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Post by humphreythepug on Apr 19, 2024 10:28:02 GMT
I walked past what appeared to be a Fisker showroom in Berlin a few days ago. It was in total darkness with no notice on the door/windows. Have they gone under? Yes they have.
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Post by humphreythepug on Apr 19, 2024 10:27:41 GMT
Was told earlier this week that going forward there is likely to be restrictions on registrations of ICE later in the year, plus less ICE being visible and available to dealers, currently EV registration for us sits at 5% for the UK, we as a dealer haven't sold a retail EV since Q3 2023.
We get zero retail enquiries on EV, TBH we don't get any business user enquiries either, basically apart from Motability we don't get any enquiries on EV.
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Post by humphreythepug on Apr 12, 2024 15:35:07 GMT
Yes, the owners will feel pretty fisted when it comes to residuals! I don't really get what is going on in this space. The EV mandate and all sorts of other legislation means EV sales growth will be high regardless of what consumers think - we are being told, not asked. But because there has been more poor customer sentiment, EV company valuations are crashing, despite this. There also needs to be a more open discussion about China. Their vehicles are built with government support, and the environmental and labour rights aspects are not what we would consider acceptable in the West. So why are we not adding big import duties? I assume Western companies want their markets, but what % of them will they get, and what % of them want a premium priced product? ? Because if we did that, achieving net zero and required electric sales penetration would become far harder, when there is an agenda to achieve, certain things can be conveniently ignored! I do wonder what is going to happen with this electric vehicle mandate, I don't think it is achievable at all and sooner or later manufacturers will be sticking 2 fingers up at the relevant governments, saying "up with this we will no put", currently only meaningful electric car sales are achieved through heavy incentives through business purchases, salary sacrifice schemes. Motability or discounting the arse out of the cars as making a huge loss on a car is preferable to the heavy fines, this can't be sustained forever and TBH all the tax backed incentives aren't helping the "average man". Manufacturers have been calling for more financial incentives but if the only way to achieve sales is through financial incentives, it is hardly a good model. From April 2025 electric cars will be hit with VED which is retrospective back to April 2017 plus the "luxury car" tax, this isn't going to help sales going forward, TBH though I think they should be subject to VED.
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Post by humphreythepug on Apr 12, 2024 6:57:30 GMT
Positive though, WBAC will still take them in, got offered £150 for an Ocean they won't take in a battery lease ZOE!
There is an Ocean near me, lovely looking thing I hope to god the guy didn't buy it outright and it's on a lease, otherwise he's just chucked circa £60k down the drain.
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Post by humphreythepug on Apr 8, 2024 20:47:17 GMT
Earlier today: I'll get a pic up of the orange Aventador SV when it appears again.
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Post by humphreythepug on Mar 4, 2024 17:08:08 GMT
It's not going away, Verstappen senior seems to be massively involved, apparently threatening to take Max away from Red Bull if Horner stays, cool do that then lol!
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Post by humphreythepug on Mar 1, 2024 7:54:13 GMT
Well he was cleared on Wednesday and now a load of pictures and WhatsApp messages have been e-mailed to pretty much everyone of significance in F1 and many journalist, it's not looking good, someone wants him gone.
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Post by humphreythepug on Feb 8, 2024 13:22:44 GMT
I assume everyone is aware Christian Horner is under investigation for something, seems originally the rumour mill was alleging inappropriate sexual behavior towards a member of staff but now it seems he has upset someone in the workforce with perhaps his abrasive nature and management style.
It reads to me like some kind of power struggle with an element within the team who wants him out, that element possibly being Verstappen senior, a guy at work who moves in motorsport circles has said it seems it was leaked to the press by Jos Verstappen.
As much as I cannot stand the guy, he has done wonders for RB, if this is a witch hunt then it is an awful situation and to what benefit is there to get shot of him, however Jos Verstappen doesn't seem to me to be the most rational person, apparently there is a clause in both his and Newey's contract, if either goes then the other is free to leave.
It seems we will find out tomorrow what is happening, I can see him resigning with a big pay off.
Newey to Ferrari, he has stated in the past he would like to work for Ferrari and with Hamilton?
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Post by humphreythepug on Feb 1, 2024 16:22:31 GMT
I am properly excited for this, not a Ferrari fan particularly but it is brilliant news, if a tad surprising, now got to wait a bloody year!!
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Post by humphreythepug on Dec 18, 2023 17:03:01 GMT
A few days ago:
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Post by humphreythepug on Dec 9, 2023 11:18:15 GMT
Yesterday: It had broken down!
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Post by humphreythepug on Nov 14, 2023 8:48:35 GMT
Perfect location for it to use all that power and aero Yep, did make me chuckle, when I took the photo it was in the final stages of just being cleaned (hence the damp patch around it), 10 minutes, later I heard it and caught the rear disappearing down a side road, an ideal car for central London!
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Post by humphreythepug on Nov 11, 2023 19:27:45 GMT
Spotted up in the big smoke last weekend:
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Post by humphreythepug on Oct 7, 2023 12:33:15 GMT
I actually think he has lost interest, lets face it he is only in this position due to his dad living what he wanted to do, through his son.
He was proper narked yesterday, shoving his trainer with what looked like a fair amount of force, totally inexcusable.
