Chapter 287: Automobile Exhibition
While Carlo was inspecting the drought situation, the automobile company was also urgently expanding its workforce, preparing for the car expo.
Spain’s car expo was expected to take place in 3 months, that is, early December
Before that, the automobile company needed to produce at least 1000 cars as stock, to deliver when orders came in.
Without adopting assembly line production technology, producing 1000 cars in just three months would be utterly impossible.
But with the help of assembly line production, it was something the automobile company could attempt.
At the same time, major newspaper offices were vigorously promoting news about the car exhibition.
Thanks to the fame brought by Madrid’s Nightless City and the tram expo, when Spain announced it would hold a car exhibition at the end of the year, it immediately attracted attention from much foreign capital.
The automobile industry, like the electric power industry, was a sector that countries were exploring but had achieved little success in.
Spain had already established its status as an electric power industry power through Madrid’s Nightless City and the tram expo. If it also made good progress in the automobile industry, wouldn’t that mean the European powers were falling behind Spain in both of these major industrial fields?
Regardless of what other countries thought, Spain was methodically preparing its own car exhibition.
During this period, nothing major happened, except that US President Garfield, who had been assassinated, ultimately died from injuries due to quack medical treatment, and Vice President Chester A. Arthur took over the presidential seat.
As time reached December 1881, the Spanish car exhibition held in Madrid also smoothly began.
The exhibition took place on a large open area in the Madrid outskirts, which after simple renovation could accommodate tens of thousands of participants to visit.
Of course, to ensure the exhibition proceeded smoothly, not too many spectators would be allowed in during the event.
Besides the more famous newspaper and media from various countries, only some invited distinguished guests and a small number of public who obtained entry qualifications by purchasing tickets could enter.
At the very center of the expo venue, five cars of different colors were parked. Notably, on the front and back of the cars, there were quite conspicuous and unique car logos.
The logo came from the company that manufactured these cars, the Spanish Royal Mercedes-Benz Automobile Company. On Carlo’s advice, the Mercedes-Benz car logo adopted the famous trident star from posterity, though its meaning at this time was completely different from posterity.
The trident star of Mercedes-Benz cars in posterity represented the development of mechanization on the sea, in the sky, and on land, while the trident star logo of Mercedes-Benz Company at this time represented the company’s philosophy: quality, integrity, and service.
Carlo still held high expectations for the Mercedes-Benz Company. The future Mercedes-Benz Company would also create more sub-brands, striving to cover all types of cars.
At the car exhibition, the cameras of major newspaper offices barely stopped. Magnesium lights flashed continuously, and the smoke they emitted gathered together, not dissipating for a short time.
This also proved how novel the cars displayed by Spain were to others. Other European countries had prototypes of cars too, but compared to the finished cars launched by Spain, those prototypes had a heavenly gap.
But this was not the climax of the exhibition. The exhibition venue had temporarily built a straight road over one kilometer long, which was also for showcasing car speed.
When two Mercedes-Benz cars drove side by side from afar, passing by like the wind at nearly 36 kilometers per hour, the media on site went into a frenzy.
They couldn’t believe that this thing they’d never seen before could match the speed of a train.
More importantly, this means of transport didn’t need rails or anything; it could run on relatively flat roads.
Seeing the astonished expressions of the onlookers, Benz and several technical experts smiled as they got out of the car and began introducing the Mercedes-Benz Company’s cars to the crowd.
When they heard that such a car could reach speeds over 36 kilometers per hour, the crowd boiled over.
The magnesium lights flashed even more continuously; some newspaper offices were already thinking about tomorrow’s news headlines and content, while others raised their own questions.
“Mr. Benz, as far as I know, some companies in the German Empire are also researching engines. The engines they developed can’t maintain long-term operation, let alone provide such great horsepower to keep the entire mechanical equipment running at 36 kilometers per hour.
Are you sure the data you introduced is accurate? If what you said is correct, this thing in front of us is enough to replace the role of carriages; it will be another means of transport that changes human history after the train.” A German journalist stood up and raised his question.
As one of the five great powers, a superpower, Germany had successively been surpassed by Spain in the electric power industry and the automobile industry, which made this German journalist somewhat incredulous.
Germany domestically was also researching engines and cars, but the progress achieved so far was minimal.
If it was really as Benz said, then Spain’s automobile industry wasn’t just leading Germany; it was directly crushing it and had formed a huge gap.
