Favorable opportunities
01/18/2025
A discount of CHF/EUR 1890 or even 6000 is hardly noticeable today with vehicle prices of CHF/EUR 25,000, 50,000 or even 100,000.
But in 1980, CHF 4400 for an Austin Allegro meant a discount of 37.2%. And even the CHF 2500 you could save by buying an Innocenti Mini De Tomaso for CHF 12,450 was equivalent to a saving of more than 20%. Something like that attracted attention. And it also provoked angry reactions, because after all, some buyers had bought one of the now heavily discounted cars shortly before for more or less full price. Trouble was inevitable.
At the same time, of course, it would have been possible to get great bargains at the time, with a Triumph Dolomite Sprint, for example, costing just CHF 12,500 net or a TR7 Coupé a mere CHF 13,900.
The reason given for the unusually drastic discount campaign at the time was British Leyland's poor business performance. In 1979, just 5,309 cars from this group were sold in Switzerland, which was a very low number compared to BMW (11,211), Toyota (13,553), Opel (31,026) or VW (33,331). In addition, the arrival of the Austin Metro was awaited, for which great hopes were pinned, although these were only partially fulfilled. Incidentally, other BL brands such as Jaguar and Rover were said to have had no sales problems at the time. And the campaign was not repeated.
P.S. We came across the advertisement while researching the Innocenti Mini De Tomaso, to which we dedicated an extensive driving report .
