so why does Sikorsky put the price up from $ 375 to over $ 1200 ???.
I would guess because they want to kill off a type that they dont really feel like supporting anymore. In the automotive sector that would equal to not supplying parts anymore at all (barely any manufacturers properly supply old models, only one im aware of is MB). BUT they do that mostly so they sell more cars.
Which doesnt make sense for sikorsky since a) they still appear to be offering the good old 269 and b) dont offer anything else in the same segment. Ergo they are kind of sawing on the branch they are sitting on. Somehow it seems to me that once someone in the siko management thought it would be a great idea to buy the 269 to expand their portfolio, now someone else figured that it wasnt that brilliant after all and decided to try and undo it somehow.
I agree with snoopy that the comparison automotive vs rotary industry is not a really good one. Extremely high costs for certification and what not, extremely low unit numbers. The circumstances as well as the markets themselves are totally different in so many ways.
Although i certainly also agree with the other side, saying that the helicopter manufacturers treat their customers like garbage. Out of the big players, only one makes an honest attempt at decent customer service for civilian customers. On the monetary side they certainly play the same game like the others.
I think this whole situation is a lack of real competition in the market. Todays battles of the industries are mostly fought by the marketing departments, you will find that to be true in so many different industries.
IMHO, the manufacturers decided a long time ago to happily team up on us and got perfectly comfortable with shamelessly milking the cash cow, to put it in pub talk terms.
This seems like a great opportunity for new manufacturers, but in the end of the day they are all prone to yield the temptation sooner or later...
