Slate is going to be the car that terminally online people always say "we need more of" and "people want this" but never put their money where their mouth is.
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Slate is going to be the car that terminally online people always say "we need more of" and "people want this" but never put their money where their mouth is.
I'd love to see industry research showing the math for higher volume/lower profit margin vs lower volume/higher profit margin, and how the latter takes into account pissing off potential customers and them going elsewhere. I think the low conversion rate on preorders is a direct result. Maybe my brain is off, but it says when you're launching a new model, you want as many on the roads as possible at the most affordable pricing possible because that exposure and word of mouth drives sales for upcoming years. I've often been an early-model adopter and have people asking about my vehicles all the time when I'm at work, the store, a gas station or just stopped at a light. What is it, and what does it cost are the top two questions. In my relatively-affluent area, I guarantee that driving a new Scout and being able to say $63k instead of $75k will net at least ten new vehicles being sold by Scout.
The more vehicles Scout produces, the better terms they get from suppliers, the lower prices go, and the more they sell. I just don't understand the fundamentals of selling few high-profit vehicles, aside from short-term greed.
I understand that early mass production means creative solutions for servicing for a new company, but I still look at MINI as a good model when they started. Train a tech and rent a service bay in an existing facility until you've got enough money coming in to open your own service departments. Have a few roving mobile service trucks as well to fill in gaps keeps general overhead low initially. They just have to be extra-selective about where they rent the service bays from. MINI used BMW for obvious reasons, but Scout doesn't have much shared architecture with VW at all, so they could use anyone with reputable service.
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