Economics
Man, that's a great question. What bothers me more than anything is that, aside from the RV-10, the Trade-a-Plane always lists the -8 with hands-down higher prices than any other RV listed. Why??? It wouldn't bother me so much if it weren't for the fact that when property taxes come up, the knuckleheads who work in the County Tax Collector's office use Trade-a-Plane for what they call "comparable value" to assess the 1% property tax of the airplane.
Sorry, but I can't see paying $1200 a year in property taxes for an airplane that is built only for day/night VFR.
So my question is this: why is the RV-8 always being sold at such high prices compared to the other RV's in the fleet?
It's not bad math... it's simple micro-economics 101. Pricing of goods today (with a few exceptions) is not based on cost, but on what people are willing to pay (demand) and how much competition there is for their purchasing dollars (supply). Think of it this way... regardless of what you have in your RV-8 in terms of cost, when you go to sell it, would you be happy to take a $100k offer when there is someone knocking on your door with a $120k check they want to give you for it, and you know there are no other comparable planes on the market at that time? The rational answer is, of course, that you'd reject the $100k offer and take the $120k.
Economics also has the concept of "elasticity of demand". Basically, it looks at how much demand drops as prices go up, or increases as prices go down. Experimental's have probably has fairly low elasticity, historically (i.e. mostly frugal, not-wealthy enthusiasts). I think elasticity for some designs has increased (more interest from wealthy individuals who want what they want, and are willing to pay for it). At least, looking at some of the panels going into what was meant to be a day-VFR airframe makes me think that
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The reason the RV-10 is selling at such high prices in many cases is not really because it is more expensive to build (I would bet, though I haven't analyzed it, that the "profit component" for the RV-10 is much more significant than for other models), it is because there is a lot of demand for high performance 4 place aircraft (look at the numbers for Cirrus, Columbia, Mooney, Diamond as case in point). When people are willing to pay $500k for a high-perf 4-place, $250k for an RV-10 looks cheap to them, even if it only cost $150k to build it. Sure, it isn't certified, and might not be as plush inside, but a big chunk (not all) of the buying public will overlook that for the quarter million savings.
So, to answer your direct question, the RV-8 is being sold at higher prices compared to other models, because there is more demand for it in the marketplace, given the relative supply.
Market forces are a powerful thing, but they are not a mystery. You don't have to like it, but there is value in understanding it. Taxes... on the other hand, are beyond comprehension!
