New car-sales trick?

I just heard on the news this morning: "Automakers are trying a new trick to lower car prices and boost sales. They are removing items from the features list and making those items standard. What this does is allow the automaker to offer the car at a lower price while allowing the customer to purchase the option if he/she chooses. For instance, Nissan has made it's navigation system optional?"

This is a trick!?!? Really?!?! This "trick" is:
a). the way it USED to be
b). the way most folks would LIKE it to me
I remember the days of my folks ordering a car and choosing options, not HUGE packages.

Thats how I prefer it. We wanted a base focus and thats what we got. I don't think we could get the fancy radio with a five speed though.

N Sperlo wrote: Thats how I prefer it. We wanted a base focus and thats what we got. I don't think we could get the fancy radio with a five speed though.

Crutchfield will send you one in the mail for 1/10th the option price that kicks it's ass anyway. I'd always choose no sound system at all given the opt-out.

Back in the dark ages, Dad would order the radio antenna, but not the radio. He would thus avoid having to drill a hole in the fender, but could install the radio of his choice (usually something esoteric with a SW band, as he was a HAM). But in those days, most people ordered cars and waited for delivery. Buying off the lot was considerably less desirable.

I miss a-la-carte ordering - but few people order cars anymore. Most pick a color and drive home today.

You want Nav on a Challenger? It's not avaialble on the base model, you have to step up to the Rallye ($25,700 ) and opt for the $545 package and pay $9 a month for satelite radio.
That's just one example. I'd love to go back to being able to chose at least some things a la carte.

hmmm, back in the day the move to "bundled" option packages was done because it was cheaper to have only a few standard build configs that the plant had to grok. i wonder if this article only applies to options that are dealer-installed?

The problem is with new cars as well, look at how they design the center stack. It makes it virtually impossible to do any form of aftermarket upgrading without taking it to a custom audio shop.

I went looking at new dodge rams few months ago and I asked the dealer if wanted Nav in the particular one I was looking at, could they install it. He told me no, they would just do a dealer trade with one that had one. He also commented it would be easier to get Garmin anyways. From the people I know who have done dealer trades, they never get it with the color they want or the specific package.

In reply to AngryCorvair:

Does the move to bundling predate the semi-recent manufacturing focus on Just In Time delivery and so forth?

I'm wondering whether the inclusion or omission of an option has become as simple as ordering a computer with extra RAM; it rolls up to the next station in assembly and whatever parts have been optioned slide up on a conveyor at the same time?

I want to say an episode of How It's Made that was at an auto seat supplier involved seats ordered for particular cars, and not just a gross of black and two dozen blue...

SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote: The problem is with new cars as well, look at how they design the center stack. It makes it virtually impossible to do any form of aftermarket upgrading without taking it to a custom audio shop. I went looking at new dodge rams few months ago and I asked the dealer if wanted Nav in the particular one I was looking at, could they install it. He told me no, they would just do a dealer trade with one that had one. He also commented it would be easier to get Garmin anyways. From the people I know who have done dealer trades, they never get it with the color they want or the specific package.

COUGH BULLE36 M3 COUGH Mopar accessory book lists all that plus a rediculous labor time to install.

SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote: I went looking at new dodge rams few months ago and I asked the dealer if wanted Nav in the particular one I was looking at, could they install it. He told me no, they would just do a dealer trade with one that had one. He also commented it would be easier to get Garmin anyways. From the people I know who have done dealer trades, they never get it with the color they want or the specific package.

I've always wondered about that - from what I heard upgrading the maps on a factory system is a rather expensive proposition so given that the likes of Garmin et al offer lifetime subscriptions for map updates for a one-off fee, what's the point of having a big screen in the middle of the dash that shows you five year old maps?

Although I do wonder how often people in general tend to update their GPS maps in the first place.

AngryCorvair wrote: hmmm, back in the day the move to "bundled" option packages was done because it was cheaper to have only a few standard build configs that the plant had to grok.

Yup. Also makes configuration management a lot easier on the manufacturer. Domestics (in the past) were much easier to order exactly as you wanted them. My DD has 2 options: A/C and ABS. Didn't even have a cassette player in it.

I kind of like no-packages approach - it simplifies hunting down the car you want. S2000s do not have options. In 08+ you could get the CR or the not-a-CR. I believe the Scion TC was like this also (except Auto/Manual) as well as the RSX (Auto/Manual/"S")

BoxheadTim wrote:

SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote: I went looking at new dodge rams few months ago and I asked the dealer if wanted Nav in the particular one I was looking at, could they install it. He told me no, they would just do a dealer trade with one that had one. He also commented it would be easier to get Garmin anyways. From the people I know who have done dealer trades, they never get it with the color they want or the specific package.

I've always wondered about that - from what I heard upgrading the maps on a factory system is a rather expensive proposition so given that the likes of Garmin et al offer lifetime subscriptions for map updates for a one-off fee, what's the point of having a big screen in the middle of the dash that shows you five year old maps? Although I do wonder how often people in general tend to update their GPS maps in the first place.

