Noble Ditch Dealers!
Shock announcement precedes motor show debuts
Tomorrow sees the launch of two new models from Noble at the British Motor Show. However the news today that Noble are to launch their own sales centres could be more dramatic still.
With immediate effect, Noble has dropped its complete dealer network and is to set up three factory owned showrooms and a national network of service centres. The new showrooms will only house Noble cars and will be located in the north of England, Leicestershire and the south east of England. The Leicestershire site, where all sales will be handled initially, will be the first to come on line and is already being geared up to cater for demand.
Managing Director, Lee Noble said: “With the launch of the M14 and GTC, Noble is moving up not just one gear, but four or five. We are now big enough to take full control of our customer’s needs direct from the factory, while offering them superior service and better value for money .”
Eradicating dealer margins has also enabled Noble to introduce keener pricing for both the existing M12 GTO-3R and the recently launched M400. From the start of the Motor Show, the 3R’s price will drop to £49,950 from £52,500, and the M400’s to £55,995 from £61,995. The new GTC convertible is expected to catch a fresh audience with an entry price of just £44,950.
Dealers who have previously sold Nobles will still be authorised to undertake service work and honour existing orders for cars. But from the start of the Motor Show, all sales will be direct from Noble Automotive.
The news will leave a number of sports cars specialists in the lurch. TVR recently terminated the franchises of a number of its dealers who were also selling Nobles as it didn't want the two marques lining up side by side on its dealers' forcourts. Now they will be left without both franchises.
davidy said:
Agree with Hughsie what about the TVR dealers on notice???? (though I suspect that TVR will be looking at this Noble move very closely!!!)
davidy
And considering it themselves. Noble are not the first to consider moving this way. Look at Mercerdes...
Out of the big pot of money spent on a car - why wouldn't the manufacturer want all of it if they can get it.
From the purchaser's point of view its good too...at least the service centre doesn't have the excuse of the bits not being available from the manufacturer...
How can the GTC be £5,000 under a 3R - surely there's more work in the roof and isn't the spec identical?!
For the sake of customer satisfaction and retention (oh, yes factory you DO want to keep us existing owners from chooosing another marque at change time - don't you!), I'd have thought a statmement (neigh, a personal letter) from the factory to all recent owners was in order (and would have been polite!)...
I know you are listening factory?!
amg merc said:
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How can the GTC be £5,000 under a 3R - surely there's more work in the roof and isn't the spec identical?!
I had the same thought myself. As someone looking to use the change from my current GTO to GTC as an upgrade path, i hope that the cost doesn't signify a drop in spec in any way. I want a GTC M400
All will be revealed tomorrow i guess......
Also that's the kind of thinkin that would stop me wanting to buy a noble at all (i wish .. lol) .. why do the dirty on the dealers that helped you become successful? they must be seething .. Nobles increasing sales and then they take it away from you .. good move not!
The noble is a great car getting greater, but I can't help that a few customers that would have bought nobles, but who also value a manufacturer taking care of it's dealers would now buy elsewhere. Maybe the factory could issue a statement detailing exactly why they came to this unusual decision .. it must surely be financially driven?
Personally I think its a good move. Cut the dealers out and turn it into a manufacturer only market place. They get to control much more and ensure that there is consistency across the network (albeit small network). Not suggesting that there are crap Noble dealers, but as I mentioned above its a small market and they do need to retain as much control as possible, otherwise they might end up in the same position as TVR are in at the moment - pre-emptive measure? Certainly.
Also, the price reduction makes it a much more positive move. Nobles were always quite expensive compared to the competition. Now with a small reduction they are much more competitive again and puts themselves into a better position. Yes they are specialist, but at this type of level price is still an issue and the customer is likely to be pretty-damn-savvy on what they are getting.
Feel for the owners who have just had £2.5K knocked off their cars. But then again I wouldnt worry too much as the medium and long term will mean much more steady depreciation - and all Nobles are built to customer orders anyway, so supply (rather oversupply) wont be a problem.
joospeed said:
yup I'm sure the ex TVR dealers who were selling nobles are well pis*ed off now .. the loss of two prestige sports cars from their books must leave a sour taste. I'm sure TVR won't be too pleased either to have axed the dealers only to see the Nobles disappear a few months later ..
Also that's the kind of thinkin that would stop me wanting to buy a noble at all (i wish .. lol) .. why do the dirty on the dealers that helped you become successful? they must be seething .. Nobles increasing sales and then they take it away from you .. good move not!
The noble is a great car getting greater, but I can't help that a few customers that would have bought nobles, but who also value a manufacturer taking care of it's dealers would now buy elsewhere. Maybe the factory could issue a statement detailing exactly why they came to this unusual decision .. it must surely be financially driven?
Know what you mean, but you must be aware of the rumours that are abound about the TVR/Noble dealers so its pretty likely something was going to happen. Yes, the dealers have made Noble sucessful. But they are pretty specialist bits of kit and I have heard of lots and lots of Nobles going back to the factory to have small things fixed - at Nobles cost (different strategy to that of TVR's of course). Its a common problem with anything that is sold "through the channel" where the onus is on the manufacturer.
I have worked in software for years and in parts of the sales channel. The poor manufacturers have to deal with all of the crap from the dealers / resellers and get very little reward for it (OK, Microsoft expected here
). But its DEAD easy for a dealer / reseller to just say "not my problem" and "contact the manufacturer" time and time again. Manufacturer looks at the figures and says "hey, we give away this margin for them to sort out the customers and problems - NOT US". Not suggesting it is the case here - but in the software game, this strategy to sales is happening more and more. Sell direct, sell in-direct (through a channel) but cut out the distributors etc. At the end of the day it is financial (regardless of what anyone else says) as cutting the dealers out will mean they make more money (I doubt that the £2.5K price reduction was the dealer margin for example). But what we dont know is the full story and completely agree - it would be nice to know it all. Then again though, its unlikely that either side will say anything as they wouldnt want to have a slagging match (and probably covered in a non-disclosure agreement anyway....). Shame, but inevitable I think...
First the 6-speed gearbox which became part of the std package 1 week after I took delivery (-1k in residual).
Second the M400, the pretented track day car priced too close to the 3R not to depreciate it and with confort enhancement !
Third, this announcement and another 2.5k out of the resudual of my car.
They better have a good backup plan for existing owners otherwise this will be the end of my Noble owership.
MB
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