Quote:
Originally Posted by cdlong
You think they finalize the design at the same rate for cheap and expensive cars? No, the cheap cars go through 3 design iterations (to throw a random number on it) and they live with it because that what their budget allows. Expensive cars, that have a higher styling budget, go through 20 iterations and refinements (again, a random number to illustrate a point). The cost scales with the iterations so definitely not a flat cost. Each of those iterations (well, second half maybe) spends time in the wind tunnel, so a Corolla may spend a day of wind tunnel time where as an 812 gets weeks collectively.
Mazda has done some impressive work making cheap cars look high rent with their budgets, no doubt. Kia is, at best, shooting par.
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Exactly. Some common sense.
There is also absolutely a cost of styling even before a sketch is done, even before multiple iterations, bean counters, corrections. The reason Hyundai, Kia and Genesis have been able to break out of their knockoff designs of the 90?s and 2000?s is because they went out, poached and PAID highly successful designs big money to come work for them. Kia hired Shreyer, Hyundai got Donckerwolke. Those guys are wildly successful designers who have penned some of the most classic cars of the modern era. That doesn?t come cheap.
And I agree about Mazda. What they have going for them (and also against them) is they are their OWN company and they are small. They obviously have some incredible talent and they don?t have as many layers of management to approve shit. They also have a great, well thought out design direction that keeps getting better and better with each iteration.