The Dark Wob

Hooli wrote: ↑Sat Jun 19, 2021 6:42 am I believe it's thankfully unique.

SiC wrote: ↑Wed Jun 23, 2021 9:30 am How is the selling going?

panhard65 wrote: ↑Wed Jun 23, 2021 10:01 am

SiC wrote: ↑Wed Jun 23, 2021 9:30 am How is the selling going?

A bit of interest to start with then it has ground to a halt. It is mainly dealers hoping to buy a bargain. I suspect the price bubble is just something being talked up rather than actually happening. It would be interesting to know if the dealers are actually selling anything or still just buying stock. Prices appear high but nothing is really moving as far as I can tell. Non classics are making good money though especially vans.

panhard65 wrote: ↑Wed Jun 23, 2021 10:01 am I have got a bloke from Congresbury who seems interested in the Bentley but failed to turn up the other day to look at it. He did say he had been held up and would try and rearrange but I won't hold my breath.

panhard65 wrote: ↑Wed Jun 23, 2021 10:01 am Non classics are making good money though especially vans.

The fleet industry is facing longer lead times for new cars and vans as manufacturers struggle to cope with the global semiconductor shortage.

Every car- and van-maker is being impacted by the computer chip crisis, with some delivery times for cars lengthening from three to six months, and many new vans not expected to be delivered until 2022.

The manufacturer [Ford] has reported it could lose half of all planned production in quarter two of 2021.

The factory in Turkey that builds the Ford Transit for the European market has been closed until June 13.

The Focus production line in Germany will be on limited production for much of next month, while closures of varying length will impact Galaxy, Kuga, Mondeo, S-Max and Transit Connect production until July 31.

Many companies had cut orders for semiconductors, believing the pandemic would negatively impact demand, which led suppliers to reduce capacity.

However, the opposite was true – global demand for semiconductors grew by 15% last year – and, with global manufacturing based on a handful of factories, a fire at a semiconductor plant in Japan and power outages in Texas due to storms exacerbated the problem.

“Our EVs are going to arrive around three months later than expected,” Steve Winter, British Gas

A Stellantis spokesman told Fleet News that due to increased demand for the Vauxhall Vivaro, Citroën Dispatch and Peugeot Expert, it had introduced a third shift at its Luton plant, but semiconductor shortages were resulting in longer delivery times than usual for sold orders, with some “unpredictability”.

The manufacturer has cut options on vehicles in some cases, with digital instruments on the current Peugeot 308 being replaced by analogue, while on certain Citroën models, the optional wireless phone charging is temporarily unavailable.

AFP [Association of Fleet Professionals] board member James Pestell told Fleet News: “We’re seeing an extension of the lead time period across most manufacturers.

“Where we were seeing a typical lead time of three months, which was the industry average, we’re now seeing that extend to six-to-nine months-to-a-year across cars and light commercial vehicles.”

Steve Winter, head of fleet at British Gas, which, with its parent company Centrica, operates 12,000 vehicles, is experiencing delays for both cars and vans.

Lease extensions are being employed in some cases, with the fleet incurring the related costs that entails, while delays are also impacting its electrification plans.

It bought 1,000 Vauxhall Vivaro-e vans last summer and signed a deal for a further 2,000 of the electric vans at the start of the year.

“Our EVs are going to arrive around three months later than expected,” Winter said. “The build volumes are being reduced. We were on around 200 a month and we’re probably down to around 150 now.”

The knock-on effect for British Gas is it is running vehicles that are six years old into a seventh year, which will impact maintenance costs.

Vans will also require an additional MOT and, with van residual values at record levels, it will potentially miss out on profits shared on sale price.

It is a similar story for Matt Hammond, head of fleet at Altrad. He said: “Orders placed in Q3 2020 which we expected to see on fleet early 2021 are just now starting to filter through. This has been the case for Peugeot, Ford and Nissan light commercials.

“This delay has also seen an impact on aged replacement hired vans as the rental companies are also struggling to secure new stock, meaning we have had to retain vans for longer, extending our fleet age profile beyond our preferred guidelines.”

Reflex Vehicle Hire told Fleet News that it was constantly liaising with dealer groups to identify pools of stock that come available within the network.

“We recognise the struggle for vehicle availability and, if it’s commercially viable, then we will take these opportunities to secure this stock,” said a spokesman.

Simon Ridley, managing director of Dawson Group Vans, said the supply shortage of light commercials has reached “unprecedented and dangerous levels” for the UK economy.

“Continuity of supply at familiar levels are potentially unlikely to return until 2022, with multiple manufacturers now indicating their order banks on certain models are more than 150% higher than that of previous years,” continued Ridley.