Munitions Empire

"Really?" The leather merchant expressed his shock upon hearing the price, because he knew how much money this could save him.

With the same amount of capital, he could purchase five times the amount of electricity equipment—even if the quality of these devices wasn't great, and only half of them worked, it would still ensure that he had more than double the electricity output.

For a merchant, more electricity meant more income, and that was all money!

The sales representative immediately nodded, as he, too, wanted to close this deal as soon as possible, "Of course it's real."

"In stock?" The leather merchant decided to let the bastards at Great Tang Electricity go to hell. He could buy cheaper products and transform his city into the second Brunas!

"In stock!" the salesperson immediately nodded, confirming that they indeed had the goods available on hand, fair and square.

The leather merchant immediately extended his finger, "Great! I'll take 10 sets! 10 sets of this equipment you mentioned, including the necessary electrical wires and transformers..."

He had only recently learned these terms through an introduction, and now he was using them directly.

The sales representative became visibly overjoyed, gesturing with an inviting hand, "You're so wise! This way, please! Let's talk inside!"

This kind of exchange was frantically happening at many booths, with countless contracts being signed simultaneously.

Everyone realized the charm of such a grand event, where the amount of trade going on here was almost calculated in billions.

City electricity, factory equipment, trains and railways, ore, and even entire mines were being traded, all large projects by tens of thousands, but here one contract followed another as if it were a free giveaway.

...

On the other side of the Crystal Palace, at a new and fascinating automobile booth, a brand new car that had never appeared in Brunas shone with a dazzling paint finish, attracting many eyes.

The car's design was somewhat rustic, with most of its lines not differing much from the Model T, but there were still some distinct differences from the old Model T of Brunas.

For instance, this car had bigger headlights, and the front end was longer, making it look more luxurious than the Model T sedan.

Anyone with a discerning eye could see that this was a copy of Tang Mo's Model T car, but in a world without proper patent protection laws, no one felt that such plagiarism was inappropriate in any way.

In the end, the rule was simple: if you can, then copy; if the other party can, let them beat the copier to death; if they can't, they just have to bear it.

The presence of this copycat product in the Crystal Palace was testament to Tang Mo's magnanimity and goodwill, as well as to the depth of the automotive company's resources.

Since the Great Tang Group didn't mind, everyone also gathered around, curious to inspect this rather nice-looking car.

A potential car buyer, coveting the automobile, glanced at the booth's slogan with some confusion and asked, "Gobur cars? This doesn't seem any different from the Model T... It looks just the same."

"Imitation, right? It has no distinct features," another businessman looking to broaden his horizons nodded in agreement.

After saying this, he added, "But you know what? The arrangement of this booth is actually quite interesting, a complete engine, haha."

Indeed, the Gobur car company was taking a unique approach—boldly displaying an engine right at the booth to promote some of their unique improvements to it.

Including the use of some new manufacturing technologies and craftsmanship that could be called works of art, as well as a very compact design, and so on.

At that moment, a staff member at the booth began another round of introduction, "Our engine utilizes improved technology, runs more smoothly, and provides a better driving experience!"

His pitch attracted even more onlookers, as everyone had grown somewhat tired of the shape of the Model T and People's car; seeing a car with different aesthetics was refreshing.

"Oh? Improved, you say?" With the salesperson's introduction, everyone's curiosity about the car grew even stronger.

Everyone waited for him to continue the presentation, and the salesperson did not disappoint as he opened the engine hood and said, "Of course! And we have also redesigned the fuel tank, no longer using a gravity-feed system, making it more stable and safer!"

The earliest Model T had a poorly designed fuel tank, and even with such a brainless design, because of its low cost, it had been directly adopted in the first generation of people's sedans.

Because this design itself could reduce costs and was manageable, it had been continued to the present day and was still widely used by the Great Tang Group in the cheapest car models.

However, in higher-end models, the Great Tang Group had already introduced newer fuel tank designs and phased out the gravity-feed cheap design.

The appearance of such design in a car not produced by the Great Tang Group made many sense the sincerity of this Gobur car.

