Ford increases UK Car Prices

It’s not exactly a shock, I have to admit, but Ford has announced this morning that it is joining Bentley, Audi et al in increasing New Car Prices in the UK from 1st April by an average of 3.75%.

You can’t blame Ford – it has to make a living, and things are tough enough for car makers at the moment without suffering at the hands of unstable currencies. Ford reckons that the movement in the Pound against the Euro in the last yaer or so has cost it nine figures on its UK income. Big money, no question.

So Ford UK prices are to rise by an average of 3.75%, meaning around £50 on a basic KA and £1000 on a Ford Focus Coupe Cab. But it’s all just a question of the base point to negotiate the price you pay, as no one is paying list for anything at the moment.

But things will change this year as the Euro zone gets in to difficulty. It seems highly likely that, with such disparate economies in the Euro zone trying to use the same blunt instruments to keep their economies afloat, that the whole zone as we know it is in danger of collapse.

Which could mean either the weaker economies leaving the zone altogether, or the strongest doing the same. Whichever it is we will see the whole Euro zone compromised and weakened, at least in the short term.

Let’s hope that Ford, and all those other car makers who have increased UK Car prices recently, will be swift in correcting the structure once currencies move the other way. We’ll have to see.