Agreed. But for some reason there is an overwhelming temptation for people to espouse the fact they can get the same or better HP for less out of the 5.0. Great. But owners who are in the market for the GT350/R and GT500 cars aren't looking to mod a 5.0. Or we would have. It should be obvious that it's more about the exclusivity, specialty, and even collectability to a certain degree. No amount of 5.0 power mods changes a thing.
You're not accounting for the R&D and paying the engineers who did the legwork there. Also the money it takes to produce the parts and assemble them. A lot of these parts come from facilities that do not produce GT or other trim parts. So there is the added costs of that. Then you have the tuning and electronic features. And some of that upcharge is to cover warranty work. You blow the engine and Ford replaces it. Where do you think that money comes from? And you have to factor that some of the upcharge is due to the fact that the GT500 has a higher value. So of course Ford will ask for more money. Little things here and there add up to a lot of money. Which is also why there are entire teams devoted to the budget of these cars. Who knows how many of these engines, transmissions, and fully built GT500s Ford had to test, break, break down, build up again, test again, and so on countless times. That is all money that has to come from somewhere. They don't just spend that money and forget about it. It gets absorbed into the price of the car. And Ford has to make a profit off the car otherwise it is not worth building. You cannot simplify it the way you are trying to. There is much more that goes on behind the scenes.
Yep.
Except that with sufficient quantity non-BoM costs become a rounding error. At 5000 cars/yr sold thru, and say it cost 50 million dollars to develop and an expected lifecycle of 4 years becomes a mere $2500/car of embedded R&D cost. In other words, a rounding error. 2500/70000 = 3.6%.
Cost to develop - basically zero, and Brembo's problem. Incremental cost to produce - basically zero vs what's in the 350. More than likely Brembo already had 16.5" rotors from some other car (Porsche GT?) in the catalog and Ford engineers spent an hour minutes looking at the Brembo catalog for which one to pick. At most Brembo modified an existing hat to fit Ford's bolt-pattern and offset. Maybe they even played with piston size and placement but hardly a complicated nor expensive undertaking. A 4000lb street car that's not actively racing has quite simple and straightforward requirements.
Carbon fiber wheels have been around for 20+ years. They simply looked at what's already available and picked it off the shelf or had the manufacturer change some aspect of the shape or spoke layout. It's well established technology - maybe not cheap - but not remotely cutting edge, requiring huge R&D.
So you’re saying this a parts bin car! Got it!
500 cars/yr is barely collectible status. 100 or 200/yr definitely. 5000/yr is a commodity.
Of course it is. And you're delusional to think it isn't. If it wasn't a parts-bin special you and I couldn't afford it. Sure, some of the parts are kinda expensive. You and I can grab 19 or 20" carbon wheels from the big 5 no big deal. We can buy 16.5" or bigger rotors from Brembo all day long. The 6-pot is probably otherwise identical to the one found on the 350 or SS with perhaps different bolt hole location (if that).
With respect to the R and certainly base R's, I think there's some degree of collectability. You looking at only 21xx cars from 2015 up to 2018. 2019 and 2020 will probably be short prod years for the R.
With current stroke (94x93), 8250 rpm = 5000 fpm of piston speed. 9250 makes it 5583. 5000 is already WAY up there. Even a high-revving Ducati V4 (81x53) only sees 4500 and in the bad old days 3500fpm was considered pushing the envelope.
