Ariel.Club Forum

NO,NO,NO!! I am not talking about mass production.

There IS some middle ground here people.

IF you have a product in demand, YOU HIRE MORE PEOPLE to help you build them.

.....instead of sport bikes.

..and sell more  of them,which keeps the prices in check and "investors" happy,so we may see the Atom10!!!

....and more auto enthusiasts who like cars for sheer driving performance above all else can experience them.

Many would enjoy an Atom,but cannot afford the price of admission or are unable to make the sacrifice required to own one...


YET...

Yeah, to have one of the former welders walk up to me at a car show last year and say "hey, I made your frame" is part of the reason I love the car

Lets try this another way.

If I look at my wifes subaru legacy, I see a LOT more stuff to go wrong.  Engineering and materials in a "normal" car is pretty amazing actually.

More parts than the atom
More sources of parts than the atom
More different types of materials than the atom
More electronics that all have to play together nicely

Yet.... my atom cost twice as much as that car.  Why?  Is it the performance?  Doubtful.. its not like it has an exotic engine, its a ecotec.  Transmission?  Nope.  Suspension?  Not 20k worth, thats for sure.  It has half as many gadgets.  Hell it doesn't even have doors, hinges, glass, interior, radio, heat... all those things that have to be engineered, produced, and assembled together.

So what is it?  It's the art and craft of it.  I have a picture of my frame being built.  I saw it on the table as it was being hand welded by a craftsman.  THAT is what I paid for.  The sum of the parts does NOT equal the whole.  And because I saw that work being done, because I talked to Brammo weekly about the status and custom stuff I had done to the car, THAT is what makes it something I love and respect. 

I drove my car 5500 miles last Oct for atomfest.  Big deal... people do trips like that all the time.  But I did it in a work of art.  A work of art I took part in creating.  A work of art that I feel a part of.

If you mass produce the car (the only way to get the leadtime down), that craftsmanship goes away.  Suddenly cars aren't being crafted, they are being manufactured.  Suddenly you have machines building parts.  All the subcomponents and assemblies get outsourced.  The "love" is gone, it's just a machine, a tool. 

I appreciate the Atom as more than just a tool,however I fail to see ANY reason for waiting for one.

It is NOT the wait that deters people from owning an Atom. I believe it is the impracticality of the Atom that will always keep its numbers limited to

the few who appreciate it ...

                                       ......for the purity it represents

                                                                            ............when experienced from behind the wheel 
                                                         
                                                                                                                                                .........as WE all know!

Those long waits do add to the resale value, and the rariety and notoriety of the car.  If you take it to extremes, and make it so you can go down to your local ariel dealer and buy one today, the magic goes away on something like this.

Max - you see the atom as a tool.  A lot of us (myself included) see it as art.  If I could go buy a Picasso at the local mall, its no big deal.  The price comes down, because hey... its just a piece of canvas with some oil on it, big deal.  But because its incredibly rare, and there is demand, the prices to buy one (if you can find one for sale) are insaine. 

I own an atom, and while I hated the wait, and it drove my nutty, I appreciate that it exists, and it takes a special kind of person to own one.  I DON'T want to see one at every street corner.

I'm not convinced that waiting for an Atom is good.

What is the wait on a Lotus two-11?

What is the wait on a Radical?

I can't believe it is 18 loooooooooooooooooong months.

...and that is only a hollow promise from what I have read.

I'm not saying they should be spit out like M&M's but surely their energies could better be spent on current endeavors,rather  than attempting to enter 

an overly crowded sport bike market with an unproven product.

The long wait is a simple function of supply and demand. The demand is there, and the supply is what it is.
I suppose the UK Factory could just borrow a bunch of money and invest for more production. Of course, Brammo did that and now they are trying to survive by looking for investors to build an electric bike

I think it would be a great thing if TMI could end up with a 12 + month waiting list for the US built Atom 3. It certainly is a pain to wait and we might have dozens of "Apollyons" just bursting at the seams for their Atoms, but is that not a great thing for the whole exclusivity, resale, enjoyment thing?

The impatient might go buy something else, but when you pass that "something else" in your Atom at the track, or have people clambor past the "something else"  to talk to you and take pictures of your Atom and ask you all those stupid Atom questions, the impatient will be wishing they were not so impatient.

I never think about the resale value of any of my toys.

As far as I am concerned,they are going to get used up and replaced (or rebuilt)

Conversely ....

I wouldn't have purchased an Atom if there wasn't a waiting list. It's the waiting list that keeps resale values so high and that's very important.

I didn't want a £30k + car that devalued £5k the moment I drove it off the forecourt - well, the stoney track in the case of my Atom

3-6 months is reasonable.  Even with Brammo's build times there are owners selling their cars a week after owning them.  So in the US the wait time doesn't really matter.  But I agree that the brand benefits from having evangelical owners.  They stimulate the moral of the company, they bring in new buyers, etc. 

Your own values are corrupting your judgement,Bruce.

NO ONE wants to wait 18 months,well maybe an odd few who consider this traditional.

WHY?? Why would any company make prospective customers wait? They will lose them.There are alternatives.

I am not talking about instant gratification. I am speaking of a reasonable build time. 18 months is too damn long. 

A lot can happen in 18 months. Peoples desires can change. The Atom is surely not a necessity. (until you have owned one... )

When I have a customer needing a vehicle,I make every effort to fulfill their wished as quickly as possible,because NO ONE wants to wait for things.

I drove into an ice storm last Friday to an auction house 40 miles away to purchase a vehicle that I knew a particular customer would buy.

If I waited another week or so,they would surely go elsewhere.

Not a big deal,but being a shrewd businessman,I made the decision to "get 'er done"  and now I have a very happy repeat customer who saved

money,got the car of her dreams, and I made enough money to pay for my entire summer of HPDE's.


Win,win I'd say.   


Ariel should not diverse their energies on a product that has no shortage in the marketplace.( another sport motorcycle)

They should concentrate on expediting orders for current Atom buyers and in turn,this will encourage future buyers to place an order with a

REASONABLE expectancy of an ON TIME delivery.

That's what I'd do

See, this is yet another area where the USA is different to the rest of the world.

Please try not to judge everyone by the american way.

An 18 month wait IS good.

For sales. For residuals. And for servicing and parts costs

Just because you live in an instant gratification culture, don't imagine that everyone else in the world feels the same way.



(Please don't take this as a personal attack, it's just an observation on cultural difference)

I don't think the publicity received will help Atom sales.

I am doubtful anyone dropped down a deposit on a future Ariel bike either.

Seems like a lot of effort for minimal return to me.

18 months to fill car orders? That will not help Atom sales.

THIS is where I feel they should be focusing their energies.

Fulfillment of existing obligations should be their utmost priority.

Anyone considered that the project got quite a bit of publicity for Ariel?

Just a thought

I personally feel Ariels efforts would be more rewarded in offering the Atom in various configurations.

The bike industry is VERY crowded with EXCELLENT products currently.

I don't see any room for a newbie to make any money.