Swift To Cut Production

[Wee Bold Davy]

We were never in the market for a new van last year. We had been looking at an older Autocruise or Auto Sleeper with a Euro 4 + engine for around two years. Then late 2017 and beginning of 2018 the whole diesel /emissions thing kicked off big time.
Got us thinking about buying a newer van which would hold it's value better with regard to emissions. We then came across a 3 year old Elddis Accordo 105 and it ticked all the boxes for us. We made enquiries about the cost of buying the same model new with a Euro6 engine. Surprisingly, it was less than £5k more and it had every extra we could ever wish for, which the older model didn't have. It was a no brainer.
It did stretch us as we were in the process of changing our car, we did spend more than intended. The point I'm making is that the extra VED may have been a step too far. I'm sure we're not alone in that regard. Never regretted our purchase for a second, loved every minute, but it may never have happened ?

 

[SpeedyDux]

If its happening in other industries its obviously not just the VED affecting sales there is another reason mentioned in the article which we do not mention on here maybe thats the cause after all why would anyone punt £75k if they were dithering and felt financially uncertain. It will be interesting to see how Autotrail fare with their new line up maybe another reaction to falling demand is to redesign and try to get a bigger share of a smaller cake.
If it was just the VED Swift might actually do well I would have expected that to reduce mh sales but increase caravan sales

Cut the list prices to £39,999, no VED problem.

 

[pagey]

It looks like Swift will be cutting production of their caravans and motorhomes, predictable after the huge increase in VED on new motorhomes.

Caravan manufacturer Swift looks to cut staff after Brexit and tax blows

Cottingham firm, which employs more than 1,000 staff, has been hit by uncertainty in its main markets

www.business-live.co.uk

Motorhome mismanagement it will go the same way as bl

 

[The Wino]

Cut the list prices to £39,999, no VED problem.

At the cheaper end it could be an option build it very basic no oven no water heater or heater no cab aircon etc etc and offer it all as extras after purchase!

 

[GAVLAD]

It looks like Swift will be cutting production of their caravans and motorhomes, predictable after the huge increase in VED on new motorhomes.

Caravan manufacturer Swift looks to cut staff after Brexit and tax blows

Cottingham firm, which employs more than 1,000 staff, has been hit by uncertainty in its main markets

www.business-live.co.uk

They’re only cutting their water ingress proofing department.
Oh, wait on, they did that a while back

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[Blue Knight]

Check the accounts out of the big boys in the Newark area and you'll soon discover that the financials are not going well for the MoHo dealers.

The turnover may look healthy on paper but the cost of sales and the operating costs have gone through the roof so net profits have gone down by around 30%.

The accounts cover the period to Q2,18 so there's still a whole year of downturn that has not been recorded.

It's no wonder that Swift and the others are worried.

 

[Robinpompey]

Silly me. When I saw the headline I thought Swift was addressing the question of there poor quality and slowing the build process down. It appears that they are just reducing the number of poor vehicles they produce.

 

[ctc]

I've lost track can you start again?

 

[596]

Silly me. When I saw the headline I thought Swift was addressing the question of there poor quality and slowing the build process down. It appears that they are just reducing the number of poor vehicles they produce.

I am a proud Swift owner, can you please explain your PERSONAL experiences with Swift issues. Thanks

 

[Jim]

Poor reputations on forums are hard to shake off.

I've owned two vans by Swift and they were both excellent, a Royale and a Bessacarr. A few years ago you couldn't move on the forum for complaints about Swift but these days a moan about them here is pretty rare.

Remember Brownhills, a few years ago there used to be a thread running about them every day, sometimes three! These days you hear more good stories about them than bad.

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[596]

Poor reputations on forums are hard to shake off.

I've owned two vans by Swift and they were both excellent, a Royale and a Bessacarr. A few years ago you couldn't move on the forum for complaints about Swift but these days a moan about them here is pretty rare.

Remember Brownhills, a few years ago there used to be a thread running about them every day, sometimes three! These days you hear more good stories about them than bad.

I heard the same as you Jim, BUT I had my last 2004 model Swift Kontiki 645 for 9yrs, never missed a beat engine wise and the Swift bit was hard to fault, great quality, so much so it showed up the newer ones we looked at who seem to have everything thinner to save weight

I am not doubting that perhaps they went through a bad spell but the new motorhomes are built ion a totally different way, we investigated this before committing ourselves, maybe members need to research this before slagging off Swift as a whole. YES I am having some small teething problems at the moment, I had two engineers at my home yesterday to do a recall, through no fault of theirs as they fitted the brackets and parts supplied the recall has changed the aesthetic of the motorhome, my wife spotted it immediately, I got on to Swift this morning and they now realise that every recall they have already done may be affected, two engineers are on their way down to me in Kent now to examine the issue this afternoon, now that is pretty good service but should not have been required!

What I am finding in them industry is that liaison is the issue, departments don't talk to each other, well I am on the case so lets see what happens!