MDL now left with just Mercedes-Benz

E92

Yup, today is the first official day of Volkswagen Group Ireland, and the end of the MDL era for VW, Audi and Skoda.

There's an interview with the MD of VW Group Ireland(Paul Willis, originally from Belfast) in the Irish Times, and in it he says that there won't be much change but "there is always room for improvements in customer satisfaction".

Not surprisingly he wants VW to overtake Ford but he has ambitions of replacing Toyota as the nation's most sold marque. Similarly he wants Audi to overtake BMW. But it looks like VW is going to be getting the special treatment from him. I would have been thinking that they might be more ambitious for Skoda(he makes little or no refernce to Skoda), I think Skodas sell quite poorly here considering the products the offer(VWs for less cash but more reliability).

He is making a big deal about the new Golf, and now that it has the modern diesel engines I'm sure it'll do very well here, now that diesel is preferred. He's hoping that this car will leapfrog VW ahead of Ford here.

If VW start offering people the cars they want like the Bluemotion Golf and Passat amongst others, restore the reliability to its former glory and drive up dealer standards the way BMW did then they deserve to do better than they are presently.


No mention of Seat either, anyone know why VAG in Germany didn't buy out OHM for Seat?

Clearly Seat won't be growing as a brand here anyway until such time as they come under the Volkswagen Group Ireland umbrella.

Full story here

RedorDead

E92 wrote: »

Yup, today is the first official day of Volkswagen Group Ireland, and the end of the MDL era for VW, Audi and Skoda.

There's an interview with the MD of VW Group Ireland(Paul Willis, originally from Belfast) in the Irish Times, and in it he says that there won't be much change but "there is always room for improvements in customer satisfaction".

Not surprisingly he wants VW to overtake Ford but he has ambitions of replacing Toyota as the nation's most sold marque. Similarly he wants Audi to overtake BMW. But it looks like VW is going to be getting the special treatment from him. I would have been thinking that they might be more ambitious for Skoda(he makes little or no refernce to Skoda), I think Skodas sell quite poorly here considering the products the offer(VWs for less cash but more reliability).

He is making a big deal about the new Golf, and now that it has the modern diesel engines I'm sure it'll do very well here, now that diesel is preferred. He's hoping that this car will leapfrog VW ahead of Ford here.

If VW start offering people the cars they want like the Bluemotion Golf and Passat amongst others, restore the reliability to its former glory and drive up dealer standards the way BMW did then they deserve to do better than they are presently.


No mention of Seat either, anyone know why VAG in Germany didn't buy out OHM for Seat?

Clearly Seat won't be growing as a brand here anyway until such time as they come under the Volkswagen Group Ireland umbrella.

Full story here

Thing is though - his background is in the VW brand and its the groups bread and butter so no surprise with that really.

Biro

E92 wrote: »

Yup, today is the first official day of Volkswagen Group Ireland, and the end of the MDL era for VW, Audi and Skoda.

There's an interview with the MD of VW Group Ireland(Paul Willis, originally from Belfast) in the Irish Times, and in it he says that there won't be much change but "there is always room for improvements in customer satisfaction".

Not surprisingly he wants VW to overtake Ford but he has ambitions of replacing Toyota as the nation's most sold marque. Similarly he wants Audi to overtake BMW. But it looks like VW is going to be getting the special treatment from him. I would have been thinking that they might be more ambitious for Skoda(he makes little or no refernce to Skoda), I think Skodas sell quite poorly here considering the products the offer(VWs for less cash but more reliability).

He is making a big deal about the new Golf, and now that it has the modern diesel engines I'm sure it'll do very well here, now that diesel is preferred. He's hoping that this car will leapfrog VW ahead of Ford here.

If VW start offering people the cars they want like the Bluemotion Golf and Passat amongst others, restore the reliability to its former glory and drive up dealer standards the way BMW did then they deserve to do better than they are presently.


No mention of Seat either, anyone know why VAG in Germany didn't buy out OHM for Seat?

Clearly Seat won't be growing as a brand here anyway until such time as they come under the Volkswagen Group Ireland umbrella.

Full story here

Seat would want to start putting a few dealers in locations where people can actually see them! THey're almost as bad as Subaru for hiding dealers away!
Good news for VW heads though.

crosstownk

E92 wrote: »

in it he says that there won't be much change but "there is always room for improvements in customer satisfaction".

