How Unilever, Coke And The Mini Car Got It So Wrong - BBC2
Posted: Mon May 09, 2011 2:47 pm
Business Nightmares with Evan Davis - on BBC2 9th May 8.00pm
The Mini was Britain's best-selling car ever, with more than five million purchased over the years. But its sales success disguises a surprising story - consumers got a much better deal on the Mini than they should have done.
Ford bosses were mystified at how it could be produced for such a bargain basement price, so they decided to take one apart to see how on earth it had been done.
Former Ford Product Planner Bob Howe recalled: "We analysed the Mini, we dismantled the thing completely even to the point of breaking spotwelds and we costed every component.
"Based on our analysis, Ford would have incurred £35 of cost over and above the price they were advertising it at".
It looked as though every Mini was costing £535 to make and then being sold for £500
More:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13285504
Now on iPlayer, the Mini is featured in the middle part of programme after Persil but before Coke:
Link:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... d_Designs/
The Mini was Britain's best-selling car ever, with more than five million purchased over the years. But its sales success disguises a surprising story - consumers got a much better deal on the Mini than they should have done.
Ford bosses were mystified at how it could be produced for such a bargain basement price, so they decided to take one apart to see how on earth it had been done.
Former Ford Product Planner Bob Howe recalled: "We analysed the Mini, we dismantled the thing completely even to the point of breaking spotwelds and we costed every component.
"Based on our analysis, Ford would have incurred £35 of cost over and above the price they were advertising it at".
It looked as though every Mini was costing £535 to make and then being sold for £500
More:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13285504
Now on iPlayer, the Mini is featured in the middle part of programme after Persil but before Coke:
Link:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... d_Designs/