Cut configurations and costs? Who'd a thunk?

[the Teuton]

DETROIT ? When American consumers start buying new cars again, they'll likely find fewer combinations of moon roofs, seat upholstery and stereo systems to choose from. As with better fuel economy, it's a case of U.S. automakers taking a cue from their Japanese counterparts.

A buyer of the 2008 Ford Fusion could choose from the various models and extra features available and come up with 2,600 combinations. For the 2010 version due in showrooms this summer, the number drops to 104.

The Toyota Camry and the Honda Accord were the two best-selling cars in the U.S. in 2008. The people who purchased more than 800,000 of them combined last year picked from a total of just 15 versions. For the Accord, the models or trim levels were limited to just four, each level complete with a variety of extra bells and whistles.

The American car makers need to cut costs.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090215/ap_on_bi_ge/autos_a_la_carte

You mean selling 1,000s of different combinations of equipment level in the same car versus 3 or 4 in the Japanese is inefficient?  Really?

[Rupert]

If they would just have a checklist of options instead of stupid packages...

[AutobahnSHO]

RLY.

BUT
IF I were buying a new car I would hate the whole "have to get this package for just component A"...

I remember being befuddled why they would put in TWO stereo wiring harnesses into the SHO. Apparently one went from the dash to the amps in the trunk, back to the dash to plug into the standard harness, which went to the speakers. 

[TBR]

DETROIT ? When American consumers start buying new cars again, they'll likely find fewer combinations of moon roofs, seat upholstery and stereo systems to choose from. As with better fuel economy, it's a case of U.S. automakers taking a cue from their Japanese counterparts.

A buyer of the 2008 Ford Fusion could choose from the various models and extra features available and come up with 2,600 combinations. For the 2010 version due in showrooms this summer, the number drops to 104.

The Toyota Camry and the Honda Accord were the two best-selling cars in the U.S. in 2008. The people who purchased more than 800,000 of them combined last year picked from a total of just 15 versions. For the Accord, the models or trim levels were limited to just four, each level complete with a variety of extra bells and whistles.

The American car makers need to cut costs.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090215/ap_on_bi_ge/autos_a_la_carte

You mean selling 1,000s of different combinations of equipment level in the same car versus 3 or 4 in the Japanese is inefficient?  Really?

I don't buy that, there are far more than 11 ways to configure a Camry.

[MX793]

I don't buy that, there are far more than 11 ways to configure a Camry.

I think they're only counting factory configurations.  Honda and Toyota offer a lot of dealer installed features that allow further customization of the configuration, but configurations from the factory are pretty limited.

[sportyaccordy]

Actually the Accord sedan comes with about 25 trims, but that's still less than 2000 Fusions. Who knows if they will even sell 2000 Fusions this year?

[2o6]

DETROIT ? When American consumers start buying new cars again, they'll likely find fewer combinations of moon roofs, seat upholstery and stereo systems to choose from. As with better fuel economy, it's a case of U.S. automakers taking a cue from their Japanese counterparts.

A buyer of the 2008 Ford Fusion could choose from the various models and extra features available and come up with 2,600 combinations. For the 2010 version due in showrooms this summer, the number drops to 104.

The Toyota Camry and the Honda Accord were the two best-selling cars in the U.S. in 2008. The people who purchased more than 800,000 of them combined last year picked from a total of just 15 versions. For the Accord, the models or trim levels were limited to just four, each level complete with a variety of extra bells and whistles.

The American car makers need to cut costs.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090215/ap_on_bi_ge/autos_a_la_carte

You mean selling 1,000s of different combinations of equipment level in the same car versus 3 or 4 in the Japanese is inefficient?  Really?

Doubt that. Peugeot has a choice of Five different engines for their small and midsize cars (The Peugeot 407 has NINE engine choices), and other makes follow suit. Typically, the Japanese do not. Even with the extremities of choice (mucho choices vs little to no choice) I don't think it has an effect on making an automaker hurt. The problems off the domestics lie elsewhere.

[MX793]

Doubt that. Peugeot has a choice of Five different engines for their small and midsize cars (The Peugeot 407 has NINE engine choices), and other makes follow suit. Typically, the Japanese do not. Even with the extremities of choice (mucho choices vs little to no choice) I don't think it has an effect on making an automaker hurt. The problems off the domestics lie elsewhere.

