"Ladies and gentlemen, this is our forging workshop, where the frame parts of the car body are forged, and what we are currently seeing is the forging of the body beams."

In the forging workshop, Giovanni, president of Fiat. Agnelli told the German delegation about the manufacturing process of the Fiat F75 truck.

In the hot forging workshop, a group of people carefully watched the pieces of primary forgings, which were knocked into parts of the car by the machine under the operation of the workers.

Although it was hot in the workshop, no one cared, and they all listened to President Agnelli's explanation while watching the operation of the workers.

"How many F75 trucks can your plant produce per day?"

The speaker was the head of the German delegation, Major General Runter, the quartermaster of the German General Staff, who was ordered by the Chief of the General Staff, General Moltke Jr., to visit the Fiat company, and of course to learn about the production capacity of Fiat F75 trucks.

"Your Excellency, at present, our F75 trucks, which can produce up to 240 units per day, can definitely meet the needs of your country."

Agnelli is also proud of his production capacity when he talks about production capacity. You know, it's much harder to produce trucks than cars.

Because its vehicles are adapted to a variety of complex terrains in the case of cargo loading. After all, to carry such a heavy load, driving on various road surfaces, the requirements for all parts of the truck are much higher.

In order to forge high-strength parts, we will not mention the materials, and the man-hours required alone are much more than those of cars. So even in later generations, the manufacture of trucks has always been more difficult than cars. And it is remarkable that Fiat can produce up to 240 cars a day in an era when all aspects of technology are still rough.

Before leaving, Major General Ronter also knew the difficulty of building trucks, so when he heard the data reported by Agnelli, he gave him a thumbs up in his heart.

With Agnelli and the German delegation, they also visited the engine manufacturing workshop, tire manufacturing workshop, frame assembly workshop and final assembly workshop.

Especially in the final assembly workshop, when watching the workers gradually assemble the parts into trucks, the German delegation's surprised eyes could no longer be hidden.

Although the assembly line is not an unfamiliar word in this era, how can it be seen literally as strongly as the sense of direct sight.

Not to mention these mixed barracks all day, most of them are the first time to see such an assembly line operation, so it is not surprising.

After walking around the factory, Agnelli took the German delegation to the conference room, as it was all about to be visited, and the next step was to ask the German delegation for their opinion.

As soon as the guest of honour was seated, Agnelli spoke. "Ladies and gentlemen, after visiting the factory, you must already know something about our Fiat company."

"Yes, we already have a good understanding of Fiat."

"So I don't know if our company can take orders from your military?"

Agnelli was trying to determine whether the German order was in Fiat's hands.

In the face of Agnelli's inquiry, Major General Rontel certainly knew the purpose of this visit. After this visit, he also got to know Fiat. I saw him reply. "Mr. Agnelli, of course our German military is willing to give your company an order for 10,000 trucks, but I don't know how much your company thinks it will cost to sell these 10,000 F75 trucks."

Major General Rontel's words made the Fiat executives happy, this matter is a small half, and the next thing is mainly the price factor.

"We at Fiat attach great importance to our cooperation with you, so we have decided to offer you a preferential price of 7,100 lira per vehicle. You can find out that this price is lower than the price we give to the general distributors in various countries, and it is definitely the lowest price. ”

At this time, a vice president of Fiat said the price that Fiat had previously planned.

This price is really in line with what the vice president said, and it is the lowest price that Fiat has never given to anyone else. It is important to know that a Fiat F75 truck on the market is currently selling for between 8,200-8,500 lira. The lowest price issued by Fiat to dealers is only 7,300 lira, and the German military's 7,100 lira is really the lowest.

The major general was not satisfied with Fiat's price of conscience, or he wanted to push the price down again. "This price is too high for our German military, you must know that we need more trucks, the current 10,000 is just the first batch, and we will purchase it in the future, so we think 6,500 lira is an acceptable number."

Good guy, Major General Rontel cut nearly one-tenth of the price of this knife, which is really ruthless.

However, how could Fiat accept the offer given by the German side, even if the German military really wanted to continue to purchase it in the future, Fiat could not accept such an offer.