And nobody has more room for change in customer satisfaction that VW. I hope he realises how difficult it is to deal with most VW dealers - especially those in the MSL group.

If you ask me there should be LOTS of change.

Anyway best of luck to him - he's got a lot to do.

E92

crosstownk wrote: »

And nobody has more room for change in customer satisfaction that VW. I hope he realises how difficult it is to deal with most VW dealers - especially those in the MSL group.

Well if dealers are not up to scratch, then he must be prepared to do what BMW have done, be ruthless and get rid of those who are not up to standard, while at the same time drive up standards. Making dealers build glass showrooms is not what I consider to be "driving up standards" by the way. Indeed I think that this is merely window dressing, and I would hate to see small country dealers go out of business because they quite understandably can't afford the high capital cost of investing in the glass showroom. They offer superior customer service and charge far less for servicing too than the large city dealers in my experience. I just think it's such a pity more people aren't prepared to shop around and move away from the large city garages.

We know that MSL Cork lost the VW/Audi franchise, and we need to see more of this kind of thing.

Competition is something I often feel is lacking in the Irish market, largely because Irish buyers tend to buy the same cars over and over again and are very loyal to one particular brand.

What I'm hoping is that VW, Audi and Skoda will undergo a revolution siumilar to BMW, not because I want to see Audi outsell BMW(I don't:D), but because I want to see cut throat competition and I think it would be of enormous benefit to consumers, however consumers have to be more demanding and shop around and test drive as many cars as they can instead of going foir the same old thing every so often like most people do.

I also think that some manufactuers are very lazy here(like Ford and Toyota) only offering certain engines(like Ford and no 1.6 TDCi Focus) or a limited line up(like Toyota not offering the extensive range of engine and trim level options VW offer), because they're so popular and have always been for as long as I can remember, they could do with a shake up too.

I hope VW Group Ireland does well and makes VW/Audi and especially Skoda given how popular Skodas are in other countries more popular, but they will have to improve things dramatically first off.

They do have a strong product line up, not the best but they do have a lot of critically acclaimed models, what they need to do now is offer the lower CO2 "green" versions(like Bluemotion models), up the spec levels(while VW has improved dramatically in recent times to the point where even the Polo has aircon as standard these days, Audi still isn't offering aircon in the facelifted A3 which is inexcusable) and most importantly restore the reliability that the older models had(though this is a VW in Germany thing rather than an importer thing).

I am confident that things will improve, I just have to look at BMW to see what a difference having the car maker rather than the importer can have, and I know Audi globally want to overtake BMW so I'm sure Audi locally will want to do the exact same thing.

maidhc

E92 wrote: »

I just think it's such a pity more people aren't prepared to shop around and move away from the large city garages.

I have never dealt with them much, but I consistently hear good things about Blackwater motors in Fermoy.

Turner X motors will be a sad loss.

ninty9er

E92 wrote: »

I also think that some manufactuers are very lazy here(like Ford and Toyota) only offering certain engines(like Ford and no 1.6 TDCi Focus) or a limited line up(like Toyota not offering the extensive range of engine and trim level options VW offer), because they're so popular and have always been for as long as I can remember, they could do with a shake up too.

No one is a bigger culprit than Toyota in these stakes, picking and choosing randomly which cars get what engine and in what trim level.

However. Ford does offer a 1.6 TDCi Focus.

R.O.R

ninty9er wrote: »

However. Ford does offer a 1.6 TDCi Focus.

But you can't actually order one at the moment, due to supply issues with that engine. Ford are (so my dealer tells me) selling the 115ps 1.8Tdci for the same cost as the 1.6Tdci 90ps.

Interstingly, we had to do a comparison between Irish spec VW's and UK spec VW's for a customer last week. Turns out the UK spec Passat's don't get climate control as standard whereas the Passat Base is the only Irish model with manual Air Con. I also seem to remember that the Irish Highline is higher specced than the UK Highline - hopefully we won't see a "downspec" of the Irish models :eek:

Padraig Mor

maidhc wrote: »

Turner X motors will be a sad loss.

Just passed this morning and the Audi section seems to be completely cleared out. Mostly Mercs parked on the lot out the back. Didn't get a good look at VW section. What would happen to all the Audis that were stocked there? Sold on to trade?

