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Sahith_Manikanta
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Traditionally, the most highly sought cars have been the "sports cars" 16 Jan 2025, 04:30
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mikemcgarry
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Hi mikemcgarry
Could you please clear my doubt.

option D, the OA says that: Because of additional safety requirements, the frame and doors of Zincstone Motors' standard two-door models were three times as expensive as standard four-door frame and doors.

My doubt is that we are assuming that both 2 door and 4 door models sell for the same price, the manufacturers could price the 2 door models considerably higher than the 4 door models to offset this extra cost.
The question stem also mentions that two-door models are highly sought after, so there is no reason to believe that the 2 door model cars will not sell.

I feel that options A and B are better than D, though I am aware that these options have their limitations.
Dear darn,

I'm happy to respond. :-) I wrote this question, and then my friend Chris Lele edited it, so I put the updated version above--just choice (D) was modified slightly.

There are a few problems in your reasoning. The prompt begins
"Traditionally, the most highly sought cars have been the "sports cars" and similar two-door models. . . ."
That first word is an important context word that you need to understand. When something is said to be true "traditionally," that's often code for "it's not true any more!" If something has been true and continues to be true, there would be no reason to use that word. Thus, we cannot naively assume that two-door cars automatically will sell.

Second, (D) says "the cost of frame and doors" tripled. Do you understand what the "frame" of a car is? These and the doors are major components of a car, so if these costs triples, the cost of the car might nearly triple. I don't know how well you understand the Law of Supply and Demand, but there are very very few large items that would still sell if their price tripled.

There are a number of problems with your arguments against (D).

Both (A) & (B) are well designed traps. Both are legitimate reasons why "Zincstone Motors" might reduce the number of two-door cars its produces, but neither would explain why this production would be absolutely halted.

Does all this make sense?
Mike :-)
Show more
I believe that we shouldn't be making any assumptions on our own in GMAT. But by choosing option D, don't we have to make an assumption here that the cost of the car will increase if the cost of frame has tripled? There could be a chance that other parts could've reduced in cost to make up for this.

And even though the cost of parts have tripled, there is a chance that still Zincstone could be making more profit per unit for 2-door model because it sells at very higher rate than 4-door model. So we cannot assume that because cost of parts increased, cost of car will increase and it is the reason why Zincstone has shifted its strategy.

And also I don't think traditionally means something which is not true anymore, isn't it like saying "typically this is how something works".
If option D was saying something like because Zincstone was not able to keep up with safety standards for a 2-door model, they've shifted to 4-door model it makes more sense, because it provides a reason as to why Zincstone stopped making 2-door models and I don't need to make any assumptions.

This seems like a very low quality question to me. Let me know your thoughts so I can understand better.

KarishmaB GMATNinja MartyMurray please provide your inputs as well.
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Traditionally, the most highly sought cars have been the "sports cars" 16 Jan 2025, 08:26
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Sahith_Manikanta
mikemcgarry
darn
Hi mikemcgarry
Could you please clear my doubt.

option D, the OA says that: Because of additional safety requirements, the frame and doors of Zincstone Motors' standard two-door models were three times as expensive as standard four-door frame and doors.

My doubt is that we are assuming that both 2 door and 4 door models sell for the same price, the manufacturers could price the 2 door models considerably higher than the 4 door models to offset this extra cost.
The question stem also mentions that two-door models are highly sought after, so there is no reason to believe that the 2 door model cars will not sell.

I feel that options A and B are better than D, though I am aware that these options have their limitations.
Dear darn,

I'm happy to respond. :-) I wrote this question, and then my friend Chris Lele edited it, so I put the updated version above--just choice (D) was modified slightly.

There are a few problems in your reasoning. The prompt begins
"Traditionally, the most highly sought cars have been the "sports cars" and similar two-door models. . . ."
That first word is an important context word that you need to understand. When something is said to be true "traditionally," that's often code for "it's not true any more!" If something has been true and continues to be true, there would be no reason to use that word. Thus, we cannot naively assume that two-door cars automatically will sell.

Second, (D) says "the cost of frame and doors" tripled. Do you understand what the "frame" of a car is? These and the doors are major components of a car, so if these costs triples, the cost of the car might nearly triple. I don't know how well you understand the Law of Supply and Demand, but there are very very few large items that would still sell if their price tripled.

There are a number of problems with your arguments against (D).

Both (A) & (B) are well designed traps. Both are legitimate reasons why "Zincstone Motors" might reduce the number of two-door cars its produces, but neither would explain why this production would be absolutely halted.

Does all this make sense?
Mike :-)
I believe that we shouldn't be making any assumptions on our own in GMAT. But by choosing option D, don't we have to make an assumption here that the cost of the car will increase if the cost of frame has tripled? There could be a chance that other parts could've reduced in cost to make up for this.

And even though the cost of parts have tripled, there is a chance that still Zincstone could be making more profit per unit for 2-door model because it sells at very higher rate than 4-door model. So we cannot assume that because cost of parts increased, cost of car will increase and it is the reason why Zincstone has shifted its strategy.

And also I don't think traditionally means something which is not true anymore, isn't it like saying "typically this is how something works".
If option D was saying something like because Zincstone was not able to keep up with safety standards for a 2-door model, they've shifted to 4-door model it makes more sense, because it provides a reason as to why Zincstone stopped making 2-door models and I don't need to make any assumptions.

This seems like a very low quality question to me. Let me know your thoughts so I can understand better.

KarishmaB GMATNinja MartyMurray please provide your inputs as well.
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When we evaluate the given change, we need to assume the other aspects constant. Otherwise, how can we ever evaluate what is given.
If cost of some parts has tripled, it has likely made the cost of producing the car higher and this could be the reason for shutting it down.
All other options make no sense.
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MartyMurray
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Traditionally, the most highly sought cars have been the "sports cars" 16 Jan 2025, 09:08
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Sahith_Manikanta
I believe that we shouldn't be making any assumptions on our own in GMAT. But by choosing option D, don't we have to make an assumption here that the cost of the car will increase if the cost of frame has tripled? There could be a chance that other parts could've reduced in cost to make up for this.

And even though the cost of parts have tripled, there is a chance that still Zincstone could be making more profit per unit for 2-door model because it sells at very higher rate than 4-door model. So we cannot assume that because cost of parts increased, cost of car will increase and it is the reason why Zincstone has shifted its strategy.

And also I don't think traditionally means something which is not true anymore, isn't it like saying "typically this is how something works".
If option D was saying something like because Zincstone was not able to keep up with safety standards for a 2-door model, they've shifted to 4-door model it makes more sense, because it provides a reason as to why Zincstone stopped making 2-door models and I don't need to make any assumptions.

This seems like a very low quality question to me. Let me know your thoughts so I can understand better.
Show more
The correct answer to a Best Explains question doesn't have to explain with certainty what's going on in the scenario presented. Rather, it has merely to state something that COULD explain the surprising situation.

In this case, while it's possible that lower costs of other parts of the car offset the higher cost of the frame, the fact that the cost of a two-door frame is triple that of a four-door frame surely could explain why Zincstone has discontinued the two-door models.

Also, none of the other answer choices could possibly explain why Zincstone has discontinued the two-door models.

So, while the wording of choice (D) is such that its meaning is a little unclear, this question is gettable and works well enough.
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