The mists are clearing around Yeti sales (or lack thereof)

[K1W1]

I just got an email from Zagames about 2.8% financing on Yetis and Superbs. The email listed their demo Yetis - all 8 of them including several 2011 registered units!

Eight demo Yetis for a two yard Skoda dealership says to me that sales figures have been fudged and that now the chickens are coming home to roost.

[BluChris]

Yeh, but K1W1 have you seen their demo prices? Sometimes they're reasonable but often they are higher than the new drive away pricing advertised in the same newspaper. It's possible these have extras, but at least on face value most people wouldn't bother (me included). Richmond seems to be worse than Brighton on this for some reason.

My car was a Richmond demo, and I can promise you it was advertised at a sensible price or I wouldn't have gone near it. Mind you, that was back in the George days, when things were more sensible there.

[K1W1]

The issue is that they have 8 Yetis registered as demos not what configuration they are or what price they are advertised at.

[BluChris]

Yep, I get that and I agree it isn't a good sign. All I'm saying is they might have fewer demo's (and new stock) if their pricing were better. Stands to reason, if the demand is not there drop your prices to the point where the demand is.

My decision was price driven - I'd only risk a Skoda (3 years ago) if it was very cheap because (a) unknown brand with little track history recently in Oz (b) probably no resale and hard to unload again (c) if not cheap, there's lots of competition with better service backup.

I might add my car was around for quite a time advertised at $5k more than when I bought it. No way I'd have gone there for that money, for the reasons above. It had to be much cheaper than the competition to compensate for the risks and downsides.

I still think that's where Skoda is at and why they have demo's and new stock. Same with Fabia. Too expensive for the perceived risks to customers in a very conservative and somewhat status conscious car market.

[aware]

Not surprised at all K1W1. Most car companies seem to do this, although Skoda seems to be very good at it as they seem to post huge sales increases, and the number of Skoda's on carsales seems to jump very quickly. I'm disappointed as I'd like to see Skoda do well, but Skoda don't seem to be doing themselves any favours.

I'd like to pickup on the point that BluChris has made. We took the plunge with the Skoda because we have a safety net - we hand it back in 3 years. That may sound stupid, but for a $55k + car, we'd have preferred a bit of certainty with dealers etc - obviously any new car is a risk in regards to reliability and longevity. We've had a few comments regarding our decision because of the cost of the Skoda, the unknown brand and why didn't we pick something more mainstream. Skoda will struggle unless they change the pricing structure. Too close to VW, and if you don't like VW, there are plenty of other alternatives on the market.

[woofy]

I'm not surprised how many Yeti demos, as if any of them are demos, they just registered everything they got in to boost numbers. The Superbs are surprising, why have so many demos?

I really find Richmond has completely lost touch with reality though, many times they have said the SKoda dealership team is the training ground for new sales staff before moving into more expensive Marques. You need more experience not less when trying to bring a new brand in. The arrogance I have found at times annoys me as well. George once found out about a comment I had made to me by one of the other sales guys one day and hit the roof...not surprisingly he left a short while after.

Short story, I didn't buy a Superb in the last round and got a Santa Fe instead, but am planning on looking seriously at another RS when the time comes to switch again, just want a dealer who does things right.

[RSwag]

Yeh, but K1W1 have you seen their demo prices? Sometimes they're reasonable but often they are higher than the new drive away pricing advertised in the same newspaper. It's possible these have extras, but at least on face value most people wouldn't bother (me included). Richmond seems to be worse than Brighton on this for some reason.

My car was a Richmond demo, and I can promise you it was advertised at a sensible price or I wouldn't have gone near it. Mind you, that was back in the George days, when things were more sensible there.

The biggest issue with demos Vs new car in a driveway program is the fact that the new car would be getting significant factory bonus's on top of the existing margins. The demo is no longer the manufacturers problem it is now owned and is the sole responsibility of the dealer. Manufacturers only want to sell cars but not to you and me, they want to sell them to the dealers, the rest of the glossy fancy advertising is just to get us to buy from the dealer so they can sell more to the dealer.

Demos cost more in these sorts of campaigns as the dealer has to purchase the vehicle and then pay the on roads (or at least allow for them in the costings). Unless the manufacturer is providing an allowance for demos they become a dealer nightmare and need to have funds allocated to them to bring the costs down, they are essentially a loss.

A dealer will also accept the lose as they can make more new vehicle sales by saying to someone "why buy the demo when i can sell you the new car cheaper right now?!" They would in turn sell more new cars which would in turn reap a greater volume bonus. When things calm down and sales resume "as per the norm" they can look at what demos are becoming a nightmare e.g. 77TSi and tear up the prices to move them on.

This was generally how my brother explained it to me but as i've said he is a Honda dealer not Skoda so it may vary?!

If i am right then for Zagames to have so many demos at such stupid prices it appears they have done the right thing by Skoda to support the brand and to get numbers up and Skoda HQ have left them high and dry.

I think your right either way KIWI, i think they went backwards in April compared to March and i've heard that Yeti & Fabia saved them. Year on Year sales figures for all other models would have been been lower for April, very very concerning because that suggests Yeti and Fabia will go the same way when the initial launch hype wears off.

[VAG newbie]

I think your right either way KIWI, i think they went backwards in April compared to March and i've heard that Yeti & Fabia saved them. Year on Year sales figures for all other models would have been been lower for April, very very concerning because that suggests Yeti and Fabia will go the same way when the initial launch hype wears off.

Do you have the sales figure for Mar and Apr? If what you said is true, it is certainly very concerning, especially they have always increasing steadily in terms of sales figure in the past few years.

