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Passing a Daihatsu dealership last week I noticed there didn't appear to be any Daihatsus on the otherwise busy forecourt. Today I popped into the nearest dealer to me and there was a solitary new Sirion in the showroom. The salesman confessed it was their last car because the importer had stopped bringing them in because of the pound's massive decline against the yen. Some long-established dealers might have a few cars left but that seemed to be about it for the marque. Since the same importer handles Subaru and Isuzu, are there any indications in the trade about what might be happening with them, apart from huge price rises already being seen? I imagine the margin on the smaller Daihatsu cars built only in Japan has made them uneconomic.
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The yen and euro are at silly levels against the pound and dollar - I don't think the Japanses and Europeans will be able to sell profitably into the UK or US at moment.
MVP
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In which case, what about Mazda ?
That's another Japanese auto maker whose UK-supplied cars are exclusively made in Japan. Is Mazda hanging on here because its sales volumes mean it's not a niche importer as are the other Japanese auto firms you mention ?
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Remember they make a fortune from parts and servicing so even if they make little profit at the moment per unit I am sure within ten years they will make a nice tidy profit on each car they sell. I was refering to Mazda etc here. I am not sure if Daihatsu have large enough volumes of sales to make that business model work.
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Remember they make a fortune from parts and servicing so even if they make little profit at the moment per unit I am sure within ten years they will make a nice tidy profit on each car they sell. >>
Where do you get that from? I thought the Japan made cars were top of reliability stakes and so the only people they would make a fortune from would be if there there were mad people paranoid about replacing parts unnecessarily! [ reminds me of someone like that on this forum ;-) ]
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Where do you get that from? I thought the Japan made cars were top of reliability stakes
They may be reliable, but I was in a Mazda dealer yesterday looking at a Mazda6 diesel, 185 sport. Asked for the cost of three years servicing. Nearly £700!!!!
My Peugeot has cost £132 over the same period.
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My Peugeot has cost £132 over the same period. >>
I suspect that your experience is because either your Peugeot and/or your Peugeot Dealer and/or the Mazda Dealer is a rare example. I shan't be surprised if your dataset is a combination of all three.
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The Mazda needs a service every 12 months. £180+, £240+, £240+
Peugeot needs servicing every two years. First was £132, second not due until march 2011.
Edited by midlifecrisis on 23/10/2009 at 16:28
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The Mazda needs a service every 12 months ... >> Peugeot needs servicing every two years. .. >>
I wonder what engineering miracle can explain those differences?
How can the time the earth takes to go around the sun determine the servicing intervals?
Supposing it took the earth 40 months to go around the sun, I wonder if the servicing intervals might have been in multiples of 40 months?
Edited by jbif on 23/10/2009 at 16:36
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Good point! I'll bet that Mazda are having mixed feelings about their decision to stop producing the Mazda 2 in Valencia, and move production back to Japan.
They've just started production in Thailand. These cars are intended for the Asian market, but I suppose that they could also be sent here.
Aren't the Thais one of the civilized driving nations as well? (i.e they drive on the left-hand side of the road)
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Aren't the Thais one of the civilized driving nations as well? (i.e they drive on the left-hand side of the road)
well they do drive on the correct side of the road, but civilized driving it aint.
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When my dad bought his Materia, the salesman told me that the Daihatsu importer was indeed holding back from importing cars due to the exchange rate, however he was expecting a new shipment in the new year and there are alot of cars in the most popular specs in stock, but if you wanted factory options, there would be a long wait. Essentially it is because the importer dont want to raise prices here.
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The yen and euro are at silly levels against the pound and dollar
I notice the Lottery people have given up hope of the pound strengthening and have increased the EuroMillions price to £2 to match the ?2 charged in Europe.
Edited by Bill Payer on 23/10/2009 at 15:38
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Interesting that you still have a separate importer for Daihatsu. Here, as soon as Toyota took over Daihatsu in Japan a few years back, all the Daihatsu dealerships closed and Toyota dealerships put out the Daihatsu signs alongside the Toyota ones. Seems to be working OK.
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Feb 2010 arrival date if you want a new sirion with certain extras.
I presume the dealer was refering to the next anticipated delivery date?
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