New Pricelist, Effective 01/05/2020

[SRGTD]

The latest UK pricelist effective 01/05/2020 is on the VW UK website - link;

https://www.volkswagen.co.uk/files/live ... celist.pdf

When I configured a GTI+ a couple of months ago, the base list price was £23,520 (including first £210 year’s VED). Base list price now is £24,875, including the increased WLTP-based first year VED of £540. Removing the VED from the ‘before’ and ‘after’ base price, and the resultant figures are; £23,310 (old list price) and £24,335 (new list price). That’s an increase of just under 4.4% or £1,025. I’m assuming that list price on other models has also increased by a similar % amount too. Some of the options prices have also had small price increases.

When we come out of lockdown, I’d have thought that VW would have been keen to kickstart their business back into action by selling some cars, so the timing of a fairly sizeable price increase seems strange to say the least. Maybe VW will partially offset the price increase with improved incentives compared to what’s currently offered (increased finance deposit contribution, lower APR’s). However, many people’s financial circumstances will have changed since before the lockdown, and understandably, buying a new car is unlikely to be a priority for many. Therefore, improved incentives is unlikely to have customers flocking through the showroom doors, and VW might not want the financial risk of lots of cheap rate finance deals if there’s a risk of customers not being able to keep making their monthly payments. Maybe dealers will be much more willing to negotiate discounts off VW’s list prices? Broker discounts are still around 15-16%, which is the same as they were a couple of months ago.

I know no one pays list prices and there’s lots of if’s, but’s and maybe’s, but it’ll be interesting to see what happens when we get out of lockdown................

[OomStu_ZA]

The price increase took effect here in SA during lockdown as well with the previous list price of R398000.00 (16900 Pound) now upped to R401000.00 (17409 Pound) pre options ticked in the online configurator.

We only have one Polo GTI model in SA and with all options ticked except NAV its approx. R80000.00 (3400 Pound) extra totalling R481000.00 (20450 Pound) based on the new list price.

[monkeyhanger]

SRGTD: Have VW given any extra equipment for that price rise? They usually do to soften a blow- add equipment that cost them £150 and jack up the price by £600.

It's pretty bold of them to increase prices by 4.4% in 1 hit - even in times of no financial crises, VW usually do a cheeky 1-1.2% rise twice a year.

This COVID19 pandemic is going to polarise spending power. Before this kicked in,most people were in a steady job with no worries. Fast forward to today and there are 2 types of working people:-

1. Key workers, still working, still getting full pay and very few outlets to spend their disposable income and may be working from home, reducing their commute costs. I'm in that camp.

2. Furloughed workers, on 80% pay which they may be receiving later than their regular pay would hit the bank and wondering whether they'll have a job to go back to.

Group 2 might be seriously cautious about taking on debt when this is all over and may be skint for quite a while afterwards.

Group 1 probably have no issues in jumping into a new PCP.

Both our GTI+ were bought outright and I can't see myself in a rush to change them when they reach 3 years old unless they become seriously unreliable in the last year of warranty. I could see us keeping them a very long time and then switching to electric when the masses do.

New car prices in general have gone silly in the last 10-12 years.

Rewind to early 2009 and the runout MK5 Golf GTI was a £21k RRP car. We'd just been in the recession a year and the UK Government dropped VAT from 17.5% to 15%. So cars became cheaper very briefly. The car companies soon jacked up their prices to fill that gap.

The scrappage scheme came in and people were getting an extra £2k off their car if they had a banger to chop in. Great? Nope, the car companies hacked up prices by £2k to cover it, so if you had a banger, you were no better off, if you didn't then you were £2k worse off.

The MK6 Golf GTI came in with almost a 20% rise for what was basically a minor facelift and an extra 10ps power. From then, VW price rises have massively outstripped inflation (so have the other marques) in a time where wage growth has been minimal. My wage has gone up about 30% in the last 12 years, half of that due to promotion. In the same time period, the lowest denominator variant of the Golf GTI has gone up by about 57%. Something's wrong somewhere.

What helps VW justify this latest price hike is that the latest Polo is almost as big as a Golf, well equipped and considerably cheaper, at a time when the MK8 Golf isn't yet available so the Polo would seem a popular proposition on paper and VW want to cash in.

I hope they don't increase deposit contributions further, that just erodes residual values. Cheap PCP rates are the way to go to get people buying, but VWFS will take a hit.

[POLO Clive]

Wow, to buy my car now (with all my options) would be £21515

I paid £18952 with discount

[SRGTD]

SRGTD: Have VW given any extra equipment for that price rise? They usually do to soften a blow- add equipment that cost them £150 and jack up the price by £600.

It's pretty bold of them to increase prices by 4.4% in 1 hit - even in times of no financial crises, VW usually do a cheeky 1-1.2% rise twice a year.

Looking through the spec details in the pricelist, it doesn’t look as if there’ve been any changes to the spec compared to what it was before the price increase - at least, not for the GTI+. If they’d included, say, dual zone climate control (most markets get dual zone climate control as standard in the GTI), that would’ve help to soften the blow, but I can’t see there’ve been any spec / equipment changes at all.

Maybe VW’s tactics is to increase the price now with no spec enhancements at a time when virtually no one will be thinking about buying a new car, and then change the spec as part of 2021 model year changes (production of the next years model usually starts in build week 22). They can then promote / market any extra equipment that might be included in model year 2021 cars as being included at no extra cost.

