Guest Blog

Whilst online shopping has become increasingly popular in the UK over the last few years, 2020 substantially accelerated this to the point that some households have been making most, or even all their purchases via the internet. This has extended to the buying of cars, both new and used, with several companies launching operations offering this service. Because the sale ...

One of the few silver linings in these dark times is the accelerating transition to digital retailing in the auto industry. This change has been under way for some time but, in the first six months of the pandemic, we saw more progress than in the previous ten years. For the first time in decades, car manufacturers and dealers are ...

The market has hit the mid-point of the month and February looks to be less promising that had been expected for both new and used car sales. General consumer confidence seems to be under pressure and the plethora of negative stories in the national press cannot be helping the situation. There should be no surprise to anybody in the nation ...

The 14.9% decline in used car sales in 2020 reveal the extent of the impact the lockdowns and restrictions imposed across the UK last year had on the used car market. However, they also highlight the resilience of the market, with very strong levels of consumer demand when forecourts were able to open. Whilst the decline was keenly felt last ...

The UK Government has an ambitious plan to stop the sale of new cars and Light Commercial Vehicles (LCV) with pure internal combustion engines. Originally due to come into force in 2040, the Government has brought forward the ban to 2030. Between 2030 and 2035, new cars and vans can be sold with internal combustion engines if they can drive ...

One of the biggest step-changes in vehicle remarketing happened in 2020 because of COVID-19. To keep the used car market moving throughout lockdown, auction companies switched to an online-only sales model. Whilst nothing new for some companies in the sector, for most auctions, online business only accounted for a part of their sales. While online buyer numbers have grown in ...

Meanwhile the supply of parts into the UK threatens to impact production of vehicles within the UK, with a shortage of microchips being the ‘tip of the iceberg’ of production constraints according to several manufacturers. In what is a crucial period of the year that on average accounts for 30% of annual new car registration volumes, supply constraints and the ...

The pandemic has accelerated change beyond anyone’s expectations. By McKinsey’s estimate we have seen 10 years’ worth of increase in ecommerce deliveries in just eight weeks and the longer than uncertainty continues around Covid-19 the more habituated consumers will become to online shopping. In two months, they rapidly became accustomed to making one of the largest purchases we ever make, ...

It is no understatement to say that the last year has seen consumer behaviour change dramatically across the board, but especially in retail settings. It is a worrying time for dealers as brands very publicly announce plans to reduce their dealer networks and new car sales fail to return to the pre-pandemic levels of last year. Long-term electric vehicles (EVs) ...

Brands are facing huge challenges when it comes to balancing future investment and maintaining existing operations. In reality, manufacturing a vehicle is only 40% of the total cost of bringing a vehicle to market and with brands already making significant strides to consolidate National Sales Companies (NSCs) it is clear retailers will come under scrutiny to drive greater efficiencies. Giving ...