www.autoexpress.co.uk/news/370584/uk-tariffs-chinese-cars-under-consideration-amid-pressure-eu
I saw various of these headlines and articles yesterday and all I could think of was that it the best sales driver that the Chinese manufacturers could hope for.
Buy now before the prices all rise!
(Although when you read past the headlines this ain't something that is going to happen overnight or even in the short term - we are not Trump).
Was in looking at a Skoda EV and got blethering to one of the sales guys about the whole EV world and he was saying that their company also have Jaecoo / Omoda dealer and they are turning around transporters of them on a weekly basis. The downside is every one of the owners will expect an after service and maintenance etc from the garage and they just physically dont have the space or resources to do it!
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Seems a shame we have to resort to the Trump method of businesses protection.
The Skoda business are being rather short-sighted aren't they? If they know there is a load of business to be had why aren't they expanding to meet demand?
Anyway luckily EVs rarely require anything other than standard service, unless you bend them.
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>>Anyway luckily EVs rarely require anything other than standard service, unless you bend them.
I finally found the BMW iX1 that met my criteria but sadly it was down in Kings Lynn. But the car was just 2 years old and had its service. dealer was offering £1000 service pack that covered the car till its 5th year.
When I enquired at my local dealer, the servicing is £240 for year 2 and about £360 for year 4
So dealer was in effect charging £1000 for that service and 3 MOTs!
Someone beat me to it whilst I was still deliberating in page 2346542464 of my spreadsheet !
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>> The Skoda business are being rather short-sighted aren't they? If they know there is a load of business to be had why aren't they expanding to meet demand? >>
This thinking is basically why Britain earned the title of 'nation of shopkeepers' and why we now have such a small manufacturing base.
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>>The Skoda business are being rather short-sighted aren't they? If they know there is a load of business to be had why aren't they expanding to meet demand?
Do you mean the Jaecoo / Omoda business? Currently curtailed by the 4 edges of their property but I guess they may look to expand a service workshop elsewhere.
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"Anyway luckily EVs rarely require anything other than standard service, unless you bend them."
Well they can go wrong and they can go very expensively wrong. Suggest you read the latest Car Mechanics issue.
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>> "Anyway luckily EVs rarely require anything other than standard service, unless you bend them."
>>
>> Well they can go wrong and they can go very expensively wrong. Suggest you read
>> the latest Car Mechanics issue.
More of a problem is the lack of local knowledge, lack of support, very poor diagnostic updates. These cars are heavily software controlled, which is buggy. All matters that will improve in upcoming years.
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While I sort of agree ( - I know MG official support in the UK seems poor - ) there are a number of very good EV specialist 3rd party businesses springing up to fill the gap. I know they can't deal with all the "proprietary" software issues but they appear to be a lot more clued up on how to approach and deal with problems than the main servicing dealers, who seem to just depend on getting advice from MG UK for anything slightly out of the ordinary, and which can be very iterative over a long period. (Mind you I remember similar with a Sierra I once had which was forever in and out of the dealers to change yet another part in case it might fix the problem. I remember being grateful it was a company car).
And of course many mechanical parts could, in theory, be fettled or changed by any half decent indy, excepting maybe my old "little man" who wouldn't even stroke the paintwork on my first EV in case he got a shock from it :-) - assuming of course the parts were obtainable, which is improving AIUI
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I won't go into all that was covered, but CM have involved the new breed of EV/hybrid specialists that are cropping up. There's a trade body for them now.
The eGolf E-Axle is a weak point. It doesn't handle the high torque very well. An aftermarket supplier has produced a repair kit which includes all the required bearings and seals and apparently any competent mechanic could handle the rebuild. There's a lot of dismantling involved and the motor has to be removed with the transmission and that involves the high voltage side of things. Therefore specialist EV trained and equipped workshop required and while the car is in pieces, it has to be cordoned off and that takes up workshop space. It all adds to the bill.
I think it was the Ioniq which has a high voltage fuse which blows, but gets hot first and melts the casing. Replacements aren't available so the owner is relying on finding a secondhand replacement. I can't recall what makes the fuse blow, but it's not a cheap fix either.
