Car Sales Market

[Sgt Bilko]

Anyone here in the sales market? What are the figures like at the moment. Have you noticed a general spiral, or have things remained constant? Are manufacturers stockpiling more cars on disused airfields again?

Reason: curiosity really. Noticed a few main dealers offering low and 0% finance offers lately.

[matc]

I work for a Merc dealership and business is probably down about 10-15%; although there has been a notable shift in the models sold towards the lower end products. I don't think we are suffering anywhere near as bad as some as most of our customers aren't suffering with re-mortgaging houses etc. We heard today that VW are 35% down year on year which surprised me quite a bit considering their entry point into the market is £6995.

[Alfa_75_Steve]

Looking at some of the deals being offered by the brokers, I'd say a lot of manufacturers are feeling the squeeze at the moment.

Saab seem to particularly be struggling - you can get a 9-5 Aero Hot Turbo Edition for around £20k at the moment - list price is £32k for the standard Aero HOT.

[Deva Link]

matc said:

I work for a Merc dealership and business is probably down about 10-15%; although there has been a notable shift in the models sold towards the lower end products. I don't think we are suffering anywhere near as bad as some as most of our customers aren't suffering with re-mortgaging houses etc. We heard today that VW are 35% down year on year which surprised me quite a bit considering their entry point into the market is £6995.

Do you mean by value or volume? SMMT YTD figures show Merc up 3% and VW down 3%, although IIRC it's getting worse as the year progresses.

I have a Merc and I must say that the volume of mailshots etc that I get is amazing, and they're often followed up with calls, but if I ask anything I get a blank response and I'm asked if I'd like the local dealer phone number. I'd rather have someone call me who could take ownership of the process themselves. I even got a handwritten chatty postcard a few wks ago asking how things were and promising a follow up call but that never happened - astonishing someone would go to that trouble then not follow up.

[Sgt Bilko]

How about the standard ranges:

Ford/Citroen/Vauxhall/Renault etc?

[Deva Link]

Sgt Bilko said:

How about the standard ranges:

Ford/Citroen/Vauxhall/Renault etc?

You can look at the actual numbers here:
http://www.smmt.co.uk/articles/article.cfm?article...

[The Hypno-Toad]

Deva Link said:

Sgt Bilko said:

How about the standard ranges:

Ford/Citroen/Vauxhall/Renault etc?

You can look at the actual numbers here:
http://www.smmt.co.uk/articles/article.cfm?article...

Those figures are very interesting, heres my thoughts for what they are worth.

Winners;
1) Smart +96% (no surprises there)
2) Dodge +60% (hmmm...methinks a little pre reg going on there.)
3) Kia +27%
4) Volvo +20% (pre reg again methinks)
5) Nissan +17% (Don't know how, the Qashqai sold well at beginning of the year but now nowt.)

Losers;
1) Ssangyongpingpong -51%
2) Proton -35% (surprising that one, thought all the Rover grannies would be rushing there in droves.)
3) Porsche -25% (no more city bonuses then and I bet you can get chunky lumps off a Cayenne)
4) Saab -24% (oh dear.)
5) Lexus -23% (again surprising with the hybrid big 4x4)

Others of interest;

Alfa +8%
Audi +2%
BMW +12% (how?)
Fiat -1% (even with the 500)
Honda -10%(again surprising with the number of Jazz's you see round here.)
Land Rover -15%
Mercedes +4%
Mini -0.10% (37 cars away from staying exactly the same.)
Renault -16% (might not be good news for the F1 team)
Toyota -7% (even with the Prius)
Vauxhall -3.5% (in the current market not too bad and almost the same as Ford.)

On a month to month comparison (July 07 v July 08)

Winners; 1) Smart. 2) Volvo. 3) Jaguar. 4) Alfa. 5) Kia.
Losers; 1) Jeep. 2) Proton. 3) Mitsubishi. 4) Subaru. 5) Ssangyongpingpong.

