Bye Bay Brazibay?

I know you shouldn't ever believe everything you read on Wikipedia, but I came across this quote on there:

Quote :

Analysts say production will come to an end in Brazil by 2012, when ABS brakes and airbags are scheduled to become mandatory.

Anyone able to expand on this? Any idea what the future holds for new build Kombis in South America?

CHRIS

The text you've quoted has been around for a couple of years.

I've done some research and it looks like 2014 is the date by which 100% of new vehicles in Brazil must have ABS and Airbags as standard. Up to that point it has to be a percentage of a manufacturer's output that fulfills the criteria. VW will either sort out a redesign to make the Kombi comply .... or that will be the end.

Interesting; thanks Tim. Is there any further intelligence from the importers/converters, as it obviously has an affect on their businesses if the vehicles go out of production?

CHRIS

If they know more, I think it's unlikely they'd make it public.

Yep, they're now converting used T5 vans into campers. I think it's an entirely sensible way of ensuring their business continues. It doesn't however mean it's the end of the line for the Kombi. Yet.

No, I don't think they are anticipating the loss of the Kombi for the time being. But what they are doing is looking at diversification. In the same way as a company like VW Kampers moves into supplying new Kombis because eventually - and it's a long drawn out 'eventually' - the supply of decent rust-free Classic Bays will dry up too.

TimV wrote:

If they know more, I think it's unlikely they'd make it public.

Not necessarily; you could create an extra demand if it became known that the vehicle was about to go out of production.

It would be interesting to see if any of the importers is planning to start building up a reserve stock, should production end in Brazil. We've discussed here already that it can be a while between a Bay rolling off the production line in Sao Paulo to turnign a wheel on the roads of the UK.

Finally, IF production did ever end in Brazil, is anyone interested in buying the production line tooling and bringing it here to continue production on a limited scale in the UK? How much has Peppa got in the piggy bank? More seriously, that IS the sort of business idea that I wouldn't expect people to discuss here too openly......

Have fun,

CHRIS

Blue Seagull wrote:

Not necessarily; you could create an extra demand if it became known that the vehicle was about to go out of production.

I'm sure that when 'the end' is in sight, that's exactly what they will do.

There's always an upside, scarcity brings value, look whats happened to the price of a good Samba. In years to come, if production stops, a well maintained Brazi could be worth a tidy sum. (And you get loads of fun in the meantime!)

Guys - FYI - Theres no news to end production as we speak and Danbury carry approx 150 VW vehicles in stock........VW Brazil are flat out with orders too so would not want it to end... Re the tooling I think VW would not sell this (as they didnt with the Beetle and would destroy the machines or at least store them but would not loose control over them)...Hope this helps