Kinda though the same reason us retail buyers cannot normally buy wholesale. There are legitimate reasons for manufacturers not wanting to mess with the public one at a time. I wouldn’t want to either. Retailers earn their money and take a lot of abuse.
It’s the dealer’s association lobbying the state legislature to impliment laws that’s make sellers unlike them illegal. We have something similar in MD, but with alcoholic beverages (Ohhhh… there’s that demon alcohol again). The alcohol distributors lobbied the state legislature to enact a law that prohibits one person or company from having more than one beer/wine/spirits store. Furtermore, until about two years ago, mail order booze was illegal. The whole idea was to force all buyers in the state to buy from stores that bought their wholesale alcohol from the licensed state distributors. Same deal with cars.
Not to change the subject but where did the piece of cake with the cherry on top come from?? It’s by both of our pics and I don’t remember doing anything. Maybe its a badge or something?
Oh never mind. Its to celebrate the anniversary of the day I joined. But which time? Every time there was a software change years ago, you had to re-up again because all data was lost.
That my friend Bing is a notification that this is your anniversary date of joining Cartalk . Later on we will all join hands and be led to the ice cream stand like little kids. When I got my first one I stated that I have not been in kindergarten in a long time.
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Depends on how “custom” that order really is.
But the assembly line in that plant barely moves! Special orders are OK if you are building less than 10,000 cars a year. Big difference if you are cranking out 6000 cars a week in 2 shifts, it gets much more difficult.
+1
With my first Outback, I specified a color that apparently very few other people wanted. When I inquired about the delay with delivery of that car, the customer service folks told me that they needed to accumulate X number of orders for the same color, and then they would produce all of those cars in succession. I was told that if I wanted a different color I could have the car immediately, but I really wanted Sydney Blue Pearl, so I wound-up waiting much more time than would have been necessary with a different paint color.
It is your anniversary Mr Bing. I was just looking at Colorados, and you can pretty much pick any features you want from our local dealer site. Unfortunately 90% is bs to me, but they make a manual, option, no towing package, here are some choices I do not really care about
Heated Front Seat(s)19
Bluetooth Connection24
Premium Sound System14
Navigation System14
WiFi Hotspot22
Smart Device Integration24
Satellite Radio21
Steering Wheel Audio Controls21
Back-Up Camera24
Stability Control24
Lane Departure Warning3
Cloth Seats16
Leather Seats7
Power Driver Seat24
MP3 Player24
Auxiliary Audio Input24
Cruise Control23
Adjustable Steering Wheel24
Fog Lamps20
Keyless Entry23
Actually - no. My brother-in-law is a retired plant manager for Chryco. We’ve had several discussions on this over the years. With computer controlled just-in-time inventory - it’s not that difficult. In fact with the right factory it’s seamless.
Modern production planning allows an almost infinite variety of options. It just takes time for your car to be built. The secret, of course is the tight supply chain management we have these days.
All parts of the car are used at some time for some customer. Your typical supermarket has thousands of items, all ordered on a just in time basis.
My Chevy Impala had the special trailer towing package and HD suspension, similar to the police option. It took only 5 weeks.
Actually - Yes
Not to diminish your BIL’s experience but it isn’t only the parts delivery and installation logistics that are involved.
A couple of examples, there are many more.
Each combination of options must be considered when designing something as simple as suspension springs. The more combinations that can be ordered, the larger number of different springs that must be created to hold the bumper at the correct height. Super light, stripper models vs fully optioned cars. Most cars have 3 different load springs in each rate family. Option proliferation can boost that to 5 or 6. And a 2 or 3 more for the rear. If 2 engines are offered, a second rate family (4 cylinder and V6 cars rarely use the same spring rate) means 2 or 3 more for each end. Now throw in performance suspension options with a additional rate family and that number increases again.
Now since many options are electrical, the wiring harness needs to consider every single combination of options. If each car gets the same full harness, each cut lead, connector and the mass of copper adds considerable cost and weight to every car whether it is needed or not. If 2 or 3 or 4 sub-harnesses are used, that proliferates part numbers as well.
Every additional part number adds operating costs as well as engineering costs to create them. Every different combination of options must be considered in the design process. All that adds cost well before your BIL sees the assembly documents to build it.
