The adoption of engines and various new technologies has made today's cars a veritable flower of industry. The technology content is extremely high, and the cost is naturally not cheap.
The cost alone often requires several thousand Tang Yuan, which is doomed to prevent large-scale production and sales and enter ordinary households.
Therefore, the car market is actually very single, that is, the private car field of the rich.
Secondly, there will also be a certain market in the field of heavy engineering machinery and heavy transportation. For example, the market for heavy machinery such as excavators and tractors is a potentially large market.
Next, it is estimated to be industrial applications and ships.
However, in addition to private cars, the technical content in several other fields is even higher. I don’t know that Songjiang Heavy Machinery Company has been struggling for so long and can’t even come up with a concept car. Even if it does, it still has to consider the cost-effectiveness issue.
.
Datang's steam engine technology is already very mature, and it is not easy to seize these markets from steam engines.
The most critical cost of use is a problem that is difficult to solve.
Although steam tractors are a bit less powerful and more troublesome, steam engines are cheap, and fuel costs are very low. Coal is much cheaper than gasoline.
If that doesn't work, you can just burn the wood directly...
As soon as you hear the name, you will know that a gasoline engine is a high-end product, and the gasoline it burns is also very expensive.
Therefore, good performance is not enough. The cost of use must be reduced, otherwise it will be difficult to seize the steam engine market.
In Earth's original time and space, gasoline engines had already appeared in the passenger car market in the 1880s, but steam tractors were still in production until the beginning of the 20th century and even after World War I.
This is also the reason why Zhongyuan Automobile Company and Hangzhou Power Machinery Company unanimously chose luxury private cars as their entry point.
Only the rich don't care about the selling price, let alone the cost of use.
But Li Xuan looked at these two cars. Although they adopted many new technologies, the appearance made him unsatisfied.
Because the bodies of these two cars have the style of traditional four-wheeled carriages. They are said to be cars, but they are more like carriages without horses, and they are also open-top!
However, Li Xuan naturally would not say anything on such an insignificant issue as appearance, especially to express dissatisfaction.
Given Li Xuan's current prestige and status, just one or two words of dissatisfaction will probably have a certain impact on these two companies, as well as the entire emerging automobile and even internal combustion engine industries.
Therefore, Li Xuan would not talk nonsense, nor would he express his disdain for the two original cars in front of him just because he used to ride in cars worth hundreds of millions when he went to work.
Instead, he looked around enthusiastically for a few times, and even went up to experience it. However, the control of this car was completely different from that of later generations.
This thing is controlled by a joystick, not a steering wheel. Although there was an engineer explaining it in great detail, Li Xuan still stopped for a moment while driving.
Fortunately, this car is slow enough. Zhongyuan's Type A car can only reach 20 kilometers per hour when running at full speed on a flat, hardened road. As for the Xihu brand car, this one is even slower, with a maximum speed of only 15 kilometers per hour.
.
Because the speed is slow, the square in the palace is large enough, so you don't have to worry about anything going wrong.
After a few twists and turns, Li Xuan completely lost interest in driving this primitive car. It was too cumbersome and tiring to control.
On the other hand, the comfort of sitting in the back row is good. After all, these two cars are actually private luxury cars specially built for the rich. Putting aside everything else, luxury and comfort are a must.
If you sit in the back row, you will basically not feel any bumps. In addition to the leaf springs, this is actually more due to the soft springs installed under the rear seats.
In fact, there will still be relatively large vibrations when the car is driving, but the passengers in the rear seats will basically not feel it.
After seeing these two cars, Li Xuan specifically asked the Palace Affairs Department not to forget to promote these two companies to support the development of the empire's automobile industry.
Of course, it is absolutely impossible for the royal family to advertise directly to a certain company. Even the Taihu perfume under the name of Empress Dong cannot be advertised in the name of any royal family. The royal family cannot afford to lose face.
However, there are still ways. For example, in the palace, Empress Dong used her own company's perfumes, soaps and other products. The perfumes used by the concubines in the harem were naturally the perfumes used by the perfume company under the name of Empress Dong.
When those noble ladies see this, they will naturally follow suit, and then the middle-class women will follow suit as well.
Therefore, Taihu Perfume has unknowingly become the most high-end perfume brand in the empire. Not to mention that it is extremely expensive to sell, the sales volume is extremely good.
In order to support the development of the automobile industry, and because Li Xuan also hinted a few words, the Palace Affairs Department arranged for cars to replace the previous horse-drawn carriages when the Holy Emperor visited for inspections.
When Li Xuan took several car trips in succession, the other times were only seen by the ministers, but this time he took the bus outside the palace and was seen by the majority of the people.
Suddenly, there were more and more discussions about cars.
And Sheng Tianzi's personal demonstration was actually the reason why Hangzhou Power Machinery Company received orders for more than 2,000 vehicles in just one month.
Because the first group of people who purchase cars are almost all rich and powerful.
In any case, the Xihu brand car became an instant hit. The people at the Zhongyuan Automobile Company behind it were very anxious. Although they built two prototypes, they later got an engine from the Royal Institute of Technology.
and requested technical assistance from the Royal Institute of Technology.
However, they still could not develop a gasoline engine that could be industrially produced in a short time, so they could only watch as Hangzhou Power Machinery Company took the fattest meat first.
However, in the face of the popularity of Xihu brand cars, the one who was most anxious was not the Zhongyuan Automobile Company, but the numerous horse-drawn carriage manufacturers throughout the empire. Because they realized that the emergence of cars would gradually impact the horse-drawn carriage market.
No one is stupid. When many bosses of horse-drawn carriage production companies see the cars in the newspapers, their first reaction is that this thing is a threat.
Although cars are very expensive now, with the advancement of technology, sooner or later the price will slowly come down, and they will eventually compete directly with horse-drawn carriages.
But it is certain that horse-drawn carriages cannot compete with cars.
But the first reaction of more carriage company bosses is that this thing is an opportunity!
The people of the Tang Dynasty in this era are not the people of the Tang Dynasty a few decades ago.
People in the Tang Dynasty now understand and understand the huge role of science and technology, and they keep pace with the times.