Anyone got confirmed news Re Fiat Ducato build delays

royandsharont

royandsharont

Joined
May 14, 2021
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East Yorkshire, UK
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ADRIA Twin 640SLB
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Since 2012
Hi, I am awaiting a new Adria PVC which should have been here last October but keeps on getting put back on a monthly basis. Now end of June and I don’t believe it will come then if I’m honest. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if it finally arrived in 2023!

Trying to get any information of the true delay situation from the manufacturers, let alone information that you can trust to be correct and up to date, I am finding impossible. Nothing on the news for Europe but some in America Re shifts being closed at factories there from 2 to 1 a day, but that is about Stellantis car plants I believe.

The delays all appear to revolve around Stellantis production in Italy at their Sevel plant but still none the wiser as to specifically why. Saying the Pandemic repeatedly does not do it for me now.

I would just like to get some honest understanding of why the monthly delays continue and I think all Fiat based manufacturers are pretty much the same.

I wanted to start this Thread for comments from anyone who has got confirmed news or information, rather than rumours and speculation, although if my experiences are the same as others no one will be able to confidently add an update, but here goes 👍🏻

Regards in advance if anyone can add anything
 
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I’m not going to name my dealer just because of not great updates/customer service - just when I bought our original Rapido A class from them 9 years ago, the feedback about them was excellent and my dealings with them for that vehicle were indeed excellent - felt like personal service from the owner. Not the same with this one - I sought out the owner at the show and he was great - but now left to others for customer service and sadly this has been somewhat lacking - an occasional courtesy update call from them would be appreciated rather my having to call them (and chasing a reply I never got …..) ☹️
 
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Our Burstner order is stil pending, ordered last October at show, we have been allocated a chassis no but holding our breath.
Our Pilote is going nowhere until we actually see it in the flesh.
This year is no different to previous, delays everywhere and see no signs of improving, no stock & prices increasing.
 
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HitandMiss said:
Our Burstner order is stil pending, ordered last October at show, we have been allocated a chassis no but holding our breath.
Our Pilote is going nowhere until we actually see it in the flesh.
This year is no different to previous, delays everywhere and see no signs of improving, no stock & prices increasing.
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You did well if only ordered last year
We ordered October 21 and got chassis assigned at the beginning of February
Supposed to be being built end of March but we will see
 
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Dave7 said:
You did well if only ordered last year
We ordered October 21 and got chassis assigned at the beginning of February
Supposed to be being built end of March but we will see
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We're in no rush and luckily we have a beautiful Motorhome already.

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HitandMiss said:
We're in no rush and luckily we have a beautiful Motorhome already.
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We sold ours as didn’t think there was any point just keeping it over the winter
Gutted as been without one for nearly 18 months now
 
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HitandMiss said:
Our Burstner order is stil pending, ordered last October at show, we have been allocated a chassis no but holding our breath.
Our Pilote is going nowhere until we actually see it in the flesh.
This year is no different to previous, delays everywhere and see no signs of improving, no stock & prices increasing.
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Pre the shortage (2018) we placed our order at the end of January and received the vehicle in the September so even in normalised times it was a 6-8 month wait. So 5 month wait for a Chassis delivery isn't bad just hope there are not other component shortages.
 
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Lenny HB said:
Hymer have changed most of there production over to Mercs,
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could be demand, what is perceived by some as a premium product will attract premium money and when you consider the cost of a fiat base vehicle now its only a relatively few more squids for a Merc and that will also reflect the customer base.
 
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beachwomble said:
Fiat cancelled all the orders of Ducato 8 they were not going to be able to build before the switch to the Ducato 9. It looks like the Ducato 9 will be basically unchanged apart from lower emissions and equipment tweaks so it is obvious there are using this excuse to impose the next price inflation. I've heard from a very good source that Stellantis walked out of a meeting with its major leisure vehicle clients at last year's Düsseldorf Caravan Salon.
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With high demand and delays due to components I suspect Fiat was trapped between a rock and hard place, suppliers switch production to a previously stated date for the new Ducato 9. Once a company has produced x thousands of components as per a contract they are unlikely to produce a dribble of additional ones. So the suppliers had already geared up and invested in new tech for the new batch of orders which you may not be able to retrofit.

