Product diversification in the vehicles industry: a techno-economic analysis

The current tendency towards product differentiation in many areas of manufacturing is generally considered to be a positive phenomenon. What we have attempted to do here is to analyse the real degree of diversification that exists within the vehicles industry (in the case of all those models of cars, scooters and motorcycles for which we managed to find figures) by measuring global performance together with the use of statistical correlation. We have elaborated our figures using the technical specifications and prices available in the (Italian) market. This method enables us to evaluate the actual degree of diversification within the vehicles industry, and to calculate the price/global performance ratio, a real measure of the relationship between the global quality of a product and its price, in order to get a critical understanding of the technical and economic results. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.