Wednesday, Aug 02, 2017 at 12:29
That's the thing that gets me about Ford - these massive discount deals they hand out.
If you stop and think about it, no one manufacturer - not even Ford - can produce a dual cab ute at much lower cost than any other manufacturer. Not even if they build them in a 3rd world country.
And as all of Australia's current ute lineup are built in Thailand anyway, you can pretty well bet, that the vehicles total build costs between all the major manufacturers, doesn't vary a great deal.
What does vary the vehicle build cost, is the expensive accessories - so different makes of vehicle fitted with similar accessories, are going to vary only a little in total build cost.
As a logical result, if a certain brand is offering huge discounts on the selling price - then they are most certainly going to find ways to make up the loss of profits on the original sale.
With motor vehicle manufacturers, it's a well-known fact that they make vastly bigger profits from the sale of parts, as compared to the original sale profit.
What the manufacturers relish is that once they sell a vehicle, it's usually in service for 15 to 20 years, even though it might change hands 10 or 20 times in that period.
So that 15 to 20 years is a period of fat parts profits for the manufacturers, that is virtually set in stone for them.
They might have a few aftermarket suppliers nibbling at their heels, but the manufacturers use "registered design" and patent laws to keep those aftermarket suppliers at bay for years, by suppressing any parts copying.
In conclusion - if a manufacturer is offering huge sales discounts on new vehicles (particularly if those discounts are "factory-backed), then you can wager as sure as the sun rises, that they are pumping up the parts prices to make up for the initial sale loss.
I have always found Ford parts to be the most expensive of all the manufacturers, when it comes to comparing comparable parts. And I've bought lots and lots of parts from many brands and manufacturers, over more than 50 years, so I do have a degree of experience in the parts cost field.
Cheers, Ron.
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