Because the truck order includes at least five thousand trucks, maintenance in the future will also be quite troublesome.
Therefore, Benz and the Russian side agreed that Benz Automobile Factory would build at least three car repair factories in Russia. Russia would be responsible for funding, Benz Automobile Factory would be responsible for providing technology, and Benz would own 40 percent of the shares.
In this way, Russian trucks can be repaired domestically when problems arise, not only greatly shortening the time needed for truck maintenance but also improving the efficiency of truck maintenance.
For Russia, the maintenance factories they build themselves can also save some maintenance costs. In short, anything that saves money is welcomed by the Russian government.
To celebrate the completion of both parties' orders, Benz held a celebratory banquet on behalf of the car factory and gave a small gift to all members of the Russian diplomatic team.
The banquet was of reasonable scale, at least the Russian diplomatic team was quite satisfied.
Since the order was signed in early October, the latest delivery time for the trucks agreed by both parties was the end of April 1914.
If all goes well, the Benz Automobile Factory will be in continuous production for the next six months.
After all, trucks are consumables, and especially in wartime, truck damage is very common.
After the truck order was signed, the Russian diplomatic team did not rush to leave, but temporarily stayed in Sydney.
For Russia, in the next few days, the Empress Maria Battleship and Catherine the Great Battleship will soon enter service.
The warship orders for these two battleships were signed with Australasia in 1910, and three years have passed since then.
As early as the middle of last year, the two monarch-class battleships, Empress Maria and Catherine the Great, had been successfully built and entered the water-testing stage.
Now more than a year has passed, and the sea voyage test phase of the two battleships has been successfully completed, and they can be officially taken over by Russian navy soldiers and officially in service with the Russian navy.
In addition, the remaining two main battleships of the naval order at that time, the Gangut Battleship Cruiser and the Sevastopol Battleship Cruiser, will also be launched for water testing this month.
For the Russian Navy, this can be considered a double happiness. Because of this, the Russian diplomatic visiting team also brought many Russian navy soldiers, ready to officially take over the two battleships.
Sydney in October is in the spring, and the climate is very suitable for traveling. Warm sunshine and colorful flowers and plants everywhere make Sydney beautiful like a dream city.
However, for the Russian diplomatic team and Russian navy soldiers at this time, there are not too many mindsets to appreciate this beautiful scenery.
The joy of having two battleships soon is more tempting than the panoramic views.
For these navy soldiers, nothing is more attractive than two brand new battleships of their own unless it is two even more powerful battleships.
But given Russia's current financial situation, it should not build a large number of battleships in the short term.
After all, compared to the threat on the sea, most of the threats from Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire come from the land.
Today's Sydney harbor has a touch of festivity.
Flowers are everywhere in the harbor, and many onlookers have surrounded the harbor to witness the new battleships' journey to service together.
Although these two battleships do not belong to Australasia, they were built by Australasia, so the people of Australasia also attach great importance.
However, the order size of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy paled in comparison to that of other powerful nations.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire ordered 1,500 trucks, with a ratio of two big trucks to one small truck.
Italy ordered 1,000 trucks, with a ratio of one big truck to one small truck.
Now, the Allied nations had another aspect in which they lagged behind the Allies - the quantity of military trucks.
Over 12,000 military trucks were ordered by the Allies, while the Allied nations had only 5,500.
Regardless, all these truck orders were signed with the Benz Car Factory.
This meant that the more than 10,000 trucks would bring considerable profits to Arthur. Even with preliminary estimates, pure profits could exceed one million Australian dollars.
These profits alone were enough for Arthur to equip the military with 2,000 B2 type trucks, demonstrating how much money Arthur had made this time.
It was worth mentioning that the truck buying frenzy among the major powers of Europe also led to a significant expansion in the truck market.
Some European nations followed suit, and although their numbers were not large, they added up to several thousand trucks.
Perhaps most notably, the American government signed an order with American car factories for 3,000 trucks, showcasing their nouveau riche nature.
Arthur even believed that if it weren't for the small size of the United States Army, the number of trucks ordered in the United States would increase.
Apart from these countries purchasing trucks for military use, the smaller B1 type trucks were popular and increasingly sold among European and American civilians.
According to the report from the Benz Car Factory, since the major powers of Europe began purchasing trucks, sales of Benz trucks in European and American civilians had grown by more than 30%.
Of course, unlike military customers who generally favored large trucks, civilians preferred the smaller B1 type trucks.
After all, for private individuals, larger trucks were not only more expensive, but their massive cargo capacity was not necessary either.
The small trucks with a 1.5-tonne carrying capacity were more than sufficient, and even faster speeds allowed truck owners to complete transportation tasks more quickly.
As the world went on a truck buying spree, Arthur naturally wouldn't miss out. However, compared to other countries and civilians, Arthur's truck purchases were really made at cost price.
After all, the car factory belonged to Arthur, and he had the final say on pricing.
With the massive annual profits from Benz One, Arthur had no worries about the Benz Car Factory facing a debt crisis even if they lost some money on trucks.
After consulting with Defense Secretary Raul, Arthur officially finalized an order at a cabinet meeting containing 500 B1 type trucks and 1,500 B2 type trucks.
The total cost of this order amounted to 1.28 million Australian dollars, which was precisely the profit earned by Benz Car Factory this time.
This expense was not significant to the current affluent government, so the cabinet quickly approved Arthur's decision.
Australasia's truck requirements were not as urgent as Russia's pressing orders.
Considering there wasn't much spare capacity to produce domestic orders after producing Russia's truck orders, Arthur set the delivery of trucks by the end of 1914. Over a year, it was entirely enough for the Benz Car Factory to produce these trucks.