Investor That Can See The Future

Chapter 382

Prime Minister Meisner brought an interpreter who could speak Korean, but he was fluent in English, so there was no need to go through an interpreter.

But surprisingly, Ellie greeted her in German.

I was a little surprised.

“uh! Do you speak German?”

“It’s just a simple conversation. When I was in college, I had a German friend, so I learned a bit.”

“Are you a man?”

Ellie poked me on the side and said in a low voice.

“Please don’t talk nonsense in a place like this.”

“… … .”

You just need to answer, why can’t you speak?

I chatted with Prime Minister Meissner over a drink.

“I respect the Prime Minister. It is a great honor to meet you like this.”

She smiled.

“I also heard a lot from CEO Kang Jin-hoo. You have done some really great things.”

“I was just doing it to make money.”

“If that were the case, we wouldn’t have thrown everything away to prevent damage to Big One.”

Prime Minister Meisner was smiling, but the way he looked at me seemed complicated. Could it be because of Brexit?

Brexit is the worst event since the founding of the EU. It didn’t happen because of me, but I took advantage of that opportunity to make an astronomical profit.

And Germany is a country with a large share of the automobile industry. Benz, BMW, Audi, Volkswagen, Porsche, MAN, etc. In addition to domestic brands, it has acquired Mini, Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Lamborghini, etc. and has them as subsidiaries.

Korea and Japan are also automobile powerhouses, but Germany has an overwhelming market share in the luxury car market, which costs more than $100,000 per unit.

The saying that the car is also a German car is not for nothing.

There was a time when it was my dream to drive a Benz. When I was in school, when Ki Hong-senpai drove my dad’s car, I just sat at the steering wheel and took pictures.

Who would have thought that I would have an automobile company?

Unlike American and Korean companies that joined hands with Karos, German automakers proceeded with independent development, just like Japan.

However, the gap with Karos in the field of future cars is getting wider and wider. At this rate, there was an atmosphere of concern that auto supremacy might be transferred to the United States.

The entire industry was interested in this visit as I could become a competitor or collaborator of German cars.

I was having a conversation with Prime Minister Meissner, and people were buzzing. I looked at the entrance and saw a white man in a suit walking in.

French President Sebastien Blanc.

Now in his early forties, he had a bald forehead, but he looked as good as a movie star.

He is a familiar face that we often see on the news. He helped quickly. He says he was originally scheduled to come tomorrow, but the French side offered to come today.

Ellie spoke to me in a low voice.

“There is no way France can stand still and watch Germany do well.”

Even within the same category of EU, each country has different interests.

He first greeted Prime Minister Meissner. The two leaders looked like old friends.

In general, relations with neighboring countries are not good. Thailand and Vietnam, Ireland and England, Brazil and Argentina, etc.

Originally, mainland Europe was dominated by France, not Germany. Then Germany attacked, and that led to two world wars.

As there have been many struggles in history, Germany and France are as famous as Korea and Japan. However, they are now leading a huge community called the EU by joining hands. (Originally, there was also the UK, but we decided to leave)

It is true that French manufacturing lags behind Germany. However, it turns out that France is also a manufacturing powerhouse.

There are two giant automobile companies, Renault and Peugeot (the quality is not comparable to that of a German car), and it boasts the largest European aerospace industry represented by Airbus.

And there is another area that has another strength: energy.

France’s EDF is a large and beautiful company comparable to Russia’s Rosatom. It accounts for more than 20% of electricity production not only in France but also in Europe.

It should be noted that 80% of the electricity produced depends on nuclear power. In nuclear power and nuclear-related technology, France is not behind anywhere else.

Not to mention nuclear power plant technology, it has high technological prowess in all areas related to electricity such as power generation, management, and transmission.

Other than that, there is no need to even talk about fashion clothes. When it comes to luxury, isn’t it France and Italy?

If the population is small, per capita GDP can exceed $30,000 if only one or two industries, such as finance or IT, do well, but if the population exceeds 50 million, it must do well in all fields.

France has a well-developed industry and has the second-largest economy in the EU after Germany.

Here, France has two things that Germany does not have. The first is the seat of a permanent member of the UN, and the second is nuclear weapons. Therefore, in terms of political diplomacy and military power, it can be said that it is the strongest in Europe.

I greeted President Blanc.

“Nice to meet you.”

When I greeted him in English, he also spoke English naturally.

“Nice to meet you, CEO Kang Jin-hoo. Seeing you in person is much more handsome than seeing it on TV.”

Ellie said hello.

“Good morning. This is Ellie Kim.”

“Wow! I’ve heard rumors, but you’re a really great beauty.”

“It’s overrated.”

“Haha, I enjoyed the video that came out as a model.”

The way she naturally touches Ellie’s body while having a conversation is annoying. Is it the bad habit of French men?

As France’s youngest president, he had a strong image of a young and capable leader in his early days as a leader. But now the rating has changed a bit.

In fact, the current economic situation in France is not very good.

Companies are reducing investment due to the deterioration of the manufacturing economy, jobs are not increasing because there are no factories, and the treatment and welfare of workers have continued to deteriorate.

However, in this situation, President Blanc announced that he would revitalize investment, cut taxes on wealth and capital income, and raise the fuel tax by more than 10 percent.

Oil tax, a tax on oil, was in the past recognized as a tax paid by the wealthy. People without money use public transport, while people with money drive large-displacement cars.

But this is all a thing of the past. These days, newer large cars are more fuel-efficient than old small cars.

And while rich people live in the city center and rarely use a car, ordinary people who cannot afford the high monthly rent are pushed to the outskirts of the city, making it impossible to live without a car.

As a result, the fuel tax is in fact a retrogressive tax, which is paid more by people without money.

