[WarwickBoy]

Hi guys,

9 months ago I put down a deposit on a eNiro (white metallic paint) which the dealer tells me is ready.

For reasons I don't want to do into I have decided against it, and looking to keep my Leaf. I can just get the deposit returned and the dealer keeps the car, but are there any other options? I note this is a highly sought after car.

1) Can a friend take on my order, and be first registrant and buy the car?
2) As it is such a great in demand car, can one sell to someone who wants one now at a premium?

Got to decide by next weekend, so any options welcome. As son many people are interested in the eNiro on this forum thought I would share.

Kind regards,

WarwickBoy

 

[Xinix]

'2) As it is such a great in demand car, can one sell to someone who wants one now at a premium?'

Thanks for destroying my faith in humanity just a little more.

 

[Freelancer]

1) Can a friend take on my order, and be first registrant and buy the car?

From what I've seen elsewhere I suspect the answer is no, it would simply go to the next person on the dealers list that wants the car in that colour.
No harm in asking the dealer though I guess?

2) As it is such a great in demand car, can one sell to someone who wants one now at a premium?

Technically there is nothing stopping you doing so but you're unlikely to get much support for that idea on this forum as (like yourself) people have been waiting a long time for their orders.
If you were to sell it on it would arguably be worth less than the OTR price at it would have one previous owner (unlike if the dealer were to sell it).
That said I'm sure if you looked hard enough someone would be willing to pay extra especially if they haven't even put an order in with Kia yet... But as I say, probably not a popular opinion here!

 

[championc]

Bet someone will take your hand off if the grant is scrapped. Someone might take a punt based on this possibility

 

[Peter Devon]

Local dealer said that Kia are very strict about this. If you don't want it it goes to the next person in the queue - not even at the same dealer.

 

[WarwickBoy]

Hi guys,

Thank you for your comments, and just to be clear, and hopefully restore your faith in humanity

• When I ordered the eNiro it was with every intention to buy it. We are EV enthusiasts and have a 1st gen Leaf which we wanted to upgrade from.
• Unfortunately our circumstances have changed, and we cannot now afford it. Hopefully in 2 years time there may be even more affordable options that the eNiro with similar range?

I just thought giving enthusiasts won this forum the opportunity to get one sooner would be welcomed.

Clearly just cancelling the order and handing it back to the dealer would be easier, but I thought I would ask the question.

I'll see what happens.

Kind regards,


WarwickBoy

P.S. To Xinix - To hopefully restore your faith in humanity, I voted Remain and think Brexit is a bad idea. particularity for the UK car industry.

 

[Hugh Mungus]

With respect, there's a strange irony there expressing concern for the UK car industry, having ordered a car built in South Korea.

 

[Gif]

You probably have to factor in the FE versus MY20 issue too. There’s a risk now that anyone buying would want the latter and not be willing to pay a premium for upfront delivery of an older model. Depends how desperate they are though.

Talk to the dealer, they may be willing to sell it to you and buy it back immediately for a few quid more.

My faith in humanity was lost long ago. If you don’t do it someone else will

 

[WarwickBoy]

Most car manufacturing involves global supply chains, and with Just In Time (JIT) manufacturing. So a car built in a given country is not solely built using parts from that country. Any customs changes and delays at borders could affect JIT manufacturing and negatively impact

• UK manufacturer reliant on parts from the EU
• An EU based manufacturer reliant an parts from the UK
• Global Manufacturer (e.g. one in South Korea) using UK parts

So my posture is that any car could have UK supplied parts, and even tariffs between the UK and Korea could have an affect on British manufacturing. I'm not sure if a Kia has any UK parts in the supply chain. Does anyone know?

However I do accept it that buying a car built in Britain is probably most positive for the UK car industry. That said my other 2 cars are British built (A Nissan Leaf (Sunderland) and a Mini Cooper JCW (Oxford). But, like many, I'm afraid I won't stop buying non-UK goods, and the Kia eNiro is a great car.

