[Montala]

Hi,

Having only placed my order on Thursday, 8th November I was quite surprised (as indeed was he!) to be told by my dealer today that they have just received a provisional build date from SEAT for Week 3.

I told him that if that was indeed the case, I still didn't really want to pick it up until 1st March 2017, and he said that wouldn't be a problem, which was encouraging to hear!

When we placed the order they were quoting 1st May 2017, so that is a big improvement, but it may still slip a bit of course.

I went for an (upgraded) SE with a 1.4 TSi engine, in Rodium Grey, the full spec for which can be found in my rather lengthy Introductory post, if anyone is interested!

 

[mcderms]

Good to hear they will hang on and register it in March as a 17 for you

 

[Leon]

I was originally quoted 19 weeks from order, which was approx Feb '17 for collection. Then it was put back. The car was built this week which means that it should arrive around the middle/end of Jan (earlier than originally expected). I'm like you, I have arranged to take delivery from 1st Mar. I'm not in any rush as I like to see what problems occur in between time.

 

[Fred99]

I think some of these short lead times are due to the dealer having some stock orders in the pipeline.

I ordered mine at the end of August and was given a week 48 build date. The next time I asked it had gone to Week 5/17 and SEAT rang me today to say it was now week 8. That's now 26 weeks plus delivery time.

The Spanish Ateca forum is complaining loudly about delays and orders are being cancelled. The relevant thread on that forum now runs to over 400 pages of posts, about 8000 posts and 317000 views.

 

[David_S]

I've enquired about my car today. The build week was W/C 3rd Dec but it only got completed yesterday (I thought it was a fairly strict 1 week for build but obviously not!) They said expect the car in about another 4 weeks but in all honestly I think I'm talking Feb. If it is Feb I will be asking my dealer to hold off on registering it until 1st March, hopefully they'll be willing to.

 

[Montala]

I think some of these short lead times are due to the dealer having some stock orders in the pipeline.

I ordered mine at the end of August and was given a week 48 build date. The next time I asked it had gone to Week 5/17 and SEAT rang me today to say it was now week 8. That's now 26 weeks plus delivery time.

The Spanish Ateca forum is complaining loudly about delays and orders are being cancelled. The relevant thread on that forum now runs to over 400 pages of posts, about 8000 posts and 317000 views.

26 weeks is certainly a long time to have to wait!

I see that you are in Spain however, and of course, when you ordered yours, they hadn't even been launched here in the U.K.

It does seem odd though that customers who placed their orders later are being given earlier build dates, although I suppose SEAT will have an explanation for that! Possibly there is a much greater demand from Europe for 'left hand drive' models, as it wouldn't seem fair to make 'home' customers (i.e. those who are in Spain) wait longer than those 'over here', or anywhere else come to that, for their new Ateca to be delivered..

 

[Jonny]

I spoke to Seat UK today to see if my build week had changed which it has!

My Ateca is now scheduled to be built in week 5 (first week of February) instead of week 13 (end of March) which I was quoted 2 weeks ago. They advised that it could change again and to call them back in another 2 weeks time for an update.

Seat said it should arrive at my dealer early March which is good timing for the new registrations!

 

[Drmac]

2 weeks ago my dealership told me I had a provisional build date of week 18. I checked yesterday with Seat customer service and it is now week 7, still only provisional, but much better news.

 

[Fred99]

I see that you are in Spain however, and of course, when you ordered yours, they hadn't even been launched here in the U.K.

It does seem odd though that customers who placed their orders later are being given earlier build dates, although I suppose SEAT will have an explanation for that! Possibly there is a much greater demand from Europe for 'left hand drive' models, as it wouldn't seem fair to make 'home' customers (i.e. those who are in Spain) wait longer than those 'over here', or anywhere else come to that, for their new Ateca to be delivered..

It's reasonable to assume that SEAT Spain has had more orders that SEAT UK, as they generally sell about 40% more cars than the UK. Germany is actually their biggest market.

What I find very odd is that existing orders are slipping in Spain, but in some cases are improving in the UK. Once an order is in the system for a certain date (estimated based on production capacity) it should not significantly change either way unless the production capacity changes. In other words, if planned production is reduced, then existing orders will be delayed and conversely, if production capacity improves, all existing orders will improve.

If the order rate increases after an existing order has been placed then that would affect the lead time on new orders but not on existing orders.

The product mix might change (such as happened when the 2.0 Tdi's were halted, but again this should not really affect existing orders, in fact, if some buyers who had ordered one of these models had cancelled and not taken up the free upgrade, this would have improved the lead time on existing orders.

There have been suggestions that the 1.4Tsi has supply problems, but I cannot see why, as it is fitted across the whole VAG range and I haven't heard of any other delays on other makes with this engine. Admittedly, sales of this engine have gone crazy in Spain (a country renowned for a high percentage of diesels) in fact the latest figures I have seen suggest that 70% of all orders in Spain are for this engine. That said, such an unexpected increase is pretty insignificant compared to the number of these engines sold across the VAG group. Incidentally, these engines are manufactured in the same plant as the Ateca, but I don't think that is relevant.

All I can think of to explain the discrepancy between the UK and the rest of Europe (except Eire) is the fact that all UK vehicles are RHD. There could be a situation whereby a big chunk of capacity had been allocated to RHD versions and the demand has not been met so there is spare capacity. I have no idea if that is the case, but it's about the only theory that fits the facts.

Any other theories out there?

 

[Tell]

Seat UK on a marketing offensive to grab a piece of the SUV market share which could be supported by the VAG group perhaps ?. Maybe the UK General Manager negotiated capacity in excess as well due to the company car perk ending. They got to shift these in this financial year to March 2017. Profit margins may be higher so they earn more selling in the UK is another, more true before the pound devalued. Maybe they think they could loose market share with Brexit so going out to grab what they can.

