42083 - Bugatti Chiron

[dforce]

3 minutes ago, Bublehead said:

@dforce, at $2.5 million a pop, I bet they get more per pop on the little version just like they do on the full size one. The more exclusive, the more $$$.  Bugatti and Volkswagen didn’t do this to help sell Chirons, and you can bet they get a little bit of that $350 in their pockets, that is the nature of licensing. TLG is the benefactor of this collaboration, and would have to pay something for the rights to the likeness and name, even if only a euro per set. You don’t go giving away IP (intellectual property) without a cost analysis and no ROI (return on investment). To VW and Bugatti, this is usually a no brainer since their cost is just time and access to engineers and drawings. It may be a wash, and they might do it at no cost to TLG for the positive publicity, but somewhere there is a bean counter who has counted these beans and someone who green lighted it one way or another. My bet is they had to pay.

I think we are missing each other a bit.  I wasn't trying to say that none of the $350 would be going to Bugatti, I'm sure in the licensing agreement there is definitely some $$ responsible for using the likeness and name.  My main point was that since Porsche, Bugatti and apparently Lamborghini and Bentley all fall under the Volkwagen group umbrella, the license is probably with the parent company first and foremost.  To me this would indicate that there wouldn't be a big difference (if any) between the license cost to make the Porsche or Bugatti.

I personally see the price hike from $300 to $350 as a confirmation of how well the Porsche sold.

[Kumbbl]

1 minute ago, dforce said:

I personally see the price hike from $300 to $350 as a confirmation of how well the Porsche sold.

No... first the bugatti simply contains about 900 parts more and for that 50€ more is reasonable and second: in real life the chiron is another price-tag than the porsche 911GT3, so the lego equivalent should at least cost more too...

[Thirdwigg]

TLG just posted some podcasts about the car and design process. I have gotten through a couple, and they are worth a listen to learn a little more about the collaboration. 

[Ascius]

Funny thing I just noticed thanks to a few users above, Bugatti is almost 900 more parts. I was still under impression it was very close to the  Porsche...

[Timoonn]

First of June 

Edited May 31, 2018 by Timoonn

[Bublehead]

@dforce, we are on the same page, just a couple paragraphs off  

@Kumbbl, parts count is a very rough estimate of cost. Look at cost of Mack Anthem and it’s piece count or the 42069. On average part cost is around $0.10 historically, but that is sometimes blown out of the water when tooling costs (which for high accuracy injection molds can be upwards of $150,000 to $250,000 PER mold) outpace the cost of pressing plastic, or sourcing electronics and motors.

TLG could add 1000 parts to a set with very minimum cost if the pieces are standard existing and well used parts.  These part runs have the cost of mold replacement and repair already factored in since they are part of the catalog that is shared by all Technic and possibly System sets.  Adding new parts to the catalog, especially parts that may not have usage in other sets, and may be a one time pressing can really inflate the BOM and increase the bottom line cost.  I think the extra $50 is a factor of all of these. The 911 did well, so an increase to squeeze a little out of everyone, Bugatti is more exclusive, so licensing might be a little higher, and new parts and molds added a little more $$$ and inflation a little more $$$.

[Erik Leppen]

31 minutes ago, dforce said:

I personally see the price hike from $300 to $350 as a confirmation of how well the Porsche sold.

 

25 minutes ago, Kumbbl said:

No... first the bugatti simply contains about 900 parts more and for that 50€ more is reasonable

I think the Bugatti contains 900 more parts because the Porsche sold well and hence TLC could step up their game. I think that if the Porsche didn't sell well, we wouldn't have had a 3600-part supercar.

[Bublehead]

@Erik Leppen, agreed, so many Porsche addicts really helped the rest of us out. Not sure the 900 parts are the sole reason for the increase though. (see my post above) 

[Friscorays]

1 hour ago, Kumbbl said:

No... first the bugatti simply contains about 900 parts more and for that 50€ more is reasonable and second: in real life the chiron is another price-tag than the porsche 911GT3, so the lego equivalent should at least cost more too...

 

2 hours ago, dforce said:

The 900 extra pieces probably made them feel the $50 increase was warranted more than the license, especially since Porsche and Bugatti are both owned by the Volkswagen group with which Lego probably has an agreement.

Weird to say no to dforce and then back it up with an argument already made by dforce literally a few posts up.  I doubt the price difference between a real 911 and a real Chiron has anything to do with the Lego model prices.  If Lego were to come out with a Lamborghini next year with the same number of pieces as the Chiron, I doubt that Lego would decrease the price of the Lamborghini model to bring it in line with the relative pricing of the real cars.

[Bartybum]

Lego’s a public company. It would be completely uncharacteristic to not take advantage of Bugatti’s brand prestige.

