The Dark Horse B1 is not the first car in the world to use turboshaft power, as early as 2010, the British sports car brand Jaguar unveiled the C-X75 concept supercar using two turboshaft engines and four electric motors at the Paris Motor Show.

However, five years have passed, and the powertrain of the prototype car finally built by Jaguar has changed, the miniature turboshaft has been replaced with a piston gasoline engine, and only two electric motors remain, becoming a hybrid of gasoline engine and electric, and to the sigh of fans, even this "shrunken version" will not be mass-produced and sold......

This pot probably has to be carried by the Indians.

In 198-9 and 2000 respectively, Ford acquired Jaguar and Land Rover, two famous British sports car and off-road vehicle brands, and later sold these two brands to India's Tata Motors for $100 million because of the sharp drop in revenue due to the outbreak of the subprime mortgage crisis in 08 and had to reduce business to survive the winter.

The latter was also unlucky, not long after buying the two brands, it encountered the 2011 European debt crisis just after the initial integration.

The subprime mortgage crisis has caused a sharp decline in American consumption, and the European debt crisis has also caused all kinds of depression in European countries. On the one hand, Tata canceled overly innovative forward-looking R&D projects like the C-X75, and on the other hand, began to use the "common platform" strategy to save money, such as Jaguar borrowing Land Rover's platform to launch its own new SUV or something.

A common platform refers to a design and production method in which two or more models share core components such as chassis, engine and gearbox to reduce R&D costs and manufacturing costs. Generally, car manufacturers like to do this, because lower costs can bring greater sales and profits. However, this will also lead to a decrease in the differentiation between models on the same platform, weakening the brand image and attractiveness.

The best-selling models of ordinary sedans can be sold for decades, during which they only need to fine-tune the appearance according to the needs of the market, update the interior instrument, air conditioning and audio, and upgrade the powertrain every few years, and they can continue to sell. There is even a domestic Poussin, which was produced from 1982 to 2012, and the appearance of the square head and square brain has basically not been touched in 30 years.

But such a thing is unlikely to appear in sports cars and other high-end models, because leather cars and reskinning cars without unique appearance and obvious selling points have always been ridiculed by consumers. Moreover, the low-end model and the high-end model share the same platform, you can borrow the latter's technology and fame, as a selling point can expand sales for a while, but this is actually overdrawing the value of the high-end brand, after all, you have me, everyone has it, and it can't show its value. In the long run, consumers' impression and favorability of mid-to-high-end brands will definitely fall down.

Therefore, although manufacturers still share technical resources in high-end products, they usually don't dare to directly put together a bunch of co-platform reskinning cars like low-end product lines, and still have to invest a lot of resources to give high-end products a variety of exclusive designs. However, because the production and sales volume is too low, the input-output ratio of these resources is very low.

Venus with a broken arm is the treasure of the Louvre Museum in France, but its plaster replica is only one of the common props used by painters all over the world to practice sketching, and the cheapest may only be a few dollars.

Movies and music are art forms that are more popular and more valuable because of the carrier, but even so, users are still divided into three, six, nine and so on with playback equipment.

This is also true for supercars that emphasize nobility and elegance.

High-end sports cars are often sold in limited quantities around the world, and only a few hundred or even dozens of units are sold before they are discontinued, in fact, it is not that the manufacturers are deliberately playing hunger marketing, but that their fine quality limits production, and the expensive selling price limits sales. Since no matter how much you have to sell, it is better to stop in moderation and stop in time to make a limited gimmick, and the price can rise in the future.

It's a pity that, just like most of the sky-high art sellers are so-called art collectors, those classic sports cars that once fetched millions of dollars are also sold by so-called famous car collectors. As a manufacturer, you can only earn some fame and brand appreciation from it, and you can sell it better the next time you sell a new car.

But the sales of these "limited" cars themselves severely limited the turnover, and the total profit was not much, such as the famous supercar brand Pagani, each car sold for more than a million dollars, but they produced less than 50 units a year by hand. The annual output of other supercar brands is also less than 100 units, and the money earned is not as much as that of Porsche, which sells entry-level sports cars, so Ferrari, which has now been listed independently, has also begun to try to sell low-end entry-level cars under the pressure of performance.

After all, there is no way to dilute the cost of R&D and manufacturing if the sales are too small, and it seems that the world's most expensive cars are sold in unlimited scenery, but in fact, the manufacturers are still quite hard in private, otherwise, those famous supercar brands will not become the bag of car giants in various countries. Bugatti and Lamborghini, as well as Porsche are Volkswagen, Ferrari and Lamborghini are Fiat, Aston Martin previously spent more than a dozen years under Ford, and in '07 it was sold to Prod, a British racing technology service provider.

As the king of sports car sales, Porsche was supposed to go it on its own, but they went to buy a stake in Volkswagen on their own, or borrowed money to buy it, and if they succeeded, the debt would be borne by the new merged company, which is quite common when forcibly buying profitable assets, and banks are more than happy to fund similar actions.

At one time, Porsche was close to success and got 50% of the equity, but unfortunately they caught up with the 08 financial crisis, the performance was frustrated, the shortage of funds, and the pressure to repay the debt suddenly increased. As a result, Volkswagen in turn acquired more than half of the shares and took away the position of controlling shareholder, and finally was completely merged into the Volkswagen Group in 2012.

Speaking of which, the two companies were originally very related, when the Führer founded Volkswagen, the production of the Beetle was designed by Ferdinand Porsche, after World War II Ferdinand founded Porsche, and served as a technical consultant for Volkswagen for a long time.

