Looks like price increases in July 2024

[petereprice]

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Is this a fairly normal thing?  I’m a newish Leica user.  Some of these increases seem substantial especially on the film cameras!
 

https://www.reddotforum.com/content/2024/06/leica-price-increase-coming-july-1-2024/

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[Jeff S]

Get used to it.

Jeff

[Stuart Richardson]

Crazy how much they have outpaced inflation. I remember buying an MP new from Adorama in 2002 for 2200 dollars. With inflation is should cost 3800. They are now 6000.

[Antonio Russell]

Yes, this is pretty normal for Leica.

[Derbyshire Man]

Hopefully they’ll spend some of the income on firmware rather than camera apps. 

Edited June 15, 2024 by Derbyshire Man

[RMF]

It’s interesting to evaluate the increases per product, I don’t see the M11 or M11p listed with an increase, yet the 35 Lux ASPH FLE v2 is up over 10% to near $6000k USD. I guess the second-hand market values will follow suit as well.

[adan]

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5 hours ago, Stuart Richardson said:

Crazy how much they have outpaced inflation. I remember buying an MP new from Adorama in 2002 for 2200 dollars. 

Sounds about right - a basic M6 was often on sale at US "Leica Days" for $1799 (10% discount) around that time.

But Leica Camera was about to go bankrupt at those prices.

https://www.dpreview.com/articles/6984380949/leica-financialtrouble

That is when Dr. Kaufmann stepped in with a wad of cash, fired the top management, and hired a turnaround expert (Dr. Josef Spichtig).

https://wiki.l-camera-forum.com/leica-wiki.en/index.php/Josef_Spichtig

Edited June 15, 2024 by adan

[Stuart Richardson]

I don’t think the prices were the main problem. It was that everyone was moving to digital and Leica had no viable answer. Not to mention that they were still trying to sell a manual focus film SLR against cameras like the Canon 5D (a little later, but before the R system end of life). 

[hdmesa]

8 hours ago, Al Brown said:

It is ab-normal.

That is an abnormal spelling of abnormal 🙃

A thread about price increases started by a member whose name @petereprice means "to ask for the price" in Latin + English has me in a silly mood 😂

[crons]

Good thing I just bought my last Leica gear. I've only bought 3 leica branded things ever. So far the damage is $14,600. On 3 things since 2020. 

[Herr Barnack]

Quote

Looks like price increases in July 2024

🙄   Great news [/sarcasm].

[gotium]

Nuts. Just totally nuts. Really. 

[costa43]

I’m a huge M fan and I know that prices will always go up but almost 10 grand for an M camera without a CCD sensor is a bit of a joke isn’t it. 

[jaapv]

Actually they are quite late. Normally it is April. 

[darylgo]

7 minutes ago, jaapv said:

Actually they are quite late. Normally it is April. 

Couldn't multitask, they raised rates in Japan in April.  

[Kiwimac]

22 hours ago, Stuart Richardson said:

Crazy how much they have outpaced inflation. I remember buying an MP new from Adorama in 2002 for 2200 dollars. With inflation is should cost 3800. They are now 6000.

Not just Leica. I recall walking into a jewellers in Cambridge and buying a Rolex Submariner off the shelf for £2,500 as recently as 1997!

 Now about £11,000 and a long long waiting list. 

[Kiwimac]

3 hours ago, darylgo said:

Couldn't multitask, they raised rates in Japan in April.  

And in NZ for some things. The 35 Apo Summicron jumped almost $2,000. 
 

I’m not sure if there’ll be another rise in June. The dealer suggested any M11 releases like the D etc would top NZ$20,000 in his view, as will the eventual M12. Currently about $17,500. 

[JNK100]

I don't think Leica are the only camera manufacturer to have price-increases.

 

 

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[Stuart Richardson]

Well, let’s compare with one of the few comparable cameras. The Nikon F6 came out at 2200 euros in 2004. Based on what I paid for my MP, I would imagine an MP cost about the same. The F6 was discontinued in 2020 and the final price was 2200 dollars. The MP was around 5000+ at that time. 
 

Anyway, the main point is that most of Leica’s price increases (particularly in the M line) in the last 15-20 years are more about market positioning and pushing into a luxury market than about inflation or rising costs. The film bodies and many lenses are the same, but cost multiples of what they used to. The is the influence of private equity and strategy, not increased labor or materials costs. Of course, some component of it is that as well, but most of it is just pricing it higher because they know people will buy it at a higher price. 

[Olaf_ZG]

1 hour ago, Stuart Richardson said:

but most of it is just pricing it higher because they know people will buy it at a higher price. 

Till the bubble burst. Saw this already with many brands. Leica might be a luxury brand, it is still far from being a reliable brand.

Current editions have many flaws, and sales might slow down. Regaining customer trust will  be very expensive. The secondhand market will flourish for sure though.

At current, I would not buy a new generation camera nor shares from Leica.