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A modern large car plant starts at $3bn-4bn then goes up from there depending on how much of the manufacturing you are going to do yourself, so it’s more like 10% of the cost of that.


I wonder if a lot of it is also going to supplier/worker infrastructure...Apple tried it in limited ways but I think a lot of it fell through due to, either US workers not having the right sort of technical education, vs. all the infrastructures for small parts, prototyping, etc, still being in China and the US factory was often stuck waiting for things to be shipped back


Just two weeks ago, I've been in talks with a co who is in the process of building a car factory, and possibly a second one in a few years.

And not of a OEM kit assembly type, but a proper on with body shop, and everything. Price? A bit more than $110M


I don't get what this means? What's an "OEM kit assembly type" car factory?

And what do you mean a body shop? Do you mean like a fabrication facility where they form body panels, and then do paint after assembly?

Body shops are where they do repairs for collision and dents after a car is already completed. A domestic factory might have one to fix flaws in the paint and body incurred during manufacturing... Cars imported from overseas get bodywork done at the port, generally due to shipping damage. (Yes your brand new car may have already been repaired.) It's not really the big part of building a car at all though. I feel like you might be missing something, or misunderstanding something. Or maybe it's just me.


> I don't get what this means? What's an "OEM kit assembly type" car factory?

A type of a factory that does assembly only from parts, without making parts themselves

> And what do you mean a body shop? Do you mean like a fabrication facility where they form body panels, and then do paint after assembly?

I mean a shop where they manufacture a car body, and its parts.


There is no way you're building anything but a very small car factory for $110m. Maybe this involves a long of hand-work for low volume niche vehicles? Specialty government vehicles?

Normal car factories run $500m for something smallish to $4bn for a facility with more volume.


It's in top 100 electronics companies globally, aiming to join top 20 this decade, and you can easily do.

Yes, the panelling lines is half the cost, and assembly would be mostly manual for the beginning.


top 100 electronics company in car space means it is extremely small/doesn't produce meaningful amount of cars.


Which type of parts do they make within their factory?


Body, and panels. Suspension parts like tie-rods should be coming in short order.


Body parts? That's playing around with press machines. Panels are so basic. Suspensions, coiling steel. Could you call any of the above serious manufacturing?


Well clearly there is a large variety in size and scope, which is why I tried to say a “large” car plant (by which I meant reasonable complexity and manufacturing volume).

Clearly you can open a very small car factory for $1 million with a body shop if you want to.




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