The reason I used corn is because in a way it is a lot like a truck in that it has a shelf life(lot rot, new models coming out, etc). If I was selling bricks, I can leave them sitting there however long it takes for them to sell as long as I have enough money to keep the doors open. Corn goes bad quickly, so it is better to sell it at a 50 cent per ear loss than to leave it sitting there and lose the entire 1.50 per ear when no one buys it. You're right that it isn't a good long term solution. If your cost to produce something is higher than the price customers are willing to pay, then you aren't going to stay in business very long. I just don't think the cost to produce these trucks is as much as people think.

When Dodge shut down a lot of their dealerships a while back, they told the two dealers here that they couldn't sell their vehicles for more than what they paid for them. They put the "at cost" price on them and both lots were bare in about two days. They had Ram diesels selling for $20k that were normally $45-50k. By our reasoning, Dodge isn't going to sell a truck to a dealer at a loss, so it had to cost them less than $20k to make the truck. According to my uncles that work at a Chevy plant, it costs them about $5-7k in materials and labor to make a truck(not counting R&D, but that pays for itself over the life of the product). I imagine Ford would be somewhere in that same range too. The guy that owns our Ford dealer here lives in a $15 million house, so I imagine he has quite a bit of mark up on his.

 

when you buy a vehicle new and its instantly worth 10-15k less then there is something wrong with its pricing. they ARE overpriced, but fools and their money are soon parted, and thats what the dealers are counting on.

 

The list price on my '06 was almost 50K. When I go on the website and build my truck now it come to about 57K, 5 years later.

BUT I paid only 40K for it because I bought it at the end of the year and the 6.0 had been out for a few years.

If you want to buy the latest and greatest you're going to have to pay for it no matter who makes it. If you can afford to wait a little the sales price will come down....it always does.

This is a new model with a lot of hype/marketing. Once the dust settles you will be able to get it for less.

 

very true.

 

Possible, but it's also possible that it's the other way as well.

That's actually a common mistake that is made. Just because they are in the same industry doesn't mean that there costs of doing business are the same. I remember looking at utility producers that had to go through the SO2 program(permit buying to offset costs). Some were able to sell more permits then other companies and there were some companies that just bought permits and couldn't sell them. Why? Because there was a huge varient in costs that each of those companies had.

Now I'm not saying that Ford can't be more in line with the Chevy costs, but they may not be either.

I would say that that would be a something to think about, however, the mere fact that he lives in a 15 million house doesn't mean exactly that he has a significant markup on his vehicles. I would question that for sure, but it doesn't mean that it's definitive proof that he does.

 

Let me clarify myself, because I think we are misunderstanding each other. In 2003 I was going to buy a v10 and I was pleased with the price of $28k, but I got a better deal on a 5.4. When I went back to price "another one" as you quoted me, I didn't mean I priced the exact same truck and got a $45k price. The one that I quoted last year was a king ranch, dually, diesel. That is the one that I thought $45k was too much for. The 6.2 you quoted is just as much as last years king ranch diesel I looked at.

Comparing equally equipped 2003 gas vs 2011 gas, the 6.2 you priced was $42k and the v10 I priced was $28k. $14k over 7 years doesn't sound too bad, but compared to their other price increases it is huge. As of 09, I could have gotten a fully loaded mustang gt for $26k. Back in 93, a fully loaded mustang gt was $21k. That is $5k over 16 years. What gets me is that the king ranch I looked at last year had a sticker price of $50k and a lariat with less options just one year later had a sticker of $63k. That is $13k more in just one year for LESS of a truck.

 

I know I'm probably mis-interpreting this, but it sounds like you're comparing "what you can get it for last year" vs "window sticker" this year.

For example, radio and newspaper ads saying $10,000 off new F250s back in '09 making a new diesel 4wd truck "$42,000... that truck ONLY cost $42,000?!?!

Then you look at the window stick of one of these hot, new 2011 diesel trucks and see a $56,000 window sticker and say, "WTF, Ford is off their rocker!"

 

I remember an article that said Ford makes at least 10,000 on an SUV.
As far as new truck pricing goes, a PSD SC XLT stickers for 51,000 on Oʻahu.
Diesel fuel is around 3.80+ here, and there are alot of PSDs running around,actually PSDs out number any other diesels by far here.
This is one reason why dealers mark up their PSDs, supply and demand.

A far better value for anyone in the auto buying market is, buy a pre owned unit.

 

Yeah, you're mis-interpreting it lol. Last years window sticker for the king ranch diesel I looked at was $50k but the sale price was $45k. The lariat I looked at the other day had a sticker price of $63k and no sale price. So comparing sticker vs sticker, the 2011 was $13k higher for a lower trim level.

 

I work for an oil and gas company and know first hand how price gouging works when it comes to that....... Expect the same thing with natural gas soon too. Let's just say, flood the market with excess supply, artificially lower price enough to make it attractive for use in power plants and automobiles, and then once it catches on, artificially raise the price by lowering supply and make a killing in profit. When it comes to oil and gas, supply isn't determined by how much we actually have. It's how much we decide to sell of what we have. It doesn't become "supply" until it is out of the ground..... Shut the valve on a few wells, supply goes down.

 

Using this as a example, if you refer to post #14 by "Antelope V10" and analyze the link it shows about $10,000 alone for the diesel ($8k) and the Nav. system ($2k).

When i bought my 06 i believe the diesel's were running about a $4000 option.
So in essence they have doubled the price of the diesel engine alone.

 

You are not accounting for all the demand that sets the price of oil...

 

I honestly do not see any way that a BRAND NEW F-350 dually King Ranch could only sticker for $50k. Hell my 08 that I just got in January of this year was valued at just over $42k (back in January), and that was with 46,000 miles on it.

Ok just for fun, I just went to Ford's website and to build and price and then clicked on previous year. The Ford F-350 King Ranch model base price is $43,845. Add $1,175 for the DRW option, add $7,835 for diesel, add $2,735 for 4wd (I assume it was 4wd), and that comes to $55,590. Ford's site actually came to $55,200, I don't know what it took off. That price is with 3.73 gears as well, so add more to it if you want 4.10s. And that is before you even choose any options. It does look like the base price of the packages went up a few thousand dollars for each though.
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Thats EXACTLY what I have been thinking through this entire thread. Its comparing apples to oranges. I mean what do you expect on a nearly all new platform vehicle??? People are GOING to buy them so they can be the cool guy in the neighborhood with the latest and greatest. They dont need to offer any incentives to sell them like they did a year or two ago as your referring too.


I can price an identicaly optioned 2011 F250 and compared to my 2006 there is about $3K difference list. After reading all this I STILL cant see your point?

 

the xlt and the lariat are 2 different levels