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Originally Posted by Hersbird
You keep saying buyers don't want them but you don't know because they are 100% outlawed here, it's a choice taken away by the pro-choice crowd. I am telling you I for one, and I hardly believe I am alone would buy one. With modern global economies and the massive shipping from overseas you don't have to have 100,000 of them to make financial sense. One cargo container at a time works just as well. Point is, it is not allowed.
The nano is more of a $2000 car.
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The Nano was $2k when it was launched. It's now $3k-$4k. If I recall right, they had to add the high end variant because sales of the "stripper" were terrible. (I told you, I've been following the Nano saga for a looong time).
Tata Nano awaits its twist of fate | Business Standard News
Again, in case you aren't getting what I'm saying:
Even poor people did NOT want to buy the $2000 Nano!
This is because a $2k car without air-conditioning or the ability to maintain highway speed doesn't compete with a $10k car. It competes with a $2k motorbike and a $2k used car. Both of which are more appealing.
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As Fat Charlie says, it's all business. If you don't have the volume in sales, you're never going to keep the price that low.
Case in point: The "Sand Reeper"... a Chinese-built UTV that doesn't need to meet strict Federal road safety requirements:
The originals can be purchased in China for $6k:
Utv 4x4 - Buy 4x4 Utv 800cc,Utv 800 4x4,4x4 Utv For Sale Product on Alibaba.com
(A friend and I were talking about importing them to sell a few years back. Buy them in bulk, and they're much cheaper)
But in the US, it goes for twice that. Without airbags, ABS, added crash safety or even power steering.
Low sales volumes increase the cost of shipping, marketing and stocking spare parts. I see some of the newer concerns are claiming production in Mexico. That's a laugh... setting up shop to produce the cars there simply jacks up the price even more. (up to $15k for some vendors)
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Nobody is building your car because they would lose money hand-over-foot on it. Even in countries where you'd expect people to buy them, they're still losing money hand-over-foot (Tata
had to shutter the Nano plant for a spell due to poor sales). What makes you expect them to be successful in America?
You would buy a stripper micro-car. If I were still single,
I would buy a stripper micro-car. But honestly, there aren't enough people like us to make it worth selling.
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This also go me thinking of how safety has added $1000 to every car according to that study from 2001, I wonder if they did the same study how much they would figure the entire powertrain adds to the cost of the car. What do you want to bet that number suddenly makes the $1000 number seem like a much bigger part of the total.
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That's already been answered. The prices from 2001 are bound to go down over the years. But if you need more evidence:
http://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mcki..._supplier.ashx
Scroll down to page 12, where it notes that additional safety equipment added $600 from 2001 - 2010 (and note, no airbag on 01 Camry)... and yet, the actual inflation-adjusted price of the car has gone down. Which means all safety equpment, as well as improvements to the crash structure are being absorbed by the OEMs.
Like I've said before... you get much more nowadays, for less money. If you really want to lower prices, you have to get manufacturers to strip away the luxury options, which add significantly more to the cost of the car than the safety equipment does. And to do that, you have to somehow convince millions of buyers that, no, they don't want satnav, steering wheel controls or heated seats.
