besides all the good reasons given above, there is also a brand image problem. turtle wax owns the market for the most part. further r&d is a waste of money since no one can realistically expect the majority of people to start caring MORE about their cars in the near future than they already do.
so, they're profitable, and have no need to spend money exploring other options that could POSSIBLY add money to the coffers. remember, the r&d money that the large companies spent has long since paid itself off. now they only have to cover their production costs. so the barrier to entry for a whole new line is probably cost prohibitive and presents another problem....
image. even if turtle wax spent millions developing the ultimate polymer, there is a huge chance that no one would use it. as seen with the shrewd marketing exclusivity of zaino (not a diss, just an observation), people who spend this kind of money on car care products like to feel different than the masses and would probably not trust the turtle wax name. too common. and the loyal turtle wax customers are a low-interest target because they already buy turtle wax and don't want to spend more than that.
for instance, i hear the viper boards are simply rabid about zaino. do you think any one of those viper owners would ever pipe up and declare how he got better results from "turtle wax Ã…¸ber-poly" than zaino? he would be mercilessly "LOL"ed out of the virtual door.
remember, the market for these high-end products is very small. for the most part, the people who have enough money to spend >$75 for a wax/sealant system would probably rather just pay someone else to detail their cars. very few people like it enough to spend the money AND time to do it.
my boss at my last job was completely obsessive about his sl mercedes. it's black, so it was very hard to keep perfect. but he sure didn't spend the time to do it himself. if it took him more than 1/4 of an hour, he would actually lose money because of the cost of his time. now, obviously there are people on this board with very nice cars and, i'm sure, very nice jobs to go along with them. but the difference is, people here LIKE to do it and find it relaxing.
so, they're profitable, and have no need to spend money exploring other options that could POSSIBLY add money to the coffers. remember, the r&d money that the large companies spent has long since paid itself off. now they only have to cover their production costs. so the barrier to entry for a whole new line is probably cost prohibitive and presents another problem....
image. even if turtle wax spent millions developing the ultimate polymer, there is a huge chance that no one would use it. as seen with the shrewd marketing exclusivity of zaino (not a diss, just an observation), people who spend this kind of money on car care products like to feel different than the masses and would probably not trust the turtle wax name. too common. and the loyal turtle wax customers are a low-interest target because they already buy turtle wax and don't want to spend more than that.
for instance, i hear the viper boards are simply rabid about zaino. do you think any one of those viper owners would ever pipe up and declare how he got better results from "turtle wax Ã…¸ber-poly" than zaino? he would be mercilessly "LOL"ed out of the virtual door.
remember, the market for these high-end products is very small. for the most part, the people who have enough money to spend >$75 for a wax/sealant system would probably rather just pay someone else to detail their cars. very few people like it enough to spend the money AND time to do it.
my boss at my last job was completely obsessive about his sl mercedes. it's black, so it was very hard to keep perfect. but he sure didn't spend the time to do it himself. if it took him more than 1/4 of an hour, he would actually lose money because of the cost of his time. now, obviously there are people on this board with very nice cars and, i'm sure, very nice jobs to go along with them. but the difference is, people here LIKE to do it and find it relaxing.
