The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 67: Benson and Mercedes-Benz

Translator: 549690339

In order to fully demonstrate the might of the Brunswick-class battleship to Arthur, William II specially ordered the German Navy to sail this massive warship around the Western Baltic Sea twice.

Although the battleship appears massive, it was not unwieldy once it started to move.

The sight of such a heavy beast free-roaming in the sea can’t help but make people admire the change and improvement that technology has brought to mankind.

At the same time, Arthur is even more looking forward to the advent of dreadnoughts. As a new type of main battleship that surpasses battleships in every aspect, dreadnoughts have also made considerable progress in speed. Pre-dreadnought battleships usually cruise at around seventeen to eighteen knots, while dreadnought-class battleships cruise at a terrifying twenty-one knots, not to mention the main battleships that other countries built using dreadnought designs.

After disembarking the warship, Arthur and William II rode in the same car and set off on the return journey to Berlin.

in the car, Arthur remembered that he still had a task to accomplish, that was, to acquire the automobile production technology.

Although at this time, revolutionary breakthroughs had not yet been made in various automobile technologies, resulting in cars only being a luxury for the rich.

But as someone from the future, Arthur deeply understood the potential market and importance of cars in the future, especially how crucial they are for the development and various constructions of a country.

Visibly, the introduction of the Model T car was only a few years away. If he wanted to plot the European car market, he would have to act quickly.

The main issues facing the car industry at this time were stability and price. Current cars are essentially handcrafted. Not only is the production speed extremely slow, but also they often run into various problems. Ordinary people can’t afford them.

However, with the creative assembly line production technology of the Ford Company, not only has the production speed of cars significantly improved, but the production cost has been effectively reduced, allowing cars to enter thousands of households.

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At the same time, because car production uses universal parts, the specifications and models of various parts are unified. This not only reduces car fault problems but also significantly reduces the difficulty of repairs.

As a result, the inexpensive and relatively stable Ford Model T quickly dominated the car markets in the United States and even the entire world, directly creating a world record for single-vehicle type production.

You should know that the reason cars are so weU received is not only because they drastically improve travel efficiency but also because they bring about enormous changes to society and a country.

For a country, the development of the transportation industry could stimulate the development of infrastructural construction and the economy, thus driving the development of various industries.

More importantly, the significant increase in transportation efficiency brought by cars could also be applied to the military.

Whether it’s the transportation of strategic supplies and equipment or the movement of soldiers and the military, it was a headache in the past.

Although railways and trains could solve large-scale transportation problems, train stations weren’t everywhere.

People who wished to move to another city needed to go to the train station to board the train. Moreover, they had to worry about whether the railway would be blown up during the journey.

But cars are different. As smaller vehicles, the dependency on roads isn’t as stringent as trains.

If nothing else matters, cars can be driven uphill, on steep slopes, and even through forests. In terms of small-scale transportation, cars are much more powerful than trains.

At present, the most successful in terms of cars are America and Germany. Although the assembly line was invented by the Ford Company, in reality, it’s just a new production concept rather than a technology.

The core of the assembly line is to divide the production of the whole car into the production and assembly of parts. Each worker only needs to be responsible for the production and assembly of their own parts, unlike before where they were responsible for the production and assembly of the entire car. One person doing one thing greatly improves the production efficiency of cars and reduces labor and time costs.

Provided they have car production technology, they can slowly research the assembly line and eventually find a suitable assembly line production method. After hearing that Arthur wanted to purchase car production technology, William II nonchalantly nodded his head in agreement.

Although William II also understands the potential market and role of this new type of transportation tool, the car, because it has been developing for quite a while now and the two main defects have not yet been solved, the importance of cars in William Il’s heart has been reduced.

Moreover, other countries are also studying this technology, it’s just a matter of progress.

Selling this to Australia wouldn’t lead to any objections from William II. However, William II left Arthur with a tough question. He had to choose a suitable car manufacturer to buy the technology from.

This is quite a significant problem. The famous car manufacturers in later generations hardly existed in this era.

However, Arthur was familiar with the great name of Carl Fitzgerald Benton, the father of cars.

On January 26,1886, Carl Benton successfully developed the world’s first single-cylinder three-wheeled automobile. This day was also designated as World Car Birthday.

Therefore, Arthur unhesitatingly mentioned Carl Benton’s great name. William II was taken aback for a moment. He didn’t expect that Arthur would have some knowledge about Germany’s car brands.

At present, the Benz Iron Casting and Machinery Factory founded by Carl Benton and his friend, Augustus Ritter, has the largest automobile factory in Germany.

And the Victoria Motorcar invented by Benton brought tremendous honor to his company.

However, in reality, although the car had advanced performance, its seUing price reached a whopping 3875 marks, or about 193 pounds.

You must know that such a high price is a huge sum for ordinary people. Even excellent workers with high income would need to commit at least half a year’s wages to afford it.

This isn’t the end, this cost is only the purchase price of the car. Subsequent maintenance, repair, and fuel costs would cost a significant amount, directly discouraging the vast majority of people with medium and low incomes.

This led to a severe problem. Although Benton’s company has achieved decent results in terms of honor and size.

But as a company boss and shareholder, Benton was unsuccessful. This invention did not bring much income to the company, but instead plunged it into a debt crisis.

After all, whether it was Benton himself or his friend Ritter, they were all ordinary people, who couldn’t bear the company’s vast expenses. Although recently, based on suggestions, Benton developed a cheaper “Bicycle,” which in reality is a cheap car that cut out many features. Because they achieved initial mass production and cut some functions, this so-called “Bicycle” brought some sales volume to Benton and his company, allowing the company to barely hang on.

In other words, the largest car manufacturer in Germany is currently in a severe debt situation.

Having achieved a degree of success in the automobile field and facing serious financial issues. This makes it the most suitable acquisition target for Arthur. If he could acquire Benton’s automobile company and inject a large amount of capital, who could guarantee the Benton company wouldn’t surpass Ford and become the creator of car sales records?