The birth of the Royal No.1 was not as simple as a luxury item, nor was it something that was built with a large sum of money by the servants to curry favor with the Emperor.
After all, it was his own business, and the one who paid the bill was Franz himself. Without the permission of the emperor himself, he would be held accountable.
There was no doubt that the Austrian Automobile Group did its best to build this super luxury car, not to show off.
Franz couldn't drive this car for a drive, and even the information about this car would not be disclosed to the outside world.
In addition to promoting the development of automobile technology, this request was more of a test of the domestic industrial strength.
As an emperor who was bombarded with all kinds of information, Franz was very clear that data and reports could be fabricated out of thin air, but the real thing in front of him couldn't be faked.
In the whole world, only Austria had a complete automobile industry. Other countries were still eating dust behind them.
Even if the people below wanted to fake it, there was no room for them to do so.
For the sake of the Royal One, Franz also personally inspected the largest automobile production base of the Austrian Automobile Group, the Prague Automobile Factory, which could produce 20,000 cars a year at full speed.
This number was not surprising in later generations, and any automobile factory could easily achieve this.
However, this factory, which could only produce less than 55 cars a day on average, was already the largest automobile factory in the world.
In fact, it was even more exaggerated. This humble production capacity of 20,000 cars a year had accounted for one-third of the total production capacity of the Austrian automobile industry.
The production capacity of the Prague Automobile Factory directly exceeded the combined production capacity of the United Kingdom and France, and was comparable to the production capacity of all countries except Austria.
Well, this was the result of Franz's cheating. At present, the only company in the world that could industrialize the production of cars was the Austrian Automobile Group.
There was no other way, he already had the advantage. When no one paid attention to the automobile industry, Franz began to spend money.
The Austrian Automobile Group had been immersed in research and development in the laboratory from the beginning, and had never announced the news to the public. Their peers didn't react.
No, to be exact, before the product came out, there were no so-called peers at all.
Before this, everyone was focused on the development of steam-powered cars. It was a completely different species from the internal combustion engine car of the Austrian Automobile Group.
The earliest internal combustion engine car went on the market in the original space and time was in 1888. No one knew what the founder of Mercedes-Benz, who was a pioneer in history and was very powerful in later generations, was doing.
The earliest automobile company in the United States, Oldsmobile, was established in 1897; the earliest automobile company in Japan, Cadillac, was registered in 1902.
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After the first product of the Austrian Automobile Group, the "Beetle", went on the market, people suddenly discovered that cars could be made in this way.
Without any competitors, the Austrian Automobile Group naturally became the overlord of the automobile industry.
There was no doubt that in the context of patent protection that couldn't cover the whole world, people quickly followed the trend.
He might not be able to come up with it in such a short time, but he could take the template and copy it. How could he not copy it?
Then, the first batch of products from the Austrian Automobile Group were mostly used as spare parts, adding bricks and tiles to the development of the global automobile industry.
In essence, this was as, the Automobile Group, of the Austrian of the Automobile Group, a. As long as they opened their minds, even industrial countries could produce cars.
It was also the relevant industry. If there was a related industry, the relevant industries would cooperate. If there, the final result would be a.
The people following the trend quickly discovered this. However, it was too difficult for them to develop technologies in multiple fields at the same time.
The followers quickly realized this. However, it was too difficult for them to develop multiple fields of technology and overcome a series of difficulties at the same time.
The huge capital investment in the early stage was not something that ordinary companies and individuals could afford.
After all, the automobile market was very limited. Financial groups did not care about the small profits.
The thing that capitalists liked to do was to wait for the fruits to ripen and pick the fruits instead of planting the fruit trees themselves.
Most of the giants were limited by the concept of business. They generally focused on their own fields. Even if they expanded, they would enter the relevant industries.
This was the lesson learned from countless classic cases. Rashly crossing into an unfamiliar territory had a higher chance of failure than success.
Before the risk could be estimated, most people would choose to wait and see. Of course, the most important thing was that they had no money.
