The BBS wheels- it's like Nissan got lazy and couldn't design a wheel for their own car. However I could see how using BBS, especially for a Japanese car, might increase sales.
Yeah, and
Porsche, Dodge and Ford got lazy and couldn't design a wheel for their own car either.
Neither could BMW, Audi or Ferrari apparently.
Nor could Mercedes-Benz, Maserati, Mitsubishi, Rolls Royce, Jaguar, Infiniti, Renault, Saab, Subaru, Volkswagen, Toyota, Lexus and Volvo either apparently. Man, if only all those car companies would stop being so
lazy.
Have you ever thought about that maybe wheels are often designed in-house, then each car company works with and manufactures wheels in conjunction with BBS? Maybe that's what Nissan and Autech did, rather than just "got lazy"?
Although I can't find the new sale price online (which is frustrating), I'm assuming these things cost at least $40,000 new- with that kind of money you can get a minivan for Mom and a used Porsche for dad, or some other used sports car. You could get two cars, one of which is an actual sports car, for the same price as a tuned wagon, gaining the practicality of having two cars over one.
It's never fair to compare a new car to a used car. If that was the case, why buy a new Camry when you can take the same money and buy a 30 year old Ferrari? People buy new cars for the warranty, the lack of wear-and-tear and the peace of mind that somebody else hasn't beat on or thrashed the car.
Then there's additional practically problem of having two cars. Yes, having two cars can potentially give you different vehicles that can better fulfill more specialized needs, a more specific tool for the job if you will, but having two cars means you now double the cost of registration, double taxes, increased maintenance cost (maintaining two instead of one car), and chances are good that two cars will be more expensive to insure than just one car. Then where do I store the cars? If I only have one parking space, where am I putting the second car? How much more will that cost to rent a second parking space, assuming that's even available nearby?
So then that begs another question, in your scenario, what if I want to enjoy the drive to work after dropping my kids off at school? Do I take the minivan, which probably isn't much fun, or do I take the Porsche, and make my kids walk to school? Or maybe I drove my Porsche to meet up somewhere with friends (not all of whom own cars, especially in a city), but we then later decide to go somewhere else. So do I drive myself (and a buddy), and make the rest of the people walk or take the bus, or do I have to drive the minivan every time, even if we go somewhere else only 25% of the time?
It makes perfect sense for the same designers to design the entirety of a car's exterior, rather than multiple brands doing different parts of it.
That's not how cars are designed, manufactured and brought to market. For parts that are contracted out (and that's many if not most of the parts), car companies generally will set the requirements and do most of the design, then work with suppliers to finalize the actual detailed design and the supplier will then manufacture the actual parts. This is true of interior, exterior, engine, drivetrain, suspension, you name it, parts. The manufactured parts are then brought to the car manufacture to be used in assembling the final car.
It makes no sense for a car company to own all the specialized equipment needed to manufacture glass, or headlights, or rubber gaskets, or windshield wipers, from their constituent raw materials. These specialized suppliers have the expertise to design and manufacturing specific parts better than the car company can. And yes, these parts may be branded with car company's name and logo, but these parts are often actually made by a supplier.
