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

[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.

[BluChris]

Totally agree you should be able to get a Yeti demo for 23K, I'm suggesting to get people who are not Skoda oriented to look at them you need to advertise demo's at that. This was in response to K1W1's suggestion that there were a lot of demo's around. Zagame puzzle me as they are the only dealer here that advertizes constantly, but always at prices that look bad against the Skoda 'factory' ads.

Like I said, I gave up on hoping Skoda/VW Aus would do what so many of us want; they either don't listen, don't agree or are otherwise being constrained from doing more. Don't really care any more. My Octy suits my needs but as time passes I am less and less invested in the brand, and frankly if it costs me too much to run or gives trouble it goes and I buy another brand.

I get my car serviced by a VW dealer now the warranty is out.Their attitude is a bit ambivalent - happy to service but reluctant to get involved in sourcing parts. In one case I had to get the part myself from a Skoda dealer as the VW dealer didn't want to talk to them. WTF????

[woofy]

I get my car serviced by a VW dealer now the warranty is out.Their attitude is a bit ambivalent - happy to service but reluctant to get involved in sourcing parts. In one case I had to get the part myself from a Skoda dealer as the VW dealer didn't want to talk to them. WTF????

Probably don't want to talk to them as they are competition, I wouldn't either. VW were supposed to help service the cars and orginally it was announced any VW dealer could service them. That never happened, either as they didn't want the business, or more likely, the SKoda dealers wanted exclusive rights as its a more regular and ongoing revenue stream for them. I could be wrong but my memory has always been that servicing is where most of the $$ comes from with cars. You can buy a car once every 15yrs but you still always need it serviced...

[BluChris]

They were OK with a turbo intercooler pipe but then that's a VW part so probably got it from VW. The Skoda part was the issue, and I get maybe a degree of discomfort, but really what is the big deal? Talking to a parts guy from another dealer? Can't really see why; if it was a used Skoda on their lot that needed it what else would they do?

When I dropped in, the parts guy was super helpful, not only remebering me but when I mentioned another issue that might need a part he tracked the number through my VIN and printed out part and diagrammatic info - all in the knowledge that they wouldn't get the business since I said I was locating the part from eBay.

[RSwag]

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.

This will sound a little bitter but from past experience Wiesner is so far up his own a@#e he would struggle to read the forum through his own rib cage. He has a genuine belief when it comes to launching the brand and his way is the right way.

Throw in the fact he was, and to a very large extent still is, a VW Australia employee then his ability and even desire to grow the brand maybe limited but not knowing him personally i couldnt say for sure. What i mean is anyone in a CEO role would be more inclined to achieve great things if they were a sole entity, think of what KIA have achieved in Australia and what we know they will go onto achieve.

They did this as they either succeeded or disappeared, they didn't have a parent company to hang off, which is positive and negative. The negative being they didn't have the luxury of burning millions of dollars on poorly planned advertising and on the positive side it put them in a position where they were forced to make better strategical decisions which in turn has made them quite successful especially when the better product started to meet the market.

I will remain a keen observer from the sidelines but i fear i am forming an attitude of "don't care" when it comes to the Skoda brand, i'm not really fussed whether they succeed or whether they don't. Not because i dont believe in the product but because the chance to influence the way the brand is handled here in OZ is non existent. Some brands actively seek enthusiasts feed back, Renault for one are excellent and will act on this feedback. Skoda is a closed book and opinions outside the organisation are not acknowledged and are certainly not welcomed.

On face value, in its current form, it is more likely to stagnate or perish than it is to grow consistently in the coming years. All we can do is hope that what is clear and distinguishable flaws in their approach to this market becomes clear and distinguishable to those who can make the changes required for success.

[K1W1]

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.

It's called a loss leader and is a standard sales technique. Do you think that people go into Woolworths and ONLY buy the Cornflakes that are on special this week?
When I worked for a large Ford dealer in Melbourne in the 1980's we always used to have a very cheap used Falcon at the top of our used car ad in the Age every Saturday. I'm talking something like a 2 or 3 year old car at $3995! The car was always real but what it always was was a ex fleet car or ex Taxi that had been traded on Wednesday or Thursday and had 250,000+ km on the odometer and generally dents on every panel and had not been detailed or even cleaned. In the whole time I was there I doubt that we ever sold the advertised car once but we sold a hell of a lot of cars off it. In case you are wondering, on Monday morning the advertised car went off to the auctions or the "bomb" yard dealers which it was always destined to do and after than any phone inquiries were met with "I'm sorry that car is sold it was a great buy and it's a shame you didn't ring earlier but we have plenty of other similar cars......"