Volvo Collection by Editions Atlas - small price increase

Editions Atlas has just published that they will implement a small price increase for every ongoing collection starting from this week. This concerns of course also the Volvo Collection. Editions Atlas gives the following reasons:

• the prices per model stayed unchanged over the last decade but the fees have gone up steadily
• a strong revaluation of th US-dollar against the Euro: all the products made in China are paid in US-dollars
• the fees for transport and more specifically those for shipping parcels in Europe have largely increased this year
• the salary costs in China as well as the prices for raw materials have increased over the last years between 10 and 20% each year
• the fact that Editions Atlas has its headquarter in Switzerland does not help in terms of exchange rates: the Swiss franc is no longer coupled to the Euro

Each of their clients will receive a letter explaining the price increases. Editions Atlas will charge each customer an extra 2 to 3€ per model.

Editions Atlas indicates that this price increase doesn't fully cover the actual higher manufacturing costs. Editions Atlas has therefore made other efforts to cut their costs: logistics, accounting and a couple other services ave been centralized. This has resulted in a sharp drop of employees. Editions Atlas hopes to have taken the right decisions and being able to start with a smaller but healthier constellation.

All these changes may explain some of the logistic problems many customers may have experienced over the last couple months. Editions Atlas has outsourced their customer service which has certainly not helped customers who were wondering where their models are stuck.