Oppo Question of the Day: Pure Profit

"CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever" (carsoffortlangley) 01/15/2019 at 10:48 • Filed to: None

0

35

What, in your opinion, is the vehicle that manufactures have made the most profit off? You have to consider testing, R&D, government regulations, etc.

I wonder if it is higher price (higher margin) vehicles like a Rolls Royce Phantom or like, a Dodge Journey which has been on sale forever, selling tons of models and allowing a tidy profit on the financing side for FCA.

I think the answer is likely the F-150, given the relative margins and huge volume, but if we ignore that, what would it be?

KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 01/15/2019 at 10:51

1

the vehicle that manufactures have made the most profit off?

Porsche 911? Especially given the exorbitant packages and add ons and higher total sales numbers than a RR or Bentley. No huge manufacturer incentives as well.

If you look at 911 sales alone, it’s around 1500 a year, the entire Bentley brand sells 2500 a year, Rolls Royce sells 4000 a year. So if you break up by individual model Porsche has a chance to have high total profit.

E90M3 > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 01/15/2019 at 10:51

8

Every Nissan product because all the R&D costs were paid for in the 1950s. 

Mercedes Streeter > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 01/15/2019 at 10:55

1

I’d say vehicles that didn’t cost a lot to make, made a high return on investment, didn’t have a lot of recalls/warranty repairs, then went on sale for much longer than it probably should. That could in theory be either something like a Journey or a Rolls.

An example of how it could go wrong is the first gen smart fortwo. A car that despite having been sold for nearly ten years it never turned smart a profit.

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time 01/15/2019 at 10:56

1

Oh yeah, Porsche. And then you have to factor in the mandatory merch that every CFO in a 911 and sad dad in a Boxster (shout out to my FIL) has to buy.

https://shop2.porsche.com/usa/

DutchieDC2R > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 01/15/2019 at 10:58

0

The Cayenne/Panamera. Maybe the Panamera not so much, but certainly the Cayenne....

jimz > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 01/15/2019 at 10:58

0

I wonder if it is higher price (higher margin) vehicles like a Ro lls Royce Phantom

I highly doubt that. BMW doesn’t break out Rolls-Royce numbers, but VW does publish Bentley’s. and Bentley nets a couple hundred million Euros in a good year.

Stapleface-Now Hyphenated! > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 01/15/2019 at 10:59

6

‘Sup?

KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 01/15/2019 at 10:59

4

As a brand though, it’s Ferrari

https://www.motor1.com/news/261613/ferrari-highest-profit-per-car/

Milky > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 01/15/2019 at 10:59

0

1. Toyota Motor Corp. $214 billion

With a market cap of more than $200 billion, Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp. ( TM ) is the largest auto company in the world.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

The most popular car in the world — of all time, in fact, — is the Toyota Corolla, with more than 43 million units sold worldwide since 1966. It’s built at 16 plants worldwide

When people all over the world willing give you $20k for a 4spd and drum brakes you make money.

DipodomysDeserti > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 01/15/2019 at 10:59

3

The Wrangler has to be up there. They don’t even bother to make sure the suspension is designed or built correctly year after year.

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > Stapleface-Now Hyphenated! 01/15/2019 at 11:00

0

Oh, that is a good contender .  Pretty low margins though, I would say that the Journey probably makes more

BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 01/15/2019 at 11:01

2

Perhaps focusing on a single model is too narrow. Think about a series of cars where almost all parts are shared across a platform; for example VW’s MQB platform or even the shared components in a Honda Accord/CRV/Pilot etc. I’d think something like that (especially the Honda, whose mechanical components went practically unchanged for over a decade).

Also, my Land Rover Disco4 is essentially the same as the Disco 3 and Range Rover / RR Sport of the same era (so, like twelve years or so of the same parts). Perhaps that’s a better example - higher margin for an expensive car that’s had most of the nuts and bolts worked out years before. 

shop-teacher > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 01/15/2019 at 11:01

4

Full size vans, no question. The design cycle of those is measured in decades.

The Dodge B series van platform ran from the early 70's to 2005. The GM G-series vans ran from ‘71-95. Their current platform debuted in ‘96 and was refreshed once in ‘03. The Ford E-series dubuted in the late 70's, and is still being produced in cutaway form.

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 01/15/2019 at 11:03

0

If we were doing platforms, I’d go to the global B p latform from ford. Used in so many cars since 2002.

Every single Fiesta, Fusion, Ikon, Mazda2, Ka, B-Max, EcoSport (2nd gen), Transit Courier globally 

Pickup_man > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 01/15/2019 at 11:04

0

If we’re talking vehicles of all time, it’s got to be the squarebody C hevy, 14 years with relatively minor changes. Same dash, same interior, same box, same lights, close to the same engine choices, that were mildly updated. About the only big change the squarebody saw was the front clip.

