quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:
They do it because of the assembly line process. It's much easier for the manufacturer to have 3-4 option packages and today they build cars with option package 301A, tomorrow 301A and 302A. Much less chance of the build getting screwed up and an option getting forgotten. Also, parts ordering on their end from vendors is easier too.

Really? The assembly line process? A "forgotten option?"

Back in the late 1970s I spent a year and a half at an automobile factory in Barcelona. I was the team lead on a "Transfer Of Technology" project, applying technology used in American auto factories at that time, forty years ago.

The project involved adding computer stations all along the final assembly line, to do an ID on each auto body as it passed that station, and display the options to be installed at that station. Each car was built to a specific order, right down to whether it had a hard rubber shift knob or a wooden one.

This was, forty years ago, standard technology in the U.S.A. -- we introduced it to the SEAT factory in Spain. I know for a fact that Mercedes was doing it at the time, since I ordered a new Mercedes for myself, for factory pick-up, and I got the tour when I went to Sindelfingen (sp?) bei Stuttgart to take delivery. Forty years ago. It's not a new concept now. The unavailability of specific options is a marketing problem, not a manufacturing problem.

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Originally posted by jimmy123x:
I agree vtail, but if you look at say Porsche's and a 911, there are literally 3 pages of options to choose from, it's easy to over look one. Also look how much Porsche nabs you for, for each option......you could easily add $25k to the base price of a $89k car......

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Originally posted by P250UA5:
Sounds like the OP is looking at BMWs. Where M-Sport restricts you away from a few exterior colors & interior trims.

I think about the only, nearly, a la carte brand, is Mini.

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Originally posted by Dusty78:
I think Mini is the only company that truly lets you choose almost every detail.

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Originally posted by jimmy123x:
They do it because of the assembly line process. It's much easier for the manufacturer to have 3-4 option packages and today they build cars with option package 301A, tomorrow 301A and 302A. Much less chance of the build getting screwed up and an option getting forgotten. Also, parts ordering on their end from vendors is easier too.

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Originally posted by jhe888:

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:
They do it because of the assembly line process. It's much easier for the manufacturer to have 3-4 option packages and today they build cars with option package 301A, tomorrow 301A and 302A. Much less chance of the build getting screwed up and an option getting forgotten. Also, parts ordering on their end from vendors is easier too.

I think this is true. I have the sense that a la carte options would have to be more expensive individually to make up for the one-off handling it would require.

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Originally posted by wolfe 21:
From a consumer perspective, I don't care about making their life easier. I want what I want, not what they want me to want.
Pragmatically, I can understand it. I just don't see why a suspension & wheel package should affect color choices. Or why I can't get a particular engine without an up sell package I don't need or want. Or why I now have to pay extra to not have chrome on my car.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:
They do it because of the assembly line process. It's much easier for the manufacturer to have 3-4 option packages and today they build cars with option package 301A, tomorrow 301A and 302A. Much less chance of the build getting screwed up and an option getting forgotten. Also, parts ordering on their end from vendors is easier too.

I think this is true. I have the sense that a la carte options would have to be more expensive individually to make up for the one-off handling it would require.

I have to respectfully disagree, sir.

I actually have experience, as a software engineer, in designing the "build to order" process for an automobile factory. This was, in fact, the whole reason that my team was contracted to design the computer systems for the SEAT factory in Barcelona. Two systems, first an IBM mainframe to accept orders from the dealer network and do the financial side of the process. Every night this system produced a production list that was input to the real-time system on the production line.

The "pulpo" (octopus) that hung from the overhead conveyer for each car body had a bar code that was associated with the order ID for that car. As the pulpo that carried the car approached a station on the final assembly line, the terminal at that line displayed the proper option to install at that point. The proper parts would already be there for the assembly worker, as the system had scanned the bar code at an earlier point in the process and sent the "pick list" to the stock area.

Prior to this, SEAT customers could choose from a selection of cars that had been arbitrarily built at the factory and sent to a dealer. With our system, the customer and salesman could specify a car, down to the last detail.

The only orders that were rejected were those that were functionally impossible to build: for example, incompatible engine / transmission combinations.

This was not expensive for the customers. At the time, SEAT was the biggest selling low-priced car in Spain. Analogous to the "Chevy," not the "Cadillac."

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Originally posted by jhe888:
Thanks for the info. It is a good reminder not to have opinions on subjects I don't know much about.

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Originally posted by jimmy123x:
The few option packages also make it easier for dealers to find cars at other dealers for a customer if they don't have the customers color in stock.

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Originally posted by jack32586:

The next day, I get a call from the dealership. Hey, we missed the sticker on the corner of the windshield, the wheels were an upgrade put on in LA. They are $5000. Can you bring us a check?
Um no.

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Originally posted by V-Tail:

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Originally posted by jimmy123x:
The few option packages also make it easier for dealers to find cars at other dealers for a customer if they don't have the customers color in stock.

I might be missing something in your logic, but I do not see how it applies to this thread.

If you did not under stand the original post, go back and read it again. Look at the last sentence of that post. Wolfe 21 is talking about ordering the car that he wants, he is not talking about what is "in stock."

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Originally posted by maxdog:
Remember when you could get the lowesr priced model with wthe most powerful engine option? Today when you want the high HP model you have to order the most wxpensive model with all the bs bells and whistles that are going to fail after arrenty expires.

For example, you could order a Mustang LX V8 with the cloth seats instead of the Gt with bells and whistles. In the 60s one could order a stripped sedan with no luxury items and the biggest honking v8.