Chapter 197

The automotive industry in the East was only established after the founding of the country; first came First Auto Works, then Second Auto Works, but they were all medium‑duty trucks, with a load capacity of about five tonnes.

Light trucks of two‑tonne capacity and heavy trucks of eight tonnes or more could also be produced domestically, but the numbers were tiny, almost at the hand‑made stage—this is the current situation of lacking light trucks and having too few heavy trucks in the automotive sector.

In the late 1970s, as the country opened up, the East's First Machinery Bureau began organizing personnel to go abroad for inspection, hoping to solve the heavy‑truck problem by importing technology.

First they looked at Benz—after all, it's an international brand—but Benz was aloof; to import it you'd have to buy five thousand vehicles first! Even at 200,000 marks per vehicle, that's ten billion marks, an astronomical figure that the East's total foreign exchange couldn't match.

Just when they were about to give up, the Steyr company from Aoli Di approached them proactively.

Austria not only has music and art, but also the Steyr company!

Back then, the standard rifle of the Beiyang warlords was the M1895, a product of the Steyr company!

The Austrian town of Steyr is a military‑industrial base, and at the same time it also manufactures heavy trucks.

Steyr Motor Company, officially Steyr‑Daimler‑Puch AG, was founded in 1934 by the merger of Steyr, Daimler, and Puch; since sixty percent of its shares belonged to the Austrian State Credit Bank, it can be roughly regarded as a state‑owned enterprise.

Compared with the large vehicle manufacturers in Europe, Steyr's scale is modest; it produces only five thousand heavy trucks a year, two‑thirds of which are sold on the international market.

When they heard that the East wanted to import heavy‑truck technology, Steyr immediately sensed an opportunity; in Europe Steyr was always marginalized, having no presence compared with the big factories that churn out hundreds of thousands of vehicles a year, whereas the East, a brand‑new market, could let Steyr shine.

That was indeed the case; at its peak Steyr virtually monopolized the East's heavy‑truck market—nine out of ten heavy trucks on the road were Steyrs, with annual output exceeding one million vehicles! Yet the Steyr firm back in its Austrian homeland, having been mismanaged, was later absorbed by other automakers.

At this point in time, the stage should be the bidding process between Steyr and the East; although many sources claim a contract was signed in '79, in reality it was only a letter of intent, and the actual contract would not be signed until 1983.

"This Mr. Qin is from the East's Ha Gong Da Import‑Export Company; he plans to import high‑horsepower diesel engines from our MTU company to develop heavy vehicles, so you two might have common ground." After Schultz finished introducing the other leaders, he then introduced Qin Miao, whereas everyone else got only a one‑sentence intro, but Qin Miao received a very detailed introduction.

Joseph's eyes lit up: "Ha Gong Da Import‑Export? What type of heavy truck are you planning to manufacture?"

"Well… we're planning to make mining trucks." One couldn't call it a "heaven‑stealing monkey transport vehicle," could they? An eight‑hundred‑horsepower engine, an eight‑speed automatic transmission—this kind of behemoth isn't for ordinary vehicles, but mining trucks… well, they're just small‑scale.

Large mining trucks routinely use diesel engines of two to three thousand horsepower!

Joseph widened his eyes: "Mining trucks are specialized vehicles with high technical content; worldwide there are hardly any factories that can produce them…"

"Exactly, so the price is sky‑high; the East doesn't want to spend a large chunk of foreign exchange on such items, so we can only develop them ourselves, buying components and assembling them, which is even cheaper than buying finished products…"

Just then the announcement for passengers to board came over the broadcast; everyone walked to the entrance, cleared customs, boarded the plane, and Qin Miao and Chu Miaomiao sat side by side, after which they saw Joseph holding his boarding pass, checking his seat, and ending up sitting right next to them.

"What a coincidence," Joseph said with a smile.

"Yeah, it looks like we won't be bored on this trip; what advanced heavy trucks are you bringing to the East this time?"

"Of course it's our 91 series heavy truck, a new model developed in 1975; the 991, 1291 and 1391 are two‑axle vehicles with load capacities of 9, 12 and 13 tonnes respectively, while the 1491, 1891 and 2591 are three‑axle vehicles rated at 14, 18 and 25 tonnes, the largest being the 2891, a four‑axle model with a 28‑tonne capacity…"

Steyr's modular approach allows different combinations to yield various models, which is a fairly advanced design concept.

"As for engines, we have the WD615 and WD815 two types…"

In later years the workhorse of the East's heavy‑truck engines was the WD615; domestic heavy‑truck engine giant Weichai produced and sold it in large numbers under the designation WP10, and even in the China 5 era this engine still existed, contributing to the East's road transport.

Qin Miao nodded repeatedly: "Not bad, not bad! Sounds great, but… Mr. Joseph, it won't be easy for Steyr to break into the East's market; you should know that our relevant departments, from top to bottom, all have a preference for Benz."

"Yes." Joseph nodded solemnly: "It's just that Benz sits high and mighty, refusing to export technology while demanding that the East buy large batches of vehicles; we Steyr are very warm and friendly, willing to output our most advanced technology to the East and even help it set up matching truck plants…"

"That's still not enough!"

Joseph blinked: "What else is needed?"

"Funds—the East is developing its economy and every sector needs capital, but the state can spare little money for the heavy‑truck field; if you can help solve the funding problem, the East will surely choose your Steyr heavy trucks."

"Mr. Qin, could you elaborate a bit more?"

"The major shareholder behind your Steyr is the Austrian State Credit Bank; if you're willing to lend to the East, help it build a heavy‑truck industry and resolve the funding crunch, then entering the East will be a sure thing."

Chu Miaomiao blinked, then translated Qin Miao's words; she was also intensely curious. "San Shui bro, do you know what you're saying?"

In the front row, Schultz also turned around; obviously he had been eavesdropping too, and upon hearing this he couldn't help himself either.

Benz's attitude is a bit over the top, but it's normal for Europe's strongest car maker to have arrogance; it's normal for Steyr to lower its profile to open the Eastern market, but… even lowering its stance further wouldn't reach this extent, would it?

Steyr, to expand into the Eastern market, would have to provide cutting‑edge technology and bring trucks to bid there—that much I could accept—but to also lend money to the East? Using Aoli Di's funds to import Austrian truck technology… this… this isn't just getting something for nothing, is it?