Why why why carbon fiber parts so expensive?

[NFIDDY5]

An alarming trend I have noticed since owning the 135i. CF parts are stupidly expensive for this car! Why? I looked through a few vendor websites and CF parts for the 335i and E46/E9x M3 are almost half the price. Makes no sense. Not only is the 135i almost half the size of its big brothers, but its obviously cheaper overall as far as purchase price. Example. On E92-lighting.com there are numerous CF lips and rear diffusers for under $400 whereas we have a very limited number of manufacturers and choices. All of which start at $700! Rediculous. I had a CF rear diffuser and Vorsteiner CF front splitters that cost me $300 and $150 w/shipping respectively. What gives? I can't justify dropping $700 for the iCarbon front lip or $725 for the Agency Power CF spitters when I spent less than half of that on all mg CF parts for my '03 M3. And when I went through 3 sets of splitters due to shat in the road either chipping them or hitting and breaking them. $125-200 is reasonable. But $700. GTFOH! Anyone have a legit explanation? My only thought is that there are two, maybe three manufacturers have a strangehold on that particular market. /rant

[JimmyT]

volume...many 3 series, but 1ers are sold in much fewer numbers. Fewer potential sales = higher price to cover development cost and profit.

[rori zahr]

never thought it was that way!
strange

[NFIDDY5]

I understand the concept, but it still doesn't sit well. If they reduced the price, more people would be able to invest in the parts. Its more of a mark up and monopolizing than it is overall bottom line for these manufacturers. The stuff cost a third of what they charge. They could easily reduce the price and still profit from it. Which would improve sales because more enthusiasts would buy the stuff.

[Sylon]

I think a lot has to do with the lack of competition. Not a lot of companies are bothering with the 1 series because there are more 3 series' out here. So the few companies that are making parts can basically sell them for whatever they want because no one else out there is challenging them in the market.

[NFIDDY5]

Originally Posted by Sylon

I think a lot has to do with the lack of competition. Not a lot of companies are bothering with the 1 series because there are more 3 series' out here. So the few companies that are making parts can basically sell them for whatever they want because no one else out there is challenging them in the market.

^^^^^^ = monopoly. We should contact the BBB....

[spiderz17]

Supply and demand, my friend.

1 series = cheaper = younger owners = more likely to purchase CF parts

Thus, higher demand = higher prices for similar parts

I first encountered this issue when investigating insurance quotes and I noticed that a 135 was about 25-30% MORE expensive than a 335 for me. The only thing I could come up with was that the 135 attracted a younger crowd, who generally are more aggressive drivers, and was therefore involved in more claims.

[ulrichd]

"CFRP (carbon fiber reinforced resin), after all, is 50 times as expensive as steel. A car body component made of steel sheet costs about €4 in its final form; the same part made from CFRP costs at least €200.

[ulrichd]

Forgot to add, this was a quote from an article in Der Spiegel about BMW's development work for a new factory that will produce CF bodies for their new iCity electric car line. Their thinking is that putting batteries in cars weighing 3,000-4,000 pounds makes no sense, but mass production of small CF bodied cars would bring the price down over time.

[Impervious]

Originally Posted by ulrichd

Their thinking is that putting batteries in cars weighing 3,000-4,000 pounds makes no sense, but mass production of small CF bodied cars would bring the price down over time.

[onefastman]

The quality of icarbon over a knock off company is what costs so much. It is on par with dry cf.


To ease your pain check prices for cf on the GT-R. My friend had one and every time he thought about spending $5,000 on a hood it shocked me time and time again.

[BMW86]

I hear you mate but I think it comes down to there being a smaller market for the 1 series. I imagine the profit margin is smaller for the 3 series because they have a higher turnover rate and sell a lot more units. Because we are a niche market parts have been marked up so the overall profit margin stays the same otherwise they wouldn't bother making it in the first place. I know it doesn't seem fair but it's just how it is

Originally Posted by NFIDDY5

An alarming trend I have noticed since owning the 135i. CF parts are stupidly expensive for this car! Why? I looked through a few vendor websites and CF parts for the 335i and E46/E9x M3 are almost half the price. Makes no sense. Not only is the 135i almost half the size of its big brothers, but its obviously cheaper overall as far as purchase price. Example. On E92-lighting.com there are numerous CF lips and rear diffusers for under $400 whereas we have a very limited number of manufacturers and choices. All of which start at $700! Rediculous. I had a CF rear diffuser and Vorsteiner CF front splitters that cost me $300 and $150 w/shipping respectively. What gives? I can't justify dropping $700 for the iCarbon front lip or $725 for the Agency Power CF spitters when I spent less than half of that on all mg CF parts for my '03 M3. And when I went through 3 sets of splitters due to shat in the road either chipping them or hitting and breaking them. $125-200 is reasonable. But $700. GTFOH! Anyone have a legit explanation? My only thought is that there are two, maybe three manufacturers have a strangehold on that particular market. /rant

[Greenkirby21]

its not just the carbon fiber, its everything really. If you look at the depo headlights for the 3 series, they are a lot cheaper then the 1 series versions. Also, all the major sales that goes on were for the 3 series. I remember many websites had their xmas special, and the only product they had on sale was the E82 grilles, everything else was E92(and good prices!)

