The plane carrying Kyushu cars docked at Tokyo Airport.
As the goods were unloaded, several Jiuzhou cars immediately boarded the large transport trucks again.
A few hours later, Toyota Motor Headquarters arrived in Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture.
When four sets of Jiuzhou Dongting and four sets of Jiuzhou Taishan drove off the cart.
A group of Toyota's technical R&D engineers and company executives who had been waiting at the company for a long time had just passed the board meeting last year. Akio Toyoda, who serves as Toyota's president, Shinjiro Kuwata, the head of Toyota's global sales headquarters, and other company executives gathered around him. Go up.
"This is Jiuzhou Dongting and Jiuzhou Taishan?"
"These medium and large SUVs and B-class sedans can run the lap times of those super sports cars in New York."
"It is said that the motor used by Kyushu Suzaku is also installed on these two models. The motors are the same, but Suzaku uses some special materials and has been specially debugged."
"The Kyushu Dongting is a bit bigger than our Crown, and the Kyushu Taishan is also similar in size to the Land Cruiser."
In the crowd, Akio Toyoda looked at the two cars, slightly disliking them, and frowned: "Chinese car companies and consumers all like to make their cars very huge."
Shinjiro Kuwata, head of Toyota's global sales headquarters: "Luxury cars priced starting at 500,000 yuan in the Chinese market look ordinary."
Appearance, including interior, everyone present has seen a lot of relevant information before.
The most important thing is the details inside the car and what kind of technology is used to achieve such terrifying acceleration power.
After briefly checking the appearance of the vehicle.
Akio Toyoda issued the order: "Test the specific vehicle performance first to see if it can reach the vehicle data of the New North test."
As a world-renowned car company, Toyota naturally has its own testing venues.
Several automotive engineers responsible for research and development got in the car and drove the vehicle towards Toyota's own testing site.
The remaining people followed in two Coasters.
Like the previous store sales employees, these technical engineers immediately discovered many differences after Kyushu Automobile's simple start.
The driving quality, power performance, sound insulation and shock absorption are not comparable to ordinary cars!
The news from New North is very true and there is nothing false about it!
After a few kilometers of simple driving, everyone arrived at Toyota's testing site.
A total of dozens of automotive engineers, as well as Toyota's senior executives, took turns riding or driving to experience these Kyushu cars.
At the beginning, every engineer didn't take it seriously before getting on the car and driving.
But after driving it once, the engineers who got off the car looked much more serious, and even frowned.
"No, it's completely different from the Chinese car I imagined. It's not just that the power performance is better. There's almost no major shortcomings in the whole car. It's better than our car in many aspects!"
"The power performance is really terrifying, the control is good, the steering wheel is accurate, and there is no feeling of drifting at all even at speeds of more than 200 kilometers per hour."
"Smoothness cannot be compared with any other gearbox."
“The ride experience is comparable to that of a million-dollar luxury car.”
“As much as we hate to admit it, the cars we build are not as good as these two cars!”
From the previous disdain for Kyushu Automobile to the change of concept, it was just a simple test drive.
Many automotive engineers talked about it after the test drive, which made people who had never tried it even more curious. Even Akio Toyoda, who originally just came to take a look, couldn't help but wonder what kind of magic these two cars have, so he drove and experienced it himself. one time.
A few minutes later, Akio Toyoda got out of the Kyushu bus in a daze after jogging around, muttering to himself.
"How could China possibly manufacture such a car? It's impossible!"
After his own personal test drive, even if he didn't want to admit it, he knew in his heart that in terms of driving quality, handling performance, power, etc., none of their company's cars could match the two Kyushu cars.
Even Toyota's high-end brand Lexus cannot compare with these two models.
After a while, the man in his fifties finally calmed down a little.
Watching a Kyushu car speeding by, I silently thought about my thoughts. 'Jiuzhou Auto may become a powerful competitor to global car companies in the future. '
Time passed very quickly. After everyone had experienced driving in the past two hours, Toyoda Akio personally stepped forward and spoke to many automotive engineers.
"How are these two models? Can you tell me any specific findings?"
After many engineers looked at each other, several senior engineers responsible for the company's technology research and development spoke.
"The driving quality of the ride is not comparable to that of ordinary cars."
