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The really difficult and expensive part is manufacturing decent cars, at scale. The profit margins on that part generally suck - so Capitalism says "hahaha...N

The really difficult and expensive part is manufacturing decent cars, at scale. The profit margins on that part generally suck - so Capitalism says "hahaha...NO". The pretty-easy-and-cheap part is adding glitzy screens to cars. Doing that gets most people all excited...and willing to shell out far more money. In an extremely well-run socialist country, there'd probably be good, low-tech electric cars.

jerf 2y ago
The car industry has an unusual profit curve. They have huge, huge fixed costs. It's not just the factory, it's the testing, compliance, marketing, etc. However, the price you pay for a car is substantially more than the marginal cost of producing it. So that industry is a famine-or-feast industry. Either they are losing money in mind-boggling quantities, or they are making money in mind-boggling quantities. There is not a lot of in between. Unfortunately, the connection to the question the original poster asked is that they basically can't risk not selling a car because it doesn't have some hot feature that most of the market wants, so you won't see a screen-free car made today. Putting $100 of hardware in to seal the deal is a no-brainer in their profit model. (Though they will trim every penny on it, as they do everything else; it may seem like a contradiction but if you think about it enough it'll make sense. Consider the term "bullet-point feature" in our industry.) Until the market as a whole screams for it, it won't exist.
- lotsofpulp 2y ago
  >So that industry is a famine-or-feast industry. Either they are losing money in mind-boggling quantities, or they are making money in mind-boggling quantities. There is not a lot of in between. Search profit margins for Toyota/Ford/Volkswagen/Mercedes/BMW/Honda/etc All are in the 5% to 10% range, which is objectively a middle of the road profit margin. Mind boggling is what tech/oil/pharma/finance does, at 20%, 30%, even 40%+ profit margins. Which is why they are at the top of market cap rankings. https://companiesmarketcap.com/ https://companiesmarketcap.com/
  - AtlasBarfed 2y ago
    Tesla's I'd allegedly way better. And when sodium ion hits volume at 200 wh/kg in a year or two, look out Which is why the question is valid for EVs. There's about to be a revolutionary drop in the core cost of a car: batteries, motor, brakes. That's it!
shiroiushi 2y ago
>In an extremely well-run socialist country, there'd probably be good, low-tech electric cars. Yep, that's exactly what happened in the Soviet Union with the Lada... ... depending on your definition of a "good car".

jerf 2y ago

The car industry has an unusual profit curve. They have huge, huge fixed costs. It's not just the factory, it's the testing, compliance, marketing, etc. However, the price you pay for a car is substantially more than the marginal cost of producing it. So that industry is a famine-or-feast industry. Either they are losing money in mind-boggling quantities, or they are making money in mind-boggling quantities. There is not a lot of in between. Unfortunately, the connection to the question the original poster asked is that they basically can't risk not selling a car because it doesn't have some hot feature that most of the market wants, so you won't see a screen-free car made today. Putting $100 of hardware in to seal the deal is a no-brainer in their profit model. (Though they will trim every penny on it, as they do everything else; it may seem like a contradiction but if you think about it enough it'll make sense. Consider the term "bullet-point feature" in our industry.) Until the market as a whole screams for it, it won't exist.

lotsofpulp 2y ago
>So that industry is a famine-or-feast industry. Either they are losing money in mind-boggling quantities, or they are making money in mind-boggling quantities. There is not a lot of in between. Search profit margins for Toyota/Ford/Volkswagen/Mercedes/BMW/Honda/etc All are in the 5% to 10% range, which is objectively a middle of the road profit margin. Mind boggling is what tech/oil/pharma/finance does, at 20%, 30%, even 40%+ profit margins. Which is why they are at the top of market cap rankings. https://companiesmarketcap.com/ https://companiesmarketcap.com/
- AtlasBarfed 2y ago
  Tesla's I'd allegedly way better. And when sodium ion hits volume at 200 wh/kg in a year or two, look out Which is why the question is valid for EVs. There's about to be a revolutionary drop in the core cost of a car: batteries, motor, brakes. That's it!

shiroiushi 2y ago

>In an extremely well-run socialist country, there'd probably be good, low-tech electric cars. Yep, that's exactly what happened in the Soviet Union with the Lada... ... depending on your definition of a "good car".