Oh, Brother, Where Are Thou? - S2-E15
Question: How exactly did the production of Homer's car bankrupt Herb? If Herb, as a highly successful car manufacturer, was spending so much money spoiling Marge and the kids that an $82,000 price tag for making a car was enough of a straw to break the camel's back, wouldn't he have gone bankrupt sooner than later anyway?
Answer: It wasn't the cost of one car, but that they'd produced thousands of Homer's ridiculous vehicles, which they'd marketed as a family car, but cost five times as much as a new car at the time. No one would buy them and the company went under.
Brian Katcher
Wasn't the car just a demo though? How would they have been able to produce thousands of cars in such a short amount of time?
Phaneron ★
Herb had given instructions to his team to build whatever Homer wants, thinking it would be a success. More than likely the plant produced the one seen while production continued on the rest. Herb had too much faith in Homer and his ideas.
Ssiscool ★
Big difference between a "demo" or prototype car compared to a launch car. The dealers must have stock available of the launch car so people can actually buy them straight away.
stiiggy