You have a point there..The EVO is a limited production car because they are only making let say 5000 of them a year. Now I have a question for you.
Do you think 5000 units a year isn't enough.
Maybe the 1st year of production 5000 is not enough but 2nd and 3rd year it will be and Mitsu know this, that's why they are not going to spend million to increase production to meet demands that are not going to be there next year.

Look what happened to Subaru. Last year they were selling WRX at near 30K and yesterday I sent an email to a dealer and they replay with a price quote of 23,000 yes 23,000.


Dear Claudio,

I am Sam Hamian Internet sale and leasing manager with Eddie Accardi
Motors in Pompano Beach. I have received your quote request. I thank you
for the opportunity to earn your business. Your preferred online buyer
price of the 2003 WRX 4-WD is $22,504.
Please call me with your questions. Come down for a test drive.

Best wishes,

Sam Hamian
Internet Sale & Leasing manager

Eddie Accardi Motors
Jeep/Chrysler/Subaru/Dodge/Mazda
direct phone: (954) 784-3368
main: (954) 943-6700 ext:1368
email: shamian@eddieaccardi.com

address: 855 S Federal Hwy - Pompano Beach, FL 33062
check us at www.eddieaccardi.com

Something to think about.

 

As long as Mitsubishi maintains their previous Evolution evolution cycle (about 24 months), the Evo will always be limited. You're looking at ~10,000 $29k very high performance cars in 2 years. That's almost certainly a case of demand far exceeding supply. Look at some "competitors":

WRX = ~23000 last year
S2000 = ~10000 per year
350Z = ~ 30000+ per year (estimate)
Boxster = ~11000 per year (been around for 5+ years now)

 

Don't get me wrong, I agree with most all of what you are saying in this post.

It's hard to say how much is "enough" production for a specific car. Thats for the Mitsu marketing guru's to figure out....and I have no idea how they do it. I think 5k Evo's per year will be about all the market could handle right now. How many people could there be out there willing to spend 30K on a 4door car with no cruise control or luxury items found in a car of that price range, thats made by Mitsubishi, thats based on a car that prices for 50% of the MSRP of an Evo, that gets bad gas mileage, that has extremely high maintenance costs? Enthusiasts, thats who...Me and you....the only ones who will be able to rationalize a purchase on a "performance is of paramount importance above all else" motive.


As I understand it, there is a difference between the strategy of Subaru and Mitsu in relation to eachs first awd rally car release in the US.

Subaru had a "limited release" strategy for the WRX. Mitsubishi is having a "limited production" strategy.

Subaru released very few cars initially(when dealerships were asking MSRP $$ and above), then ramped up their production and importation to the US as the first cars hit the market. That to me (read: my opinion) means that Subaru had excess WRX production capability on hand at their facilities. But they didn't feel comfortable committing to the use of it until they were sure buyers in the US would embrace the WRX. I think they initially released a few k WRX's (limited release), but have since sold like 15,000-30k of them in the past year.

Mitsu, on the other hand, already upped their production facilities this year. They are making Evo's for the European market (for the first time) and for the US market (for the first time)...all from the same facility they previously just made JDM Evo's from. They tripled their production for the EVO VIII, over what they made for the EVO VII (from what I understand). This sort of info has come from a few people including an engineer quoted in C+D having said words to the effect that Mitsu was in fact only making a certain number of Evo's for the US.


But if Mitsu holds true to their word of 5k Evos per year to the US, there will be 15k Evo's possible waiting to fall into the Used car market. At the production of 15k WRX's per year, there will be 45k WRX's in the same position.... Which will hold it's value better over time?

The supply and demand thing works just as well when it comes to selling your used car.

SC~

 

i would tend to think that the nature of this car (turbo, high-modability) would kick the residuals down at least a notch...

maybe some used evo buyers down a couple of years are very interested in the car, but also slightly wary of cars that may have been more abused than an NA car of similar performance market.

*shrugs*

-K