heard about it. Now that Qin Yang said he wanted to cooperate with Mercedes-Benz heavy trucks, Old Yang recalled the situation at that time.

"That's right, that was then, this is now. I think Mercedes-Benz must already regret it and will definitely bow their heads and compromise with our market."

The East is a huge market with great potential.

Whoever enters first eats meat, and whoever enters later won't even get soup!

Steyr heavy trucks have already entered the domestic market and are now the most popular heavy trucks in the country!

How popular are they?

Last year alone, the three major Eastern heavy-duty truck factories produced more than 10,000 Steyr heavy trucks! You should know that when Steyr was in Austria, its annual sales were only more than 5,000 vehicles!

Since most of these Steyr trucks are assembled from imported parts, it is said that the processing plants in Steyr town are working at full capacity to produce parts, and all the supporting factories are making a lot of money.

With the continuous improvement of localization, this year, domestic Steyr heavy trucks have already sold more than 20,000 vehicles, and by the end of the year, they will definitely break the 30,000 vehicle mark!

If this trend continues, it won't be long before the Eastern heavy-duty truck market will exceed 100,000 vehicles per year within five years, becoming the largest heavy-duty truck market in the world.

Does Mercedes-Benz regret it?

That's for sure. If they hadn't been so arrogant and made so many demands back then, Mercedes-Benz heavy trucks would now be facing an Eastern market with unlimited potential.

As long as Qin Yang sends a message, they will send someone over to eagerly discuss the terms.

Qin Yang has also contacted Tianjin and plans to support the construction of the development zone by setting up a heavy-duty truck manufacturing plant there.

As for money? The current Factory 960 doesn't lack it.

Having money is great! Old Yang looked at the spirited Qin Yang in front of him and was very emotional. The introduction of heavy trucks, a major project that originally should have been invested in by the state, can now be decided by President Qin alone.

"President Qin, as long as you can get Mercedes-Benz heavy trucks, we can completely agree to display this weapon at next year's military parade. Even if we don't use it ourselves, we will use exports to boost our reputation."

Qin Yang nodded: "Thank you, Old Yang, then I will go and contact them."

Two days later.

"My opinion?"

"Yes, President Qin, you reminded us last time that the road conditions in the East are very poor. Our lightweight design and pursuit of highway transportation efficiency are not suitable here." Christian said: "You need heavy-duty vehicles that can cope with harsh road conditions with ease."

"Yes, I am very happy with your transformation." Qin Yang said: "We can all treat each other frankly, which is the premise of our cooperation. Please get in the car, we will go back and talk in detail."

Capital Agricultural Machinery Factory, conference room.

Everyone sat down, and Christian began to introduce.

"The information we received is that your army needs a heavy-duty tractor that can tow a 17-ton artillery piece to participate in the military parade. Your choice of our NG80 military tractor is the most suitable." Christian said: "We suggest that you choose the 18.3-liter V10 engine."

In this era, increasing displacement is still the most common way to increase power. V6 and V8 engines are very common, and V10 is generally used in flagship models.

"This engine has a maximum output of 360 horsepower. If equipped with a turbocharger, it can be increased to 500 horsepower. The traction is sufficient, and it can handle mountainous areas with ease. I wonder which one you choose?"

In this era, the power of heavy trucks is only one or two hundred horsepower, and there are very few that exceed three hundred horsepower. In order to tow artillery for the East and show its face in the military parade, Mercedes-Benz did not hide anything and directly launched its most advanced model.

"360 horsepower is enough, 500 horsepower is too powerful. Our tanks only use 500 horsepower." Qin Yang said.

In fact, 500 horsepower is certainly better, but this batch of vehicles is paid for by Qin Yang. After the military parade is over, the troops will definitely keep them, so it is enough to have enough power.

"Okay, the cab uses our latest NG80 cab, the chassis still uses our best variable cross-section beam, with our sixteen-speed gearbox. If you import twenty vehicles, each will cost 200,000 US dollars."

The most amazing technology of Mercedes-Benz heavy trucks is the chassis. It adopts a fish-belly structure frame with unequal width, variable cross-section, and side beam type, which greatly improves the bending strength, torsional elasticity, and ability to withstand asymmetric cyclic alternating impact loads while reducing weight and size.

Mercedes-Benz heavy trucks can run on bad roads, which is largely related to this frame. Steyr uses beams with the same width in the front and rear. When it runs on bad roads, it uses multi-layer beams, one layer is not enough, two layers, and two layers are not enough, three layers.

"Okay, of course there is no problem, these are trivial matters, let's talk about big business next."

Christian's heart was excited.

They have always looked forward to reopening the Eastern market. Now, using these twenty heavy trucks as a stepping stone, perhaps the door to the East will be opened.

"President Qin, please speak."

"Our Capital Agricultural Machinery Factory wants to open a heavy-duty truck factory. If you have any ideas, we can cooperate. Of course, the premise is that you can export the production line."

"We can export the production line and cooperate with your Factory 960 without any problem." Christian said excitedly: "However, we also have conditions. We hope that you can consider the profits of our company and introduce a batch of complete vehicles."

"The number of complete vehicles will not be large, but we can assemble them using the CKD method. This number is estimated to be quite large. Conservatively estimated, 50,000 vehicles should be no problem."

Christian was extremely excited: "Okay, if you can import and assemble 50,000 sets of parts, then we will have no problem exporting the production line! What kind of production line do you want? Except for the engine production line, everything else is easy to talk about."

Nie Xiaoqian, who greeted the guests with Qin Yang, was a little curious. 50,000 vehicles? Why do we import so many parts? Purely imported assembled goods are very expensive, it is cheaper to produce them domestically.

Qin Yang smiled and said something he couldn't say for the time being: Although I said I want 50,000 vehicles, I didn't say how long it would take. If it is a ten-year contract, assembling 5,000 vehicles each year is not too much at all.