Biro

R.O.R wrote: »

But you can't actually order one at the moment, due to supply issues with that engine. Ford are (so my dealer tells me) selling the 115ps 1.8Tdci for the same cost as the 1.6Tdci 90ps.

Interstingly, we had to do a comparison between Irish spec VW's and UK spec VW's for a customer last week. Turns out the UK spec Passat's don't get climate control as standard whereas the Passat Base is the only Irish model with manual Air Con. I also seem to remember that the Irish Highline is higher specced than the UK Highline - hopefully we won't see a "downspec" of the Irish models :eek:

There won't be a down spec. Last year it was announced that VW were taking over, and the ball started rolling back then. Immediately the Passat lost the steel wheels that came with it, and this was the only country to have a Passat with steel wheels. They were coming in with alloys on them and the dealers were convincing the buyers to part with their cash to opt for the alloys that were already on the car. If they didn't, the car would be delayed while the dealer had to scramble for a set of steels, probably from a Jetta where the buyer upgraded!

R.O.R

^^ I think you'll find the Base Passat comes with steel wheels. Comfortline got the Milwaukee Alloys as standard in March 2007 - before that most vehicles coming in to stock had them as a €450 option.

Biro

R.O.R wrote: »

^^ I think you'll find the Base Passat comes with steel wheels. Comfortline got the Milwaukee Alloys as standard in March 2007 - before that most vehicles coming in to stock had them as a €450 option.

I was told by a woman from VW Ireland last year at the ploughing championships (no less!) that the Passat no longer had steel wheels. I subsequently checked out the website the following day which confirmed what she said. Don't tell me they're back on the menu.

R.O.R

Biro wrote: »

I was told by a woman from VW Ireland last year at the ploughing championships (no less!) that the Passat no longer had steel wheels. I subsequently checked out the website the following day which confirmed what she said. Don't tell me they're back on the menu.

Comfortline no longer gets steel wheels, but the base model still comes with them. The 10 I ordered this year have all come in with hub caps.

RedorDead

E92 wrote: »

We know that MSL Cork lost the VW/Audi franchise, and we need to see more of this kind of thing.

Another 8 (as well as TXM) finished up as Audi dealers on Sep 30th :eek:

-Chris-

RedorDead wrote: »

Another 8 (as well as TXM) finished up as Audi dealers on Sep 30th :eek:

8 more? Who else?

R.O.R

AudiChris wrote: »

8 more? Who else?

Rumours from my VW/Audi dealer..........

Annesley Ballybough are going to VW Commercials only :eek:
Bradys (Castleknock)

He also said the Audi Ireland will be building and running the new Cork Audi showrooms, and the smart money is that the new VW franchise will end up in either Mahon Point or Douglas Road

Any others?

Biro

AudiChris wrote: »

8 more? Who else?

You're out of a job! Didn't you get the memo?

R.O.R

Biro wrote: »

You're out of a job! Didn't you get the memo?

Welcome back from Honeymoon Chris, We clubbed together while you were away and got you this lovely P45 to commemerate the day :pac::pac:

(Don't worry, your's never came up in coversation.)

Bitten & Hisses

AudiChris wrote: »

8 more? Who else?

O'Leary's in Lissarda are gone VW-only as far as I know

maidhc

R.O.R wrote: »

Comfortline no longer gets steel wheels, but the base model still comes with them. The 10 I ordered this year have all come in with hub caps.

My grandfather has a 06 comfortline. It had alloys as standard i though, at least it got alloys and we didn't pay extra!

R.O.R

maidhc wrote: »

My grandfather has a 06 comfortline. It had alloys as standard i though, at least it got alloys and we didn't pay extra!

It might have had alloys, but they definately weren't standard at that time. Perhaps the dealer did a "special offer" on them for you.

_Kaiser_

R.O.R wrote: »

Bradys (Castleknock)

`
Crap! I bought my Passat there and it has 6 months to run on the 12 month warranty they gave me. Presumably this would have to be honoured regardless if the rumor is true?

PattheMetaller

AudiChris wrote: »

8 more? Who else?

JJ Reid's in Letterkenny has lost Audi/Loosing Audi and is/will be VW only

E92

R.O.R wrote: »

He also said the Audi Ireland will be building and running the new Cork Audi showrooms, and the smart money is that the new VW franchise will end up in either Mahon Point or Douglas Road

That means Johnson and Perrot will be getting it then.

