2018 Dodge Challenger T/A

[Zodiac]

Originally Posted by Never Satisfied

I agree....I like this "old platform" so much, I bought a second one to drive daily! Although I did like my 5th gen, that thought never came close to entering my mind while owning it.

That sir is a beautiful photo! Love the cars. Especially the Green Go, biased since that's the color of my Charger.

[The_Blur]

Originally Posted by DGthe3

As for transaction price not mattering if you don't have volume ... thats not true. Total profit is individual profit x volume. You need at least a bit of both. Ideally, you want both to be as big as possible. Thats obvious. But more often than not, in the auto industry its better to sell fewer cars at a higher margin than the opposite. Why do you think car lots are full of loaded top-trim models while base models are seemingly only found on the manufacturers website (or the local rental lot)

Pre-emtive TLDR: Selling in volume doesn't always cover costs. You've got to make more than it costs to produce.

Also, it's important to consider the benefits of less productions from the business side of the house. Have you ever wondered why there seem to be an endless string of one-off high-end luxury and performance cars? Have you ever wondered why there isn't much uncommon competition with the cars normal people drive to work? With lower labor costs and rarity, high-end cars can sell for many times the value of their parts, even if the engineering is poor. A little leather and some bold colors turns a poor performance car into an exclusive 1-of-20 production model that costs $1 million. If you're taking the engine, driveline, and frame off existing platforms (commonly Lotus), you just built a $50k car with minimal labor (basically body work and electrical).

Now take the car in the last paragraph and up volume. You've lost the exclusivity and built a poorly engineered car with few features and exponentially upped the cost of production because you need to pay all of those employees their salaries. After a certain point, there aren't enough Lotus Elise platforms laying around to retrofit, so you also need to build yourself a frame. There's also the additional cost of being a normal production car, which means emissions, safety, and other regulations now apply to your once exclusive product.

In order to get back on topic and to the point, the volume has to have sufficient profit to justify a the existence of the product. As such, you can't sell at cost even if you're the only product on the market. You've got people to feed and you need to keep up with the market, which incurs costs (research, safety, emissions, and a slew of other tests.) With competition, there has to be a value argument to drive sales, and even losing the head-to-head sales game doesn't make for a poor product in terms of business. A great example is the Mustang GT right after the 2010 Camaro SS walked all over its sales and performance numbers. The GT stayed relevant in terms of business because it was more profitable even if drag strips were watching Camaros kill Mustangs every weekend and car lots were selling out of Camaros while Mustangs sat on lots. Mustangs made more profit per unit, but Camaros sold in volume with enough profit to justify its existence and the development of more powerful models. Both made enough money to exist for another generation and got there in different ways.

[McBeevee]

Originally Posted by Zodiac

That sir is a beautiful photo! Love the cars. Especially the Green Go, biased since that's the color of my Charger.

Thanks!
My Hellcat receives it's fair share of looks, but the SPS is probably 3 to 1.

[Bhobbs]

Originally Posted by hotlap

If Aplha2 CT5/4/3 and gen7 Camaro can't support themselves with retail sales, that will be the end...IMO.

Then put the Camaro on a platform with a RWD sedan to replace the SS. Don't burden it with Cadillac's underwhelming performance.