Originally Posted by
Amadis of Gaul
I don't think Honda did this for the ROI, they did it to prove they could. I won't comment on the wisdom of such a thought process.
You make it sound like the pursuit of developing the Bugatti Veyron for Volkswagen, ridiculously expensive vanity project, but ultimately a showcase of their technical capabilities. Arguably though, that genuinely ups the status of VW group overall, increasing car sales, whilst I doubt a similar effect could be seen to have crossed over into stronger brand and therefore sales for other Honda products. Yes, they're a very clever lot, those Honda guys, but will they have sold any more Civics or lawn mowers because they can make a clever little jet too - and the jet engine that goes in it? Would like to see a University study on that and brand value from doing crazy, clever, hideously expensive stuff! I wonder if someone really thought once, say fifteen years ago, they could sell a thousand Hondajets in several years? Or, it was just a technical showcase primarily and if they sold a few hundred over a few years, that would be a bonus?