Great points. I like the debate so far so don't take what I say personally. I take audio pretty seriously but there is so much mythology I like to set the record straight whenever I can.
About those paper cones...OEM speakers are paper. The top of the line Alpines from couple years ago were paper (rebranded Scanspeak Revs). So do the OEM's and Alpine not know how to make a proper car speaker? Personally I agree with you guys in that I wouldn't be keen on uncoated paper cones in a car, but I also beleive my concern is probably unfounded.
I doubt anyone car audio manufacturer is considering water draining when making a driver. How many coated cloth spiders have you seen? How many woofers have vented (steel!) pole pieces? There simply is no consideration for water in car or home audio. There is in pro audio for at least the front of the driver, with a water resistant coating being applied to most. Mostly it is moot point though, very few drivers are paper anymore.
Foam surrounds are nearly impossible to find except a few higher end midrange specific drivers.
As far as enclosures there is no real difference, other than some manufacturers using a higher Q in the car audio driver, but that is not universal. It may not even be that common anymore, I don't know. Anyway it's not that useful in era of widespread EQ ability.
I would be curious what changes your company made to cone profile due it being a car audio driver and why. I've never seen any manufacturer that makes both home and car audio do such a thing.
As a practical matter if things like directivity and proper enclosures are so far down the list of things to consider due to the compromised environment of a car, any percieved differences between car and home drivers must be down in the mud in importance. It's like saying since I have a Yugo things like handling and speed aren't even things to consider worrying about, so I'll just put N2 in the tires because that is one thing I have control of
