Octavia RS MY12 Changes

[BlackSuperb]

Even the standard one in my wife's Mazda 3 has a GPS, and bluetooth connectivity for the phone which is voice activated.

[woofy]

Yep its a bit of give with one hand and take with the other. On the other hand they included the Columbus last year for no price rise, but at one point the full interior alarm that I have was standard. I recall them dropping the heated seats to bring them back soon after as well.

[woofy]

The Mazda 3 thing is a bit different, its a portable system plugged in and integrated. Mazda still don't really have an official system, they keep playing with aftermarket options. Its a wonder that TomTOm don't get in on the action with a Major dealer and make the GPS side of the software at least.

[K1W1]

If Skoda want to put their price up $500 that's their call and they will have to live with the decision but if they put the price up $500 and says that's it's because they have Bluetooth that is totally laughable and completely unjustifiable and I suspect something that dealers are doing rather than Skoda HO..
A USB Bluetooth dongle costs retail less than $10, I saw them for $4.95 a couple of weeks ago. The $10 module and perhaps the microphone (another $2 worth of hardware) are the only hardware that needs to be installed in the MY12 cars. Everything else is just turning on existing firmware in the cars ICE system.

[pologti18t]

If I am not mistaken the RS has had the same price for 2yrs. I suppose a price rise was on the cards anyway.

If the manual car now comes with BT AND a multifunction steering wheel I wont complain too much about the price rise.

[Rosie]

The dealer has just rung saying another one in the same colour is coming but it is MY12 spec which will have standard bluetooth/multifunction steering wheel as standard. They can do the same deal + $500 (cost of price rise due to bluetooth).

Does this sound reasonable/correct?

What it sounds like to me is a case of a dealer doing what dealers do best.

For starters, the MY12 spec cars were scheduled to start coming off the line in week 22 of this year, so to say that one is "coming in" sounds dubious, unless he meant coming in in December. If the factory build plate, not the ADR compliance plate, is not dated after week 22 it's an MY11, and not an MY12.

I would think that the Skoda Australia pricing policy has more to do with the European production cost rises (when was the last time any new car model price went down?) post the turmoil many European economies have suffered thanks to Greece falling over, which would then be offset to some extent by the current strength of the Aussie dollar. The pricing factors are worked out by Skoda in the Czech Republic, and so in the words of Quasimodo, it's just a hunch, but I suggest the dealer is not being totally honest with you about having to pay an "extra" amount of cash for a "standard" piece of equipment.

[VAG newbie]

What it sounds like to me is a case of a dealer doing what dealers do best.

For starters, the MY12 spec cars were scheduled to start coming off the line in week 22 of this year, so to say that one is "coming in" sounds dubious, unless he meant coming in in December. If the factory build plate, not the ADR compliance plate, is not dated after week 22 it's an MY11, and not an MY12.

I would think that the Skoda Australia pricing policy has more to do with the European production cost rises (when was the last time any new car model price went down?) post the turmoil many European economies have suffered thanks to Greece falling over, which would then be offset to some extent by the current strength of the Aussie dollar. The pricing factors are worked out by Skoda in the Czech Republic, and so in the words of Quasimodo, it's just a hunch, but I suggest the dealer is not being totally honest with you about having to pay an "extra" amount of cash for a "standard" piece of equipment.

Fully agreed. The price rise has nothing to do with Bluetooth being added. It was added by Skoda Aus to hopefully justify the rise in cost so that Skoda in Aus remain a good value for money car.

Recently I read an article on Private Fleet, we inn OZ are paying up to more than twice as much as UK for certain cars, particularly the prestige ones like MB and BMW. Even if you take the cost of shipping into consideration, it won't make that much difference. So the price of Skodas we get here is actually quite similar to UK and Skoda AUS has been very generous in that regard.

But that means there is fairly little margin for Skoda Aus to absorb if the Czech factory raise their price. With such a high demand for Skoda cars world wide (the RS being one of the most popular cars), I don't see why they wouldn't raise the price. But as Skoda is still trying to built the brand name here in OZ, if they raise the price here without good reason, it will hurt its sale, which is already struggling despite constant improvement.

So best way is to add a $10 equipment (as K1W1 says), which has a RRP of $500, to justify the price rise.

[Rosie]

Recently I read an article on Private Fleet, we inn OZ are paying up to more than twice as much as UK for certain cars, particularly the prestige ones like MB and BMW.

Import taxes vary between countries, but the problem here for any overseas manufacturer is that the prestige market in Australia is a small sector in a country that is itself a small market.

I work/travel overseas a fair bit, and the range of models of cars is far greater across the board in Asia than it is here in Auistralia. Where populations are far greater than here, so the markets are bigger for car makers. Especially in many countries where there is only a developing middle class, and while the divide between rich and poor is wider, the rich are very, very rich, and big in numbers. The population of Greater London alone is about a third of the Australian total population. The dealers here just don't want to import heavily optioned floor stock that will end up a clearance model before they can sell it.

[MarksVRS]

From what I have read and heard, the Australian Octavia's are much better equipped than Euro equivalents, so if the price is anywhere near similar, we should be grateful. I personally wouldn't be making too much noise over a $500 increase after 2 years, particulalry if the manual comes standard with the multi-function steering wheel, which is the only thing I regret missing out on.

Until now, this has only been available with the upgraded head unit with GPS which basically makes it a very expensive set of steering wheel buttons! So if you are interested in a manual RS, you are getting a bargain (comparatively speaking)!

[Rosie]

I personally wouldn't be making too much noise over a $500 increase after 2 years, ....

I fully agree with the comment above, but the explaination said to be given by the dealer in the OP just isn't credible. MY11 cars do not have Bluetooth as standard, so on a new car the dealer must have had it fitted, and at cost price to the dealership, whose salesman now wants to pass that expense off at the "dealer fitted option" price to a buyer.

I bought my RS ex-floor stock. It had optional sunroof and MDI fitted, but the advertised price shown was the list price without options, as on the Skoda Australia website. When I went to check the car out the dealer then tried to jack the price up, saying that it had been a mistake and that I would have to pay for the options. I told him that I may have been born at night, but it wasn't last night, and that I was not in the habit of paying for other people's mistakes, so either the price stood or we could both stop wasting each other's time and I'd go back home. He then tried to make it up on the trade in, but I am pleased to say that all up I got a good deal, and got the options and colour I wanted without having to wait 4 or 5 months.

I seriously doubt that any MY12 spec cars have hit our shores yet. I'd be telling the dealer that I know the difference between a build plate and a compliance plate, and that the date on the compliance date isn't the one that determines the build year, so I wouldn't be a bit impressed if I thought they were trying to pass off an MY11 car as an MY12 one. I'd also tell them that I know MY11 cars don't come standard with Bluetooth, and that to pass their costs to customers for options they haven't specified isn't going to do their reputation much good on forums like this one.

New car sales figures are down almost 9% in the last year. Now is not the time for dealers to try to make money by trying to pull the wool. In the current climate, any dealer with a genuine buyer in front of him is a lucky one. If I were even inclined to still want to talk with them, I'd tell the dealer mentioned in the OP that if they seriously wanted to sell me a car, and put a bit of polish back onto a rapidly tarnishing reputation, then they'd better review their sales strategies before getting back to me with the pricing adjusted in such a manner as to make me want to buy it.