If I'm not mistaken in the muscle car heyday you could have pretty much any drivetrain you wanted in any model you wanted and today stripper big block cars are amongst the most sought after. I don't see how this would apply to cars right now (except for the supercharged 3.8), but how about trucks and SUV's?

To get a 6 liter in a light duty truck from GM you have to go with Cadillac, Denali, or SS. The drivetrain is already certified, why not offer it as an option, without all the other bells and whistles, on entry level models? I suspect that would move more trucks without overly offending those that buy the top dogs.

 

Because the more crap they load into the car the more they can charge for it, come on guys do you think it ever costed $1k to make a CD player. Simply put if it is loaded then they make more money off it.

 

Counterpoint ...you make nothing if the consumer choses not to buy at all.

 

Complexity. It costs money to organize the assembly of a given vehicle. The more complexity you add, the more it costs. This is the driving force behind option groups and the shrinking amount of choices in the "options column".

 

2003 Chevrolet Silverado 2500, 2wd, standard cab, with 6.0 V8: $25,565. 300hp, 365 lbs/ft torque.

Sure the Silverado SS has 45 more horsepower, and 20 more lbs/ft of torque, but you'll still outrun them. Why? All GM Trucks have a top speed governor set at the same level, so that 40 horsepower advantage is completely useless. Also, that extra 20 pounds of torque is eaten up and then some pulling through that AWD system PLUS the added weight of an extended cab. That's not to mention the fact this truck comes with an automatic transmission to the 2500's standard 5 speed manual.

Go to http://www.chevrolet.com/silverado/model_2500.htm scroll down to 2500.

If you want to go cheaper still, go for the "worktruck" Silverado (which is truck speak for "stripper" model). It goes for $24,190 and comes with a bench seat, but you still get 4 wheel ABS discs, 16 inch wheels, 4 speaker AM/FM system, and the 6.0 with a stick.

With the extra $17,000 cash you save, go buy yourself a good used Camaro, or add in Chrysler's rebates buy your kid (or loved one) a brand new Neon SRT-4.

 

The additional cost of assembly complexity is rapidly decreasing nowadays, with the variety of just-in-time and sequencing systems in place.

The real reason for shrinking options is to simply force the customer to buy a bunch of extra crap to get a few features that they think they can't live without.