African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1489 Automobile Industry of Various Countries
This is the case with European countries. When they were strong, they all had ambitions to expand their territory and rule Europe. Correspondingly, when one country became too powerful, other countries would join hands to deal with the most powerful country. The Holy Roman Empire, France, and Germany have all made similar attempts and were then besieged.

After the rise of the Soviet Union in the past, it also enjoyed the same treatment. However, at this stage, Germany is still recognized as the most powerful country in Europe. If Germany had been able to restrain itself before World War I and not be so aggressive and tit-for-tat in its foreign policy, perhaps the direction of World War I would have been completely different.

At first, East Africa took the path of keeping a low profile, but it did not and could not have continued to do so. After all, a country with a land area of ​​more than 10 million square kilometers and a population of over 100 million cannot hide at all.

Germany was obviously different at the beginning. Before World War I, Germany still had the conditions to hide its strength. After all, Germany's population and industry did not have an overwhelming advantage over its neighboring countries at that time. However, the government of William II was ambitious, engaged in a crazy arms race, vigorously developed the navy, and actively opened up colonies, which ultimately led to Britain having to join the war.

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Vidnoye enthusiastically introduced to Yekov the current development of the Soviet Union and Moscow's industry. From time to time, some Moscow citizens came forward to greet Yekov. It was because of his appearance that one could tell at a glance that Yekov was a foreigner, and a mixed-race. Coupled with his temperament, it was easy to associate it with East Africa.

In fact, due to its vast territory and numerous ethnic groups, the Soviet Union also has many mixed-race citizens. But even if they are all mixed-race, the differences in appearance are huge. Generally speaking, the mixed-race citizens of the Soviet Union look more burly. Most of them live in Central Asia or the Far East. They have fair skin, but rough skin texture.

Due to differences in culture, living standards and climate, the residents of East Africa are relatively sturdy, but definitely not big and strong. Their skin color is slightly darker and tight, but it is very obvious when compared with the pale skin color of most Soviet people.

Globally, the residents of East Africa look most like the mixed-race people in Latin America. This may be the result of the similar latitudes and climates of Latin American countries and East Africa.

All in all, many Muscovites could tell at a glance that Yekov was a foreigner, and considering that he spoke German, it was not difficult to guess his nationality.

Yekov could not help but sigh: "The Soviet people are the most enthusiastic I have ever seen in my trip to Europe."

Vidnoye has his own unique views on this. He said: "Since the overthrow of the corrupt Tsarist Russian government, the Soviet Union has broken down the barriers of past classes and nationalities. The social status of the Soviet people has been greatly improved. Everyone is the master of the country, and qualities such as self-confidence and enthusiasm have naturally emerged."

"In addition, the development of Soviet education has also greatly broadened the horizons of the Soviet people. Therefore, when communicating with foreigners, the Soviet people are always kind and curious."

Although Vidnoye said this, Yekov did not completely believe him.

The Soviet people were indeed very confident and enthusiastic, but Yekov always felt that their attitude was not entirely so. Especially some of the Moscow citizens with whom he communicated, there was a natural sense of superiority, or arrogance, in their eyes.

Yekov was not wrong. Soviet citizens did have a natural sense of superiority. After all, the Soviet people were now convinced that their system was the most advanced and perfect in the world. They were the masters of the country, and Yekov was just a small follower of a capitalist country.

This is just like how Europeans consider themselves a civilized world. Soviet citizens obviously also had this mentality. No wonder, later in the Soviet camp, the Soviet Union always treated its allies with an "arrogant" attitude and interfered in the national affairs of its allies.

After all, since they represent "civilization", when the other party disagrees with them, it must be that the other party is "wrong" and they have reason to "correct" their mistakes.

Of course, Yekov just felt a little uncomfortable when the Soviets came into contact with him, but he did not think too much about it. So far, his overall impression of the Soviet Union was still good.

Yekov said to Vidnoye: "Can we visit the Soviet factories?"

This request made Vidnoye a little embarrassed. He said to Yekov, "This matter is more complicated. After all, we need to obtain the factory's consent and coordination first. I can apply to the higher-ups."

