MGV8 market news

What has been the effect of currency movements on MGV8s sales? With the substantial fall of Sterling against the Euro, US Dollar and Yen over the last six months what has been the effect on the MGV8 market in the UK? Well there has been a clear increase in demand for both MGBGTV8s and RV8s from enthusiasts in Mainland Europe because they see UK prices at what are for them an effective 25% to 30% discount on prices back in mid 2008. This has been seen by leading MGV8 traders Brown and Gammons, Classics and Sportscar Consultants and Clive Wheatley. Fred Jenns of Classics and Sportscar Consultants says "currency movements have had a pretty dramatic effect on all of us! As far as Euro-land is concerned, we have a lot more activity, but they all tend to want to get things done now as they see that the EU will force the Euro back down, to negate the huge competitive advantage that Sterling is currently enjoying." As a leading reimporter of RV8s Fred reports "the flow of RV8s into the market in Japan (not simply auction) has slowed to the almost imperceptible. We have seen perhaps half a dozen this year, of which all would be considered restoration projects in UK. With the huge economic slump in Japan (was it something like minus 9.2% in last quarter manufacturing figures?) it seems as though everyone has stopped doing anything, just waiting for things to settle down again. Even marine freight space can be difficult to find on occasions as the lines are simply cancelling many sailings and leaving the ships in port for one or two rotations as it is cheaper to pay dock costs than the costs of crew, fuel and wear and tear, plus of course a lot of the traffic that serves Japan and then Europe, originates in China." Then Fred notes an unexpected feature in the market saying "we are starting to get enquiries from Japan to ship cars in that direction again - not RV8s I should add - but reminiscent of 15 or more years ago! It's a funny old World!" (Posted: 3.4.09) So where will the market go? Well Fred says "my guess is that the current distorted rates of Sterling/Euro and Sterling/Yen won't last much beyond the Summer." On a lighter note a correspondent sent a copy of the auction details for the RV8 above and noted "the attached RV8 generated some quite unnecessary comments, some of which might have been physically impossible! And before you ask, it was not 1st April 2009! The RV8 is Woodcote Green 1465 by the way." V8 Register - MG Car Club - the leading group for MG V8 enthusiasts at www.v8register.net