Last Year's Model, a downturn phenom
When I was a kid, I wondered whether it would be better to keep selling one car and get the production as cheap as possible than keep developing a car. My thought was to take something simple and reliable - appliance transportation - and just keep selling it, never updating anything. Then in high school I learned the economics behind this thought, and fundamentally, they made sense. But I also learned about customer demand, and the idea pretty much failed here.
To date, there are a few real-world examples. Most notably is the Ford Taurus of the 90's-2006, which became such a standard for fleet cars that Ford kept making them even after it stopped selling them to the public. Another was the Yugo, which was amazingly in production until this year. Another is the 80's BMW 3 series, which is still under production in South Africa and China (South Africa legitimately, China not so much). The VW beetle (the real one) was made in Mexico until 2006 - mostly as Taxi cabs. It cost only about $3,000 in 2006, if my memory is correct, and that is even without a lot of scale.
On the other hand, there is the Reliant Robin, the three-wheeled car from the UK which grew more expensive with time... yeah... British manufacturing....
But, for some reason, I have always loved the idea of building these previous generation vehicles as new - there are very low sunk costs, they are often great cars, and if it were not for ever changing regulations in Europe and the US, I think it makes sense.
And it looks like we (well not exactly we, more of a global we) will see a lot more of this. Globally, auto companies are strapped for cash, and last model's tooling is worthless to them, but worth a good deal to a Chinese or Brazilian car company. Chrysler has already sold the tooling for its last-gen Sebring to a Russian company, which has started churning the out. And there is a good chance it will do so with many more of its models, as it is trying to stay alive. GM might do some of the same: last gen pickups for cheap anyone?
The upshot is that there might be a lot more decent, cheap, new cars driving around, made by companies you have never heard of, but with quality engineering (well... certain Chryslers....) and good (errr... some of the time... if you like hard plastic dashboards..) components. Audi has given the last gen A4 to Seat (they own Seat, or actually VW does), and I think there is much more of this to come.
I would love to see these for cheap:
Last-gen Impreza/WRX... yeah... I've talked about this before
Last-gen Corvette
Last-gen Wrangler
Last-gen BMW 3-series (a all time classic)
Last-gen Saab 9-3 (this might actually happen)
Last-gen Ford Explorer
Last-gen Toyota Tacoma (this one would make $$$ for anyone who got it, a beloved truck globally... but it wont happen, Toyota is doing ok)
Last-gen VW Passat (before it got fat and "luxury")
The only thing is, you will need to live in the 3rd world to buy one, most likely.
To date, there are a few real-world examples. Most notably is the Ford Taurus of the 90's-2006, which became such a standard for fleet cars that Ford kept making them even after it stopped selling them to the public. Another was the Yugo, which was amazingly in production until this year. Another is the 80's BMW 3 series, which is still under production in South Africa and China (South Africa legitimately, China not so much). The VW beetle (the real one) was made in Mexico until 2006 - mostly as Taxi cabs. It cost only about $3,000 in 2006, if my memory is correct, and that is even without a lot of scale.
On the other hand, there is the Reliant Robin, the three-wheeled car from the UK which grew more expensive with time... yeah... British manufacturing....
But, for some reason, I have always loved the idea of building these previous generation vehicles as new - there are very low sunk costs, they are often great cars, and if it were not for ever changing regulations in Europe and the US, I think it makes sense.
And it looks like we (well not exactly we, more of a global we) will see a lot more of this. Globally, auto companies are strapped for cash, and last model's tooling is worthless to them, but worth a good deal to a Chinese or Brazilian car company. Chrysler has already sold the tooling for its last-gen Sebring to a Russian company, which has started churning the out. And there is a good chance it will do so with many more of its models, as it is trying to stay alive. GM might do some of the same: last gen pickups for cheap anyone?
The upshot is that there might be a lot more decent, cheap, new cars driving around, made by companies you have never heard of, but with quality engineering (well... certain Chryslers....) and good (errr... some of the time... if you like hard plastic dashboards..) components. Audi has given the last gen A4 to Seat (they own Seat, or actually VW does), and I think there is much more of this to come.
I would love to see these for cheap:
Last-gen Impreza/WRX... yeah... I've talked about this before
Last-gen Corvette
Last-gen Wrangler
Last-gen BMW 3-series (a all time classic)
Last-gen Saab 9-3 (this might actually happen)
Last-gen Ford Explorer
Last-gen Toyota Tacoma (this one would make $$$ for anyone who got it, a beloved truck globally... but it wont happen, Toyota is doing ok)
Last-gen VW Passat (before it got fat and "luxury")
The only thing is, you will need to live in the 3rd world to buy one, most likely.
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