As the Mars Immigration Plan continued to grow, more and more rich people around the world began to become interested in this project.
Li Mu asked someone to create a website, which was only open to users with more than 100 million USD in personal assets.
Once someone was interested in participating in this project, they could register an account and get more details about the Mars Immigration Plan.
At the same time, Li Mu also fulfilled his promise. He first invested 500 million USD in SpaceX for further research on recyclable launch vehicles.
Because Li Mu knew that this was an extremely long project, he did not continue to pay attention to the company after he finished the marketing and investment.
Right now, he had more important things to do, which was the relocation of Volvo.
Hua Xia's construction speed was known around the world. The first phase of the factory, office building, and dormitories had already begun construction on the land that was given to Muye Automobile Group in Yan Jing.
The first batch of factory buildings was completed. The Volvo team in Sweden also began to dismantle some of the production lines and transport them to Hua Xia.
When the first batch of production lines arrived at the port of Jin City, hundreds of container trucks were used to transport them back and forth.
At the same time, Volvo, equipment manufacturers, and installation technicians and engineers from domestic and foreign teams also gathered in Yan Jing and began to assemble Volvo's first production line in Hua Xia.
Volvo had several production lines, each corresponding to a different platform. The first thing Li Mu wanted was the main production platform.
However, Li Mu did not plan to leave this production line to Volvo.
His idea was to take this production line and directly use it for Muye Automobile's own brand, then use it to produce Muye Automobile's first independent SUV, Muye Aurora.
He naturally did not want to let go of a popular model like the Aurora.
He was going to describe it himself and work with the designer to create the shape of the Aurora. Then, he would put the shell of the Aurora on the chassis of the Volvo XC60.
To put it bluntly, it was a Muye car with the shell of the Aurora.
Of course, there was another problem. The XC60 was a high-end intermediate SUV, and the market price was in the tens of thousands. If it was sold in China, it would only serve a small group of people.
Before the rise of Harvard, the best-selling SUVs in China were actually Honda's CRV and Hyundai's Tucson, which were joint venture SUVs in the tens of thousands.
Therefore, on the basis of the XC60, it was necessary to reduce the cost and the terminal price.
For example, the engine should not be a high-powered one. The 2.0-liter naturally aspirated engine should be the main power configuration, and it should be used for volume. The 2.0t and 2.5-liter naturally aspirated engines should be used for high-end power configurations, and it should be used for luxury models.
Moreover, the gearbox should not be too high-end. An ordinary automatic gearbox should mainly have a 4-speed, and a high-end model should have a 5-speed.
As for the four-wheel drive system, only high-end models had it.
In other words, the overall XC60 would be reduced and finally, a car model that could span tens of thousands of miles;
The appearance of the Aurora could be said to be everlasting. Therefore, once the Aurora was finalized, they could make an enlarged version based on it, and then upgrade the various configurations. That would be the sports version of the Land Rover Range Rover.
During the assembly of the production line, Chen Ze, who had always liked racing, and Elon Musk, who was working on a Tesla, ran to the scene to observe.
Elon Musk was now also preparing to set up a brand new Tesla production line in Yan Jing. For him, in the future, he naturally had to cling to Li Mu's thigh, and Tesla and Muye Automobile Group would advance and retreat together.
The assembly of the production line was a complicated and cumbersome process, but because of men's natural love for industrial products, Li Mu would go to the scene almost every day to watch it, and he was very happy to see it.
At the same time, the car design team of Volvo had also arrived in Yan Jing and officially started working in Yan Jing.
In the first week after their arrival, Li Mu dragged them along and prepared to have them work on the design of the Aurora as well as the renderings.
Li Mu did not understand car design, but he knew what the Aurora looked like, the overall shape, the front, the back, and the sides.
He described all of these to the designer, let the designer draw out the sketch first, and then according to his requirements, polish it bit by bit.
In the beginning, this group of car designers from Sweden and other European countries scoffed at Li Mu's requirements.
They thought that as the boss of the company, he should focus on what the boss wants to do. Why should he compete with them for jobs, and even command their specific work?
But what they did not know was that although Li Mu did not understand car design, there were a lot of good things in his mind.
The Aurora was only one of them. There were many other classic models, from the low Focus to the high Rolls-Royce. He knew what each popular model looked like in his mind.
