Land Rover "extras" on new vehicles

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popotla

Active Member
Posts
198
Location
Berlin, Germany
A certain vehicle manufacturer offers its products for sale in Germany (where I live) in an “interesting” way. It offers its range with a white roof. A buyer who’d like the roof to be the same colour as the rest of the vehicle must pay 410 Euros extra. A wooden box covered in vinyl, designed to fit between the front seats and contain some of one’s bits and pieces is an “extra” priced at 180 Euros. Front mud flaps are an “extra”, priced at 70 Euros a pair (rubber with a quickly-rusting bit of metal along the top; I know how quickly they rust: I have a Defender CSW). To have the wheel housings painted the same colour as the rest of the vehicle costs 80 Euros.

This manufacturer is Land Rover. Should they, I ask myself, consider charging extra for doors and wheels? Perhaps they should. If in the bed and breakfast business, would they want to charge extra for the bed (and perhaps for breakfast, too)?

Is there another manufacturer that offers a roof colour few people (I guess) want, and then charges a very tidy sum for providing one they do want? Maybe there is. Is there another on which four mud-flaps is not a standard item?

Is their approach a money-making scam, with the “extras” on offer very much (in my opinion overpriced) or is there a more innocent explanation?

Is this what is called "doing business", looking after "shareholder interest"?
 
I can't think of another manufacturer that charges for optional extra's like a colour coded roof. They paint the roof anyway so I don't see a problem with it being the same colour to start with. In this day and age making them all white to reduce manufacturing costs isn't justified. All manufacturers seem to charge extras for matts and flaps. They tend to be "included" on the more expensive models.

As far as creature comforts go yer looking at the wrong vehicle if you want them. If you do want them you'll pay a high price to say the least. More on ere would rather put that money towards rust prevention.
 
They scale back the base vehicle to bare bones in order to reduce the list price, it therefore looks competitive against other makes, but also gives you a chance to own a basic one if that's all you can afford.

The reason its cheaper to offer a white roof as standard is because out of 1,000 made they can spray 950 in white. The roofs may even be done at a component supplier. When body colour roofs are needed, they might wait until they have enough of a certain number of roofs to do in 1 colour. This slows down lead time on these models, which in turn adds to cost as they wont get their money until delivery.

Its all factored in. Every cost is known in car manufacture these days, they don't just say "well it wont cost much ...". All car makes do this.
 
the_wolf said:
Those 'optional extras' such as hair straighteners and a hairdryer don't come cheap ya know
Click to expand...
Yer tratters dun't have door seals and yer heaters are crap so fitting a hair hairdryer might keep you warm in the winter months. :pound:
 
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