But I'm afraid you are right, by looking at my local dealer, who has recently filled up half of his car yard with non Skoda used cars is a sign that they are not doing well. So instead of ordering more cars in stock, he'd rather take orders to save him costs, and try to make the losses by selling used Toyotas and Kias.

[BluChris]

I'm sure you're right RSwag and I wasn't so much disagreeing with K1W1 as pointing out that Richmond had no hope of shifting their demo's at the money they were asking. They will lose money on them, as we all do. Like private owners, they also need to set the vehicles at a price that interests the market. Example? Local Mazda dealer had a Mazda 2 demo at about 15% discount to current new drive away price in probably the most popular colour. Went the same weekend. So that would mean a Yeti 77TSI demo for about $23k. Yet to see that.

As for Skoda sales, I concluded some time back that a slow boil is the very best case scenario. They won't price them cheap enough to gain massive interest, don't market enough and probably couldn't get supply if they did. Then once you buy you discover servicing isn't cheap and dealers are still few and far between in most places. Like lots of forum members I hoped for better, now I don't.

[VAG newbie]

I'm sure you're right RSwag and I wasn't so much disagreeing with K1W1 as pointing out that Richmond had no hope of shifting their demo's at the money they were asking. They will lose money on them, as we all do. Like private owners, they also need to set the vehicles at a price that interests the market. Example? Local Mazda dealer had a Mazda 2 demo at about 15% discount to current new drive away price in probably the most popular colour. Went the same weekend. So that would mean a Yeti 77TSI demo for about $23k. Yet to see that.

Many dealers advertise a car, demo or brand new in stock, at ridiculously low price just to attract customers to come to the car yard. So they sell one car at a loss, then when people turn up, they would say the car was sold, and use the opportunity to sell them another stock car. They will make you feel that by just adding a couple of $1000, you get a brand new car rather than demo, and make you feel good when you drive the car away. I fell into that trap once.

Since Skoda doesn't have that many stock cars, that sales pitch doesn't really work, and that might explain why Skoda dealers tend not to advertise their demos at ridiculously low price. However, I seriously doubt any dealer would refuse any genuine reasonable offer on a demo, if they really want to get rid of the demo. (Occasionally, dealer don't want to get rid of demo as they need it for test drive purposes). I think $23000 on a demo Yeti is easily achievable.

As for Skoda sales, I concluded some time back that a slow boil is the very best case scenario. They won't price them cheap enough to gain massive interest, don't market enough and probably couldn't get supply if they did. Then once you buy you discover servicing isn't cheap and dealers are still few and far between in most places. Like lots of forum members I hoped for better, now I don't.

I wonder if Matt Wiesner is reading this forum at all. If they would like to establish a "prestige" image on Skoda by pricing them too high, then they should emphasize its association with VW and Audi more. Even VW Aus should train their sales person in Audi/VW to refer customers who are interested in Audi/VW, but can't quite afford it (Audi), or needs higher equipment level at the same price (VW). I thought these are the people they are targeting for. Otherwise these people will go Japanese or Korean.

In terms of service, I don't see why they can't simply form an alliance with all VW dealers, that all Skodas can be serviced at any authorized VW dealer. Both are owned by VW Aus, both are mechanically identical, and I am sure all VW dealer will be happy to have extra business. Its a win-win situation! I know it can be done, as my local dealer, who also deals with VW, is happy for me to book my car for service in their VW service centre, which is closer to my home.

---------- Post added at 12:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:25 PM ----------

I'm sure you're right RSwag and I wasn't so much disagreeing with K1W1 as pointing out that Richmond had no hope of shifting their demo's at the money they were asking. They will lose money on them, as we all do. Like private owners, they also need to set the vehicles at a price that interests the market. Example? Local Mazda dealer had a Mazda 2 demo at about 15% discount to current new drive away price in probably the most popular colour. Went the same weekend. So that would mean a Yeti 77TSI demo for about $23k. Yet to see that.

Many dealers advertise a car, demo or brand new in stock, at ridiculously low price just to attract customers to come to the car yard. So they sell one car at a loss, then when people turn up, they would say the car was sold, and use the opportunity to sell them another stock car. They will make you feel that by just adding a couple of $1000, you get a brand new car rather than demo, and make you feel good when you drive the car away. I fell into that trap once.

Since Skoda doesn't have that many stock cars, that sales pitch doesn't really work, and that might explain why Skoda dealers tend not to advertise their demos at ridiculously low price. However, I seriously doubt any dealer would refuse any genuine reasonable offer on a demo, if they really want to get rid of the demo. (Occasionally, dealer don't want to get rid of demo as they need it for test drive purposes). I think $23000 on a demo Yeti is easily achievable.

As for Skoda sales, I concluded some time back that a slow boil is the very best case scenario. They won't price them cheap enough to gain massive interest, don't market enough and probably couldn't get supply if they did. Then once you buy you discover servicing isn't cheap and dealers are still few and far between in most places. Like lots of forum members I hoped for better, now I don't.

I wonder if Matt Wiesner is reading this forum at all. If they would like to establish a "prestige" image on Skoda by pricing them too high, then they should emphasize its association with VW and Audi more. Even VW Aus should train their sales person in Audi/VW to refer customers who are interested in Audi/VW, but can't quite afford it (Audi), or needs higher equipment level at the same price (VW). I thought these are the people they are targeting for. Otherwise these people will go Japanese or Korean.

In terms of service, I don't see why they can't simply form an alliance with all VW dealers, that all Skodas can be serviced at any authorized VW dealer. Both are owned by VW Aus, both are mechanically identical, and I am sure all VW dealer will be happy to have extra business. Its a win-win situation! I know it can be done, as my local dealer, who also deals with VW, is happy for me to book my car for service in their VW service centre, which is closer to my home.