Reason for demand ?

[drisser]

http://www.halifaxmarketwitch.co.uk/news?action=news_story&story=21069561&view=full

2nd last paragraph might hold some clues as to why lead times are extending.. would seem the UK market is pretty strong and the availability of more cash via banks has led to good finance offers..  I guess Inchcape are a biggish VW dealer too ?

I read I think in Autocar that a lot of people who put off replacing their car are now saying sod it, might as well change if there are good finance deals..

[drisser]

in case the link doesnt work

_______________________________

Inchcape shares soar on buyback, record results
Date: Friday 02 Aug 2013


LONDON (ShareCast) - Inchcape cheered investors with news it would hand them 100m pounds through a share buyback after it made record profits in the first half.

The car dealer also lifted its dividend to 5.7p from 4.0p and its shares revved up 8.4% to 49.5p at 09:14 on Friday.

Group revenues rose 6.6% in the first half to £3.3bn and pre-tax profits climbed to £138.5m from £132.8m.

The company said it was benefiting from its geographic spread, with 70% of its profits coming from Asia Pacific and Emerging Markets. It has enjoyed robust growth in South America and Africa but trading conditions in Singapore and Russia have been more challenging.

In the UK sales were up 5.1% to £1.1bn. Inchcape said the UK market had been stronger than expected driven by the replacement cycle, improved consumer confidence as well as the availability of affordable financing.

Its operation in Australia and New Zealand was bolstered by its acquisition of Trivett earlier this year and first half sales jumped 19.1% to £763.3m.

[monkeyhanger]

I don’t think much of that applies to GTI/GTD would-be owners in the UK waiting for their cars.
The UK has waited months after the rest of the major countries in Europe to even be able to place an order for a GTI/GTD and none were getting build before BW22 (except GTI demos).
 Then we have the allocation system which they appear to have strictly adhered to, even though they have been willing to churn out plenty of demos before cars. They aren’t making them as fast as they can to try and meet demand, the allocation system is strangling supply – you can get a Golf GT a lot quicker than a GTI or GTD as a result. Give it a year or 2 when all the early adopters have had their orders fulfilled and you will probably find supply and demand are pretty much in unison, meaning you can get one within 12 weeks – it happened with the Scirocco.

Finance is getting a bit cheaper, but not much when you consider what our base rate is currently at. VW Germany customers can enjoy 1.9% APR VW finance right now even though their base rate is higher than ours.

[drisser]

true

but if you look at the finance deals that were out there 1-2 years ago they were non existent really, a lot of the big manufacturers are now doing 5% - 6% APR which is a big improvement and enough to tempt a lot of joe public to part with their cash, compared to say 12-14% APR.

[monkeyhanger]

true

but if you look at the finance deals that were out there 1-2 years ago they were non existent really, a lot of the big manufacturers are now doing 5% - 6% APR which is a big improvement and enough to tempt a lot of joe public to part with their cash, compared to say 12-14% APR.

I got 6.6% on my Scirocco in June 11, would be getting 6.3% now (my dad is lending me the money instead - get in!  )

[earp]

They aren’t making them as fast as they can to try and meet demand, the allocation system is strangling supply – you can get a Golf GT a lot quicker than a GTI or GTD as a result.

Can of course only speak for my dealer in Sweden and over here the waiting time for a factory ordered GT is about the same as my GTD.

[AAddict]

I got 2.9% 4 years ago on my MK6 Golf.