Which engine do you design in 1900?

[Unavailableartist]

Well torque is half the variable for horsepower (the other being rotation.) In early game years, the amount of torque output of engines are lower compared to modern engines of the same size. As such if you have a heavy vehicle, you're going to need more torque than horsepower to move it. You can make an engine rotate all it wants, if it doesn't have the torque to push the vehicle along it's not going to matter.

Later in the game horsepower should be playing a little more important role in maintaining adequate top speeds. At which point you can reduce torque and increase RPMs.

Up until you hit the point where you're fighting terminal velocity. In which case torque again becomes important as you need to push back against the atmosphere.

Well I've since modified my design a bit. I've cut back to try to make a car sell close to 2x GDP.

It winds up being a small I-2 3hp (17nm torque) motor. Chassis that, while not great, is lightened as much as possible (via weight, performance, and material). And a light 1 gear gearbox (I find that early on 2-3 gears make little difference if any... 4 gives a slight bump in speed/gas but goes over budget).

All in all it adds up to be a $440~ sedan that doesn't pass many of the Importance stars, but I think its virtually impossible with some (particularly with fuel efficiency). Set Mid-low (quality, driveablity... and safety I think pass).

Which cities are you trying to sell in? $1000 sedan should do quite well.

I usually start in Atlanta. It's close to where I'm from so I figure why not.

I max production as much as possible which gives like cars that are worth around $600-700 with corporate costs/manufacturing figure in.

I usually go for this model when I calculate the price.

(Corporate cost per unit in stock) + (Manufacturing cost per batch i.e. if 163 units were made I use this same number until I run out or make more)+ Unit value + 15% profit.

All in all the car usually goes for mid $700 to low $1000 (if my stock is low).

I have managed to turn a profit during the months I'm not producing any cars... however I never make up the cost it takes to make the cars in the first place. I watch in dismay as A.I. manages to sell like 100+ low rank Sedans at 1,500 and keep positive over all, while I lose money.... slowly. I've even tried setting my price to just under the 'competitions' price as it more than covers my costs and gives me more profit... and still doesn't work XD.
The most I've ever even sold was something like 50 cars in month (hoping I could just be positive so I can star expanding or researching new stuff to make my car better or start making another high North America demand vehicle... trucks.