NOVEL NEXT Chapter 1047: Exploding Sales!!! (2)
The scent of Jasmine that wafted from inside the shop was like a breath of fresh air on a rainy night. Despite only waiting for 30 minutes, Murthyunjaya, who was a person who never waited for anything, was extremely irritated. But, when the scent of Jasmine hit his senses, his whole body felt energised and his mind completely relaxed.
The irritation he was feeling due to waiting for so long and taking the spot from an untouchable completely disappeared.
Looking around, the shop was mostly empty. It was unlike any other shop he had ever seen; it was less of a shop and more of an art gallery, because throughout the walls of the shop, there were nothing but paintings of various carriages, bicycles, tricycles, locomotives, and even that of the steam engine car he was about to buy.
There was still sawdust on the floor, so he could tell that the work of the shop was yet to be completed, but his gaze, which was wandering around, was finally attracted by a young woman, quite beautiful if he said so himself, who came before him with a sweet smile on her face.
"Good morning, Sir. My name is Preeti. Would you be interested in looking at the brochure of the A7?"
Murthyunjaya put on an amiable expression and nodded, "That would be perfect, thank you."
"No trouble, here you go, sir."
If Murthyunjaya was being completely honest, he didn't want to see the brochure since he already knew he wanted to buy the car, but in order to stay within the shop for a longer time and gloat over the people who were waiting outside, he chose to take his time. Besides, the people who went before him did the same thing, which is one of the reasons he was so irritated. Why should he be the only one who is annoyed? Let's share the annoyance with everyone.
With a smug grin, he slowly turned the brochure, which explained everything about the Aakarsh A7, the first generation steam-powered car of the Aakarsh Mobility Group, that is put into production.
At first, it was just a formality, but as he turned, he grew attracted by the information. It said that the car can not only travel over 20 kilometres with its coal and water filled, it can even carry loads of up to 100 kilogrammes with two people, not to mention it can run at a speed of 35KM per hour, which is even faster than the fastest horses he owns. It's almost catching up with the Raja Vamshi Horses of His Majesty the Emperor.
The luxurious leather seats, food compartment, a wooden roof, and even a spare rubber tyre all continued to further attract him.
"I would like to place an order, miss. How should I go about it?"
Preethi, who was silently waiting for the client to finish observing the brochure, smiled like a pear blossom when the customer wanted to purchase the car.
"The on-road price of the car is 100,000 Varaha, Sir. Including the 15% tax on steam cars newly introduced by the Ministry of Finance, it will cost you 115,000 Varaha."
"However, Sir, I have to inform you that the government policy states that we cannot completely register the car under your name unless you have a driver's licence."
"Driver's licence?"
"Yes, Sir, driver's licence. The Ministry of Transportation has come up with a regulation that restricts cars from being driven by anyone without a driver's licence."
"You see, Sir, these steam-powered cars are not easy to handle by anyone due to their speed, and due to their nature, where, if the driver is not skilled enough, they have the ability to cause huge accidents, a driver's licence has been made mandatory."
Murthyunjaya was caught off guard, but he was a smart man. He quickly determined the reasoning behind it, "Well, it makes sense. The horses, if they see something obstructing, know when to stop even without human intervention, but this...car...being completely driven by a driver does not stop if the driver does not stop."
" But since this is the case, why is your company already selling the car?" He was intrigued.
" Um, yes, Sir, about that, undoubtedly we are not allowed to legally register the car in your name unless you have a driver's licence. However, you can put down a deposit, let's say 20% of the on-road price, and we can reserve a car for you. "
" In the meantime, you can visit the branch of the Ministry of Transportation in the city and take some classes and obtain your driver's licence."
"Once you show us your driver's licence, we will deliver the car to your location, wherever within the empire and collect the remaining money along with the transportation charges, however much they may incur."
Murthyunjaya thought about it and nodded, "Alright, let's do that."
"Yes, you made the right decision. Please come this way. I will handle the paperwork."
In such a way, in several major cities across the empire, cars as well as tractors were being sold like fresh coconuts during a summer afternoon.
