When will AM put new car prices up to reflect Brexit?

When will AM put new car prices up to reflect Brexit?

Author
Discussion

RobDown

Original Poster:

3,803 posts

128 months

Saturday 25th June 2016
quotequote all
I don't know how much of each car comes from overseas but guessing it must be fairly material (engine, gearbox, brakes?)

So presumably they will need to put prices up at some point to reflect the weak pound? Guessing they won't apply retrospectively to existing orders. But presumably if you were thinking of buying a new car sooner might be better than later

On the plus-side if new car prices go up the value of used ones might be more resilient too smile

RobDown

Original Poster:

3,803 posts

128 months

Saturday 25th June 2016
quotequote all
True demand will fall (domestically). I guess AM might accept lower UK margins

RobDown

Original Poster:

3,803 posts

128 months

Saturday 25th June 2016
quotequote all
kipv12 said:
Don't see where this is coming from, do AM put the prices up and down depending on the state of the pound?
To start with the value of imported parts will be small compared to sales price.
And why are sales falling, could easily go up as domestic demand increases due to new increased confidence in our expanding worldwide economy, stay positive ?
Thanks but I'm trying to make a serious point here for prospective buyers.

The cost of imported parts is clearly going to be very material; I think last time they presented to bond investors the average gross margin iirc was something list over £100k a car. But clearly a lot less for say a vantage than a vanquish. So if you see a 20% increase in the cost of engines, gearbox, brakes, electrical gubbons from Mercedes it is going to be significant.and it's not as if AML can afford to cut profit margins overall

At some stage I would imagine AML will move prices to reflect their higher input costs - they could presumably look to accept lower UK margins and compensate via higher export margins, but I would imagine they would prefer to see a boost to overseas sales (particularly the US) by cutting retail prices in the RoW

So assuming they don't want to chop UK margins my point is when will they put that price increase through? Do they wait for the change in model year? That would make a lot of sense to me.

And as I said, looking for the silver lining this could be good news for values of used cars, all other things being equal

It all just says to me that any prospective buyer (new or used) might want to think about pulling the trigger sooner rather than later

RobDown

Original Poster:

3,803 posts

128 months

Saturday 25th June 2016
quotequote all
V8 Vantage GT said:
Prices in the UK may change, but here in the US any profits due the devaluation of the pound will be kept by the dealers. MSRP's won't change.
Would be a shame, but guess a distinct possibility too

RobDown

Original Poster:

3,803 posts

128 months

Saturday 25th June 2016
quotequote all
The pound hit a 35 year low vs the dollar at one point early Friday, before bouncing (partly on rumours of BoE intervention). But I agree AML will presumably need to see how things settle over the next month or so

Not sure they would use much hedging though, given the sales mix they're net beneficiaries from a weak pound (even more so with the development of the Welsh plant)

RobDown

Original Poster:

3,803 posts

128 months

Sunday 26th June 2016
quotequote all
NickXX said:
What proportion of sales go overseas though? Surely the company will be partially if not fully hedged through sales in Euros to the European market?
I know they sell more overseas than they do in the UK, will dig out the bond prospectus when back in the office next week and dig out the numbers. So overall the company should be a net beneficiary from weaker sterling. But the UK division will be less so than before without a change

Maybe they could bring the V12 production to the UK from Germany?

RobDown

Original Poster:

3,803 posts

128 months

Monday 27th June 2016
quotequote all
JLR warning in internal documents (that Reuters claims to have seen) that Brexit will cost them gbp1bn per annum. if you do a factory tour of Jaguar there are boxes everywhere of components labelled (made in Germany).

Andy Palmer on Reuters saying AMLwill look productivity improvements (hope that doesn't mean job losses!)

Pound down another 2% in early trading. Fingers crossed no-one noticed the UK deficit....

RobDown

Original Poster:

3,803 posts

128 months

Monday 27th June 2016
quotequote all
There's a LHD GT12 up for sale with Lovett's in Swindon Brakke smile

PS In good news, the Germany motor industry body is lobbying for tariff free trading with the UK. Lets hope they get that so we only have to worry about being screwed on the currency

RobDown

Original Poster:

3,803 posts

128 months

Monday 27th June 2016
quotequote all


well it made me laugh

Edited by RobDown on Monday 27th June 10:21

RobDown

Original Poster:

3,803 posts

128 months

Monday 27th June 2016
quotequote all
Nope - you're broadly correct - just keep in mind it's a two way flow though. We take components from Europe and assemble them into finished product (Mini's are the classic example). But equally we take materials from overseas and assemble them into components for European manufactuers to export. It's a symbiotic relationship.

The difficulty would come if EU manufacturers decide that actually it's simpler to choose an EU based competitor for components than a UK one. And that will depend on tariffs, red tape (that could be a high friction cost) and currency factors

The other difficulty is that 14 percent of our trade is with the rest of the world using preferential terms negotiated by the EU. We lose those the day we leave the EU and negotiating new ones typically takes a decade or so. But I won't go any further with that line of discussion or the flat-earthers will be after me smile

RobDown

Original Poster:

3,803 posts

128 months

Monday 27th June 2016
quotequote all
Agreed

RobDown

Original Poster:

3,803 posts

128 months

Monday 27th June 2016
quotequote all
Good news! Aston Martin said today that they've got hedges in place for 18 months (surprised it's that long). So hopefully no fx driven increases for a while