Ford’s done similar things with the F-series, using the same cab between 1980 and 1997 (98 for the F-250), so 18 years on the same cab, but those still had all new interiors, lights, engine choices, box sides. Then there’s the Super Duty, 99-16, 17 years on the same cab. Again though, the Super Duty saw some major revisions and upgrades so that’s got to be out.

Dodge did similar things with the D/W -series/First gen Ram as well , but again, I think they saw more significant changes than GM.

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 01/15/2019 at 11:05

0

I’d probably offer either the GMT400 or GMT800 platform. Both of them were made for such a long time, there were bigly margins, and the SUV’s on the platform shared far more parts than the F-150/ expedition with even bigger margins than the trucks.

fintail > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 01/15/2019 at 11:07

2

Per vehicle or total?

I think cars with high option prices have good margins - so many premium Germans can have 20K+++ in options, which must carry a healthy return.  Even my Bluetec has nearly 15K in options alone.

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > Pickup_man 01/15/2019 at 11:08

0

I thought about the D/W, F series and Square body chevs.  

farscythe - makin da cawfee! > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 01/15/2019 at 11:08

3

probably the beetle

werent they still building those a couple years ago?

that must have made its costs back many times over

bhtooefr > KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time 01/15/2019 at 11:10

1

I’m not actually sure, given that it took the Cayenne to make Porsche profitable. (Which makes me wonder if it’s that.)

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > fintail 01/15/2019 at 11:10

1

Either or, I still think that cars with higher margins are the true answer. King TChalla said 911s. That is probably the answer.

$2000CDN for floor mats! 

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > farscythe - makin da cawfee! 01/15/2019 at 11:11

1

The OG beetle would be a good answer.  But, so little profit I’d guess

bhtooefr > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 01/15/2019 at 11:12

0

Fusion only in the European sense of the word, which was replaced by the B-Max.

And the current Mazda2 isn't on that platform AFAIK.

farscythe - makin da cawfee! > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 01/15/2019 at 11:12

0

i dunno... labour is pretty cheap where they were building them

wouldnt have kept it up for that long if it werent paying the bills i figure

For Sweden > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 01/15/2019 at 11:16

2

Full size American pickups.

Tariffs   not only impose immense economic costs but also fail to achieve their primary policy aims and foster political dysfunction along the way.

KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time > bhtooefr 01/15/2019 at 11:17

1

OK I checked the numbers for US. Porsche sold 57K total in 2018, About 9,600 911s (1500 I mentioned in previous comment was incorrect) but 10,700 Cayennes 23,000 Macans.
If the Profit margin on 911s is more than Cayennes, and given the sales numbers are only 1100 units apart it will still be advantage 911 on total profit per model.

http://carsalesbase.com/us-car-sales-data/porsche/

Longtime Lurker > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 01/15/2019 at 11:18

2

Full-size vans, long life lifecycle minimal refreshes and powertrains pulled from trucks and they have starting prices equal to or greater then their full-size truck counter parts dispute having less standard equipment.

AkursedX > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 01/15/2019 at 11:21

0

The Ford D3 platform has been around since 2004 and had the Explorer, Flex, Taurus, 500, Freestyle, Montego, MKS, and MKT all on it.

And it wasn’t even a new platform as is was originally a Volvo platform from the late 90's that at least the S80 was built on.

fintail > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 01/15/2019 at 11:25

2

I’ve seen 911s on the lot with 30-40K in options, and still nothing insanely rare .

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > bhtooefr 01/15/2019 at 11:27

0

I didn’t know the fusion thing, but yeah I was aware of the current Mazda2 not being on the same platform.  Our CX-3 is the same platform as the current Mazda 2

TheRealBicycleBuck > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 01/15/2019 at 11:29

0

Any full-size truck or SUV. The materials costs aren’t that much higher and tooling costs shouldn’t be much higher either , but the retail price is much higher than a sedan.

BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind > AkursedX 01/15/2019 at 11:34

0

Ooh that’s a good one. Plus with the number of Explorers sold both to the public and fleets, I bet it prints money. 

Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 01/15/2019 at 12:21

1

Dodge Caravan and it’s relatives probably takes the cake.

Been on sale since 1984.

Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 01/15/2019 at 12:22

0

Chrysler Ks and their derivatives would likely be a winner in that case.

Future next gen S2000 owner > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 01/15/2019 at 16:51

0

Panther platform maybe. Fox body and subsequent SN-95/New Edge. 911 seems about right on an individual car basis. Volume wise, definitely a pickup.

I thought I saw it somewhere that Ferrari made more money off of merchandise than off of cars, but I coul d be wrong.