When starting a new game, I usually have the intention of owning several auto brands, so that my company can cover different segments with different car brands; similar to Volkswagen IRL. Eric said that this subdivision would make sense (link). So I eye a couple of competing companies from early on and hope that they go public soon.

My problem is that many of the brands I`d like to own never seem to go public. Still, they somehow can merge with or be bought by other companies (who often also decided against an IPO). They turn into mega-companies, who often go bancrupt after a couple of years.

If they go bancrupt, there are two scenarios:

a) the newspaper usually says that e.g. "Lancia" has spun off "BMW" following it´s chapter 11 bancruptcy". A different article states that the same company was sold. It says that Parent company "Lancia" has sold off ther maque "BMW" to the "BMW"'s management. Any auto brand that is sold and spun off this way will never be seen again. Which is a pitty.

b) The alternative is that these huge companies simply go bancrupt and all brands, they owned, vanish.

In any case, I can`t own any of the brands I desire.

Am I right with my observation? Have you experienced similar developements? Do you have some advice for me?

What is the difference between the option of a "spin-off" and a "wholly owned subsidiary"?

I wanted to save a brand and bought it from a competitor (incl. branches & factories). Even developed a couple of new models for them to make sure they succeed. Now I am not sure weather to spin them off or ro create a wholly owned subsidiary.

The explanations (ingame) seem quite similar. Since I own 100% of the brand and its factories and branches, the effect would be the same, right?

I had two models that I discontinued from the auto commands. I believe I may have done it backwards where I stopped sales then stopped production. I now have both models show up in the monthly report with zero production but several units in inventory. I cannot find a way to access these units to get rid of them. I cannot assign them for sale to get rid of them either. What am I doing wrong?

Is there any intention to introduce national and international regulations that will influence the player's choice in designing a car? For example, exhaust emmision laws, inner city congestion charging, NCAP crash testing and so on.

It would be very useful if you could set up an automatic pricing strategy which would be a certain "base" price, plus shipping charges.

However, it is complicated to calculate shipping because different factories produce different amounts and it isn't always clear which factory will end up supplying which branch.

One solution is to pick up the shipping charges for last month in this months prices. Assuming sales are somewhat smooth, it should all (roughly) balance out.

Basically, take the total amount of shipping divided by the number of cars sold at that branch and add that number to the base price. If you don't want one type of car subsidizing another, then do that calculation for each model of car sold at that branch (probably a better approach).

If it turns out that this strategy produces "spikey" sales where lots of cars are sold one month and none the next (as nobody can afford the horrendous shipping charge) which then resets the shipping charge, producing sales again, you can smooth things over by averaging across the last 3 months (quarter).

Is there anyway of seeing the number of awards a vehicle has received over it's history?

I've noticed in the mega menu there's a very convenient option to auto recondition branches and another option to simply click one button to recondition everything!

I personally like to expand my branches when I feel they are in need of reconditioning. So I kill two birds with one stone, I expand and at the same time it reconditions the branch. However to do this requires me to go to the map and click on each of my branches to see their current state. Would it be possible to add the branch condition percentage to the branch info on the mega menu? Or could we set the percantage that we'd like to recondition a branch, but instead of it being done automatically, could we receive a memo? In this way I could go directly to that branch and then decide if I want to simply recondition or if I want to expand it as well.

Anyway, I know this only relates to my own playing style, so feel free to tell me to go to hell.

Woa!

It's been a few years since the last time I played Gearcity and back then it was only available as a demo! I've paid up to play the Beta and boy has it changed! With the exception of the loss of those rather nice looking leather bound buttons from older versions of the game, EVERYTHING else has improved for the better!

I do have a querry and a few suggestions related to marketing. I like the new marketing efficiency report, but I still find it nearly impossible to gauge what effect the funds I'm sinking into advertising, is having on helping me shift cars. Is there anyway I can find this out? I would also like an idea of the advertising my competitors are committing to in each city. Is there anyway to see this? And in regards to my suggetions, well... if the above reports don't exist, can they be implemented?

Last night I played Gear City for the first time in quite a while and must say that the turn summary is awesome! It is a great addition.
One question: There is a line for one-time expenses. Is there some documentation or a report somewhere that tells you what these expenses are for? I briefly looked and could not find anything.
Thanks!

I'm new to the game and I have quite some questions. It seems really fun and really immersive and I really want to learn the most about it.

1. In my first game I did quite well, my cheap 1HP phaeton was the most popular car in the world for many years, and I followed it with 1HP pickup, coupe, compact, which were quite popular too. Pickup eventually was 2nd most popular in the world. Is it plausible? I think that cars were a bit better in 1900s - mine was the most popular for many years. Is it the best strategy? It certainly seems so.
2. What's with locomotive and ship engines? I can never get steam engine to be that powerful. What's the catch?
3. The game starts to get quite hard in the 1920s. I've introduced several cars in 1919 and 1920, which were quickly the most popular in the world or at least North America, and I even managed to expand to Europe a bit. However, after about 2-3 years I have to sell my cars very closely to my costs and I'm now losing money, despite making 3 million profit just several months ago. Is it because I am pulling the production slider all the way towards quantity and never to quality except for expensive cars? Does it have any long term effect? I think my cars are still quite competitive in terms of price and quality but instead of 4.000 per month I am now selling 1.500. Also, do customers become more and more demanding over time, they certainly seem so now.
4. Is there any way to see how successful my marketing is? Sometimes after increasing marketing I can even double my sales and sometimes not.
5. Shouldn't there be more military contracts during the war? Currently there doesn't seem to be much more than usual and some by occupied country - like Danish Air Force or Danish Army. Also, Argentinian Air Force is ordering plane engines by the thousands in 1916, shouldn't British or Americans order them, not a 3rd world nation (at the time).
6. Is there any way to make car as successful as Model T? So far I could never get more cars sold than several hundred thousands.
7. I've read that 95% of car companies went bankrupt between 1900 and 1915, does the game model this, it didn't seem to, really.
8. I've tried to manufacture cars with steam and electric engines - both sell very poorly, why? Those were quite popular in 1900s and even early 1910s.
9. How does the transportation cost change over time? I tried to open a factory in Brazil, but the costs of delivering cars to USA were too large.
10. Are there any guides I could use? Or recent Let's Plays?
11. Also, how important things like fuel efficiency or quality are in the 1910s and 1920s? My very inefficient and low quality cars were a huge hit until the 1910s when I shifted to a bit better ones, but those didn't seem to be selling as well as some of the cheapest ones on the market. I think that 1km/l is much worse to use than 9km/l - why would anyone use the first one?

Also, on the side:
1. Are there any plans for 3d engine models? Or 3d interiors?
2. Are there any plans to make this game moddable?
3. Will we ever get options to customize the interior to some degree, like in Automation - by adding radio, or cassette player?

Also, reporting a bug - Stuttgart is not 25 km south of Berlin in real world ;-)
Also, also, is there any way to switch the car magazine to how it looked before? I really don't like its current look.