Howard
Ody, Brilliant! You have been converted to the importance of dealerships.
No, I was simply noting that some of the coming imports will fit into the existing legacy dealership.
Howard
And we obviously agree from an investment viewpoint it has been a good year to invest in car distributors as they are important in virtually all markets. Tesla certainly believes this because they have invested a fortune in their sales and service centres.
Think this is transitory and in the by and by they disappear.
Howard
It’s also good to read that you're backing two legacy manufacturers who have world wide dealership networks. You are probably correct in suggesting that VW and GM are well placed to succeed in introducing new BEV models.
No, the legacy makers will likely use their own dealerships and this will kill their existing business. Once that happens they become shells for the Chinese makers and get into all manner of balance sheet, union and political trouble.
Howard
But are you right about the Japanese distributors argument last century? I doubt if you can supply evidence for this?
Find someone who remembers when the Japanese came. Before long lots of independent dealers started working for the Japanese as their base cars had luxury features like heaters and radios that UK base marques didn't and they were reliable. My retired scrap yard dealer acquaintance remembers being astonished at the state that Toyota came in after collisions and/or years on the road, many parts still perfectly serviceable and he still buys Toyota for his current business. Honda had a similar reputation.
Howard
I know you aren’t familiar with driving and owning modern cars but BEVs are not necessarily low maintenance. The costs of maintaining a Tesla are higher than a similar ICE vehicle. I considered leasing a Model 3 recently. The high cost of a maintenance package was surprising. It would have cost at least £30 a month over four years for a low mileage quote. I queried this with my local Tesla sales centre and they admitted that regular tyre rotation was required because of the weight of the car and tyre wear and also a regular brake fluid service was necessary. Reliability is still a problem too. For a similar priced ICE BMW the same maintenance cover is £20 a month.
For a premium model, folk are prepared to pay more maintenance, but even in your example it is 10x12x4 = £480 over 4 years. For anyone needing to go into emission controlled zones this is a small difference and electrical costs are still a lot less than petrol.
No idea why brake fluid needs changing more often. Most ICE cars recommend change brake fluid every 3 years, but hardly anyone does which can be a mistake as the fluids get black, from water absorption, and eventually reaches a point where in braking the water in the fluid boils and brakes do not work. It may be because the brakes are used so little if one uses regenerative braking and this lack of use leads to more water absorption, but I am speculating based on possible causation, I have no specific information on this.
Most ICE cars recommend regular tyre rotation for longevity, but this is again often neglected. For all wheel drive ICE cars one usually has to change all four tyres at the same time which is expensive and perhaps this applies to dual motor Tesla.
However, a lot of the Chinese models heading to the West are much simpler cars than Tesla and much lower entry prices with £5k being enough to get one of the best selling Chinese models. I believe the Citron mentioned recently on this board is about £6k. At these prices there is nothing very sophisticated and the Chinese experience, as I understand it, is of long and reliable operation with minimal servicing. One can speculate on how this will change the service and dealership model. E.g.a £5k car would cost less than many folk are now paying for a 3 year lease, making for the prospect of much lower second hand prices and more pain for ICE makers trying to compete.
Regards,