My autobiography is definitely not a tragedy!
Chapter 697 - 435 Press Conference_2

Chapter 697: Chapter 435 Press Conference_2

"I think this launch event is basically the same as a farewell party,"

"Exactly, if they maintain the original price, making one car means losing on one. Now it all depends on how much Mr. Bao is willing to lower the price.

If the price drops by twenty to thirty percent and covers the subsidy reduction gap, maybe they could still sell a few cars."

The journalists in their seats were discussing in groups of threes and twos.

Rather than saying they came to attend the new product launch, it would be more accurate to say they were here to cover a company going bankrupt.

Many journalists had already started creating drafts in their minds, preparing to inquire about the "bankruptcy process" of Idol Motors after the boring launch event...

At this moment, in the front rows, three men were also whispering amongst themselves.

"Ah! Mr. Bao is also considered a veteran in the electric car industry; who would have thought he would end up like this."

"Indeed, the future is always about technology being king. Opting to profit first and then focus on research and development was fundamentally flawed!

Opting for the A00 class of low-end models naturally limits market acceptance from the start, doomed never to challenge high-tier brands.

Even worse, they were too eager to start mass production before the technology was mature, and now it’s just ballooned into a mess.

If the government had given him a few more years, maybe he could have overturned the situation and achieved something, but now it’s too late..."

"Yeah, making electric cars, who doesn’t burn money? I’ve scheduled profitability after 2023. For us entrepreneurs, profitability is actually secondary."

"Actually, this is also good for us. The inferior coins being driven out, so that the good coins can circulate.

With the old forces of electric car manufacturing exiting the market, it’s time for us, the three new powers in car manufacturing, to step onto the historical stage."

"Both Mr. Li’s are right, market and technology, both are indispensable. Comparatively, technology is the core of the core.

In my view, our future competitors are only going to be Tesla..."

"Hehe! Xiao Peng, you are the most technologically savvy among us three. Do you think Mr. Bao’s new car launch will have any surprisingly refreshing highlights?"

"Highlights? I think, the price might be the highlight..."

"Uh... hahaha!"

"Hahaha!"

Just as the three of them were making grand statements, waving away objections, and laughing while waiting to observe "the end of an old era," the lights in the venue suddenly dimmed!

"Snap!" Immediately, the big screen in front of everyone lit up.

However, contrary to everyone’s expectations, it wasn’t the anticipated PowerPoint presentation but a video.

To be precise, it was a unprocessed, high-definition, live-recorded video.

The background seemed to be a spacious workshop, with only a small red mini model parked inside.

Honestly, the design of this car wasn’t outstanding, stronger than antique cars, but its superiority was limited. It didn’t give off any impactful advanced feel at first glance.

Everyone was stunned.

Without any curtain-raising ceremony or such, Idol Company’s new car, the Idol D3, was just blatantly displayed in front of everyone...

"Uh... Did Mr. Bao just give up? Not even caring about basic ceremonial sense?"

The previously optimistic three entrepreneurs were instantly speechless.

Having had some slight hopes for this launch event, they suddenly felt disappointed.

However...

The car in the video started to move.

"Uh... is this... reverse parking?" Everyone was dumbfounded again.

Good heavens, other new car launches show videos too, but those are artistically enhanced, displaying sleek car bodies moving gracefully through various landscapes to inspire consumer desire—an "artistic video."

Are you just directly showing us its rear end as it reverse parks?

Honestly, there’s no aesthetic appeal!

And... it’s actually quite crooked!

The first parking attempt, the lines weren’t followed properly, and the whole car was almost sideways as it parked in the spot.

The venue immediately burst into jeers.

"I took a cab here just to watch this?" "Refund!" "Can you be serious?"

"Is anybody going to explain this?"

"Was the budget not even enough to hire a professional driver?"

Various discussions arose, but it wasn’t over yet.

It seemed that since the parking was crooked, the car began a second attempt to reverse park...

This time, still not following the lines, the car skewed 30 degrees as it parked into the spot.

People on site were already frowning.

On the third attempt, the car parked neatly into the space, but this time it crossed the end line again.

People on site were starting to grit their teeth, as if they desperately wanted to help park the car themselves.

On the fourth try, it entered smoothly, only to slightly bump into the corner, which was not considered a success.

On the fifth attempt, it again entered smoothly, the car was a few centimeters off to the side, but luckily, it was a successful parking.

On the fifth try, the parking was perfect, this time, the car and the parking space were nearly symmetrical.

Many on site with obsessive-compulsive disorder finally breathed a sigh of relief.

However, what followed were sideways parking, no-line parking, obstacle parking, extreme parking...

It seemed there were about a dozen cameras all faithfully recording the car’s movements from various angles, displaying it to the audience...

"What is this? A beginner’s driving school video? What’s the point of showing us this?"

"Protest!"

"Did they play the wrong video?"

The murmurs grew louder, but no staff came forward to explain.

"What do you think Mr. Bao is actually doing? Even if there’s no hope, a proper presentation shouldn’t be this frivolous, right?"

The other two were also frowning, unable to figure out what Mr. Bao was really up to.

Until...

The camera suddenly zoomed out!

For the first time, the full view of the new car, along with about a dozen cameras, was finally captured in full in the frame!

The previously somewhat noisy hall instantly quieted down.

The three in the front row widened their eyes in disbelief.

"This..."

The movements were still the same, it was almost like replaying the previous video, but everyone clearly saw...

The rookie they imagined sitting in the driver’s seat... simply didn’t exist!

The steering wheel turned by itself with no one guiding...

"This... this is autonomous parking?!"

Tech guru Xiao Peng was completely flabbergasted, his mouth agape in disbelief.

An illusion, right?

My company’s Xiao Peng cars has over 400 R&D personnel, and we’ve just imported the head of machine learning algorithms for Autopilot from Tesla, managing to implement junior autonomous parking in our latest sedans...

Your tiny A00-grade microcar, the entire cost wouldn’t cover one of my laser radars...

And now you’re telling me, you’ve achieved autonomous parking?!

The other two exchanged glances and swallowed hard.

The site was terrifyingly quiet, punctuated only by occasional gasps and a series of flashing cameras.

Not until they replayed the previously considered dull parking video from start to finish did the lights slowly brighten.

Unbeknownst to all, Mr. Bao had already stood beside a car covered by a curtain, a smile across his face.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Idol Company’s new car launch event.

I heard some of you cursing just now, so let’s cut to the chase, and allow me to formally introduce our company’s painstakingly developed, latest model for this year..."

"Whoo~" Two beautiful presenters slowly unveiled the red curtain, revealing the true face of the mountain.

It was the same red car shown in the video.

No suspense, no dazzle!

However, everyone was completely blown away by Idol Company’s maneuver!

Holy shit! Autonomous parking in an A00 grade car... how did they do it?

This car is simply defying the heavens!

Mr. Bao looked buoyantly at the audience.

"This product, the Idol D3 model, includes the 2018 base model ’Holy Bean’.

And the upgraded version... ’Saintly Bean’!

And today’s theme of our presentation is—’the car that talks’!"