Ram Promaster, conversation with it's driver

[Bates]

My cost is through Canton. I ship from factory to Toronto to Pennsylvania. Quirk in the NAFTA rules means the vehicle has to go to canada first (to be a canadian production vehicle) before going back to the US for the upfit work. If I had to ship from my lot to PA it'd add another 5 k to the price.

 

We are double checking on that NAFTA rule but as we understand it now it has to come to Canada first.

 

Nissan doesn't do ship-through.

[radin2son]

What an odd way to have to do business. Be great if you can skip the side trip to Toronto.

[Bates]

It would only save about 800 bucks. Typical bullshit from politicians. Some protectionist reason I'd bet which makes business more difficult for everyone.

[radin2son]

GM is having difficulty keeping up with the demand for their full size vans, Express and Savanah, in part due to the demand for their new midsize pickups built in the same plant but also due to E series van users not wanting to replace them with the new Transit or ProMaster. Seems like the perfect time for Nissan to target both GM and E series replacement buyers.

 

GMC has has an ad out emphasizing "precision." In their family photo, the Savanah is absent. Guess it didn't get the memo.

Edited March 3, 2015 by radin2son

[Chris_CommercialManager]

GM is having difficulty keeping up with the demand for their full size vans, Express and Savanah, in part due to the demand for their new midsize pickups built in the same plant but also due to E series van users not wanting to replace them with the new Transit or ProMaster. Seems like the perfect time for Nissan to target both GM and E series replacement buyers.

 

GMC has has an ad out emphasizing "precision." In their family photo, the Savanah is absent. Guess it didn't get the memo.

 

I don't believe GM is having problems keeping up with demand....The issue is there is no production right now from what I've been told, and won't be until sometime in summer.

[Chris_CommercialManager]

It would only save about 800 bucks. Typical bullshit from politicians. Some protectionist reason I'd bet which makes business more difficult for everyone.

 

So out of curiosity, what are all the 4x4 van buyer's purchasing (dodge??) and what's the pricepoint?  I'd imagine the new sprinter 4x4 up there is going to do quite well.

Edited March 4, 2015 by Chris_CommercialManager

[Bates]

Buying 3500 trucks with spacekap's.

 

http://www.spacekap.com/index.php?page=diablo

 

About 10k cdn for the spacekap. Van's would be better for functionality and math works out well for them if they came in 4x4.

 

Sprinter 4x4 will sell no doubt but the Dodge dealers up here (who have about a 35% market share in Edmonton) pretty much ruined the sprinter business for Mercedes. uphill battle to win the business back. Lots of negativity towards the sprinters up here. Cold and their diesel doesn't work well . My dad's friend has 4 of them and complains about having electrical problems all the time which if often echo'd by people stopping in to take a peek at the NV.

[radin2son]

Word is GM van orders are being cancelled by prospective buyers due to the delay.

 

Another entry into the NV200 market. 2016 gas powered MB Metris. Just under $30K for the cargo and $33K for passenger. The diesel version, Vito in Europe, may come here, sometime. 73% higher payload than NV200. Too many choices... Wait, I already have an NV.

[Bates]

GM has closed the order bank for the year already on their vans. Word is Uhaul placed a massive order (with the demise of the E-Series vans) and ate up alot of the production. GM ever the volume addict shoved everyone else aside to fill this order. Leasing/Rental company I deal with put in an order for 25 (down from about a hundred) and they have zero idea if the order will actually get filled, nor when to expect to get the order if it is filled.

 

no question it's a battle right now and only going to get tougher in the commercial van market with more entries.