Of course, the more important reason is Yekov's sensitive identity. Yekov himself is a writer, and a writer from the imperialist East African background, so Vidnoye must be cautious.

Therefore, he could only ask his superiors for instructions. However, the subsequent process went smoothly. The Soviet government at that time believed that this was an opportunity to showcase the Soviet industrial achievements in recent years. Coupled with the great economic crisis in capitalist society, it was more conducive to highlighting the superiority of the Soviet system.

To this end, they arranged for Yekov to visit the Moscow Automobile Plant and other representative enterprises of the Soviet Union today.

Moscow Automobile Plant.

In fact, this large-scale automobile factory is still under construction, but the main structure and some workshops have been completed.

Likhachev, a technician at the automobile factory, introduced to Yekov: "The entire factory has introduced the latest technology, but due to its large scale and the relatively backward Soviet industry, the factory is expected to be completed in 1933."

"In the initial stage, there will be trial production, and the annual output will not be high, about 2,000 to 3,000 vehicles. After the workers and technicians are trained, the annual output of the factory can be increased to about 50,000 to 60,000 vehicles."

Although the Soviet Union had introduced new technologies and industries, it was impossible for workers to operate the machinery and equipment right away. After all, the Soviet automobile industry had no similar experience before.

Before 1929, the Moscow Automobile Factory basically adopted manual manufacturing and its output was very limited. However, today's assembly line operations inevitably require the replacement of a large number of equipment and require workers and technicians to have a high level of knowledge reserves.

Likhachev said: "Before the Moscow Automobile Plant, the Soviet Union could also manufacture cars, but the level of modernization was low and the output was very limited. Without a large-scale automobile industry, it was naturally impossible to train a corresponding number of skilled workers."

"This is also an important reason why the Soviet Union's automobile industry is relatively lagging behind today. However, as time goes by, after workers and technicians have successfully explored, our Soviet automobile industry will also enter a stage of rapid development."

"At the same time, the Moscow Automobile Plant is not only a large factory, but also can drive the progress of hundreds of parts manufacturers and gradually fill many gaps in the Soviet industrial field. For example, automobile manufacturing plants require the cooperation of steel plants, glass plants, paint plants, rubber plants, engine plants and other manufacturers. This is a huge industrial system." Yekov knew something about this. After all, East Africa itself is one of the countries with the most developed automobile industry in the world. In addition, the United States and Germany are in the first echelon.

Next are countries such as Britain, France, Austria-Hungary, Italy, etc., which form the second tier.

The Soviet Union can now only be ranked in the third tier, and the automobile industry in the third tier countries basically refers to countries that have the ability to independently produce automobiles, but have relatively backward technology and are unable to achieve large-scale industrialized production. Before the Moscow Automobile Plant was renovated and expanded, the Soviet Union's modern automobile industry was still zero.

Likhachev went on to say: "In the early stages, our factory's products will mainly be trucks. Although there will be cars, they will not dominate the market."

The Soviet Union was a very pragmatic country. At least at this stage, cars were not a necessity for the Soviet government, but more like a luxury. Trucks, on the other hand, could not only carry goods, but also people, and had a large load capacity. Therefore, the Soviet automobile factories would naturally increase their production of trucks.

Yekov said: "In East Africa, cars have basically become the main means of transportation. Of course, there are also many practical vehicles such as trucks."

Likhachev said helplessly: "The development of the Soviet automobile industry was delayed because of the corruption and backwardness of the imperial Russian government. If we had overthrown the Tsarist Russia in the last century, the Soviet automobile industry would definitely not be as far behind East Africa as it is now."

"Moreover, the Soviet Union is still relatively poor overall. Although we are actively transforming our industrial structure, this requires money and time. At least within the next decade, it will be very difficult for the Soviet automobile industry to catch up with other countries."

For today's world's top powers, an annual automobile production of at least 100,000 vehicles is considered qualified. In Europe alone, Germany, which has the highest production today, can produce about 300,000 vehicles each year.

In fact, with Germany's industrial capacity, it can produce more. However, an important factor restricting the development of Germany's automobile industry is that Germany does not have a stable source of oil supply.

