4:36 pm, September 14, 2008
TERROR has struck the 4×4 sector. But does it cloud a potential opportunity for brave car dealers?
SUVs, quite simply, are demonised by many dealers, who have been caught out by plummeting values.
The sector is still falling, too, reports BCA. Since January, volume 4×4 models have plunged from averaging 98 per cent of CAP clean, to less than 85 per cent.
That’s a huge fall.
Premium 4x4s haven’t escaped, either plummeting to 88 per cent of CAP clean. Such falls easily outweigh those seen for other fleet & lease stock.
The inevitable conclusion is to steer well clear. Spend your £20k on four or five Fiestas, instead of a large SUV.
However, an opportunity might just be opening up. Simply through value for money.
As Simon Henstock, BCA’s UK network operations director, explains: ‘Guide prices on many bigger engined executive and prestige vehicles are now much more in line with market sentiment, and even the price of fuel has fallen in recent weeks.’
‘We may well see a niche market developing to serve those ‘weekend’ and leisure motorists, who always desired a bigger, more powerful premium model but couldn’t previously afford one. And if your annual mileage is below average, even the fuel costs might not be a deterrent.’
Fortune favours the brave. May yours lies in getting back into the SUV sector?
