Auto Trail have laid off 25% of workforce

[Mel B]

Hi

 

I've heard on the local news this afternoon that Auto Trail have had to lay off 46 workers, how this will affect anyone with a van on order I don't know but I really feel sorry for all the people who have had to go. :-(

[mike 202]

is the do not buy Fiat having an effect or is it the recession? Either way it is always the same the innocent worker or buyer is the one to suffer.

Agree with you, I also feel sorry for those who have lost their jobs.

[Pericles]

I heard it too.

Credit Crunch or Gearbox Crunch

I thought the M/H business was bucking the trend but it does make you wonder if it will end up at Cottingham after all.

[mirage]

I understood Autotrail had dropped Mercs in favour of Fiats so the gearbox theory seems a little odd.

[colin]

Proboly due to less orders, so as long as they stay solvent shouldn't affect delivries of vans. I must have gone around NEC at an 'odd' time, only saw one couple looking like they where 'doing a deal' usualy see a few, but salesmen we spoke too said they where selling well! :-S

[yeti]

Apparently they had just under £7m worth of sales after the NEC.

[chris]

Adding my twopenneth worth I for one would not consider vans on a fiat base at present. We have a renault master and really happy with it. A few dealers (Chausson etc ) have dropped Renault and I think this is a big mistake.

 

Not saying this is the cause and its a shame because autotrail have such a good name that we would seriously look at them for our next van otherwise.

chris

[chas]

To my mind the problem is the credit crunch, banks are not lending out money to manufacturers to buy stock materials, and purchasers are not ordering in any great quantity for fear of their jobs going. IMO it has absolutly nothing to do which base vehicle a manufacturer builds on. A major reccesion is on the way and " luxuary items are the first to be hit"

For people with disposable income to spend now is the best time to buy motorhomes "secondhand" as dealers try to get rid of stock.

To buy new would be risky as there could be problems with warranties if manufactures go to the wall.

The workers will always be the first to suffer. :'(

[Melvin]

Opps I must have been the other couple, we decided to get rid of our unreliable juddering cheynne 660.

 

We only paid £500 deposit, new 840D 3 litre comfortmatic very heavlily discounted, including £900 of extras and adaptation for my disability?

 

 

8-)

[Derek Uzzell]

It was suggested in a recent French motorcaravan magazine that the present relative 'unpopularity' of the Renault chassis among motorhome manufacturers was mainly due to the Master's impending replacement.

[BGD]

And so it begins...........

 

After Knaus in receivership, this news is just one more example of the Tsunami that's going to be hitting everyone in the coming months years.

 

And it's all the big-price-ticket items like Motorhomes that are going to be hit first, and hardest, as people rein in their spending.

 

So fay just this week we've heard of Nissan UK laying off workers/reducing shifts, Ford Transit factory laying off workers/dropping shifts.

And I'm afraid that in reality, this is just the start of the rollout of the financial/debt crisis from computer screens into the real world.

[Melvin]

Autotrail have increased their 2009 prices ? why. What is the postion of Trigano.

 

I have a horrible feeling I will not be getting my new comfortmatic motorhome.

 

I think I have just lost 500 quid >:-)

[Porky]

Oh dear we have a 3L auto Tracker due to be delivered end of May. Worrying times.

 

Porky Well fed and still happy (mostly)

[catinou]

Hi Melvin & Porky

 

Good choices of MH - we are very pleased with ours. Have you called Autotrail direct to ask the question? We have always found them very helpful - with the right approach ;-)

 

We were sad to hear of the layoffs, especially for the workers, but it could be a case of what most good businesses are doing - taking precautions to save their businesses for what may (or may not) come in the following months, before they have no choice.

 

Fingers crossed..... *-)

[davenewellhome]

chas - 2008-10-22 7:51 AM

 

To my mind the problem is the credit crunch, banks are not lending out money to manufacturers to buy stock materials, and purchasers are not ordering in any great quantity for fear of their jobs going. IMO it has absolutly nothing to do which base vehicle a manufacturer builds on. A major reccesion is on the way and " luxuary items are the first to be hit"

For people with disposable income to spend now is the best time to buy motorhomes "secondhand" as dealers try to get rid of stock.

To buy new would be risky as there could be problems with warranties if manufactures go to the wall.

The workers will always be the first to suffer. :'(

 

And therein lies the problem. If people take to buying second hand vans and not ordering new ones then more and more converters will definitely go to the wall.

 

D.

[cheetahdavie]

 

[And therein lies the problem. If people take to buying second hand vans and not ordering new ones then more and more converters will definitely go to the wall.]

 

so true...just bought my 2nd hand "Van"..4999 miles on the clock..good condition..and nigh on £14500 less than "new" price? Only the well off can afford to pay VAT on new models.I only hope my next unit is a second hand one,with less than 3000 miles on the clock..under 12 months old and it is £20,000 less than "new"?Sadly I believe the prices of 2nd hand will begin to go down..we are not immune to the present crisis..fewer buyers..etc.I am resigned to a great loss on my unit when I sell..30/40%???

[Melvin]

Part exchange best price Autotrail Cheynne 660SE 2.3 litre 2100 miles, against a new more expensive Fiat van £33,000, its only 5 month old:'(

[Mel E]

Swift - on the other side of the Humber - have also started laying off workers. In April this year, Winnebago sales in the USA were already down by over half and it's now two-thirds, I believe.

 

There are totally discretionary purchases - you can always put off that part-exchange or even buy used instead of new for your fist purchase AND get much better prices. So it's not surprising sales and therefore workforces, are down.