“Language can deceive, but experimental results cannot.” Benz said with a smile: “We have full experimental data on all aspects of this car. If you’re interested, you can also pick up a copy to view.
Of course, we’ve also prepared simple experiments for everyone’s reference. For this epoch-making car, we have considerable confidence.
You’re right; this is indeed a means of transport that can completely replace carriages. Everyone, a new era of means of transport is coming.
Riding this car, we can shorten travel time by at least half. This will greatly change our lives, and it is one of the purposes for which the Mercedes-Benz Company was established.”
Hearing that there were experimental data and related experiments to watch, most of the onlookers believed the data Benz mentioned.
After all, there was no need for Benz to deceive people. Although exaggerating data could indeed create a lot of buzz, once such cars were sold and buyers found their cars weren’t as great as Benz claimed, the so-called Mercedes-Benz Company would instantly collapse in reputation.
The car tests also soon began. To let the onlookers personally feel the speed and stability of the car, those interested could apply to ride it themselves.
Of course, such spots were destined to be limited. Besides reporters from more famous newspaper offices, only a few distinguished guests could enjoy this experience.
As for most ordinary people, they only had the right to watch.
Most people were still very much looking forward to personally experiencing this big guy.
Fortunately, the exhibition venue was spacious enough; several cars running together wouldn’t seem crowded.
To directly showcase the car’s speed, all cars participating in the test ran at maximum speed.
When these journalists sat in the car and felt the 36 kilometers per hour speed, their expressions were quite surprised.
Although the current cars weren’t as comfortable as posterity’s cars when sitting in them, just in terms of speed, they already far surpassed the carriages people usually rode.
Even the trams that had become popular in Europe in recent years had speeds far inferior to carriages.
Take Spain as an example: Spanish trams generally didn’t exceed 20 kilometers per hour, also to ensure safety when running on city roads.
Except for trains running at full speed that could exceed 36 kilometers per hour, no other means of transport could reach that level.
This was also why the journalists were surprised; just in terms of speed, this so-called car had already surpassed the vast majority of means of transport.
Because too many people wanted to experience the car, the few cars participating in the test basically didn’t stop; except for picking up and dropping off passengers, they were almost always running at full speed.
Thanks to the engine’s stability, the cars showed no problems during long-term driving and only stopped when all fuel was used up.
Of course, before stopping, Benz had already detailed the energy used by these engines and the maximum distance each car could travel on a full tank.
Under the journalists’ attentive gazes, after refilling fuel for these few cars, the cars quickly started up again.
This also made the journalists start to believe what Benz said: the car in front of them was indeed an epoch-making means of transport, surpassing carriages in role.
Not to mention anything else, just continuously traveling over a hundred kilometers was something carriages couldn’t do.
Horses are animals after all, with needs for eating, drinking, and excreting. Cars are different; the fuel carried is its food—while running, the exhaust pipe excretes the waste gas from combustion, without wasting extra time.
“Mr. Benz, is your company considering selling this car technology?” While a large group of journalists queued to experience the car, some foreign capital had already found Benz, wanting to purchase the Mercedes-Benz Company’s car technology.
The car technology displayed at the current exhibition was at a level far beyond what other countries’ automobile companies could reach.
Like the previous electricity and tram technology, these foreign capitals had acquisition intentions. If they could master the Mercedes-Benz Company’s car technology through acquisition, they could also sell such cars in their own countries and make a fortune.
“Very sorry, we are not considering selling car-related technology at present.” Benz shook his head and said with slight apology.
Before the person could respond, Benz continued: “But in the future, we will consider establishing branch factories in more countries and are willing to cooperate with more foreign capital.”
Although Carlo’s goal was to sell Mercedes-Benz cars worldwide, such a goal couldn’t be achieved by just the Mercedes-Benz Automobile Company headquarters alone.
Just the European market alone required several automobile companies to jointly develop. Not to mention the US market; without establishing several branch factories, it was impossible to control too much market scale.
To establish branch factories in other countries, cooperation with those countries’ capital was inevitable.
Relying solely on Spanish capital to control most of the automobile market alone was impossible; it would arouse vigilance from other countries and make numerous foreign capitals hostile.
Only by cooperating with local capital could they gain acceptance from local capital. At the same time, they could utilize the influence of local capital to make the automobile company’s expansion faster.
Anyway, the Royal Mercedes-Benz Company would hold a considerable portion of shares in the branch factories; the money earned by these branches would also go to the head company.
