Galt Motors currently produces $500,000$ electric motors a year and expects output levels to remain steady in the future. It buys armatures from an outside supplier at a price of $$2\mathrm{.}50$ each. The plant manager believes that it would be cheaper to make these armatures rather than buy them. Direct in$-$house production costs are estimated to be only $$1\mathrm{.}80$ per armature. The necessary machinery would cost $$700,000$ and would be obsolete in $10$ years. This investment would be depreciated to zero for tax purposes using a $10-$year straight line depreciation. The plant manager estimates that the operation would require additional working capital of $$40,000$ but argues that this sum can be ignored since it is recoverable at the end of the ten years. The expected proceeds from scrapping the machinery after $10$ years are estimated to be $$10,000.$ Galt Motors pays tax at a rate of $21\%$ and has an opportunity cost of capital of $14\%.$

What decision should Galt Motors take regarding manufacturing the armatures in house?

Proceed with in$-$house manufacture since NPV is negative

Proceed with in$-$house manufacture since NPV is positive

Reject in$-$house manufacture since NPV is negative

Reject in$-$house manufacture since IRR is greater than $14\%$