After this merger, Porsche can be supported by Volkswagen's supply chain and marketing channels, and the Porsche family still holds a considerable number of Volkswagen shares, which cannot be said to be a loss.

But obviously, Boss Ma is going to pay for it this time.

Although the audience who visited Xiaoma's booth praised his test drive video, the number of online views has exceeded 500,000 times, and if you add the undisciplined reprints of domestic video websites on the other side of the wall, the total number of views has exceeded 1.3 million.

However, this did not work, although everyone praised the electric car for such a powerful sporty performance, and some people praised Atletico's superb driving skills, but no one was interested in driving a dark horse home. After all, this guy is just too expensive......

Although the dollar has depreciated sharply, $880,000 is still a lot of money, and not just anyone can take it out. The average car lover prefers an ordinary production car with tens of thousands of dollars, which can be liked but will not pay for it, and those who are not bad for money in their pockets are not interested in the obscure pony brand, and of course this car cannot be sold.

And even this price, in fact, is not amortized into the price of research and development costs, mainly because the cost of gas turbines is too expensive, coupled with a group of engineers and senior technicians with high salaries, which greatly pushes up the cost of the car.

It seems that Jaguar was really wise to cut this project in the first place.

The show cars couldn't be sold, so I had to pull them back again, but fortunately there were only three, and it didn't take much effort.

Two American trucks with huge noses have arrived, and the side of the car is painted with cartoon pony patterns, which look like the trademark of a children's brand at first glance, but it is the mascot of the pony company from the hands of the boss's wife.

Obviously, these foreigners should have never been to the other side of the Pacific Ocean, otherwise they should know the horse stepping on Feiyan as a tourist symbol. Of course, the galloping horse logo of the pony company has also changed a lot on the basis of the original sculpture, even if the Chinese people sometimes can't remember it without being reminded, and it is normal for employees to not recognize it.

Although it has long been known that the dark horse is equipped with basic automatic driving functions and can achieve autonomous entry and exit from the warehouse, the onlookers still couldn't help but cheer for it when they saw the three cars driving on the board and entering the cargo compartment.

"They're so smart!" said an old voice in Atletico's ear: "If it weren't for my damn blood pressure, I'd have bought one!"

However, Atletico Madrid was not surprised by this potential order, turned his head to look at the white old man who spoke, and said with a smile: "Old Tommy, the dark horse can not only gallop wildly, but also jog in small steps, which is very suitable for an old man like you." ”

"No, no, no," said old Tommy, who had a slight Mediterranean hair, shook his head with a smile, "She's so sexy-hot-hot, it's a waste for an old man like me." Boss, you should find a more suitable owner for her. ”

Saying that, the old man patted his big beer belly and said: "First of all, my test drive video is indeed cool and exciting, which makes my old man enthusiastic, but this is not enough, it cannot replace the real driving experience, we believe that as long as someone test drives her, she will be able to quickly feel her charm." So, let this damn car show die, we should have a test drive tour, and I'm sure someone will be able to discover her beauty. ”

Atletico looked at Tommy Sr., a former aircraft engineer who was introduced by a headhunter and is now the general manager of Pony Power North America, and said with a smile: "Forget about the tour." But don't worry, the company won't go bankrupt, and there is no problem with the funding of the laboratory, I'm still waiting for you to make it for me!"

"Haha, you'll wait!" the old man also laughed heartily, "I must teach those little ones some lessons this time!"

The company where the old man retired before his retirement, Scholes Power was a private aero engine company that supplied turboshaft aero engines for light helicopters. The company is small in size and has mediocre R&D capabilities, and their main business is actually to produce compatible models of common engines. The number of small aircraft in North America is very high, and the number of helicopters is also quite large, which naturally gives rise to a vast spare parts market, and then because the original factory is out of production or the original configuration is too expensive, third-party compatible engines also appear.

This is also the reason why the headhunter recommended him, although the knowledge level of this old man is a little out of step with the times, but the perennial imitation of small turboshaft engines makes him have quite rich experience in engine design and manufacturing. And he finally became a senior engineer in the engine company, and he still left a lot of connections after retirement, and the 10 Ws were produced by borrowing the old man's face and borrowing Scholes equipment and materials.

The little guys in his mouth are his colleagues who are still in this company, these people used to be his subordinates and students, in fact, they are all old and not very retired, but in front of the old Tommy, who relies on the old and sells the old, they are still "young boys".

Previously, because of W's mediocre or even deviant performance, the old man was ridiculed by the gang for being old and useless, and more than once threatened to give them a good look on the new engine.

The W is a miniature turboshaft engine designed with an output of 5 kW and is intended to be used as a power source for the Bee None - Human-Machine product line.

For cars, heavier battery packs only mean slower acceleration and lower driving speed, but for aircraft, excessive batteries may cause them to not be able to fly.

In order to obtain a longer range, even multi-axis aircraft manufacturers have embarked on the evil path of gasoline multi-axis, that is, replacing the electric motor with an internal combustion engine that burns methanol or other fuels, and then using a screw drive to drive a variable pitch propeller. By adjusting the inclination angle of the propellers, the lift force and torque of each propeller are changed, so as to change the motion attitude of the aircraft.

Although the special systems such as sensors, GPS, remote controls, and cameras are still there, and the multi-axis symmetrical structure is still there, without the motor, it is already completely astray.

At least Atletico Madrid thought it was a misguided path, and he always felt that electronic control and electric motors were a perfect match, so after the completion of the W, he started the research and development program of a smaller model. I plan to use them for my own high-end unmanned machines.

Of course, this project is more difficult, and it makes no sense if you can't build a low-cost engine, but fortunately he is not in a hurry. For mobile phone users, please visit http://m.piaotian.net