Odd thought: Where is a car's cost?

"TheOnelectronic" (theoneelectronic)
10/10/2013 at 01:46 • Filed to: rand

I was thinking today; in terms of the actual cost to produce a car, where does most of the money go? Engine? Chassis? Body?

It would be really interesting to see not just a single answer, but perhaps a cut-away, color coded based on total cost (including labor, etc... to account for parts that are difficult to work with.)

DISCUSSION (6)

Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy > TheOnelectronic
10/10/2013 at 01:59

I'd say research and development really, which mainly where the cost of designing a new car comes from. the prototypes especially.

TheOnelectronic > Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy
10/10/2013 at 02:02

I was thinking more along the lines of production costs. For instance, how much would it raise the price to put double wishbone suspension on a camry?

Tyler's SVT Focus Hates Him > TheOnelectronic
10/10/2013 at 02:16

Probably engine, since it has the most working parts and they are under huge amounts of stress(?). I'm a first year ME major who wants to work in the auto industry, so I'm really interested in hearing answers from people who know what they're talking about.

MtrRider Just Wants Doritos > TheOnelectronic
10/10/2013 at 03:58

It depends on the car. If it's a cheap car, you're looking at engine and transmission. If it's a S Class, new technology. GT500, engine. Porsche, chassis and PDK development. The answer is usually "high tech parts under stress with lots of controlled explosions and spinning bits".

OtherBarry > TheOnelectronic
10/10/2013 at 09:00

Not much really, but that is a different supplier with a new part and engineering and shipping from somewhere else. Unless you grab one from a different chassis, which will get you panned by the auto jouros. Then you have to re-engineer the suspension pickup points and god forbid if you have to move an engine mount or shift the whole drive train 3/8 to the passanger side.

Its really R&D. That is my the Detriot 3 make so much money on trucks (V8 with a ladder frame and leaf springs in the rear) and the small batch halo cars always loose money. Those halo car often have a trickle down with tech. Just look at all the things the S-class has pioneered over the years that is now available on beige cars.

Jayhawk Jake > TheOnelectronic
10/10/2013 at 09:01

I'm an aviation engineer, cost is a big deal to us but we also only make a few planes a year. I've had a cost estimate done for me assuming 40 airplanes a year, and for this airplane that's a pretty optimistic number. The more you make, the cheaper it gets, so for cars I would imagine most simple parts are extremely inexpensive.

It's going to vary from car to car, certainly.

I would say think of it in terms of processes: parts that are made using a more difficult or expensive process are going to cost more.

So what does that mean? Well, the process for electronics really boils down to the R&D. While the components themselves aren't necessarily expensive, the 'unit' will be. Things like your automatic transmission, safety devices, various tech bits etc will probably be pretty expensive. Then again with cars they make a ton of them, so the cost per unit might be lower than I think.

Big forgings will be next in cost, then machinings, then castings, then sheetmetal. Plastics are cheap, probably cheaper than sheetmetal.

I would think the engine is a big chunk of the cost, then the drivetrain components (transmission, differential, suspension, wheels), the frame and bodywork next, then the interior, depending of course on how nice the interior materials are.

The biggest issue with switching to double wishbone suspension on a camry like you said to someone else would probably be switching all the tooling, and any added labor for that type of suspension. If the parts count is similar to the standard suspension and it's made of similar materials using similar processes, it's not going to be all that different in cost.