Fears 100,000 jobs could go in 'imminent' British car plant closure

dopester

A lot of the car manufacturers are bleeding. They need to cut prices in my opinion, still make a profit on sales, and keep jobs.

Insurers cut cover for suppliers to Jaguar

By Sarah Arnott

Wednesday, 18 February 2009

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has joined the ranks of automotive giants shunned by major trade credit insurers as a significant risk of bankruptcy.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/insurers-cut-cover-for-suppliers-to-jaguar-1624996.html

JasonLVC

dopester wrote: »

A lot of the car manufacturers are bleeding. They need to cut prices in my opinion, still make a profit on sales, and keep jobs.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/insurers-cut-cover-for-suppliers-to-jaguar-1624996.html

They've all just put their prices up last week. Renauly, VW, Skoda to name a few and blaming the Euro - that may be so - but when the Euro was 1.45 to the Pound I didn't see any massive price drops.......

The whole new car buying exxperieence is just so anti-consumer. A stupidly high MRRP, a load of haggling with the dealer to get 10% off, counter-balanced by a lower part exchange for your old car (so you lose the 10% you just negotiated), outrageous finance apr's (or 0% apr but no movement on the MRRP! so not technically 0% apr then) and basically they couldn't make it any harder to buy a car.

What about go into dealership, buy a car at a reasonable price - as quoted on the screen, reasonable finance, etc - nicer experieence, you don't feel ripped off, you go back in three years time?.

Andrew64

If cars stay at their current prices, they will find it hard to sell any for the foreseeable future! Then you'll see factories closing left, right and centre. What car manufactures should be doing is spending their R&D budget on developing much cheaper cars.

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JasonLVC wrote: »

What about go into dealership, buy a car at a reasonable price - as quoted on the screen, reasonable finance, etc - nicer experieence, you don't feel ripped off, you go back in three years time?.

A nice concept, and I agree, although it's never going to happen, it's our old friend 'greed' again............ the ruin of civilisations.

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Andrew64 wrote: »

If cars stay at their current prices, they will find it hard to sell any for the foreseeable future! Then you'll see factories closing left, right and centre. What car manufactures should be doing is spending their R&D budget on developing much cheaper cars.

This is where I see dopester's theory of deflation coming to the fore, wealth destruction started on a massive scale last year, unless prices start to be reduced manufacturing/retail etc are going to go to the wall, I have to say I have been coming off the fence onto the 'inflation' side before now, but my thoughts are changing.

QE, will not work as the banks will likely hoard the cash, no one will be able to borrow more anyway because wage inflation isn't going to happen in this climate, (and if the banks did manage to get it out there, the pound would be toast) and lets face it, who would want to go into debt for anything that isn't absolutely necessary at this time anyway ?

tirano

With Sales in freefall there must be enough new cars in stock to last a couple of years, some pictures here

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/gallery/2009/jan/16/unsold-cars?picture=341883529

Really2

Saab are in administration. Could it be vauxhall?

Conflict

Really2 wrote: »

Saab are in administration. Could it be vauxhall?

Vauxhall are about the most profitable part of GM, so no. They are very very safe, if anything they will be bought by someone soon to get them out of GM - so expect the Chinese to own them within a year :mad:

WestonDave

I'd have more sympathy if they were actually trying to sell cars rather than the current "list price or get stuffed" attitude you get on every forecourt. People talk about home owners in denial - the car makers still think that the lump of metal they sold for £15k last year is still going to fetch £15k and boy are they going to hold out until they get it.

Honda has an airfield full of Civics in Wiltshire, won't cut the forecourt price of them, and yet is not far off relaunching it as a new version. To me it would make far more sense to flog off some of that backlog now, rather than have the new model launched with hundreds of old style cars either being unsaleable (if they don't cut the price) or being offered at a discount and diverting sales from the new model. The cash value sitting on that airfield must be horrific - although I suppose with interest rates where they are at least financing it all isn't so draining.

lostinrates

Conflict wrote: »

Vauxhall are about the most profitable part of GM, so no. They are very very safe,:mad:

Really? I was gven the opposite impression from this:


www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/transport/4691657/GM-seeks-partner-for-ailing-Vauxhall.html


Is it Vauxhall who are also Opal....they are very popular in Italy for some reason