Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) Slipping sales at Morgan

I just spotted this on GoMog.

SALES SLUMP
Malvern, November 20, 2011
MMC 4-wheeler sales have dropped this year in every market, (with Germany being a happy exception). In a brand new strategy, the company has stockpiled a substantial quantity of classics cars, awaiting orders to fit options and be made quickly bespoke. Production has slowed for all but the new AeroTrad and the three-wheelers. Layoffs, hopefully temporary, are expected. The new Roadster, the new Three-wheelers and the proposed AeroTrad have yet to settle into their final formats. The Morgan sales figures in every market have not tracked as well as the recent trends for car sales in Europe and abroad.

not really surprising .. few people spending 34k plus on new cars at the moment

MMC has withstand great economical depressions and two WW. But in those days the MMC products were more addressed to "real" needs like transportation in everyday life beside sports enthusiasm.

Nowadays a Morgan is not to compare with the mainstream car markets. In a sort it can be compared with nice watches, a holiday home or other goods which make life pleasant but have to be dropped first when the economical situation demands so, or at least if an uncertain outlook dominates the current situation of many people. May be the very richest people and the most expensive products make an exception of this rule of thumb. But MMC products are targeted to the wealthy living middle class, not to the super rich, with the exception of 200K Aeros perhaps. And those few cars cannot guarantee any survival of the whole company.

Expensive projects like EVA GT I would postpone for a while, or at least I would undertake serious qualitative in depth explorations to get a picture of the chances regarding the EVA. Remember TVR who could exist if they had not had frittered by developing an own inline6 engine. Is the development of EVA so much cheaper?

Plus8+ should make good sales to get rid of 100+ engines which represent a not at all small value.

Let us all hope they cope it this way. MMC should be prepared for difficult times to come. Hopefully they have enough reserve assets. Now reliability (M3W) is important for now, and for the future a lot of staying power.

well said Heinz!!!

imho they should also go more in to the direction of the ECO/leissure combo, a trad with a 1.2turbo with super-low emmisions

agree.

a small car company should not spread itself too thinly by being in too many niches.

As a recent first time Morgan customer, in my opinion they really need to take a good hard look at all aspect of the quality of their finished product and the value for money being offered.

For what in reality is a very simple car there is no excuse for not getting it right first time every time and if there was less resources wasted on reworking defects, the product could probably be cheaper as well as better.

As already stated these are hobby vehicles and therefore, customers expectations are probably higher than average and higher than what is actually being delivered to them. If it's not up to scratch you have the choice to buy elsewhere.

I have been a Harley Davidson customer for about 15 years now and MMC could learn a thing or two about how the finished article is presented.

I believe you can allways sell an excellent product.

I think if they don't get their act together they won't be around in 5 years time. I was not impressed with my +4 that they have had 50+ years to get right, I'm now worried that this M3W that I'm about to receive will be a reliability / quality disaster. These toys are supposed to deliver fun and enjoyment not stress.

Hi ivanford

are you talking about your PL4SS? And do you think, the overall fabrication quality could be better or are you stressing some special points?

Hi Heinz
I think that overall the quality of the package could be so much better, attention to detail is not what it should be. I also had lots of minor issues that should have been corrected before delivery. From what I see on this forum this is pretty normal, not the exception. I would accept that my standards and expectations are high, but not unreasonably so. You wouldn't expect or accept any other £50k product that wasn't absolutely perfect.

On the video shown at the Visitors Centre, prior to a Factory Tour, Charles Morgan talks about achieving 1000 units in 2011 (admittedly with quite a few M3Ws)
Add to that the variety of projects going on, and IMHO they are risking falling into the downward spiral of a push for volume and a too big a divergence from their traditional and loved products. (This risk is increased in a poor general market place)
That rush for volume and development risks leading to worsening quality and an increasingly nervous workforce.

There is a saying "Volume for Vanity but Profit for Sanity"

Please MMC, take a moment to stand back and look at what you are really trying to achieve.

Bud

Oh well I am doing my bit. My Plus 4 is ordered for the end of February to pick up in the first two weeks of March.

Given I have planned only three days in Malvern followed by a 2,700 km trip to get it home I hope mine does not have too many "little" problems.

I think I will ask them to give it a special check over to make sure everything is ok before I pick it up.

I have to say I can't wait to get the car.