Why do bodies get discontinued?

[Pylon80]

That probably sound like a very naive question and it probably is; I would still like to hear the opinion of the various Tamiya fans in this community.

So why do bodies get discontinued? For example I understand why chassis' get discontinued. Technology evolves and each generation of a given chassis usually brings more modern features, easier maintenance, better performance etc. I understand that. But bodies? Tamiya bodies have a reputation for being the most "true to scale" in the hobby so people like them. Also a body is by function a disposable part. It gets damaged and many of us would like to just be able to get a replacement, just like we get replacement tires, adjusters or motors. I am ready to bet that a number of people reading this have a personal wish list of some bodies they would buy in a heartbeat if they could find them today at the original retail price! I certainly do and can think of a few examples like the Porsche 934, the Porsche 911 GT2, the Mini or the Beetle M chassis bodies, a MkV GTI, the Mazda 787b for the RM pan car and the list goes on and on... Let's not even talk about the F1 bodies! It seems like these would sell in a heartbeat and yet they are not available anymore.

So I can think of the following explanations:

1) Care Bear/sugarcoated/happy-ever-after explanation:

- Tamiya genuinely thinks it is important to "move on" and keep the hobby evolving by forcing (the majority of people) to build and enjoy new cars/bodies

- Tamiya genuinely thinks there would only be a very limited interest in older bodies being available and it would not be economically viable to make them available again

2) Cold, hard technical explanation:

- A finite number of master shape for molding are produced for each body, maybe 1, maybe 12? They wear-out after having be used hundreds of times and the quality of the final body gets compromised.

- It would be complex and expensive for Tamiya to handmake new masters identical to the original ones.

3) Evil conspiracy explanation:

- Tamiya wants to make sure we panic buy and hoard new bodies as they come out (some people will even buy several of the same type just to stock up)

- By closing the tap early it becomes possible to make re-release every decade or so (even if it is only a lame "black edition" re-release :))

Finally I would like ask what is everyone's thought on reproduction bodies. I personally have some sense of ethics and rarely enjoy buying "made in China" things except when I feel like the product is well engineered and well produced like the Yeah Racing stuff. Opinions will very greatly on this of course. I am also ok to move away from an original brand when I disagree with their "policy". When I got into 1/27 scale I was infuriated that Kyosho would not have any means for me to use my own electronics and Tx and I was very happy to get a chassis from GL Racing, which is 20 years ahead of any Mini-Z and performs very well thank you. Sorry for the digression  I suppose I would be happy to buy reproduction bodies if a company would exist that make similar quality and prices as Tamiya with some sort of explanations along the lines of "this body is based on the general shape of the original but was made by XYZ, not by Tamiya." Some companies seem to make repro bodies and seem legit but they just don't have what I am interested in.

That is it, I am done, I would love to hear what people think. And I apologize if I have hurt anyone's feelings. Blame it on me being new to RC cars. Been into RC since 1991, just not in RC cars for that long.

Thanks.

[silvertriple]

Tamiya loosing the license to sell a designed body is for sure one reason why some bodies get discontinued (Ferrari, Mini, and some others may be in this case)

[TWINSET]

For licensed bodies, it can sometimes be that the manufacturer licenses a finite number of bodies for an initial run, then decides whether or not it's worth licensing a second run.

There's a lot of 'speculative legend' here about Tamiya 'losing licenses' that could be just as easily explained as them deciding it's not worth the money to have a licensed body when something generic will work just as well - Take the Clod body, for instance - the lack of Chevy branding doesn't seen to have affected it's popularity as far as length of time the kit's been available, so one could argue the licensing of the Chevy branding simply wasn't seen as necessary.

Similarly with the legends regarding molds getting destroyed or modified - if they thought sales would be significantly improved by remaking a mold, you can bet they'd do it - look at the number of brand new tools they make for 1/14 scale trucks - there seems to be the money in that sector to justify new tooling quite often.
 

[Willy iine]

I think it has to do with many parameters including and not limited to popularity, licensing, mold life, etc.  I know my NIB Mini Cooper bodies are worth like 5x the original price now..  My NIB M38 bodies 10x the price.. makes for a fun collection.  Not that I have plans to sell any of them any time soon.   

[Saito2]

When I was a kid, I first learned what the term "discontinued" meant when dealing with Tamiya and RC car parts in general. Personally, I think Tamiya just likes the word "discontinued" and enjoys applying it to many of its spares, bodies included. In all seriousness though, you probably hit on some of the reasons in your first post.

