automationgame.com

Hey, business and dev side of Automation.

Why is it that Volkswagen can sell a Jetta base model at a starting price tag of $16,895 here in the U.S., but in Automation, even using steel materials, most cars will be around $10,000 in total costs already? I keep using glued aluminum frames and aluminum panels and only charging ~$25,000 for most of my cars because of the Jetta. Is this too low? How do you guys get your final costs for your cars?

Thanks in advance!
Sam

Glued Aluminium is not the process they are using, that is much to labor intensive and low-scale. There will be a semi-spaceframe option in aluminium which fits the bill much better, should the Jetta use that type of chassis. That type is more suitable for mass-production. Is the car a full aluminium build or do they mix materials?

The Jetta is a steel space framed car, I believe. Of course this is only based on me having seen the Corvette space frame in comparison with the in-game monocoque. I also understand that certain body panels, such as the rockers, are also steel. The salesman mentioned something about how they laser weld the side panels to the top so they don't need weather strips on the roof and the frame will last longer. I hope this gives you some insight on their material costs.?

Also, I use aluminum myself because it's light, but I can't say the same for any aspect of the Jetta other than the panel behind the rear seats (safety feature).

Yeah, that sounds like you were going a bit over the top considering the options available in game currently.
If you go for corrosion resistant steel monocoque and panels, what price point are you getting then? How does the weight compare to the IRL car?

I'm getting around $7,500 in materials and $9,750 in total costs using steel-steel. The 2012 Jetta S weighs in at 2,804 lbs versus my 3,200 lb car with standard interior and advanced safety (similar to the Jetta).

By the way, is there a straight-forward equation you could give me for calculating price? I'm currently basing it on: mCost + (pUnits × $40/unit) = price

yes, it's just a straight up equation: materialCosts + productionUnits * 17.5 = totalCosts
At least I think it's 17.5, you can easily check yourself.

So if the material cost is $7,500 and production units is 150, I should charge $10,125 for that car to be sold at dealerships?

If you don't want to have any profit or cover the R&D costs, yes.

Well that's what I'm asking; what would be the way to calculate a moderate profit?

make a car similar to one in real life and you could just base it on that?

Or take a look at CTC, although you tend to make more profit on there than irl

Because I didn't want 80% of the participants to fain horribly and thus not participating anymore in future challenges

A few weeks ago I found this on the internet, maybe it halps a little bit:

I use this calculation. I think it's close to reality for marketing and warranty cost and R&D expens

MSRP = Total Cost + ( Prod Units * 20 )) * 1.4