Discussion
jeffw said:
Aeon Sportscars are one part of much larger engineering company who manufacture expensive, GPS guided, agriculture machinery. This larger company sells sprayers etc which cost £100K +. This part of the business is still very busy even in the recent recession. The Owner of Aeon Sportscars is, sensible, taking the view that investing significant capital, financially or in terms of time, in a kit car with a limited market potential is not a sound business decision at this moment.
But isn't that the problem with it? The owner is looking at this as SOLELY a business venture whereas from my limited knowledge of the kit car industry, aren't most cars made "'cos the guys wanted to create the car" and then turned into a business? Surely most kit cars are built by enthusiasts who then start off building and flogging one to a mate and then on to a proper business whereas this chap wants someone to pay for his development work and apoart from aking a little toy model car wants to make little or no actual investment off his own bat.Also, and to my mind the biggest problem with it is the name. Aeon Epona? What's that then? How do you pronounce it? What does it mean? I definitely don't like it, it doesn't convey anything. Sounds as if someone's sat down with a scrabble board and these were the first letters out of the bag. Very made up and poorly made up at that. Can't think I'd ever buy a product with a silly name like that.
I do not represent Aeon in any size, shape or form. I have, however, spoken to the owner of Aeon on this very subject some time ago and have given you a potted version of the response as I remember it. The Agricultural side of the business is the bread & butter, the Kit Car side is what Keith does for fun. If there is no money in making a new model at this time then it doesn't make business sense.
ColinM50 said:
jeffw said:
Aeon Sportscars are one part of much larger engineering company who manufacture expensive, GPS guided, agriculture machinery. This larger company sells sprayers etc which cost £100K +. This part of the business is still very busy even in the recent recession. The Owner of Aeon Sportscars is, sensible, taking the view that investing significant capital, financially or in terms of time, in a kit car with a limited market potential is not a sound business decision at this moment.
But isn't that the problem with it? The owner is looking at this as SOLELY a business venture whereas from my limited knowledge of the kit car industry, aren't most cars made "'cos the guys wanted to create the car" and then turned into a business? Surely most kit cars are built by enthusiasts who then start off building and flogging one to a mate and then on to a proper business whereas this chap wants someone to pay for his development work and apoart from aking a little toy model car wants to make little or no actual investment off his own bat.Also, and to my mind the biggest problem with it is the name. Aeon Epona? What's that then? How do you pronounce it? What does it mean? I definitely don't like it, it doesn't convey anything. Sounds as if someone's sat down with a scrabble board and these were the first letters out of the bag. Very made up and poorly made up at that. Can't think I'd ever buy a product with a silly name like that.
I would not dream of telling someone how to run his business, especially at a loss and then say you wouldn't buy his product as you don't like the name. Very strange attitude.
jeffw is essentially right. Aeon haven't put zero effort in; they've done the chassis, exhibited it at shows and there's a few other bits that haven't been seen (such as the CNC machine I built at their workshop in order to start making the body).
However, the level of interest hasn't been great enough to convince them that this is the right time to start making this - it's not the most bouyant market at this moment in time and I'm not sure when it'll pick up.
However, the level of interest hasn't been great enough to convince them that this is the right time to start making this - it's not the most bouyant market at this moment in time and I'm not sure when it'll pick up.
jeffw said:
I think your comments are misjudged as Aeon has already made significant investment in producing a prototype chassis as well as the bodywork models / CAD drawings.
pretty sure Aeon got involved after the body had been designed in CAD which is why some are upset, after all why get involved if you have no intention of producing the design?they have always had the main agricultural business that was pulling in the cash, so what changed between deciding to get involved and now?
andygtt said:
Russ Bost said:
I cannot possibly see how it could be built & on the road for anything like sub £10k - most halfway decent 7's cost around £10k to get on the road & you're going to have to find that extra 2.5-3k for the body you mention, plus trim, paint, presumably a heater, more costly seats, carpet, seals, window winders, don't know if you were including glass within the figure of 2.5-3k or not, but even if you were there's at least another £5k there
But now your upping the spec, Im betting I could spend 50k building a 7 if I went totally mad... I had included the cost of the screen as a lot of 7's have screens and some kind of half resonable interior with a half baked heater.
