| dtbdan |
07-17-2018 11:01 PM |
Quote:
Originally Posted by rvoll
(Post 3111341)
So you're familiar with Pahrump. Must be that chicken ranch place you visited there.... We'll see if you're right about the 86 continuing in the next year or so. Every piece of data we see shows it won't. But I'm sure you and @ Tcoat, being kings of the forum, know a lot better. Working with an automotive supplier certainly makes you an expert on everything automotive, especially corporate strategy. My background is in corporate strategy, so we shall see who is right.... From a strategic perspective, this is an easy call. The only question I have is about the BRZ. I don't know the financials and have no idea about profit levels and breakeven calculations as well as relative Subaru corporate ROI's for competing projects or other uses for the manufacturing space. If the 86 is discontinued, the BRZ may even get a slight bump in volume. I suggest we leave this topic alone until the next piece of information comes in. I know you'll never admit I'm right about this even when it happens..... Your turn.....
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Let me swing MY big **** around for a second. My father has worked in product strategy at seperate OEMs, engineering at one of those and is currently the head of product strategy for an OEM of which I will not disclose cause I do value both his and I's privacy a little bit. I work in communications on the motorsport side of a different OEM. Granted neither of us has worked for toyota or subaru but I have had more unfiltered conversations with product people in the AUTOMOTIVE business than almost any journalist, I guarantee that fact. The automotive world is one of the weirdest marketplaces because you have real emotional attachments between your product and customer, but you also have to make money, you're a business after all. Also the people in these companies are just that, people, not boogeymen. If enough people within a company, or a single powerful person wants to build a specific car, that car will be built. Billions of dollars can be spent on a single or a small group of people's pet project just because they wanted to see it happen. "Oh the data doesnt show", that's not all there is. Data helps make a case as to why you should do something, but a lot of people who work in automotive product create what they intuitively think people want to buy, or what will bring people to your company to look at other, more profitable product. Sometimes that is manifested as a rotary shifter because someone thought that lazy people really want a dial to select gears and not a lever, other times its manifested as a stick being offered on a car, and sometimes it's an entire car being created from scratch like the twins. No business is exactly alike, so unless you have actually worked in the automotive business, for an OEM. Do not assume you know what goes on inside, because a lot of times clear logic is not the main factor, personal preferences are what guides special products like the twins. |
