Quote:
Originally Posted by Hersbird
I have trouble buying the paint process is all that expensive. It really doesn't cost more to paint a $12,000 car vs a $60,000 car yet a $60,000 car easily could have a $12,000 powertrain in it. If the paint process costs more than the powertrain on said car then painting a $12,000 car would cost more than $12,000.
Also if say $5-10k could be saved per car by not painting somebody would have done that in large numbers long ago. Also even with say stainless steel, some of those corrosion steps are still going to be needed as stainless isn't corrosion proof on it's own and what about all the metal under the stainless, is it also stainless? Just the material cost of using stainless rather than mild steel is going to be similar to the painting cost IMO. It's a wash.
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Others have tried, but it was not the non-painted car that was their downfall.
Delorean had his cocaine issues.
Saturn toyed with plastic panels for cars, and Chrysler was going to... until it ran into trouble and got bought (See CCV concept and plant in China that eventually lead to the technology used to make Jeep removable hardtops).
Others that thought about it have looked at it.
Motorcycles, especially those of the sport and offroad variety, ditched metal for plastic body and fenders a long time ago.
And again, even if the cost of the paint was the same, the time saved has to be huge.