@Ukaflyer posted:The Y3 in 2012 was a completely new engine from the ground up would have incurred R&D and tooling costs. I would have thought that Lionel would have calculated these costs into the production run back then. It wouldn’t make sense to a bean counter to have outstanding costs hanging over for ten years and there is no guarantee that this run will take place.
So if all these costs have been paid for back in 2012 then the only additional costs now are for new electronics and special effects. I can’t believe that they would cost more than the original R&D plus tooling.
I figured a rerun of the Y3 would have MSRP'd at $1500.00. On the odd chance that would have been true, that means adding smoke is the extra $300.00. The short tenders could be added to the Pacific's production run to minimize that cost.
It just seems that Lionel are looking to extensively maximise profit on an engine that must cost less to manufacture than the original ten years ago. I could be wrong and missing something but I can’t see what it is.
I'm not sure the Y3 could be made for less than 10 years ago. Costs have gone up across the board, particularly in the last year or so.
Also, Lionel have basically very little competition in the S area, the SHS line basically ended when MTH acquired it and the new owners are not going to do much for another year or two and even then possibly re runs and limited selection.
Agree here. MTH unfortunately never had the knowledge or desire to successfully court the S modeler. Scale Train is at least a year away from releasing anything (they have yet to announce anything from MTH HO, which is what they really wanted,) so ST's in a holding pattern.
AM has a following but my perception is that it never seemed to have broken out with a larger customer base, I can put my hand up and be guilty of this as I have a small number of engines and rolling stock. Nothing wrong with the products but it misses something that I can’t quite put my finger on.
That's been my perception as well. Ron must have been doing something right to have to move into a larger facility a couple of years ago, With Ron's passing, I feel AM will continue with existing products, but I doubt there will be anything requiring new tooling.
I think AM benefited the most from SHS in the "old days," who was a little more aggressive in marketing S. The late 90's /early 2000's saw the greatest expansion of the AM product line.
So if Lionel feel they are top dog in S then of course they will/can charge what they want knowing they are safe for the time being until something changes.
And they don't have to bother to develop newer, scale rolling stock like the cylindrical hoppers.
Just my views and perceptions.
Rusty
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