Sad tale indeed. Sounds like a case of someone not surfing the investment/cost curve correctly.
But one of the questions that comes to my mind is if these things were designed to be built in Africa with local materials and local skilled labor then why were they being built in England? If you intend to build them in Africa then *build them in Africa!* One of the errors I saw was pride. AIL wanted to design and build their own engines and drivetrains. Dumb. When going about such a project it's better to start off buying components like that from established manufacturers, and worrying about designing proprietary stuff later. Witness Daewoo in the US. For the first couple of model years they had engines built by some company in Australia I don't remember the name of, Henderson, I think, mated to transaxles built by Toyota. The Australian engines, while they aren't the smoothest things in the world have proven to be reliable, and Toyota's tranaxles are practically bulletproof. If you can buy the mechanicals in a big enough volume their manufacurers will give them to you at OEM prices. Probably less if you offer them a "piece of the action." If your demand for them becomes great enough then you can manufacture them under lisence. Joint ventures are -=*EVERYWHERE*=- in the automotobile industry! In any event, it's kind of a moot point, because many of the "first world" car manufacturers already have joint ventures and manufacturing facilities in Africa. If you're going to build and market vehicles in Africa then you're going to have to muscle in on the manufacturers that are already there. Easier said than done. Alan -- Aviation is more than a hobby. It is more than a job. It is more than a career. Aviation is a way of life. A second language for the world: www.esperanto.org Processor cycles are a terrible thing to waste. www.distributed.net ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Small business owners... Tell us what you think! http://us.click.yahoo.com/vO1FAB/txzCAA/ySSFAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Please do NOT send "unsubscribe" messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
