AMARI™ Newsletter | Issue 1 | September 2015

'LEFT IS THE NEW RIGHT'
SHEIKH AMARI £
Listen to my
Car Dealer
Podcast
interview
A few weeks back I was asked
by Derek Blair (the show’s host)
to appear on The Car Dealer
Podcast.
He says: “The Car Dealer Podcast
is a radio-style daily show
which has been designed to
be downloaded to your mobile
device for enjoyment during the
commute to/from the showroom
With so many great people
working in the motor trade we
also feature guests who bring
a bit of entertainment to your
daily commute with their stories
from their time in the trade,
serving the great British car
buying public.”
Listen to my interview here:
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/
podcast/car-dealer-podcast/
id1022477875
Other than Cyprus, South Africa,
Japan, Australia, New Zealand,
Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand,
the only other Right Hand Drive
market globally is the UK.
The manufacturers have for
years been trying to standardise
motorcars as the ultimate way to
save on unit costs, to then maximise
profitability.
Whilst they need to carry on to
take into account regional climate
differences, the choice of position
for driving is not something which
they make allowances for willingly.
The UK has been a constant thorn in
the side for the great and the good
of the automobile manufacturers
and will continue to be, though
with the international visitors to the
UK, particularly London, increasing
year on year we are seeing a greater
number of LHD cars with and
without overseas registrations adorn
the streets of our Capital City.
The ‘Harrods Grand Prix’ is one of the
biggest spectacles for the tourists
visiting London.
It is fair to say that for Central London
if there is not marginally more LHD
cars than RHD, there is almost the
same number of each.
Take into account the huge savings
you make when you take LHD over
its RHD sibling, and you are fully sold
on the idea.
Whilst in the standard road cars, the
UK cars get a better specification as
standard, this is not the case with
SuperCars.
Bi-Xenon Headlights, Satellite
Navigation, Parking Sensors and
Camera, Service Plans, are almost
equally featured across the globe.
There are still the odd variation with
SuperCars (5 Year Warranty for Ferrari
in the UK is the standard 3 year affair
elsewhere), not that it would deter
the hardcore Ferrari customer from
buying a 3 year old LHD, or to pay for
a warranty for it.
Remember for the nine or so countries
who ‘sit three feet to the right’, the rest
of the globe happily sit three feet the
other way.
So it then follows that should you have
a LHD, there are a greater number of
people in far more countries who will
ultimately buy it than if it was the RHD
equivalent.
There is also a greater number of Brits
with holiday homes abroad in France,
Spain, Croatia, and more and more
either drive there or keep a car to
match their UK car.
Right now there is a huge saving to be
had on the LHD equivalent of all RHD
SuperCars.
For example, on a Ferrari 458 Speciale
the saving is almost £60,000 depending
on specification, where as on the Ferrari
599 GTO the saving is almost £300,000!
With the market in the UK ‘getting used’
to more and more LHD’s adorning the
streets of our major cities, the price
of the LHD will start to rise, as more
and more take advantage of the huge
savings on like for like alternatives.
The irony is that there is a very small
window of opportunity for people
to take advantage before the prices
rise and reduce the gap between the
configurations.
In 2015, we have sold more Ferrari
458 Speciale’s than the Italia or Spider
which is quite a testament to how
buoyant the market is for the niche and
specialist cars.
The surprising thing is that we have
sold almost 1:1 Left to Right Hand Drive
variants.
So just like White became the new
Black a few years ago, Left Ladies &
Gentlemen is the new Right!
Buy the LHD, and keep the difference
for another treat !