Brexit, and car buying habits

[blearyeyedboy]

So how does Brexit change the motoring landscape?

Forget how you voted for a moment, and forget what you think is or isn't a good idea. Since this is a motoring discussion forum, how do people think the motoring landscape will change over the next few years?

My opinion?

- If duties rise on EU made cars, we'll see an increase in Japanese machinery. (Possibly Volvos, depending on how our trade relationship with Sweden gets set up?)
- Jaguar Land Rover will benefit from the weak pound for a few years, at least.
- We might see more Astras (made in Ellesmere Port, UK) compared to Focuses (made in Saarlouis, Germany) if we have to pay more to import cars.
- We might see a few more US built models, especially of non-US brands (Japanese brands, Mercedes Benz, BMW)

Any others?

[blearyeyedboy]

boz1 said:

Interesting.

Re your first point, Sweden is in the EU although of course not in the Euro.

Ah balls, I forgot they entered later on...

I iz smrt, 'onest guv.

[blearyeyedboy]

jayemm89 said:

Lotus are just about to re-enter the USA market, so that might be helpful to them. I think for some companies it might be a pain if you import from the EU - you'll need to have a bigger cash stockpile to cover any VAT being reclaimed.

Excellent point.

What of car plants in the UK run by foreign companies? What they lose by not being in the single market they gain (for now) from a weak pound.

Is Bridgend's time building engines nearly up, if Ford's supply chain in/out of the EU now too complicated?

[blearyeyedboy]

Willy Nilly said:

Nobody even knows what any terms and conditions are going to be yet for this divorce, so trying to read into it and predict what will happen to the UK car market is ridiculous.

So, you're saying it's in keeping with nearly every other thread on here?

Clearly it's all speculation, but the same is true of other major media agencies right now. My intention is to spark a bit of friendly conversation, that's all.

[blearyeyedboy]

robemcdonald said:

And to the OP Sweden is in the EU (as previously mentioned) it might have been a good idea to understand what the EU was prior to voting (regardless of how you cast your vote)

I wonder how many other voters were so ill informed?

I'll hold my hand up to my error (my Ambiwlans moment, I guess) but think you're a bit out of order to write such a cheap snide remark based on a momentary brain fart. Tis the forum way, I guess, but it's disappointing.

I'll bet an internet pint that very few posters tut-tutting over my error could list all the EU members first time, error free and without the help of Google.

On topic, do you think any of the Japanese owned factories have a long term future? Are some more likely to succeed than others? ( ie, is Swindon's chance any different from Sunderland's?)

Edited by blearyeyedboy on Saturday 25th June 20:36

[blearyeyedboy]

robemcdonald said:

I probably couldn't list all of the EU members off the top of my head, but if I was going to use one as an example I would probably check my facts first.

Guilty as charged on that one, but I'm not the first person to fluff a first comment in a new thread. Not is getting one fact wrong proof of being generally ill-informed. We'll have to disagree on that one.

The future of factories depends on how weak the pound remains through future model cycles, in my opinion. If the pound remains weak for a decade or more, Swindon and Sunderland might survive another 15-20 years... but beyond that is questionable, even to the most optimistic person. Pessimistically we might see some factory losses within 5 years, perhaps?

[blearyeyedboy]

jonah35 said:

I think the classic car boom has just taken a mighty kick.

Suddenly a £300k testarossa or £90k e46 m3 csl seems a bit toppy!!

I suspect you're right, with a few exceptions. Don't forget that there are no restrictions on importing any car to the USA if they're over 25 years old, even if they're right hand drive.

So your classic might turn out to be a good investment still if it's a model the USA really want. (Unmolested R32 Skylines, anyone?)