After all, the current gasoline market is still too small, and even in a few years the gasoline market will not be that big. Investing huge amounts of money so early will have a huge impact.
Of course, they will not ignore it, but they will invest on a smaller scale and build gas stations in some key cities.
It can also be seen from the reaction of Imperial Oil Company that the successful development of gasoline engines and the emergence of automobiles brought more than just a car.
What it drives is the development of an entire industry and the upgrading of the entire industrial system.
Even Li Xuan attaches great importance to this. At the new round of the Imperial Cabinet meeting, he emphasized the need to guide and support new industries related to gasoline engines.
Strive to make cars an important part of the empire's land transportation as soon as possible.
Li Xuan didn't say anything like letting every family own a car within a few years.
Because in Li Xuan's view, the biggest role of automobiles in a short period of time is not to replace ordinary passenger carriages, especially private carriages, as passenger transportation tools, but to replace horse-drawn trains and various types of steam engine-powered engineering machinery.
In industrial production and transportation.
As for the private car sector, just let nature take its course.
Anyway, in terms of pure passenger transportation, Datang has no shortage of horses now, so there is not much urgency for private cars.
On the contrary, in the field of industrial production and transportation, despite the development of industry, it is increasingly difficult to meet the needs of domestic industry and commerce by relying solely on horse-drawn carriages.
As for steam engine tractors, they were too bulky and difficult to use on a large scale.
Cars replace the above two and serve as the best tool for industrial production and transportation.
At the imperial cabinet meeting, the focus was also on how to develop gasoline engine-related industries and integrate them into the empire's industrial system to provide strength for the development of the empire's industrial system.
Of course, although the private car field is not a focus, it will not be ignored or suppressed. Policies that should be provided will be provided, but don't expect the empire to invest much financial funds for forced support.
At the imperial cabinet meeting, Li Xuan approved the internal combustion engine research and development, production and application support plan proposed by the Ministry of Commerce.
The plan has many provisions, but the most core one is to provide comprehensive policy and financial support in the research, production and application fields of internal combustion engines.
Especially in many fields such as industry and national defense.
Although this policy focuses on the national defense and industrial sectors, it does not provide much support to the private automobile sector.
However, the two are identical in many aspects.
For example, if the Xihu brand car adopts luxurious decoration, it is a luxury car. But if those decorations are removed and only the most basic power and body structure and necessary protection are retained, then it will be the "April 41 armored vehicle" ordered by the military.
Another example is the Qixiang brand two-wheeled car. In the private market, this thing is a toy for rich children, but in the hands of the army, it is military equipment, called a Type 21 car.
At the same time, there are still three-wheeled vehicles that have not been launched on the market and are in the final stage of design and improvement. They are not equipped yet, but the military has already given them a model number and determined them to be Sany-type vehicles.
The support policy specifically targets defense vehicles, so these two companies with ordinary cars as their core products can also receive support.
But the biggest beneficiary is Songjiang Heavy Machinery Company.
Because this company is currently the only company in the empire that specializes in various types of heavy machinery and equipment powered by gasoline engines.
Although they have not launched any mass-produced products yet, their multiple research projects have attracted the attention of the entire empire.
Many domestic companies are paying attention to them, because the product positioning of Songjiang Heavy Machinery Company is very clear, that is, various types of construction machinery, as well as medium and large gasoline engine power for industrial use.
Among various types of construction machinery, excavators and bulldozers are the representatives, but in fact, what they pay more attention to is the power of various industrial gasoline engines.
In this era, the fields where gasoline engines can be applied are very broad. Basically, gasoline engines can be used in fields where steam engines can be used. However, gasoline engines can still be used in fields where steam engines cannot be used.
This is why a large number of domestic companies are eyeing Songjiang Heavy Machinery Company.
Because they all want to keep up with the times as soon as possible and purchase these heavy machinery and equipment for industrial upgrading.
It is worth mentioning that the military is also paying attention to them!
The military is paying attention to them because of one of their products that is still under design.
Gasoline tractor!
Or to use a more accurate term, it is a ‘gasoline crawler tractor’.
The company has previously tried to design steam engine-powered crawler tractors to increase the tractor's terrain adaptability.
But unfortunately, steam engines are large and heavy, so it is difficult to adapt to them.
But things are different after the emergence of gasoline engines. After replacing the gasoline engines, it is completely possible to build a crawler-type tractor.
In the eyes of the military, the products of Hangzhou Power Machinery Company, Qixiang Automobile Company, and Zhongyuan Automobile Company are all light vehicles, and small and medium-sized gasoline engines with little horsepower are of little use.
That piece of shit can't even hold a cannon.
What the Army wants is a tank that can be equipped with artillery, have certain armor protection capabilities, and maintain cross-country mobility!
A real tank!
The gasoline tractor project of Songjiang Heavy Machinery Company is very attractive to the army.
If this thing has enough load capacity, it can be equipped with an artillery piece.
It's a pity that there is still a concept for now, and I don't even know when the prototype car will be ready.
Because almost all spare parts, especially gasoline engines, need to be developed from scratch, it is expected that the R&D funds required will be huge and the time required will be very long.
At least, the performance of this gasoline engine needs to continue to be greatly improved. Two-cylinder gasoline engines are not good, and four-cylinder or even six-cylinder gasoline engines are probably barely usable.
But these are not important. What is important is that the Army saw the hope of a real combat vehicle from this design plan, so Songjiang Heavy Machinery Company's gasoline tractor project had already received a research and development contract from the Army not long after it appeared.
What's interesting is that people in the army don't even know that the gasoline crawler tractor design developed by Songjiang Prefecture also originated from the Holy Emperor Li Xuan.
Last year, Li Xuan sent informal instructions there through the Hanlin Academy to see if they could get a tracked vehicle.
Otherwise, Songjiang Heavy Machinery Company would not actually engage in such an obviously advanced project.
They already have a gasoline tractor project, and the technical difficulty of this wheeled tractor is much lower than that of the crawler tractor.