 

Autotrail owners Trigano, one of the two largest groupings with Hymer, are a quoted French company, and about to open a huge new motorhome and trailer building facility in Poland, so with falling volumes, what can they do?

 

They can cut down on all base vehicle and parts inventories to match the acutal sales rate and reduce labour to the number required to build what they can sell.

 

It's hard, but that's what happens in a recession - you cut the cloth or you go bust and everyone's out of a job.

 

Mel E

====

[fred grant]

well mel, freds certainly not emigrating to poland just to save a few bob. what would happen to his pigs. would they be allowed a visa my biddy?

 

alice

[Mel E]

Alice,

 

Fred could always park his pigs in Denmark - where they know about such animals - on his way to Poland!

 

I could have added that, the further back you go in the supply chain, the worse the effect. So, as all the converters run down their stocks, Seitz and Fiat and Thetford, et al, all suffer from sudden 'no orders' situations while their customers run down their stocks. So the layoffs are even more sudden and dematic. GM vans in Luton (who build the Renault Trafic, also badged as Vauxhall, Opel and Nissan) are effectively shutting down for weeks at a time, and PSA Peugeot Citroen have just announced an almost total shutdown until the New Year.

 

And, as Al Jolson once famously said in the first talking lines in a motion picture 'You ain't seen nothin' yet.' Sorry if this is doom and gloom, but we're in for a long cold spell and the secret of survival is to recognise this and plan well ahead.

 

Mel E

====

[fred grant]

anyone want to buy a tractor (or two) my biddies?

 

fordsonfred

[Guest peter]

BGD - 2008-10-22 9:38 AM

 

And so it begins...........

 

After Knaus in receivership, this news is just one more example of the Tsunami that's going to be hitting everyone in the coming months years.

 

And it's all the big-price-ticket items like Motorhomes that are going to be hit first, and hardest, as people rein in their spending.

 

So fay just this week we've heard of Nissan UK laying off workers/reducing shifts, Ford Transit factory laying off workers/dropping shifts.

And I'm afraid that in reality, this is just the start of the rollout of the financial/debt crisis from computer screens into the real world.

Thanks for that little titbit. Now Ill just go off and cut my throat. >:-) BGD I'm afraid your doom and gloom forecasting is becoming a little tiresome, so please crawl back into your shell and we'll let you know when it's safe to come out. >:-) >:-)

[flicka]

Autotrail spokesman quoted in the local "rag" stated that with the reduced order book from the NEC show, they are taking the action to safeguard the maximum No. of jobs possible based on the reduced output projection.(wording as close as I remember, so please don't quote as his actual word for word)

 

Although it's a very difficult time for those facing redundancy, better to take early action and retain a core staff at a sustainable level.

 

One positive with all manufacturers (base vehicle, convertor, equipment, etc..)experiencing a downturn in their order books, it should enable delivery dates to be more achieveable. (he says hopefully having signed on the line for a new Autocruise Sportstar)

[flicka]

Autotrail spokesman quoted in the local "rag" stated that with the reduced order book from the NEC show, they are taking the action to safeguard the maximum No. of jobs possible based on the reduced output projection.(wording as close as I remember, so please don't quote as his actual word for word)

 

Although it's a very difficult time for those facing redundancy, better to take early action and retain a core staff at a sustainable level.

 

One positive with all manufacturers (base vehicle, convertor, equipment, etc..)experiencing a downturn in their order books, it should enable delivery dates to be more achieveable. (he says hopefully having signed on the line for a new Autocruise Sportstar)

[Brian Kirby]

Mel E - 2008-10-27 1:12 AM Alice, Fred could always park his pigs in Denmark - where they know about such animals - on his way to Poland! I could have added that, the further back you go in the supply chain, the worse the effect. So, as all the converters run down their stocks, Seitz and Fiat and Thetford, et al, all suffer from sudden 'no orders' situations while their customers run down their stocks. So the layoffs are even more sudden and dematic. GM vans in Luton (who build the Renault Trafic, also badged as Vauxhall, Opel and Nissan) are effectively shutting down for weeks at a time, and PSA Peugeot Citroen have just announced an almost total shutdown until the New Year. And, as Al Jolson once famously said in the first talking lines in a motion picture 'You ain't seen nothin' yet.' Sorry if this is doom and gloom, but we're in for a long cold spell and the secret of survival is to recognise this and plan well ahead. Mel E ====

Interesting.  We passed Tournon-sur-Rhone last week, where Trigano live, and I happened to notice a huge sea (by which I mean several hundred) of motorhomes in a factory compound.  I also noticed a number of dealerships along the autoroute had surprisingly large stocks of very new looking vans.  Now, this is October, the 2009 models are only just being rolled out, and the factories have barely got going since the summer shutdown.  The peak production period has yet to come in response to orders from the various shows, traditionally delivered for spring 2009, and the compounds are still brimming with (I assume) 2008 models. 

I rather fear that Mel and BGD are, in their different ways, right.  BGD possibly hypes it a bit, but the signs are all there.  This has the potential to be very nasty, and it will take some very slick footwork indeed to keep us out of the worst of it.  It has been spotted coming, albeit rather late, so our best hope seems to be that all concerned have now seen over the precipice, were far more frightened by what they saw than they could ever admit, and are working frantically to try to stave off the worst effects.  I believe that is what is happening, but it will need a great deal of international cooperation and coordination, and I'm not so sure that will be forthcoming, since politicians find it very difficult to do things that make them unpopular with their electorates in the short term, even when those things will be necessary in the long term.  Bumpy ride ahead, I think!  Sorry Peter, but it's the real world intervening at an inconvenient time, as it does!  Events, dear boy, events.