Pricing a caterham

[Snapper7]

I just spec'ed up a Roadsport SV (As in what would have been a Supersport version in the k-Series - Slight
power upgrade and a 6x speed box Matalic Paint - Spare Wheel Carrier -
Push Button Start - Leather Seats - Painted FIA Bar & 4x point harnesses and a Tonneau Cover)


I was stunned at the cost ------ Over £ 28,500 Christ

I had a Superlite for less than that

There must be a hell of a lot of profit on a new car (50% ???)

[mymerlin]

when was that?

[BertBert]

Is anyone buying new cars?
That's why Caterham Cars are re-sizing for the future.
Bert

[rubystone]

BertBert said:

Is anyone buying new cars?
That's why Caterham Cars are re-sizing for the future.
Bert

I'm sure you're right, but their order book is still healthy at the moment. Any company that doesn't resize on the basis that 2009 is going to be a year to run a tight ship has delusions of grandeur!

[RobM77]

Don't forget that Caterham don't actually make any parts, everything's sub-contracted out or just bought in. Therefore I wouldn't mind betting that the profit margins aren't that big.

[fergus]

RobM77 said:

Don't forget that Caterham don't actually make any parts, everything's sub-contracted out or just bought in. Therefore I wouldn't mind betting that the profit margins aren't that big.

Have you bought anything from their parts dept?

K series Coil: caterham circa £80, motor factor £35
TITAN dry sump pump (gold): caterham £lots, TITAN, half price,

etc, etc.

In what way are they resizing? Does anyone know (or can give a sensible guess) as to the volume of new R500s sold? Many thanks.

[RobM77]

fergus said:

RobM77 said:

Don't forget that Caterham don't actually make any parts, everything's sub-contracted out or just bought in. Therefore I wouldn't mind betting that the profit margins aren't that big.

Have you bought anything from their parts dept?

K series Coil: caterham circa £80, motor factor £35
TITAN dry sump pump (gold): caterham £lots, TITAN, half price,

Yes, absolutely loads of stuff. Their prices for the bits that I've bought have always been comparable to other sources, if not cheaper.

[Mars]

Over the years I have found all the alternative suppliers for buying Caterham parts without necessarily buying direct from Caterham. On balance I think there's probably about 10% of parts that Caterham can supply cheaper than the alternatives, including throttle and clutch cables. Most other parts are available elsewhere at keener prices.

However, I'm currently spec'ing up a complete rebuild of a Caterham and I can assure you that doing it this "piecemeal" way will end up costing more than a base-spec R500. Caterham might be "off" on their individual parts prces but the packaged car prices are quite reasonable considering what it'd cost to build the same from individual parts.

[RobM77]

Mars said:

Over the years I have found all the alternative suppliers for buying Caterham parts without necessarily buying direct from Caterham. On balance I think there's probably about 10% of parts that Caterham can supply cheaper than the alternatives, including throttle and clutch cables. Most other parts are available elsewhere at keener prices.

However, I'm currently spec'ing up a complete rebuild of a Caterham and I can assure you that doing it this "piecemeal" way will end up costing more than a base-spec R500. Caterham might be "off" on their individual parts prces but the packaged car prices are quite reasonable considering what it'd cost to build the same from individual parts.

I should have said that myself to be honest. The calculator work that I did when buying my Caterham was using their new car options list. Individual parts though I've found to be competitive, but I must say I don't order a huge variety of bits, just consumables for my race car.

[carefull]

Snapper7 said:

I just spec'ed up a Roadsport SV (As in what would have been a Supersport version in the k-Series - Slight
power upgrade and a 6x speed box Matalic Paint - Spare Wheel Carrier -
Push Button Start - Leather Seats - Painted FIA Bar & 4x point harnesses and a Tonneau Cover)


I was stunned at the cost ------ Over £ 28,500 Christ

I had a Superlite for less than that

There must be a hell of a lot of profit on a new car (50% ???)

Snapper

for about the same price as that I have just put togeather a BEC Caterham with a dry sumped 2008 Hayabusa 200 BHP engine, Titan LSD, Nitrons, electonic paddle shift with clutchless up and down change, leather seats, SPA dash, wide band sensor, wide track, big brakes, 13" wheels with cr500's, pearlesent yellow paint, reverse box, carbon dash,csr front wings, race rad, 2008 Arch chassis, black pack,1500 quids worth of exhaust, weather gear, Momo & Q/R and a stack of stuff ive forgot. Everything apart from the reconed diff was brand new and I think I have a mega spec car at way way less than R400 money. A careful study of the way the price list is done saved me thousands of pounds. On the flip side, before buying my current car and before understanding the price list properly I did buy a new superlight kit but I sold it before even registering it when I realised how the pricing was done..

Jason

Edited by carefull on Tuesday 2nd December 22:56