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It is always the way when you want to refer back to an article, you can never find it. However I am confident it was either in the latest Auto Express or What Car.
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One of the brokers (can't recall which, sorry) quoted an increase of £724 on all Fiesta list prices and similar increases on all other Ford cars with effect from (I think) 3 February. Confirmed in conversation with a Ford salesman yesterday.
[What is it with the pound sign on this forum? It always puts an A with a circumflex accent in front]
Edit: Ha! The pound sign rendered correctly this time. I'll try again: ££££
Edited by denmilford on 25/01/2009 at 11:07
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> Margins have been cut to the bone in the whole chain for as long as I can remember. The market is demanding ever lower prices and the exchange rate is doing just the opposite. The choices we face are to sell at a loss, despecify product, or go and do something else.<
That's classical capitalism, to which the answer is 'go and do something else'.
The only thing the experts can't tell you is exactly what else.
Edited by mike hannon on 25/01/2009 at 11:23
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Do you think people are demanding lower prices because of
1. Meanness
or 2. they don't have enough disposable income ?
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Do you think people are demanding lower prices because of
1. Meanness or 2. they don't have enough disposable income ?
Neither - they just think cars should go on getting cheaper, like computers, TVs, and other 'consumer durables'.
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Do you think people are demanding lower prices because of 1. Meanness or 2. they don't have enough disposable income ?>>
In my case, I suppose it's a combination of the two though, frankly, I'm perfectly happy with the old '97 Mondy and it'd break by heart to treat a new car to the abuse that my work gives the Mondy.
In my wife's case, we can think of absolutely no good reason to get rid of the 52 reg Focus.
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The car sales business model seems completely screwed. Cars are quite cheap to make - typically about half the pre-tax list price.
A more realistic new price would be at about the level nearly-new or pre-reg cars sell for. FIL recently bought a very nice sub year old Astra 1.8VVTi (Design, I think) Auto for £7500. I was absolutely staggered to look it up and see new list is over £18K. Absurd.
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"Hardly, cars in this country have been well priced since 2001"
Well why during this period did many punters look to import from Holland, etc. Even up to last year, Ford cars being sold in Cyprus, right hand drive, for up to 4K less than UK prices.
And don't forget the online brokers. Well promoted on this site that cannot be matched by the dealerships when you go in, when it is those apparently, that are supplying them.
We are paying too much for these items, full stop.
Going around the high street I see no evidence of "The Credit Crunch". Yes, there are 70% off end of lines and garbage, but the current lines are at normal prices. With Ford and Vauxhall intending to put prices up, what more evidence do you need.
If they are in such dire straits, they would be discounting properly.
As for paying 18K new from the factory or 14K new from stock in a field, who are you kidding. You'll surely be paying 18K for the stock in field model.They need to get this backlog sold. And mugs like you will be paying through the nose for them. Anyway if that statement were true, as you drove off the forecourt, it would be only worth 14K anyway.
Edited by scribe on 25/01/2009 at 12:00
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Mugs like me? Only way I'll be doing that is with a shotgun and a mask. I was merely suggesting it as a tongue-in-cheek way the dealers can shift the backlog, that's all.
why did I come on here?
Edited by Webmaster on 26/01/2009 at 00:22
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Its a shame you are so touchy. I've been on this site for about a year, and I've lost count of the times other BRs have laid into any of my comments. So get used to it. Thats what debate is all about.
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I'm on a few forums but this the only one where people just seem to want an argument (something to do when the wife's unavailable for a beating?) I suspect if I said I dropped my tea mug on the floor someone would tell me what an idiot I am for not realising the floor came up and hit it.
Anyway, I'm off. Ta-ta.
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I couldn't disagree with you more Steve. It's ok, I'm allowed to disagree. This is a very well mannered forum with plenty of brilliant advice (my own excluded) and witty people who regularly make me think, laugh AND change my mind; yes people have told me I'm wrong - and why - and, in a couple of instances, I've changed my view.
Stick with it Steve. Keep giving your opinions and you never know, you might just make enough of an impact to impress something on someone. I'm still trying...
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I agree FD, its a discussion forum... that means we'll get all sorts of opinions, some I may agree with some not, but at least it allows us to air our opinions and sometimes change them! Stick with it, Steve!
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Haven't seen this on here yet, but reported in a tabloid today,
Honda has mothballed 8,000 vehicles it can?t sell.
The company has doubled the amount of space it rents at docks in Southampton, Hants, to 20 acres and got permission to store a further 7,000 Civics and CR-Vs at a former RAF airfield.
The stockpile has forced management to halt production in South Marston, Wilts.
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If they can shut Swindon for four months, then it's reasonable to assume that they have four months' sales already built, and in storage.
Seems like the ownership of car-storage space is recession-proof, but perhaps not so good in a boom?
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Haven't seen this on here yet, but reported in a tabloid today, ... >>
Hint here by HJ:
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?v=e&t=71...6
Edited by Honestjohn on 02/02/2009 at 17:38
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Some confirmation that Ford & GM are to raise prices this month:
tinyurl.com/dhjjez
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' Ford and Vauxhall sparked criticism tonight by increasing the price of their cars by up to £1,000 in the wake of falling sales, the recession and a massive taxpayer bail-out.