[Finnsllc]

Bodies should be just as availible as plastic spares........HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH. I pick up my toys and go home.

There is a reason we just dont know why, The market is what the manufacturers want it to be. I agree, A lexan body is literally pennies to produce and "should" be avail, meaning they produced an exces to begin with. However if legality has a postion that could be a major issue. Its just part of the hobby. Sucks but true

[Wooders28]

I just presumed that if the sales fell off ,there wasn't much point in making them anymore, and run the risk of unsold stock taking up money space (not sure if they'd, do an Amazon, though..) 

[Blista]

Some bodies get discontinued before they've even begun.  I can buy a basic TT02 with an Escort body but not just an Escort body.  Mini Cooper bodies were produced for years (decades?) before being entirely cut off.  The actual Mini Cooper came out in the 1950s, there's no leeway with producing it legally, yet I can buy several versions of unlicensed bodies right now.  I can't help but think licensing bodies is far more complicated than it should be so Tamiya just do what is necessary but not much more.

[Raman36]

I know why. Tamiya discontinues bodies just to mess with me. They hate me. They want to get rid of me as a customer. 
 

To get back at them, I stick around and keep buying their products. 😤

[SuperChamp82]

Option 3 plus licensing imo

And decals / sponsors shift too

[Falcon#5]

Personally I believe it comes down to licencing, and whether the cost vs profit ratio fits into Tamiya's business plan.

 

[Mad Ax]

The true answer is probably somewhere between 1 and 2, but we'll never know for sure because Tamiya don't publicise their reasons for doing things.  with most things in business, costs vs projected profits are probably the big factor.

A lexan body costs pennies to produce but it takes up valuable space, that makes it expensive to store and ship.  Tamiya can't afford to keep warehouses stocked up with bodies if nobody is buying them.  With such a huge back-catalog of bodies, they would need lots of space to store all the different options.  They'd have to ship way more body types overseas, that either means spending more on shipping more items, or shipping the same number of items but with more variety - which would mean more choice but less availability of any one item.  Selling what is "current" in their latest guidebook is probably more important than selling a handful of various old bodies for 3-10 years ago but selling out of current stock because they can't ship or warehouse enough of everything.  To an extent, having a compact product range is much easier to manage and make profitable than having a huge product range - especially as I doubt they would get many more sales from a large range, instead people would spread their purchases wider.  Remember that we collectors here on TC and other fansites who say we would buy older bodies as well as current ones make up a small percentage of the overall target market, who are arguably more likely to say "I'll have this body or that body" but not "I'll have both."

The habit of putting out short-run nostalgia releases seems fitting for the times, where there are plenty of people who remember the good old days, who now have the time, space and disposable income that we didn't have first time round, and can afford to jump on a release as soon as it appears and build it while they're waiting for the next one to be announced.  These people aren't in the same market as those who will buy a car for racing and continually replace the body like-for-like every time it wears out, or those who will buy one chassis to bash in the street and buy half a dozen different bodies for it (while all three may well buy the same nostalgia release, only one will be disappointed with the lack of body availability next year).

I think it's still too early to guess what's going to happen to the hobby sector (and the nostalgia hobby sector in particular) in the post-pandemic world - I don't think anybody predicted the massive rise in demand in 2020 and I still have no idea if the aforementioned affluent middle-aged nostalgia buyer will quit the hobby due to rising living costs or not.

[Badcrumble]

2 hours ago, Mad Ax said:

I think it's still too early to guess what's going to happen to the hobby sector (and the nostalgia hobby sector in particular) in the post-pandemic world - I don't think anybody predicted the massive rise in demand in 2020 and I still have no idea if the aforementioned affluent middle-aged nostalgia buyer will quit the hobby due to rising living costs or not.

It does sometimes feel like I'm storing up projects in case I have a excess of time and insufficient income to do anything else!

[Mad Ax]

14 hours ago, Badcrumble said:

It does sometimes feel like I'm storing up projects in case I have a excess of time and insufficient income to do anything else!

I call this "making a deposit in the fun bank"

I sometimes think I'm waiting for the type of illness or injury that excuses me from work, DIY and childcare duties but has me mobile and compos enough to build RC cars.

[Morinstal]

4) Tamiya urge us to be creative and make some money.

   - Ive seen and bought "fake" tamiya bodies made by anonymous fabrication. Thicker lexan, and cheap too. So i can keep the original for shelv LOL.