Crusoe Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/cont...1125_139397.htminteresting if depressing article on the future health of vw/bmw/merc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al3x kay Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 Yeah that definately makes you feel good about stuff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JB1.0e Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 Our families companies supply the auto industry, amazingly of all the companies we supply, for example Honda, Jaguar, Audi and VW. Audi has maintained its orders until the begininng of last week before cutting back. Honda has shut for FOUR MONTHS! Jaguar is in a real state. All our insurance against GM and Ford going bump has been withdrawn. Amazingly the chaps at PWC we use for audits were telling us that its no longer a case of "If" GM goes bust its now "when" GM goes bust. People in the industry have been saying the biggest indicator as to the state of the car industry is when Toyota annouces for the first time in a VERY long time it will make a loss!And yet the Enviromental laws will see BMW, Mercedes Benz and VW Group will be stung with huge fines for emissions which will be passed on to the new car buyers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crusoe Posted January 19, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 (edited) all a confidence game though isn't it, article is right that the first thing to go when people are worried about their finances is spending money on a new car. Especially if they can't offer low monthly payments through finance deals. Only new cars just now are probably fleet and hire stuff but less new jobs and fleet managers holding onto cars longer will hit that too. On the flip side if they start making really interesting cars people want then they can still sell, lots of fiat 500s on the roads around me for example. A small light rwd sports car with some practicality at a cheap price would sell. Sounds like it might really be the end of the v8/v12 engine in europe though for the executive segment anyway. Might look back on this as the power era that's now over Edited January 19, 2009 by Crusoe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JB1.0e Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 My Brother bought a Golf GTi on finance and after a year got bored and decided to buy a Civic in a similar way, he has had the Civic for less than a year and is tired of that now so he went off to buy something else in the same way.He was shocked to discover the Civic is worth less than half the list price and its only done 6000miles! I was reading that many of the finance companies are facing a huge problem with the Minimum Guaranteed Future Values, the cars are unlikely to acheive that value and many people will be unable to afford to buy the car back so the finance agents will be overwhelmed. I spoke to the people I used to work with and resposessions have rocketed and the auction is failing to shift the cars so the stock is building. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crusoe Posted January 19, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 think Clarkson described it as musical chairs with people (like me) who changed cars every year by just trading in against their previous car and doing a straigth swap type deal on another one, but now the music has stopped and most will have to stick with the car they have now. I swapped to used cars instead of new ones a while back so haven't taken such a huge hit and will probably continue to change though even mine used is probably down a few grand in the last two months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JB1.0e Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 think Clarkson described it as musical chairs with people (like me) who changed cars every year by just trading in against their previous car and doing a straigth swap type deal on another one, but now the music has stopped and most will have to stick with the car they have now. I swapped to used cars instead of new ones a while back so haven't taken such a huge hit and will probably continue to change though even mine used is probably down a few grand in the last two months.I would imagine if you decided to buy a new car you could get a fantastic deal, apparently the off roaders at the defleet centre are taking root! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AwesomeAl Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 I wish the scaremongers out their would STFU. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JB1.0e Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 Is that directed at me?I am going by what people working in the industry have told me, they take cars in on behalf of several finance firms and prepare them for resale, they are telling me the 4x4 days in stock have shoot up and are just piling up as no one wants the bills. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IDGM Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 We are hearing much the same from our customers (Honda, Porsche & Mercedes). Fortunately, our business is with parts and as such, our business should remain static or improve as people maintain existing vehicles rather than move to new ones.We've ordered new Sprinters for spring and I don't think we're doing any better than last year on price for those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AwesomeAl Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 Is that directed at me?No I meant the press! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JB1.0e Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 Oh OK just paranoid! Ignore me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sam bignell Posted January 21, 2009 Report Share Posted January 21, 2009 You didn't hear this from me......the company i work for supply parts/products for a huge range of assembly/measuring/sensors etc for manufacturing sector. We deal with companies such as Ford, BAE systems/british aerospace, Caterpillar, many if not all the manufacturing sector. They're a monoploy in many markets!Anyways a example of the times is Japan (KK) I deal with all the subsidaries across the world and the results i recieved from some end users and OEM (basically type of customers we refer as) had the following stats. Mitutoyo Ltd http://www.mitutoyo.co.uk/Mit/mws.jsp?home have seen 90% decreases in sales overall in 2008 in some of its product ranges but overall it has seen a average of around 60% decreases in sales. This company a long with Wenzil etc supply the majority of japanese car firms.Therefore this REALLY does show evidence that the car market for new cars is in the Shi**er Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NBR Posted January 21, 2009 Report Share Posted January 21, 2009 Motor trade= Screwed up at the moment...Let me explain. New cars are on the floor... Deals to be had but no better than say 3-4 months ago...Used cars OMG!!!!... Prices through the roof!!! Used car dealers are paying up to £1000 over book on some cars.4x4 Lux versions (x5,ML, RR) are going up in value... because they have had such a hit over the past 6 months. They reached the bottom and can only go up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IDGM Posted January 23, 2009 Report Share Posted January 23, 2009 Money Programme last night was interesting about Porsche and their investments of late.We ordered a new Mercedes CLC for an employee before Christmas and chased it up today. The order has not been received in Germany from Corporate Sales here in the UK and to add insult to injury, the Brazilian factory has been on strike for two months as have the shipping company with no sign of a deal. There are two similar spec cars in the UK, but the employee is adamant that the spec she ordered is final and MB have given July as an approximate delivery time!With money to spend, car manufacturers don't help themselves out of the hole they're in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JB1.0e Posted January 23, 2009 Report Share Posted January 23, 2009 Dad's SLK was written off at the end of November and the insurance broker told us to get a valuation price from the dealer to improve the settlement from the insurance company. We went to the delaer who has sold Dad several cars and explained what and told them that after the claim had been settled we would need to replace the car but this time we would go for an SL. We asked them how business was and they told us it was a little slower but still doing great trade at weekends, the problem was the chap had the chart on his desk showing target and acheived sales and test drive numbers (all very much down). Despite this the guy has not contacted us since to offer test drives or to discuss a possible sale, would have thought they would call to see how they can help!Dad's SLK was written off at the end of November and the insurance broker told us to get a valuation price from the dealer to improve the settlement from the insurance company. We went to the delaer who has sold Dad several cars and explained what and told them that after the claim had been settled we would need to replace the car but this time we would go for an SL. We asked them how business was and they told us it was a little slower but still doing great trade at weekends, the problem was the chap had the chart on his desk showing target and acheived sales and test drive numbers (all very much down). Despite this the guy has not contacted us since to offer test drives or to discuss a possible sale, would have thought they would call to see how they can help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toi gulp Posted January 23, 2009 Report Share Posted January 23, 2009 No I meant the press! your 100% right, if the press had kept their gobs shut the damage would be severely lessened, if at all. Mind you the world works in cycles so what goes up must come down and vice versa. Its also where everyone panics and stops spending just makes things worse. Its the perfect buyers market now and the inteligent people realise that and drive for better deals, Now if everyone did the same it should help recover the situation as business would aim for more sales!!I.m doing my part spending, are you???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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