Market News
The drop in demand for diesels means prices are falling - and that means there’s never been a better time to buy one, says Dave Phillips
According to Dave Phillips, there’s never been a better time to buy a secondhand diesel Land Rover
THE GOVERNMENT haven’t won any friends in the motor industry by demonising diesel. The result of their ineptness has seen sales of all diesel cars fall dramatically – and that has hit Land Rover particularly hard, as 90 per cent of all new Land Rovers sold in Britain have a diesel engine under the bonnet.
The fact that those Land Rovers are powered by the advanced new generation of super-clean Ingenium diesels has done little to lessen the decline in sales. Our piss-poor politicians have made it plain they want to phase out diesel engines completely, which you have to admit is a bit of a turn-off to anyone considering buying one.
Sales of Land Rover models in the UK fell 20 per cent to 23,815 in March. JLR responded by sacking 1000 contract workers at its Solihull factory, which builds Range Rover, Discovery, Velar and Range Rover Sport models. The Halewood plant, which builds Discovery Sport and Range Rover Evoque, has scaled back production, too.
That’s bad news for JLR workers, but it’s good news for anyone in the market for a diesel Land Rover, because secondhand prices have fallen, too.
This spells the end of the silly-season on secondhand Defenders. A friend in the trade tells me that the prices of typical TDCI Defenders have fallen about £2000 since last year, while the other five Land Rover models have dropped even further.
“Defender prices were over-egged when Defender production ended and the silly prices they fetched two or three years ago could never last,” he says. “This was bound to happen, regardless of the diesel situation, but diesel is definitely a factor in why people aren’t buying secondhand Discoverys, Range Rovers and Freelanders. These models are competing in the volume market and they are up against a lot of competition.
“Let’s face it, Land Rover have had it too good in recent years. They have sold record numbers of non-defender models and as a result the secondhand market is now awash with them. Why would you spend £15,000 on a Discovery with 90,000 miles on the clock when you could pay £200 a month for a VW Passat in the contract hire market? You don’t have to worry about finance, breakdowns or depreciation.
“If you go back ten years ago or more, the first snow of winter would see everybody buying Land Rovers. One year I sold 60 Land Rovers in a month when it snowed, but this year there was no change. There are a lot of other 4x4s out there, including cars with four-wheel drive.
“There’s too much competition in the secondhand market from car supermarkets and the like. Nonenthusiasts buy on price, not aftercare. These days I concentrate on the enthusiast market and don’t bother with the volume market,” he added.
It is easy to look clever in hindsight, but I think it’s fair to say that nobody has shouted louder than me in the last year or two when warning of the dangers of demonising diesel. Yet few in the trade saw this coming. As recently as June 2016, JLR’S managing director, Jeremy Hicks, was bullish about future diesel sales, telling a business briefing in the Midlands: “I am not convinced that we’ll see a wholesale change away from diesel. And we are certainly not seeing any marked shift away from diesel today.”
But by January this year, a JLR spokesman was saying: “Ongoing uncertainty surrounding Brexit is being felt by customers at home – with demand for new cars down 5.7 per cent in 2017. Add to this concern around the future of petrol and diesel engines, and general global economic and political uncertainty and it’s clear to see why industry is seeing an impact on car sales.”
That same month, Mike Hawes, chief executive of the SMMT (Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders) agreed, saying: “Brexit uncertainty, coupled with confusion over diesel taxation and air quality plans, continues to impact domestic demand for new cars and, with it, production output.”
It’s gloomy for the motor industry and the trade in general, as well as private sellers. One of the most depressing aspects of the boom in prices for secondhand Defenders has been the sheer number of deluded owners of battered old Tdi 90s and 110s who believe their rusty £3000 workhorses are suddenly worth £10,000 – and advertise them for sale accordingly. Hopefully they’ll get the message, but never underestimate the greed and ignorance of some chancers.
Buyers, on the other hand, have never had it so good. One of the first signs of a slump in demand is the length of time cars sit on the dealers’ forecourts. They can’t afford to have stock unsold for months, so they drop prices to shift them. This also means they are open to offers, so don’t be afraid to haggle over the price of any Land Rover. These are tough times and the trade is often desperate to make a sale.
There has never been a better time to buy a diesel Land Rover.