Given the update DVD's are/were $195+tax OTC..... You can count on never.

In reply to ransom:

i think bundling predates JIT by about 10 years but i'm not entirely sure because i've only been paying attention for about the last 20 years.

JIT from suppliers and sub-assembly / sequencing of parts arriving at the vehicle assembly line is actually pretty impressive. example: body shell goes through paint shop with the doors and hood on separate hangers. after paint, body goes one way and doors go another. on a third line the IP is being assembled with audio, driver info, and HVAC, while somewhere else the front suspension cradle is meeting up with an engine and trans and the appropriate springs and bars. each of these sub-assemblies is sequenced and identified by VIN so they meet the appropriate body where the two lines join up. i recommend a tour of a vehicle assembly plant for pretty much anyone.

Ya know, I've got auto books and magazines going back to the 19-teens.

They list the various packages for cars. Packaging of options is nothing new. They've been doing it for as long as they've been offering options.

AngryCorvair wrote: i recommend a tour of a vehicle assembly plant for pretty much anyone.

This summer we traveled through Kentucky and I took the family through the Bowling Green Corvette Assembly Plant. The family wasn't that thrilled with the tour.

http://www.bowlinggreenassemblyplant.com/home.htm

what makes it worse (at least in my limited experience with new car buying), some dealerships are limited to x number of car orders a month. When we were buying our new terrain, we were "fortunate" we came in when we did - the sales guy was supposed to be writing up an order for another customer, but they ever showed, so we got their "order" slot. We were buying our car in February, but we were using a March order slot. Apparently (at least with GMC) the factory has scheduled time out months and months in advance. Adding in a special order that isnt in their production schedule is, I guess, a big hassle (imagine that...getting what you actually want rather than taking whats foisted upon you is a hassle to the man...).

Basically, theyve set their operation to push a product to you, not make what you want for you. GM really doesnt sell you a car, they sell the dealership a car. The savings arent set up for us, they are set for the dealer. We just happen to be a forgotten 3rd leg of the bigger deal thats going on in car maker land.

4cylndrfury wrote: Basically, theyve set their operation to push a product to you, not make what you want for you. GM really doesnt sell you a car, they sell the dealership a car. The savings arent set up for us, they are set for the dealer. We just happen to be a forgotten 3rd leg of the bigger deal thats going on in car maker land.

What % of people would go buy a new car exactly as they want it if they knew they could.... 1%? People want a car NOW, not in 3 months. The general public isn't that picky about what options their car does and does not have, and the dealer orders cars with the most common options in mind.

Yeah, option pks have been around forever, but you could still get things separately too. You could order power windows and locks together and save a few bucks vs. the single option prices. I miss the big thick book of options, even more so for engines, transmissions and axle ratios. You could order a heavy duty most anything if you dug deep enough. Sigh, the good old days....

ProDarwin wrote: [snip] and the dealer orders cars with the most common options in mind.

Yea...all the berkeleying automatics that couldn't shift themselves if you did it for them.

ProDarwin wrote: What % of people would go buy a new car exactly as they want it if they knew they could.... 1%? People want a car NOW, not in 3 months. The general public isn't that picky about what options their car does and does not have, and the dealer orders cars with the most common options in mind.

In my 43 years, my parents have bought ten new cars. They ordered all but one, and that was just dumb luck that exactly what they wanted was just coming off they truck. Even the car they bought (Pop's first new car) before I was born, was ordered.

RealMiniDriver wrote: In my 43 years, my parents have bought ten new cars. They ordered all but one, and that was just dumb luck that exactly what they wanted was just coming off they truck. Even the car they bought (Pop's first new car) before I was born, was ordered.

They are an anomaly. As are my parents, who have ordered a few as well.

DrBoost wrote: You want Nav on a Challenger? It's not avaialble on the base model, you have to step up to the Rallye ($25,700 ) and opt for the $545 package and pay $9 a month for satelite radio. That's just one example. I'd love to go back to being able to chose at least some things a la carte.

Worse than that - if you want an LSD in a new Miata, you can't buy it in the base model car, you have to step up to the "Touring" for another $2k.

I've bought two new cars. One was a Golf MkIV, and I wanted a very specific option and color package. Most people don't believe you could actually get a 1999.5 GL in Jazz Blue I got exactly what I wanted, but I did have to get the car brought in from Quebec. So while it didn't go down the production line with my name on it, it might as well have.

The other was the Big Dodge Truck. Given my choice, I probably would have taken a different color. But that would have involved paying more, and for a truck I wasn't that interested.

In the mid 90's, Miatas came two ways in Canada: All or Nothing. There was about a $5k difference.

It seems trucks are the only vehicles nowadays that you can still stretch out the options list.

It seems trucks are the only vehicles nowadays that you can still stretch out the options list.