Eli5: why do many many cars don’t last for a lifetime?
In: Engineering
Because they are consumer products designed with cost and performance having more priority over durability. As long as the car is “reasonably” durable, which means it lasts long enough to not have the customer sue the maker, while also provides a reasonable demand for service parts for future revenue, it’s fine.
This causes the service costs to eventually go up, while the value of the car goes down. When it no longer makes sense to maintain the car, it’s time for a new one.
Only a few luxury cars survived past that economical end of life, their high purchase costs may have delayed the end of life somehow, but any car lasting very long isn’t because it’s economical, instead it’s because it has historical or sentimental values and the owner kept maintaining it well beyond its economical end of life point.
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