"The handling performance can only be said to have never been experienced in any fuel vehicle."
"The ride quality is far beyond that of gasoline-powered cars, and we can't think of any other car that can compare with these two cars."
The answers obtained from many engineers are similar to what Toyoda Akio guessed.
However, that wasn't what he wanted to know.
"In terms of specific technology, why can Kyushu Auto achieve such results?"
However, even these senior automobile experts cannot know the specific technical secrets of these two electric vehicles that are very different from ordinary cars just through simple driving and riding.
Chief Engineer Hiroaki Kawaguchi stepped forward and said to Akio Toyoda: "What can be seen now is that in terms of vehicle steel, Kyushu Automobile's body uses a large amount of high-strength steel, which is different from many car companies.
As for how Jiuzhou Automobile achieves such strong power performance and other aspects, further research is needed to know. . . . "
Although he had already expected this answer, Toyoda was still a little disappointed. He waved his hand and said to a group of automotive engineers.
"You drive the car to the R&D center to study it. You must find out why Kyushu Motors performs like this in the shortest possible time."
Many automotive engineers drove away, and Akio Toyoda, Shinjiro Kuwata, and several company executives and directors headed towards the company conference room.
After personal driving experience, Toyoda Akio was a little worried about the emergence of Kyushu Motors: "These are just Kyushu Dongting and Kyushu Taishan. In terms of product strength, they are already much better than our cars.
There is also the top supercar Kyushu Suzaku, I don’t know what it will look like. "
Next to him, Shinjiro Kuwata, who had also driven a Kyushu car and thought about a lot of things, said: "Kyushu Suzaku is better, it is aimed at the high-end market, and only the very rich can buy it.
Most of the product market positioning of Toyota Motor does not coincide with ours.
The most important ones are Kyushu Taishan and Kyushu Suzaku, which may become our competitors in the future.
At present, the main competitive price range of these two models is still in China for models above RMB 500,000. Our Lexus brand vehicles, Crown and other models have some overlap.
At present, our main best-selling models of more than 200,000 cars will not pose much of a threat.
I'm afraid that the launch of some cars worth hundreds of thousands to tens of thousands in the future may have a huge impact on our product sales. "
Akio Toyoda nodded and sighed: "The Chinese market is the largest automobile consumer market in the world. The profits earned there every year account for more than 30% of the total profits of our company's automobile business."
Shinjiro Kuwata: "Don't worry too much. In terms of vehicle technology, it is important to say it is important, and sometimes it is not too important to say it is not important.
The most important thing is to look at the sales of cars. If Jiuzhou Auto cannot sell, it will not have an impact on us. The charging problem of electric cars is very big. If it is not solved, it will be difficult to sell. "
"Today's several Kyushu cars are just toys for rich people."
"Perhaps, after a few years of development, electric vehicles may have a certain sales volume, but in the short term, I don't see the possibility of threatening us."
The head of Toyota's global product sales group said this. Akio Toyoda was slightly relieved, but then he told the people around him.
"You think, are electric vehicles really the future? Are we going the wrong way with the hydrogen energy vehicles we are currently developing? Should we abandon hydrogen energy vehicles and develop electric vehicles instead?"
One director shook his head firmly: "No, hydrogen energy vehicles are the future direction of new energy vehicles!"
When the topic of the company's future development was mentioned, several directors nearby said quickly.
"Today's Jiuzhou cars look good, but charging is a very big problem. Take these Jiuzhou electric cars as an example. Ordinary household electricity can be charged slowly for at least 24 hours.
As for Jiuzhou Auto's fast charging technology, ordinary people don't have such charging conditions at home, and even their circuit networks are a problem.
If there are a few more electric vehicles in a certain community for fast charging, and residents use electricity, their power grid will not be able to bear the load.
As for charging stations, it requires huge costs to build them all over the world and requires the support of local officials. A small company simply does not have such capabilities.
It may even be difficult to establish charging stations in China. At best, it will take a long time to establish a few in a certain area.
Finally, even if it is built, the two-hour charging time does not seem to be long, but it will still delay a very long waiting time each time it is recharged.
