Tag: Mercedes Benz

Merc to launch bakkie

Mercedes-Benz plans to enter the mid-sized bakkie, or pick-up, market as South Africa is regarded as one of its key markets, along with Latin America, Australia and Europe.

Mercedes-Benz sees strong sales potential in this one-ton segment and the new entrant will be positioned at the premium end of the Hilux/Ranger/Amarok, and developed by the Mercedes-Benz Vans division.

Given that the new bakkie is still years away, many of those specification questions will remain unanswered for now, as will the production locations.

It looks unlikely that East Londen would be picked as the plant simply doesn’t have the capacity.

MB Vans head Volker Mornhinweg expects the bakkie to offer a “high level of utility” as well as the comfort, safety and design attributes that one would expect from a Mercedes passenger car.

Board Chairman Dr Dieter Zetsche added: “We will enter this segment with our distinctive brand identity and all of the vehicle attributes that are typical of the brand with regard to safety, comfort, powertrains, and value.”

Mercedes-Benz sees this as the perfect vehicle for expanding its global sales footprint, given that around the world more and more people are using these pick-ups as leisure vehicles and that buyers, both commercial and private, are increasingly asking for “car like” specifications.

Are cars in SA too pricey?

Not really, says Motormanpete

On the face of it, and certainly the emotional response will always be a resounding yes!

While SA seems expensive it may be because we are basing our opinions on misguided ramblings of people who have not done their research.

A Toyota Yaris costs less in some obscure country than in South Africa but when you have a look at the big picture, our cars are on balance, very competitively priced.

Don’t believe me? Firstly let’s get rid of the “cars are so cheap in America” issue. Cars are cheap in America because they sell upwards of 20 million of them per year – its simple economies of scale.

But have you looked at how much more cars cost in some European countries? Check out the pricing of the Mercedes-Benz A250 7 G-Tronic: South Africa: R450 900, Portugal: Euro 42 700 (R619 150), France: Euro 36 300 (R526 350), Germany: Euro 38 437 (R557 336), UK: GBR 26 640 (R717 681).

Cough, splutter! The Mercedes is cheaper in South Africa.

Granted, this a small sample, but the point is clear. There are simply too many manufacturers present in the market for there to be room for much pricing abuse.

With over 50 brands and thousands of models on offer – it’s way too competitive out there.

All things aside, did you know that the 70th percentile benchmark dealers are lucky to achieve a 3% PBT? That makes the business very, very marginal and frankly I would invest my money somewhere else.

So if you want to question whether we are getting ripped off, let’s have a look at a few other industries.

Our cell phone calls are some of the most expensive in the world. Don’t even mention Apple computers.

And a litre of coke by the way costs more than a litre of petrol or a litre of beer. Why? Both the latter have far more complex processes and to add insult to injury, a litre of soda water costs the same as a coke.

DSTV must rank as one of the bigger rip-offs. But then they do have an absolute monopoly so when they stop flighting movies on TV made this century and put all the good stuff on Box Office at extra cost – what can we do?

But the ultimate problem does not lie with the pricing itself. The harsh reality is that all these products and services seem so expensive because we earn so little compared to Europe and the US.

So next time you question pricing in South Africa, don’t immediately jump to conclusions about everybody being a rip-off.

It may be a case of confusing “expensive” with “can’t afford”. Not all of us are ANC-cadres.

 

Motor industry workers to strike

benzfabriekMore than 30 000 assembly line workers in the motor manufacturing industry are expected to down tools today. This after wage talks between the seven biggest manufacturers and metalworkers’ union Numsa deadlocked.

The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) is demanding a 14% pay increase, while employers are offering between 7.5% and 8.5%.

The motor industry-dependant Eastern Cape, with its three manufacturers, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and General Motors, is expected to be hard hit.

CEO of the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber Kevin Hustler says, “The concern always around the automotive trade is that it is an anchor industry in the Nelson Mandela region and parts of the Eastern Cape. A strike right now is a threat to production as well as local and international orders.”

He says, “If the strike continues for a protracted time, the greater the effect will be for businesses themselves and the economy as a whole. At this time South Africa is affected quite strongly by lack of confidence by both business and foreign investors. This does not bode well for building confidence in international markets.” – SABC

French ban on Mercedes angers Germans

mercedesA ban by France’s socialist government on the registration of several top-end Mercedes-Benz models has infuriated the German luxury carmaker and forced Brussels to step in to try to defuse the growing dispute.
Sales of thousands of the most prestigious Mercedes cars have been halted in France since Paris last month refused to allow the registration of four new models that include a refrigerant in their air-conditioning systems that has been banned by the EU on environmental grounds.

The issue escalated late last week when the government invoked an EU “safeguard procedure”, allowing it to act unilaterally to prevent a serious risk to road safety, the environment or public health. It acted after a French court had ordered a 10-day stay of execution for Daimler while the registration block was reviewed.

“The registration of Daimler/Mercedes vehicles classes A, B, CLA and SL remain banned in France as long as the company does not conform to active European regulation,” the environment ministry said.

Daimler said the French decision – Paris is to date the only EU country to issue a ban – was “absolutely inexplicable” and added it would take further legal action as a result.

Officials in Brussels said on Monday they were consulting with Berlin and Paris on the issue and would bring the two sides together in September in a bid to resolve it.

The dispute has highlighted the marked contrast between the state of the car industry in the two countries. PSA Peugeot Citroën, and to a lesser extent Renault, have suffered heavily from a big slump in demand for their mainly small and medium-sized cars.

Daimler, BMW and Volkswagen have, meanwhile, surged ahead, profiting from their premium models that have proved highly popular in emerging markets. France was riled last month when Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, blocked an EU move to impose tougher curbs on auto emissions that would have hit German makers of big cars.

The Mercedes issue revolves around an air-conditioning coolant called R134a which the EU outlawed from January. Daimler argues that the replacement coolant is dangerously flammable.

Jean-Claude Bernard, head of the Association of Mercedes-Benz dealers in France, said the action was politically motivated “to please the greens and damage a German manufacturer”.

The coolant is used in 95 per cent of cars in France with air conditioning.

The association wrote to the environment minister complaining that 11,000 jobs were at stake and demanding an end to the ban. – FT