Quote Originally Posted by Vendetta View Post
Of course, it's called hedging a bet. Despite all their marketing bluster about cars becoming extinct and the VX taking over the world (not happening with 6,000 or so units), they said officially it was a proof of concept for a new manufacturing method using cheaper but shorter-lived ceramic stamps.

But if it flew off the dealers' lots, as opposed to languishing there for years in some cases, you can be certain they would have "intended" to make more of them.

-V

Never wanted to make more of them. They made 5K for FIA homologation production rally-entry purposes period. They won several stages of Paris Dakar rally before running out of basic parts and retiring. They also were the overall class winner of the Australian Safari Rally. As for languishing sales, the VX was $30K plus in the USA, with two semi-useless entry doors for the back seat. Of course they knew this fact. Families, unless they were rich stalwarts could not use them. It's also true that inspite of winnimg Japan Car of The Year in 97/98, only 600 could be sold there (120 million people live in Japan). It was an exclusive car right from the get go. It was for a select audience and never intended for mass consumption. The ceramic dies were for time saving production, strictly. Get it out there and race and win, over and out. Hope a few collector types grab a few, because we are not making any more. You'll notice Isuzu still makes most all parts available to us if we are willing to pay. Isuzu is the biggest diesel engine builder in the world, but still enjoy the VX halo effect because of its racing and award winning exploits. The VX continues to be good business for them. This web site attests to that fact.