why TVR sales decline so much?

[wen]

Hi
I am doing TVR company analysis for my assignment and curious why TVR can sell 1700 cars in 1997 but the sales down to 540 in 2005. Anyone knows the reason?

[TheArb]

fallout from switching to building their own six cylinder engine from dropping in a ready built V8, proven over 40 years. That'll attract some debate and indeed it isn't as simple as that but in my opinion it is the single most important factor.

[turboman]

I suppose the way to tell would be to see how many cars they sold when the tuscan speed six were sold in 2000 and then how many in 2002, by which time the speed six had a bad reputation.

I would personaly put it down to reliability problems, and a short warrenty.

[V8 Archie]

I'd have thought that the biggest single reason is the national economic climate.

[Chauch]

I would agree with theArb entirely. I think the speed six scared a lot of people away.

The car market had another record high year in 2005 with the premium segment growing so the opportunity was there had the cars / marketing had been right.

[V8 Archie]

But TVR were already in deep do-do with parts supply by that point. The bigger players were simply better able to ride out the storm.

[V-GOM]

Nobody has been buying anything recently. Try selling a secondhand car or house. Why are high street retailers panicking etc etc etc? Plus as Gazboy says more competition in the price bracket. I don't subscribe to the V8 vs S6 argument, both are brilliant but I'd take a well sorted S6 any day

[MartinP]

It would be interesting to see how the production numbers declined and what models/parts of TVR history the ups and downs correspond to - I know it doesn't prove anything, I'm just interested.

Here's a start, can someone fill in the gaps?

1986 396
1987 322
1988 701
1989 715
1990 746
1991 719
1992 824

1997 1700(ish)

2005 540(ish)

[wedgie]

wen said:

Hi
I am doing TVR company analysis for my assignment and curious why TVR can sell 1700 cars in 1997 but the sales down to 540 in 2005. Anyone knows the reason?

Management sitting on their arrogant ar5es expecting customers to throw cash at them for cars that didn't come anywhere near the build quality of the competition, plus lousy PR, rounded off with the company being bought by a well-meaning but useless 'entrepreneur' whose only qualification for the job was that he could afford the company.

[stain]

Agree with the points re: Price, quality, economic climate and the S6 / V8 debate. I for one wouldn't want a S6 engined car if you gave it to me. Yes it may well be a cracking (no pun) engine, but to me TVR IS about the noise of the V8. I've had nearly a hundred people errupt into applause outside a bar in Winsdor when I started my de-silenced Griff up. Another factor maybe, is that the styling of the new range of cars has had a bit of a Bangle effect. I know a few people who can't stand the looks of the Tusc. etc. Or maybe, 97 was just a very special time............Griff, Chim, Cerb. All IMO of course.

[225]

Plus a major factor is that TVRs are not excactly cheap to buy these days, OK PHers see what value they are with performance etc but joe public with say £40k is more likely to be nosing round porker garages.
The S6 engine put back TVRs reputation by years IMO, I don't doubt its now a great engine but TVR didn't exactly have a reputation for reliability anyway.
There are a great deal of existing TVR owners who want a V8, its mentioned daily on here so you would have though someone would have twigged at TVR. Repeat business is a large part of any business and its why a lot of people are hanging on to the Cerbs, Chims, Griffs etc.

The way the move has been handled only heightened how badly TVR seems to be currently run.

[igg]

I think it is more down to choice in the price band of current TVR's than their reputation for falling apart, (and no matter how many people with ultra-reliable Tiv's post on here to tell me otherwise, I'm referring to the publics/car magazine perception).

I made enough money to consider buying my first TVR new about 20 years ago (wedges ruled!), and almost went for a 390, but, a friend who had already purchased one put me off, as he asked what my 'back-up' car would be (he and his partner both had new 390's).

Today, for the money of a new TVR, you can take your pick from BMW, Merc, Porsche etc. all of which will have better creature comforts, anti-lock brakes, air bags, lots of dealers, not smell of glue, properly developed with thousands of test miles done in extreme climates etc.

Don't get me wrong, I still intend to buy a TVR (Cerbera as it happens) - but not new, and not £40K plus into one!

So, that's why I reckon sales have declined. Prices too high for what you get (apart from the performance), too much competition at that price from brands with a better reliability reputation.

I think TVR should introduce a low cost convertable, sub £30K on the road, V8 engine - then they wouldn't have such competition, and more people would buy.

Anyway, that's my 2 penny worth!
Igg

[bluebottle]

Wen, see what i wrote on this thread to a different question, but pretty much sums up the reason imo
[url]www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=333495&f=13&h=0[/url]

[macdeb]

Two words, SPEED SIX.

[cptsideways]

macdeb said:

Two words, SPEED SIX.

It does not take much to work out this is a very mechanically unreliable unit, with some major failings that costs a vast percentage of the cars value to put right. It's put an awful lot of buyers off, even the TVR hardcore. Many dealers often won't touch them for the sake of their business, which means their trade in values decline which makes them even more undesirable. The fact that TVR never fixed the problem properly also does not help.

Competition is also a factor when you consider how much reliabilty you can get for your money.


The Speed Six was probably the single biggest mistake TVR made & no doubt history will tell. Just look at the number of potential buyers on here who'd like a nice reliable V8 version, even if it was an engine from another manufacturer!

[V-GOM]

OMG here we go again.

[cptsideways]

V-GOM said:

OMG here we go again.

Sometimes the truth is hard to swallow

[BIG DUNC]

In the mid / late 90's, you could not buy anything with the performance of a griff / chim / cerb unless you spent double the money. For this reason, people were prepared to put up with the faults ( reliability, or lack of ). Also, the above three cars also looked good ( in most peoples eyes at least ).
Recently, the cars are much more expencive, so there are very real alternatives for the same money. Also, some of the modern cars have styling that may have put off some buyers ( too many spoilers / vents / grills etc ).
The speed 6 reputation cannot have helped.
In my view ( not that I am qualified, as I have never run a small sports car company, so would probably balls it up ), they should have kept an entry level ( 30k ) car with a well proven engine ( or choice of engines ) from big manufactures ( several to choose from ) with simple clean styling so as not too put too many people off. Hopefully they could have sold this in sufficient numbers to keep the company afloat when / if the more expensive high profile cars are not selling as well as they should be.
The above is just my opinion only....

[TheArb]

V8 Archie said:

I'd have thought that the biggest single reason is the national economic climate.

What's wrong with the climate? What storm? We're paying three times more for house prices than 1995, interest rates remain low, 14 years odd of GDP growth, "John Lewis struck down fears of a grim run-up to Christmas on the high street as it reported its best sales week on record. The department stores group said that sales had risen to £91.1m in the week to Saturday, 9 December — an 11%increase on the same week last year", "Central London house prices have leapt 26.6% this past year, the biggest surge since the property market peaked in the late 1980s, according to a survey. In November, the price of a home in Central London climbed 2.8% — the ninth month this year that prices had risen by more than 2%, according to Knight Frank, the estate agency", I can't get a table at any of London's top restaurants and your pound almost buys two dollars. This is as good as it gets. Ah yes in the South East you say, well that should be TVR's target market shouldn't it. The economy is as poor an excuse as blaming poor retail sales on the weather.

[cuneus]

Economy (superficially good but there is a huge amount of personal debt)is a separate issue WRT to TVR sales - just look at Porsche.

Had the factory been more proactive in fixing the many blown S6's it would have helped though some including me would never be interested.

I am surprised there has been no class action lawsuit against TVR