Strength of Aussie dollar pays off, with vehicle manufacturers to offer premium products at no extra cost
By Gary Worrall | May 17, 2010
The continued strength of the Australian dollar on overseas currency markets should lead to better value in the local truck market, but not necessarily cheaper ones.
This is the message from a number of truck importers who say the continued strength of the dollar against home currencies is an opportunity to improve the specification of the trucks coming to Australia without adding to the purchase price.
The big winner in this debate may turn out to be the drivers, with expensive safety equipment such as airbags and traction control able to be built into new trucks at virtually no extra cost by the time the trucks arrive in the dealership.
Although there are no specific plans on the table at the moment, Mercedes-Benz Australia-Pacific boss Ken Matthews says he would rather use the strong dollar to offer a broader range of safety equipment as standard without increasing the retail price of the trucks.
Matthews says while some safety equipment can be retro-fitted, it is often more expensive than having it installed during manufacture.
Other manufacturers reported similar plans, saying the strong dollar is an opportunity to improve the retail offering at no additional cost, allowing them to bring in premium trucks at mainstream prices.
Despite this planned increase in the value equation for truck buyers, it seems the message still has not reached the finance companies because many truck deals are failing due to a lack of money.
With dealers and manufacturers using tracking software to follow up on quotations by sales staff, there are reports of apparently otherwise strong proposals based on healthy business plans that are failing to gain approval from banks and finance companies.
While there is no quick solution to the problem, there are concerns among dealers that small operators may be missing out on business opportunities that require modern equipment because of difficulties in obtaining finance.