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Post by humphreythepug on Sept 9, 2023 11:06:29 GMT
None, apart from the ones we've had here at work which don't really count.
More and more over the years, it just isn't a thing, apart from the odd person here and there, people just want their cars as quickly as they can, many don't understand how the plate change works now and just don't seem to care.
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Post by humphreythepug on Jul 9, 2023 15:52:43 GMT
Earlier today:
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BO55
May 22, 2023 9:54:14 GMT
Post by humphreythepug on May 22, 2023 9:54:14 GMT
Lol, this morning I followed a black Range Rover with a BO55 plate, also saw one on a black Q8 a few days ago.
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Post by humphreythepug on May 19, 2023 14:43:14 GMT
The very definition of an automotive turd. I could have done a better job of that roof in my shed!!
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Cazoo
May 18, 2023 11:02:17 GMT
Post by humphreythepug on May 18, 2023 11:02:17 GMT
I believe they sold off a load of their delivery trucks recently, they have also been selling off some of their prep centres and showrooms, not long for them!
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Post by humphreythepug on May 1, 2023 17:05:49 GMT
As an example, sold a Clio today current Clio is on a 2 year PCP which is up in September, equity is £4.7k, Saturday a Captur, 4 year deal, a year left to run, £3k equity.
There are plenty more like this.
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Post by humphreythepug on Apr 30, 2023 14:56:42 GMT
I know a couple of new car salesmen - one VW and one Renault - they both tell the same story, that they are living off the sales they made 6, 9, 12 mths ago which are now being delivered. The VW salesman needs to sell a car a day to get full earnings but right now he is struggling to sell 2 a week because he just can't put people into a similar car to the one they are trading in without an increase in monthlies of anything up to 100%. He is really worried about what will happen to his earnings in 6 to 9 months time. New car prices will need to fall or there will be carnage in dealer networks because there is no way that earnings are going to increase sufficiently fast to bridge that gap. Interesting as we've not suffered, we are still busy, we can easily move someone into a new PCP deal still when they have 12/18 months, sometimes 24, still left to run with either no increase in monthlies or minimal increase as residuals set 2 to 3 years ago are far lower than the values now, giving decent equity, I do forsee these people having issues in 2 to 3 years time though as similar equity is unlikely to be there. I'm averaging 15 to 20 new and used deals per month, April has been quieter however we do tend to feel it during the holidays. Lead times for a factory order are generally 5-6m, however some models there is always stock coming through, not enough to stockpile in the UK but enough in the system which are only a few months away, for example I sold a Clio Hybrid on Saturday, which will be in the UK in late June.
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Post by humphreythepug on Apr 29, 2023 21:46:45 GMT
It drove past work like this, you could hear it and also see the smoke, the police just happened to be filling up at the Shell garage opposite, the wheel was found back down the road, all very odd.
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Post by humphreythepug on Apr 25, 2023 18:26:38 GMT
Rivian earlier: Haven’t seen one outside of the US yet so that’s a rare sight at the moment. I’m a big fan of these. I’d love one to be honest, got to work with them when I was living in California and was very impressed by how the company is run and the quality of the products. All the fuss has been about Tesla but the impressive EV’s are coming from Rivian and Lucid. I first saw it about 1.5 miles away from where I managed to take the picture, it went by as I was waiting to pull out of a side road, it was just odd, seeing this huge pickup it looks so out of place, I knew what it was straight away from seeing the front, it was on UK plates.
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Post by humphreythepug on Apr 25, 2023 16:11:36 GMT
Rivian earlier:
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Post by humphreythepug on Mar 10, 2023 16:32:11 GMT
I was in the local town last weekend and saw a couple of Porsche 911 GT3s - the newest ones with the comedy rear wing - followed by an Audi R8, something lese exotic and a Lotus Evora. One was filling up over the road from work last week, it too had the comedy wing, TBH it looked a bit shit and aftermarket.
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Post by humphreythepug on Mar 10, 2023 16:31:14 GMT
A couple of Brabus G-Wagon's have appeared recently, one in a light blue and the other a light khaki, nice to see them in different colours.
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Post by humphreythepug on Dec 5, 2022 16:14:16 GMT
I really don't get what China are all about with "Zero Covid" it will never happen, they are completely trashing their economy with this, over a virus that now, is by and large just a cold!
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Post by humphreythepug on Dec 5, 2022 16:11:56 GMT
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Post by humphreythepug on Dec 4, 2022 7:59:54 GMT
EV sales new and used, nationally have dropped off a cliff in the past couple of months, we've 3 50kWh ZOE's that we can't shift, in the not too distant past we could sell each used ZOE 3 or 4 times over, now not a sniff, the book drop in the past month on each was £900. Is that all sales or EV in particular? All sales have dropped to a degree, I would say more due to the time of year as it does get quieter as Christmas approaches, however EV sales have dropped to a far greater degree.
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Post by humphreythepug on Dec 2, 2022 8:26:39 GMT
EV sales new and used, nationally have dropped off a cliff in the past couple of months, we've 3 50kWh ZOE's that we can't shift, in the not too distant past we could sell each used ZOE 3 or 4 times over, now not a sniff, the book drop in the past month on each was £900.
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