"We Build Confusion"

[evok]

Tell that to porsche; their SUV is keeping their head above water.

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Not anymore.

Sedan/928 are a go for '09.

Niche product is where it's at nowadays. (see 4 dr. coupes, crossovers, small MAV).

The next segment creation yields much smaller total numbers. (No more 64 Stangs, more Hummer H3's or MercB CLS's)

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Economics of Scope!

[enzl]

Not anymore.

Sedan/928 are a go for '09.

Niche product is where it's at nowadays. (see 4 dr. coupes, crossovers, small MAV).

The next segment creation yields much smaller total numbers. (No more 64 Stangs, more Hummer H3's or MercB CLS's)

177303[/snapback]

Economics of Scope!

177308[/snapback]

And having the luxury of overcharging for every car you sell (in the case of Porsche).

That always makes the economics work....(unlike VW, where it takes twice as long to make average product without (nearly) the premium).

[evok]

And having the luxury of overcharging for every car you sell (in the case of Porsche).

That always makes the economics work....(unlike VW, where it takes twice as long to make average product without (nearly) the premium).

177313[/snapback]

But Economics of Scope is the future of Autodom. The days of large scale volume are just about over for all but a few nameplates. OEMs today are going to have to be very savy in controling piece cost on component sets as well as small batch build flexibility at the plants. At the same time accounting for premium pricing with innovative optioning of the model.

It is at the point right now where any product that sells 100k - 50k is high volume. Manufacturers are going to have to leverage platforms and pricing to be profitable with more models at sbustancially lower volumes.

Porsche is doing very well at that strategy. Now the rest of autodom needs to follow that lead. Now that needs to be translated to mainstream brands.

Kappa would be a start to a great experiment.