Why is there so little choice

Flashdan

Hey,

Was looking at the Kia site for the UK compared to the Irish site. I want to get a Picanto GT Line S and there is no option for it in Ireland. In fact there is only 2 choices, the same car in Auto or Manual. In the UK there is 6 versions, each with the choice of Auto or Manual.

I know VRT is a thing that makes cars more expensive but can we not get a choice? Is it just a VRT thing or are there other factors? We cant really import anymore because of VRT. NOS and VAT so what the options now?

artanevilla

There are more people in one city in the UK than there is on the island of Ireland. Comparing the car market is comparing apples and oranges.

[Steve]

Bigger market = more viable (see: profit) for manufacturer/dealer = more options available.

You'd see it on most car ads too - tag line of 'car shown not ROI spec / not all options available' yet that same ad in UK usually shows the actual car you can buy. Disappointing but unfortunate reality of being a smaller market.

bazz26

Small cars are gone very expensive to produce compared to before plus VRT adds more so their popularity has dropped in Ireland over the last few years. Very few people are buying new small cars like the Picanto here now, people seem to be more interested in buying small crossovers instead. Ford killed off the Ka and Fiesta while Toyota switched the Aygo to a crossover now.

The Irish distributors will only bring in what they think will satisfy demand and sell here so one trim level in manual or auto seems to do that with many of the autos going to the rental companies I'd imagine. Ireland in a lot of cases also only gets the leftovers that the UK market doesn't need or demand due to us being RHD and being a very small market for car manufacturers.

hoodie6029

Also, Irish people historically bought the cheapest models due to Import Tax and then VRT and that has continued in our buying habits. Dealers stock what they know will sell and that’s what people buy. It creates a vicious cycle of us only having low level trims to chose.

I remember years ago (about 2014) the FIL raging that his local dealer wouldn’t get him the most basic Fabia available that he saw online, steels wheels, keep fit windows, unpainted mirrors and doors handles. The dealer said it was too hard to resell when he got them as trade ins.

I think that there was a max saving of €500 between the models but he was still fuming about having to spend it and he was not a poor man by any means.

That’s just the psychology of Irish car buyers unfortunately. Buy something as cheap as possible, make sure it can resold or traded easily rather than buying the car that you actually want to drive.

Flashdan

Thanks for the comments. Guess I will have to wait for a second hand one from NI so I don't have the pay the VAT. I think the warranty transfers.

goochy

Its a petrol is it not so no NOX TAX ?