Chapter 121: Testing Data of the New Model Car
"Your Grace, please forgive me for taking matters into my own hands," said Benz, looking apologetic as he spoke to Arthur.
"No, Mr. Benz. You've done well. This was actually something I instructed you to do earlier. Once the production cost of the car met the requirements, you had the right to start mass production," Arthur replied, shaking his head with a smile. "So, you've done nothing wrong, and I would never blame you."
Upon hearing this, both Benz and Diesel relaxed, visibly relieved.
"Let's go, then. Let's take a look at our new model," Arthur said, smiling slightly as he looked at the now relaxed duo.
Under Benz and Diesel's lead, Arthur and the group arrived at the warehouse of the Benz Automobile Factory, located at the right side of the factory.
After an employee opened a warehouse door, Benz stepped forward, removing the black cloth covering a car and smiling as he said, "Your Grace, please take a look. This is the new model we've produced. The basic shape and structure are similar to your custom vehicle, but we've used cheaper materials in certain parts, and we've been able to ensure the cost is around eighty pounds, and it should not exceed eighty-five pounds."
Arthur looked at the black body and tires of the car visible beneath the cloth, nodding before asking, "How is the performance of this car? Don't just focus on the price and neglect the car's performance, as this is also an important factor for the car market."
"Please rest assured, Your Grace. While we have used cheaper materials in some aspects, it does not affect the car's durability, practicality, or overall performance. The only differences compared to your private car are in the glass materials, body materials, and engine model, which make the performance slightly less, but still, in the global car market, our car is still top-tier, even excellent," explained Benz.
Although the new model differed significantly from Arthur's custom vehicle and used many cheaper materials, it didn't mean the performance of the new car would be poor. On the contrary, even with the use of cheaper materials, the new model still performed at the top level in the global automobile market, being top-notch both in terms of practicality and performance.
"That's good," Arthur nodded, asking, "How is the specific performance of the new car? What is the expected pricing?"
Benz handed over a data sheet, eagerly saying, "Based on multiple tests, the new car is quite stable and has a very high cost-performance ratio. The detailed experimental data is in the document for Your Grace to review."
Arthur took the document and looked through it with curiosity.
At this stage, car testing was still relatively simple, divided into modules like maximum speed tests, steady-speed stability tests, car stability tests, and failure rates on different road conditions.
In terms of maximum speed, the new car used the latest gasoline engine jointly developed by Benz and Diesel, not a diesel engine.
The advantage of the gasoline engine was that it produced significantly less noise, making it more suitable for normal use.
Of course, it was possible to reduce the noise of a diesel engine by using more materials, but that would increase the cost of the car, which was only something done for high-end custom cars like Arthur's.
With five people onboard, the maximum speed of the new car could reach 55 km/h, and when empty, the maximum speed could reach 65 km/h.
In terms of speed, the new car was already excellent. At least, apart from Arthur's custom car, there were fewer than five cars worldwide that could exceed 65 km/h in maximum speed.
For the steady-speed test, the new car could maintain a speed of 35 km/h for over 10 hours or run at its maximum speed for over three hours.
Arthur was satisfied with this as well. At least the new car could run continuously at 35 km/h for over 10 hours without issue.
Though running for over three hours at maximum speed could cause a failure, it was unlikely that anyone would buy a car and immediately drive it at maximum speed the entire time.
After all, with the car priced at 150 pounds, it would take several years of savings for an average person in Europe to afford one.
Even with the reduced price, the car was still a luxury item, and unless someone had too much money to spend, no one would destroy something they had worked hard to obtain.
Of course, there was also an important condition: all the tests were conducted on very flat roads.
At the current stage, the car was not capable of handling rough and uneven roads or places without proper roads.
If it were driven in areas with poor road conditions, the car's stability would be greatly reduced, and problems could arise.
However, this issue didn't need to be addressed immediately. At present, cars were still considered a luxury, and the real customers for cars were people from Europe and America.
With the development of Australia and its policies, people from Oceania could also join the ranks and become potential car buyers.
Whether in the Americas, Europe, or Oceania, either the regions already had very well-developed transportation systems with roads stretching far and wide, so there were no worries about road conditions, or countries like Australia and New Zealand, though not having a fully developed road system, were in the midst of massive infrastructure development.
Australia had already built flat roads connecting its cities and was working on expanding them to towns and rural areas.
So, if Australians bought cars, they didn't need to worry about road conditions, as the Australian government would ensure that roads were built before cars were sold.
Arthur wasn't unwilling to consider people from other regions. But considering the income levels in those regions, the vast majority of people would have to save for decades to afford a car.
Perhaps a few wealthy nobles would be interested in cars, but their purchasing power would certainly not be as great as that of people from Europe and the United States.
As expected, in the final test of the stability on various road conditions, the new car, although performing better than others, still showed some of the typical issues of cars from this era, with lower stability and higher failure rates.
But this was inevitable. After all, the performance of today's excellent cars had been developed step by step from the cars of this time.
At least for now, with the new car showing excellent performance, Arthur was already somewhat satisfied.
(End of Chapter)
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