Chapter 447 - 291: Industrialization’s Dimensional Strike

Chapter 447: Chapter 291: Industrialization’s Dimensional Strike

When Benz decided to accept orders at a price of 50 Gold Coins, the entire audience erupted.

Gold Coins, a car—the value of these two things had never been equal in their minds.

The Victory’s model was unremarkable, its trim wasn’t High Level, it wasn’t fast, and its performance was poor—it had even been lapped three times by the first-place winner.

But it only sold for 50 Gold Coins!

Even if the car stalled after two kilometers, that would be the driver’s fault, definitely not the car’s.

Besides, it had completed the entire 150-kilometer racetrack.

For most urban families, 50 Gold Coins was an amount they could afford after saving for two or three years. It was a little pricey, but still within reach.

Besides, most of the families who came to watch the race were already well-off.

For a moment, selling cars at the racetrack had the same frenzy as a fish market at dawn.

A large number of spectators scrambled to raise their placards, and some even rushed down from the stands, running straight for Benz, terrified of their orders being missed.

In their view, even if the car’s production cost was low, the current price was outrageous. They figured the company had just opened and was trying to break into the market by selling at cost, or perhaps even at a slight loss. The price would definitely increase later.

Many people in the crowd were already thinking of hoarding them to resell later.

Soon, the number of orders surpassed a thousand.

Down below, the owner of Slade Workshop fell into a brief daze, unable to process what was happening.

It wasn’t until the owner of another workshop shouted, "It’s over, it’s all over! How can he sell them for 50 Gold Coins? He’s crazy, completely insane! This is malicious competition, just so he can win that bet against us..."

Boss Slade gradually came to his senses. Hearing his colleague’s strained, cracking voice, he said angrily, "Is he crazy, or are you? Do you really think he’d do business at a loss just for a bet of One Gold Coin per extra order?"

As a leading figure in the Magic-guided Vehicle industry, he quickly regained his composure and began to think.

’There’s something wrong here. Definitely something wrong.’

’There’s no reason for the costs to be that low.’

A single Magic-guided Vehicle required at least twelve experienced craftsmen working at full capacity for five months, on top of already expensive materials. Although they sold for tens of thousands of Gold Coins, the profit was usually only two or three thousand.

The industry’s average profit margin was about three to four percent; getting up to five was considered highly profitable.

As a luxury item, it was completely unlike other luxury goods where you could create huge profit margins just by telling a good story.

’Even if the car doesn’t use Magic, don’t those purely mechanical structures still require experienced craftsmen?’

When Benz was making adjustments to the car, Boss Slade had seen the structure under the Victory’s hood.

’There’s no way that was just slapped together.’

’So the Victory must be making money from somewhere else. Maybe their strategy is to sell the car, and then make money on some kind of essential consumable for it.’

’Yes, that has to be it.’

’The Zog-Benz car... isn’t there also a Zog involved? Their game consoles sell very cheaply, but you have to pay extra for the games on them, and they’re quite expensive.’

’The car must follow the same model. First, they use cheap cars to seize the market, driving traditional car workshops like us out of business, and then they establish a monopoly.’

’Once they have that, they can charge whatever they want.’

Boss Slade’s train of thought suddenly cleared. ’Of course. How could a car possibly be that cheap?’

’The next step is to find out what they’re really making money on.’

’What does a car absolutely require?’

Boss Slade racked his brain, recalling all the details he had seen of the Victory over the past few days. What else was different from a Magic-guided Vehicle?

’Energy. Yes, the energy source.’

’The car doesn’t use Magic, so it must use something else for power. No machine can run without an energy source.’

He remembered seeing Benz pouring something into the car from a barrel.

Magic-guided Vehicles are infused with enough Magic Power at the factory to run for tens of thousands of kilometers, because Magic Power isn’t easy to obtain, thus saving the owner from frequent refills.

The Victory, however, had been refilled from a barrel several times in just the last few days.

Although he didn’t know what it was, he was certain that was how they planned to make their money.

Believing he had grasped the lifeline of the Zog Benz Workshop, Boss Slade immediately rushed onto the stage. He was going to expose Benz’s little trick.

"Calm down, everyone, calm down! Listen to me for a moment."

He snatched the microphone from Benz and shouted urgently.

Benz wasn’t nervous. He motioned for him to say his piece, content to watch the performance.

"We’re businessmen, all of us! Do you not know what we’re like? There’s no way we’d let you get something for nothing!"

As soon as he said this, the noisy crowd suddenly fell silent.

Thinking about it, it was true. Why would a businessman sell things at a loss? One by one, they turned to hear what Boss Slade had to say.

"He’s selling you this car at a low price now so he can make back multiples of that from you later on the energy source! Has he ever once told you what this car needs to run!"

After speaking, Boss Slade glanced at Benz, unable to hide a smug look.

Hearing this, the others in the audience also looked at Benz with a hint of suspicion.

"Yeah, what kind of energy does the Victory use?"

"Right, what if we can’t afford the energy source? Will we buy it just for it to become a pile of scrap metal?"

Benz didn’t answer directly. Words alone wouldn’t be convincing. Instead, he wheeled over a metal barrel and poured out some of the dark yellow, translucent liquid from inside.

"This is the fuel the Victory uses. Gasoline."

"What’s gasoline?"

Someone from the crowd below asked. The word "gasoline" was unfamiliar to them.

"It’s a fuel extracted from petroleum. It’s a relatively new technology, but it will become widespread very soon."