Originally Posted By julf
Peter Morgan was very adamant about making sure they never outproduced demand. Some of us remember 2-5 year waiting times. Tony Crook of Bristol had the same rule.

Originally Posted By Rod
Julf,
By the end of 2001 this was not the case. I ordered my 4/4 in November 2001. They started to built it one week later and after another two weeks it was completed. They produced on stock (connaught green) and the dealers sold the cars under with a discount. Demand increased again when the Anniversary +8 was introduced and Morgan Motor Company announced that they intended to end the production of the +8s. Rod

Sales fell again after the Anniversary Plus 8 cars. The Roadster, as good as a car as it is, has never matched the percentage of the trad models sold that the Plus 8 did, and therefore revenues fell as sales shifted to the less costly (and less profitable) trad models.

Trads started selling REALLY well after the new styling changes brought in by Alan Garnett were presented around the March 2006 Geneva Show. Despite that, things are very rough for dealers in the UK (and of course the US).

Firstly, as Roderich indicates, the UK market was oversold and UK mog units dropped by 50%. Possibly in fear of that, this year the Company imposed a new system of allocating trads to UK dealers. For decades, Derek Day (the legendary former sales manager) allocated cars to dealers on the basis of real orders and the dealership circumstances. However, as of this year, the MMC imposed a totally new allocation system based on paid commitments that must be remitted by each dealer on the first of the year.

Of course, two of the newer dealers picked up on that and ordered the bulk of 2007 UK production. The company agreed and that left little for the other UK dealers. Sales of individual dealers have plummeted, even the most prominent.

I believe with careful management, UK sales must recover. Yet without a fair new-car allocation system, the strength and capabilities of the UK dealership network has to be damaged. As well, the Company will, of course, become vulnerable to these big-ordering dealers. That is something that Mr. P Morgan was VERY wary of after the collapse of the US market in the 1960/70s.

Lorne