Anyone bsides me taken the MT Consumer Survey

[3rdrail]

OK, you guys don't like (and I assume don't buy) "theme" cars. Those make the money for new product development....

I sometimes think this is a chicken and egg thing. Maybe if they concentrated on make prototype equipment more they might increase (or recapture) market share. I imagine it was one of MT's execs who said the collectors cars make the money, probably was his idea when he swept the floors, which is why it just HAS to succeed. Didn't GM say everyone in the US wanted big, American-made gas guzzling vehicles...? Whatev.

Maybe not everyone, but at a Chamber Of Commerce breakfast yesterday, the retired bank president I was talking to is selling cars on the side and has been trying to locate several barely pre-owned Tahoes and Yukons for clients. Guess what, them that have 'em won't sell 'em. He has not been able to find these at auctions as far afield as central Florida.


If the Feds have their way, we will end up with GM and Chrysler making acres full of compacts no one will buy while Toyota merrily sells out of Tundras and Highlanders.

[wm3798]

Toyota has been merrily losing money hand over fist, too...  Not that this has anything to do with Micro Trains...

Back to the topic at hand...

Lee

[Hiroe]

Toyota has been merrily losing money hand over fist, too...  Not that this has anything to do with Micro Trains...

Back to the topic at hand...

Lee

Actually, speaking of MT losing money hand over fist, they haven't been doing too well in the HOn3 RTR market. Blackstone figured out the necessary formula to sell hundreds of cars, yet the MT releases *might* sell a few dozen. What's the difference? HOn3 modelers as a majority won't buy cars for roads that never had them. So while Blackstone releases multiple numbers and schemes for railroad-accurate cars; MT keeps trying to offer cars painted for railroads that never had them, and wonders why nothing sells.

I have to admit, i love seeing their bullheaded insistence on doing it their way cost them lots of sales/money.

--Drew

[sundowner]

I took the survey but I though they did not ask the right questions. I ask for a modern heavy duty depress center flat. I ask for a prototypical series and say yes to metal wheels. I said no to the price increase for photo edge running boards because IM and Atlas already put them on there cars at a way cheaper prices than MT sells theres.

[sirenwerks]

John, I'm not at all saying America should give up the models of cars it drives, just get rid of the combustible engine part. I'd love to see manufacturers take their standard body styles and offer them with greener drivetrains, of a meaningful measure. The proposed Volt doesn't do it for me. But I think the Prius is downright ugly and would much prefer a plain ole' Jetta station wagon with the same drivetrain. Oh but what I wouldn't give to ride trains and light rail everywhere I needed to go, and live sans auto (and gas and insurance and maintenance and parking and...).

[wm3798]

Drew,
Maybe the point of the survey was to let the MT management see that everyone else in the hobby is wrong!

Lee

[Hiroe]

Maybe the point of the survey was to let the MT management see that everyone else in the hobby is wrong!

Lee

Clearly. Although i'm still waiting for the Nike 'Swoosh" car. Heh, maybe i should suggest it to them in their survey?

Drew

[Erik W]

This topic made me wonder just how many Micro-Trains cars I have, so I went and counted. I have 6, which is 4.5% of my fleet.  One was given to me as a gift and three of those were undecs I painted and decaled myself.  I vote with my $.  I have nothing against Micro-Trains products, as with all manufacturers though, I buy what is useful to me.

Erik

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Maybe the point of the survey was to let the MT management see that everyone else in the hobby is wrong!

Lee

Clearly. Although i'm still waiting for the Nike 'Swoosh" car. Heh, maybe i should suggest it to them in their survey?

Drew

We already have the artwork done!

[daniel_leavitt2000]

I asked for Trinity plastics hoppers and 19,000 gallon tank cars.

[John]

I asked for the "rounding error" line of cars. Each one would be a leftover foobie.

[3rdrail]

Sounds like the car types were all over the map. I suggested a 36' ventilator boxcar (watermelon car) and a 6000 gallon two dome tank car.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

I think they were looking into the carbon black hopper. Even though I have my favorites, I know that car needs to be represented in N scale.

[SkipGear]

My car requests were 6351 Trinity 4 bay hopper and any 50' waffle box.

Yes to photo etch and yes to metal wheels although I prefer plastic. I figure some you would rather have the option.

[Walkercolt]

Ummm...what killed Detroit is that they AREN'T building BIG 122" wheelbase 400+ HP cars. In Oklahoma, you can't FIND an SUV for sale new or used. The Caddy dealer has a 6-12 week waiting list for Escalades, no hybrids wanted, and they are adding up to $12,000 to the full sticker price. But MT has their market, just like Kato. MT isn't perfect, and I don't buy everything they've ever made. The "theme cars" are a major money maker for MT. No R&D, no new dies, just the extra cost of the special printing and the "design work".