Small cars cost the same as big ones to make??

I heard this old saying recently

"it cost the same to make a small car as it does a large car"

I hadn't heard it for a long time...
and I think its a stupid statement... lol

what do You think?

LEE

Lee,

I don't agree with the statement.

There are a lot of smaller cars that cost more than a large family car.

Eg. VW GTI Golf compared to a Holden Commodore, I know which cost more.

I guess it is an older statement and not directed at today's cars.

the bigger the car, the more material that is required to build it.

Shit, now I am confusing myself 🤪🤪🤪🤪

Kev 😂😂😂😂

i spose its more the initial tooling and r-n-d that would be costly in the production process.

I assume the costs in these aspects would be the same.

Kinda true, kinda not.

It's more that complex cars cost more to make than simple ones, and that complexity has nothing to do with size.

As for the materials argument... what's the weight difference between a Golf and a Commodore... maybe 10-15% ??? Materials cost can't vary by more than that amount then hey...

R&D and tooling etc. gets spread over the production run... and generally small cars sell more, so less of that cost in each individual car (eg Corolla vs Commodore say)

By far the biggest cost is labour... that's why cars from China, India, Korea etc. are cheaper than most anywhere...

Well, I work at Holden and I can tell you that it takes exactly the same amount of expensive Australian labour to assemble a $21,990 Cruze as it does to assemble a Caprice V at triple the price. They both take up the same spot on the assembly line and therefore the costs within the plant are the same. The difference in cost for the amount of steel used to make the body would be almost negligible, as would the slightly different volumes of paint used. However, the things which do cost extra are the components. The Caprice V's engine, drivetrain and leather seats would all cost more than the Cruze equivalent. However, these costs are still much closer together than the sale price of the finished product, so it is obvious that the more expensive a car is, the larger the profit margin will be. This is why historically, very few Australian manufacturers have attempted to build small cheap cars, because they are much less profitable than large expensive ones.

Camo wrote:Lee,

I don't agree with the statement.

There are a lot of smaller cars that cost more than a large family car.

Eg. VW GTI Golf compared to a Holden Commodore, I know which cost more.

I guess it is an older statement and not directed at today's cars.

the bigger the car, the more material that is required to build it.

Shit, now I am confusing myself 🤪🤪🤪🤪

Kev 😂😂😂😂

But the golf is a little bigger? oh wait the new commys 🤪 duh

it may have been used in the old Kingswood and Torana days

lol...

cars were NOT advanced and they were very similar apart from size and engines etc..

LEE


complicated engines cost more to make...
stronger gearboxes and larger brakes etc...

Doesn't this saying relate to restoring cars and not building new ones?

I have heard this saying said before too (a couple of times) and each time it was in reference too rebuilding cars.

And i think its meant that you gotta pay for a paint job and a motor and wheels and an interior, and when your shelling out money for a small car like a VW, that there really isn't much difference between a car that is a bit bigger like a Holden or US muscle car.

And now that i think about it, it might be a bit of a cheap shot at VW owners, with the people who have said it implying ; "why bother building that little thing when you could build a real car"

Sadly these sorts of people just don't understand the awesomeness of the VW.

If you're using it in reference to restoring cars, I would change it. Something more along the lines of, "Common cars cost the same as rare cars to restore." By which I mean, if you're going to do a full restoration on a car, start with the most desirable model that you want as it will barely make a dent in the restoration cost. For example, if you're restoring a Beetle then an oval window will cost pretty much the same to restore as a late '70s bug, but when they're finished the oval will be worth much more!