Then there are Britain and France, whose annual automobile production is about more than 150,000 but less than 200,000. In the past, Britain and France produced more than 200,000 vehicles during this period. However, due to the changes in World War I, German industry is obviously more competitive than Britain and France. At the same time, Britain and France also have to face competition from the automobile industries of the United States and East Africa, so it is difficult to reach the levels of the previous life.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire's automobile production was about 100,000 vehicles, mainly due to technical and market constraints. However, this was enough to make the Austro-Hungarian Empire the world's seventh largest automobile producer.

Among the top seven automobile producing countries, there is one special country, that is Canada. Canada's automobile production is more than 200,000 vehicles, which is higher than that of Britain and France, and ranks fourth in the world. However, Canada's automobile industry is mainly influenced by the United States and the blessing of the British colonial market. However, Canada, the United States and East Africa are not European countries, so they are not within the scope of discussion.

Among the five traditional European powers, namely Britain, France, Germany, Austria and Russia (the Soviet Union), the gap between the Soviet Union's automobile industry and that of other powers was very large.

Not to mention compared with the powerful countries of the same level, the Soviet automobile industry is now not even as good as that of small and medium-sized countries with relatively strong industries such as Italy, Sweden and Belgium.

Among the world's great powers, only Spain and Japan's automobile industries were more backward than the Soviet Union's. The Soviet Union's annual wartime automobile production was about 4,000 to 5,000 vehicles, while Spain produced more than 1,000 and Japan only a few hundred.

In fact, Spain's status as a so-called "world power" has become increasingly unworthy of its reputation over time, and Belgium's national strength can crush this powerful country.

Compared with Spain, Japan's automobile industry is underdeveloped, which is understandable. After all, Japan started late, and in terms of resources, it is at the bottom among the great powers. Among the world powers in the past, perhaps only Italy could compete with Japan in terms of resource scarcity.

Unfortunately, in this time and space, Italy has not yet completed its unification. Before achieving this goal, it is at most a medium-sized country in the eyes of the world. But in fact, except for its territory, Italy is much stronger than Spain in many other areas.

Both Japan and Italy have extremely scarce resources in their homelands, but Japan is still a level better than Italy, after all, Italy has almost no coal mines.

Yekov said: "Today, the Soviet Union's automobile industry is indeed far behind other major industrial countries. At least the Soviet Union's annual automobile production must exceed 100,000 vehicles before it can catch up with other countries. If it can exceed 300,000 vehicles, it will be the world's leading level. As for one million vehicles, it will be a super industrial power like East Africa and the United States."

"Now, it is indeed a good opportunity for the development of the Soviet automobile industry. Because of the impact of the world economic crisis, the automobile industries of other countries have been hit and are reducing production capacity."

"And if the Soviet Union goes against the tide at this time, it will have no problem surpassing some European countries, such as Italy and Belgium. Italy's automobile production should be in the tens of thousands. If the Moscow Automobile Plant can officially mass-produce, then one of your factories can surpass Italy's national automobile production."

Due to the impact of the economic crisis, the world's automobile industry has also been hit hard. In the next two to three years, many countries will significantly reduce automobile production. In the United States and Canada, where the economic crisis is most serious, the automobile industry has already begun to show significant problems.

However, now is not the most serious time of the economic crisis. After all, it has only been a few months since the economic crisis first broke out in the United States, from 1930 to 1933. During this period of time, the economic crisis was basically impossible to end, and it is even more likely that the economy will enter a long-term depression.

This means that in the next three years, perhaps only the Soviet automobile industry will enter a stage of large-scale growth. That is why Yekov told Likhachev that this was an opportunity for the Soviet automobile industry.

However, as Likhachev said before, the gap between the Soviet Union and the top powers in the automobile industry is too large. In the next ten years, it will still be very difficult to catch up with these countries. Not to mention East Africa and the United States, it is hard to say whether countries like Germany can catch up with the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The annual automobile production of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was just around 1940 vehicles, while the national automobile production of the former Soviet Union was only over vehicles until , which is comparable to the current production of Britain and France.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire's automobile production could not remain stagnant. As long as it survived the economic crisis and ensured that the empire did not disintegrate, the Austro-Hungarian Empire's automobile production would definitely reach a new number ten years later.

(End of this chapter)