The inflation-busting rises by Britain's two biggest car companies come at a time when customers expect showroom prices to be falling.
The move was condemned as 'idiotic' and 'suicidal' by critics who said the two US-owned car giants appeared to be 'writing off Britain' after years of bumper profits.
They come just days after Labour Business secretary Lord Mandelson last week announced a £2.3billion bail-out for car-makers and will do little to garner public sympathy for the plight of the motor industry and thousands of potential job losses.
The car-makers blamed the pound's weakness against the Euro for the increases.
Ford, which published its raynew price list today, said its price rises average 4.78 per cent - with the biggest percentage rise of 6.28 per cent.
Vauxhall publishes its increases tomorrow and these increases are understood to be broadly in line with their rivals.
Both are nearly double the inflation rate, according to the Consumer Prices Index which has fallen to 3.1 per cent and is predicted to go even further down.
The Ford rises mean more than £700 on the price of a Ford Fiesta, £800 on the cost of a Focus, £1,000 on the price of a Ford Mondeo, and £1,200 on the price of a Galaxy people carrier.
The Vauxhall rises mean nearly £600 on the cost of a new Corsa, more than £800 on the cost of a new Astra, and more than £1,000 on the cost of a new Insignia, which replaces the Vectra. ''
Interestingly, these rises wipe out the Vat reduction bought about by the fall from 17.5% to 15%.
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Well thats crossed Ford (Fiesta) and Vauxhall (Corsa) off my new car list for later this month then.
Looks like "hello Fiat"
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Does that mean Ford and Vauxhall will be offering bigger discounts ?
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Either that, or they are going to die a horrible financial death.
That is unless they have been discounting fleets more and have increased RRP to try to cover it.
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Ford and Vauxhall have been overpriced for years when looking at RRP, this latest increase makes no difference as both groups don't sell a huge percentage privately.
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In times when fields are growing cars, the market will determine the price.
List Prices are a starting point for discounting or bonuses for dealers to give better trade-ins to stimulate the market interest.
In the end it is the "cost to change" and the willingness of a buyer to part with the cash or sign up for credit - and that takes confidence in his job, financial position, outlook on life, risks in spending / pressure /necessity to buy a new car etc etc
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According to SMMT figures 42% of overall UK registrations are private. I'd guess Ford/Vauxhall are pretty near the average.
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I think SMMT figures can be taken with a pinch of salt.
New car registrations have little bearing on the actual number of new car purchases.
The figures suggest around 20% less new car registrations over the past few months.
I haven't seen many 58 plate cars at all, and I wouldn't be surprised if the real figures are more like 50% less registrations.
I wonder if Honestjohn himself has access to more reliable car purchase data ?
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A currency cannot devalue by 30% without there being an impact on the prices of imported goods, manufacturers (or in the case of most of our auto industry assemblers) can sell at a loss for only so long
It wont be just the pice of cars that will be increasing it will be electrical goods food everything in fact that we import, and we do have by the way a $200 billion trade deficit
Edited by malden blue on 03/02/2009 at 13:53
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I can't really disagree with you, but the devaluation argument is getting a bit worn. The pound peaked somewhere over $2 a year or so back, but I didn't notice many retailers (of anything, not just cars) offering us back a bit of their windfall. The exception being the fuel companies, because the relationship of their product to the dollar is too public for them to get away with it. (And I suppose it could be argued that, for instance, white goods and TVs are cheaper in real terms - but that's due to production methods as much as anything)
Big companies do a lot of currency hedging to level out fluctuations. They also have markets in many countries which helps them to even out costs etc. And they also did a very good job of hoovering up past excessive profits by extravagant bonuses and dividends, and misguided takeovers. Now if only they'd saved for a rainy (snowy maybe...) day...
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'I can't really disagree with you, but the devaluation argument is getting a bit worn. The pound peaked somewhere over $2 a year or so back, but I didn't notice many retailers (of anything, not just cars) offering us back a bit of their windfall.'
The very point I was going to make. No rush to cut prices when the dollar was high.
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If the government wants to chuck money at the car industry to keep it going the best thing would simply be a subsidy to sell off all the stockpiles cheap.
Sell them all at half price and stimulate the economy at the same time.
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Cliff
you'd be dead before you'd filled in all of the forms, been "assessed" and so forth. Still it would employ some people to run the system :-)
JH
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Cliff you'd be dead before you'd filled in all of the forms been "assessed" and so forth. Still it would employ some people to run the system :-) JH
I don't follow you. All the government has to do is ask the car makers how much they'd lose if they sold the stockpiles at half price, then give them the money. Send in an auditor to check the figures.
They spent the entire National Health budget bailing out Northern Rock without batting an eyelid - no forms, no careful assessment, they just gave them the money. Now they'll give them some more if they want it.
It's almost as easy as dropping banknotes out of a helicopter.
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By increasing recommended prices, they are increasing accounting profit. Stock is placed on the balance sheet as either stock at cost or stock at recomended selling price. Most big companies select the stock at recommended selling price option as it makes them look good to the shareholder. In other words, they are boosting their balance sheet to stave off bankruptcy.
Recommended selling price bears no relation to actual selling price in the car industry.
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