New Car Delivery Delays

[paddyhasneeds]

Being utterly cynical, if people are desperate enough for an Audi/BMW/Mercedes that they will tolerate these waits, what incentive is there for the manufacturer to do anything different?

I ordered a Boxster in 2006 and had to wait six months for it. OK it's not a Stuttgart Porsche as such, but I accepted it would take six months because it truly was built to order, and it was a Porsche so a bit "special" which made it worth it - not sure I'd have waited six months for a BMW 118i.

I've just replaced it with a Freelander 2, which took about 2 months from ordering to delivery, again entirely build to order. I considered that wait to be reasonable. Obviously I'd have preferred to have it quicker, but it wasn't outrageous.

8-11 months for a run of the mill Golf/A3 is just taking the piss because they know people are stupid enough to wait that long for the VAG badge.

[carreauchompeur]

paddyhasneeds said:

VAG badge.

tts.

[robsti]

AndrewW-G said:

Three door, DSG in shadow blue, with black leather (std not Recaro seats) basic Nav option + bluetooth and the winter pack, cruise control . . . . .essential the same spec as the Ed30 that was stolen last year

[TRUENOSAM]

CraigyMc said:

• Whole gearboxes
• Injectors
• Turbos
• Sensors
• Electronic components for engine management, satnav, in car displays and radios etc
• Xirallic (metallic/pearlescent) paint for your BMW? (if so, you're basically fecked, since the only plant in the world -Merck- that makes the pigment is in Japan and it's closed.)
• Anything from one of the 36 Bosch plants in Japan

It doesn't matter if you can build 99% of the car if the other 1% of the bits come from Japan and the car won't work without them.

C

100% this.

Do you really think that the dealers would pass up on a sale if they didnt have to. Get real. Its not an excuse

[thenortherner]

paddyhasneeds said:

Being utterly cynical, if people are desperate enough for an Audi/BMW/Mercedes that they will tolerate these waits, what incentive is there for the manufacturer to do anything different?

I ordered a Boxster in 2006 and had to wait six months for it. OK it's not a Stuttgart Porsche as such, but I accepted it would take six months because it truly was built to order, and it was a Porsche so a bit "special" which made it worth it - not sure I'd have waited six months for a BMW 118i.

I've just replaced it with a Freelander 2, which took about 2 months from ordering to delivery, again entirely build to order. I considered that wait to be reasonable. Obviously I'd have preferred to have it quicker, but it wasn't outrageous.

8-11 months for a run of the mill Golf/A3 is just taking the piss because they know people are stupid enough to wait that long for the VAG badge.

So what other option is there? I don't like waiting but there's nothing I can do to influence the delivery time. If it's something I want then I'm resigned to having to wait.

The other option perhaps is to order a Kia and maybe wait 3 months? I'd rather wait an additional 3 months for a car I want...

[Deva Link]

CraigyMc said:

• Whole gearboxes
• Injectors
• Turbos
• Sensors
• Electronic components for engine management, satnav, in car displays and radios etc
• Xirallic (metallic/pearlescent) paint for your BMW? (if so, you're basically fecked, since the only plant in the world -Merck- that makes the pigment is in Japan and it's closed.)
• Anything from one of the 36 Bosch plants in Japan

It doesn't matter if you can build 99% of the car if the other 1% of the bits come from Japan and the car won't work without them.

C

I work in a business where customers make every effort to multi-source the components they use. Then something like the earthquake/tsunami happens and you find that those components use ingredients that come from the same factory. Semiconductors are a big issue - 90% of the world's supply of one of the constituents of the black plastic they're encapsulated in is made in Japan.
Some types of chip use an internal layer which is only made in Japan, and the factory that makes it was quite badly dmamaged.

[ChevronB19]

thenortherner said:

6 months for a Polo Gti here. And even that's likely to be pushed back to Decemeber at best.

I realise this could be a vicious circle here (never bought a new car), but surely there is the option to say a) sod off (which if enough people do may change the JIT culture), or b) by December there might be something you'd prefer more (albeit with similar lead time)?

