To me personally, in my line of business, my customers are of paramount importance. They have choices. Were I to let them down, however inadvertently, I would rarely get a second chance.
I understand that, and I'm sure you are doing absolutely all you can to keep them.
But with cars such as those produced by MMC, there isn't many alternatives.
With customers willing to wait months (or years) there's no real threat to MMC's business there; changes in government regulations etc. related to vehicles on the other hand must be very important, I imagine. I'm just a bit surprised they have been so bad at communicating potential problems with the three-wheeler, as has been mentioned here recently. But given older stories mentioned here and elsewhere, not surprised at all. I don't remember all the details about the problems with the windscreens on the 4/4 Sports, but all those stories didn't instil confidence. Guess there have to be a couple of threads about success stories related to warranty etc.
On the one hand there is all that talk about hand built, traditions, long experience, one of the oldest, on the other the aforementioned problems. One could say, given that so many things have stayed more or less the same in the design, that they should have mastered it by now, more or less. A cap to the oil tank on the M3W? (Yes, the M3W is completely new, but MMC isn’t.) Doesn't instil much confidence in their engineers. Plenty of stories here; wasn't there broken hand brake cables on the trads, treated as "wear and tear" within months … I do understand that they are a very small company, and I assume with small margins, that need to reinvest to keep things going. Are they afraid to set a precedent, so that everyone expects everything? It’s very cheap to use communication; newsletters related to maintenance etc. to show that old customers are still recognised as potential future customers. I also understand that one, for example, sometimes have to create concept cars as studies, research and perhaps to show the market some bits, but perhaps, if you are a very small company, some part of those resources could be used to keep customers happy. If I understand things correctly there were many in the dealer network that also complained about lack of information last year. A forum, no matter how good, shouldn't have to be a substitute for warranty, information and responsibility from a manufacturer.