I did read on the forums here that customers where having to pay an increase in price which probably means that they will receive the new Fiat

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Dave7 said:
We sold ours as didn’t think there was any point just keeping it over the winter
Gutted as been without one for nearly 18 months now
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Same here. Worried the market was topping out. Doh
 
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Coolcats said:
could be demand, what is perceived by some as a premium product will attract premium money and when you consider the cost of a fiat base vehicle now its only a relatively few more squids for a Merc and that will also reflect the customer base.
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I think there would be a lot of interest from buyers willing to pay a bit of a premium for a better product in the current market. If the manufacturers can't build as many vehicles as they want to, with inflation helping to keep turnover high in monetary terms, adding another £5k-£10k or whatever to a potentially large number of vehicles would also help them. Some converters/manufacturers seem to have been more adept at moving to other platforms than others.
 
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Coolcats said:
With high demand and delays due to components I suspect Fiat was trapped between a rock and hard place, suppliers switch production to a previously stated date for the new Ducato 9. Once a company has produced x thousands of components as per a contract they are unlikely to produce a dribble of additional ones. So the suppliers had already geared up and invested in new tech for the new batch of orders which you may not be able to retrofit.

I did read on the forums here that customers where having to pay an increase in price which probably means that they will receive the new Fiat
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I’ve seen a few mentions of the Fiat Ducato 9 - the Ducato 8 was only recently introduced so what is the version 9?
 
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Teedubyaa said:
I’ve seen a few mentions of the Fiat Ducato 9 - the Ducato 8 was only recently introduced so what is the version 9?
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Look at my post from Saturday (previous page).

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We jumped in both feet after Covid and brought a 2016 Pilote , our first motorhome, hab checked & serviced, very lucky.
Its our pride and joy, only issues have been self inflicted 🙃
We're more concerned about spending 100k on a new Burstner having heard so many nightmare issues with new , poor quality & dealership issues.
Mmmmmmm the wait continues and we will see 🤞
 
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HitandMiss said:
We jumped in both feet after Covid and brought a 2016 Pilote , our first motorhome, hab checked & serviced, very lucky.
Its our pride and joy, only issues have been self inflicted 🙃
We're more concerned about spending 100k on a new Burstner having heard so many nightmare issues with new , poor quality & dealership issues.
Mmmmmmm the wait continues and we will see 🤞
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I've had 2 Burstners and would happily have spent 100k with them if they did a rear lounge layout.Its all a bit of a lottery with dealers and manufacturers but I'd certainly try and buy local if you can.I've got some good news today in re confirmation that the fixed price on my Oct 21 order will still be honoured.Just got to wait until June/July for it and hope the spec ordered is not compromised.
 
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GMLS said:
I've had 2 Burstners and would happily have spent 100k with them if they did a rear lounge layout.Its all a bit of a lottery with dealers and manufacturers but I'd certainly try and buy local if you can.I've got some good news today in re confirmation that the fixed price on my Oct 21 order will still be honoured.Just got to wait until June/July for it and hope the spec ordered is not compromised.
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Bloody hell, phones just gone and dealer has confirmed our Burstner has been built and scheduled to be delivered, ETA April 🤞
Not sure what to think, in a state of shock 😲
 
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Coolcats said:
With high demand and delays due to components I suspect Fiat was trapped between a rock and hard place, suppliers switch production to a previously stated date for the new Ducato 9. Once a company has produced x thousands of components as per a contract they are unlikely to produce a dribble of additional ones. So the suppliers had already geared up and invested in new tech for the new batch of orders which you may not be able to retrofit.

I did read on the forums here that customers where having to pay an increase in price which probably means that they will receive the new Fiat
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We have been told our price will not change and be honoured
 
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HitandMiss said:
Bloody hell, phones just gone and dealer has confirmed our Burstner has been built and scheduled to be delivered, ETA April 🤞
Not sure what to think, in a state of shock 😲
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What model was it and when did you order
As we are waiting for a Burstner
 
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GMLS said:
I agree. I'd happily pay a premium for a MAN/VW or Merc base.The industry if feeling the impact of being in an unbalanced relationship by being too reliant on a single business for a key element of their end product whilst their business is not critical to Stelantis. Day 1 of Supply Chain Management for beginners 😉
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Good point. Fiat (now Stellantis) succeeded with its strategy to dominate the European MH market and reached about 85% capture, in effect becoming a monopoly supplier who could dictate prices, rationing deliveries and extending timescales to suit itself. The RHD customers, being the smallest niche of all, would be at the very bottom of Stellantis' priority list. One of the suppy chain constraints - don't know if this is true, but still - Ducato steering racks are made in Ukraine. Apparently. Who knows?

