I learned a little new thing about Toyota marketing just this week. Toyota of course has been in the news lately with the massive recalls. It was reported that the Toyota Prius Hybrid is subsidized by about $2500 to $3000 by Toyota. That is, the Prius whole sale price to the dealers is a few thousand dollars less then it costs to build. Every Prius car sold is a money loser for Toyota!
Toyota is happy with this though (they said so) because it is their front-line product. It is the product that gives them name recognition, the product that brings them Kudos for high-tech achievements, and the product that brings customers through their doors. Thus, a company does not need to make money on a given product to justify its production and sale -- there are other reasons to build products. A smart company will choose the profit margin for each product individually. It is rare for all products to be treated the same. Some will bring in a margin of 40%, others only 5%, and then maybe others, by plan, minus 10%. The Elecraft K3 may have a 30 % margin and maybe the K2, being in production for so long is now about 50 % margin. But, a new solid-state amp may only be 5% or 7% -- enough to make their customers happy without losing money but not earning money like a K3 or a K2 either. phil, K7PEH On Feb 8, 2010, at 9:57 PM, Conway Yee wrote: > The threads about a kit amplifier got me thinking. > > It is now 1999. The market is saturated with well established companies > such as Yaesu, Icom and Kenwood selling high quality radios. Ham radio > technology is stagnant with no major leaps in the horizon. The average > amateur is aging rapidly with very little influx of new blood. The youth > are all interested in computers and the internet. The days of Heathkit > are long past; there is no way to save money building kit electronics. > The only kit manufacturers sell small inexpensive radios that can be > built in a few hours. > > Certainly there is no good reason to start a company selling a 100 Watt > kit SSB/CW rig....OTOH Elecraft bet it could and it would appear that they > are successful. > > It is now 2010. The same arguments are being put forward for an solid > state HF amplifier. In addition, the legal liability of high current > electronics is daunting. The population of customers of amplifiers is > even smaller than that for 100 Watt kits. Are these arguments > correct? I don't know but suspect that there would be a niche market > for such kits as long as the manufacturer has no business presence in the > US. > > Hopefully such a kit starts getting sold in the next few years. It > sounds like fun. > > tnx. > Conway Yee, N2JWQ > > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
