If I’m reading this correctly, this can be summarized with the principle-agent problem. Getting the cupholders right doesn’t have incentives that line up with their relative importance for the car industry—my guess is that a large part of it is being a less prestigious work assignment. This is based off of “if I was really into cars, what would I want to work on?” Engines, aerodynamics, and control systems top the list—lots of complexity, and it’s something that is obviously difficult to get right (hence, you must be an awesome engineer if you can get it right).
If I’m reading this correctly, this can be summarized with the principle-agent problem. Getting the cupholders right doesn’t have incentives that line up with their relative importance for the car industry—my guess is that a large part of it is being a less prestigious work assignment. This is based off of “if I was really into cars, what would I want to work on?” Engines, aerodynamics, and control systems top the list—lots of complexity, and it’s something that is obviously difficult to get right (hence, you must be an awesome engineer if you can get it right).