I don't think Brexit will lead to more Brits people buying UK built cars, but I may be wrong. Let's see what happens?

In conclusion, Hugh is probably mostly correct, but it is not 100% clear cut

Brexit uncertainty sparks collapse in car industry investment

Brexit uncertainty sparks collapse in car industry investment

How Brexit will affect the UK car industry, as Great Britain wobbles towards a deal or a crash out of the EU

www.carmagazine.co.uk

WHAT IS JUST-IN-TIME AND HOW COULD BREXIT AFFECT IT?

What is Just-In-Time and how could Brexit affect it? | OSV

Just-In-Time is a process used by multiple car manufacturers based in the UK. Find out more about how this system works and how Brexit could affect it.

www.osv.ltd.uk

With respect to Kia, the following is mentioned

It's not just damaging manufacturers: why importers are at risk too
We caught up with Paul Philpott, the CEO and president of Kia Motors UK. 'We import 55% of our cars from Slovakia, the other 45% from Korea, and are worried about how we get cars and parts into the UK. What are the implications of tariffs to my business? What regulatory changes might we face? The honest answer is, until a deal is done we just don't know.'
He warned that this ongoing uncertainty was damaging to business. 'There's just no clarity - it's really hard to plan for all the different scenarios. If this uncertainty goes beyond November, we will be in trouble.'

Kia normally holds around 7000 cars in stock across the dealership network, Philpott (above) said. 'And we can store an additional 15,000 cars at the Immingham docks [where Kia imports cars in Lincolnshire]. We can store over 20,000 cars, or around two months' stock and are considering how much we need to do this to balance the risk from Brexit.'

 

[StEVG]

Surely if you are keen for it to go to another EV enthusiast and you don’t want to make a profit, just get your deposit back and Kia will make sure it goes to someone else on the waiting list.

 

[WarwickBoy]

You probably have to factor in the FE versus MY20 issue too. There’s a risk now that anyone buying would want the latter and not be willing to pay a premium for upfront delivery of an older model. Depends how desperate they are though.

Just to be clear, this is not a FE (First Edition) eNiro, this is the 2020 '4' version, which has improvements over the FE which include telematics, LED headlights and a wide screen sat nav (10.5 inches rather than the smaller screen in the FE)

Kia e-Niro gets new high-spec trim level for Christmas

Kia has updated its all-electric e-Niro small SUV for 2020 with the introduction of a new high-end trim level.

uk.motor1.com

 

[Woodulike]

I would be careful about buying it with the intention to sell it on. I had both Kona and Niro on order a year ago and decided to buy the Kona and sell it on for a profit. Yes people on this forum don't like it but I had ordered the Kona before Hyundai increased the price and the gov grant decreased. I effectively had the option to get the Niro at the early price of the Kona.

It wasn't as easy to sell as I thought it would be. The prices listed on Autotrader may have been fine for dealers but I didn't get people biting my hand off. I sold it for the list price after the grant at that time, and yes it was a brand new car with delivery mileage on it. I did sell it for more than I had paid for it but only because of the price increase/grant decrease.

It looked similar with the Niro. When we first bought it I wasn't that happy with it, it had the clicking noise issue, and thought about selling it as soon as it was fixed. My dealership wasn't interested in helping and messaging a few people who were selling them privately I might have got the normal selling price but probably not much more.

I didn't get any serious interest from this forum or the Facebook groups for either of the cars. The Kona sold through Autotrader.

Now the waiting list isn't meant to be that long. When I was selling the wait list for both cars was 12 months+

On the other hand, if you have someone who wants to buy it then there's nothing to stop you selling it to them, and I would say that your dealer should be able to help swap things over so the paperwork is in their name but who knows if they will or not. Kia aren't so tight on the car going to the original customer as they say they are. I know the dealership I ordered from had an order not taken up after the car had arrived with them and they were able to offer it to the next customers in their order queue, and it went to the 3rd in line as the first two wanted to wait for the colour they had ordered rather than have one straight away, either waiting for the right colour or waiting for the MY2020 model.

