Speaking of which, today's trucks are not specially designed for construction projects. That is to say, the dump trucks that can be seen everywhere on the road in later generations have not been developed now.
Even before the war, the load capacity of trucks was generally between 1.5 and 5 tons. However, with the outbreak of the war, due to the needs of military transportation, various countries began to develop heavy-duty trucks to carry heavy equipment, such as tanks and artillery. etc., only then promoted the development of heavy-duty trucks.
Moreover, most of today's trucks are rear-wheel drive, and the driving roads are mainly paved roads. It is not the 6*6 or 8*8 heavy-duty dump trucks that are common in later generations.
Hearing Fang Lang's question, Gianvito Blanc was stunned for a moment, and quickly reacted. Looking at Fang Lang's expression, he said hesitantly: "Uh! Boss, our factory is still in the first phase of the project. When it is completed, the production lines put into production will still be mainly for cars, and there is no truck production line yet. If necessary, our next step will be to start the construction of the truck production line immediately." Fang Lang sighed, it seems that he is still interested in these industries Not enough attention!
Surprisingly, they were not reminded earlier to start the production of commercial vehicles. You must know that the next few decades will be a period of rapid economic development, and the demand for commercial vehicles will be astronomical. If you do not intervene in this market earlier, you may be preempted by others in the future!
Fortunately, it is not too late to find out now. Fang Lang glanced at the people behind him. Many of them were Germans, and they were definitely not suitable to talk about the upcoming European aid plan in the future.
After all, it is still being tested in Greece and Turkey, and the actual announcement of the plan will have to wait until next year.
If the Germans here spread this news back to Germany, it will definitely cause some adverse consequences. And if the American people know about it, will they start to oppose the plan before it is proposed?
It will only increase your troubles at that time. But fortunately, he is the major shareholder. He has the right to decide when to start the construction of the second phase of the project. The worst thing he can do is make additional investment!
Therefore, he just thought for a moment and said directly to everyone: "Now my construction company in the United States needs a large number of heavy-duty trucks. In this business, I don't want to take advantage of others, so I want to know if our company has this Technical strength. Can quickly produce suitable heavy-duty trucks for construction companies." Everyone looked at each other after hearing this, and a middle-aged man with thick black-rimmed glasses looked at Fang Lang with hesitation and asked: " The heavy-duty truck the boss mentioned, our Mercedes-Benz company has relevant technical reserves. During the war, the maximum load capacity of the L6500 heavy-duty truck we produced reached seven tons. I don’t know if it meets your needs." Fang Lang Hearing this, he was stunned. He had been in this era for so long and all he had seen were small trucks. He did not expect that Mercedes-Benz had already built such a heavy-duty truck with such a huge load capacity during the war.
This made him think. Since Germany has such a heavy-duty truck, the United States must also have such a truck, and such a truck must belong to the military.
In other words, in the early stage, I could purchase a large number of second-hand trucks from the U.S. Army Logistics Department through Shata Company to meet my own needs. I could even sell these second-hand trucks at a high price to local contractors in Europe.
At that time, you can set aside enough research and development time for your own factory to research new types of special dump trucks. When those second-hand trucks are almost ruined, you can start selling your own new trucks to Europe!
In this way, there is no gap at all, and it will not make other car manufacturers cheaper. Fang Lang, who wanted to understand this, immediately regained his composure from his newly rising impatience. He looked at the middle-aged man with a friendly face and said, "Oh! I wonder if the truck you mentioned can be used as a construction vehicle?" The middle-aged man said The man hesitated for a moment after hearing the words, and continued with a slight hesitation: "Boss, I don't know what the specific requirements are for the construction vehicles you mentioned." Yes!
What are the requirements! When Fang Lang heard this, he also began to recall what the dump trucks he saw in later generations that everyone in the city was afraid of avoiding looked like. While thinking about it, he replied: "First of all, this kind of engineering truck must be able to... Driving in non-paved areas, it must have strong off-road capabilities. Secondly, it needs to carry dirt and rocks, which will lead to a huge load capacity, and it must have a strong enough body structure. Then, there are Sometimes it even needs to carry heavy cargo and climb steep uphill slopes, which requires it to have enough power. Finally, its body must have the ability to automatically tip backwards or sideways. . I hope it can be a heavy-duty off-road dump truck with all-wheel drive." This requirement is obviously not low, but Fang Lang believes it is not impossible. At least there will be no problem with all-wheel drive. Now they The Willys Jeep equipped by the army is a four-wheel drive vehicle.
In Fang Lang's impression, it seems that there are also four-wheel or six-wheel drive trucks among military trucks.