The head company making money meant Carlo making money. Although half or more of the branches’ earnings might be taken by local nobles, considering the benefits cooperation with them brought to the branches, the divided interests could roughly be compensated.
When Benz said he wouldn’t sell car technology for the time being, the questioner clearly showed disappointment.
But when Benz mentioned establishing branch factories in European countries and willingness to cooperate with other foreign capital, the person’s face regained its smile.
The conversation between the two was heard by more people, and many capitals became interested in such cooperation.
For capital, whoever can make them money is their friend. The role currently shown by cars was even higher than carriages, which also meant the automobile market had huge business opportunities.
Capital has a keen sense of smell; they naturally detected such business opportunities. Although it wasn’t guaranteed that cooperating with the Mercedes-Benz Company would make money, the chances of profiting from such cooperation were definitely high.
These capitals were naturally willing to take a gamble, even just based on the role cars currently demonstrated; they had to invest some funds to participate.
Of course, before cooperating with the Royal Mercedes-Benz Automobile Company, they didn’t mind buying a few cars to experience.
Seeing the long queue to experience cars, some people directly expressed to Benz their desire to purchase cars.
The Royal Mercedes-Benz Automobile Company was well prepared; the 1000 cars produced in advance were for these people wanting to buy cars.
In the three months preparing for the car exhibition, the Royal Mercedes-Benz Automobile Company completed the assembly of the assembly line production and successfully produced 1000 cars in three months.
Besides increasing production speed, the benefit of the assembly line production was also effectively reducing car costs.
Previously, when Benz reported to Carlo, the cost per Mercedes-Benz car was as high as 12,600 pesetas, which was obviously an extremely high figure.
After mass-producing cars using assembly line methods, although not many cars had been produced yet, according to the automobile company’s statistics, the average cost of these 1000 cars had dropped to around 12,000 pesetas, a quite obvious reduction per car.
Precisely because of this, after discussion with Carlo, Benz decided to set the selling price of each Mercedes-Benz car at 15,000 pesetas, ensuring over 3,000 pesetas profit per car.
A selling price of 15,000 pesetas was quite expensive, but for most capitalists and nobles, it was just a small sum.
The wealth gap exists in any era; astronomical spending for the lower class might just be a breakfast for the upper class.
Although the Mercedes-Benz car price wasn’t that exaggerated, 15,000 pesetas was indeed not a big expense for most nobles and capitalists.
Of course, there were certainly many ordinary people interested in cars but ultimately deterred by the price.
Carriages, as the current mainstream means of transport, were expensive but affordable for many ordinary people.
After all, a carriage boiled down to one or several horses plus a wooden compartment; the cost was there—how expensive could it be?
Cars were different; whether the engine or other components, all were brand-new items.
Brand-new items also meant higher costs, which destined car prices to be quite exaggerated figures.
The reality was indeed so. A carriage cost from a few hundred to a thousand pesetas, while one Mercedes-Benz car could buy at least 15 ordinary carriages.
Although the high 15,000 peseta price deterred quite a few ordinary folks, many capitalists and nobles still placed orders.
The prefix of the Mercedes-Benz Company had “Royal,” and this car expo was also hosted by the royal family.
Although the royal family didn’t appear, Spanish nobles all understood that the biggest shareholder behind the Mercedes-Benz Automobile Company was Carlo.
Whether genuinely interested in cars or just to show support, Spanish nobles all needed to buy a few cars anyway.
Precisely because of the nobles’ support, plus many capitalists were indeed interested in the cars on site.
As a result, on the very day of the car exhibition, over a hundred people signed purchase orders with the Mercedes-Benz Automobile Company.
Most people bought one car; they were just interested and wanted to experience such a car.
Some indeed saw the corresponding business opportunities and bought several cars in a row, seemingly planning to form an automobile company.
Of course, the automobile company here didn’t mean an automobile factory, but those companies using cars to carry passengers or goods.
From the spectacular scene of the queue to experience cars on the exhibition day, it was clear that many people were interested in this new means of transport.
Although a car was very expensive, the price for a short-distance ride wouldn’t be too high.
Whether really needing to ride a car or to experience the novel means of transport, forming an automobile company now could still make a profit.
Selling over a hundred cars on the exhibition day was absolutely good news for Benz and the automobile company.
Although 100 cars didn’t seem like many, considering over 3,000 pesetas net profit per car, these 100 cars earned up to 300,000 pesetas.
At this sales speed, it would only take a few days for Carlo’s investment in the automobile industry to be fully recovered.
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