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Originally Posted by fiveohwblow
I hope so! Still don't understand Honda’s departure though. Lots of money to invest to just walk away completely...
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Same reason they can't get more engine manufacturers to join F1 - they don't think the additional sales/profit justifies the cost. Estimates I saw said Honda spends about $450 million per year on F1, how many additional car sales does this bring them and how many additional cars do they need to sell to spend $450 million? I think the amount of people that are influenced to buying a Honda because of F1 is very small as most people are buying basic cars and SUV's. If I was interested in a Honda and Toyota, the Honda F1 engine program wouldn't matter to me.
I think the technology transfer from F1 powerplants going to consumer cars is tiny and I don't see the manufacturers not in F1 having a hard time keeping up with engine design, especially as F1 powerplants are likely not where the consumer market is headed.
What you have already spent isn't justification in itself to keep doing it.