Consumers cannot wait that long without using their cars. If there is no way to solve this problem, electric cars will not become mainstream and it will be very difficult to develop them. "
"But our hydrogen energy vehicles are different. The energy replenishment method is the same as that of traditional fuel vehicles. Just add hydrogen. It is simple, fast, convenient and pollution-free."
"We have also studied electric vehicles before and came to an answer. There is no soil for electric vehicles to survive in this world."
"Compared with refueling or hydrogenation, the charging method is too inefficient."
"I think we should increase our research and development of hydrogen energy vehicles. In the past two years, the voice of environmental protection has become louder and louder in the world. Countries have proposed development goals for energy conservation and emission reduction, and we must come up with our new energy vehicles as soon as possible. "
In fact, Toyoda Akio also knew this information. He mentioned this topic at this time just because the Kyushu Motors incident just now made him very uneasy.
Only then did it come out, so that everyone could chat with each other and determine the future development direction of the company.
After listening to everyone, Toyoda Akio felt a little at ease.
However, for some reason, an idea suddenly came to his mind and he said again.
"You think, if China and the United States promote it together, will it become mainstream?"
Before anyone else could answer, he suddenly laughed again. "Impossible, such a thing cannot happen, how can the two countries cooperate on this matter?
Moreover, if we go in the direction of electric vehicles, it will cost more money than developing hydrogen energy with us. "
"According to the ancient Chinese proverb, this is called seeking the far away rather than the near."
"Hydrogen energy is the future!"
Enclosure comes naturally, and even now there are some signs that China and the United States may vigorously develop electric vehicles in their future automobile routes.
However, Japanese car companies are still stubborn!
It is an established car company, and its global sales are still very good today. I deeply believe that its research and development is in the right direction.
Over here, Toyota executives talk about the company's future.
In the automobile research and development department on the other side, several Kyushu cars have been sent to the dismemberment stage.
These R&D personnel, who have been developing cars for decades, use various tools to carefully disassemble parts one by one and study them slowly.
"The vehicle's tires use Michelin wear-resistant tires and aluminum alloy wheels. There is nothing too special."
The four tires were set aside.
Then come to the door, remove the door handle and interior panel from the inside of the door, and remove the window controller and circuit.
For window controls and circuits, the parts used by Kyushu Auto are similar to those used by other car companies. The parts are placed in a special box on one side.
Next, it’s time to remove the door.
After the car door was removed, the two engineers raised the door and frowned.
"The weight is wrong. It's at least twice as heavy as other car doors!"
The car door was placed on the ground, and several engineers looked around the door carefully.
"There is no problem with the door structure. It is similar to other car companies. It is not solid."
"There is no problem with the structure, so the materials used are different?!"
"I was very curious about Kyushu Motors before. The car weight is very different from other car companies. Maybe the secret lies in this. Even the door panels are made of special steel?!"
"Come on, let's test its load-bearing capacity!"
Putting a Jiuzhou Dongting car door on the ground, an engineer pressed hard on the door.
Unlike many of their Japanese cars’ doors that can be pressed by hand, the iron sheet of Kyushu Dongting’s door does not move at all.
"There are no dents! Try this again!"
This time, the engineer used his feet instead of his hands.
First, I carefully stepped on it with one foot, but the door still didn’t change!
Afterwards, the engineer stood on the car door, but there was still no dent in the door.
I stood up and jumped again, but the car door in Jiuzhou Dongting still didn’t change at all!
"It shouldn't be this heavy. Although it's much heavier than an ordinary car door, it's made of high-strength steel. It shouldn't be dented even if someone jumps on it."
"The body material is very rigid. I suspect that the body steel can even be bulletproof!
By simply replacing the high-strength bulletproof glass, this car can become a bulletproof car?
Maybe it has the potential to sell well in the United States, well, assuming it can be sold there. "
"No wonder there is such a heavy body, that is, an electric vehicle. If it is a fuel vehicle, the fuel consumption will be at least fifteen liters per 100 kilometers!"
"The greater weight is also a test for the suspension system of the car body. With the lighter body, even some rubber parts are not so easy to damage."
"Such a high-strength steel is simply a waste of materials!"
After comparing the doors produced by their own car companies, the engineers couldn't help but complain.
This is the kind of car company that has just been manufacturing vehicles for a short time. Even the doors are so willing to use materials. The manufacturing price is the lowest, the whole vehicle costs 10,000 to 20,000 yuan!
