Free Web NovelChapter 1326: Chapter 634: The Space Agency’s Public Announcement - Part 2
The team at Yixing Technology met with several automakers in a row, and sometimes Zhao Yi even made a direct appearance, but in the end, no deal was reached. Then they met with Du Hai, the person in charge of Changyuan Auto.
Zhao Yi was also there.
He laid out the demands of Yixing Technology because after a string of unsuccessful negotiations, he decided to be upfront, "looking for a downstream contract manufacturer."
"We possess the core technology of the power unit, capable of directly producing the product, mostly, and that includes the core design of the exterior."
"We will also perfect the other designs, and this won’t take long."
"At most, in two months, we will start production and hope to manufacture the corresponding products within five months."
After explaining the ’contract manufacturer’ requirement and the timeline, he went on to talk about the ’sincerity’ of Yixing Technology.
Yixing Technology’s direct control over the ’upstream’ could be somewhat aggressive, but having sincerity toward their partners is a must; only with sufficient profit margins is cooperation possible.
In this respect, Zhao Yi was quite generous. He started off by saying, "We’re aware of the problems Changyuan has encountered."
"Yixing can inject funds into Changyuan Auto, supporting the construction of an automobile assembly plant in this industrial park."
"The specific assembly fees can be negotiated, and at the same time, in other areas, such as interior design, auxiliary electronic equipment, and other control components, you are the experts."
"We have a lot of room for cooperation!"
——
The terms proposed by Yixing Technology left Du Hai with no reason to refuse.
What Changyuan Auto needed most was capital, without which it might face bankruptcy. Becoming the ’contract manufacturer’ for Yixing Technology clearly offered a sizable profit margin.
Furthermore, Yixing Technology would also inject funds to support the construction of the corresponding assembly plant.
What Changyuan Auto had to contribute was just a portion of the design and management, utilizing its rich manufacturing technology to help produce the vehicles.
Eventually, both parties reached an agreement.
As for the details of the cooperation, there was no need for Zhao Yi, who used his free time to design a car that looked like it belonged to future technology while comparing several models.
When all the technical details were finalized and the partnership was agreed upon, Yixing Technology also made a public announcement, "Yixing Technology will soon enter the automotive field and will subsequently launch its own brand of Solar Energy Cars."
Solar Energy Cars!
Emphasis on that!
Once the news was released, it immediately sparked heated debate among the public. Unlike many other cases, the majority of the public was skeptical about Yixing Technology’s so-called ’Solar Energy Cars’.
"Solar Energy Cars? Don’t joke! Putting a solar panel on top of a car means it’ll probably only start at noon, right?"
"This is definitely a laughable design!"
"Maybe, Yixing Technology is celebrating April Fool’s Day, their purpose is to entertain."
"This shouldn’t have anything to do with Academician Zhao, should it?"
Actually, in public opinion, people had already associated Yixing Technology with new energy vehicles. There was news within the automotive industry, so it was impossible for the outside world not to know, but it had not sparked discussions previously, mainly because many enterprises were preparing to enter the automotive market, even real estate companies completely unrelated to the field announced direct investments of tens of billions. frёeweɓηovel.coɱ
This was mainly due to the rise of new energy vehicles.
The traditional gasoline vehicle industry was very stable, with the landscape long dominated by large corporations. The competitive gameplay was also only among a few international giants, leaving almost no chance for small businesses and brands to rise.
But the rise of new energy vehicles changed the situation.
Everyone in the industry knew that the rise of a new technological direction meant a chance to disrupt the longstanding industry patterns and carve out a place for themselves.
And some companies had already done so.
A company from the Beautiful Country, utilizing in-depth research into the soft technology of electric vehicles, managed to achieve a reversal in the automotive industry in line with the rise of new energy vehicles.
Even though they incurred massive losses year after year, the company still realized an explosive increase in market value.
