Kitchen Corporation sells a variety of stoves and dishwashers.

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION
(1) Identify the Question
The word weakens in the question signals that this is a Weaken the Argument question.



(2) Deconstruct the Argument
Kitchen Corporation loses money on its recently added refrigerator line, and forecasts suggest this will continue. Therefore, to increase profits Kitchen Corporation should stop making refrigerators.

Here is one possible way to map the argument.

KC = stoves + dw

Added refrig but losing money

© Stop refrig → more profit



(3) State the Goal
The goal on a Weaken question is to cast doubt on the conclusion. What would make it is less likely that discontinuing the refrigerator line will increase profits?



(4) Work From Wrong to Right

(A) Just because Kitchen Corporation has a new refrigerator design with a desirable feature does not mean that the refrigerator line will become profitable. For example, the new icemaker feature could be costly to manufacture, resulting in lower profits even if customers like the new model more.

(B) Higher selling price for refrigerators than stoves or dishwashers does not imply anything about the relative or absolute profitability of those products, beyond what the argument already stated.

(C) This choice suggests that having an uncompetitive price is not the issue for Kitchen Corporation’s refrigerators. However, this choice, does not address the profitability of the refrigerator line.

(D) CORRECT. This answer suggests that having a refrigerator line may contribute to company profits beyond just the profits of the refrigerator line itself. If customers prefer all their kitchen appliances to come from the same brand, offering a refrigerator line increases Kitchen Corporation’s ability to sell stoves and dishwashers: not producing refrigerators could hurt sales of other appliances, decreasing profit overall.

(E) If anything, this answer strengthens the argument because it suggests that Kitchen Corporation might be able to use some of the machinery for other purposes if the refrigerator line were discontinued.