[kitcarman]

Originally Posted by Fuoriserie

Den
You did a good summary of the thread…

Thanks Fuoriserie!

Originally Posted by Ex-Biker

….what I consider is the problem… kits are now more expensive… why bother when [you can, for less dosh] buy a Lotus Elise?

[Then there is] lack of effective marketing… if the industry is building more reliable and better quality cars… it should be able to maintain popularity…. A good marketing campaign needs something that is lacking in the kit car industry - money.

Who are we going to sell these kits to? How often do you see your neighbour under the bonnet of his / her car? When was the last time you did your own service? Modern society has no need for this, as there is always a garage nearby waiting to take your money.

We see build figures in promotional material and in magazines so: [add the costs of parts and labour] and [manufacturers should] build it & sell it for the price [they] say it can be built for!
There is certainly a market out there for that.

Hi Mark,
I hope my abbreviation has done justice to what you were saying (if not; take me to task because I’m not trying to misrepresent anybody).
Now to paraphrase: You reckon kit cars are expensive relative to production cars and therefore especially need good marketing which they don’t receive because manufacturers are strapped for cash.
You also reckon that people are less practical/inclined than they have been historically toward working on cars. Therefore manufacturers should recognise this trend and respond by building complete vehicles for more realistic prices.

Originally Posted by andy

I think the main thing the industry needs to address in the honesty of the manufacturers…how many… sell their fully built cars for the cost they claim you can build a car plus labour they claim to build it?
This is hardly going to give credibility to the industry and also people then pass the more honest manufacturers as they appear too expensive.
Maybe a web site should be started that polls how much people have actually spent…
False promises and coming up with reams of (feable at best, lies at worst) excuses for not delivering on them needs to also be addressed.

Hi Andy,
Again, please pull me if I’ve distorted your message. I think it fair to state that you talk with the benefit of experience. You’d like to see more straightforward marketing when price and build time is mentioned and more reliable suppliers. I can’t see anybody disagreeing with that!

Originally Posted by JG

This is a bugbear of mine and exactly why I created the Build cost estimator; I'd like to think fairly accurate for an 'average build'

On your point about a site which polls how much a car DID actually cost to build. Madabout has always had that facility. Anyone who has built a kit car and is willing to give the figures can add their voice.

Cheers, John

Thanks John,
By implication, it seems that you’ve already attempted to provide a more realistic means for customers to assess the build cost/time claims of manufacturers. You’d presumably only want to do that if you thought those of the manufacturers weren’t accurate.

I know that I play like an old gramophone record, but this is surely an issue of press integrity. In most industry’s the press monitor advertising claims on behalf of their readers and either refuse to accept adverts which are wayward or they publish editorial to explain what the situation really is. That hasn’t generally been the case in this industry though. Good honest adverts have run alongside dubious ones to the point where an outsider wouldn’t know what to trust and what not to trust. Worse still, wayward advertisers who spend enough money have their wayward claims indorsed in the editorial.

The result of that, in my opinion, is that when honest manufacturers place advertisements they are not as effective as they might otherwise have been. Their meagre budget therefore gets wasted in the fog of uncertainty. Wouldn’t it improve if the press could be read at face value without having to read between the lines?

Please remember that most of us are wise to what I’m talking about. Newcomers are not.

Den