Rise of the Argentine Empire

The Fiat 600 was selling like crazy. Even people who rarely contacted him wanted to get their hands on a few of the new models.

Saint-Hesse felt like he had entered a new world.

He had experience in the smuggling industry.

Back when he was involved in import and export smuggling, he had quite a few channels and earned his first pot of gold.

Initially, when the United States blockaded Argentina, he imported canning production lines.

Later, he smuggled weapons, turning Rheinmetall Military Industries into a money bag. No one but himself knew exactly how much money Saint-Hesse made from weapons smuggling.

Later, he discovered that tobacco had high profits, and most of it relied on "exporting" to foreign countries through the northwestern border of Argentina, which still provides Saint-Hesse with a continuous stream of profits.

Later, Saint-Hesse slowly became formalized and legalized, laundering himself clean. Now, he has evolved all his factories into complete entities. Prall International, which is responsible for the formal trade, is still the second-largest import and export trading company in Argentina, second only to the official import and export association.

Prall International is very professional in the import and export of bulk commodities, and can maximize efficiency and profits. For example, the import of oil, coal, iron ore, and cotton is basically done through Prall International, and the same is true for the export of bulk commodities, such as steel.

But he had never smuggled cars. The reasons were nothing more than a few. First, it was too troublesome and unnecessary. Not only did he have to develop channels with car factories, but he also had to open up sales channels, which was time-consuming and laborious, and ultimately faced risks. The target was also large. Second, the Argentine car market was actually not that big. It was a deformed market spawned by Peron, which didn't help much in increasing strength. With that energy, it would be better to sell a few more guns. Third, this required cooperation with powerful civil officials, at least at the level of reaching the presidential palace, and there must be family maintenance.

To put it bluntly, he just didn't like the profit. Even if he smuggled 10,000 cars a year, it was still insignificant, and once he was held accountable or exposed, it would be a devastating blow to his political career.

Developing the light weapons industry can be said to be for national defense, exporting tobacco can also support a large number of tobacco farmers, and developing illegal immigration can increase national strength, but Saint-Hesse really disdains to be a comprador-style car import and export merchant and打击 the domestic automobile industry.

Currently, there are only two local automobile factories in Argentina. One is STEAM Motors in Buenos Aires, which imports automobile parts for assembly and also engages in research and development. The second is Leiton Motors, which has begun to break through the limitations of Fiat and is starting to imitate and develop a more Argentine car.

The Fiat 600 made by Fiat can indeed sell very well and earn enough money.

Leiton Motors' Thor car-making plan has already begun to take its first steps.

The car engine is the most difficult part. Fortunately, the Argentine Diesel Engine Factory also has many engine engineers with a lot of engine design experience, which can help Leiton Motors achieve this. Moreover, Fiat also supports engine engineers.

Saint-Hesse once again put forward some requirements for the research and development of automobile engines. Under the condition that the engine horsepower is basically sufficient, try to save fuel as much as possible.

He found a stupid way to reverse engineer the engine, finding several of the best car engines in the world and directly disassembling them for reverse development. Moreover, Saint-Hesse now has an advantage, which is that he has a mature engine engineering team.

The car shell has also been optimized by Saint-Hesse again, and he ambitiously plans to launch at least 2 models, namely a practical van and an A-class three-box sedan and an A-class compact sedan.

To sell cars well, you must not miss the largest car market in the world - the United States.

Also, Brazil, Western Europe, Mexico and other relatively large car markets cannot be missed.

The German Automobile Alliance, that is, Audi's development potential is there, and there are many German automotive talents, provided that the Argentine Leiton parent company can develop and assist.

In later generations, Audi developed by relying on Volkswagen, and Volkswagen gradually grew by relying on several super popular models, such as the first popular Beetle, the second popular Golf, and the third popular Passat.

The Beetle cannot be imitated, but he has the South American production and sales rights of the Fiat 600, and the modified and upgraded version of the Fiat 600, with a different appearance at the same price, the Leiton 800, may be launched next year.

The Passat will not be mentioned, after all, it is a B-class car, belonging to a medium-sized car, and Leiton's technical level has not yet reached it.

But the Golf model is different. It is an A-class car, just like the Fiat 600, both are compact models. To become a sales classic, there must be something unique about it.

And the technical requirements will be lower.

Saint-Hesse doesn't want to run before he learns to walk. Civilian models are the most important and the guarantee of sales.

The third model is a heavyweight, compact car technology, using a semi-streamlined design style and a large number of curves.

The design goal of the compact car is actually very simple, that is, the appearance of a luxury car, the quality of a high-end car, and the price cost of a compact car.