The French government has told them to switch to fuel-efficient cars or electric cars, but if they had the money in the first place, then why would they oppose a fuel tax increase?

In the end, the workers exploded, and violent protests took place across France from the end of last year. What had accumulated in the minds of workers exploded due to the fuel tax hike.

The media always criticizes the violence of the Korean union, but if you look at the protests of French workers, this is almost no civil war.

In the end, President Blanc started to evolve to abolish the fuel tax increase, but protests and resignation movements were still continuing.

The two leaders also exchanged greetings with other Korean businessmen besides me.

Everyone had just arrived, so the fatigue of the flight was not relieved. Therefore, the dinner held at the hotel was soon over.

Everyone seemed tired, but they couldn’t rest. Representatives of large companies and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and working-level staff gathered in one place, and the meeting was held until late at night.

“Looking at the atmosphere, it doesn’t seem like it would be easy.”

“Because they know that we are in a bad situation.”

“It is not easy to deal with Germans.”

If Korea and Japan have a trade dispute, which side will Germany and France take? The answer is that neither side takes sides.

And in the meantime, I’ll take care of what I need for both countries.

The fact that we came here in the first place was nothing more than telling us that we were in a position of regret.

Well, I already guessed it.

Realistically, it is impossible to buy all the materials and parts that have been imported from Japan elsewhere. However, even if Korean companies buy only 10% of the core materials and parts they buy from Japan, their dependence on trade with Japan will be greatly reduced.

It’s not like taking off clothes at Dongdaemun and it’s not over. The contract is for 1 year by default.

If Korean companies change suppliers, Japanese companies’ parts cannot be used for a while even if sanctions are lifted later.

“Anyway, the Japanese government imposed sanctions at will, so if they realize that they are at a disadvantage, they will be able to lift the sanctions on their own. The goal is to increase our bargaining power by securing additional suppliers.”

I looked around the staff and said.

“It is us, not over there, that hold the key to the negotiations. So, negotiate with an attitude that you will not negotiate unfavorably.”

* * *

Karos decided to publicly present the new car at the Detroit convention center. He didn’t mention it himself, but everyone guessed what kind of car it was.

It is an electric truck capable of autonomous driving.

Besides Karos, almost all automakers make electric vehicles. However, the electric truck, a commercial vehicle, was another area of ​​challenge.

Nikola was originally due to announce the electric truck Colon this year. However, due to severe financial difficulties, the development plan was practically halted, and the development manpower left in large numbers.

Daryl brought in people from Nikola to spur the development. Rumors circulated that a concept car had already been released or that it was preparing for mass production.

However, the release date was suddenly pushed forward by ten days.(Read more @ wuxiax.com)

In response, some media speculated that it might have something to do with Kang Jin-hoo’s trip to Germany.

In any case, with the media and the general audience gathered, Carlos CEO Daryl took the stage. As usual, he appeared as exhausted as ever, and said in a calm voice.

“The car to be introduced here is an electric truck ADT1 from Karos.”

Karos announced plans to mass-produce electric trucks, and installed self-driving modules on existing Eunsung trucks to show platooning. Even now, platooning of logistics trucks in a row is cruising across the United States.

Except for the lead car, there were no people on board, so there was a lot of concern about accidents, but so far, no accidents have occurred.

Then the curtain rises, revealing ADT1. The shape of the truck designed to reduce the drag coefficient was reminiscent of a high-speed rail.

The biggest problem in the development of electric trucks is the battery. Existing diesel trucks also have a fuel efficiency of 20 percent compared to passenger cars, so electric trucks are equipped with batteries that are several times larger than those of electric vehicles.

You may think that increasing the battery capacity is not enough, but controlling heat and stability while increasing the capacity is not an easy task.

The bigger problem is that as the capacity increases, the charging time also increases.

In logistics, time is money. They are transporting in a hurry to meet the date, but it is impossible to stop for an hour to recharge.

Other automakers have also studied from various angles to solve this problem.

A method of connecting the current collector to a power line like a streetcar or laying a coil under the road to charge wirelessly was discussed. In some countries, it was also piloted on highways frequented by logistics trucks. However, these methods require a lot of initial cost as they eventually have to build the device on the road.

Karos researchers and Professor Homin Kim suggested a different way.

It is a battery replacement system that completely replaces a discharged battery with a fully charged battery.

Daryl posted a video. As the electric truck stopped at the center, the machine pulled out the battery mounted on the bottom and inserted a fully charged battery.

“It takes only 2 minutes to change the ADT1 battery.”

It is a simple method anyone can think of, but the actual process of making it was not so simple. However, Professor Homin Kim did the difficult task. It succeeded in reducing heat generation and securing safety while making a large-capacity replaceable battery.

Another problem was solved naturally by adopting this method. The biggest problem with electric vehicles is price. Logistics trucks are several times more expensive as the battery capacity has increased.

Experts expected it to be at least $250,000.

However, the price announced later was a shock in itself. ADT1 is priced at $150,000. This is similar to the existing diesel trucks.

Even with various autonomous driving technologies and safety devices, it was impossible to come up with such a price.

Daryl smiled lightly.

“As everyone may have been surprised, it is the price of tea. Batteries not included.”

At those words, the people present at the presentation hall had bewildered expressions on their faces. How to drive an electric vehicle without a battery?

“Batteries are rented for a fixed amount as they can be replaced. There will be rental and replacement costs, but will be less than 30% of the original fuel price. ADT1 equipped with cutting-edge autonomous driving technology and OTK battery can significantly reduce labor and fuel costs. It is expected to reduce logistics costs by more than 90 percent compared to conventional diesel trucks.”