Sure, but that just means Mooney had crappy marketing.
On the topic of the Commander, this baggage potentially is not an issue.
If your marketing is crap, dealers won’t help you. Look at Socata…
I met a guy selling Cirrus aircraft. I’m fairly sure there was no huge ‘dealer’ set up behing him, he was directly Cirrus. He would fly all around Europe demonstrating the aircraft.
I’m not exactly sure what the critera was but it’s probably quite self censoring in terms of beneficial interest. There can’t be many people who would arrange a demo and let the guy fly 3 hrs to meet you so you can kick the tyres.
I’m sure this is the way to go for expensive toys.
I’ve met the guy that does the same for TBM too.
Its funny, the Cirrus is ice-cold to me a s consumer. There is a merit for something else. But I do agree it needs a chute. Don’t even try anything else.
Commander was always a plush little Cadillac. Probably the most comfy GA airplane on the market and pretty easy in the eyes, too. But this comfyness resulted in a slower plane for the hp. Some people put up with that, others didn’t. Today – would anyone tolerate those for a dino-Lycoming? I’m not sure. Might look good on paper for a revival, but in reality?
Adam,
I’m not sure if you can say the old Lycos are all that inefficient except if you compare them to diesels of course. Once they are well tuned and leaned their power output is quite acceptable.
Our Commander 114B cruises at around 145 TAS @ 8000’ for 60% power setting on 10.5 USG/hour.
Cruising over 150 kts is achieved easily if one accepts the higher consumption. Ok Bonanzas and Mooneys go faster but the significant larger cabin and 2-door entry comfort makes it up.
Maybe a high end powerful Diesel combined with a Commander-like comfort would be the answer.
The Commander is not worse on MPG than anything else retractable of that size/shape e.g. a TB20. Those numbers are what I get too.
A diesel would be a nice idea in theory but an awfully risky bit of marketing even in Europe. Close to zero demand in the US, too, and that takes out most of the volume. Diesel, for use where there is no avgas, makes a lot of sense in a utility type e.g. a C182.
If they could do it for say 500k € it would sell.
Peter,
500 K€ was the amount I had in mind too, it sounds like a fair and highly competitive offer and one would think it should attract new customers. But then, are there any new customers there at all, never mind the price ? The way I see it is that young people are only marginally interested in aviation and if they are, the goal is almost always a right seat in an airline cockpit. For GA airplanes other than the basic C172 or PA28 there seems to be zero interest. For people with real money it will be a turboprop.
Maybe I got it all wrong but that’s my general impression.
I don’t know, and unfortunately we have little data since the obvious previous comparable player (for Europe, Socata) is no longer there.
