My Italy

Turin is the automobile manufacturing center of Italy and the automobile manufacturing center of Europe. Cars manufactured in Turin account for 40% of Europe's total production.

Turin's status as a car manufacturing center also comes from Fiat, the dominant European car manufacturer.

Although European countries are also supporting their own automobile manufacturing companies, Fiat's first-mover advantage and large-scale manufacturing still allow it to occupy the majority of the European automobile market.

Although in the passenger car market, car manufacturers from various countries continue to close the distance with Fiat, they can still occupy 50% of the market share with their reputation and rich styles. Let Fiat still dominate the European passenger car market, and it is a goal that other car manufacturers need to catch up with.

If manufacturers in other countries in the passenger car market still have the idea of ​​challenging their position, then Fiat is unattainable in another area, and that is the European truck market. Trucks are different from passenger cars in that they need to consider more of practicality. What is the load capacity, whether the failure rate is low, whether it can be easily repaired, whether the fuel consumption is high, etc. are all very practical issues.

As long as a truck is excellent in these aspects, buyers will give priority to buying it even if it is more expensive.

Fiat has become the well-deserved overlord of the truck market with its years of layout in trucks and accumulation of technology. The United States, where the automobile industry is booming, has also purchased Fiat trucks.

It can be said that seven out of every ten trucks in the world are from Fiat.

Fiat has not been immersed in the glory of the truck market. Under the leadership of president Giovanni Agnelli, they have always invested heavily in vehicle research and development. New axles, frames, suspensions, engines and other automotive components are all being developed in an effort to develop better ones.

It is this spirit that makes Fiat bigger and stronger, with more and more orders.

Especially now that the situation in Europe is becoming increasingly tense, trucks are increasingly used as a means of transportation, so more orders are coming.

Of course, when it comes to orders, Fiat naturally has more, the better.

And some orders must be treated with caution by Fiat, as is the case today.

As the president of Fiat, Giovanni Agnelli stood at the door of the company today. Behind him, the company's top executives gathered together as if they were waiting for someone.

In the Italian economic circles, Giovanni Agnelli is also considered a man of the hour, and his every move is always followed by people. But today, the president himself was waiting at the door, which made Fiat employees secretly whisper, is there some big shot coming?

As for the private murmurings of employees, of course Fiat's senior executives don't care. Although the person here today is not a big shot, he plays a decisive role in the development of the company. Because the German military delegation is coming today. Their purpose of coming to Fiat is to inspect the Fiat F75 truck.

This truck is a new model truck recently produced by Fiat. The vehicle has a total length of 9.1 meters, a width of 2.1 meters and a height of 1.8 meters. It is driven by the rear axle and weighs 3100 kg when empty. It is equipped with an in-line water-cooled 6-cylinder four-stroke gasoline engine with a maximum power of 75 horsepower and a maximum speed of 65 kilometers per hour. The standard load capacity is three tons and can tow a 3-ton trailer.

This vehicle is the culmination of Fiat's achievements over the years and is among the top trucks in terms of performance, reliability, and ease of maintenance. The Italian Army has used this truck for testing before. Whether it is a muddy road, a winding mountain road, or an easy road with potholes, this truck performed well and became a symbol of reliability.

The car's performance caused a sensation as soon as it was launched, and orders came in like snowflakes. Fiat has also deployed enough manpower to ensure that the production line of this model is at maximum rotation.

In addition to arousing enthusiasm among the people, the F75 truck has also attracted the attention of the military of various countries. The Italian military ordered a thousand vehicles for this purpose for its own use. What's even more rare is that the Austro-Hungarian military also ordered 1,500 vehicles.

In addition to itself and the Austrians, the German military is also very interested in this. Due to the previous failure in the development of the 75mm rapid-fire gun, the German military could only choose the caliber to win. Therefore, there are currently a large number of 105, 120, and 150 artillery guns in the German army.

Although the performance of these artillery is powerful, it brings a serious problem, that is, each one is very heavy. Each door is more than one ton, and many can reach the level of two or three tons.

In fact, if the artillery reaches more than one ton, it is not a simple matter to transport it. Take the 105mm Type 09 light howitzer, which is currently heavily equipped by the German army as an example. Its combat weight is 1225kg; its marching weight is 2320kg. To transport it, at least 18 horses were needed. You must know that horses are actually very delicate. If the transportation distance is too long, it is very easy for horses to die in large numbers. Not to mention the heavier cannon, which weighs more than three tons. As for the guns with larger calibers such as 120mm and 150mm, they are also very heavy.

Historically, Germany was able to carry these heavy artillery through Belgium and once approached Paris. This was all due to its good pre-war planning. Which troops need to march how many kilometers every day have been marked. As for the fight to Paris, the cost was that a large number of horses in the German army were exhausted, so they were blocked by the British and French forces on the Marne River. This was because personnel and materials from the rear could not be transported, which led to the overuse of troops and the German soldiers were squeezed to the extreme. Unable to hold on any longer, the Marne River was defeated. Afterwards, Germany could no longer break through the Marne River.

The German Army thought of many ways to deal with these big guys in the army, but in the end it chose to use more horses to transport them due to cost or other reasons. In fact, Germany had purchased a lot of trucks before, but the performance of the trucks at that time was poor and they could only drag more than one ton of artillery, and their performance on complex roads was not very good. Therefore, the German Army does not have much equipment, just more than a thousand vehicles.

As for now, the ideal transportation vehicle in the eyes of the German army has appeared. A transportation vehicle that can tow three tons has appeared. The Fiat F75 truck is definitely a surprise for Germany.

For this reason, the German army has purchased several vehicles for testing before. They can tow most of the German artillery, which is excellent news for simplifying the German army's logistics. Not to mention that it can adapt to most road conditions. For military trucks, trucks that can adapt to various road conditions are definitely the most popular. Because there are no good roads on the battlefield, they are basically dirt roads that have been muddied countless times and have craters. In this environment, the Fiat F75 truck is also more reliable than previous trucks. And the reliability is pretty good, who would you choose if you didn’t choose it?

Since this car is so in line with the needs of the German army, why is there no other way to choose it? Although some generals in the government had objections to the army's large-scale purchase of foreign trucks, the decision was finally made at the request of General Moltke.

Some people may ask, doesn’t Germany have an automobile industry?

Yes German cars are good in passenger cars, but in trucks it's a world away from Fiat. The German Army had given them a chance before, but the truck samples produced by each automaker failed the Army's tests. Not to mention compared with the new Fiat F75, even the old trucks are inferior. This also put an end to the desire of most generals in the Army to use domestic trucks.

Only then did the German delegation arrive. Although Fiat didn't know it very well, it had heard about it. Only then did President Giovanni Agnelli lead a group of senior executives to greet them at the door.

He wants to improve the relationship with the German military so that the F75 truck can have more sales.

After all, the focus of military vehicles is different from that of civilian vehicles, and the Germans are so sincere this time. The luxury order of 10,000 vehicles showed Fiat that the Germans were wealthy.