Blogs

Several domestic factors could be affecting consumer willingness to spend money on big-ticket items such as cars. Significant rises in the cost of utility bills, together with uncertainty around planned tax rises, are likely to have already influenced consumer confidence. This may explain, in part, why UK dealers have not needed to replenish stock as frequently as they did last ...

Cost of living concerns have played a part in a decline in used car consumer demand since early March, particularly in enquiries and sales of those expensive-looking cars around the £15,000 £35,000 area. Cheaper cars have still been sought after to a degree, popular for those consumers downsizing or requiring a car out of necessity, and buyers of more expensive ...

Check out the April issue of Motor Trader, which features our annual look at the Top 200 Dealer Groups in the UK by turnover. Dealers turned in an impressive performance in the latest report with profitability and return on sales showing strong gains. While turnover fell 17% to £63.6bn, profitability increased with average return on sales for the entire MT ...

The used car market has never been as important for car dealers and getting the pricing right on the forecourt is essential to maximise profitability. Price it too low and it hits the bottom line. Too high and stock stubbornly remains on forecourts and refuses to shift. But forecourt pricing is the end game. Buyers need to get the pricing ...

A ten-fold increase in charging points by 2030 is a noble ambition but whether £500m is enough to deliver the gear-shift on EV charging the country needs remains to be seen. The money will be spread quite thinly. The plan puts the onus on councils to develop their own infrastructure, but we would have liked to see central government taking ...

The used car market has been incredibly resilient over the last couple of years, thriving against the odds during the pandemic despite the massive downside risks that existed during that time. We’re now facing a different set of issues – high inflation, the rising cost of living and even the Russia-Ukraine War – but there is every reason to believe ...

This month we look in depth at the agency model and try and assess the implications for dealers of all sizes, customers, carmakers and intermediaries. It is early days yet, but we chart what different carmakers are doing and also some plans in the pipeline and try to gain some insight into how profitability will be impacted and whether the ...

Over the last six months, it’s clear that some OEM are advancing plans to implement the agency model. The detail of how such plans will be implemented remains scant, and from a dealer perspective it remains unclear on how the economics will work, risks shared and how data will be used. There are potential benefits to the agency model for ...

Steve Young cuts through the hype to assess what progress has been made to introduce an agency model Agency continues to be a ‘hot topic’ whenever you get into a conversation with either dealers or the network planners from the manufacturers. This is despite the fact that actual progress on the ground has been quite modest – with the only ...

Professor Jim Saker spells out what the agency model means for carmakers, dealers and intermediaries as the sector deals with new technologies, the move to electrification and climate change he motor industry is facing greater change now than it has for the last 100 years. The change is being brought about by a perfect storm of new technologies, Government climate ...