Bad news for Swift
From our local newspaper - shame for those affected by redundancies
https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/news/business/swift-caravan-redundancies-factory-closed-3714687
Comments
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https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/news/business/swift-caravan-redundancies-factory-closed-3714687
Not really that surprising. I think quite a few companies in the LV sector are near the edge.
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i can certainly see how 'bread and butter' mid range MH sales can be affected by this latest tax and many of swift's models are at (or just over) the £40k threashold.
annoying as the recent trend has been for an increase in their MH production over caravans....so they start ramping this up and along comes a govt who cant resist hitting a good thing.
i wish them well.
OTOH, at the other end of the price scale, i was at my dealers last week and they had (another) terrific NEC show, loads of orders and new showroom in the pipeline..
just look at the new Travelworld showroom, now exclusively for Hymer Group products.
its easy to hide £2.5k tax in a £150k MH price tag....not so easy if the van is £41k.
prior to the new tax, i had only read good things (bottom line) on a few converters.
in a nutshell....
"In May, Swift Group announced its turnover had risen to £287.8m due to increasing sales.
Since then however, Swift has blamed the introduction of Vehicle Excise Duty – which sees buyers now forced to pay a fee of up to £2,135 when they first buy a motorhome – for reduced sales in the industry."
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I live in the Swift area & Swift + Bae(Brit aerospace) are well known for their constant boom & bust claims over decades. They are said to manipulate the media to justify the shedding of jobs on a regular basis. I’ve known a few employees of both company’s over the years & they are not a caring employer☹️
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Spot on Rocky. Hence partly why their products have reliability issues. If you don’t care for your workforce, your workforce will have ways of getting their own back! I do hope those made redundant have got work, and that those with Swift products aren’t affected badly.
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Agree with both Rocky and TDA. I always found that the more you treat your employees (or who you look after) better (praise, care...) the better the finished 'product' and the more flexible they become when you need something often at short notice.
A very good example of why 'profit not friends' does not get the best out of people.
I'm a Swift owner and reading this I'm not so sure about another one.
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With the very best will in the world you can't sell something which people aren't willing to buy and knocking the company makes it worse for all concerned. If UK car sales have reached an all time low the same will be happening in other industries connected with travel.
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Perhaps build quality is finally coming home to roost. Whilst the tax increase is unwelcome, I'm not sure it would make that much difference to a decision on a purchase of 40K plus.
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I worked for 37 years at the Filton plant. The ownership changed hands a few times, over the years. Looking back, I think they were a very good company to work for, certainly looked after me.
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