So what does that all prove IMHO?
i) Toyota group must be in bad shape if their figures are dropping like that with two of the most popular hybrid cars.
ii) Clarkson's comments about all the cocks going to Audi and that all petrolheads should go to Alfa looks like it may be coming true with the increase in both Alfa & BMW sales.
iii) Fiat have totally cocked up any halo effect from the 500.
iv) All that trick advertising can't buy Honda any sales.
v) The smallest, cheapest to run car is the one that's increasing its new sales the most. Well duh!

Ho Hum

[Pwig]

We are having it away

[RobJShe]

Which manufacturer do you work for?

Edited to avoid piss taking!

Edited by RobJShe on Saturday 16th August 20:34

[Deva Link]

The Hypno-Toad said:

3) Porsche -25% (no more city bonuses then and I bet you can get chunky lumps off a Cayenne)

I think it was June (may have been May) where Porsche was down over 50% for the month

The Hypno-Toad said:

Honda -10%(again surprising with the number of Jazz's you see round here.)

It would be very interesting to see Honda's model by model figures. Jazz is about to be replaced (although doubtful the typical Jazz buyer would know that), a lot of past Civic owners don't like the new one, and Accord has recently been replaced, but has always been a slow seller anyway.

[sniff petrol]

The Hypno-Toad said:

Others of interest;

BMW +12% (how?)

Efficient dynamics, and low CO2 emmissions for the power.

[Alfa_75_Steve]

sniff petrol said:

The Hypno-Toad said:

Others of interest;

BMW +12% (how?)

Efficient dynamics, and low CO2 emmissions for the power.

Which means lots of fleets are now buying lower end BMWs instead of high end Fords / Vauxhalls.

[Mattt]

sniff petrol said:

The Hypno-Toad said:

Others of interest;

BMW +12% (how?)

Efficient dynamics, and low CO2 emmissions for the power.

Along with the publicity for a certain model on PH recently.

[POORCARDEALER]

Definate shift towards smaller cars at our place, and we are getting offered lots of cars from families going from 2 to 1 cars.

[bigmanteebs]

Alfa_75_Steve said:

sniff petrol said:

The Hypno-Toad said:

Others of interest;

BMW +12% (how?)

Efficient dynamics, and low CO2 emmissions for the power.

Which means lots of fleets are now buying lower end BMWs instead of high end Fords / Vauxhalls.

My father got a BMW 320d se cheaper on lease (through BMW directly) than a new Mondeo zetec. 20% off all servicing for its life too.

[OllieBirmingham]

Seems to be more people not getting finance round here too at the moment.

[Sgt Bilko]

Bit of a thread bump, but given today's weekly rag, just about every main dealer within 20 miles (Manchester) has got a double page spread. I have never seen it like this before (usually the smaller dealers/non mainlines/private garages).

Is this desperateness at its worse?

[andy665]

Have an inside track of Volkswagen nationally.

Yes, things are tough but not desperate, some sites (srprise, surprise) are finding it tougher than others.

Sites who accept and appreciate that customers are nervous and probably looking to reduce outgoings are working with customers to provide a solution - if at the same time it sells a car then everyone stands to win.

Those sites who look / sound desperate and demonstrate no empathy with customers are falling flat on their faces.

What is frightening is seeing younger / inexperienced sales execs reaction - most have never had to sell in a tough market and most are running scared.

Volkswagen have certainly not resorted to massive discounts etc, they have had very competitive finance rates for a long time now and are continuing to provide these, in fact Volkswagen Finance are having a record year this year.

[Orb the Impaler]

A friend of mine has a scooter shop near Halifax and he's got a lot of new custom coming in from people downsizing from 2 to 1 car and getting a scooter for one of them to use for going to work instead.

I think this will make sense to a lot of people: they'll perhaps realise that they don't need two cars at all, even when all this is over.

On a private sales note, I've had my old car on Auto Trader for the last 3 weeks at significantly less than book - no calls at all except from canvassers (despite NO CANVASSERS at the bottom of the ad aaaaargh!). It should hopefully be sold on Fleabay tonight - but I've started it off with no reserve at around 35-40% less than similar or older classifieds/BIN cars of the same model are asking. My point being that if you want to sell at the moment you really need to be prepared to take a hell of a hit.