Where have all the buyers gone??

[Kristian]

With my agent having bought a whole heap of Legnums, all the buyers have disappeared! In fairness, it has been a quiet couple of weeks in general for me, but no-one seems to be buying them any more.

Maybe Ben is getting all the business! lol

One workshop reckons everything hase gone quiet because of interest rate rises. Feel free to offer your thoughts.

 

[Hotwire]

Interest rates MAY play a part in it - but I think its a bit of the case everyone was excited at them first being available, now a lot of people are waiting for cars, and when they get on the road, a lot more people will notice them and want to buy. Around June/july with more on the road legnum sales may pick up?!

 

[Sydo]

The current demand has been satisfied.
I already own one. And so does Snickells. Equilibrium has been acheived.

A number of economic factors would be in play. Rising interest rates would be part of it. As would the flucuation exchange rate. Consumer confidence is at a 15 year low.
This would all indicate a slowing market for expensive assets.

What I first said however may be the truth! The current demand (ie, those alert computer geeks who have done their automobile-mobile research) has been filled over the past 12 months! It could take a long time before the general population (ie, non computer geeks) hears of these wicked creatures. Car magazines, Show n Shine meetings, word-of-mouth.. This is what it takes to get to get the word out there. And they are all a much slower form of information than the interweb.

 

[weeaazz]

i was going to import but now theres also good priced cars on carsales.i may be buying anthony-o's car and its a good car with a good price.just he cant show it to me for a fortnight because its getting the rear hub replaced

 

[whiteleg]

I think its also awareness - nobody seems to know about these cars. If you don't know about them you not going to look for one. I only found them by chance and I consider myself reasonably uptodate with imports/cars, you need to get them infront of more people, you won't even find them in magazines like HPI etc.

 

[Guest]

Interest rates is a biggy. But there are alot of lurkers on here just waiting for dollars I suppose. There seems to be a few good cars for sale atm too.
personally I like the fact that its slowed, i like it being unique, but that doesn't help out u importers. Be interesting to hear from Ben.

 

[Guest]

I think there are some/majority of people out there who are too stuck up to realise these are not magna's and are too worried about their own image to acknowledge how good these cars are, especially placed next to a liberty/legacy/stagea...

 

[Guest]

6 months.... Waiting... Saving. No loan for me.

 

[SupremeMoFo]

Personally I'm still considering one but am scared by the wait for one - I need a car much sooner than 6 months.

 

[RaZZa137]

im broke, can't afford a leggie right now, as soon as i have some money saved ill be wanting to import and im willing to wait n pay for what i want......i want facelift, manual, sunroof (not tan leather) (not red) (not mmcs) oh n reasonably low km's, lol

 

[SupremeMoFo]

Oh yeah, and I discovered the prices of 94-96 E34 BMW 540is. You can't tell me you wouldn't consider one...

 

[JRVR4]

Yeah look i think you just need more manual ones coz it seems to be what everyone is looking for.

 

[VR-04-TT]

Kristian, it's quiet everywhere mate, so don't stress. Retail is quiet as...it's also the quietest time of year for a lot of retail stores/chains regardless of their product. I reckon you'll find that it will start to pick back up in June, but wont come to full fruition till about August when people start getting their tax returns.

Wholesalers are real quiet too, even though they're usually a month behind retail. It's a weird time at the moment for business owners...unless you're a tradesman...then you're sweet. Well...all the ones I know are happy with their workload at the moment.

 

[SupremeMoFo]

Kristian, it's quiet everywhere mate, so don't stress. Retail is quiet as...

Very true. I work at Dick Smith and we get given nationwide sales statistics - last week, average sales across the country were $177 per hour worked (target sales is $400/hour for my store! I did $488/hour, because I'm awesome), so yeah it's all pretty weak.