And as for maintenance, while there's no oil and filter type of service required, evidence of a lack of preventative maintenance on older cars is showing up like seized calipers. The eNiro charging flap apparently needs an occasional oil to stop it jamming for example.
Of course, none of this matters to the first 'owner' on their PCP, but this "they don't need servicing" is a myth. They are a bit more complex than a fridge, but are increasingly being treated as white goods.
Last edited by: ChrisM on Wed 7 Oct 26 at 12:43
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>>While I sort of agree ( - I know MG official support in the UK seems poor - )
Its a wee while since I had a nosey in the MG FB group but last time I looked, folk were still collecting brand new cars with non functioning boot lids and promises of a forthcoming software update would rectify it!
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>> Seems a shame we have to resort to the Trump method of businesses protection.>>
He probably got idea from us. The UK enforced mandatory, protected trade with its colonies for roughly 200 years until c.1850. After nearly a century of free trade ending in a depression,we were forced back into protectionism in 1932 with tariffs on all imports not from the colonies. I remember back in the 60s how expensive German and French cars were. What goes around comes around......
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>> I remember back in the 60s how expensive German and French cars were. What goes around comes around......
It wasn't just cars. There were heavy import tariffs, then on top of that was purchase tax, and there was also retail price maintenance which allowed manufacturers to prevent retailers from cutting prices below what the manufacturer recommended. This resulted in high prices for all sorts of imported stuff. In 1970 I bought a Nikon camera in Singapore for 65 pounds which would have cost well over 200 pounds in the UK.
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>> In 1970 I bought a Nikon camera in Singapore for 65 pounds which would have cost well over 200 pounds in the UK. >>
I did much the same in 1964. I had recently gone to Canada, where I found that a Pentax would cost much less than here. But if I did what a new mate did - import one from Japan - it would be about 60% cheaper again. A no-brainer.
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>> I did much the same in 1964. I had recently gone to Canada, where I
>> found that a Pentax would cost much less than here. But if I did what
>> a new mate did - import one from Japan - it would be about 60%
>> cheaper again. A no-brainer.
For a long time it was possibe to import cars from the EU at a substantial discount to UK prices - often Malta or Cyprus I recall.
No longer an option - Brexit was the final nail in the coffin, EU pricing regulations didn't help. Issues with vehicle registration, type approval certificates, taxation etc etc make personal importing new cars a piece of history.
Camera and other smaller items are less of a probem - they fit in a suitcase and the former can simply be hung around the neck!
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That was Motorpoints business model originally wasn’t it?
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>> Was in looking at a Skoda EV and got blethering to one of the sales
>> guys about the whole EV world and he was saying that their company also have
>> Jaecoo / Omoda dealer and they are turning around transporters of them on a weekly
>> basis. The downside is every one of the owners will expect an after service and
>> maintenance etc from the garage and they just physically dont have the space or resources
>> to do it!
This is a tour of the Tesla premises in the UK. The tesla man said they didn't have any scheduled servicing.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-fl4HBbRdU
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>> Was in looking at a Skoda EV and got blethering to one of the sales
>> guys about the whole EV world and he was saying that their company also have
>> Jaecoo / Omoda dealer and they are turning around transporters of them on a weekly
>> basis. The downside is every one of the owners will expect an after service and
>> maintenance etc from the garage and they just physically dont have the space or resources
>> to do it!
>>
Skoda dealer that looks after wife's Karoq has a 2 mth leadtime for service appointments and dealers often restrict warranty appts so the wait can be even longer. So you may not be any better choosing Skoda over a Chinese brand.
Comments elsewhere about other marques suggest they're all the same - apart from BMW, oddly, who seem to be able to get cars in within days.
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Both the last main dealers I used took a perverse pride in telling customers how long their servicing queues were. “Even our partners have to wait weeks” (VW) “That car out the back has been waiting weeks for parts “ (Suzuki).
