Why Mitsubishi is No Longer Making Performance Cars
Trying to make a car that is a reasonable value that out performs cars that costs much more to me is an admirable achievement. Making a $100K plus car that performs well (because we have the budget and money).......... is an achievement but to me not as remarkable.
Unrealistic crash safety standards, unrealistic economy standards, owner warranty abuses over the last 3 decades, having a stock drop related to propaganda and then have said stock bought by a rival, etc. Lots of reasons that they dont "want" to make performance cars. We never recieved a car close to the rest of the world out of the box, I wonder why :P
Mitsubishi is not as iconic as perhaps you think. Porsche is on another level. And their margins are likely insane. Do you think the cost difference to build a Carrera S vs a GT2 is actually reflected in the retail price difference of ~$100k vs $290k? I guarantee you the cost to build the GT2 is not triple the cost of a base Carrera.
but when comparing costs of a Carrera S and a GT2, you gotta look at more than just the "cost to build", there's also R&D. Sure there's shared R&D over the platform in general, but there's also lots of specific R&D for special models like the GT3 and GT2. Just tuning alone for high strung engines like that to be able to run on fuel in every market its sold, hot and cold weather testing, the obvious performance targets they want the cars to hit. And they're sold in limited numbers, so those costs are spread out over a much smaller customer base.. although that one is Porsche's doing... with how much allocations are sold for just to get in line to buy one of these, they'd be able to sell a lot more than they make.
I was hoping Mitsubishi was gonna go through with that concept car, a twin turbo eclipse AWD long ago but once I read this post I was like....shhh never mind nothing will live up to the EVO, especially if they price it like the NSX.
I mean you're right, Porsche profit margins are orders of magnitude bigger than the rest of the industry. I read an article (in popular mechanics I think) maybe a while ago, I think it was around the time the 997 turbo was released. Back then Porsche was seeing profits of ~30k per car, whereas the rest of the industry was about 2-3k. Now its prolly bigger with the Porsche craze going on...
but when comparing costs of a Carrera S and a GT2, you gotta look at more than just the "cost to build", there's also R&D. Sure there's shared R&D over the platform in general, but there's also lots of specific R&D for special models like the GT3 and GT2. Just tuning alone for high strung engines like that to be able to run on fuel in every market its sold, hot and cold weather testing, the obvious performance targets they want the cars to hit. And they're sold in limited numbers, so those costs are spread out over a much smaller customer base.. although that one is Porsche's doing... with how much allocations are sold for just to get in line to buy one of these, they'd be able to sell a lot more than they make.
but when comparing costs of a Carrera S and a GT2, you gotta look at more than just the "cost to build", there's also R&D. Sure there's shared R&D over the platform in general, but there's also lots of specific R&D for special models like the GT3 and GT2. Just tuning alone for high strung engines like that to be able to run on fuel in every market its sold, hot and cold weather testing, the obvious performance targets they want the cars to hit. And they're sold in limited numbers, so those costs are spread out over a much smaller customer base.. although that one is Porsche's doing... with how much allocations are sold for just to get in line to buy one of these, they'd be able to sell a lot more than they make.
Also, options like the upgraded leather that costs $8k on the build sheet...that **** is like 1000% markup.
That additional development and testing of the performance model is a drop in the bucket compared to developing the base platform. These days, I would hardly call a 650hp turbo ~4.0L 6 cylinder high strung. Yes there is additional cost, but I'm sure margin is even better on the higher performance models with inflated pricing, even after amortizing additional development costs. Especially since they can account for those costs in the pricing of the higher volume base models as well.
Also, options like the upgraded leather that costs $8k on the build sheet...that **** is like 1000% markup.
Also, options like the upgraded leather that costs $8k on the build sheet...that **** is like 1000% markup.
overall for a street car, 650hp out of a turbo 4.0L isn't all that high strung... but specifically for the GT2, its built to be able to do lap after lap at the track and still make that power and not get heat soaked. I mean its still not crazy, but its a tougher accomplishment than AMG's turbo (around 4L, don't remember off the top of my head) making the same power in a street car... and kinda back pedaling a bit, I was mostly talking about the GT3 with its NA engine putting out over 500hp