Brownhills/Hymer

[Robinhood]

There have been rumours around for some time that Brownhills' exclusive deal with Hymer was to come to an end after the NEC show.

 

This is not the only rumour circulating in the industry in general, and I normally don't post about such things until there is something more concrete (careless talk and all that..), but:

 

I note tonight that the HymerUK URL now links to Brownhills own site, and that the locations there have been reduced further (solely to Newark and Brownhills NE).

 

Following the failure of Discover Leisure, does this indicate a further sea-change in the UK motorhome industry, or am I reading too much into it?

[tugga]

We have spent the last 2 days at Brownhills in Newark having all the checks done on our motorhome and we learnt whilst there that Hymer UK at Preston has closed will all personnel being made redundant. As when we bought our Hymer last November we had been told that the Newark Workshop now has been approved as a Hymer Approved Workshop, so I suppose it has been on the cards for a long while.

 

Another very sad day for the industry.

[Robinhood]

Yes, I note that there has now been a formal press release on the closure, also adding weight to the rumour that Hymer will shortly be expanding its dealer base.

 

A mixture (whatever one thought about Brownhills) of both bad and good news.

 

The usual sympathy is extended to those who have lost their jobs (I remember Madisons :-S )

[Colin Leake]

I heard a rumour that some of the Hymers that are appearing with other dealers are quite old and are ones that Brownhills ordered and failed for whatever reason to take. I must make it clear that this is only a rumour I heard which may or may not be true. However if you do look at any Hymers it may well be a good idea to check when it was manufactured.

[Guest Peter James]

Obviously new motorhomes are not flying out the dealers so there must be a lot of old stock around.

I guess Hymer need Nationwide coverage, which Brownhills can no longer provide having gone down from 6 bases to 2.

All the people I have met at Brownhills, including some I know personally from living in Newark, seem really nice.

[Mike B.]

If Hymer are looking for national coverage, who are they going to appoint? Do we have any national coverage now-perhaps Marquis? Obviously not Discover any more.

If not does that mean they will award dealerships to more than one dealer ie creating competition on their vehicles? In the past it has been very difficult to negotiate on a Hymer as there was little competition maybe that will change.

Whilst I commiserate with the staff from Blackpool it may be better for the consumer in these austere times.

With a 30% uplift in prices due to £ versus Euro in last couple of years it was hardly surprising the European manufacturers were going to suffer in the UK market-indeed a number of them pulled out all together.

It makes interesting reading for changing the van in 2012

Mike

[lennyhb]

Does this mean the start of sensible prices for Hymers in the UK or will whoever takes them on in the UK will see it as a licence to print money like Brownhills did.

Hymer has always been the mark you could save most on importing yourself.

I don't really see prices dropping much as it would have to be reflected in second-hand values as well.

[neillking]

Mike B. - 2011-11-23 7:14 PMIf Hymer are looking for national coverage, who are they going to appoint? Do we have any national coverage now-perhaps Marquis? If not does that mean they will award dealerships to more than one dealer ie creating competition on their vehicles?

That's the pattern over most of Europe, multiple dealerships. That doesn't necessarily mean outright competition on price though - think Ford, BMW et al.