Pound slump hits car discounts
The pound’s slump against the euro is having a huge impact on the fleet industry, with Peugeot’s UK boss warning that the slump in exchange rate is the “most important issue” currently facing the sector.
Pierre Louise Colin has said that Peugeot will cut its daily rental volumes from 21,000 last year to 13,000 this year in response to the economic impact.
“Most of the market is fed from European production and obviously when the pound is suffering, as has been the case for four or five months, the pressure on manufacturer margins is significant for a number of brands,” he said.
“We have taken a decision regarding the most expensive sales channels. Some channels are not worth maintaining the volumes to because the economic impact is too excessive.”
This reduction in volumes reflects a drop in Peugeot’s sales performance in the first part of the year. It is down 5.2 per cent in the period January-April with the Peugeot 407 slumping by 55.4 per cent.
“We’ve done no 407s to daily rental this year and lots of competitors have launched new cars,” said Colin. “We’ve lost little in RVs compared to the competition and it’s more difficult to be competitive on contract hire.”
The Peugeot UK boss however is happy with the performance of the 308 which was launched last year and is now the firm’s second biggest selling model.
In other news from Peugeot, the manufacturer has yet to appoint a new fleet boss following the departure of David Peel earlier this year. Peel left the position after just one month to take up a position at Robins & Day.
See also:
No comments yet