Mercedes-Benz's technical strength should be able to meet such technical needs. The middle-aged man frowned when he heard this. Suddenly, as if he thought of something, he discussed in a low voice with his colleagues next to him, then raised his head and said to Fang Lang: "Boss, I remembered that our Mercedes-Benz was in 1942 In 1945, a plan was formulated to develop an all-wheel-drive flat-head vehicle. In 1945, Mr. Heinrich hand-drawn a chassis design sketch and determined the design concept, with coil spring shock-absorbing axles, four-wheel drive and There are front and rear axle differential locks, and a strong frame. These seem to meet your requirements. As far as I know, the prototype of this vehicle entered the testing phase at the German Benz factory in October 1946." Fang Langwen Yan was overjoyed and asked quickly: "That's really great. We can directly introduce this model for use." But when the middle-aged man heard this, a trace of embarrassment flashed across his face, and he said sheepishly: "But, As far as I know, the load capacity of this model is not large, and the cargo carrying area is only 1.5 square meters." Fang Lang was confused when he heard that the cargo carrying capacity was only 1.5 square meters. He talked about it for a long time. , it’s a pickup truck!
This is just for fun! His face suddenly fell, and he looked at the middle-aged man with cold eyes and asked, "I'm talking about a heavy-duty off-road dump truck with all-wheel drive. What do you mean by recommending a pickup truck to me?" Fang Lang's eyes were so fixed that his whole body trembled, and he waved his hands repeatedly and explained: "Boss, don't get me wrong, this model is not a pickup truck. It is the model that I can think of that best meets your requirements, although its carrying area is only 1.5 square, but we can further upgrade on the basis of this model and develop an all-wheel drive heavy-duty off-road dump truck that meets your requirements. You know, the name when we gave him the project was unimog, which is also called universal in translation. Self-propelled machinery." Fang Lang was stunned when he heard this German name, as if he had heard of it somewhere!
"Unimog? Wait, you're not talking about Unimog, are you?" If it was really called this name, Fang Lang would be a little surprised. Good guy, this is a real off-road artifact!
You must know that although it was originally developed as an agricultural machinery, later, because of its strong off-road capabilities, it was modified countless times and applied to various occasions.
It also has great potential in the military field. If it can be introduced to Brazil for production and slightly improved, it can become an artifact that travels through the Amazon rainforest!
Unfortunately, although it is an off-road artifact, it obviously does not fit its positioning as an all-wheel drive heavy-duty off-road dump truck, because the coil spring used by the other party determines the upper limit of its carrying capacity.
The middle-aged man obviously didn't expect that Fang Lang had heard of this project. He looked at Fang Lang in surprise and said, "Boss, do you know about this project?" After hearing the other party's question, Fang Lang coughed lightly and said, "This I have heard of it, but in my impression, this seems to be an agricultural machinery!" Hearing this, the middle-aged man nodded calmly and said: "Yes, although it is only an agricultural machinery, its design principle is It meets your requirements very well, and we can refer to it to design a heavy-duty truck that meets your requirements." Although Fang Lang feels that the Unimog does not quite meet his vision of the positioning of an all-wheel drive heavy-duty off-road dump truck, but Since the professionals in the automobile industry in front of him thought that a car that could meet their own needs could be developed based on it, Fang Lang would certainly not refuse.
Moreover, Fang Lang also hopes to recruit some of his own people to join the R&D team to enhance his independent R&D capabilities in the future.
After all, the European aid package is about to begin. The Mercedes-Benz Corporation in Germany will soon recover slowly. At that time, if the researchers here miss the embrace of the motherland and hope to return to work, they will not be able to stop others. They can only take advantage of this period to cultivate more Only your own talents can do it.
Anyway, now I can purchase a large number of second-hand heavy-duty military trucks from Shata Company and use them first, leaving enough time for the successful research and development here.
Moreover, Fang Lang would not place all his hopes on Mercedes-Benz. You must know that he now owns a Caterpillar company in the United States, which is a company specializing in the production of construction machinery.
Later generations produced many heavy-duty mining trucks that broke world records. It should be a piece of cake for them to produce some all-wheel drive heavy-duty off-road dump trucks that meet their own needs!
What Fang Lang didn't know was that the German Mercedes-Benz Company later developed a military truck called Mercedes-Benz Sethos based on the Unimog. Its powerful off-road and load-carrying capabilities made him a member of the German Army. One of the main delivery trucks.
I just don’t know if this world, because of Fang Lang’s intervention and the research he promoted at Mercedes-Benz Brazil, can create another Sethos truck in Brazil.
"Very well, then I'll beg you all. Please start the construction of the truck production line as soon as possible. There is a huge gap in the truck market now. We must not give up on this huge market of commercial vehicles. If there is any place where you need my support, please feel free to ask. ! I will definitely fully support everyone’s work.” All the company managers looked solemn and nodded in agreement.
Fang Lang nodded with satisfaction when he saw this, and said to the general manager Gianvito Blanc on the side: "Then let's continue the visit!" Hearing this, Gianvito Blanc quickly stepped forward again and began to Lead the way.
Next, Fang Lang visited the power technology research room and new technology research center of the Brazilian Mercedes-Benz factory, and proposed three-point seat belts, car radios, car air conditioners, automatic transmission, power brakes, power steering, electronic ignition, etc. New technical direction for the series.
