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Dealers warn of six-month lead-in times
Monday 12 July 2010, 07:42
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Dealers are warning customers they may have to wait six months or more for delivery of premium models, which means they are running the risk of hitting the higher rate of VAT.
Part of the problem is the growing complexity of vehicle specifications.
For example it is not unusual on a premium badge car to be offered the choice of up to 100 different options, which leads to very few identical examples being built.
An Audi spokesman said customers ordering now will wait typically until the first quarter of 2011 for all model ranges apart from the A4.
As the recession began to bite in the second half of 2008, manufacturers responded by scaling back production and inventories have fallen significantly.
A spokesman for Mercedes-Benz said: “Stock levels around the network are pretty low at present.”
While many premium cars could take six months or more to be delivered, Ford is in a position to satisfy most orders comfortably within four months, and many within three months.
A Ford spokesman said: “Lead times are something the company monitors closely and no car line is running an average of more than 18 weeks.”
Many other mainstream brands seem to be able to satisfy customer demand more swiftly than the premium brands, and in some cases have taken action to ensure shorter times between ordering and delivery.
A Mazda spokesman said the company holds what it calls ‘sold orders’, with dealers reporting quarterly which vehicles they are likely to sell.
Vauxhall also confirmed it is able to meet customer requirements in a similar way.
“We hold a stock of some of the most popular vehicles can supply these within two to three weeks of the customer ordering,” said a spokesman.
“But it normally takes about four to six weeks from a car being built to order to it arriving with the customer.”
Although Volkswagen quote a typical order time of 16 weeks, it says it is sometimes able to respond more quickly and has set up a scheme where cars held in stock can be offered as an option for a shorter delivery time.
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Your comments:
I agree with you Ling, but the manufacturers still work on the "If it ain't broke, why fix it system" not realising that is IS broke and needs fixing!
medic
14 July 2010, 09:06
14 July 2010, 09:06
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The only way to deal with these lead times is honesty to the customer. I tell people the score and give them as much info as possible, maximum 4-day gaps between updates as they wait.
The biggest problem is getting accurate lead times from manufacturers. It seems to me that most operate on pure guesswork and even when build is confirmed they seem to put orders back at a whim. Reasons for this obviously include genuine delays and events, but I also feel a big factor is the way manufacturers seem to divert production to the most profitable market (eg the UK losing slots to Eurozone) as and when it suits them. The reality is that there are real customers waiting for cars and this blase manipulation of build times means customers are left (literally) car-less.
For instance new Qashqais being built by the Mackams dropped from September to November/December on Nissan's systems last week with no reason at all given.
Few manufacturers seem to be able to quote accurate dates and stick to them. Even getting confirmed build slots takes forever. When you look at manufacturers' dealer bulletins, they are a sea of red ink.
Yet someone MUST be planning this stuff?
Customers need accurate information and sometimes it seems that they are misled by some dealers/manufacturers in order to "take them out of the market". Some manufacturers' systems are in the steam age, with requests for "faxed orders" to manufacturers, "spreadsheets" etc - you would think it was 1990. Why can't everyone see online live production maps (customers included), showing capacity and the state of build of each order and individual cars in a neat graphical way? It would be easy, in fact.
How exciting for customers to browse and follow build, shipping and movement of their new car? Instead of frustration it would create anticipation and excitement. I often use the marine tracking system to show which boat a customer's car is on (eg: City of Sunderland MV from Emden to Port of Tyne) and show a customer how to follow its journey from port to port. Why is all this stuff kept secret? It's an adventure!
There is so much that can be done to turn this negative situation into a positive, but instead we get incomplete info, wrong info and speculative dates for customers. A very sad way to cope with it.
Ling.
13 July 2010, 07:23