In later generations, many car factories in New China started this way, at least that's how they advertised it. Land Rover Landwind, Porsche Thai, simply imitating the appearance has basically no way out. These factories do not have core technology and the quality is not good, and they have basically closed down.

And some, after getting rid of the initial imitation traces, slowly formed a design style, and basically survived very well.

The first car to come out of this plan in later generations was the Toyota Corolla, called the Corolla in New China. This is just a matter of translation, like how Lexus was once called Lingzhi, for various reasons.

New China also has brands like Geely, Great Wall, Changan, and BYD, which eventually grew into independent brand car manufacturers with considerable weight.

With ready-made homework to copy, Saint Hesser had all the development plans he needed.

After comparing a large number of existing American car styles, including models from Ford, Chevrolet, and Chrysler, as well as a model developed by Ford UK with a MacPherson suspension system, Saint Hesser chose to introduce various mature technologies.

Of course, the biggest automotive industry revolution after the war has already begun. German and Japanese cars will become the most powerful competitors to American cars, while British cars will slowly begin to decline, eventually withdrawing from the historical stage completely.

Japanese and German cars have basically completed their transformation in the largest market, the United States. Japanese-American and German-American relations are very important for the automotive development of both countries.

As for the explosion of New China as the largest automotive market in later generations, that is another matter. After losing its layout in the New China market, French cars basically lost their position as world-class car manufacturers. Later, Peugeot and Citroen merged and acquired a batch of car factories to barely maintain first-tier standards.

Renault's current development is slightly better, after all, it is a purely state-owned company and the largest industrial group in France, involved in a large number of industries such as tractors, agricultural machinery, machine tools, small military engines, bearings, bicycles, and industrial rubber. It also undertakes engineering projects, with a similar position to Italy's Fiat, backed by the European market, which is one of the world's three largest automotive markets.

When Leithold Motors completes a monthly production capacity of 10,000 vehicles, it will achieve the status of a fourth-tier car manufacturer.

Now, Blanca City is slowly starting to develop the automotive industry, cultivating talent, and related industries.

As long as Leithold Motors develops well, it can affect the employment of at least a million people, it's that exaggerated.

It can be done as long as Leithold Motors develops into a second-tier manufacturer.

Of course, the premise is that it can survive in the fiercely competitive South American market in the future. The South American market is currently dominated by American cars, but it is also in the initial stages of development. After all, to buy a car, in addition to having enough people, you also need a lot of money.

And Leithold Motors' brand is, after all, just a new brand. To develop well, it must rely on excellent product quality.

Therefore, quality and appearance performance are equally important.

Moreover, the automotive industry can affect the development of many industries.

Blanca City has introduced a five-year automotive industry plan, directly betting on it, announcing that it will invest 10 million US dollars in fiscal funds over the next 5 years to support the development of the automotive industry and related industries.

This is a more perfect industry than steel, shipbuilding, food, textiles, chemicals, and petroleum, and it can also promote the development of other industries.

If the steel and petroleum industries can complete the industrialization foundation of Blanca City, then the development of the automotive industry will complete the transformation of Blanca City's industry.

It can also drive the development of other industries.

Currently, the two cities with the best automotive industry development are Cordoba and Buenos Aires. Cordoba was once the location of the car factory under Argentina's military aircraft factory and is currently negotiating to introduce an American car factory.

In the case of Buenos Aires, Ford Motor Company built a factory there in the 1930s and 1940s, producing the Model T, and some are still in operation today, but this model has now been discontinued.

Saint Hesser proposed in the municipal meeting to comprehensively cultivate the technical talents needed by the automotive industry, negotiate with the National Southern University to establish an automotive industry department, and urge Blanca Vocational College and Blanca Industrial Vocational College under the jurisdiction of the Blanca Education Department to establish automotive majors.

The Blanca City Hall will also provide 500,000 US dollars annually for automotive industry talent training in the next 5 years, and offer tax exemption for more than 5 years and other preferential measures to attract capable automotive parts factories from across the country and the world to set up factories in Blanca City, to develop automotive parts, rubber tires, and mechanical equipment processing related industries.

On the basis of the Leithold Automotive Industrial Park, Blanca City will designate 200 square kilometers around the industrial park as an automotive industrial zone, implementing tax reductions, construction subsidies, and other preferential policies and financial subsidies for factories entering the zone, to rapidly develop the automotive industry.

In addition, Saint Hesser also increased the introduction of automotive talent, with a relatively large effort, such as providing financial subsidies to the National Southern University and introducing outstanding talents from universities such as Buenos Aires.

The demand for talent in the automotive industry is very large.

In addition, the Blanca City Hall provides convenient measures such as rapid customs clearance for the import and export of bulk goods such as automotive tire rubber.