The European market is not the American market.  What works in one may or may not work in the other.  Once upon a time, American domestic manufacturers offered a huge array of stand alone features.  There were no real options packages like today, you literally custom built your car one option at a time.  That practice has be steadily abandoned in North America because it simply isn't cost effective here.

[2o6]

The European market is not the American market.  What works in one may or may not work in the other.  Once upon a time, American domestic manufacturers offered a huge array of stand alone features.  There were no real options packages like today, you literally custom built your car one option at a time.  That practice has be steadily abandoned in North America because it simply isn't cost effective here.

Why isn't it cost-effective? 

[the Teuton]

Why isn't it cost-effective? 

Because if you have a standard specification per trim level, it helps make building the car more efficient and faster overall. 

If for instance, you only offer seat pouches on the back of your leather seats, it not only requires people to spend more money for the leather seats, but it also gets rid of seperate manufacturing techniques of seat making for the same seats (e.g. having to pick and choose which cloth seats get the pouches). 

It's cheaper in the long-run.

The only other way to do it is to make everything worth a damn optional and independent of one another.  But that only works if you're in a position to command a premium from a buyer.  You couldn't get away with having three different seat fabrics, both heated and non-heated, two different kinds of seats, and either power or manual in a Cobalt.  But you can in a BMW 3 Series, for instance.

[JWC]

The European market is not the American market.  What works in one may or may not work in the other.  Once upon a time, American domestic manufacturers offered a huge array of stand alone features.  There were no real options packages like today, you literally custom built your car one option at a time.  That practice has be steadily abandoned in North America because it simply isn't cost effective here.

The practice does need to be eliminated, but it is sad to see it pass.  There was a time when you went to the dealer and sat with a salesperson for an hour or so and picked the options you wanted, including exterior and interior color combination.  Six weeks later, your vehicle arrived.  Even the dealer had to go through order sheets and pick out colors and options for inventory vehicles.   Whatever you ordered you had to sell.  The Ford dealer I work out now, once made the mistake of ordering a 1965 Galaxie in Aquamarine, white roof....and red interior.  I remember the car well because my aunt bought it.  When I came to this dealer and mentioned that my aunt once owned a beautiful car, with the ugliest interior, the owners told me that the order was an accident and one car they thought they'd never get rid of.  Three days later, my aunt decided she couldn't live without it.  (It also had an AM/FM stereo with a reverb amp that made an echo through the speakers when you went over railroad tracks).

Back on topic, when I worked for a Honda dealer back in the 1980's, I learned that Honda's only arrived in different trim levels, with no options.  The dealer could order a DX or LX, in the color they wanted, but accessories were added at the dealership. The cars came with no A/C, radio, mud flaps, or antennas.  The dealer built the car the way he wished and for his market area.  A northeastern dealer may not want A/C, while a Florida dealer did.   If a customer didn't like the radio in the car, it was a simple matter to swap it out.  I thought it was a great way to do it.  It wasn't until the LX-i arrived that accessories came installed from Honda.

The program of that allowed American car dealers to order so many combinations, is something left over from decades past.   There was a time, when you could order a American car without a heater, but with A/C.   I had a friend that inherited her grandmother's 1962 Plymouth Valiant that had that combo.  The grandmother lived in south Florida and didn't need a heater.   The granddaughter lived in northern California and that car was damn cold in the winter.

[TBR]

I think they're only counting factory configurations.  Honda and Toyota offer a lot of dealer installed features that allow further customization of the configuration, but configurations from the factory are pretty limited.

According to Edmunds there are 11 different trim level/engine/transmission configurations and 7 of those have an optional sunroof package which is definitely not dealer installed.

It also seems likely that 2600 number includes colors as well.

[cozmik]

Honda seems to have the least available combinations of packages and trims. In the Accord you have your choice of 2 engines, 2 transmissions, and 3.5 trims. LX, EX, EX-L and EX-L Navi. The rest is all deal installed accessories. It makes inventory a snap when your'e selling them for sure.


The old system of option by option selection doesn't work here anymore. American customers aren't willing to wait for a car to be built to spec anymore, not to mention how much shopping there is now. And when features that might not normally be wanted are just there, there isn't as much fight by the customer. EX-L Accords all had heated seats, so even if a customer normally might not have wanted them, since they all had it, it wasn't an issue normally.

[NomisR]

Actually the Accord sedan comes with about 25 trims, but that's still less than 2000 Fusions. Who knows if they will even sell 2000 Fusions this year?

I'm only counting 13 different configuration and part of the difference is leather vs no leather, for the sedan.