Class 66 "half the cost of a 60" claim (1996)

[OuterDistant]

I was flicking through an old issue of Rail from 1996 at a second hand bookshop the other day, and saw a claim from the head of EWS (IIRC) saying that he expected the class 66s to come in at half the purchase cost of the 60s!

Does anyone know if this actually turned out to be the case, or was he just showboating?

 

[DXMachina]

I assume the invoices for the American-built Class 66s were denominated in USD. In 1996 exchange rates were about USD 1.55 / GBP 1.00

By the time of delivery this had improved to about USD 1.65 / GBP 1.00 - making them relatively cheaper to the buyer who was converting Sterling at the time of payment

So he may have been a very astute economic forecaster.... or it could have been either a misquote or some media-friendly codswallop to justify sending work abroad that could have been done domestically

 

[plannerman]

I would guess there would be a reduction in purchase price for the sheer volume of locos ordered, as well. It wouldn't be massive, but a huge order allows for bulk purchasing of components etc, savings which could be reflected in the price.

 

[HSTEd]

Class 60 was also a brand new locomotive from the ground up, while EMD had a large amount of development work already done on the Class 59 which had already been written off. (and, incidentally had been subsidised by EMD in order to get a foot in the door).