PGO (France) Speedster Brochures Posted

I tried to upload them to this site, but the resolution of the files gets constrained and then you can't read them, so I've posted the JPEG files of the borchures that the PGO factory in France sent me on a server I have. They have such a great website but no PDF brochures... strange to me.

There are two models and two pages to each model brochure, as well as a few other shots of the cars.

Converted from Euros, the price seems quite reasonable - I took the midpoint and according to www.oanda.com 28,000 Euro (EUR) = 38,659.3 US Dollar (USD). More than most, less than an optioned IM?

I think there may be an opportunity for someone to bring the cars stateside without a drivetrain and use a more common drivetrain better suited to the North American market (Tritec Mini anyone? :) Acura or Toyota or Subie?). I'm intrigued...

Enjoy.

-Jeff

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Dear Jeff,

Thank you very much for your interest in our cars.

Please find enclosed the leaflets for our two models C

Am I the only one who thought those prices seemed awfully good?

I just got this e-mail:

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I'm really confused but I made a mistake with the prices I gave you in my last mail. Please note the right prices:

- Cevennes: 33 361, 20

I believe the current exchange rate is about $1.40 per Euro. That would make 33,000

By the way, I can't host those brochures indefinitely, unfortunately. Does someone want to migrate them in to the archives here?

-Jeff

Actually, I think that is a lot cheaper than an IM. I just got the most recent price list from IM -- the base price is $43,820 (which to me is quite a steep increase from the price list I got in 2005, which was $31,900). On to that you need to add leather ($2,760), A/c ($3,355), electric windows ($530), power locks and alarm ($750), and $$$$ for everything else that comes standard on the PGO. I'm not saying that makes it "better" than IM -- I have no idea about that at all -- just that if the PGO is your thing, it seems to me that it is much cheaper than an IM. JMHO.

John.

The dollar exchange rate is the culprit with IM. Compare the exchange in 05 and the US/Canadian rate today and you'll see why the prices have increased markedly. I will tell you that Henry builds rreal cars and packs them with value for the money. They are not cheap,but they last and hold their value better than whats in the market today.

Howard, I'm not disagreeing with you at all. By all accounts Henry has a quality product and I might well like to get one some day.

And I'm no expert on exchange rates -- and probably what I'll say next will prove that -- but I'd have thought that IM would be sourcing a lot of its product in either the EU (in which case the exchange rate hasn't changed) or in the US (in which case the items they're sourcing are no more expensive, in fact probably less expensive).

Where my argument starts to fall down is that when he's getting paid by purchasers in US$ he's getting less Canadian $ for his money. Anyone who actually knows about this (unlike me) got a comment?

Ok let me chime in. I bill in USD and my fixed costs for the company is in Canadian. In January 2005 the average CDN dollar was worth 81c USD. In November 2007 the average was $1.03CDN with a peak at $1.10USD. Which means that the dollar increased in value by close to 30% since then. In January 2003 the CDN$ was averaging at 64c USD. So only since 2005 all being equal my fixed costs have increased over 30% and that's not taking in the increase in heat for the warehouse due to the price of oil and gas.

I know IM makes the bodies there, the engines come from the US and I am not aware of anything coming from Europe, but even if there was the Euro has on been on a tear since inception. So the reality it makes anything an American imports from Europe or Canada more expensive due to the exchange rate and many economists see this as a new semi-permanent thing. The world currencies are based on many economic factors and currency (unfortunately) speculators. Those speculators are more and more based in unfriendly countries. China, Saudi, etc..

The problem is once the world gets used to working a certain way it's hard to turn it around. This global economic thing is tilting in the other direction. China makes everything because we are lazy and our governments didn't have foresight of all of the eggs in one basket scenario. (Remember it's a communist nation) Effectively we are closing industries and being forced back to the basics, Oil, Gas, and mineral based economies instead of innovation and job creation.

The current dollar just buys less than it did a few years back. Henry was still getting his share a few years back when the Canadian dollar was worth less. Now they are equal, so the price goes up for us. Bummer huh! We can still retire in Central America but that is changing fast too.


Currency In US Dollar Per US Dollar:

Canadian Dollar 1.00040 vs 0.99960

Euro 1.46735 vs 0.68150

Page generated 12/3/2007 3:12:57 PM

Marty

if you go to youtube, there are 2 short videos of a couple PGO speedsters pulling out of a driveway. They look very sharp with a modern tweak to them that looks very euorpean and pricey. The rear end lights and exhaust tips were modified a bit and look muscular.

http://www.icetropez.org/pageID_4560452.html

Wow I love the sound.