When I ordered cars, I had a long list of options that I wanted. One of them was the gauge package that was never on a car on the lot. I gave that up on my Park Ave because it required ordering the electronic dash with it for somewhere around $1000. I just got after-market instead. At any rate with the Acuras I’ve bought, its been refreshing that they only have about five different option packages such as AWD, Nav, etc. And they have the various optioned vehicles in stock. It was nice to not have to go through a whole list of options and just pick the package you want and drive away. I’m pretty fussy about the options I need/want, but this system works for me.
Actually NO…Maybe you haven’t heard about computers yet…but this sort of thing is EXACTLY what they do well…EXTREMELY WELL. This is trivial to automate. And it’s being done in many other industries today.
Here’s a little article on the subject.
Well I hope you’re right but computers don’t really produce anything, deliver the materials, assemble much except for robots, and so on. But I didn’t really study the article and hope that customization is more than just a marketing ploy or attempt to reduce on hand inventory.
I have been frustrated with not being able to get what I want. I want a V6 and not a turbo four but it seems that is not going to happen. I also want a lawn mower with standard trans, 42", twin cyl engine, and preferably red or black even. I’ll even take other colors except green. But alas, I can get no more than two of the three requirements. So the minute I can special order, I will and to heck with the cost. Cheaper than changing engines on a new machine, or having to buy a new trailer that a 46" would fit on.
Correct - don’t. But computers to control the robotics that do deliver the materials and assemble. But they are great at inventory control. So the person on the assembly line is putting in the custom order springs…2 days earlier those springs were put in the inventory line in the exact spot that will match up the correct vehicle. So the person on the assembly line just grabs the next set of springs, which are the ones for this vehicle.
That is up to the manufacturer. The technology is there. Each company has to decide if they want to embrace it or not. The ones that don’t may find they are way behind the 8-ball in just a few years.
And to what extent. Try to order a Fiat 500 with a V8 engine and you’ll be disappointed. 
Don’t forget, it was Max Hoffman, the Mercedes Distributor in New York in the 50s, who convinced the company to put the 300SL into production as he saw a legend in the making. MB complied and the rest is history.
Likewise, Arnold Schwartzenegger cajoled AMD to make the Hummer a production car and for GM to buy the brand for civilian use!
Interesting points, Doc.
I wonder how many innovative new cars originated from the demand side rather than the supply side. Ignoring, of course, the huge cache of new car “innovations” (I use the term loosely) that came from the regulatory arena. The question begs research that I’ve never seen published, and it might be interesting to know.
I’m in-depth familiar with marketing research, beta testing, and the like, but “New Coke” illustrated once and for all how much of a crapshoot that actually is.
There are countless historical examples of market driven demand. Dr. Edwin Land took a picture of his young daughter and she moaned why she could not have the picture right away from the camera! The result was the Polaroid instant camera.
Lufthansa saw a need for a shorter version of the 727 Boeing for European travel, and after some additional research the 737 was born in the 60s and became the best selling aircraft ever.
After WW II many surplus Jeeps found their way into the hands of farmers and other businessmen. They were so popular that many asked Willys Overland to make a “civilian” version of the vehicle and the CJ series was born. Then later the station wagon.
On a personal note, in my final year in business school our class had a project for a major airline to determine the market for single non-family, non-business travel. They suspected this was a growing segment.
I had already done a 5 month car trip to Europe before and happily participated. My share was to interview in-depth 50 nursing graduate students about their travel habits. It was a tough job but someone had to do it!!
The interviews were a real eye opener. Many of these ladies had already travelled far and wide. One was a the daughter of an admiral who asked me: “Where do you want me to start?”
Since all these ladies’ phone numbers were needed for “follow up” work, I ended up marrying one of them and am still married to her.
From a scientific point of view, the socio-economic background had a heavy bearing on where they had travelled. Office girls with a large insurance company had mostly travelled to Florida or California. Teachers and members of military families had been all over. the world. Teachers, having the simmer off had the widest opportunity to travel and had been the farthest. One complained about the traffic congestion in Tokyo, Japan. This was in 1964!!!
Having spent a number of years in industrial market and product research, we always kept our ears to the wall as to what users of our product thought and many good ideas came from the field.
r
Absolutely!
However, even good ideas might wind-up being shot-down.
My brother majored in Marketing in the '60s, and his term paper for one of his classes was a business plan for a fast food chain specializing in (his original terminology!) Chickenburgers.
I even provided the artwork for this theoretical chain’s logo. Unfortunately, his professor thought that Chickenburgers would never sell, and he convinced my brother of the impracticality of the concept.
What was deemed impractical circa 1962-63 turned out to be a concept that has been a real money-maker in recent years–but my brother was not the recipient of any of that money.
