Sports Car Forum - MotorWorld.net - View Single Post - School paper on car firms

1zippo1 · 03-15-2005, 05:53 PM

Hello everyone,

Basically I'm thinking about doing my end of school paper on car firms and more specific about the strengths of weaknesses of big car concerns like the VAG group and the strengths of weaknesses of individual constructors like TVR.

To give you some more information. I'm currently stuying economics. I allready have a degree in informatics. Next year I have to make a big paper about an economic subject and it will account for 1/4th of my grades. So you can say it's very important! To be honest, there isn't much in economics that really interests me so I though I would choose a topic about the car industry.

IMO the car market is an interesting to study. The trend of car firm take-overs by big manufacturers like GM seems to have dimished and the situation seems to be stabelising. There still are lots of individual car firms out there. And some seem to do quite well. For instance Porsche, but I'm not 100% sure how close they are linked to the VAG group. So these small(er) constructers must have their strengths...

My questions for you guys about the subject are:

1. Which 2 firms (one very big and one individual) would you choose to study.

2. Is it possible to get some exact figures about the firms that I can use for a statistic analysis? I'm not sure about the availability of these figures and if it's possible to get that information from a smaller car firm like Caterham.

3. Any good sources about the subject would be very welcome. Especially clear accounting figures but also other things like for instance about positioning of the car firms in the VAG group or about the different tactics the car company's use in different countries.

My thoughts about question 1 : I think the VAG group is the clearest example to study. They have a range of different car firms which are all positioned differently and allmost cover the whole market. Now I come to think of it, the only big gap they have is one where Porsche would fit in perfectly. Think about it, VAG has no real sportscars except the Bentley's & Lambo's but both are positioned above Porsche...

And about Porsche, I think that would be a good example of an individual car firm because of it's economic strenght. The problem is I'm not sure how thight it's connections are with VAG...

Some clarity about that subject would be welcome too!

I will apperciate any help on the subject!
thx in advance!!

03-15-2005, 05:53 PM	#1
1zippo1 Regular User Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Belgium Posts: 1,668	School paper on car firms - request for some information Hello everyone, Basically I'm thinking about doing my end of school paper on car firms and more specific about the strengths of weaknesses of big car concerns like the VAG group and the strengths of weaknesses of individual constructors like TVR. To give you some more information. I'm currently stuying economics. I allready have a degree in informatics. Next year I have to make a big paper about an economic subject and it will account for 1/4th of my grades. So you can say it's very important! To be honest, there isn't much in economics that really interests me so I though I would choose a topic about the car industry. IMO the car market is an interesting to study. The trend of car firm take-overs by big manufacturers like GM seems to have dimished and the situation seems to be stabelising. There still are lots of individual car firms out there. And some seem to do quite well. For instance Porsche, but I'm not 100% sure how close they are linked to the VAG group. So these small(er) constructers must have their strengths... My questions for you guys about the subject are: 1. Which 2 firms (one very big and one individual) would you choose to study. 2. Is it possible to get some exact figures about the firms that I can use for a statistic analysis? I'm not sure about the availability of these figures and if it's possible to get that information from a smaller car firm like Caterham. 3. Any good sources about the subject would be very welcome. Especially clear accounting figures but also other things like for instance about positioning of the car firms in the VAG group or about the different tactics the car company's use in different countries. My thoughts about question 1 : I think the VAG group is the clearest example to study. They have a range of different car firms which are all positioned differently and allmost cover the whole market. Now I come to think of it, the only big gap they have is one where Porsche would fit in perfectly. Think about it, VAG has no real sportscars except the Bentley's & Lambo's but both are positioned above Porsche... And about Porsche, I think that would be a good example of an individual car firm because of it's economic strenght. The problem is I'm not sure how thight it's connections are with VAG... Some clarity about that subject would be welcome too! I will apperciate any help on the subject! thx in advance!!