It's the same way with Corvette's. Many times the same part works in a F-body (camaro/firebird) but when bought for a corvette it cost 50% more.

I will agree that the R&D cost are spread over less units sold.

 

obviously Ford sells a lot more mustangs than Porsche sells 911s, but one thing that people dont realize is that maybe only 0.1% of mustang owners buy aftermarket accessories, where as at least 0.2% of porsche owners start buying aftermarket accessories. these numbers are all made up.. but generally with higher end sports cars, the ratio of cars produced to cars modified goes up i find. (possibly because porsche owners are in the position to be able to afford these products, where as a lot of mustang owners are having difficulties paying for their car as is). obviously this still means porsche aftermarket still doesn't have as many customers as mustang aftermarket, but its somethign to consider. the best example is the toyota supra turbo. sure there's not too many of them left around now-a-days, but its almost guaranteed that a toyota supra owner is gonig to buy aftermarket parts to upgrade it. so even though there are less supras around than mustangs, supra aftermarket parts probably sell almost as much as mustang aftermarket parts.

 

Or, maybe it could happen the other way around. That is, if people are holding on to their cars longer, maybe they will upgrade. Let's say that the guy with the 2006 C4S is not going to trade for the 2009 C4S. But maybe he decides to keep the car for a few more years and put in an LSD, or suspension tweaks, or maybe even FI.

Is there a chance that tuners could do well in this market?

I guess if nobody spends any money at all on cars, the whole industry loses.

 

They simply know you are will to pay $$$$$.