Transmigrated as the Crown Prince

Chapter 553 Development

The slide projector projected a huge picture on the snow-white wall. It was a small car with a sleek and pleasing appearance. Speer introduced, pointing to the car. "This car is an 'economical national car' that is about to be put on the market. Its official name is the Beetle. Its basic configuration is four seats, an air-cooled engine, a displacement of 1 liter, a fuel consumption of no more than 7 liters per 100 kilometers, and a maximum speed of 100 kilometers per hour. Maintenance is also quite convenient. We have established automobile production plants in Poland, Paris, Belgium and other places, and are expected to produce 2 million vehicles in the second half of the year."

Many people believe that the Beetle design was the work of Mustache, but as early as 1930, Hans Rudwika, chief designer of Czechoslovakia's TATRA, designed the "cheap national car" V570 prototype. , using a two-cylinder engine, rear-mounted rear-drive layout, and air-cooled heat dissipation.

After developing this prototype, Tetra went to work on a V8 luxury car, and the V570 plan was shelved. Three years later, Hans Rudwika copied Ferdinand Porsche's streamlined styling and created the second-generation V570. ,.

Later, when Porsche designed the Beetle, it copied a lot of the air-cooled heat dissipation design of the Tetra V570 prototype engine in terms of power. Ferdinand Porsche once admitted that "sometimes I imitate him, and sometimes he imitates me." It turned out that a few years ago, Tetra had applied for many patents on engine air-cooling and heat dissipation, so Porsche was considered an infringement.

Patent infringement? Then sue.

Ferdinand Porsche, the commander-in-chief of the long-running government, was so disturbed that he planned to pay a patent fee to the Tetra company, but the mustache said that he "had a way". Not long after, in 1939, Germany annexed the entire Czechoslovakia. Who cares about patents when the country is destroyed? The Tetra company that was absorbed by Germany was ordered to only produce heavy-duty trucks and T87 luxury sedans equipped with V8 engines. Diesel engines.

I have to say that this operation is really smooth.

After hearing the car configuration and price reported by Speer, the reporters below immediately started talking. "Mr. Prime Minister, if the price of this car is so low, the car company should have no profit and may even repay it, right?" Capitalists pursue profits, and under normal circumstances no company is willing to engage in such a loss-making business.

Speer smiled confidently. "Of course not. The German automobile manufacturing industry has mastered the core technology of reducing the cost of automobiles as much as possible. Our scientists have developed various alloys that are much harder and stronger than ordinary steel, but weigh less than Steel is much lighter. And the unique design structure of the metal skin of the car body also makes the vehicle more protective." For example, using an undulating surface design like the Junkers aircraft can use a thinner metal skin to achieve a stronger supporting structure. As a result, the weight of the entire vehicle is also significantly reduced. The advantage of being lightweight is that it is very fuel-efficient, consuming only 7 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers.

In order to reduce costs as much as possible, other aspects of performance have to be sacrificed, such as sound insulation, shock resistance, etc. But compared to the low price, these are nothing.

"In order for every family to be able to drive a car, we will introduce an installment payment system. To put it simply, you can drive the car first, and then pay a certain amount every month until the car payment is paid off. Wait until the car enters the market. After delivery, we will also provide car rental services to bring convenience to those who need a car for a short period of time."

The original national car, which only cost 990 Reichsmarks, was unveiled and immediately attracted everyone's attention. But this car accepts cash payments. Interested buyers need to first purchase a ticket with a face value of 5 marks and paste it on the "KdF-Wagen Passbook", which is equivalent to the order voucher. Due to the outbreak of World War II, the reserved vehicles were not delivered on time and the factory was shut down. Starting in 1939, the Volkswagen factory 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 attracted deposits of 278 million Reichsmarks through this installment advance payment method. People who have completed their savings naturally demand their cars. But during the war, the Beetles originally produced for ordinary people turned into 65,000 military armored vehicles and amphibious vehicles. This problem was not resolved until the war. In 1961, Volkswagen proposed a settlement plan. Customers who had paid all the down payment could enjoy a discount of 600 German marks when purchasing a new car, which was only equivalent to 1/6 of the price of a new car. If you want cash compensation, it is only 100 marks.

At this time, Germany already had sufficient resources, and Yannick did not need to engage in these "Ponzi schemes" to defraud people of their money.

"In addition to cars, televisions are also a top priority for us."

The world's earliest TV station was piloted in the UK (BBC) in 1929 and officially launched in 1936; by 1939, approximately 20,000 households in the UK had TV sets.

The 1936 Berlin Olympics was the first Olympic Games to be broadcast on television in human history (there were no video recorders at that time, and all programs were broadcast 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 signals were first transmitted to the postal center using cables, mixed and then transmitted out from the TV tower. During the Berlin Olympics, eight hours of live competitions were broadcast on television every day. A total of more than 160,000 people watched the Olympics on television.

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 that the popularity of television would have on public opinion. Images like television Communication tools will double the publicity effect.

He defined television as the new propaganda tool of the empire, and reported to Yannick several requests to expand the television production line and expand the scale of the television signal tower. TV signal towers are now being erected in major cities in Germany. By the end of the year at the latest, the signal will cover Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Bremen and other large cities.

As for those remote areas where it could not be popularized for the time being, Goebbels did not let it go. He regarded movies as the most important form of entertainment and the most influential propaganda tool for the public. He believes: "The secret of propaganda is that the target of the propaganda is close to the theme of the propaganda before he realizes that he has been penetrated. Of course, propaganda has a purpose, but this purpose must be concealed cleverly and superbly, so that the target of the propaganda is not aware of it at all. ." Therefore, he established a mobile cinema to organize and play outdoor movies in remote areas.

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