Chapter 967 Alto
The population of a city is an important indicator of the city's development, but it is not completely related to whether the city is developed. For example, in today's India and the cities of the Far Eastern Empire, their urban development mainly relies on the huge inland market.
After all, it is impossible to change the rigid needs of food, clothing, housing and transportation. There is a huge difference between the market with hundreds of millions of people and the market with tens of millions of people, let alone the market with millions of people or even less. This is why the European and American powers are so greedy towards India and the Far Eastern Empire. s reason.
While Tirpitz and Aaron were talking, a car passed by on the street. East Africa is a major automobile production country in the world, so Tirpitz was not surprised that there were cars in Mbeya. I have seen many of them in Lamu and other places.
“The car just now seems like something I have never seen before on the market. It looks very good!” Tirpitz said.
“It is an official car in East Africa. Generally, only government personnel can ride it, so it is not sold to the market. However, it is not impossible to buy it, but ordinary people cannot afford it.” Aaron said.
"What brand is it? If possible, I would also like to take one to Germany."
“Alto (Tuo), second only to the Crown. Generally, only the really big shots can ride the Crown.”
This Otto is actually the name of the previous generation Prince of Hechingen and Grandpa Ernst. For example, the provincial capital of Hechingen is the city of Otto (formerly Pretoria). Of course, in the Far Eastern Empire, it was translated as Otto and Enns. I especially remember that this brand existed in the Far Eastern Empire in the previous life, and "Tuo" means progress and development, which is in line with the aesthetics of people from the great Eastern countries. And using the name Otto in other regions is also in line with European tradition, like Ferrari or Benz. It's just the founder's name.
It is worth mentioning that Benz is currently in charge of the Hechingen Consortium's automobile production business in Germany, and the "Mercedes-Benz" brand naturally emerged.
As for the Crown brand Aaron mentioned, Tirpitz had also heard of it. East Africa had given cars of this brand to some European royal families back then, including one owned by William II, but William II preferred domestically produced cars. So his Crown car is kept in the garage, but this does not prevent the Hechingen consortium from controlling many German car companies.
Tirpitz himself would of course have wanted a Crown if possible, but the car was too expensive and production was rather low.
“I think if the Alto just now can be exported on the market, the sales volume should be good. Its appearance design is eye-catching.”
As an official car, Alto has a more stable design, which is very attractive to politicians.
Aaron said: "Actually, the appearance is good. In fact, the interior experience is not much better than other vehicles on the market. However, if there is an export version in the future, the interior may be improved."
As luxury goods, the decoration of European and American cars is quite luxurious. However, there are many differences in the judgment of cars in East Africa. Even now, there are not many cars in East Africa, but the positioning of cars in East Africa is divided into two types: ordinary consumer goods and luxury accessories.
Of course, while East Africa is vigorously developing automobiles, it has not given up on the research on trams. The research on trams in the previous life was actually not much later than the time of automobiles. It was just that there were few cars in the world in the early days and the world had abundant oil energy. However, with the increase of industry and the number of automobiles, Due to the rapid growth and the impact of the oil crisis, people had to dig out the tram and study it again in the 21st century. However, nearly a hundred years were wasted in the meantime, which seriously hindered the development of tram.
So East Africa can retain the research and development of electric vehicles when other countries around the world are turning to the research and development of oil vehicles, which is good for the future development of East Africa. And trams have a wide range of application scenarios. In Ernst’s opinion, electric vehicles, high-speed trains, and new energy vehicles in previous generations were all trams, including today’s trams.
It can be said that Ernst has clearly arranged the development direction of science and technology in the next world in East Africa. As long as the outflow of talent and technology due to defeat does not happen like Germany did, the fruits planted by Ernst will be enough for the future. East Africa will last for hundreds of years.
Of course, for now, the East African government’s car popularization plan still has a long way to go. Take the current domestic car production and sales model in East Africa, which is hugely different from that abroad.
However, this difference will not hinder the development of the automobile industry in East Africa. In the past, the Soviet Union implemented a more thorough planned economy than East Africa and was able to achieve a car ownership similar to that of European and American countries. East Africa can naturally do the same.
What the Soviet automobile industry lacked was a slow response to market demand. After all, the Soviet people could only enjoy the vehicles that the Soviet automobile factories produced, rather than the vehicles that the Soviet automobile factories produced according to the needs of the Soviet people.
This can still be avoided in East Africa. After all, East African automobile production is composed of two major parts, the Hechingen Consortium and state-owned enterprises. As a completely private capital, the Hechingen Consortium’s automobile brand production is completely in line with the international market, and It covers and participates in many foreign automobile manufacturers and can feed data back to state-owned enterprises in East Africa.
As a naval officer, Tirpitz did not pay much attention to the cars in East Africa. East Africa has always been a major car producer. The world's first car was produced in East Africa, and there are many car brands sold in East Africa in the international market. However, this does not reflect the production situation of the domestic automobile industry in East Africa.
It is naturally impossible for the East African government to reveal the secrets of the development of the East African automobile industry to an outsider like Tirpitz. The automobile is not just a vehicle, but is also closely related to the military, transportation, and industrial development of East Africa.
Especially when the East African military is equipped with a large number of vehicles, this is quite advanced among the military around the world.
In Mbeya City, although it was just a walk around the station, it also opened the eyes of Tirpitz and other Germans. Mbeya City broke the imagination of these Germans that the interior of East Africa is "barren", " "Dangerous" and "uninhabited" scenes.
After all, East Africa is a closed country, and few outsiders have been able to penetrate deep into the hinterland of the country before. Therefore, the existence of Mbeya City broke the false illusions of Tirpitz and others.
The climate here is pleasant and the scenery is magnificent. It is not a "malaria-ridden" or "civilized desert" place as rumored. Of course, this is only limited to East Africa. It is still very appropriate if it is other places in Africa.
Apart from anything else, it is easy to figure out the situation in Cameroon, the German colony, and it basically corresponds to the negative publicity about Africa.
Of course, the environment in Cameroon, Gabon, and the Belgian Congo is indeed harsher in Africa. They are basically tropical rainforest areas. Even East Africa cannot have a great ability to transform the tropical rainforest areas, not to mention these colonies with more sparse populations. .
The essence of West Africa is still the savanna area in the northern Gulf of Guinea. However, from a climate perspective, it is still inferior to East Africa. After all, West Africa has relatively few plateaus and a relatively low altitude, which makes it hotter. However, West Africa’s mineral resources It is indeed very rich, especially in oil, iron ore, bauxite and other resources.
(End of this chapter)