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At Full Chat
Mike Rutherford's column
MG Rover's network lives on and is delivering a superb sales performance
They're not squeaky clean, but the new car and related industries deserve a score of nine-and-a-half out of 10 for transparency. No other business in the world openly offers potential customers a combination of: generous discounts on most vehicles being sold; a choice of official (franchised) and unofficial (non-franchised) outlets; precise details of typical running and servicing costs; even more exact data about carbon emissions; warranties lasting from three to seven years; and - most incred-ible of all - a virtual guarantee that every car will still be worth money when it's decidedly second-hand.
For heaven's sake, if you do a little homework you can even find out in advance which brands and models will be reliable and which won't, plus those which hold their values well and those that don't. Do makers of household goods, tools, boats, cameras, computers, bikes, caravans, garden kit and other types of consumer wares offer a similar comprehensive package of direct and indirect customer benefits? Not a chance.
The motor industry is also different from any other, in that it admits 12 times a year exactly how well, or badly, it's doing. This it achieves through bulletins issued monthly by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), whose just-published figures for September make particularly interesting reading. This month was especially significant, as it marked the introduction of the 56 registration plate. The beauty of the SMMT tables is that all the major firms are named... and a few are shamed. Sure, there were some big winners in September, but there were also some intriguing losers. And none of them has a place to hide.
Of the bread-and-butter marques, Fiat enjoyed the biggest upturn in sales when comparing September 2006 with September 2005. In the prestige sector, Aston Martin had the biggest gains. Ford clung on to its number one slot, but the Focus did not. Meanwhile, the Mondeo dropped out of the top 10, which now con-sists of (in order of popularity) Fiesta, Focus, Vauxhall Astra, Renault Clio, Mégane, Vauxhall Corsa, BMW 3-Series, Peugeot 207, VW Golf and Nissan Micra. Note that five of those are superminis; not great news for the makers or their balance sheets, because such bargain motors return little if any profits for some.
Looking at new car sales from January to September 2006, versus the same period last year, Fiat is again the big winner, with a 64 per cent leap. Then comes Proton (from an admittedly low base) and Lexus, both up 58 per cent. Aston Martin's 28 per cent boost is good, and Chrysler is proving a bit of a dark horse, up 24 per cent. Also, sister company Jeep rocketed 19 per cent. Inexplicably, over this period, Smart is down by 24 per cent, Alfa Romeo 23 per cent, Nissan 22 per cent, and Renault and Volvo 20 per cent. But weirdest of all is that the allegedly dead MG Rover - or, to be precise, the official/unofficial dealer network - is still shifting 'new' cars, and quite a lot of them, too.
In September, the two brands outsold half-a-dozen others. And in the whole of 2006 so far, they have enjoyed higher figures than Alfa Romeo, Aston, Bentley, Daihatsu, Lotus, Perodua, Proton, SsangYong, TATA, Isuzu and, very nearly, Subaru and Jeep. Talk about never say die. If MG Rover and Longbridge can put in such credible sales performances as a corpse, imagine how much better they might do if at least one of the brands - almost certainly MG - is brought back from the dead? Couldn't happen... or could it?
Mike Rutherford writes for the Times, Daily Telegraph and Independent, presents ITV's Pulling Power and is founder of the Motorists' Association
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| If MG Rover can put in such a credible sales performance as a corpse, imagine how much better it might do if it was to be brought back from the dead | |
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For heaven's sake, if you do a little homework you can even find out in advance which brands and models will be reliable and which won't, plus those which hold their values well and those that don't. Do makers of household goods, tools, boats, cameras, computers, bikes, caravans, garden kit and other types of consumer wares offer a similar comprehensive package of direct and indirect customer benefits? Not a chance.
The motor industry is also different from any other, in that it admits 12 times a year exactly how well, or badly, it's doing. This it achieves through bulletins issued monthly by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), whose just-published figures for September make particularly interesting reading. This month was especially significant, as it marked the introduction of the 56 registration plate. The beauty of the SMMT tables is that all the major firms are named... and a few are shamed. Sure, there were some big winners in September, but there were also some intriguing losers. And none of them has a place to hide.
Of the bread-and-butter marques, Fiat enjoyed the biggest upturn in sales when comparing September 2006 with September 2005. In the prestige sector, Aston Martin had the biggest gains. Ford clung on to its number one slot, but the Focus did not. Meanwhile, the Mondeo dropped out of the top 10, which now con-sists of (in order of popularity) Fiesta, Focus, Vauxhall Astra, Renault Clio, Mégane, Vauxhall Corsa, BMW 3-Series, Peugeot 207, VW Golf and Nissan Micra. Note that five of those are superminis; not great news for the makers or their balance sheets, because such bargain motors return little if any profits for some.
Looking at new car sales from January to September 2006, versus the same period last year, Fiat is again the big winner, with a 64 per cent leap. Then comes Proton (from an admittedly low base) and Lexus, both up 58 per cent. Aston Martin's 28 per cent boost is good, and Chrysler is proving a bit of a dark horse, up 24 per cent. Also, sister company Jeep rocketed 19 per cent. Inexplicably, over this period, Smart is down by 24 per cent, Alfa Romeo 23 per cent, Nissan 22 per cent, and Renault and Volvo 20 per cent. But weirdest of all is that the allegedly dead MG Rover - or, to be precise, the official/unofficial dealer network - is still shifting 'new' cars, and quite a lot of them, too.
In September, the two brands outsold half-a-dozen others. And in the whole of 2006 so far, they have enjoyed higher figures than Alfa Romeo, Aston, Bentley, Daihatsu, Lotus, Perodua, Proton, SsangYong, TATA, Isuzu and, very nearly, Subaru and Jeep. Talk about never say die. If MG Rover and Longbridge can put in such credible sales performances as a corpse, imagine how much better they might do if at least one of the brands - almost certainly MG - is brought back from the dead? Couldn't happen... or could it?
Mike Rutherford writes for the Times, Daily Telegraph and Independent, presents ITV's Pulling Power and is founder of the Motorists' Association
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