Supplier in France

The european agent (in Belgium) reckons about a week before he has worked out where he is going to pitch his exchange rate. That I expected something like this does not reduce my ire, the UK dealers were given early access to the prices and images in sufficient time to fully prepare their websites. My specific question to Hornby as to why the euro dealers were deemed not worth the bother has so far been ignored.
Your question is pertinent, let me see where I can go trying to answer it.
You will find that the euro pricing does include a "foreign postage" and "distributor cut" uplift but I'm not expecting anything worse than before in the short term, but to answer your question I have to make some predictions. Despite my current location I am a brexiteer (I would not want my children to be continue to be lumbered with the seemingly unchangeable dictates and unauditable costs of the EU). I follow the reasoning that it would be logical for the EU to want to pursue the most open tarif free agreement on goods since the UK is their main market (but with the UK a minor vendor) however if faced with having to operate within the EU's territorial waters or granting level-playing-field access on services then I could see an impasse (at which point I would welcome WTO). What I do know, from my days of operating a non-EU retail outlet, is that the local customs officers wanted to know not only the country of shipment but also the country of origin of all goods. In the end there would be nothing to stop the products being shipped in direct from China, the european agent could then actually earn his keep as a distributor. Thus whilst there might be an opportunity for VAT reductions or other long term efficiencies to benefit the UK enthusiast there is no justifiable reason why costs to EU residents should change in comparison to current levels other than (minor?) movements in the UK/EU/China forex triangle. Global production and shipping costs are of course different matters to predict but would effect all of europe.

I have managed to grab some pricing and other detail from a helpful uk website. I have made a very cautious estimate as to how Hornby may be allowing for EU costs and exchange rate risk and sincerely hope that I will be reducing the figures in due course. I have not enabled the buy buttons on the new items but if any of you want to reserve any of the limited issue "centenary" stuff in the meantime then please get in touch by email.

And the official euro pricing has finally been provided, and most of the available images are on. I know I do bang on about both lack of "european market urgency" and images but at the point of putting this in try and find an image of the "tin tabanacle" (tabernacle?) with the hornby uk website whereas it does pop up a result on the american site. As with the pricing delay it does indicate to me that they have trouble trying to link their two hands, not the only firm that I deal with that exhibits the problem I admit. Postage estimates should be uploaded over the weekend.

On the plus side I have heard that a g1 ex-pat has set upabout 3 hours drive from me. No reason why he should but I'm hoping there might be a general invite later in the year.

Just a quick addendum in that Hornby's latest "engine shed" posting ( hornby.hornbynews.com/2DJZ-1JEYC-71CDL7-104E8Y-1/c.aspx ) gives some updated views of many production and pre-production models showing off the details. They confirm the suspicion that there will be different carriage names in the two Rocket train packs and detail the consists of the 5 and 7 car HST sets. If there are any differences in what they say and what I've previously put on the www.monsieurvapeur.com website then I'd suggest going with the official Hornby view.

Wondering if this will be the only post for 2021. Hornby have finally issued a "euro" price list, about two weeks later than the uk dealers received theirs. Several videos had been prepared prior to the new year and if you are interested in current products you probably found the video uploads. I note some 5 and 10% increments against previous pricing, annoying given the weakness of sterling, but there are a couple of reductions. I imagine that Hattons will be in "here we go again mood" regarding duplication of effort on the 4 and 6 wheel coaches and I sympathise with them given the length of time their product announcement with detailed descriptions has been around. Regarding gauge 1 there will be a very limited "Mike Wolf" issue of #4014 Big Boy in current restored gloss finish (oil tender) and in-service (coal). If you want one please do not wait.