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>> every one of the owners will expect an after service and maintenance etc from the garage and they just physically
>> dont have the space or resources to do it!
^Coughs in MG dealer^
We're booking December for services and diagnostics at the moment. Our new sales doubled year-on-year in 22, 23 and 24 and we're seeing/suffering the fruits of that now.
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>>We're booking December for services and diagnostics at the moment. Our new sales doubled year-on-year
>> in 22, 23 and 24 and we're seeing/suffering the fruits of that now.
Our Superb overheated in France mid July last year.
Earliest diagnostics booking was early September.
Only got it in sooner by calling the AA who the dealer was effectively using as triage. They confirmed the cooling fan was u/s.
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>> >>We're booking December for services and diagnostics at the moment. Our new sales doubled year-on-year
>> >> in 22, 23 and 24 and we're seeing/suffering the fruits of that now.
>>
>> Our Superb overheated in France mid July last year.
>>
>> Earliest diagnostics booking was early September.
>>
>> Only got it in sooner by calling the AA who the dealer was effectively using
>> as triage. They confirmed the cooling fan was u/s.
>>
Is the AA dealer supplied breakdown?
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>> Is the AA dealer supplied breakdown?
Yep, bundled with warranty/service plan.
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>> >> Is the AA dealer supplied breakdown?
>>
>> Yep, bundled with warranty/service plan.
>>
Ah, that'll be why you got bumped up the list to deal with.
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Just had an "inspection service due" appear on my 2024 Seat Ateca. About 7 months (8,000 miles) ago I had a "oil change due" light come on duly sorted with some fresh oil.
Car manufacturers think they are being clever having messages for assorted bits of servicing crop up at largely random intervals based upon usage, time. mileage or a combination of all three.
I find it a complete pain - fixed intervals with a clear service schedule - either by time or mileage - would be far better. It would also be much clearer what needs servicing or replacement.
The intent seems to get owners into the dealer to part them from yet more money, and a potential opportunity to try and sell you a new motor (which I don't want). Why they often charge more for a service in the warranty period than after defeats me when a newer car should need less attention anyway.
Why the rant. I am considering using an independant servicing company who claim to service to manufacturers standards - under EU (UK??) law manufacturers are obliged to accept this as proof of proper servicing.
They are cheaper, will collect and deliver back. I can service at sensible intervals - probably once a year for MoT having covered 12-14k annually. Any views???
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Terry it might be worth getting a price from the independent servicing company. However wont the next service be its last under the three year warranty? In that case it might be worth sticking with Seat for peace of mind and then going independent in subsequent years.
My indie claims to service to manufacturers’ requirements and I’ve used him when both our cars hit four years. I still ask him to follow that schedule even though the car is eight years old. His hourly rate is about £100 inc VAT. I must save compared to VW workshop rates but he uses OEM parts so overall he wont be a lot cheaper. Where he scores for me is that he does the work, not some junior trainee, and he offers promptness. I hope our cars prove to be keepers to ten years or more so paying a bit more than just basic vanilla servicing feels worth it but may well be over the top.
Legally of course you are covered if you go to an independent now. But having a legal right if the car then breaks is one thing, enforcing it another.
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Frankly, as above I'd stay in the network until out of warranty (which should hopefully buy a further year's proportion of goodwill).
One other thing that would concern me with a reasonably new vehicle is access to software updates, normally applied at service time and not always available from indies.
That latter is keeping me in the Volvo network, as there have been a few fairly critical update post the warranty period (well, that and the annual service brings Volvo's roadside assistance for "free" - which offsets the cost somewhat).
My Volvo, however, just predates OTA software updates, your Seat may be new enough to have this (possibly subject to a service subscription).
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Dave, you got the boot issue sorted on the MGS6 yet?
Seriously that’s crap service if you have a problem with it car outwith planned servicing.
Any plans to increase servicing/ diagnostic capacities?
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Pure chance but I'm on week 2 of a 12 week lag for my BYD factory order. No tarriffs for me!
Atto3EVO.
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Design..longer range and 5.5secs 0 to 60 is totally adequate for me.
