Chapter 553 Development
The slide projector projected a huge picture on the snow-white wall, which was a car with a sleek and pleasant appearance. Speer pointed at the car and introduced it. "This car is the 'economical national car' that will be launched on the market. Its official name is Beetle. Its basic configuration is four seats, air-cooled engine, displacement of 1 liter, fuel consumption of no more than 7 liters per 100 kilometers, maximum speed of 100 kilometers per hour, and maintenance is also quite convenient. We have established automobile production plants in Poland, Paris, Belgium and other places, and we expect to produce 2 million vehicles in the second half of the year."
Many people believe that the design of the Beetle was the work of the mustache, but as early as 1930, Hans Rudwicka, the chief designer of TATRA in Czechoslovakia, designed the "cheap national car" V570 prototype, which used a two-cylinder engine, rear-mounted rear-wheel drive layout, and air cooling.
After developing this prototype, Tatra went to work on V8 luxury cars, and the V570 plan was shelved. Three years later, Hans Rudwijk copied Ferdinand Porsche's streamlined shape and created the second-generation V570.
Later, Porsche designed the Beetle, and copied a lot of the engine air cooling design of the Tatra V570 prototype in terms of power. Ferdinand Porsche once admitted that "sometimes I learn from him, and sometimes he learns from me." It turned out that Tatra had applied for many patents on engine air cooling a few years ago, so Porsche was considered to have infringed.
Patent infringement? Then sue.
The long lawsuit made Ferdinand Porsche overwhelmed and planned to pay a patent fee to Tatra, but the mustache said "I have a way." Not long after, in 1939, Germany swallowed up the entire Czechoslovakia. Who cares about patents when the country is destroyed? The Tatra company incorporated by Germany was ordered to produce only heavy trucks and diesel engines, except for the luxury sedan T87 equipped with a V8 engine.
I have to say that this operation is really quite smooth.
Hearing the car configuration and price reported by Speer, the reporters below immediately talked about it. "Mr. Prime Minister, the price of this car is so low, the car company should not make any profit, or even lose money, right?" Capitalists are chasing profits, and under normal circumstances, no company would be willing to do such a loss-making business.
Speer smiled confidently. "Of course not, the German automobile manufacturing industry has mastered the core technology to reduce the cost of automobiles as much as possible. Our scientists have developed various alloys, which are far superior to ordinary steel in hardness and strength, but much lighter than steel. And the unique design structure of the metal skin of the car body also makes the vehicle more protective." For example, using the undulating wave surface design like the Junkers aircraft, so that a thinner metal skin can be used to achieve a stronger support structure. In this way, the weight of the whole car is also greatly reduced. The benefit of being light is that it is very fuel-efficient, with a fuel consumption of only 7 liters per 100 kilometers.
In order to reduce costs as much as possible, other aspects of performance have to be sacrificed, such as sound insulation and shockproof. However, compared with the low price, these are not a big deal.
"In order for every family to drive a car, we will introduce an installment payment system. Simply put, you can drive the car away first, and then pay a certain amount every month until the car is paid off. After the car enters mass production, we will also provide car rental services to bring convenience to those who need a short-term car."
The national car that only cost 990 imperial marks in the original time and space immediately attracted everyone's attention when it was unveiled. However, this car accepts cash payment. Interested buyers need to first buy a ticket with a face value of 5 marks and stick it on the "KdF-Wagen passbook", which is equivalent to an order voucher. Due to the outbreak of World War II, the vehicles that had been ordered were not delivered on time, and the factory was also shut down. Starting in 1939, Volkswagen factories switched to producing military supplies, and more than 330,000 KdF-Wagen orders could not be fulfilled.
Before the outbreak of the war, the German Labor Bank had absorbed deposits of 278 million Reichsmarks through this installment advance payment method. People who have completed their savings should demand their cars. But during the war, the Beetle originally produced for ordinary people became 65,000 military armored vehicles and amphibious vehicles. This problem was not solved until after the war. In 1961, Volkswagen proposed a settlement plan. Customers who had paid all advance payments could enjoy a discount of 600 German marks for the purchase of new cars, which was only 1/6 of the price of a new car. If you want cash compensation, it is only 100 marks.
At this time, Germany had sufficient resources, and Yannick did not need to engage in these "Ponzi schemes" to cheat people's money.
"In addition to cars, televisions are also a top priority in our work."
The world's first television station was tested in the UK in 1929 (BBC) and officially launched in 1936; by 1939, about 20,000 households in the UK had televisions.
The 1936 Berlin Olympics was the first Olympic Games in human history to be broadcast on television (there were no video recorders at that time, and all programs were live). The cameras used at that time were huge. A lens with a focal length of 6 meters weighed 45 kilograms and was 2 meters long. The camera signal was first transmitted to the postal center by cable, and then transmitted by the TV tower after mixing. During the Berlin Olympics, the live broadcast of the game lasted for 8 hours every day, and a total of more than 160,000 people watched the Olympics on TV.
The broadcast of the Berlin Olympics had already made people at that time realize the great future of the invention of television. As the mouthpiece of the empire, Goebbels was even more keen to see the impact of the popularization of television on public opinion propaganda. Television, as an image dissemination tool, would multiply the propaganda effect.
He defined television as the new propaganda weapon of the empire and reported to Yannick several times the request to expand the production line of television sets and the scale of television signal towers. Now major cities in Germany are erecting television signal towers. By the end of the year at most, the signal will cover large cities such as Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, and Bremen.
As for those remote areas that are not yet popularized, Goebbels did not let them go. He regarded movies as the most important form of entertainment and the most influential propaganda tool for the public. He believed: "The secret of propaganda is to get close to the theme of propaganda before the object of propaganda realizes that he has been infiltrated. Propaganda certainly has a purpose, but this purpose must be cleverly and superbly concealed so that the object of propaganda does not notice it at all." Therefore, he established a mobile cinema to organize open-air movie screenings in those remote areas.