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Originally Posted by bmussatti
I don't know, but the R&D expenses sound kind of low to me!
$30,000/500 units is only $60 per unit.
Am I missing something?
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Hi,
Yea, but don't forget, that's on top of all the other costs making up the retail price including production, warehousing, advertising/marketing, and profit. The price will need to reflect this and ammortized over so few units, it's akin to kissing your sister.
I'm sure their business plan forecasts greater units sales than this, but in all my experience with Hotel Franchising, where a business plan was part of the Franchise application, I've noted that they are almost 100% optimistic and rarely perform on par with the proforma.
I'd be surprised if they sell any more than my prediction. Imagine has been out for several months while the Gemballa and Turbo Performance kits have been available for years and I doubt that we have even 1% of the members here (meaning 60 cars) sporting Super or Turbo kits. Since the mod has been available for some time, this cannot be an accident, or lack of availability, rather a choice most owners have made to stay with the naturally aspirated engine, or they would have already performed the mod.
One also needs to appreciate the risks involved in such a mod as well. One can spend thousands of dollars on this modification for relatively little gain, then perhaps thousands more when the engine gets damaged by a poor design or installation. Porsche won't repair under warranty any damage caused by a modification of this type, nor do the kit manufacturers warrant against this type of damage either.
Most experts would agree that any such modification should be accompanied by extensive internal engine modifications as well, such as lower-compression pistons, stronger bearings, more heat-resistant exhaust valves, higher-pressure oil pumps, recalibrated DME, better flowing injectors and fuel pump, and more. None of the kits mentioned here include, or suggest, any of that.
History is filled with guys coming out with better mousetraps, but it's also filled with guys going broke trying to promote better mousetraps, not to mention suckers who fell for the better mousetrap...
Happy Motoring!... Jim'99