My Italy

"Everyone, this is our forging workshop. The frame components of the car body are forged here. What we are seeing now is the forging work of the car body beams."

In the forging workshop, Giovanni Agnelli, the president of Fiat, told the German delegation beside him about the manufacturing process of the Fiat F75 truck.

In the hot forging workshop, a group of people carefully watched the pieces of preliminary forgings being hammered into car parts by machines under the operation of workers.

Although it was hot in the workshop, no one cared. They all listened to President Agnelli’s explanation and watched the workers’ operations.

"How many F75 trucks can your factory currently produce per day?"

The person who spoke was the head of the German delegation, Major General Ronter. This major general is the Chief of Munitions of the German General Staff. This time he came to visit Fiat on the order of the Chief of the General Staff, General Moltke. Of course, he also wanted to know more about it. Let’s look at the production capacity of Fiat F75 truck.

"Your Excellency Major General, currently we can produce up to 240 F75 trucks per day, which can definitely meet the needs of your country."

Agnelli also looked proud when talking about production capacity. You must know that truck production is much more difficult than cars.

Because its vehicles can adapt to various complex terrains when carrying cargo. After all, to carry such heavy cargo and drive on various roads, the requirements for various components of the truck are much higher.

To forge high-strength parts, let’s not talk about the materials. The man-hours required alone are much more than that of a car. Therefore, even in later generations, the manufacturing of trucks has always been more difficult than that of cars. It is remarkable that Fiat can produce up to 240 vehicles per day in this era when technology in all aspects is still rough.

Major General Rontel also understood the difficulty of truck manufacturing before leaving, so when he heard the data reported by Agnelli, he gave him a thumbs up from the bottom of his heart.

As Agnelli led the German delegation, they visited the engine manufacturing workshop, tire manufacturing workshop, frame assembly workshop, final assembly workshop, etc.

Especially in the assembly workshop, when workers were gradually assembling the individual parts into trucks, the German delegation could no longer hide their surprised eyes.

Although assembly line is not an unfamiliar word in this era, what you see literally is not as strong as what you see directly.

Not to mention those who work in the military camp all day long, most of them are seeing such assembly line operations for the first time, so it is not surprising to be surprised.

After walking around the factory, Agnelli brought the German delegation to the conference room. Since all the tours had been completed, the next step was to ask the German delegation for their opinions.

After the guest of honor took his seat, Agnelli spoke immediately. "Everyone, after visiting the factory, you must have learned something about our Fiat company."

"Yes, we already know enough about Fiat."

"Then I wonder if our company can undertake orders from your country's military?"

Agnelli's words were a clear-cut statement, and he wanted to determine whether the German order fell into the hands of Fiat.

Faced with Agnelli's inquiry, Major General Rontel certainly knew the purpose of this visit. After this visit, he also learned something about Fiat. I saw him reply. "Mr. Agnelli, of course our German military is willing to place an order for 10,000 trucks to your company, but I don't know how much your company thinks it will cost to sell these 10,000 F75 trucks."

Major General Rontel's words made Fiat's senior executives feel happy. This matter was considered to be a small part, and the next main factor was the price.

"We at Fiat attach great importance to our cooperation with you, so our company has decided to give you a preferential price of 7,100 lire per vehicle for your order. You can go and find out. This price is lower than the price we give to general dealers in various countries. Definitely the lowest price.”

At this time, a Fiat vice president revealed the price that Fiat had previously prepared.

This price is indeed what the vice president said, and it is the lowest price Fiat has ever offered to anyone else. You must know that the current selling price of a Fiat F75 truck on the market is between 8200-8500 lire. The lowest price Fiat sent to dealers was only 7,300 lire, and the German military's 7,100 lire was really the lowest.

Major General Rontel was not satisfied with the conscientious price offered by Fiat, or he wanted to lower the price further. "This price is too high for our German military. We need more trucks. The current 10,000 trucks are just the first batch. We will purchase more in the future, so we think 6,500 lire is an acceptable price." number."

Good guy, Major General Longtel cut off nearly one-tenth of the price with this one blow, which is really cruel.

However, how could Fiat accept the quotation given by Germany? Even if the German military really wanted to continue purchasing in the future, Fiat would not be able to accept such a quotation.

