5 Reasons why the government should accept Skoda's offer of "Superbs" as State Cars

Staples said:
And as for the green ministers cycling, a lot of this was for the sake of optics on the way to public appointments. They were very often followed by their state car in which they took a lift back.
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I once saw John Gormley arrive for work in the Custom House by bike. Which is fine if you live a, relatively, short distance from home. No sign of a State car tailing him with his briefcase.

Without the State car, this may prompt many Ministers to decline some invitations, like the opening of a off-licence that Mary Harney indulged.

Does every campaign need a Government Minister and Georgia Salpa to publicise it's launch ? There's a photo of Jimmy Deenihan in today's METRO that made me cringe.
 
I personally know a Skoda dealer who was given a list of unreasonable demands by Skoda, who are now winding down his operation as he can't meet them. This is a re-run of what got so many garages into trouble during the boom (you know, concessionaire - forced 2.3 million euro 'investment' / resultant gigantic glasshouse in a village with 3,000 inhabitants)

To cut a long story short it seems that they want to integrate the distribution of Skoda with the U.K. operation, if what this particular guy told me about the overall picture is true. This guy built up the brand from scratch over nearly 20 years, but Skoda reckon people will travel any distance to buy their cars so they don't mind knocking him out on the presumption that his customer base are desperate for the brand.

That aforementioned 'consolidation' being the case, the Government will be supporting jobs outside of Ireland by buying their products. They will also be giving our friends in Germany more money; switching from one German brand to another. I'd be in favour of them buying Toyota or Lexus in solidarity with the Japanese given what's come to pass there over the last week.
 
Firefly said:
Are we still talking about Skodas? :p
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Had a good lol at that comment :) No doubt but some of the earlier ones were quite forgettable!

I'm in no way connected with Skoda, but I'm amazed at how popular they are - not least in rural areas. I don't think when V.W. bought them the intention was that they'd catch on in this part of the World at all: it was more in the hope that those in the Czech Republic / Eastern Europe would feel a certain brand loyalty.

A major part of what drove their sales was dealership experience - with satisfaction ratings among customers very high. I think all companies go through a phase of forgetting what made them the money in the first place.

I remember the early ones - my neighbour had a 'Foreman' estate - and it was so angular you'd nearly cut yourself off the edges! :p Gross looking thing! Totally reliable but ... give me an Alfa Romeo please!
 
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