The family car market had just started, and the future was still unclear. No one could guarantee that today's internal combustion engine car would not be yesterday's steam car.
The automobile industry was in the phase of burning money. It was like a sapling that had just been planted, and it was far from blossoming.
After that, it was naturally handmade. The technical difficulty of large-scale industrial production was too high. If they wanted to copy it, they also needed industrial support. It was not something that could be done overnight.
In comparison, handmade was much simpler. If the parts were not precise enough, they would let people polish them. If the engine's horsepower was not enough, they would increase the number of cylinders.
Currently, the main competitors of the Austrian automobile group in the market were a bunch of handicraft workshops.
Because the automobile had just been introduced, it was still a high-end luxury product with a higher price. Even if the handicraft workshops had a higher production cost, they could still make a lot of profits.
After thinking about all this, Franz suddenly frowned.
It was obvious that many people in the Austrian automobile group were fascinated by the current results and ignored the existence of competitors.
Since the product went on the market in 1882, the market share of the Austrian automobile group had been declining year by year.
The market share decline was inevitable unless they completely monopolized the market. Otherwise, as competitors continued to enter the market, the market share would definitely decline.
However, the market share of the Austrian automobile group had fallen too fast. In just three years, it had fallen by nearly a quarter.
This was their own industry. If they did not move forward, they would lose their own interests. This was absolutely intolerable for Franz.
"Oprea, aren't you going to create a cheap model to maintain the market share?"
Franz no longer had extravagant hopes to expand the market share.
After all, the Austrian automobile group occupied 76.4% of the automobile sales market. How could they increase it?
However, they could try to maintain the market share as much as possible or reduce the speed of the market share decline.
Oprea hurriedly explained, "Your Majesty, the launch of a cheap car will not only reduce our company's profits, but it will also damage the value of our automobile brand.
Currently, the Beetle, Walker, Prada, and other models promoted by the group are all high-end cars.
Although selling at a lower price can gain a larger market share in a short period of time, the automobile was destined to be a luxury product from the beginning.
No matter how we reduce the price, ordinary people can't afford it. Now we are trying to make the automobile a symbol of status, so it is very important to maintain the brand value of the automobile. "
Being able to recognize the "brand value," Oprea was obviously not an ordinary person.
However, due to the limitations of the times, he still did not expect that the automobile could enter millions of households and fall from a luxury product to a means of transportation.
Looking at the current global consumer market of only tens of thousands of cars per year, Oprea giving up the development of low-end models and focusing on the operation of high-end brands was in line with reality.
Franz shook his head. "No, there is still a lot of room to reduce the production cost of the automobile. In the future, it is not impossible for the price to fall to an acceptable range for ordinary people.
In the short term, with the current technological system, we can reduce the cost to an acceptable range for the middle class.
If we continue to expand the production capacity, the current production cost will continue to decrease.
Perhaps the sales of individual cars will decrease, but the number of middle class people is much more than the rich, so the total profit we will obtain will only be higher.
Moreover, reducing the sales price of the automobile can also attack our competitors. Unlike us, the production cost of their small workshops can't be reduced at all.
As for the issue of the brand value, it is even simpler. Register a new company and use the new company's name to change the brand and focus on low-price cars. "
Currently, the production cost of a car was generally between 400 and 700 D.D., and the market price was basically above 1,000 D.D., and the luxury version of the car was easily sold for more than 10,000 D.D.
Such a high gross profit still could not hide the fact that the Austrian Automobile Group was losing money.
The main reason was that the investment in research and development was too high, and the maintenance costs in the later stages were high, which caused the company to be in a state of loss for many years.
Oprea was focused on the company's profits, but in reality, he had no other choice. The company's financial situation was not good, and he could not ask the boss for money every day, right?
If it were not for Franz's mandatory request, Oprea would probably have cut off the research and development funds and put all his efforts into car sales.
After all, in the short term, a sales-oriented company was more profitable than a research and development company. Only when the enterprise made money would everyone be able to obtain more generous returns.
Now that the company was in a state of loss, a little bonus was enough. Stock options were not popular for the time being, but profit dividends had already appeared.
