Matt Murray wrote:
> They "de-contented" those cars, i.e. remove extras. I believe it was
> on non-turbo Supras.
>
No, this was the full "blown" turbo model. It was the '97 model year and
in fact it received some upgraded content like a 6-speed. The price cut
was a whopping 10k from around 50 large down to 40. The car simply moved
too upscale market wise at over 50k to compete in the intended segment.
This does show how the prices of cars are set as much by the market as
actual cost of development, marketing, or manufacture.
There is a comparo in the Aug 97 C&D mag in which a 41k Supra turbo is
included (it finishes third of four cars mainly due to low speed
understeer and some non-performance issues). C&D noted the massive price
cut by saying that they had heard from previous model year Supra Turbo
owners and they "were not amused." Imagine knowing that the 50k Supra
you bought new in '96 was worth maybe 35k tops only a few months later.
--
Ron Katona
|