Try those.

Or as the British saying goes "don't look at a gift horse in the mouth".

 

[Fred99]

If they were going flat out to sell more, the lead times would increase, not decrease. The only explanation that makes sense is that they are not meeting the production quota they had, however, that sounds unlikely.

As for profit, the exchange rate dropped significantly before the Ateca went on sale in the UK.

There is no doubt, based on figures already released, that sales in Spain and Germany, where it was first released for sale, were way above expectations which is why the lead times are so bad in those countries.

None of which explains how someone like drmac, can see the date improve from wk 18 to wk7 when mine has gone from wk 48 to wk 8.

As they say " it is a mystery!"

 

[Tell]

Is that a song .

I have the view that the German market which is really the home market of Seat being owned by VW gets priority. Example was when they continued to sell the 2WD TDI 150 in Germany after it was pulled from the Spanish market, then the UK (pre sales) and then Germany which meant they got the free 4WD upgrade.

I think they have the capacity created for the RHD but less demand than on the LHD side (it's just the flow rate and what's in the queue). I suspect the UK Manager argues his case well and VW are happy to have it like that. Perhaps how the factory is arranged if you are making RHD cars you get them in lumpy volume blocks, we just win on that.

I tend to think it's part of a push to get UK market share. Take your pick.

Have you done queueing theory, use to be my favourite subject... to get market share it may be deemed that you can't offer a poor delivery time, that is a queue with discouragement. Maybe Seat aren't bothered about people buying different models in Spain or Germany since their loyalty is higher to Seat whilst Brits will buy a Nissan or whatever. So European buyers nicely form a queue whilst those troublesome Brits buy something else ?. Hence the queue is shorter. That's what the Seat UK boss could be telling VW. As far as VW are concerned they won't be too bothered in the short term as long as the production line is fully utilised, selling cars at a profit and expanding market share. I think it all revolved around the last that VW are pushing Seat UK sales since that's good since it brings in brand loyalty which they already have in Europe.

 

[Steveateca]

I have received a provisional build date of week 14, so likely delivery is going to around week 20. I am really unhappy about this as my situation causes me to make changes to my current skoda pcp and run the risk of driving my car out of warranty, let alone other costs that I don't really want to pay out I.e. Tyres etc. I took a pcp out to purposely avoid this situation!

I have looked at my paperwork and cannot see any t&c's about cancellation etc so will be phoneing the dealer tomorrow. It is a shame as if I was in a better position I would have waited, I guess tomorrow will make my decision.

To wait for a car 6 months at this brand and type is unnaceptable in my eyes, it's not like I have ordered a high end vehicle like Austin Martin!

 

[Drmac]

I have received a provisional build date of week 14, so likely delivery is going to around week 20. I am really unhappy about this as my situation causes me to make changes to my current skoda pcp and run the risk of driving my car out of warranty, let alone other costs that I don't really want to pay out I.e. Tyres etc. I took a pcp out to purposely avoid this situation!

I have looked at my paperwork and cannot see any t&c's about cancellation etc so will be phoneing the dealer tomorrow. It is a shame as if I was in a better position I would have waited, I guess tomorrow will make my decision.

To wait for a car 6 months at this brand and type is unnaceptable in my eyes, it's not like I have ordered a high end vehicle like Austin Martin!

When did you last get an update from Seat? We ordered within a few days of each other, my build date has "provisionally" been brought forward from week 18 to week 7, worth giving Seat a call?

 

[Sidelight]

Mine has also been brought forward from the worst case of week 8ish to week 3. I ordered on 10/11th September.

Seat customer service actually advise keeping in touch. You just need your order number from the dealer.

 

[Steveateca]

I have received a provisional build date of week 14, so likely delivery is going to around week 20. I am really unhappy about this as my situation causes me to make changes to my current skoda pcp and run the risk of driving my car out of warranty, let alone other costs that I don't really want to pay out I.e. Tyres etc. I took a pcp out to purposely avoid this situation!

I have looked at my paperwork and cannot see any t&c's about cancellation etc so will be phoneing the dealer tomorrow. It is a shame as if I was in a better position I would have waited, I guess tomorrow will make my decision.

To wait for a car 6 months at this brand and type is unnaceptable in my eyes, it's not like I have ordered a high end vehicle like Austin Martin!

Dealer contacted me since I sent an email stating my issue regarding the build date and meraculously I have an updated build date of week 4! Fingers crossed this remains...I am happy again

 

[Kindness71]

Steveateca It wont be anything the dealer has done because of your email as its down to the availability on the production line, so nothing miraculous there. Everyone seems to be getting their build dates brought forward. Mine was supposed to be week 10 next year but was brought forward to this week, and many others have said similar.

 

[Fred99]

I'm pretty sure that the only reason for this is that SEAT UK had a big allocation of RHD cars and has not met that with actual sales. If they had, lead times would have increased, not shortened and they would not suddenly have come up with a year end discount, assuming they can deliver before end of March.

If you ordered one now anywhere else in Europe you would be looking at June delivery.

Enjoy it while you can and before prices go up.

 

[Tell]

The discount is on since they put the price up and don't want to disrupt sales, then they will drop the discount subsequently. I think they will feed another price rise through in the spring. We are giving you a big discount but we have put up the prices, people listen to the first and not the second.

Personally I think they are pushing them by keeping the lead times short in the UK by providing capacity to build the RHD not that they got their figures wrong.

 

[Kindness71]

Damn it just rang SEAT customer service like they told me to to check the build was complete & when it would be transported, and they are flippin closed now till 28th. :roll: how dare they have a Christmas