Editor’s Blog

Over the past few weeks we have a series of results from dealer groups showing how they have performed in the first half of the year. The results have been positive in many cases. Pent-up demand and rising consumer confidence have been good for business. But some have warned that the second half is going to be – is – ...

The big story this month comes from Stellantis, which has outlined plans to overhaul the distribution of its car brands in the UK to be complete by 2027. It has terminated the current distribution contracts for networks. In the UK. Stellantis distributes Alfa Romeo, Citroen, DS Automobiles, Jeep, Peugeot and Vauxhall cars. In the UK, the intention is for Alfa ...

It has been a busy time for dealers as they emerge from the pandemic and look to their business in 2021, dealing with new vehicle shortages and the impact that is having on the used car market. Many of the bigger dealer groups are looking to expand. Stoneacre Motor Group hit the acquisition trail this month with the acquisition of ...

Last year was a particularly tough one for dealers as they came to terms with the impact of three lockdowns with showrooms temporarily closed for business.The pandemic threw into sharp relief the relationships dealers have with suppliers, and carmakers and showed just how far the government was prepared to go in providing relief to companies facing massive cashflow problems.In the ...

Welcome to the April issue of Motor Trader and welcome, too, to showrooms opening earlier this month with dealers working to cater for the pent-up demand for cars and services halted in the lockdown. This time around we look at motor finance in our survey of 200 dealers. The new Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) finance rules have been in place ...

It came as no surprise that the February car sales figures fell with showrooms shut for business. Although, the decline was smaller than it might have been as more dealers used digital tools and click and collect to transact business. The problem for dealers is that showrooms are not set to open until April, and they will miss out on ...

January got off to a slow start when it came to new car sales. This came as no surprise given that showrooms are shut and there is also a shortage of some vehicles due to cuts in production in 2020 because of the lockdown. The new car market fell -39.5% in January with just 90,249 registrations. Demand was down for ...

Last year was one in which nearly all events were seen through the prism of the Coronavirus, with showrooms closing in March and opening in early June, hammering new and used car sales with aftersales taking a hit as well. That said, dealers in 2020 showed how resilient they can be. While there were casualties, and this is a great ...

This year has been tough for dealers, and and the jury is out on the final quarter of 2020. Critically, all eyes are focused on how registrations will perform in the September plate-change. In the September issue of Motor Trader, we interview John O’ Hanlon, who is well known in the business. He launched Waylands Automotive in November 2017 with the ...

  The UK used market showed signs of cooling in August with volumes down 3.3% year on year. That’s the view of Indicata which said during August sub-three-year volumes fell by 15.75%. Volumes plummeted 50% in the sub 12-month sector as carmakers cut back on self-registrations and demonstrators because of supply shortages following the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown. The six-nine-year age ...