"brian whatcott" wrote in message
...
Peter Dohm wrote:
/snip/

A mass produced product, especially one that requires government
certification to be sold, requires a tremendous investment to reach the
market; and then may be a failure if the market research was not
accurate. And accurate market research is extremely difficult for any new
product--and much worse for a product to be introduced at a future time.
/snip/
Peter



This reminds me of chatting to an old boy about this year's Luscombe fold
up, couple days back when we were sitting in the shade at a recent flyin.

I mentioned that the most financially successful part of this local
attempt (ultimately successful) to certificate a Luscombe revival, was
the wind-up auction sale, at which (for example) a bunch of aero engines
sold for more than the Lycoming wholesale price...and like that...

His insight: "Why would anybody want to spend millions to certify
an Ugly Cessna 172 fly-alike, when the pretty Cessna 172 is available?"
He continued, "The 1949 Luscombe was ugly, and the new design was just as
ugly."

I guess that's your marketing point...

Brian W

I wasn't thinking specifically of the Luscomb, but it's an outstanding
example!