Early this Tuesday afternoon, Lothur and the Ritter Motor Company's formation masters finished production of the first flawless car!
They had just finished the assembly of this vehicle and were looking at the thing with pride in their eyes.
The thing was bigger than a four-seat carriage and had a shape never before seen in Concordia.
It had four wheels, an extended front end that was over 1.5 meters long, and about 90 centimeters high, followed by a cab that was 1.6 meters high, with a wheelbase of 1.7 meters.
The rear was not extended, only 40 centimeters long, and the trunk was of the straight type, without protuberances.
At the front of the car, two large objects that appeared to be cone-shaped were positioned at the uppermost ends, the place of the front lanterns.
At the rear, square objects, painted red, were positioned at the side ends, halfway up the rear.
Concordia's first car had four doors and a model somewhat reminiscent of the Earth vehicles of the 1960s.
Lothur even had more modern models in mind. Still, due to the complexity of producing these models in present-day Leopoldine, he had opted to make something simpler.
In any case, the engine and steering-related parts were superior to those in a 1960s car. As a result, its heart would look more like that of a car from the 1990s, with some parts that would even only be found in the 2000s.
The windows of all four doors could open with a simple touch, while on its center panel was a vehicle communication formation.
Formations of this type were not uncommon in Leopoldine, but usually, only cultivators above level 10 would have items of this type.
But they were not that popular with even the strongest people, as they had relatively small ranges.
For example, hardly anyone could find a communication formation capable of transmitting and receiving audio of similar items in different provinces of Leopoldine.
However, Lothur had developed a new type of transmitter and receiver for his vehicles.
Each of his vehicles would have this special device, which repeated the waves sent and received between each of the formations in the cars.
The consequence of this? The cars could be used as walking antennas, which would necessarily increase the range of each formation as long as many cars were produced and spread around the place.
These formations would act as signal repeaters, and only the specific formations would receive the desired communications.
Thus, Lothur intended to give his vehicles extra utility and increase their attractiveness!
Moreover, Concordia's first car would not have many more special items. Other than what was necessary to make a car run, seat belts alone attracted attention.
Other things like leather seats and even a sunroof were not entirely new ideas at Concordia.
Anyway, the car in front of those people was red, an eye-catching color to fulfill young Ritter's initial purposes.
"Lothur..." Elke looked at him and spoke this with a twinkle in her eyes, wanting to ask him something. "May I?" She indicated in the direction of the car.
Lothur understood that his wife wanted to be the first to drive, but he could not allow that.
As much as the notion of driving between the kart and the car was not so different, the experience was not the same. Since Lothur did not want his first vehicle to be damaged in a crash, he refused her request.
"I'm sorry to everyone who wants to test the car now. It differs slightly from the kart, so I will drive it." He looked at her and then at his women and the Ritter Motor Company associates in that place.
"However, I will be driving it for four people at a time, so you can understand what it is like to ride in a car." He smiled and gestured. "After you all have a little experience, I will teach you the differences between a kart and car driving and then give you a chance to go for a ride."
The eyes of virtually everyone in the area glazed over, with Lothur's women getting into position first to test drive the car with him.
He saw his associates giving up their turn for him to take them and promptly let his women into that car.
Rebecca was also there since her mistress was an associate of Lothur's, and she was accompanying her to this event.
Since the car had an extra seat, she also got in with the other three.
Viktoria went in the front passenger seat next to Lothur. On the other hand, Annaliese was behind her sister, on the side of the right passenger door. Elke was in the middle, between Annaliese and Rebecca.
Lothur put on his seat belt and looked at those women through the center rearview mirror of the cabin. "Did you put your belts on?" He smiled.
They all nodded, too eager to have trouble with each other at the moment but also to say anything.
Lothur then started the vehicle and put the gear in the starting position before finally releasing the parking brake.
When he did this, the car slowly started to move. Lothur was a bit careful as he was also trying out something relatively new.
He knew how to drive and had done very well in karts. But this first car was a little different from the cars of the time when Lothur lived on earth. Hence, he was careful with that machine in the first few moments, trying to master it before driving more daringly.
However, it would not be long before he would raise the speed of his vehicle and make all his women open their mouths and let out excited sounds, full of happiness.
It was fun to ride in a car!
The sensation could not be compared to riding in a carriage, not only because of the greater mobility of this vehicle compared to that one but also the comfort, speed, etc.
Lothur himself could not contain himself on this first contact and smiled broadly, slowly increasing his car's speed on that factory's test track.
Meanwhile, his partners, employees, and people authorized to be there had smiles on their faces, impressed by the first independent animal-powered vehicle.
Some still had doubts about the capability of this vehicle since a kart and a car had very different needs.
But when they saw Lothur in action, driving over 70 kilometers per hour on the test track, they were all convinced that the car could fulfill all its promises.
The most satisfied among all these people were Lothur's partners, especially the leader of the Frost family, who had one of the largest shares in this company.
Aiken had a wide smile on his face as he clasped his hands in excitement, feeling eager to test drive the first car but even more eager for the day when his family would reap the dividends of the Ritter Motor Company.
'From now on, we will be able to do so much more for the youths in the family!' He thought to himself just before Lothur finished his first lap.
So the next two hours would be Lothur's time to let everyone get a taste of a car, followed by teaching them about driving it.
The people from the driving school were there to learn and then teach the others.
The rest of the day would be just that for most people, while everyone who finished could not contain their emotions, waiting for the day when they could drive cars outside the factory.
But that would not take long!
In the coming days, Lothur and his employees will continue the production of cars of the first successful model!