[technic_addict]

11 minutes ago, Bartybum said:

Lego’s a public company. It would be completely uncharacteristic to not take advantage of Bugatti’s brand prestige.

Private

[Bartybum]

Just now, technic_addict said:

Private

Are they? :O I thought one could buy shares in them?

EDIT: Right you are, they’re private. Either way my point still stands hehe

Edited June 1, 2018 by Bartybum

[therealjustin]

If you look at the die-cast car world, Bugatti replicas usually carry a premium. A normal AUTOart model car is around $150-$180 US, however their Veyrons and upcoming Chirons are close to $300. Even with the low end Bburago there is a 15% increase for the Bugatti license.

[Jonfensu]

Built the shifter, and doesn't require to much force to do a shift - we have yet to try it with the whole shifting mechanism -. But there is too much backlash - sometimes, in my case the #3 connector get stuck in the middle of the 1L bush - and to be honest I expected to see a different/new mechanism like the Porsche one,  I mean,  it is basically a concept created by the community and that lever looks weird for a paddle shifter system, beside it is placed so low and behind the steering wheel :O. Anyway the set looks awesome,  and has that MOC feeling. Make me want one but it's too expensive :/

[stevenhalim]

4 hours ago, Thirdwigg said:

TLG just posted some podcasts about the car and design process. I have gotten through a couple, and they are worth a listen to learn a little more about the collaboration. 

Thanks for the tips. I found it on iTunes. 

Listening now while waiting for the official reveal.

[Ngoc Nguyen]

6 hours ago, Appie said:

Somebody leak an image already where that white clutch is in the model

Where can I find this image? I don't see it on Reddit.

[BusterHaus]

Podcast link for those without iTunes:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/lego-technic-podcast/podcast_itunes.xml#noUrlRewrite

[stevenhalim]

9 podcast episodes averaging 30m each, so at least 4.5 hours of listening time today if you want to listen to them all :O.
This is much more than a few extra pages at the front of 42056 booklet.
An interesting product reveal.
Is it the first time a "designer video" (that usually lasts 3-5m) become a "designer podcast" that runs for ~4.5 hours :O??

PS: I have just finished the first episode and the last sentence was: "the best time to hear this podcast is when you are building your 42083"... well I don't have 42083 yet :O...
nvm, will just playback these 9 podcast episodes when I have 42083 later.

[Ngoc Nguyen]

Michael T Jeppesen designed the engine.

[Bublehead]

A point of reference: Phoenix Az USA has 2 Lego Stores. My store has 80 Chirons for sale. So the city of Phoenix will have access to possibly only 160 to 200 sets total. First come, first serve, no reservations, no waiting list, no pre-sales, no setbacks, layaways, or holds. No VIP exclusive access, or employee discount sales. They want this set to be On The Shelf when non-Lego enthusiasts walk in the door.

[Rikus]

12 hours ago, Rikus said:

It seems a totally new "Exclusive Contents" experience is coming with the Chiron...

The "LEGO Technic Podcast" trailer is already (officially) available on iOS Podcast App and even on Stitcher!

https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/lego-system-as/the-legor-technic-podcast

 

2 hours ago, BusterHaus said:

Podcast link for those without iTunes:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/lego-technic-podcast/podcast_itunes.xml#noUrlRewrite

All episodes are available also on Stitcher and on Google Podcast

[Didumos69]

3 hours ago, Ngoc Nguyen said:

Where can I find this image? I don't see it on Reddit.

It was a question.

[TeamThrifty]

9 hours ago, Jim said:

Yup, but I think it’s by revenue, not sales numbers. Than it makes sense.

Be interesting to see the margin.. though thats unlikely! Sales numbers don't tell the full story... if you sell 47 million but only break even on them, no point. Sell 10,000 but make £50 per unit... happy days. More cash for less work. Turnover is vanity, profit is reality. 

I'd also love a 3k piece fork lift or big flagship tractor, but i understand the econonics. If lego make profit from cars, then they need to keep releasing them.... and that 3k piece tractor? well that why lego comes to pieces, so you can build the sets you want.. thats the point, its a moc tool!!!!

[WvG_853]

Could it be that the Porsche was a big success because apart from the AFOL community, many Porsche owners or adults dreaming of a Porsche bought one as a design object? I think this will be much less the case with the Bugatti. The model looks awesome, but there are much less Bugatti owners than Porsche owners or adults dreaming about a Bugatti. So I think that the customer base for this model will be smaller ...

[TeamThrifty]

8 minutes ago, WvG_853 said:

So I think that the customer base for this model will be smaller

i don't.. i think they'll sell bucket loads. And i hope they do.