 

[SiliconAngel]

Kris if it were MY money I was sinking into cars for resale, I wouldn't touch VR4's for another two years - consider them in the same category of any cutting edge product market - initial growth is always slow until consumers become aware of the products and their confidence in them grows. Considering we're talking about second-hand cars as well, there's zero marketing budget to push things along.

The only way people even KNOW about them is people who are car nuts, who see one or hear about them and are prepared to do the legwork to find out more. People buy cars by going out and looking for certain models that the already know they're interested in. Some people might come across a VR4 in a car yard by chance, but even after they get excited by the looks they may very well be put off by so many unknown factors, not the least of which is just how little car salesmen know about the cars.

If you want VR4's to become a hot commodity you need to work out how to stick it on the tip of everyone's tongue - get a radical looking performance monster on the cover of a couple of magazines or featured in a film like Fast & Furious - as shit as that franchise is it's marketing power is undeniable. Or hey get one in a podium feature position at Autosalon or something - if a shiny black VR4 with an evo bonnet and various desirable aftermarket parts was the first thing every punter saw walking into to Autosalon nationally they'd be flying off your website.

As others have pointed out, the current uncertainty caused by rising interest rates and slowing consumer demand is also making people a little edgy, but considering the price of these cars compared with everything else on the market I honestly don't think that would be a major problem if people really wanted these cars. The biggest problem that I can see is lack of consumer recognition. And while a simple problem to fix that isn't, you've got a lot better chance with that than affecting the country's economy

Oh yeah, and I discovered the prices of 94-96 E34 BMW 540is. You can't tell me you wouldn't consider one...

Actually yes I can - the problem with second-hand of any expensive brand like BMW is parts still cost as much 10 years later as they did when the cars were new. In the case of BMW that's quite expensive indeed.

The other problem with owning one is everyone will think you're an arrogant tosser.

 

[jungle]

There was story of a purple Legnum in HPI, although it was tested in NZ-nothing but praise.
Not going to get up and look for the issue number,CBF!

 

[SiliconAngel]

I've got an idea there might even be a link to that on here somewhere Simon

 

[Guest]

I think Legnums have had their boom. We saw the same thing also happen when Stageas and Aristos were first eligible for import... you have a big boom when everyone who has always wanted one or wants something unique goes nuts, but then once that initial influx of demand is satisfied they fall off to being in less demand, equal to other models. You'll also find that when a first model comes out dealers are afraid to touch them and there are none locally available, so brokers get more business as that's the only way people can get them (and certainly at reasonable prices). Legnums are at the point now where the inital boom has died off, there is some choice of cars already here (though from what people tell me they are mostly pretty average cars and at high prices), and that's where we're at. Like we saw with Stageas and Aristos, there will always be demand for them just like the 'traditional' Skylines et al, but not as much as there has been initially.

Of all the cars which will be upcoming as new models we can bring in for the next 12 months I can't see any that are going to be big models like those I mentioned here unfortunately, we thought the Caldina was going to be popular but it's actually kind of fizzled. The Gloria could be interesting but maybe just a bit too pricey. At the same time as prices drop on some models and people become more aware of them we're seeing them become more popular... for example JZX100's are finally becoming reasonably priced, and V35's are getting there...

And yes we're finding things are slowing down a bit. Someone on the news last night said "the biggest downturn since the great depresion". For someone who deals in a wholly disposable industry (no one NEEDS kickass sports cars) I don't want to hear that

 

[Guest]

Well if it makes either of you guys feel any better, I just need to find another couple of thousand bucks somewhere (and an excuse to sell the Prelude, not that the NA FWD isn't enough...) and I'll be putting in my order. But I think that Ben's post is pretty much on the money.

 

[BuzzPuppy]

Well, I'm doing my bit to promote the club and its sponsors/supporters. Every course that I teach in I.T. (it could be a five day course, or three short courses), OZVR4 and its vendors get a plug and there's always a bit of excitement as people ask what the hell I drive.

Trust me, if I have to demonstrate Internet Explorer 7.0, Firefox 2.0 and Vista, I have to put something relevant on screen.