Equipment that we take for granted in modern cars seems to be unavailable from Stellantis, except maybe at optional very high cost, to special order. I was reading in a MH magazine @2012 that auto headlights and auto windscreen wipers were available on Ducatos. That was over 10 years ago. Why aren't they standard cab features today? A digital dash appears to be only an option. That dash ought to be standard, given how notoriously hard to read those analogue clocks are. Fiat got rid of the handbrake lever. Replaced by an electric brake that is probably more expensive to manufacture and will be expensive to fix. Such piecemeal upgrades seem to be somewhat whimsical and random. Is that in response to customer dermand, or Stellantis merely doing what suits them?

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Dave7 said:
What model was it and when did you order
As we are waiting for a Burstner
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Ordered at the the show last October, Burstner 727G which we believe was pre ordered from the factory.
We left a 5k desposit, no discount but fixed the price, we could only spec non factory extra's.
Good communication from dealer EM-BEE so fingers crossed. :giggle:
1678353558069.png
 
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Following on, our Motorhome is now on the market & needs to go ASAP :cry:
Open to offers over 50k, if anyone knows , will post in classifieds
Pilote P700GJ Sensation
Registration P700 CST, originally FX66 FXU
Mileage 25k
MOT May 2023
Timing Belt changed August 2022
Extras
# Uprated to 4000kg
# Air suspension & uprated front springs
# Rear Scooter rack
# Spare wheel
# Vision Plus Aerial
# MotorHome WiFi
# Fiamma Awning
# Tracker Fitted
1678353884632.png
 
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HitandMiss said:
We left a 5k desposit, no discount but fixed the price,
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I hope it's refundable or that is a big risk.
I've put a £500 refundable deposit on our Carthago, I've never put more than £1k down on all the vans we have had, all factory orders.
 
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Teedubyaa said:
I’ve seen a few mentions of the Fiat Ducato 9 - the Ducato 8 was only recently introduced so what is the version 9?
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Thank you for the correction (y) I was just going by what other posters were calling it, but this is an interesting sentence from Parkers Review, so you are right they are Series 8 but 6th generation o_O (my head is spinning now)

Fiat has been building the Ducato large van since 1981. The model covered by this 2022 Fiat Ducato review is the sixth generation, which Fiat’s calling the Series 8. It was originally launched in 2006 but received substantial updates in 2011, 2014, 2019 and now again at the very end of 2021
 
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SpeedyDux said:
Good point. Fiat (now Stellantis) succeeded with its strategy to dominate the European MH market and reached about 85% capture, in effect becoming a monopoly supplier who could dictate prices, rationing deliveries and extending timescales to suit itself. The RHD customers, being the smallest niche of all, would be at the very bottom of Stellantis' priority list. One of the suppy chain constraints - don't know if this is true, but still - Ducato steering racks are made in Ukraine. Apparently. Who knows?

Equipment that we take for granted in modern cars seems to be unavailable from Stellantis, except maybe at optional very high cost, to special order. I was reading in a MH magazine @2012 that auto headlights and auto windscreen wipers were available on Ducatos. That was over 10 years ago. Why aren't they standard cab features today? A digital dash appears to be only an option. That dash ought to be standard, given how notoriously hard to read those analogue clocks are. Fiat got rid of the handbrake lever. Replaced by an electric brake that is probably more expensive to manufacture and will be expensive to fix. Such piecemeal upgrades seem to be somewhat whimsical and random. Is that in response to customer dermand, or Stellantis merely doing what suits them?
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When companies get too dominant in a sector they usually do what suits them especially when they are far bigger than any of their customers so no single one or small group can damage them.We've also seen what can happen to companies that don't adapt or become arrogant

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Lenny HB said:
I hope it's refundable or that is a big risk.
I've put a £500 refundable deposit on our Carthago, I've never put more than £1k down on all the vans we have had, all factory orders.
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You've done well.We also had to leave a £5k deposit (credit card for at least some security) and it was non negotiable. Other dealers we spoke to said the same.With the van increasing in cost by 25%, I'm still taking that as a win (as long as it turns up of course)
 
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