The head of the car design team of Volvo, Alexander Vikander, was very dissatisfied with Li Mu's requirements. He even proposed on the spot that if Li Mu insisted on interfering with the creative work of the design team, then he would be the first to resign from his position to Li Mu.
Li Mu said directly, "I will not approve your resignation. Don't forget that I signed a double salary labor contract for you, and you also signed a double breach of contract with me. If you stand me up at this time, then take out the breach of contract. At the same time, because you have not worked for me for three years, you will also be subject to three years of non-competition in this industry. In the next three years, you are not allowed to engage in automotive related industries."
The other party originally wanted to scare Li Mu so that he would have some self-awareness and not interfere with the work of the design team. He did not expect this guy to directly bring out the breach of contract clause.
Admittedly, these Europeans who originally worked in Sweden were very resistant to working so far away from home. The reason why they came was because of the excellent salary.
If they did not come to Hua Xia, they would face being dismissed on the spot in Sweden. After the dismissal, they would have to find a new job.
First of all, there were no ordinary passenger car companies in Sweden. If they wanted to find a job, they had to leave Sweden and develop in Britain, France, Germany, and Italy. However, the level of car design in these four countries was actually higher than that in Sweden.
The exterior design of the Swedish-designed models was very ordinary, and there was nothing special about them. Most of the Volvo models only made people feel that they were very sturdy, but very few models could make people feel that they were really good looking.
On the contrary, classic German and Italian designs were frequent.
The main models of BMW were basically very good-looking. Later, the X6 even led the design trend of the slipper. Not only domestic manufacturers imitated it, but even the later E models of Benz also had the shadow of the BMW X6;
Mercedes-Benz, from the new C, E, and F series, were all well designed. They were much better than the Volvo, and the interior design was even better than the Volvo.
Audi was actually very good in the design. The A series and the Q series were mostly classic models that had lasted for a long time. However, this brother opened low, went up high, and went down low. In the middle years, it really bloomed. The Q7 was really beautiful, but after 10 years, it became uglier and uglier. The Q7 used to be a very domineering large SUV, but later it became uglier and uglier. In the end, it was basically reduced to the point where no one bought it.
Needless to say, Italy had a lot of classic supercar brands. The appearance of any car was a classic in the automotive industry.
Even France, although it produced a series of strange models, it had to be said that their overall car was still very good looking.
Only Volvo really had little to do with looking good.
Especially this year's Volvo, the shape was simply indescribable.
Therefore, with the level of Alexander Vick and his team, if he didn't know where to find the design team, he would have already defeated them.
With Li Mu's understanding of the aesthetic of the later generations, the comprehensive level of this team was not better than the team that designed the Geely Panther.
Alexander Vick was shocked by Li Mu's ruthless and business-like attitude. He came to Hua Xia with great difficulty. He didn't want to earn a penny, pay a lot of liquidated damages, and go back with a three-year non-competition agreement.
So he could only put away his previous arrogance and immediately changed his face. He said to Li Mu: "Li Zong, if you have any personal ideas that you want to realize, please tell us. We will help you to present them perfectly."
Li Mu didn't have a good expression on his face. He coldly said: "If you can present 80% of what I think in my mind, I will consider it a success."
Alexander Vick was anxious in his heart. You are really insulting people. What? I have designed cars for so many years, but I can't compare to you? Didn't you drive a Benz G series? That car looks like a large cardboard box. You chose this car, and I know that your aesthetic is just like that.
However, the God of Fortune didn't dare to offend anyone. So he could only say: "Li Zong, you are right. We are really far away from you."
After that, he was also waiting to see Li Mu make a fool of himself. He said: "Li Zong, what kind of car model do you want to design? Tell us."
Li Mu nodded and said: "First of all, I want to tell you clearly that this is an SUV. As for its shape, it should be …"
Li Mu roughly described the outline. Alexander Vick listened and felt that it was a mess.
Most of the current car design language was a combination of three-dimensional lines and rounded arcs. But the SUV that Li Mu wanted to make turned out to be an SUV with sharp edges and corners.
Who had seen a car with a high front and a low back slope when looking at the side? These lines made him want to vomit.
He tried to suggest to Li Mu: "Li Zong, I think your sketch of the car should raise the butt a little bit. The overall car should be a little higher and the hood height should be a little lower. Then add some rounded arcs to connect and neutralize it. This will make the car look better."
Li Mu really wanted to scold him after hearing this. Didn't you design an old XC90 for me again? Are you trying to fool two fools?
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