Dealers go topless
February 4th, 2010 by Richard Aucock
CONVERTIBLE cars with premium brand badges have proven to be the hit success of snow-covered auctions.
Glass’s says forward-thinking used car dealers are ignoring the weather and stocking up with posh-brand topless cars in readiness for spring.
They’re doing it even earlier this year, says prestige cars editor Richard Crosthwaite; normally, things kick off in earnest by late February.
However, the lack of dealer demonstrators and manufacturer management cars has created a real vacuum of premium-badged used car stock levels.
Further fuelling the goldrush, though, is the fact residual values have plummeted to their lowest point in a decade! It is years of oversupply that has caused this, says Crosthwaite.
In 2007, a 1 year old Audi A4 Cabriolet 1.8T was worth 73 percent of new list. Now, that’s just 56 percent. Porsche Boxster? That’s down from 78 percent to 64 percent.
‘Falls of this magnitude are unusual, and exceed the decline in values which occurs naturally during a product’s lifecycle,’ says Crosthwaite.
The current rush could signal a turning point in this trend though, he adds. ‘It’s a little early to gauge how the cabriolet market will fare in 2010 but, with prices and weather conditions set to improve, the segment has got off to a very buoyant start.’
Tags: convertible, glass's, premium
 |  |  |