"Your Excellency, this price is unacceptable to us. It is important to know that the materials and man-hours required to build an F75 truck are far from comparable to those of passenger cars. We have given you the lowest price and have given up most of our profits, and we have done so in consideration of your country's allies. ”

Although the vice president even moved out the diplomatic card, his eloquent words did not move His Excellency the Major General.

"I'm sorry, but this price is the result of careful consideration in our country, and it is not easy to change it."

Major General Rontel has a way to say this, how could Sophia's high-ranking officials not hear it.

"I don't know what kind of changes need to be made to get you to give up and think about our company's difficulties."

Seeing that the other party took the initiative to ask, Major General Runtel said with a smile. "As long as your company can put the order production in China, then we will accept your quotation without changing it."

The words of Major General Runtl made the faces of Fiat and his party change slightly, and they were stunned by the conditions of the German military.

Agnelli said suddenly. "Sorry for the interruption, I want to make sure that your condition is true?"

Faced with Agnelli's inquiry, Major General Ronter replied with certainty. "Yes. If your company has a factory in Germany, then in addition to this order for 10,000 trucks, the subsequent orders from our military can also be handed over to your company for production. ”

The intention of Major General Runtel's words is obvious, he hopes that Fiat will set up a factory in Germany, and this order is a bait. Although Italy is currently an ally of Germany, the German military's sense of distress makes it need to consider the worst-case scenario. If Italy turns its other cheek with it, then it is not at the mercy of others when it comes to trucks that are extremely useful to the military.

Therefore, the German military had the idea of encouraging Fiat to set up a factory in Germany and produce trucks. This has two advantages, on the one hand, it can use Fiat to develop its own truck production process, and on the other hand, it can also allow German car manufacturers to obtain better truck manufacturing concepts.

But unfortunately, the German military's plan was about to fail, only to see Agnelli replied with a resolute expression. "Thank you for the importance that your military attaches to Fiat, we have no plans to build factories abroad."

The meaning of his words is very clear, even if this order is not wanted, Fiat will not go to set up a factory.

If it were a normal company, maybe it would be possible. However, Fiat is an ordinary company, it is the leader of the European automobile manufacturing industry, and the government has secretly given a lot of preferential treatment to Fiat in recent years to accelerate its growth. If you dare to agree at this moment, believe it or not, the government has the means to help the second family out of the ring.

In addition, Fiat's current largest shareholder is the Savoy royal family, and if he dares to agree today, he will be announced to retire tomorrow due to health reasons.

For Agnelli's rejection of his proposal, Major General Ronth was not angry, he had previously belonged to the behavior of playing three poles with dates without dates, and it would be a surprise if it really became a surprise.

"If that's the case, then this condition is null and void. The reserve price accepted by our military is 6,600 lira, which is the limit of our price. ”

The price offered by Major General Rontel was raised by a hundred lire, which was a signal to apologize for the conditions he had just proposed.

And Fiat, of course, also understood the words of the major general, and then the vice president said. "Your Excellency, your price is still low, and if the price of raw materials rises, our profits cannot be guaranteed. So please think about our difficulties. 7,000 lira, which is already 300 lira lower than any other buyer, which is the last sign of sincerity. ”

“……”

In the ensuing period, Fiat and representatives of the German military exchanged words, and the procurement negotiations lasted for three days.

Eventually, after three days, the two parties finally reached an agreement. The German military purchased 10,000 F75 trucks from Fiat for 7,000 lire each. In addition, in view of the large number of trucks of the German military, it is not easy to repair them on weekdays, and Fiat will also build three repair factories in Germany to repair major problems.

It was not easy to relent, and Fiat paid the price of building three repair plants.

In addition, Fiat prepared valuable small gifts for each member of the German military delegation.

The head of the delegation, Major General Rontel, who was also the chief negotiator, was also lucky, and his wife dug through several antiques in her home a month later, and finally a mysterious collector took them for 600,000 marks, which is really enviable.

Regardless, with the order signed, Fiat trucks have now successfully entered the German Army. Next, as long as the German military is accustomed to excellent Fiat trucks, the German military will remain a staunch big customer of Fiat until other trucks can build trucks that can compete with Fiat.

This is one of the important reasons why Fiat has gone to great lengths to make this big order happen.