Quote:
Originally Posted by Irace86.2.0
Well remember that they are selling a flex fuel kit, a CARB/legal tune, an ECUTEK, and a license for ECUTEK. It adds up, but I’m also talking about something for like FI kits....
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it doesn't add up enough though is the real problem.
for headlights, just a single certification cycle, for a single light can run at least $10k to verify it passes all federal standards in light output, and environmental effects.
screw up just once, and that's a second round of tests for that single light, adding up to $20k.
emissions testing is going to have somewhat similar testing costs/certification processes.
extrapolate the costs again per test, per model year, per expected sale, and then compare how many of each vehicle was produced vs how many would be anticipated to buy the product-- i would venture a guess that vehicle tunes account for less than 30% of any vehicle model.
dodge can justify getting their hellcat certified because they're not selling just hellcats. they're probably losing money on that overall, but the other models within the brand are paying the way to allow the marketing of the hellcat. plenty of soccer dad's going to the dodge dealer to drool over the hellcat only to buy another rational suv... the 'boring' is paying for the 'exciting' there.
for a company that only sells tuning and tuning accessories, the typical 10-20% markup on everything isn't enough to cover all these extra tests. they'd have to increase pricing even further, which would price more people out, and make it less popular, and lower profits even more.