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Phillip Perkinson (R0ver4x4)
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 05, 2003 - 11:11 am: | 
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I see this in reference to import's Land ROvers Range Rovers Porsches Ferrari's and the like. WHat is it? |
isaac fain (Searover)
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 05, 2003 - 11:32 am: |
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cars that were imported to our US that were later watered down to US specs and imported officially, making them suitable for legal sale on our shores.
generally grey market vehciles are about 98% the same as its often later US release. lack of market demand often precludes many autos from getting the small changes that would be required to legally sell them over here. nissan's Skyline is a good example; it was lusted after by track and import enthusiasts for many years, and just a couple of years ago was approved for sale in the US. Even so few have been sold, and I'm not sure if you can still order them.
range rover before '87 are all "grey", as are 911 turbos between '80 and '85. those are two of the more common examples. The Lotus Elise is quickly becoming a large grey market vehicle right now - they're exotic enough to raise eyebrows so most owners are keeping them on the track where they belong. a US version is due in '05, IIRC.
cheers,
isaac |
Jim
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 05, 2003 - 02:23 pm: |
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Isaac is certainly right on grey marketing as it pertains to the auto industry.
But, a simpler scenario to illustrate grey marketing would be this:
Canon sells a new brand of camera, the "K-5" but it's new and there's not a lot of places that have them in stock.
I own "Jim's camera shop" and I go to Canon.com and buy 100 K-5 cameras (retail). I then sell them in my shop as new (which they are, sort of). Problems will arise when people who buy the K-5 camera from me try to go to Canon to get warranty work done. Technically (from Canon's point of view) they didn't buy the camera "new" so they're owed no warranty. And, depending on where the grey marketer bought the cameras from, they may be different from the models that Canon would sell themselves in your area.
Grey marketing doesn't necessarily mean you're getting ripped off, it just means that you may have trouble getting the same service and support that you would have received if you had purchased from an authorized, factory dealer.
That's grey marketing. |
Paul Grant (Paulgrant)
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 05, 2003 - 03:07 pm: |
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I have owned two grey market cars over the years. Currently, I have an 1985 Range Rover Vogue that is carbureted and has an L77 5speed transmission. It was originally imported from continental Europe where it had been delivered as new into Canada. Shortly after the car's arrival in Canada it was brought across the US border and underwent what was called "federalizing." This term meant that the car was brought up spec with regard to DOT and EPA requirements. Usually what that entailed
was installing a catalytic converter, 5 mph bumpers and DOT approved lights.
Back in 1984 I had a grey market Honda Prelude EX which had been imported from Austria into the US and a similar "federalizing" was done on that car as well.
The whole concept of grey market cars revolved around the inability of US customers to get the cars that wanted from factory authorized dealers. The Mercedes 500SL and SEL were two very popular cars that helped to create the grey market along with the Porsche Turbo and Ferrari Boxer. However, by 1986 new US regulations made the cost of "federalizing" these cars prohibitive. Also, by 1986 factory importers were offering cars the likes of 560SL's and SEL's as well as Testarossa's and Porsche Turbo's making the need for a grey market no longer necessary.
In the end, only a handful of very dedicated independent importers still went through the hoops presented by US regulations in an attempt to bring in these unique cars. The most notable was Europa Motors of New Mexico. They were the sole support for the Mercedes Gelandewagon or G-Wagon throughout the '80's and '90's. I'm not sure what has become of them but I do know that when they were handling the "federalizing" of these cars, the cost was so exorbitant that they were charging in excess of $125,000 for an example. Today, you can go into a Mercedes dealer and by a G-500 for under $80,000. Talk about an economy of scale!
I hope this helps. |
Paul Grant (Paulgrant)
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 05, 2003 - 03:18 pm: |
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One other thing as it relates to Jim's post. Back in the '80's when I had my Honda and now, it is very difficult to get conventional insurance on a grey market car. Some companies won't even touch them. When it comes to dealerships, the same can often be said. I had trouble getting oil filters from the Honda dealership when I made the mistake of telling them the car's vin#! |
Dean Chrismon (Chrismonda)
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 05, 2003 - 06:37 pm: |
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Hey Paul, does that mean US and Canada countries are the only ones that use the 17 charactor for vin #'s. |
Paul Grant (Paulgrant)
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 05, 2003 - 07:14 pm: |
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Dean,
I am no authority on vin#'s but I believe that starting in the late '70's there was some sort of international standard that was adopted. For Range Rover's I think it's the fourth and fifth letters in the vin# that reveal its spec or intended destination.
When I provided Geico with the vin from my '85 they came back and asked me if I had brought the car in from Europe myself. I explained that the car was brought in to the US back in the '80's and had been fully "federalized." They would only offer me a policy for liability and it was as much as full coverage for either of our late '90's cars.
Cheers,
Paul |
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