The Infantry Squad Vehicle shares 90% of its components with a Chevy Colorado. The top Trim Colorado costs $30K usd or so, but the the ISV costs $330k. What makes up the 10% difference between the Colorado and the ISV?

Question

Not trying to hate. Maybe it’s armour, maybe it’s guns, but that is a big difference.

In: Economics

Answer 1

They’re only planning to make a few hundred, so instead of a highly automated production line, the modifications likely require a lot of manual labor.

The cost also includes all the R&D work to make the prototypes, which adds a lot per unit when they’re not making very many.