Chapter 967 Alto
The population of a city is an important indicator of the city's development, but it is not completely related to whether the city is developed. For example, in today's India and the cities of the Far East Empire, their urban development mainly relies on The huge inland market is formed.
After all, it is impossible to change the rigid needs of food, clothing, housing and transportation. There is a huge difference between a market with a population of hundreds of millions and a market with a population of tens of millions, let alone a market with a population of one million or even less. This is also the view of the European and American powers. The reason why India and the Far Eastern Empire were so greedy.
While Tirpitz and Aaron were talking, a car passed by on the street. East Africa is a major automobile production country in the world, so Tirpitz was not surprised that there were cars in Mbeya City. I have seen many of them before in Dar es Salaam and other places.
“The car just now seems like something I have never seen before on the market. It looks very good!” Tirpitz said.
"That's an official car from East Africa. Generally, only government personnel can ride it, so it's not for sale on the market. However, it's not impossible to buy it, but most people can't afford it," Aaron said.
"What brand is it? If possible, I would also like to take one to Germany."
"Alto (To), second only to the Crown, the Crown is generally only available to real big shots Have the opportunity to ride. "
This Otto is actually the name of the previous generation Prince of Hechingen, Grandpa Ernst. The provincial capital of Hechingen is the city of Otto (formerly Pretoria), of course. , was translated as Otto in the Far Eastern Empire. Ernst remembered that the Far Eastern Empire had this brand in his previous life, and "Tuo" had a metaphorical meaning of progress and development, which was in line with the aesthetics of the people of the great Eastern countries, and the name Otto was also used in other regions. In line with European tradition, Ferrari and Benz are just the names of the founders.
It is worth mentioning that Benz is currently in charge of the Hechingen Consortium's automobile production business in Germany, and the "Mercedes-Benz" brand naturally emerged.
As for the Crown brand Aaron mentioned, Tirpitz had also heard of it. East Africa had given cars of this brand to some European royal families back then, including one owned by William II, but William II preferred domestically produced cars. So his Crown car is kept in the garage, but this does not prevent the Hechingen consortium from controlling many German car companies.
Of course Tirpitz himself would have wanted a Crown if possible, but the car was too expensive and production was quite low.
“I think if the Alto just now can be exported on the market, the sales volume should be good. Its appearance design is eye-catching.”
As a business car, Alto is more stable in design. , which is very attractive to politicians.
Aaron said: "Actually, the appearance is good, but the interior experience is actually not much better than other vehicles on the market. However, if there is an export version in the future, the interior may be improved."
As luxury goods, the decoration of European and American cars is quite luxurious, but there are many differences in the judgment of cars in East Africa. Even though there are not many cars in East Africa now, the positioning of cars in East Africa is divided into two types: ordinary consumer goods and luxury accessories.
This also reflects the ambition of the East African government, which is to promote cars to the common people in East Africa. This plan seemed crazy in the 19th century, but for Ernst, it was very reasonable. After all, cars were the A normal travel tool.
Of course, while East Africa is vigorously developing automobiles, it has not given up on the research on trams. The research on trams in the previous life was not actually much later than the time of automobiles. It is just that there were few cars in the world in the early days and the world had sufficient oil energy. However, With the rapid increase in the number of industries and automobiles, and the impact of the oil crisis, people had to dig out the tram and study it again in the 21st century. However, nearly a hundred years were wasted in the meantime, which seriously hindered the development of tram.
So East Africa can retain the research and development of electric vehicles when other countries around the world are turning to the research and development of oil vehicles, which is good for the future development of East Africa. Moreover, trams have a wide range of application scenarios. In Ernst’s view, electric vehicles, bullet trains, and new energy vehicles in previous generations were all trams, including today’s trams.
It can be said that Ernst has clearly arranged the development direction of science and technology in the next world in East Africa. As long as the outflow of talent and technology due to defeat does not happen like Germany did, the fruits planted by Ernst will be enough for the future. East Africa will last for hundreds of years.
Of course, for now, the East African government’s car popularization plan still has a long way to go. Take the current domestic car production and sales model in East Africa, which is hugely different from that abroad.
However, this difference will not hinder the development of the automobile industry in East Africa. In the past, the Soviet Union implemented a more thorough planned economy than East Africa and was able to achieve a car ownership similar to that of European and American countries. East Africa can naturally do the same.
What the Soviet automobile industry lacked was a slow response to market demand. After all, the Soviet people could only enjoy the vehicles that the Soviet automobile factories produced, rather than the Soviet automobile factories that produced the vehicles that the Soviet people needed. vehicle.
This can still be avoided in East Africa. After all, East African automobile production is composed of two major parts, the Hechingen Consortium and state-owned enterprises. As a completely private capital, the Hechingen Consortium produces and produces international automobile brands. It is completely common rail, and covers and participates in many foreign automobile manufacturers, and can feed data back to state-owned enterprises in East Africa.
As a naval officer, Tirpitz did not pay much attention to the cars in East Africa. East Africa has always been a major car producer. The world's first car was produced in East Africa, and there are many car brands sold in East Africa in the international market. However, this does not reflect the production situation of the domestic automobile industry in East Africa.
It is naturally impossible for the East African government to reveal the secrets of the development of the East African automobile industry to an outsider like Tirpitz. The automobile is not just a vehicle, but is also closely related to the military, transportation, and industrial development of East Africa. connect.
Especially when the East African military is equipped with a large number of vehicles, this is quite advanced among militaries around the world.
In Mbeya City, although it was just a walk around the station, it also opened the eyes of Tirpitz and other Germans. Mbeya City broke the imagination of these Germans in the interior of East Africa. A "deserted", "dangerous" and "uninhabited" scene.
After all, East Africa is a closed country. Few outsiders have been able to penetrate deep into the hinterland of this country before, so the existence of Mbeya City broke the false illusions of Tirpitz and others.
The climate here is pleasant and the scenery is magnificent. It is not a "malaria-ridden" or "civilized desert" place as rumored. Of course, this is only limited to East Africa. It is still very appropriate if it is other places in Africa.
If nothing else, it is easy to figure out the situation in Cameroon, the German colony, and it basically corresponds to the negative propaganda about Africa.
Of course, the environment in Cameroon, Gabon, and the Belgian Congo is indeed worse in Africa. They are basically tropical rainforest areas. Even East Africa cannot have a great ability to transform the tropical rainforest areas, let alone this. Several more sparsely populated colonies.
The best part of West Africa is the savanna area in the northern Gulf of Guinea. However, from a climate perspective, it is still not as good as East Africa. After all, West Africa has relatively few plateaus and a relatively low altitude, so it is hotter. , but West Africa is indeed very rich in mineral resources, especially oil, iron ore, bauxite and other resources.
(End of this chapter)