As a result, many traditional gasoline vehicle companies also quickly announced their entry into the new energy vehicle market, increasing research and development in related fields.
Yixing, the latecomer among latecomers.
If Yixing Technology had proposed the concept of electric cars, perhaps many people would have bought into it, but the concept of solar energy cars seemed unreliable no matter how one thought about it, as if it was merely an announcement for the sake of publicity.
Not to mention that the automobile industry was skeptical, even the public opinion was unfavorable, with some even sarcastically saying, "Yixing Technology claims to manufacture spacecraft and explore the universe, yet now it has rapidly descended to making cars?" frёeωebɳovel.com
This indeed sounded ironic because, in the public’s mind, the technology for producing cars was on a completely different level from that of exploring the universe.
That incident passed without causing much of a ripple.
A month and a half later, a piece of news was linked with Yixing Technology.
The Aerospace Bureau officially announced, "In three weeks’ time, the Aerospace Bureau will launch a solar satellite developed by Yixing Technology."
"This solar satellite was jointly manufactured by Yixing Technology, Space Information Technology Company, and Advanced Compression Materials Company, with the Aerospace Bureau coordinating the manufacturing and launch tasks."
"At the same time, the rights to use the satellite belong jointly to Yixing Technology, Space Information Technology Company, and the Aerospace Bureau."
Although the announcement stated that four companies cooperated in manufacturing, it was confirmed that Yixing Technology had completed the design work, and furthermore, Yixing Technology had the rights to use the satellite, making it very worthy of investigation.
Taking into consideration the nature of the Aerospace Bureau, Space Information Technology Company, and Advanced Compression Materials Company, it could be confirmed that Yixing Technology was the lead in the development and manufacturing of the solar satellite.
Along with the announcement from the Aerospace Bureau, certain technical details about the satellite were also disclosed.
For example, an orbit at a distance of 100,000 kilometers from the sun.
For example, it would enter its orbit within two months after launch.
And so on.
The first detail was particularly impressive.
Internationally, there are specialized solar research probes such as the Eugene Parker Solar Probe.
The Eugene Parker Solar Probe is a highly advanced probe named after the pioneer of solar wind science, emeritus professor of the University of Chicago and astronomer Eugene Parker.
The Parker Probe is the first spacecraft to fly into the sun’s corona, used to detect encountered plasma, magnetic fields and waves, high-energy particles and dust, as well as observe coronal phenomena on the sun’s surface.
The orbit of this probe also comes to within about seven million kilometers of the sun’s surface.
If it were to approach any closer, the probe could suffer from a series of malfunctions or even direct damage due to the intense influence of the sun.
Now, the Aerospace Bureau’s announcement was quite significant, directly launching a satellite whose orbital distance from the sun’s surface was only 100,000 kilometers.
The Aerospace Bureau did not specify exactly what the satellite was for, but most people subconsciously assumed it was intended for observing the sun.
Yixing Technology was responsible for the core design and manufacture of a probe orbiting the sun at a distance of only 100,000 kilometers from the surface.
"Truly remarkable!"
"Only 100,000 kilometers from the sun’s surface, how was that achieved!"
"So close to the sun, won’t there be problems?"
"But come to think of it, they didn’t make it clear exactly what it’s supposed to observe!"
The external world, uninformed about the compressed materials, was immediately shocked; they also connected this to the large patent fees Yixing Technology had publicly paid to Space Information Technology Company, Advanced Compression Materials Company, and the Aerospace Bureau.
So, the payment of substantial patent fees last time was for the purpose of this solar satellite?
But why, exactly?
Many people were baffled because Yixing Technology was a formal enterprise that needed to strive for profitability, and developing an exploratory satellite seemed to be more a task for the Aerospace Bureau.
Besides, with Yixing Technology having the satellite’s user rights, what would they use it for?
To observe the sun—could that really generate profits?
Even with the most astonishing discoveries, they seemed unrelated to making a profit, right!
