As a manufacturer, you invest a lot of time and money into bringing new products to market. There’s the concept for a great new hot-rod product itself followed by research and design time, prototypes, testing and, eventually, the manufacturing. Immediately following that process is the marketing side of the equation, where expenses can really add up. There are packaging costs, promotion and introduction, catalogs, literature and advertising dollars. By the time a new product ships, most companies have a substantial investment at stake and plan (or hope) for a return on the investment in the near future.