I wonder will they be losing the Opel franchise?

After all we know Kevin O'Leary is getting Opel to replace BMW for the time being.

Bogger77

E92 wrote: »

That means Johnson and Perrot will be getting it then.

I wonder will they be losing the Opel franchise?

After all we know Kevin O'Leary is getting Opel to replace BMW for the time being.

K o'Leary's took down all the BMW logos some night last week, the Opal stuff went up the following night.

RedorDead

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

`
Crap! I bought my Passat there and it has 6 months to run on the 12 month warranty they gave me. Presumably this would have to be honoured regardless if the rumor is true?

They still have vw i think. All mentioned here are correct so far.

crosstownk

I don't see how J&P could take on another franchise in either Mahon Point or Douglas Rd. I know they approached BMW sometime before taking the Land Rover franchise and then backed away from it.

Space in Mahon Point is tight with Volvo/Honda/LR and similarly so in Douglas with Opel/Kia (unless they've dropped any of those franchises recently). I'd imagine that Douglas Rd would be the location of choice as competing marques are Kia and Opel. Mahon Point has direct competion with Volvo and LR.

Maybe J&P will get the franchise - it wouldn't surprise me as the Whitakers are shrewd operators. But one thing is for sure, it probably help Audi sales somewhat as I'd imagine AVIS will have a few more Audis on the fleet........

E92

crosstownk wrote: »

Maybe J&P will get the franchise - it wouldn't surprise me as the Whitakers are shrewd operators. But one thing is for sure, it probably help Audi sales somewhat as I'd imagine AVIS will have a few more Audis on the fleet........

It's only VW that's rumoured to be going to J&P, Audi apparently will be looked after Audi themselves.

Whatever they do Volkswagen Group Ireland badly needs to update Audi's website, it's so hopelessly out of date, and they should do it fast.

R.O.R

E92 wrote: »

That means Johnson and Perrot will be getting it then.

I wonder will they be losing the Opel franchise?

After all we know Kevin O'Leary is getting Opel to replace BMW for the time being.

Kevin O'Leary's are moving out Blackpool, so serving the Northside of Cork. Let's hope Cork is big enough for 2 Opel dealers.

E92

R.O.R wrote: »

Kevin O'Leary's are moving out Blackpool, so serving the Northside of Cork. Let's hope Cork is big enough for 2 Opel dealers.

Now that there's KO'L, we have 3 in Cork, PJ O'Hea(city centre), J&P(Douglas Road) and of course KO'L. Prior to that we had 2.

If J&P are getting VW, then this would mean that they are losing the Opel franchise.

bf

Salesman in Annesley (Ballybough) told me they has lost VW, Merc & Audi and were going non-franchise...

R.O.R

Apparently Blackwater Motors have gone today - 90 staff let go.

Not sure if they were due to loose a franchise, or whether it's just due to the slowdown.

mrfamilyguy

thats odd, only heard last week that they were interested in taking the vw franchise for Cork City....

smash

R.O.R wrote: »

Apparently Blackwater Motors have gone today - 90 staff let go.

Not sure if they were due to loose a franchise, or whether it's just due to the slowdown.

where did you hear that?

R.O.R

steve06 wrote: »

where did you hear that?

Our service manager was just talking to service in Blackwater who filled him in on the whole sorry story.

I believe they were on the radio a few weeks ago to dispel the rumours of impending closure.

smash

yea I heard they shot the rumours down

mrfamilyguy

To be honest ill believe it when i see it..surely it would have been all over local radio by now???

E92

R.O.R wrote: »

Our service manager was just talking to service in Blackwater who filled him in on the whole sorry story.

I believe they were on the radio a few weeks ago to dispel the rumours of impending closure.

Ouch.

Very surprised to hear that, it wasn't that long ago when I remember them building that new glass showroom.

If you're selling the third most popular make of car and the second most popular premium brand car and this kind of thing is happening, then I hate to think what more bad news for the industry is set to come.

Hopefully the SIMI will use their considerable influence(and they have because of the double VAT rule for cars less than 6 months old) to make sure VRT is kept the way it is, the last thing that dealers need is yet another change, particularly a change which would make cars dearer.

maidhc

R.O.R wrote: »

Apparently Blackwater Motors have gone today - 90 staff let go.

Not sure if they were due to loose a franchise, or whether it's just due to the slowdown.