Whatever you decide to do hope it goes well but I'd want an option lined up before the car arrives, especially if keeping it or losing money isn't an option.

 

[StEVG]

I think we should all be wary about the future value of Kia pure electric vehicles if a report in the Times today is to be believed. It says Kia are going to raise sales from 700 last year to 9,000 this year. That won’t just be e-Niro’s but also include the e-Soul.

 

[Cantonalegod]

I would be careful about buying it with the intention to sell it on. I had both Kona and Niro on order a year ago and decided to buy the Kona and sell it on for a profit. Yes people on this forum don't like it but I had ordered the Kona before Hyundai increased the price and the gov grant decreased. I effectively had the option to get the Niro at the early price of the Kona.

It wasn't as easy to sell as I thought it would be. The prices listed on Autotrader may have been fine for dealers but I didn't get people biting my hand off. I sold it for the list price after the grant at that time, and yes it was a brand new car with delivery mileage on it. I did sell it for more than I had paid for it but only because of the price increase/grant decrease.

It looked similar with the Niro. When we first bought it I wasn't that happy with it, it had the clicking noise issue, and thought about selling it as soon as it was fixed. My dealership wasn't interested in helping and messaging a few people who were selling them privately I might have got the normal selling price but probably not much more.

I didn't get any serious interest from this forum or the Facebook groups for either of the cars. The Kona sold through Autotrader.

Now the waiting list isn't meant to be that long. When I was selling the wait list for both cars was 12 months+

On the other hand, if you have someone who wants to buy it then there's nothing to stop you selling it to them, and I would say that your dealer should be able to help swap things over so the paperwork is in their name but who knows if they will or not. Kia aren't so tight on the car going to the original customer as they say they are. I know the dealership I ordered from had an order not taken up after the car had arrived with them and they were able to offer it to the next customers in their order queue, and it went to the 3rd in line as the first two wanted to wait for the colour they had ordered rather than have one straight away, either waiting for the right colour or waiting for the MY2020 model.

Whatever you decide to do hope it goes well but I'd want an option lined up before the car arrives, especially if keeping it or losing money isn't an option.

We were lucky with our Kona after deciding we didn't want to keep it and got, what sounds like, pretty much the same deal as @Woodulike, being an early order, but with a well known EV trader.

There was not that much interest, and with delivery times reducing, and production numbers increasing I would not like to try it again!

 

[Xinix]

I think we should all be wary about the future value of Kia pure electric vehicles if a report in the Times today is to be believed. It says Kia are going to raise sales from 700 last year to 9,000 this year. That won’t just be e-Niro’s but also include the e-Soul.

I think the e-Niro is still one of the most compelling EVs, and it still has one of the best if not the best price / range ratio of all EVs out there. So my guess is that t's going to keep its value for a while

 

[StEVG]

I think the e-Niro is still one of the most compelling EVs, and it still has one of the best if not the best price / range ratio of all EVs out there. So my guess is that t's going to keep its value for a while

I have opened a separate thread on this Times article as it is not just related to the e-Niro.

 

[WarwickBoy]

Surely if you are keen for it to go to another EV enthusiast and you don’t want to make a profit, just get your deposit back and Kia will make sure it goes to someone else on the waiting list.

Despite a few PMs I've reflected on this thread and have done what you suggest Thank to everyone who offered advice..

 

[Bertie]

I think the e-Niro is still one of the most compelling EVs, and it still has one of the best if not the best price / range ratio of all EVs out there. So my guess is that t's going to keep its value for a while

Yes, I think it's still the best EV currently available if you take price/range into account, and nothing in the pipeline for 2020 seems likely to beat it either. However, the 2019 price bubble for Kona & Niro was due to unique circumstances. As waiting lists fall (assuming coronavirus doesn't cause delays), these cars will depreciate as every other car does, although I imagine they will hold their value competitively.