Tips on getting the first car successful?

[Prasiatko]

Something i'm doing wrong means the fist cars i design in 1946 have essentially 0 score after i design the factory. How do i tell if if it's due to the cost to produce being too high or some other factor? Pretty much all my initial vehicles sell nothing or at most 1 per month on release. Once redesigned however they seem to do fine, possibly due to the much shorter engineering time or engineering costs on a facelift.

[Admiral Obvious]

1. Which build of the game? Stable or beta?
2. What is the difficulty?
3. What size factories do you have?
4. What country are you in?

[Prasiatko]

Beta. AI competitiveness set to 1.00, Level 1-3 starting branch in my home country. Every country apart from Gasmea. tiny, small and medium factories.

I've had a few attempts but it is a recurring issue i have. Though the time i made panel vans they weren't as uncompetitive initially. They still werent great though roughly 40-60 competitiveness on release for them. Again jumped into the >100s on first facelift.

Engineering times for the first car have ranged between 36-60 months in my attempts.

[Admiral Obvious]

Pay close attention to the markets tab, and the affordability value of the stuff you're making. When you're in the forecaster, you want to make sure that the price you're asking if within range of the target market, and you also have to factor in breaking even at some point with the price of the factory.

[shawa]

In addition, this may be a price point issue. The game wants to ammotize all costs within 10 years, including building construction costs.

Exemple:
this is my latest project with Auto ammortization on all costs left on (don't mind the fixtures and paint, i'm was about to do those)

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2086561627
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2086561569

Now if I Remove the factory construction costs from the equation

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2086561493
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2086561420

The price point drops by almost 7000$. That factory will last me more than 10 years. I'm pretty sure of it. So why would i not ammortize it over the 70 years left of gameplay I have left in this game?

[Prasiatko]

Yup the factory costs were the reason. Unselecting them makes the car competitive again. Thanks

[Luke]

First car I always build is a cargo van. Stupid fast to engineer as leaf springs are best for carrying heavy loads anyway. A 4 cylinder OHV is a good way to start. You can start the game with a vehicle that has a 330+ market score and have them cranking out in under 60 months.

[ducethetruth]

Originally posted by lukethibodaux:

First car I always build is a cargo van. Stupid fast to engineer as leaf springs are best for carrying heavy loads anyway. A 4 cylinder OHV is a good way to start. You can start the game with a vehicle that has a 330+ market score and have them cranking out in under 60 months.

This!!

I've also done well by picking the smallest 1946 4dr sedan and putting in an anemic inline 3, solid axle coil rear suspension& basic interior.