And yes the Ultima body was 4.5k when I bought mine including doors and a gel coat finish hence no requirement to paint and thus my 2.5-3k extra cost estimate.... if we choose to up the spec and build something more than a 7 then you are moving OUT of the gap in the market that I am refering to.
and i do know whats involved with making the buck and moulds as Ive been doing it.... BUT hundreds of other kit manufacturerers have done this kind of investment on quite frankly less attractive and conceptually smaller market volumes.
So again Im still at a loss as to why this hasn't been snapped up by a Kit car manufacturer.... definatelly a bigger market for this car than the 3 seater aeon! so please someone explain if you had the aeon 3GT and the Epona why the GT3 would be produced and the Epona wouldnt?
edited to add that only the first comment was refering to your comments Russ
Edited by andygtt on Tuesday 21st December 11:39
andygtt said:
i'm very disapointed that this is not being taken forward so best I shut up now...
So the Q is "would you buy one?" - if the answer is yes then surely you & people like you are exactly what Aeon wants to ensure the car goes ahead - if you'd got half a dozen people ready to put up a small deposit to confirm they want one when available then I would have thought that would make any manufacturer a lot keener to start investing. Further, if another 50 people on various forums express serious interest then surely they'd be barmy not to move ahead?That said, I think many people forget, or simply don't realise how tiny the kitcar market really is, what with current economy, costs of IVA & the fact that todays generation brought up on easy money, easy terms & disposable everything plus vastly increased costs of staff/overheads produced by minimum wage & the current fad of ambulance chasing style lawyers pursuing personal injury claims everytime someone falls over in your workshop
I would seriously doubt that there are even half the no. of cars sold now that were sold in the industry 10 years ago!My guess is that Aeon are well aware of how much interest there is in the car, and they know a lot of people love it, but they also know that interest isn't the same as buying. They know damn well that when they've paid out to have the thing built, and overcome all the problems along the way, that when the time comes to ask all the interested people to pay what it's cost them to produce, there will be a lot of people saying "yeah, well, great, maybe next year", "things are a bit tight at the moment", "need to sell my car first, had no offers etc etc etc"
andygtt said:
..... and a gel coat finish hence no requirement to paint and thus my 2.5-3k extra cost estimate.... if we choose to up the spec and build something more than a 7 then you are moving OUT of the gap in the market that I am refering to.
see my comment above... a large number of 7's have a screen and thus a heater of some sorts, also a dash along with reasonable seats etc... also Im suggesting gel coat finish thus no need to paint like a lot of kit cars.You could build something more than a 7, but thats moving out of the Gap I am imagining and into the territory of other existing kit cars.
I know nothing about the actual estimated costs that aeon etc may have calculated, Im purelly estimating what Id be aiming for if it was me trying to bring the car to market.... 2.5-3k additional over a 7 along with the potential for the builder to make it have real creature comforts is were I would aim as it would then become attractive for some and attainable.
Of cause this is just my view of the market position, its not an indication of were the manufacturer is or maybe will market the car.
Glad it's not just me...It's going to take eon's to sort that one out. And Epona as in "the girl from Ipanema"?
Looked up iun the on-line dictionary and Epona exists and is a noun. Means "Celtic goddess of horses and mules and asses". Last two seem apposite??
Sorry that's me being facetious and peurile, it's a JOKE and I'll take it back.
Looked up iun the on-line dictionary and Epona exists and is a noun. Means "Celtic goddess of horses and mules and asses". Last two seem apposite??
Sorry that's me being facetious and peurile, it's a JOKE and I'll take it back.
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