It was just that a research and development company like the Austrian Automobile Group had been losing money for more than a decade and had not seen any dividends at all.
However, Oprea still had integrity. There was no way he could learn from some unscrupulous executives of listed companies, who only cared about making money for themselves and did not consider the long-term development of the company.
Otherwise, if he secretly changed the concept, it would be very easy for the Austrian Automobile Group to turn losses into profits. Whether it was reducing the investment in research and development or slowing down the construction of maintenance points, they could all achieve profits.
If it were not for these two gold-swallowing monsters dragging them down, the Austrian Automobile Group would definitely be the most profitable company in this era, and the kind that could rival a country.
Even if they only earned 100 Divine Duns per car, the Austrian Automobile Group would have a net income of five to six million Divine Duns per year.
In reality, it would only be more. The cars sold could not all be ordinary models with the lowest profit margins. The kind of nouveau riche cars that cost tens of thousands of Divine Duns could easily be sold for a few thousand Divine Duns.
Of course, the core competitiveness of the Austrian Automobile Group was actually still technology and after-sales service.
They would lose money in the short term, but these would be the most profitable in the future. Once the channel was set up, they would not be able to find any competitors for a long period of time.
This could be seen by looking at Austria. In all the areas covered by the group's service network, the only cars that could be sold in the market were "Austrian Automobile."
Other production companies were limited by their own strength and could not set up so many maintenance points at all.
Once the car broke down, they could only find a way to repair it themselves or wait for the technical workers from the manufacturer.
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Oprea replied.
After a pause, Oprea added, "Your Majesty, in order to increase the company's income, reverse the current loss-making state, and increase the company's competitiveness, the management plans to cover the gas stations when we set up the logistics channels.
The management plans to cover the gas stations when we lay out the logistics channels so that our users can refuel on the way. "
If they did this in the future, the anti-monopoly law would have come knocking on their door before they even had time to start.
The meaning of "make it convenient for our users" was already very obvious. It was full of exclusivity. Even if other cars arrived at the gas station, they could only watch from the side.
But in the 19th century, the era of big monopolies, this was completely common. Just like now, the Austrian Automobile Group's repair points did not provide service to other brands of cars.
After a moment of contemplation, Franz shook his head. "We can set up gas stations, but we can't be so extreme. This is different from repair points. It is very easy to arouse the public's disgust.
The voice of anti-monopoly in society is getting louder and louder. It is only a matter of time before all countries introduce anti-monopoly laws. If we leave such an obvious flaw now, it will be easy to be targeted in the future.
In this regard, you must pay attention to it. Even if you want to increase competitiveness, you can use more covert means.
For example: membership card service.
Anyone who buys a car under the group can enjoy membership services and get a certain discount at the gas station.
Other customers who want to enjoy gas discounts can get their own money to buy a membership card.
He could issue more membership cards. It would be best if each city's membership card was different. One membership card could only enjoy discounts in one region.
You can find any excuse, as long as it is reasonable on the surface and everyone can reluctantly accept it. "
The repair points under the Austrian Automobile Group did not provide service to other cars. There were enough reasons to shirk the responsibility.
For example: there were no matching spare parts, it could not be repaired; or it could be said that the car repair master had never touched the car and did not know how to repair it.
The gas station would not work. Everyone used the same oil anyway, so there was no reason to not use it.
If they refused to provide service, the car owners would definitely cause trouble. Franz naturally would not do such a thing that would attract hatred.
In contrast, the membership service was much easier for everyone to accept. As long as it was not publicized, ordinary people would not be able to understand the complex relationship between the companies.
Change the identity and disconnect the gas station from the direct contact with the automobile group. The automobile group could also pay a membership fee to the gas station every year so that everyone would have nothing to say.
In any case, there was no information network technology in this day and age. The membership card could not be used nationwide. They could also say that it was not recognized, or that the gas stations in each country were operated independently.
The card could not be recognized, but the car could. If all the car manufacturers could pay the membership fee, Franz did not mind everyone enjoying the discount together.
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