flicka Posted October 31, 2018 Share Posted October 31, 2018 Local telegraph today reporting Autotrail are to lay off 10% of it's workforce in Grimsby. They state the reasons as uncertainty regarding Brexit & diesel vehicle future, combined with downturn of orders by dealers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted October 31, 2018 Share Posted October 31, 2018 Was told earlier this week sales of holiday statics are very low. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yeti Posted October 31, 2018 Share Posted October 31, 2018 And JLR have incurred a £90m loss Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bop Posted November 1, 2018 Share Posted November 1, 2018 The writing has been on the wall for some time.IMO The company has continued to knock out vans with such poor build quality that it was only a matter of time before the customer said "enough is enough". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcol Posted November 1, 2018 Share Posted November 1, 2018 I agree Andrew. The Auto-trail we had was our first motorhome and at the time we thought it was what we wanted. It wasn’t very well built and always seemed dark and oppressive inside Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted November 1, 2018 Share Posted November 1, 2018 The Grimsby Telegraph article is here https://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/news/business/brexit-fears-road-fuel-uncertainty-2168670 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arthur49 Posted November 1, 2018 Share Posted November 1, 2018 Bop - 2018-11-01 7:11 AM The company has continued to knock out vans with such poor build quality that it was only a matter of time before the customer said "enough is enough". Agree 100%. We are in the process of trading in our 2018 V-line. Its only 9 months old and on the face of it looked OK when we bought it but in practice its poorly built. The washroom is dreadful design - when you sit on the bog there is a tendency for clothing to pull the shower tap open, which is why we have a trigger operated shower head! Sorry for the 10% who are losing their jobs ...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don636 Posted November 1, 2018 Share Posted November 1, 2018 When we were looking at vans back in 2014, before we bought our Vantage Neo, we looked at the V-Line as it looked very attractive with some interesting ideas, such as the raised roof with an overcab skylight and a sort of double floor. We eventually discounted it as every one we looked at in dealers and at the NEC had a number of build issues such as trim hanging off and broken fittings and it all felt a bit flimsy - style over substance. Other Autotrail coach builts were the same so my impression is that Autotrails look flashy but the build quality is suspect. To be fair I think this applies to a lot of other British makes as well. There seems to a difference in build between vans built by large companies and those built by smaller companies such as Vantage, IH, Wildax and the like and I think it has something to do with the way that the vans are built. The smaller companies build the vans in what I would call a traditional way with cabinets built out of slabs of wood (solid but heavy) whereas as the large companies use more of a factory manufacturing process where units are formed into fancy shapes using lightweight materials, often by subcontractors and then assembled into the vans with lots of exposed fixings covered with plastic covers which look awful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
breakaleg Posted November 1, 2018 Share Posted November 1, 2018 I think that all company's (cars included) have had a few boom years, most have taken on extra staff and extra shifts. But the problem is, most people don't change vans /cars on a yearly basis, I tend to change vans every eight years from new (just about gives me time to sort the niggles out lol. Same with the car. JLR took on a lot of people but they only produce Diesel cars and for this country it's questionable There is up to 6 p per liter difference in price compared to petrol. It could be argued that at this end of the car market it wouldn't make a difference to their customers but it would to someone who could just about afford the car. Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulmold Posted November 1, 2018 Share Posted November 1, 2018 Could it be that after pension rules were changed lots of new pensioners took their lump sum and spent on such items as motorhomes and new cars. That boom has perhaps come to an end and sales are dropping to former levels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruisecontrol Posted November 1, 2018 Share Posted November 1, 2018 Sad news indeed ; no schadenfreude here. Build quality apart (we had an Autotrail and loved it). I fail to understand why Autotrail continue to build vans meeting the 3.5t criteria with such poor pay loads. We looked at the Tracker EKS and frankly, even carrying the minimum 20 litres, there was little allowance for all the clobber we carry (Ebikes etc.). Up-rating to 3.65t was not contemplated due to licence restrictions. So - is there a reason why AT don't adopt the Ducato light-weight chassis? Surely that would help? The current van at 3.5t, a Burstner Nexxo 390 Sovereign on a light weight chassis has a good payload margin yet seems to have similar furniture and etc. Further - is it me, or do AT have to build their vans so high? That again adds to weight . And the Tracker actually exceeds 3m making it class 2 on the French auto-routes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracker Posted November 1, 2018 Share Posted November 1, 2018 I too echo the comments on Auto Trail design and build quality. As far as jobs go, could it be that given the UK media prediliction for bad news, we only ever hear of the UK job losses and never get to hear about job losses in other parts of the world? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinM50 Posted November 1, 2018 Share Posted November 1, 2018 Shame to hear but at odds with what I was told by two dealers who reported record sales at NEC. Maybe they were telling me porkies? 8-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracker Posted November 1, 2018 Share Posted November 1, 2018 ColinM50 - 2018-11-01 4:47 PM Shame to hear but at odds with what I was told by two dealers who reported record sales at NEC. Maybe they were telling me porkies? 8-) Interesting - I don't suppose you know what brands they were selling? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted November 1, 2018 Share Posted November 1, 2018 Lets just hope that those affected,gain "comparable" employment. (and that they don't just end up delivering takeaways for the likes of Deliveroo :-S ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fesspark Posted November 1, 2018 Share Posted November 1, 2018 Totally agree our only Auto trail was the 55 reg Cheyane, after a few months the roof leaked,ruined the headboard on the bed and from then on everything went wrong. we sold it after a few months and lost £14.000 we had done more miles to and from the dealers for repair than using it for pleasure,what a load of rubbish,since then had an adria 660.new, a burstner Nexxo 55 special edition and now a Burstner 680g ixeo,all with few problems The european m,homes are more expensive but the quality shows. fesspark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veletron Posted November 1, 2018 Share Posted November 1, 2018 Hi It was the infernal under-slung, non insulated or poorly insulated fresh water tanks that put me off. Plus on a PVC, they were roughly the size of a thimble! I ended up buying French - Brexit-based devaluation of the pound means that the same van would cost me 50K today rather than the 42K I paid. Autotrail are too UK focused - the export market for vans built in the UK should be pretty good currently exchange rate wise, but Autotrail has only brit-friendly designs that are of little appeal on the continent - they should be the UK's version of the (also trigano-owned) Spanish Mileo brand. Brexit is good for near-nothing, but its negative impact on the value of the Pound should have made British exports viable at least. I am surprised that Trigano (the parent company) is not utilising the staff to build other marques in its portfolio, but I suspect that the implications of a no-deal-brexit and subsequent export issues killed that one off. 29/03/2019 - when the UK takes one huge leap BACKWARDS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geeco Posted November 1, 2018 Share Posted November 1, 2018 Our AT Tracker FB will be 4 years old in Jan. We have travelled 61,000klms in that time. Overall I am very pleased with the vehicle. There has been a few small niggles like screws pulling out of timber components, but nothing that could not be fixed by a DIY person. The most trouble has been from the flyscreen/blind cassettes and they are not British. Would I buy another, definitely yes. Trigano is a multinational read Euronational company. With the Brexit day drawing close I am sure the senior office decision makers would be looking at where the most cost effective location would be to build for the total market. Possibly one of the reasons for the 10% staff reduction would be to put AT on notice to keep productivity up thus be cost effective for post Brexit. As an aside the penetration into the local AU market has been improving progressively over the last 5 years. The RV market here is still growing at a strong rate. Sorry to hear about the job losses. Cheers, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John52 Posted November 2, 2018 Share Posted November 2, 2018 paulmold - 2018-11-01 3:36 PM Could it be that after pension rules were changed lots of new pensioners took their lump sum and spent on such items as motorhomes and new cars. That boom has perhaps come to an end and sales are dropping to former levels. Good Point. The Government made it Tax free to cash in a lump sum out of your pension early to give the economy a pre-election shot of heroin. But we are paying for it now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted November 2, 2018 Share Posted November 2, 2018 veletron - 2018-11-01 10:58 PM ...I am surprised that Trigano (the parent company) is not utilising the staff to build other marques in its portfolio, but I suspect that the implications of a no-deal-brexit and subsequent export issues killed that one off... In fact, Benimar “Benivan” panel-van conversions are being built at the Auto-Trail factory at Grimsby . https://www.marquisleisure.co.uk/news-and-info/news/the-all-new-benimar-for-2019 Presumably this means that RHD “Benivans” will be built at Grimsby, while LHD “Benivans” will be built in Spain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bop Posted November 2, 2018 Share Posted November 2, 2018 It's quite sad to hear about this whole Autotrail issue but my question is where does the company go from here. I'm also of the opinion that the motorhome magazines and the dealer networks should shoulder some elements of the responsibility for allowing the quality issues to continue without any real challenge ever being made. The dealers have simply cashed-in on a very good thing without ever giving much consideration to the consumer while the magazine folk are so scared to lose their respective sponsorship streams that they look the other way and continue to peddle a product which ultimately requires some form of TLC and quality improvement. Any company in this type of predicament should really expect things to get worse before they ever get better - I just hope that the respective stake holders take note. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deneb Posted November 2, 2018 Share Posted November 2, 2018 John52 - 2018-11-02 7:34 AM paulmold - 2018-11-01 3:36 PM Could it be that after pension rules were changed lots of new pensioners took their lump sum and spent on such items as motorhomes and new cars. That boom has perhaps come to an end and sales are dropping to former levels. Good Point. The Government made it Tax free to cash in a lump sum out of your pension early to give the economy a pre-election shot of heroin. But we are paying for it now. Just been reading that the equity release market in the UK stood at £3.06 billion last year, a 47% increase year on year since 2011. That must run out eventually too, with little in the way of inheritance for many offspring to look forward to! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulmold Posted November 2, 2018 Share Posted November 2, 2018 Derek Uzzell - 2018-11-02 8:27 AM veletron - 2018-11-01 10:58 PM ...I am surprised that Trigano (the parent company) is not utilising the staff to build other marques in its portfolio, but I suspect that the implications of a no-deal-brexit and subsequent export issues killed that one off... In fact, Benimar “Benivan” panel-van conversions are being built at the Auto-Trail factory at Grimsby . https://www.marquisleisure.co.uk/news-and-info/news/the-all-new-benimar-for-2019 Presumably this means that RHD “Benivans” will be built at Grimsby, while LHD “Benivans” will be built in Spain. I'm sure I read somewhere that Chausson vans are also being built at Grimsby. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted November 2, 2018 Share Posted November 2, 2018 Apparently so... https://www.practicalmotorhome.com/news/86856-chausson-2019-season-preview Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baden87 Posted November 2, 2018 Share Posted November 2, 2018 as the saying goes What goes around comes around, they have been producing very poor quality motorhomes for far to long, and the price goes up every year, instead of streamlining and getting costs down, also i believe the workers are on a quantity focused bonus, quality will always suffer on this system, its a "get them out of the door" policy is not in tune with quality i feel for the workers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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