enjoyebooks Chapter 534: The First Vehicle of the Vehicle Industry
Chapter 534: The First Vehicle of the Vehicle Industry
The Mackinaw had been Thorton's ambitious failure.
Its product managers had stuffed it full of features its target customers could never afford, creating a complete oddity in the process.
Strangely enough, through a series of coincidences, Leo had grown rather attached to that oddball model.
Fortunately, the Mackinaw brand itself...
The brand still belonged to Thorton.
But it was obvious where the true lineage now lay.
Mackinaw General Vehicle Manufacturing Company.
Although Sherman was listed as the legal representative, the company essentially belonged to Leo.
After all, it was registered in Night City.
Before acquiring the company, Leo's vehicle-related operations had been split across several groups.
The Aldecaldos handled off-road vehicle modifications.
The 6th Street Gang specialized in urban combat vehicles.
The Tyger Claws mainly worked on motorcycles, though on a much smaller scale.
To a gang, these mechanics counted as intellectuals.
But at the end of the day, they were mechanics.
They could modify vehicles just fine.
Building an entire vehicle from scratch?
That wasn't their specialty.
There were plenty of engineers on the Marvel side.
But that world also needed manpower right now. They couldn't spend all their time guiding production in another universe.
Sherman, however, had a complete engineering team.
Mechanical engineers.
Electrical engineers.
Systems integration engineers.
Manufacturing engineers.
Materials engineers.
Quality engineers.
And Sherman himself was an experienced project manager.
Before the Mackinaw team had been spun off from Thorton, Leo had never allowed them access to the technologies used in Big Wheat.
The most they could do was offer basic guidance.
Run some wiring.
Provide practical advice.
Nothing more.
Now things were different.
They could directly coordinate with the Aldecaldos at Redshirt Foundry.
They could forge Cronititan.
They could manufacture real Mackinaws according to demand.
Real Mackinaws.
Not the fake ones Thorton sold.
Although Mackinaw General Vehicle Manufacturing hadn't completed all of its paperwork yet, it could already begin preparing its flagship product.
The vehicle was based on the original Mackinaw pickup's exterior design.
It incorporated technologies from both worlds.
Its production data had been personally refined by Big Wheat, the vehicle AI.
And the manufacturing process would be conducted simultaneously by workers and engineers from both universes.
One goal was helping the African Union strengthen its industrial base, lowering material costs for things like graphene batteries and Cronititan.
The other was improving Atlas Group's supply-chain stability.
If you wanted to fight a war, you had to reduce dependence on outside suppliers.
All of Atlas Group's current vehicles were designed by Atlas but manufactured by other companies.
That arrangement wasn't reliable.
Especially not during wartime.
[Cross-Dimensional Industrial Product Added: Mackinaw Mammoth (Vehicle)]
[Description: A civilian vehicle independently produced through the complete industrial chain of Atlas Group and the Night City Burger King Criminal Organization. Uses Cronititan in place of conventional high-strength steel framing, distributed graphene battery systems, and a vehicle AI whose intelligence is second only to Dangerous Threshold Entities. The AI assists with vehicle control and can load weapon databases for intelligent fire-control functions. Although marketed as a civilian vehicle, it can easily be converted for military use—and most buyers do exactly that.]
[Specifications: 800-horsepower Vulture VUL21 Engine (Hybrid Gas/Electric); Curb Weight: 4,536 kg; Top Speed: 300 km/h; Chassis capable of surviving a 20 kg TNT-equivalent mine blast; Vehicle AI; Full-Time Four-Wheel Drive.]
[Current Cross-Dimensional Industrial Categories: Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology (Level 1); Vehicles (Level 1)]
[Quantum Resonance (Level 1): Reduces yield losses caused by process fluctuations, human factors, design-tolerance deviations, and other uncontrollable variables. Improves manufacturing efficiency and product quality toward ideal values.]
Engineers from both worlds divided production-line data into modular packages and embedded them into skill chips.
Workers only needed basic training before becoming productive.
Training times were dramatically shortened.
Security was improved as well.
Once the vehicle design had been fully integrated, Leo glanced at his system panel.
It was probably time to start refining his supply chains and industries properly.
[Message from the Other World:]
[Sherman: Holy shit... boss... aren't these specs a little ridiculous? This vehicle...]
[Leo: What do you think it can sell for?]
[Sherman: Uh... I'd need to see the production costs first. Based on my understanding of the market... maybe... honestly, I'm not sure.]
[Sherman: Boss, military vehicles at this level usually sell somewhere between 100,000 and 200,000 eurodollars. Ours might be a little too high-end.]
[Leo: Then sell it at that price.]
As an entry-level Mackinaw, the Mammoth completely outperformed competitors in the same class.
And not by a little.
That created a problem.
Leo viewed it as an entry-level armored vehicle.
Sherman looked at it and thought it could probably arm-wrestle a Behemoth armored transport.
The 800 horsepower alone was absurdly excessive.
Then there was the chassis.
A 20-kilogram TNT-resistant chassis was already reaching Militech-grade standards.
A brand-new startup's first vehicle possessing the same quality level as a multinational military-industrial giant...
Traditional pricing models suddenly felt unreliable.
Still, because Leo hadn't included R&D costs in the calculations, manufacturing expenses were surprisingly manageable.
Most of the cost came from Cronititan and graphene batteries.
The remaining high-strength steel and components...
They were practically dirt cheap.
Selling for 200,000 eurodollars would still be profitable.
Just less profitable.
[Sherman: Then our production capacity... well, technically we don't have production capacity yet. But armored vehicles usually require government approval and certified buyers. Unless we find another sales channel...]
[Leo: There will be other channels. Finish setting up the lines.]
[Sherman: Got it, boss. El Capitan says he wants one too. What do you think?]
[Leo: Don't bother me with small stuff.]
The first vehicle was reserved for David.
The kid had good luck.
He would become Mackinaw General Vehicle Manufacturing's first customer.
The vehicle would even serve as the base model for presidential transport vehicles on the Marvel side.
As for who bought the next one?
That hardly mattered.
Leo stood from the control station and headed toward the reception room.
David was reliable.
A little dumb, maybe.
But reliable.
He didn't seem like the type who would suddenly betray someone.
His team, on the other hand...
That was another matter entirely.
Hopefully they wouldn't screw things up and would actually uncover whatever information that agent possessed.
Leaving the control room behind, Leo stepped into his private elevator and headed toward the reception area.
The reception room was located deep beneath Atlas Headquarters.
A very discreet place.
Frankly speaking, if someone were killed there, it would probably become an unsolved case.
Pepper and Happy definitely seemed desperate.
Unless...
Tony Stark had actually been kidnapped by Roxxon.