Quote:
Originally Posted by Dadhawk
Makes me think that the decision to "86" (hah, see what I did there?) Scion came after the 2017MY supply chain purchases/plans had been finalized. Not sure how far in advance that is, maybe @ Tcoat could estimate. |
Well with the disclaimer that the parts I have always been involved with were mechanical so did not usually change much between 3 or 4 model years we can still make some assumptions based on industry "norms".
Parts contracts are usually planned and contracted in 3 year segments. The contracts would included exactly how the part is to be made, all of it's specifications and precisely how many are to be provided when. The car manufactures do not want to stock 3 years worth of parts and neither do the parts suppliers. Warehoused parts are losing money fast.
For the badging I would think the first contract would have run from late 2011 to MY end 2014 with the notice of retender bids going out early 2014. The next contract would run from 2-14 through the end of 2017 with the retender occurring early next year. I know we are only talking badges here so in the big picture the cost are minimal but we are talking about companies that will change suppliers over a tenth of a cent per piece price difference so timing is important.
So, we do know that originally they made the statement that the 2017s at least would remain FRS but now they have changed their mind and decided to go the 86 route. Since they already had planned to rebadge to Toyota anyway that takes all badges other than the FRS trunk badge out of the equation.
My best (educated) guess is that somebody talked to the supplier and checked on the status of FRS badge stock and received the reply of "Meh there are so few required who cares." They probably had enough for the current run and since they already make the 86 badge there is no tool up costs and they just simply make more. Doubt there were any change of contract penalties or costs associated with this since it is such a low cost and volume part. They could have decided this last week and it would have almost zero impact with the purchasing group. Mind you it could also have been decided 2 years ago and somebody just screwed up their facts about the model name in the original Scion announcement. We will never know.
Now... if they all of a sudden decided they wanted to change the bumpers, rotor, engine, seats, etc that would have cost them huge in penalties and contract changes. Those contracts, including all the changed part's details details (such as volumes) were probably planned and signed back in 2014.
Wow that was a lot to write about a three letter badge!