This game is addictive as crack. I couldn't even pull myself away for a moment. My g/f was nearly kicking my behind out of my chair.
When I first started, I was frustrated just like everyone else, I couldn't figure out how to sell cars & the right process in ordering parts & steps to take to get there. The trick is, be patient and learn the nuances of the game before trying to make a million bucks. I shot myself and started over at least a dozen times.
I have not completed this game yet, no where near it. But I can give good advice for those starting up, I have made a couple million dollars and know how to get there.
When first staring out, don't expect to have serious cash flow from producing 1 model from all supplied parts. Chances are, you aren't going to get a big return. The key early is to diversify products and master a trick that even today is used in autmotive planning & manufacturing called "Just-in Time" delivery. This allows plants that manufacture autos to keep costs controlled, profits higher & lower stocks in warehouses. They ONLY have the parts available at the time they need them. At the end of the month, keep an eye on how many parts you are actually usiing & only keep say, a month of backup of parts you'll need in case of a supplier backorder problem. This way, you can maximize profit fom kepping stock supplies low, but having enough to make the autos at the current capacity. Knowing you factoriess output is key for this; The last column "Used" in the warehouse stock shows this.
When selling your cars, don't try to open too many dealer branches at once; they are costly and you won't get immediate return from the spending or be able to keep up with orders; take them easy and one at a time for awhile when you can afford it. Later on, Opening 2 at once will suffice when you'r producing a few different models. Remember, the more dealer branches you have the more orders you will likely get. And if you can't keep up with demand, well...you'll be missing orders due to shortfall and be bankrupt from high supply costs.
The best way to keep control of your costs of your vehicles and maintain good delivery time is to control prices monthly. If you start to notice your output outgaining your sales, lower your final prices. Just like today, dealer inventories are often flooded and need to be slashed to make room for new models, and a lower price will move them faster. If you find yourself not being able to keep up with orders for a particular vehicle for a short period of time (or while you're building a higher output fatory in the process), raise the cost a little to reduce orders for next month. Your increased profits from losing a few sales will balance out from a slightly higher price; but beware of prices that are out of reach for customers, make sure you can handle all your orders at a reasonable cost or else build a higher output factory, which is a must. Start factories small and numerous and move up to large high-output facilities.
A trick that car companies do to save cost is utilizing underpinings of vehicles and using the same parts across vehicle platforms. For example, all car companies today use the exact same chassis and their subcomponents (or 'platform' if you will) to make many different vehicles with different body styles or brands to increase diversification of their products and market share to customers with different tastes (Ford Explorer, Mercury Mountaineer, and Lincoln Avaitor all share the same platform & many, many parts). For this game, start making small cars with the same platform (Engine, Chassis in this case) and throw a different body on top (open or enclosed). To make it easier on yourself I use a method of letters & numbers for my cars names for their platform size 'A" "B" or "C" and numbers for the models "A1, B2, C3" etc. You may find your own system that works, but when things get complicated and you're supplying 3 countries and require a very high output, knowing your models and their components, what warehouses they output to and what parts they need to be produced is key to not losing track.
Of course, to keep models costs down and supplier delivery problems at bay, you should make your own parts by doing research and building factories that only make parts. Don't try to do this too early on, it won't make much difference in your overall profits and it is very costly to build factories early in the game. Instead later, slowly introduce a more cost-effective model at the same time you're still selling the old mainly supplier-manufactured model and SLOWLY transition; factory changes are VERY expensive and don't try to convert more than 1 or 2 at a time and do a compltete changeover in a month. Even today in real maunfactirng this is a slow, drawn-out process. That's why in dealer lots today, you'll see an old body style with the same build year as one with a new one. It takes time for factories to transition, and supplier parts on warehouses need to be used up & dealer * supplier orders ramped down. If you have to produce a car that has the chassis and engine built with a supplied body, don't worry; later on you may build a few cars that you make all the parts for (which does NOT happen today). Remember, long-term low-cost process capabilty and high output are the keys to profitibilty.
If you need more help inquire.
tinkles
P.S. Does anyone know when I can used "unskilled" workers?
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