[HUG ] Re: Dollar fall kills Hasselblad? (and Leica?)

The scenario about flying to the US to get gear is interesting, but I have heard stories - and they are only stories - about Hasselblad being very harsh should warranty issues arise, even on items with a supposed international warranty. This includes not just refusing to honor a warranty but refusing to work on the gear, period. Has anyone had experience of this? 



On 28/04/2008, at 9:40 AM, Q.G. de Bakker wrote:


Tom Just Olsen wrote:
Now the effect of the low US$ and weaker US consumer spending hits European industries. Once thriving European industries that has prospered from exports, first of all, to the US now see deep trouble ahead. Hasselblad is typical of the sort of businesses that just might die from the loss of the US market. << 


[...] <<
Typically, the Hasselblad CFV (and Leica M8) - intended to be 'affordable' on the US market, now has turned out to be forbiddingly expensive - in dollars. Still they are within reach over here, but the European market is only half the customer base for these tiny producers. With the other half of the customers gone - the folks in USA, the producers must increase the price even further to stay afloat. << 

I haven't seen their price, in US$, go up.
If anything, the weak Dollar is going to affect the European market, since it is cheaper to fly to the staes, spend a couple of days in, say, New York, and then fly home with a new CFV digital back for your Hasselblad, pay all the taxes and import duties when arriving home, and still not be worse off then if you would have bought it in Europe.
And people are indeed starting to do that. Not necessarily for Hasselblad stuff, but still: buy the thing you intended to buy all along, but now get a free weekend in New York to boot. Who can resist! ;-)
The recent dollar fall spells problems for most European exporters - From car producers to cruise ship operators. For some of them the Chinese market might offer an alternative, but not to all. Hasselblad and Leica is very typical of this category that can't expect to compensate a traditional & good US market with new-world- type-market like China.<<
Many European "exporters", like Imablad, have moved much of their manufacturing to China already. 
They had already "precompensated" for the events unfolding now. ;-)
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