The domestic Chinese-Brazilian version of the Red Star Sea Lion has become a hurdle for the R&D personnel of the Red Star Factory.

Not only Li Lu, everyone believes that with Hiace H1 and Hiace H2 as the blueprint, there will be no technical bottlenecks in elongating and increasing the production of Red Star's first minibus. The engine and gearbox, the two key components, are all imported, and the biggest problem has been solved.

Who knows, it's precisely the chassis that's stuck on that.

After almost half a year of testing, the chassis never met the requirements.

Three days before Chinese New Year's Eve, the last test drive before the Spring Festival took place.

There is a special test route, a circle of five kilometers in length, a variety of road conditions to simulate the driving environment of various terrains, set for the performance of the vehicle, more professional than the off-road vehicle test section decades later, because Li Lu is completely according to the standards of military vehicles.

The Red Star Plant spent a lot of money to build three test lanes, all of which were five kilometers long. According to the road standard, it is divided into paved pavement, unpaved pavement and field pavement. Because the Red Star Factory started as an off-road vehicle, it attaches the most importance to off-road testing. In fact, 80 percent of the cars assembled and produced by the Red Star Factory are off-road vehicles.

The Lugang Municipal Government officially sold the 15 acres of land where the Red Star Factory is located to the Red Star Factory, and established the Red Star Industrial Park, with the administrative level of the deputy county level, and set up the Industrial Park Management Committee, which is responsible for serving the enterprises in the jurisdiction. At present, it is actually serving the Red Star Factory and the Red Star Defense Company - the production workshop of the Red Star Defense Company is next to the Red Star Factory, and the office space on the other side of the Red Building is only.

For the Red Star Plant, the most obvious benefit is the acquisition of a total of ten kilometers of coastline at the northern end of the harbor and on the opposite shore, as well as a depth of about three kilometers. In the northern part of the harbor, Baitou Gongshi goes all the way to the south, which is the "U" shaped steel mesh to the south of the mouth, that is to say, Hongxing Factory basically obtained half of the coastline of this "U" shape and about three kilometers of land in depth.

Early in the morning, the No. 7 prototype was ready at the departure point.

A group of leaders of the Red Star Factory came over with Li Lu, sat down on the higher platform, and then gave the order to test the operation. The professional test driver started the engine, and the sound of the No. 7 prototype, which had not yet been painted and looked mottled, was very rich, and the sound of the engine was very neat and even.

Li Lu couldn't help but nodded, and first expressed satisfaction with the power system.

Ma Jintao didn't feel any surprises, he watched every time he tested the car, and he already had immunity. "With the same 4.0-litre six-cylinder petrol engine that Kosda is equipped with, the same gearbox, the engine and the gearbox are no problem," he said. ”

Shaking his head helplessly, Li Lu said, "Let's take a look and talk about it, it's really not good, just copy Kosda." ”

This time, Ma Jintao didn't say anything. It looks simple, and when you really make it, you find out where the problem is, a bunch of problems that are difficult to solve. It is precisely because we want to achieve at least one of the most of our own research and development, so we have developed a chassis with independent property rights with reference to the chassis of Hiace.

As a result, stability has not been able to meet the requirements for qualification.

The Red Star Factory has already begun to sell Kosda, and research on Kosda has long been launched. In fact, the gap between 11 and 21 passenger cars has been solved. However, Li Lu is definitely a strong opponent of the principle of "it is better to buy than to buy".

The Red Star Factory must have the ability to develop all kinds of automobiles on its own.

"That is, our Red Star Factory, if it were other state-owned automobile factories, such a project would have been cut a long time ago." Ma Jintao said with emotion, "Kosda's imitation research is progressing smoothly, but the self-developed minibus has invested more than 5 million yuan so far, and the most fundamental stability has not been solved." Xiao Li, to be honest, I didn't expect this to be the case. ”

Li Lu said with relief, "Horse workers, how much to invest is not the most important, taking advantage of the fact that all the conditions are in place now, we have many more ways to obtain technology than before, gritting our teeth and investing more money to do it, and mastering the ability to build cars, that is the long-term strategy." ”

"That's why I said that if I change to a state-owned factory, I will never be able to do this." Ma Jintao said.

The reality is very clear, if it is replaced by a state-owned factory, not to mention how much money can be invested, whether it will continue to throw money into this bottomless pit, and whether it can approve such a project, it is still two words. The biggest advantage of the Red Star Factory is that Li Lu has the final say.

As long as he supports it, at least there is no problem with funding.

In fact, there are many people inside the Red Star Factory who don't understand. The factory has a good cooperative relationship with so many foreign companies, why not directly purchase the whole set of technology for production? Not to mention the rest, through Chrysler Defense, the Red Star Plant will be able to get a full set of production technology and even production lines for a certain model of Chrysler Motors. Even Chrysler will be very aggressive.

After all, there are very few people who can see far away.

And Li Lu insisted on doing this, even if the engine and gearbox were imported parts, he must grit his teeth and insist on developing his own chassis. At least one of the three major parts of the car must be developed by itself. Otherwise, he really didn't have the cheekiness to say that it was a self-developed minibus.

"Here we go." Ma Jintao said.

Zhang Weiwei handed over the binoculars, and Li Lu waved his hand. You don't need a telescope for this distance.

The No. 7 prototype went out very quickly, and it can be seen that this test is high-intensity. The test driver is a retired automobile soldier of the army, belonging to the test team of the Red Star Factory. The test team is a very special existence, and they sometimes make guest appearances as drivers of the Transport Section, but their treatment is much higher than that of the drivers of the Transport Section.

Commissioning is a high-risk job.

The reason why the No. 7 prototype came out today is because the first six prototypes have all run out, and the No. 7 prototype is produced according to the latest test data.

As expected, the No. 7 prototype swooped headlong into the No. 1 test track, which is a high-intensity off-road track used to test off-road vehicles. No one thinks there is anything wrong with this, not only because these people in the Red Star Factory are doing off-road vehicles, but also because the current road conditions in China are really enough.

There is nothing inappropriate to demand a minibus with the standards of an off-road vehicle.

The undulating road was as if it had been run over by a tank, and it happened to rain a little at night, and there was some water in the potholes, and after the tires were run over, the water was a cloud of mud. The body of the No. 7 prototype car is constantly rising and falling, and the front of the car keeps nodding.

Such a test run makes people feel distressed when they look at it. The chassis is definitely going to be seriously injured, after all, there is only 20 centimeters of ground clearance.

Everyone is worried, such a high-intensity test can test the strength of the chassis the most, run a few laps of such a route, and then run a few laps of paved roads, basically the problems will be exposed.

After 60 minutes and an hour of running around a five-kilometer high-intensity cross-country route, the No. 7 prototype stopped panting in the open space in front of the high platform.

Li Lu got up and walked down.

Ma Jintao followed closely and said with a smile, "At least this time, the goal of successfully running for an hour has not been turned off, which can be regarded as an improvement." ”

Li Lu was stunned, "In the previous tests, they often turned off halfway? ”

"That's right, the one with the least number of times, after running the one-hour goal, also turned off the fire three times. This time, it's not bad. Ma Jintao said.

Li Lu smiled bitterly and shook his head, he had come to the left side of the No. 7 sample car.