Holding a car door, several engineers studied it carefully.
Next to them, several other engineers were studying the engine room.
Remove the hood of the car. It is also made of the same high-strength material. It has no special features and stands out as hard.
Under the hood, there is no traditional engine in the engine compartment of Kyushu Motors. It may be inappropriate to call it an engine compartment.
But there are also some devices that Toyota engineers may or may not be familiar with.
Vehicle electric controller system, hydraulic brake system, air conditioning system pipeline.
Because the body is relatively large, there is even a front storage box in the engine compartment similar to that of a supercar.
After removing the plastic bumper, there is no traditional car radiator fan.
After removing some familiar or unfamiliar parts, what is left is the entire car frame.
There are collapse energy-absorbing designs, anti-collision steel beams, body beams, etc.
While dismantling, these technical engineers judged the functions, functions and manufacturing processes of many parts.
Because of the battery, the chassis is slightly different from the fuel model, and it is not difficult to understand the design intention.
You can understand the design and manufacturing of 60% of the parts, and you can also understand the specific functions and intentions of the remaining 20% after careful study.
In addition, the last 20% of technology is a bit of a headache.
It took several hours to dismantle a car into its skeleton and small parts.
Putting the less important ones aside, among the engineers, several special parts were watched and looked at by many engineers.
These components are the Suzaku motor, the third-generation lithium iron phosphate battery, the sealed electronic control system, and a door.
The car door can enter the important research component position because the body material is obviously different from ordinary car steel and is extremely strong and ridiculously hard!
A group of automotive engineers gathered around several important parts, touched them, used tools to carefully disassemble them, and chatted with others around them.
"What material is used for the body? It's too hard. I tested it experimentally and found out the overall ratio of the entire car."
"Why is this Suzaku motor designed like this? It's a little different from ordinary motors. I don't know. Maybe the manufacturing materials are different? Rare earth?"
"Especially this battery, it's a bit hard to start with. Why don't you just dismantle it and check the specific ingredients inside?
Perhaps the battery will have higher technological content than imagined. It is too small, but its energy density is so high that it can drive such a heavy car for hundreds of kilometers. "
"Although we have also done research on electric motors, why can cars use electric motors instead of engines to generate such a large amount of energy?"
"What's going on with this control system? I just took it apart and looked at it, and I can't understand it at all!"
The engineers sat together and scratched their heads. After studying for a long time, they looked at each other and found nothing.
An engineer said helplessly: "It seems that it will be very difficult to figure out Kyushu Automobile's technology in a short time."
"I thought before that there was nothing complicated about it, just something similar to a stainless steel aircraft that I had never thought about."
"It's just a small car company that has just been established a few years ago. In terms of core technology, it has the technology of the world's top car companies. It is difficult to crack it easily."
"We have also dismantled a Tesla two-door sports car Roadster before. Although there are some technologies that cannot be achieved, we can at least understand it."
"And this Jiuzhou Automobile's technology is completely incomprehensible!"
"If Tesla's replica is level one, Kyushu Auto's difficulty level is at least level seven or eight!"
"How did that car company do it? It's incredible!"
"China, it is said that it seems to have gathered a lot of R&D talents in that country, and the investment is much higher than Tesla."
"I think it will take at least three to five years to understand these technologies..."
"My hair, it feels like it's falling out again."
Electric vehicles have given these established car manufacturers a huge headache, and it’s not just Toyota engineers.
At the same time, car companies such as Volkswagen, Honda, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, Ford, etc. have also received express delivery from China.
After unboxing and testing, the engineers got similar answers.
In terms of core components, I can’t understand it, I can’t understand it at all!
But even such a vehicle can be much better than the cars produced by each of them in all aspects of performance.
The only thing that makes these car companies feel a little more at ease is that the market conditions are not yet mature, and electric cars always have a huge flaw.
There is no need to worry too much about Kyushu Automobile, which will immediately threaten those established automobile manufacturing companies.
At most, we can slowly develop our own electric cars next.
An unknown car company in China can do it. How could they, who have been at the top of the global car manufacturing industry for decades or even hundreds of years, not be able to do it?
(End of chapter)
