Designing and selling cars

[Winter]

I understand that the main point of the game is to build production facilities. But how much does the game let you make business decision like what cars you want to design, what cars you want to sell and that sort of thing?

[Limmin]

What you can build on one assembly line (where you basically begin) are variants of the same model. Base model, mid range, expensive, luxury. The differences are in the features, which you have to develop, then add to your individual assembly stations the ability to install those features. And this is often a game of trying to stay ahead of or caught up to the competition.

You do get to decide what entirely different models you build, and for that you start a new assembly line. Then the cycle repeats: optimize the line, add features, differentiate your models. [Edit: See Tank's post below for the list of types]

The selling business is fairly automatic. You push cars out the door and set the % markup. If your cars are popular, your brand is well known, the feature sets desirable, and if you have a variety of models and variants, they will all sell like hotcakes. You can see them in the "showroom" and when they vanish, it's because a customer bought them.

From time to time you may happen to have some cars for sale that are inadequate, i.e., they are of the "luxury" variant but have no sunroof as promised. This can happen if you don't setup your line well. Such cars may sit in the showroom a long time while other, newer cars without problems sell immediately. Then, you may have to drop your price for that variant until it sells. Perhaps the developer will even let you set the price for an individual car sitting unsold in the lot, but it's just as quick to reprice the entire variant because you can just as quickly raise the price again once the bad one(s) are sold.

By far the two biggest business decisions are intertwined with "engineering" decisions. Such as, how to lay out your assembly line. It's a tough optimization problem and takes a while to figure it out. It also takes a while to understand how BIG these assembly lines can grow to, when all the stations are in play. Inadequately laid-out lines will cramp your ability to add features, which in turn cut down on your business options.

Also important: deciding what to research next, i.e., navigating through the TWO different tech trees. (One for assembly line / plant capabilities, one for car technology features.) You can of course speed things up by hiring more "scientists" (white lab coats no less) and then you can fire them (realistic! happened to me!) when you are satisfied with the tech level and don't want to pay their salaries.

So...there is a lot you can control here. As I said in my review, it's really a great game.

[Tankfriend]

At the start, you can only build Sedans.
Research and car design research unlocks small cars, sports cars, 4WD cars, SUVs, and pickup trucks. You're the one who decides which designs are built in your factory.

All cars can be sold in 4 different price ranges from budget to luxury, and which price range one of your designs belongs to depends on what markup you put on the price, and what parts you have your factory install on the design. These are also all your decisions.

Last but not least, all the "advanced" parts beyond the basic car have to be researched, and you have to decide for each car design which parts are installed on them and which aren't. This can be something as simple as automatic windscreen wipers, a spoiler or sunroof, or even a hybrid or electric powertrain.

You can also decide the colour your cars are produced in, but this is only a visual change that doesn't impact the car itself.

[Winter]

Wonderful responses! I don’t even need any follow up questions. Purchasing now!