So, many of the onlookers nodded along, agreeing and sharing their opinions with one another, "This is kinda interesting."

"In addition, we've used larger wheel hubs, which reduce bumpiness and make driving smoother, and, at the same time... the appearance is also more imposing." The proud car salesman continued his presentation, becoming increasingly confident in the process.

This large wheel hub design would be eye-catching in the future as well, and presenting it in this era would certainly excite many people.

The huge wheels enhanced the car's upscale feel, and this slight improvement made many of the spectators eager to pull out their wallets, "You know, upon closer look, this car really does look a lot better than the T-model."

"But didn't Great Tang Group release the People's Car Model 2... I heard it's also not bad," someone still questioned at that moment.

Not far from this booth, the crowd was even bigger at Great Tang Group's car display, where the second-generation People's Car was launched at this exhibition, instantly catching many eyes.

The People's Car from Great Tang Group still took the affordable route, yet it also incorporated many cutting-edge technologies, which were equally tempting to prospective car buyers.

After all, Great Tang had a renowned reputation, and purchasing a car from Great Tang Group carried more prestige, which was an undeniable fact.

Seeing that the few people who were talking were about to head to Tang Group's car display, the Gobur car salesman immediately played his trump card, "Gentlemen, don't rush off! Our Gobur cars... are even cheaper!"

There was no choice, directly competing with Great Tang Group's products, the most practical tactic available was a lower price.

Indeed, after hearing the lower price, the few people all paused, "Cheaper?"

None of these people were particularly wealthy, otherwise they wouldn't be hesitating now about which brand of car to choose. Price was important to them, saving a dozen or so Gold Coins was certainly a huge temptation. Enjoy more content from empire

"Yes! Cheaper! Our car, all inclusive, only costs 55 Gold Coins each!" the salesman promptly revealed the car's low price.

He actually had no other option, as this pricing was basically selling at a loss to gain attention—compared to Great Tang's manufacturing plants, Shireck's facilities were clearly a notch lower, and not cheap to run.

Great Tang had priced the T-model car at around 70 Gold Coins, putting Shireck under direct pressure to contend with cost when producing their cars.

This was unavoidable, as to get a slice of the car market share, Shireck had to grit their teeth and keep up, bearing the pricing pressure from Great Tang and ensuring their car prices were even lower.

Sofia was a sharp thinker, she knew that as long as she could secure a foothold in the market, it wouldn't take long to recoup the investments in other ways.

It was a long-term strategy, an industrial layout where she knew she would lose money, yet had to step up to the challenge, which led her to dismiss the opposition and set the price of Gobur cars at 55 Gold Coins, almost at cost.

Indeed, her strategy worked, the people who heard the price of 55 Gold Coins were indeed tempted.

"That's really not expensive." One of them was even ready to take out his money to buy the car.

Another nodded continuously, "Exactly! It's quite a bargain! If you want to own a car, this might be your best chance."

However, the rest were still full of doubts, one spoke bluntly and without politeness, "But... if it's not a Great Tang car, it seems there's no prestige in it."

"True, if it's not a Great Tang car, I guess no woman would want to get in it." Another young man ready to buy a car hesitated as well.

Buying a car as a means of transportation was just one purpose; the other was to solve one's marriage issues... Clearly, a Gobur car seemed to lack the second function.

"Let's not talk about it, talking too much is just tears..." His comment immediately drew nods of agreement from many, as they nodded in unison.

Just then, someone else raised an even sharper question, "And also, if the car... breaks down, there's nowhere to get it fixed, right?"

His words stunned the Gobur car salesman, who was then left speechless as he watched the potential buyers shake their heads and walk away.

Truth be told, before transporting the cars to Brunas for promotion and sale at the Crystal Palace, Shireck had not considered that selling cars was distinctly different from selling other products.

A car sale is about the after-sales service!

Without after-sales support, without technical support, it seemed quite difficult for them to sell a Gobur car in Brunas.

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I still owe everyone... four more updates.