oh for sure. I mostly meant bringing it inhouse which brings the processes inhouse.
Which means in theory if the design teams worked together. They could make affordable parts, at high quality, that work really well together, and thus mechanics aren't cursing their names either.
Its amazing to me that their current model is to go, Yo Bosch give me X part where bosch then goes "Chinese manufacturer make this part for .02" and well hey car manufacturer wholesale on this part is $15, and then the car manufacturer marks it up to $30 to the consumer. Obviously not real numbers but the scale is still there. If the Car manufacturer could make it here for $7 and sell it for $22 then they still make the same margin and the consumer pockets some of the difference. Obviously in the current economy they'd still make it abroad, but it holds the same general concept... why deal with the middle man at all? Many of the cars are parts bin cars from different suppliers so scale isn't the issue.
idk maybe i don't understand enough about supply logistics, but the basics that i DO know about business is that middlemen = higher for the consumer, and often less profit for the manufacturer. Example my pellet stove had the door switch go out, to get it from quadrafire $45, finding the generic US version from a furnace $20, finding the part supplier, and buying it direct? $4 -- I bought 4 of these switches, current one has been working since last season no issue - Just saying.