"Your Excellency Major General, this price is unacceptable to us. You must know that the materials and labor hours required to manufacture an F75 truck are far beyond what a passenger car can match. We have given up most of the lowest price to you. Profit, this is what we do considering the extent to which your country is an ally of our country."

Although the vice president even used the diplomatic card, his emotional words failed to influence the major general.

"I'm sorry, this price is the result of our country's careful consideration, and it is not easy to change it."

Major General Longtel's words were well-informed. How could Sophia and other senior officials not hear it?

"I don't know what changes are needed to make you give up and consider our company's difficulties."

Seeing the other party actively asking, Major General Longtel said with a smile. "As long as your company can place the order production in our country, then we will accept your quotation without changing it."

Major General Rontel's words made everyone at Fiat change their expressions slightly. They were shocked by the conditions of the German military.

At this time Agnelli suddenly spoke. "Sorry to interrupt, I want to confirm, is your condition true?"

Faced with Agnelli's inquiry, Major General Rontel answered firmly. "Yes. If your company sets up a factory in Germany for production, in addition to the order of 10,000 trucks, subsequent orders from our military can also be produced by your company."

The intention of Major General Rontel's words is obvious. He hopes that Fiat will go to Germany to set up a factory. This order is a bait. Although Italy is currently an ally of Germany, the German military's sense of worry requires it to consider the worst outcome. If Italy turns against it, it will not be subject to others on the issue of trucks that are of great military use.

Therefore, the German military came up with the idea of ​​​​encouraging Fiat to set up factories in Germany to produce trucks. This has two benefits. On the one hand, it can use Fiat to develop its own truck production technology, and on the other hand, it can also allow the German automaker to obtain better truck manufacturing concepts.

Unfortunately, the German military's plan was about to fail. Agnelli replied with a determined expression. "Thank you for your country's military attaching great importance to Fiat. We at Fiat currently have no plans to build factories abroad."

The meaning in his words is very clear. Even if it doesn't want this order, Fiat will not set up a factory.

If it were an ordinary company, it might actually be possible. But is Fiat an ordinary company? It is the leader of the European automobile manufacturing industry. In recent years, the government has secretly given Fiat a lot of preferential treatment to accelerate its growth. If you dare to agree at this moment, believe it or not, the government has many means to help the second family come out to compete.

In addition, Fiat's current largest shareholder is the Savoy royal family. If he dares to agree today, he will be announced to retire due to health reasons tomorrow.

Major General Rontel was not angry at Agnelli's rejection of his proposal. His previous behavior was a three-pole act, so it would be an unexpected surprise if it turned out to be true.

"If that's the case, then this condition is invalid. The base price accepted by our military is 6,600 lire, which is the limit of our price."

The price given by Major General Rontel was increased by one hundred lire. This was a signal and meant he was apologizing for the conditions he had just proposed.

Of course, Fiat also understood what the major general said, and then the vice president spoke again. "Your Excellency Major General, your price is still low. If the price of raw materials increases, our profits cannot be guaranteed. So please consider our difficulties. 7,000 lire, this is already higher than any other One buyer even offered 300 lire lower, which is the final show of sincerity.”

"..."

In the ensuing time, representatives of Fiat and the German military were at loggerheads, and procurement negotiations continued for three days.

Finally, after three days, the two parties finally reached an agreement. The German military purchased 10,000 F75 trucks from Fiat at a price of 7,000 lire each. In addition, given that the German military has too many trucks and daily maintenance is not easy, Fiat will also build three maintenance plants in Germany to specifically repair major faults.

It was not easy for the German military to relent, and Fiat still paid the price of building three maintenance plants.

In addition, Fiat also prepared valuable small gifts for each member of the German military delegation.

The leader of the delegation and the chief negotiator, Major General Rontel, was also lucky. A month later, his wife found several antiques at home, which were eventually taken away by a mysterious collector for 600,000 marks. It’s really enviable.

But no matter what, with the order signed, Fiat trucks have now successfully entered the German Army. As long as the German military gets used to the excellent Fiat trucks, the German military will remain Fiat's staunch big customer until other trucks are built that can compete with Fiat.

This is one of the important reasons why Fiat worked so hard to achieve this large order.