When to retire old models

[BanDHMO]

Looking for some advice on what people usually do with old models after creating a new one. I've had new sedans and phaetons for a couple of years now, but the sales of crappy old versions of them are still strong. So it makes sense to keep them around for a while longer. But I am curious what their eventual fate would be. Would demand eventually dry up for them, or am I going to be selling a 3hp 1900 car into the 1910s and 20s?

I guess eventually I'll get annoyed enough with managing the production of a hundred different vehicles that I'll just kill two thirds of them, but hopefully there's a game reason to retire them sometime and not just a player fatigue reason.

[Eric.B]

Depends on how much competition you have. You receive an age penalty starting at 5 years and it increases linearly every year. The same is true for components, but it starts at 15 years.

Real life manufacturers typically replace model generations every 4 to 8 years. There are numerous examples however of real life models going on 20 year+ runs, like the Ford Model T or the first generation VW Beetle.

Just remember, you can probably get more sales from a new generation of these vehicles. And the old generation will effect the sales of the new generation. Although you may get more sales as a whole by having 2 models in a market. It may be better to have 2 new generations (or a generation and a trim) than one new and one old vehicle.

[BanDHMO]

That's the part where the game loses connection to the real world for me. In reality, when a new model is introduced, the old one is retired the same year, but in the game that doesn't seem to be the case. I've had versions I and II selling side by side for three years now, without a problem. Trying to stop production of I results in lost sales, and if I stop selling it, I lose customers, as they disperse to other brands, despite the fact that II is exactly like I, which was their choice, only improved. So it makes sense to keep selling I, but hopefully this situation won't continue forever and at some point the aging penalties will make it not worth keeping around?

[Eric.B]

Originally posted by BanDHMO:

That's the part where the game loses connection to the real world for me. In reality, when a new model is introduced, the old one is retired the same year, but in the game that doesn't seem to be the case.

Not always, I can point to a few instances where 2 generations of the same vehicle were being produced. Chevy Silverado (C-1500) for example had a classic body style for 2 years sold side by side with the newer model.

Not to mention companies having several vehicle models in the same range of models.

I've had versions I and II selling side by side for three years now, without a problem. Trying to stop production of I results in lost sales, and if I stop selling it, I lose customers, as they disperse to other brands, despite the fact that II is exactly like I, which was their choice, only improved. So it makes sense to keep selling I, but hopefully this situation won't continue forever and at some point the aging penalties will make it not worth keeping around?

Because you have a greater share of choices. Lets say you sell 2 car models and there are 10 models including yours on the market. They're all equal in everyway except you have an old vehicle and a new vehicle. Your old model gets 5% of sales, the new design gets 10.55% of sales. Everyone else gets also gets 10.55% of sales. Your total amount of sales is 15.55%.

If you were to get rid of the old model the sales would go evenly to everyone (remember all things are equal). Everyone would have 11.11%, including you. You just lost ~4.44% of the market.

So what do you do? You do what real companies do. You make trims! You also make these trims distinct enough that they are separated from the base model. So lets look at the above scenario. Lets say you made a new model and a trim with a little more luxury. Instead of leaving your just your old model out, you end production of it, and sell 2 vehicles in its place, the base model and the trim.

All things equal there are 10 vehicles in the market. You have 2 of them. Both of your vehicle designs are new so they're not getting an age penalty. Everyone gets 10% of sales. You have a total of 20%.

That's 5% higher than keeping your old model out there.


Make sense?

You also get the added bonus of the trims effecting the vehicle image of the base model. So you can sell your Ford Mustang base model with a 4 cylinder and have the big v8 model improve the vehicle image even though you only sell a handful of them.


The only time this is not a good idea is when the development cost of the new trim outweighs the amount of market share you gain by having an additional newer model. That again boils down to how many vehicles are on the market.

[BanDHMO]

Trims are great, but I'm not sure I see how this necessitates retiring the old vehicles. You made 2 trims of a new car, so you get 20% of sales. Great. Why not make 2 trims of a new car AND keep the old car around? Then you'll get even more sales, as you'll have 3 vehicles in the market of 11 instead of 2 in 10.

The only problem is that it'll get really annoying for me to manage, since you have to adjust production and prices of each vehicle separately.

[Eric.B]

Originally posted by BanDHMO:

Trims are great, but I'm not sure I see how this necessitates retiring the old vehicles. You made 2 trims of a new car, so you get 20% of sales. Great. Why not make 2 trims of a new car AND keep the old car around? Then you'll get even more sales, as you'll have 3 vehicles in the market of 11 instead of 2 in 10.

The only problem is that it'll get really annoying for me to manage, since you have to adjust production and prices of each vehicle separately.

Yes, you will always have sales of the old design irregardless. You can keep it around for quite a while if you want. But at some point, you are dimensioning the sales you could get from utilizing its resources (specifically production lines) for a newer model.

Also it's not unrealistic people would choose an older design if offered to them. A majority of new vehicle sales are done via emotional attachment and/or ascetics. And less so because something is newer. Manufacturers replace older designs with newer designs because their resources can be better used for newer vehicles. If you're maxing out a production line and the margins are the same as your new model. That's fine. But if you're wasting lines on something whose margins are less. You're not maximizing your factory's efficiency.

Also note, the year of the vehicle is the design year. Not the model year. You might have designed the car in 1900, but if it's 1908, you're selling 1908 models.

Anyway, I point to the Model T which ran from 1908 to 1927 as a long long running vehicle.

The only problem is that it'll get really annoying for me to manage, since you have to adjust production and prices of each vehicle separately.

Use auto production with continental restriction to reduce production micromanagement. (Little bug, it will run the production speed sliders at maximum).

Use the "Merge Trims" checkbox in the Branch Distribution screens to merge the trims into one entry. You set the price for the base model and it will automatically adjust the price based on the difference of the unit costs for the child trims. IE if the base unit costs are $1000 and you set the price at $1500. It will adjust the trim, whose unit costs is $1200, to $1800. (Might be a flat amount though, so $1700, You would have to double check, its' been a while.)