... and they were by FAR the best VAG dealer in Cork, for both prices and service.

-Chris-

Wow, that's bad news!

R.O.R

AudiChris wrote: »

Wow, that's bad news!

You think the additional stocking charge from Volkswagen bank might have pushed them over the edge, or is that just my dealer squeezing us for more profit?

alexmcred

Crap thats where I got my Golf from. They had a massive amount of used stock there when I was buying.

-Chris-

R.O.R wrote: »

You think the additional stocking charge from Volkswagen bank might have pushed them over the edge, or is that just my dealer squeezing us for more profit?

No idea buddy, I'm not privy to those kind of changes/charges.

That being said, I'd be surprised if VWGI/Volkswagen Bank were to implement charges that had the ability to break one of their dealers within 9 days... Seeing as TXM are already gone, it'd be counterproductive to lose another Cork dealer over something as basic as stocking charges.

Kafer

Blackwater Motors have NOT gone to the wall.

Are you sure your facts are correct R.O.R?

R.O.R

Kafer wrote: »

Blackwater Motors have NOT gone to the wall.

Are you sure your facts are correct R.O.R?

Not 100% sure, hence the "Apparently".

I don't have any dealings with them myself, but our Service Manager was truly sorry to hear about it as they were always very good to deal with and the extended opening hours were ideal to fit around our customers requirements.

Hopefully the information is incorrect, but with the stories I'm hearing both from the motor trade and financial sector, things are in a very bad way for some of the major dealers.

whiterebel

Rumours around Cork are Noel Deasy's have the Audi dealership, which does seem a strange choice. Can't see Audi themselves starting from scratch, it would take too long to get up and running? VW won't bother me anyway, I wouldn't take another one for free. Hated it when my indepeendent mechanic used to nod his head every time I came in with a problem.....
"Oh, yeah air flow meter, that goes....."
"Timing Belt, who's your mortgage with?"
"Water gathering under the windscreen that slops out and onto the electrics below?"
Blackwater quoted around €225 for an oil change service, and €695 for timing belt (TB was a good price). I asked coudl they do both together and you would have thought I'd asked for the souls of their first born!!! As it turned out, they did the whole lot for €725 apparently "It was easier to do it all together when we had it stripped down":rolleyes:


Sorry, my mistake, Deasy's have VW and Skoda.

Owen

Some mad rumours on this thread eh?

There is no appointed VW/Audi Dealership for Cork yet. 2 garages have applied, but none have a suitable site yet.

Blackwater are not gone to the wall, and are in fact well placed in the market, from their 500+ used cars at the start of the year, they're down to 300 ish, which is good work on their part.

RedorDead

ned78 wrote: »

Some mad rumours on this thread eh?

There is no appointed VW/Audi Dealership for Cork yet. 2 garages have applied, but none have a suitable site yet.

Blackwater are not gone to the wall, and are in fact well placed in the market, from their 500+ used cars at the start of the year, they're down to 300 ish, which is good work on their part.

Silly stupid rumours. Blackwater are probably one of the most prudent with their stock out of all the cork dealers.

E92

RedorDead wrote: »

Silly stupid rumours.

Phew. I did think it was odd after them building that glass showroom not that long ago at all that they could possibly be gone that fast. And if they were gone it would mean that VW would be without a dealer in Cork city and North/East Cork, leaving them with a catchment area of 220,000+ people and no dealer, and similarly for Audi there would only an Audi dealer in Newmarket, and I think people are not going to be prepared to travel that far for their Audi. Thankfully my suspicion was right.

ned78's comments about them reducing their used car stock levels means they're definately here to stay, reducing their stock margins by that much when the market is on the floor is very good going indeed when we know many dealers don't want to take trade ins at the moment.

whiterebel

ned78 wrote: »

Some mad rumours on this thread eh?

There is no appointed VW/Audi Dealership for Cork yet. 2 garages have applied, but none have a suitable site yet.

Blackwater are not gone to the wall, and are in fact well placed in the market, from their 500+ used cars at the start of the year, they're down to 300 ish, which is good work on their part.

According to their website, Noel Deasy's are VW and Skoda........

Owen

Correct me if I'm wrong, but AFAIK, Noel Deasy's are an authorised VW service point, but not for sales. Having said that, I've heard nothing buy good about their servicing, and when I had to order a key for my Mother's car, it was there when they said it would be.