Page 3 of 3 FirstFirst 123
Results 21 to 22 of 22

Thread: New 21 Mirage owner and a car guy shares his thoughts

  1. #21
    Moderator Eggman's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2015
    Location
    Cleveland, Ohio
    Country
    United States
    Posts
    10,154
    Thanks
    4,039
    Thanked 2,785 Times in 2,104 Posts
    Kinda wonder if this is a way to prime the market for electric cars and their prices?

    Sorry about the meandering discussion M81. Good reading though.


        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2015 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 49.6 mpg (US) ... 21.1 km/L ... 4.7 L/100 km ... 59.5 mpg (Imp)


  2. #22
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2018
    Location
    Atlanta Metro
    Country
    United States
    Posts
    3,523
    Thanks
    37
    Thanked 1,387 Times in 1,006 Posts
    Quote Originally Posted by M81 View Post
    One more thing- we went to the F150 plant after the Viper plant. I think a truck came off that assembly line every 30 seconds. Those sell for 30 to 80 thousand dollars. That’s were you make money building cars.
    M81 - I worked as an automobile design engineer for Toyota. There were lots of engineers. There were many who if they popped the hood on their Toyota lease vehicle and saw a couple gerbils running on a wheel, they wouldn't wonder about it, just close the hood and go on their way. Then there engineers like me. Who were there because they are natural gear heads. And me, I wanted to know as much as I could about most everything. So I asked questions, opened my ears and paid attention. I would love to still be at Toyota, they were GREAT. But the wife... Anywho -

    All of what you say is not necessarily true or false. Mostly what you say is clouded by the fact that things are complex and there is much more involved, and there is "the rest of the story." It is true that some OEMs (especially the big 3) lose some amount of money on selling small cars. But make up for it on larger ones.

    But Toyota is not one of them. During my time at Toyota, they made money on all their cars or they would bring that model to a swift close. On Camrys (not exactly a small car), it was said (on the inside) that TMC (Toyota Motor Corporation) made ~$500 profit on each car. Multiply $500 times 350,000 cars a year (something like that at that time), and TMC is putting roughly 175 million dollars a year in the bank (profit). And that's just the Camry. And that's just TMC. However, the Camry IS their bread and butter. And they kill themselves to get that car to be the best. TMS (Toyota Motor Sales) exists too.

    Now I work in an industry that sells smaller items to many entities including big box stores. These items may be purchased from a big box store for let's say $15. We are breaking our backs to drive our cost to build and bring these to market for $1.50 or less. We then sell them to many places. We are not making $15 - $1.50, because there are many complexities involved including the middle man in many cases. But, we and the middle man do indeed make money. The point being, I think most of us would be shocked to know how very little money it takes an OEM to build a car. Especially when it is built in a 3rd world country.

    Lastly - I'm going to guess that Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (not sales) makes money even on the Mirage. Those vehicles are built in Thailand and the Philippines where they can pay 8 year old kids 2 cents a day (I exaggerate, for effect) to build cars. But fo' real, their labor cost is very darn cheap. Mitsubishi Motor Sales may have had difficulty making profit on a Mirage, but I'm guessing that is currently turning around.


        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2020 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 42.4 mpg (US) ... 18.0 km/L ... 5.6 L/100 km ... 50.9 mpg (Imp)


Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •