Dealers offering discounts on servicing and repair work to gain business in a tight market risk trading customer retention for eroded margins and long-term damage to their businesses. That’s the conclusion of the Bumper UK Automotive Aftersales Report 2024/25, which found that three-quarters of the 4,269 car owners polled for the forthcoming said they expect dealers to offer an initial ...

There have been some blogs and news items recently, including from our good friend Glenn Mercer, which relate to some recent positive developments in the world of Waymo.  They just achieved 200,000 rides in one week, double the level just six months ago and up from 10,000 two years ago.  At least within the defined areas where they are operating ...

John Clark Motor Group has officially opened a multi-franchise Seat, Cupra and Skoda dealership at Broomhill Road, Dundee. The site was previously the home for a former Peter Vardy Carz supermarket. Located opposite the John Clark Volvo & Mini dealerships, this location is the first within the Volkswagen UK network to introduce a multi-brand retail concept. The dealership will showcase ...

International Motors Limited (IML) has chosen Lloyds Banking Group to provide finance in the UK for Chinese brand Xpeng. The electric cars are being distributed through International Motors Finance, a joint venture business between IML and Black Horse, Lloyds Banking Group’s motor finance business. It will offer Hire Purchase (HP) or Personal Contract Purchase (PCP) products, providing greater payment choice ...

Vertu Van Centre in Hereford took the Gold Award at the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles annual performance awards. The dealership was the top  performer in the network of 60 UK Van Centres and 30 Authorised Repairers. Volkswagen Van Centre Stoke took the silver award and Brian Currie Van Centre Milton Keynes was awarded the bronze accolade at the event. Recognising the ...

John Clark Motor is rebranding its Specialist Cars dealerships, which will now operate under the John Clark name. This transition marks a new era for the group’s Volkswagen, SEAT, Skoda, CUPRA, Renault, Dacia, Nissan, and Alpine dealerships, further strengthening their association with the trusted John Clark brand known for exceptional customer service. The rebranding process will be completed across all ...

UK vehicle production declined by -17.7% in the first month of the year, with factories turning out 71,104 cars and 6,908 commercial vehicles (CVs) for a total of 78,012 units. The performance follows a strong January last year, when car and CV output surged by 21.0% and 27.5% respectively, and reflects weakness in key markets, notably the EU, China and ...

Arnold Clark donated £100,000 to anti-poverty charity and community of food banks through customer rewards programme In the lead up to Christmas, Arnold Clark ran an initiative on their app which saw the Group donate £2 towards Trussell for every Rewards member who opted in. As a charity, Trussell works with a community of food banks across the UK to ...

January saw a surge in sales of Chinese electric vehicles across Europe building market share. According to Jatro Dynamics, although the overall European car market posted a decline of 1.9% year on year, Chinese car brands continued to accelerate, with 37,134 vehicles registered in January, an increase of 52% from January 2024. The market share of Chinese brands grew from ...

We are giving a lot of thought currently to dealer digitalisation – thinking primarily about integration of data processes and related IT, and exploiting that data and the broader digitalisation of the customer buying journey and online marketplaces to make better decisions. That in itself is a significant challenge as most dealers are sitting on a range of legacy systems ...