[monkeyhanger]

Additional equipment at no extra cost for MY21? It's not like VW to give away anything for nowt. Can only see that happening if sales tank.

Obvious spec enhancement woukd've been voice control - the hardware is already there, just a license to apply. A "£200" enhancement that costs VW nowt extra.

[monkeyhanger]

Just had a good look through the brochure and pricelist GTI/GTI+ seems to get nothing new, nor do any of the lesser trims get anything new that translates right up through the rest of the range as standard equipment.

What a rip off.

[Vag8]

Just had a good look through the brochure and pricelist GTI/GTI+ seems to get nothing new, nor do any of the lesser trims get anything new that translates right up through the rest of the range as standard equipment.

What a rip off.

This increase has done me in.... it’s taken months to convince the other half to replace our Leon Fr for the Polo GTi and plus was my preferred spec as equipment levels less the climate was effectively the same, but I’m sorry 24k is just to much....

The polo is a good car but Vw group are starting to take the P on there prices and remember folks Vw was always about quality and reliability but now it’s plastic door cards and lower trims, stripped back specs and high costs for the extras - they are making nice looking cars on the outside but the interior quality of the T roc and T cross shows that they are making savings and not passing them on.

Looks like our other option BMW 1 series will win as I can but that for less than 24k as can I get a A class merc...
yet a golf with similar spec .... no

[Vag8]

Just had a good look through the brochure and pricelist GTI/GTI+ seems to get nothing new, nor do any of the lesser trims get anything new that translates right up through the rest of the range as standard equipment.

What a rip off.

This increase has done me in.... it’s taken months to convince the other half to replace our Leon Fr for the Polo GTi and plus was my preferred spec as equipment levels less the climate was effectively the same, but I’m sorry 24k is just to much....

The polo is a good car but Vw group are starting to take the P on there prices and remember folks Vw was always about quality and reliability but now it’s plastic door cards and lower trims, stripped back specs and high costs for the extras - they are making nice looking cars on the outside but the interior quality of the T roc and T cross shows that they are making savings and not passing them on.

Looks like our other option BMW 1 series will win as I can but that for less than 24k as can I get a A class merc...
yet a golf with similar spec .... no

[monkeyhanger]

The broker price on drivethe deal is still OK, higher prices offset by highrt levels of discount. Red GTI+ with a post price rise RRP is coming up at £20984 with a discount of £3890. The discounted price hasn't changed massively - maybe £700 since I bought the wife's GTI+ that is approaching a year old. We paid about £20900 including white paint and Brescia alloys.

In August 2018, My red GTI+ with Nav, reversing camera and Brescias cost me about £20800. So the RRP has gone up noticeably, but has been offset somewhat by the deposit contribution that wasn't available when we got ours.

[Ima]

I’m glad I ordered in February. The Carwow price from the same dealer, same spec as I’ve ordered with white, black pack, climate and Brescias is remarkably around £1200 more expensive now with 13.5% discount. They are still offering the biggest discount on Carwow compared to the other offers of between 8% and 11% as before. Basically wipes out the deposit contribution and would now have been over my budget and I’d likely have gone for something else. Crazy that they still don’t include climate a standard which is very mean. It’s only keywokers who could risk PCP now as those furloughed and obviously those made redundant couldn’t contemplate a new car. There may be pent up demand but in a much smaller group of people in a position to pay so it seems strange to make such large price increases at the moment.

[monkeyhanger]

I’m glad I ordered in February. The Carwow price from the same dealer, same spec as I’ve ordered with white, black pack, climate and Brescias is remarkably around £1200 more expensive now with 13.5% discount. They are still offering the biggest discount on Carwow compared to the other offers of between 8% and 11% as before. Basically wipes out the deposit contribution and would now have been over my budget and I’d likely have gone for something else. Crazy that they still don’t include climate a standard which is very mean. It’s only keywokers who could risk PCP now as those furloughed and obviously those made redundant couldn’t contemplate a new car. There may be pent up demand but in a much smaller group of people in a position to pay so it seems strange to make such large price increases at the moment.

Drivethedeal is almost always cheaper than Carwow - certainly for Polos. They're offering about 16% discount right now on the GTI+ and I got both my GTI+ from Listers Nuneaton via there.

[lancslad1985]

I just got a quote on a reef blue gti+ on DTD and it was only £100 cheaper than carwow to be fair. I guess it depends where you live for carwow.

I have to say, with the daft price increase from VW I may just hang on to my car for a bit longer. I’ve no pressure to change but just fancied one. I do hope VW aren’t going to do a Peugeot and start charging too much for their cars. I can already get a 1 series, A3 or a class for the price of a 1.5 golf (matching like for like grade).

[SRGTD]

A Carwow affiliated dealer was quoting me a discount back in February that was more than the Drive the Deal discount. Admittedly, it wasn’t that much more - from memory around a couple of hundred pounds - but it was better than the DtD figure at the time, and the Carwow dealer was pretty close to where I live.

[Ima]

I used drive the deal to haggle down the car wow price with my local dealer and in the end with a great part ex offer there was only a few hundred in it which for me meant less hassle from no travelling and that to me was worth it.

Interestingly I’ve looked at drive the deal and same spec car with them is now £1000 more than I paid in February. My wife wanted me to wait until the summer to change and so glad I didn’t listen, not that she’d say any news there