Re: Tamiya price increase...wow!

[AndyD]

Same thing is happening in the camera world; all major manufacturers are increasing prices.... 

[tiger205]

well what can you say to that, its hard to believe that prices are up by that much, if prices were to go up,then they should of atleast waited for the recession to end. if tamiya aint carefull they will go the same way as airfix !

          Tony

[Abo]

simple fact  is that people just won't buy them unless they have a wedge of cash burning a hole in thier pockets. I always likes Tamiya 1/35 products but I could never justify thier OLD 1/16th prices nevermind the new ones, no matter how much better than HL they are. Its just as if they don't understand the word recession.

I'm looking for a new car and I went to Honda, the prices have dropped a little bit but nothing to reflect the situation they are in, no matter how the salesman tried to spin it to me! I will probably go elsewhere, their loss. It doesn't help me having the same opinion of them as I do solicitors, estate agents and slugs.

[Rivetcounter]

Well before anyone starts to have a pop at Tamiya they should look at the greater picture as Ex-pat says the Yen is gaining strength and on top of that flash Gordon has slashed the interest rate this has had a negative affect on the £pound causing it to devalue against every currency on the market at a dramatic rate http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/fds/ ... efault.stm car's are something different the car industry has dropped to it's lowest level on sales for 20 years this will cause the dealers to slash the price of cars don't forget most of these cars are made in Europe so don't have far to come, still so long as fat cat CEO's at the banks are getting there multi million £pound bonuses and incentives everything is OK

[NigelDerEnglander]

Hi folks,

Without wanting to get too serious on what is a model tank website, we have to realise that the last 15 years have had historically low prices (house prices excepted!!!)
Nowadays we can go to Asda and get a pair of jeans for just £6. I remember back in the early 90's feeling lucky if I got a pair for £20!
Back in '87 a colleague of mine bought a fairly basic Ford Fiesta for ~£6000. This was the equivalent of 75% of his before tax salary. Could you imagine paying ~£14000 for a basic Ford Fiesta nowadays?

When the HLs first came on the market 4 years or so ago their RRP was well over £130, in some places £200. At that time, that seemed like a good price for a built tank with an R/C system supplied!  As the quality issues emerged and competition increased, the price dropped. But that's why the Matorro and others came out at well over £100, trying to re-establish the profit margin.

In a few years the economics will be in favour of the Chinese, and when they start to be paid £5 per hour rather than their current £0.50, then we are going to have to get used to paying a lot more for Chinese goods.

And that's not taking into account the plummeting exchange value of the pound which will make things even worse.

5 years from now we'll be looking on the last few years of cheap model-tanking as a golden age....

Nige

[Woz]

So get all the tanks you'll ever need, NOW.

[fleshpedler]

It,s a sad fact that the old pound is loseing ground,
i was going to buy another TBU but the price has gone up from £ 39 to £48 so thats out of the window just at
moment!So sorry lads the old pershing will just have to do another battle,
this will be it,s third are we giveing medals NO i thought not, never mind maybe next time i will bring out the Tiger1,
how silly of me as there is more tiggy,s than other tanks  Wrighty my friend prepare to do battle .
Flesh....................................................................................

[Woz]

Do you think I'll be able to convince the wife that they are investments?????

Well if you buy a tank for £100 now, it'll cost £500 in a few years with the weakening £ and the strengthening yen. You won't get that sort of return on fancy shoes or hanbags

[wibblywobbly]

Greeny over the road rang Tamiya to ask what the reason was yesterday.

Their reason was that their goods are priced iin $, and the $ has plummeted against the yen. On top of that their shipping costs have gone up 300%. So there you have it. Unless the $ recovers and shipping costs drop these prices are here to stay.

One of two things will happen now. Tamiya will cut their profit margin to stay in business if sales drop, This will maintain market share, but provide little liquid cash for development of new models.
Or, they will keep the high prices, sales will drop, and they will possibly pull out of the market.

I am amazed that Tamiya can demand over £800 for a Leopard. At the end of the day it is a few pieces of moulded plastic and some metal bits and pieces. Ok, there are development and tooling costs (an RC helicopter costs £1m to develop), but some of their models have been around for years.

This isn't just about RC Tanks, its affecting their static kits, RC trucks etc as well.

If HL ever get their act together with a decent sound module then they could take the market. If Darkith can produce kits at £60, and Elmod can produce full control systems at £200, then mass production would see a full spec Tiger retailing at £250. I would happily buy everything in kit form and make it, but then again the mass market non-technical buyer is what Tamiya aim their models at. I am guessing that this market sector will either pay the new prices because they don't want the hassle of building electronics etc, or simply not buy any more models.

Interesting times ahead? 

Rob G

[tiger205]

i reckon youre right rob, still the prices are'nt an easy pill to swallow, its a shame airfix are down the toilet, it would be nice to have an english manufacturer, airfix used to be the leading model making company in the world, untill they got complacent, then tamiya come in and took their mantle, if tamiya arent carefull i can see it happening to them also, still, as rob said, interesting times ahead

              Tony