Raya Power Company had manufactured over 2,000 M and T series engines each, and each and every car manufacturing company and tractor manufacturing company got a quota of these engines according to their standings.
Aakarsh Group of Companies, being the parent of the top carriage, locomotive, bicycle, and tricycle manufacturer, naturally got a large share of 400 Balwaan engines, and the rest of the companies got a share of anywhere from 100 to 250. As for Vijay's own Raya Mobility, he only got 20 engines, the lowest allocation to any company. Of course, it was not a mistake, Vijay himself made the decision for allocation, and the reason he chose such a low number was because his company was taking the high-end route, and according to the knowledge that is extremely common in the future, high-end products run on scarcity.
So with the 20 engines he had gotten, he had asked Raya Mobility to custom build twenty different cars that he would gift to his vassals, reserving five cars for his own family of course.
But in only 48 hours of the sales starting, all 2,000 cars were sold out, be it the A7, Veer, S-12, or the cult classic among the youth, Vishwakarma V1, and people began to place orders for new cars.
As for the tractors, the entire stock was sold within a day. Due to large-scale farming being popular in the Bharatiya Empire, and large farms being run by corporate entities, their eyes were red as soon as they heard that a new tractor was on the market, which was cheaper than the earliest steam-powered tractor manufactured by Gaur Industrial Tools, much more reliable, more fuel efficient, and more importantly, it could actually turn on its own without having to manually move it.
They quickly gobbled up the entire 2,000 tractors within a day, and 1,000 of those tractors were sold by Gaur Bhumiputhra alone. The Bhumiputhra G47 became the headline of almost all newspapers across the empire.
Bharatham Daily:
"Bhumiputhra G47 Tractors Sell Out in a Day, Farmers Rejoice!"
Times of Bharat:
"Record-Breaking Demand: 2,000 Tractors Gone in 24 Hours!"
The Observer:
"G47 Tractor Craze Sweeps the Empire: 1,000 Units Sold by Gaur Bhumiputhra"
Bangla Barta:
"Bhumiputhra G47 Tractors Trigger Farming Revolution Across Pala Nagari; New Competition Looms for Textile Industry?"
My Hampi:
"Tulu Farmers Snap Up Bhumiputhra G47 in Just One Day"
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Driven by the automobile industry that had just taken shape, the spare parts industry clustered around the automobile manufacturers began to prosper. The industry that saw the biggest growth was the tyre industry.
Due to Vijay's foresight, rubber had been planted throughout the Northeast in places where rubber could be grown. It was planted in the overseas vassal kingdoms and the territories as well. It had been almost two decades since he took the initiative. Now, two decades later, the rubber saplings had become forests, and it was time to harvest the profits.
Rubber from all over the eastern hemisphere and from within the empire began to funnel into Agartala, which had unconsciously become the rubber capital of the east.
Over 60% of all rubber manufactured for tyres began to be produced in Agartala. Noticing the economic change, the Chief Minister of Ahom, Utpal, immediately established a state-level special economic zone around Agartala, declared it the rubber industrial zone, and applied to the Ministry of Special Affairs to recognise the rubber special economic zone at a national level and direct more resources to develop the rubber SEZ.
With the introduction of locomotives and now the steam-powered cars and tractors, the demand for coal continuously increased, allowing for mineral exploration and mining companies to see growth in their market value that was only seen decades ago when the atmospheric engine was first introduced.
A similar situation was found in the iron and steel industries, as well as the human resources industries, as the job market was literally exploding out of proportion.
Unfortunately, a coin has two sides, so just like how the Balwaan 4th generation engine has literally revolutionised and transformed how transportation happens, it also put a lot of people out of jobs, be it farm workers who are still required to tend the farms, or the carriage drivers throughout the empire, not to mention the horses and oxen that had carried human civilization on their backs for the entire history of humanity that will be abandoned.
Although the effects of this are not yet visible in society, because the output of the cars and tractors is still too low, it is inevitable that the problem will occur, if not today, then tomorrow.