Quote:
Originally Posted by jeremyc74
How can you possibly say that a 400Hp coupe with practiaclly no trunk, one available engine, and a back seat that's hard to get into isn't a nitch vehicle, but the 135 is? Again your reasoning makes no sense.
The issues with the GTO go much farther than pricing, and to say otherwise is nothing more than a lack of understanding. And again, has nothing whatsoever to do with the sales of the 5 sereis, or the G8. It's apples and tomatoes.
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It has everything to do with sales of the 5-Series: if nobody bought the 5-Series (and bought all other cars like E-Class, A6, or G8 instead), on what grounds can anyone say that the 5-Series is properly priced? They can't. It would most definitely be undeniably overpriced. Period.
The fact that people keep buying 50K+ year after year, even this late in the 5-Series' life cycle, indicates the 5-Series is not overpriced. They actually sold a couple of thousand more units last year than their first full year of US sales. Not shabby for a flame-surfaced car with Dame Edna headlights that was derided the world over for its Bangle influence.
BMW specifically cite the 1-Series as a niche vehicle and have even downgraded projected sales volumes, just as the car was reaching these shores. I'm not sure that GM did the same for the GTO. What I do know is that it failed by far to meet expectations before it was killed off, while the Mustang and Chrysler siblings marched on. OK, fine. They're both niche vehicles. Whatever floats your boat.
I know price is not the only issue with the GTO. Its bland looks is another. The fact that it was by then a fairly old Holden was another. But pricing strategy has everything to do with how well the car would succeed. Quite obviously, if it were priced at M3 levels, it would have died an even quicker death.
Anyway, my point for including the sales of figures of both cars is to show how one car which we would think is horribly overpriced on paper (the 5-Series) does well in the market, and this shows it is priced properly. Another car, which on paper looks like a blowout success, fails to not only meet its mfr's projected estimates, but it sells in far fewer numbers than the one we think of as "overpriced." They don't have to be apples vs apples, or in the same exact markets, for us to make this comparison. A Corvette and a Ferrari aren't in the same market, yet when someone compares the two and claims the Ferrari is overpriced, we can't take the opposing viewpoint with marketplace considerations? Of course we can. They don't have to be apples to apples.