Affordability was the word I probably used more than any other last year. And I make no apologies for that, because no matter how strong a new car is in terms of build quality, safety, efficiency and driver/passenger appeal, it’ll fall at the first hurdle if it’s overpriced and therefore beyond the financial reach of the consumers it was designed for.
Such a vehicle, dogged by an ill-thought-out, inappropriately high price tag, doesn’t face anything as dramatic as a sudden-death withdrawal from the market where – surprise, surprise – it failed to attract enough orders from potential buyers. Instead, the model’s RRP has to be significantly and embarrassingly reduced. This discredits the manufacturer for initially getting its pricing policy so wrong. And such self-inflicted shenanigans distort and confuse resale values. Also, none of the above does much to improve the attractiveness and credibility of the model in question. What a mess.
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