[NFIDDY5]

I get the economics of it. But the HUGE price difference isn't anything to do w/supply and demand. Its companies that just think its justified, when its not. They know people will still pay the rediculous prices. It goes beyond economics,its more of an ethical issue. i.e. MONOPOLY. Just sucks is all. Sorry for ranting.

[DTMrack.com]

Originally Posted by NFIDDY5

An alarming trend I have noticed since owning the 135i. CF parts are stupidly expensive for this car! Why? I looked through a few vendor websites and CF parts for the 335i and E46/E9x M3 are almost half the price. Makes no sense. Not only is the 135i almost half the size of its big brothers, but its obviously cheaper overall as far as purchase price. Example. On E92-lighting.com there are numerous CF lips and rear diffusers for under $400 whereas we have a very limited number of manufacturers and choices. All of which start at $700! Rediculous. I had a CF rear diffuser and Vorsteiner CF front splitters that cost me $300 and $150 w/shipping respectively. What gives? I can't justify dropping $700 for the iCarbon front lip or $725 for the Agency Power CF spitters when I spent less than half of that on all mg CF parts for my '03 M3. And when I went through 3 sets of splitters due to shat in the road either chipping them or hitting and breaking them. $125-200 is reasonable. But $700. GTFOH! Anyone have a legit explanation? My only thought is that there are two, maybe three manufacturers have a strangehold on that particular market. /rant

There is a simple and valid explanation for this.

I always thought that the iCarbon pieces had an excellent price. Here's why:

iCarbon is the only carbon fiber company that produces EVERY PIECE out of PURE carbon. They use the SAME manufacturing methods to the 't' that BMW uses as well. So when you buy iCarbon, you are actually paying (a great price) for carbon fiber, not OVER paying for fiberglass (like with most companies).

When I was in SEMA I got to see SO many things and detail so many companies, in wheels, suspensions, etc... So when comparing the carbon fiber pieces, EVERY other company used FRP in most of their pieces.

When you consider the fact that, for example, Vorsteiner's front lip is $887.00 + shipping and it uses FRP construction, and that iCarbon's front lip normally goes for around $700.00 SHIPPED, and uses PURE carbon construction, then the iCarbon lip is extremely cheap.

It's all in the construction. Just like with wheels, you can have wheels that mimic a forged design but are gravity cast and they will be cheap. And the forged ones will be more expensive because they have better construction and are lighter.

Bottom line is that, in actuality, the iCarbon pieces are worth way more than they are sold for. We CHOOSE to only carry products from companies we believe meet high standards of quality. And our opinion is biased always only TO quality.

[Satalite]

Touche. Similarly I would assume it is just like you paying for quality computers from Apple. Yes its 800$ above normal computers but in the end they last longer and are QUALITY products.

[onefastman]

I would compare it to walmart oil vs pennzoil in a ferrari

[1013mm]

welcome to america.

[XYR03]

Supply...and demand, trend?

[M_Anthony]

Originally Posted by Satalite

Touche. Similarly I would assume it is just like you paying for quality computers from Apple. Yes its 800$ above normal computers but in the end they last longer and are QUALITY products.

Bad comparison, Apple's products are often not well made, suffer from loads of problems (especially on first-generation models), and need servicing frequently. Apple knows this, which is why their customer service is so good, it's the only way to retain customers when you sell laptops with motherboards that fail every few months or phones that don't make phone calls...

[onefastman]

LOL

[1SerieStud]

I have to agree. I recently considered purchasing a diffuser and front lip from iCarbon, until I realized that they price things just to price them, without any logic behind the prices. For example, a diffuser is in the $700 range (which is rather pricey if you consider bang for the buck), and when I inquired about the front lip, the price was the same. Now, why in the world would a part that contains 1/3 of the carbon fiber material be worth as much as the other?

As others mentioned though, it does come down to supply and demand, plus these companies are aware that some people go to the extreme and pay any amount of money of these parts. Maybe if demand lowered, people stopped buying them due to high prices, the prices would come down...again, supply and demand.