What the Kit Car industry didn't want to hear ! !

[Ex-Biker]

I know this link is used elswhere, but what is written does make quite interesting reading and this isn't about GTM.

www.northlightsportscars.com/

Northlight make some very revealing statements here as for reasons not to stay within the industry.

Are these statements home truths that could really hurt the industry? or just things that we all already knew?

I know non of the publishers (mag or net) would ever publish these words, even though I bet many would concur with them.

(I realise some on the forum probably can't comment about this)

[ultimapaul]

Some interesting stuff. I think I understand the authors point. It would appear the article was written off the cuff, whereas a little more thought would have helped it get the point accross more clearly.

Still, he has raised a few topics for disscusion.

Paul.

[jgmadkit]

Old news and just one persons point of view, no more no less.

Hasn't got a hope in hell of selling that for £11k let alone building it for less and making a profit.

[Flintstone]

Oh, I dunno.

He might if he's prepared to accept the big boys' profit margins that he mentions

Believe it when I see it.

[smeagol]

Comes over as a bit of an uninformed idiot to me. Just because a kit can use old parts doesn't mean it has to. There are completely wrong "facts" in the text and notes at the bottom which rather basic research will show about several kit car manufacturers (eg Dax, Westfield etc.) He acknowledges they are well engineered cars but states you can't buy a new engine etc. from them, utter rubbish! You CAN buy new engine, gearbox etc. and they don't cost £18k upwards. In fact westfield had a car on offer earlier this year which had everything for £13k.

[mattstead]

I'm sure northlight must be correct with the reasoning behind what they are saying, even if some of the figures do make you wonder. I've allways has my suspicioins about profit margins, and most people think that as they are only selling a few then they need big profits on each one, where as look at Henry ford..only made a dollor on each model T, people couldn't understand how he could do it so cheap, but bought them like they were going out of fashion. We appear to be going full circle to the topic "where are the cheap kits?" you know the 3K ones?...well perhaps they are out there, they are just selling for 6K though.

[simonbell]

A fair bit of tripe in there I`m afraid.....

There are manufacturers selling cars in kit form which include all new parts and fit together like a jigsaw. Birkin and Caterham spring to mind immediately.

I doubt if any kit car manufacturer is making 100% profit.......

These are all specialist cars which will appeal to a specialist market......enthusiasts. The average punter on the street will always go down to the local showroom and buy an MX5 or whatever......it is the dedicated bunch who will buy kits and specialist cars.

If you are Joe Public who hasn`t even heard of Westfield or whoever are you honestly going to go and buy one. I doubt it, unless of course you have a mate who has done it laready and si there to persuade you.

[wob]

There seems to be a fundamental misunderstanding of the difference between gross margin (ie cost of materials) and net profit (ie profit after all overheads like labour, selling, factory & staff costs), which makes you wonder how well thought out that £11000 price is. Fair enough when you sell squillions of cars/year, bit more tricky when you only sell one or two a week. I'd be very surprised if the likes of Fisher (where I bought my kit from) makes a return on sales of 50% (ie 100% profit). (Can you tell I'm studying for an MBA these days??!)

If they genuinely can make it profitable at that price, I expect the erstwhile owners of the FBS Census might like a word! To be honest I don't remember what the K3 looks like, but I always felt that the GTM cars had similar issues to the FBS on aesthetic grounds (ie love it or hate it styling). They will find the marketplace of the average Evo reader a lot harsher than the comparitively forgiving one of kit car enthusiasts.