Car Platform/Shell Lifespan? (Steel, Rust, Paint, Climates?)

[Drummerdude48]

The material thickness thread made me think of something else related.

Most cars pre 95 suffer pretty hardcore from rust and paint degredation. Material thickness, paint quality and climate all effect visual and structural degredation.

Firstly will vehicle shells have a lifespace seperate to the engine lifespan (if so, keep reading! ) and will there be any options for:

1) Variable thickness (+/- 3mm of standard?); thicker being more resistant to rust, slightly heavier and more expensive but giving a somewhat better shell lifespan? Rust would not have to be incorporated visually into the game but given rust was a massive problem in the past I would assume it would be accurate to incorporate it? I am aware I might be making the assumption that our cars will get a chance to become old enough to get rusty though. If im correct though were there not cars that rusted in 3 years also back in the 80's due to poor quality steel? Fiat was it?

Alternatively instead of material thinkness there could just be a set thickness and a quality selection instead as this would not require a grafficial change to the car designer? Or the quality could be decided on where you buy the steel from (USA/China or etc). Higher quality steel being more expensive, better lifespan, lead to better rep etc. You get the idea!

2) Climate; Everybody knows how much climate in ireland/uk lessens the shell lifespan compaired to hotter/dryer regions around the world. This can be seen from how many MK2 escorts are bought in countries like South Africa and exported to UK/Ireland because they are in perfect condition and original. Will climate in the regions (when they are finally decided that is) effect vehicle shell lifespan? (Again assuming vehicles will live long enough to rust/need a lifespan stat). Basically if my company was based in ireland and its car shells had an average lifespan would they have a much bigger lifespan if shipped to africa?

3) Paint: Will there be a paint quality slider? Higher quality = more expensive but less likely to fade? This could result in comments from reviewers/the public as to the quality of the paint/how good your company's rep is.

I also have another question regarding the tycoon section in general. If you started a company and got a bad rep for producing a poor first car would I struggle to regain a good rep against certain reviewers even if I produced great cars for the following 5 years?

Will steel import cost vary per county? China being cheaper but maybe a lesser quality? If i set up a company in the UK and used UK steel would it be cheaper than if i was in the US buying cheaper steel?

[Daffyflyer]

The material thickness thread made me think of something else related.

Most cars pre 95 suffer pretty hardcore from rust and paint degredation. Material thickness, paint quality and climate all effect visual and structural degredation.

Firstly will vehicle shells have a lifespace seperate to the engine lifespan (if so, keep reading! ) and will there be any options for:

I also have another question regarding the tycoon section in general. If you started a company and got a bad rep for producing a poor first car would I struggle to regain a good rep against certain reviewers even if I produced great cars for the following 5 years?

Will steel import cost vary per county? China being cheaper but maybe a lesser quality? If i set up a company in the UK and used UK steel would it be cheaper than if i was in the US buying cheaper steel?

Yes, they will and their lifespan will depend on material (Steel, Aluminium, Carbon Fibre etc.), construction (ladder frame, monocoque etc.) any rust proofing, and quality. that's probably all that will effect it though, not sure on Climate, we'll see.

Your company/brand will have a reputation, and I imagine individual models might too, it'll take a long time to get back a positive reputation if you release a really bad car. The reputation will probably be maintained individually per region, so if you release a bad car in the US, it won't harm your reputation in Europe very much for example.

Material and labor costs will vary per region and over time I'd say.

It's all subject to change as we're not really up to that bit yet, but that's the current thoughts.

[Drummerdude48]

Excellent! Glad to hear its all been thought of.

Love the idea of having to battle to get rep back up too, makes it harder/more strategic.

[Daffyflyer]

Also a reason to create sub-brands, as there will be "Prestige" too, which is like reputation, but it's more about how classy and desirable your cars are. It'll make sound business sense to create a seperate brand for your luxury cars, as you don't want the cheap reputation of your budget hatchback draging your luxury sedans down. But on the other hand you'll be throwing away some of the reputation for quality that you've built up over the years and you'll have to pay for even more dealer network stuff and marketing etc. So maybe you DON'T want to start Lexus? Choices!

[noeraver]

Speaking of Lexus:

Are there going to be import quotas/limits on cars you introduce into other markets? In other words, will we have to set up domestic manufacturers in other countries in order to sell large amounts? Or are we going to be able to ship thousands of cheap Japanese-built hatchbacks into the US and flood their market?

[Daffyflyer]

There will be unique rules for certain things per region, and that would certainly be one of them, also weird things like I think Thailand has something like a 200% tax on vehicles not assembled locally.

[noeraver]

That's awesome.

If im correct though were there not cars that rusted in 3 years also back in the 80's due to poor quality steel? Fiat was it?

The Lancia Beta had this problem. I feel like there should be challenge scenarios based on Italian car manufacturers.

Anyway, I am excited to attempt to build well-built American cars that don't weigh five tonnes.

[RobtheFiend]

Alfa Romeo was worst. The cars started to rust on the boat from Italy to UK.
Brand spanking new cars rolled of the transport boat with a tiny amount of rust on them..... maybe a couple of weeks after beeing manufactured.

[noeraver]

Nissans had a similar rust issue in the US in the 60s and 70s. The floor panel of my Z has a new plate welded in on the passenger side (an addition of the previous owner). I also remember as a kid, my dad's Datsun 210 pickup truck having the floor fall through when we were on the highway.

On the game side, I would love to see even just random events pop up that have rust issues with imported automobiles (ours or others).

What about engine wear? Are there going to be unexpected effects of poorly built engines (explosions, etc.) that we'll have to deal with? Will it be possible for us to build a bad batch with cheap materials? I would love to see some variation of this sort.