I will add that I am probably being naive here!

[thenortherner]

ChevronB19 said:

thenortherner said:

6 months for a Polo Gti here. And even that's likely to be pushed back to Decemeber at best.

I realise this could be a vicious circle here (never bought a new car), but surely there is the option to say a) sod off (which if enough people do may change the JIT culture), or b) by December there might be something you'd prefer more (albeit with similar lead time)?

I will add that I am probably being naive here!

In my case it's a company car. I've chosen the Polo Gti because there's nothing else on the list that particularly excites me, so I'm not in the 'sod off' position.

There's also nothing due out between now and December that I'd take over the Polo. Trouble is, if there was I'd end up waiting for that also and never actually end up with a car.

[Zad]

Deva Link said:

90% of the world's supply of one of the constituents of the black plastic they're encapsulated in is made in Japan.
Some types of chip use an internal layer which is only made in Japan, and the factory that makes it was quite badly dmamaged.

As they say on the Internet: This.

Some chips use a particular sort of epoxy encapsulation made at only 2 factories, both of which are in Japan and suffered damage. There is also a problem sourcing larger silicon wafers which are used to make certain chips. The people who use these wafers aren't geared to use smaller ones. On top of this, many chip factories within Japan are limited because of the power and water supply. If they get a power glitch it can trash the entire run, despite UPSes and backup power.

To echo the sentiments of other people, over the past couple of years I have experienced trouble in sourcing various components, as the manufacturers have run down their stocks and mothballed fabrication plants (some of which are now coming back online). It hasn't helped that Apple has been booking entire production lines at TSMC, causing production of things like Atmel processors to be pushed back. This is the BIG drawback of the recent trend towards "fab less" chip manufacturers.

[Kiltox]

Deva Link said:

black plastic they're encapsulated in

Probably another reason for VAG build delays - they can't make the interiors

[robemcdonald]

bus pass said:

I don't mean to sound a bit dim, but would you care to explain the difference to me please?

If I were to quote you a 12month delivery it would be a long lead time. If I deliver the car when i said I would 12 months later then there is no delay.

[Kiltox]

robemcdonald said:

If I were to quote you a 12month delivery it would be a long lead time. If I deliver the car when i said I would 12 months later then there is no delay.

But if you took order for immediate delivery and delivered 12 months later, that'd be a delay.

Got it

There are cases in which customers are having delivery dates pushed back though

[paddyhasneeds]

thenortherner said:

paddyhasneeds said:

Being utterly cynical, if people are desperate enough for an Audi/BMW/Mercedes that they will tolerate these waits, what incentive is there for the manufacturer to do anything different?

I ordered a Boxster in 2006 and had to wait six months for it. OK it's not a Stuttgart Porsche as such, but I accepted it would take six months because it truly was built to order, and it was a Porsche so a bit "special" which made it worth it - not sure I'd have waited six months for a BMW 118i.

I've just replaced it with a Freelander 2, which took about 2 months from ordering to delivery, again entirely build to order. I considered that wait to be reasonable. Obviously I'd have preferred to have it quicker, but it wasn't outrageous.

8-11 months for a run of the mill Golf/A3 is just taking the piss because they know people are stupid enough to wait that long for the VAG badge.

So what other option is there? I don't like waiting but there's nothing I can do to influence the delivery time. If it's something I want then I'm resigned to having to wait.

The other option perhaps is to order a Kia and maybe wait 3 months? I'd rather wait an additional 3 months for a car I want...

On an individual level you're quite right. However that's the problem. Everyone does the same thing at an individual level so VAG have no incentive to change their practises.

You can bet that if as a nation we suddenly stopped buying VAG cars and switched to Kia/Hyundai that VAG would soon manage to do something.

Oh and sorry if I came across a little holier than thou, if it were me I'd likely wait over choosing a car I didn't want as well, a classic case of knowing what the addiction is but being too addicted to fight it