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Looked at the specs and I would want the sunroof and heads up which would mean the £40k+ excellence (not interested in the 0-60 of a heartbeat!). Not sure I like the guitar strings or the wavy dashboard though!
Though I see a few pre reg models now at less than £30k.
Its probably the EV that is closest to my BMW X1 (other than the iX1) in size, shape and space.
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>>
>> Its probably the EV that is closest to my BMW X1 (other than the iX1)
>> in size, shape and space.
>>
I'd have thought the Skoda Elroq (currently well reviewed) would be a close match (though you can forget the sunroof ;-) ).
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yeah went to see the Elroq, as you say no sunroof. Tend to also be dearer than equivalents. The VW ID4 GTX has all my toys.
Though seeing quite a few horror stories in the Skoda FB groups with issues
Here's one from the Enyaq
My 2 month old Enyaq went rogue this morning. Put suitcases in the boot at 04.30 for an early airport dash. The car then locked me out and the key fobs stopped working. The car alarm went off and would not stop for about 20 minutes.
I used the manual door key to get in. The car then immobilised itself. Nothing worked. We were running out if time. I gave up and jumped in my partners ICE Kia. Anyone else had a similar experience?
Across all EV groups there are so many issues that could best be summed up with "worked one minute and not the next" and mostly put down to software issues.
Another from Enyaq
Had my car 4 weeks. MY27. About a week ago I started getting the connection issues that I've seen people talking about, not loading driver profiles, unable to connect via the app, taking minutes to start up etc. Went to use it today and now there's no speedo, no range. I've tried the fuse 9 thing that Google suggests, the car is essentially a brick. Booked in with local dealer on 19th but there's a few days before then that I need a car. Anyone got anything I can try? Absolutely gutted
Bit not just Skoda, here's Cherry Tiggo 8
Ok never had no issues with car until this past month
Anyone else had them? Bare in mind - full tank of fuel, everything is as it should be too..
- driving along & car will just cut out? Happened 3 times now. - when it cuts out literally asif someone would take key out of ignition (yeah its keyless just giving example) - then says 'smart mode' but still doesn't start..everytime go to press start button cuts out (on these times).
- wont start - happened 3 times too - screens dont light up - no nothing at all.
- car wouldnt unlock at all - spent 40mins with a very overstimulated boy (asd/adhd/spd) wanting to get back in car & regulate as been shopping...finally got into the car & wouldnt start - took me 25mins to actually get it to start
Had my car since March & honestly I adore it! Great specs, great for my family & space, love everything about it! - bar the issues that ive stated...
or Geely EX5
App version
Well I finally gave up on the new app and I've reinstalled the old version, as I'm fed up with logging in and out of the new version. For such a huge, high tech company you'd think they could do better than the, less than useful junk they've thrown together.
Now I have a 10 year old diesel so not sure if this is just issues with modern EVs and PHEVs or if modern petrols also have such glitches?
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I suspect they probably do, you're just not reading those forums/groups. All cars depend on software these days.
There are thousands of cars being sold each month so letting your views be influenced by a handful of experiences shared on forums (where people will often go for advice when they have a problem!) probably isn't that representative.
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An interesting thread. I'm so glad that I've kept my 24 years old Japanese barge for so long.
Fingers crossed for the next MOT in three weeks time!
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>>I'm so glad that I've kept my 24 years old Japanese barge for so long
Toyota?
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>> >>I'm so glad that I've kept my 24 years old Japanese barge for so long
>>
>> Toyota?
Not quite, Dog. It's a Mazda.
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Yes but in fact there's not a lot of difference between Excellence and Design if your not bothered about sub 5 seconds 0 to 60.
You give up the glass sunroof.
You give up the HUD Heads up display.
And that's about it. But you gain about 40mi more range.
Both get the 800v architecture so 220kw charging speed.
Both have the same 75kwh blade battery 2.0 which is the safest EV battery....in the world.
Both have Google software in the centre screen. Google maps navigation etc
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Chinese car tariffs - smokie
