MT Interview

Rolls-Royce does not do things in a hurry. As befitting one of the world’s most iconic brand names it takes a measured approach to everything it does and tends not to make a fuss. However, judging by the flurry of activity at this year’s Geneva Motor Show that is all about to change. Launched in 1906 the marque became a ...

Negotiating the busy road junction that leads to the premises of Eden Motor Group’s Reading Hyundai site, competing for attention with other dealerships on a prime site alongside the main route into Reading, Motor Trader finds Eden chief executive Graeme Potts in a role he enjoys: meeting his customers on the floor of the dealership. Such personal contact is something ...

Twelve months ago Motor Trader was invited to sit down with Phil Crossman, Honda’s UK managing director, to see where the then troubled brand was heading after being hit hard by the financial downturn, natural disasters in Asia and a brutal exchange rate. UK sales had more than halved from a high of 106,000 in 2007 to just 53,417 in ...

Pendragon chief executive Trevor Finn is looking to build a network of 40 Evans Halshaw Car Stores with £100m to spend. But first of all, he has to find the right sites It’s mid-January on the outskirts of Birmingham and Motor Trader is meeting Trevor Finn, chief executive of Pendragon, the UK’s largest dealer group, to exclusively reveal how he ...

TripAdvisor co-founder Langley Steinert talks to Motor Trader about his ambition to overtake Auto Trader within 12 months with the UK launch of CarGurus Every now and again the market dominance of Auto Trader is challenged by a new pretender but to date no-one has come close to knocking the giant off its perch. Will that change with the debut ...

Vertu chief executive Robert Forrester on building the group, delivering a strong half year performance and the Volkswagen emissions scandal The good times are rolling for Vertu Motors and its CEO Robert Forrester. The group started life nine years ago when it was admitted to the Alternative Investment Market (AIM). It has grown steadily since, first with volume franchises and ...

Auto Trader CEO Trevor Mather has been in the chair for two years, a period which has seen the biggest changes for the business in its long history as it exited print, floated on the London Stock Exchange, consolidated operations into two high tech centres in Manchester and London (pictured below), dropped its confusing myriad sub-brands and launched a succession ...

It’s a good time for Kia and its dealer network. Registrations for the half year were 42,200, a record, and Kia wants to exceed 80,000 units in 2015 for the first time and grow to 100,000 units by 2020. In recent years it has performed strongly. In 2007 it sold just 29,372 cars in the UK. The scrappage scheme subsequently ...

Paul Williams has been attracting dealers to the SsangYong network with new product SsangYong has enjoyed more second chances than just about any other carmaker but as it prepares for next month’s debut of the Tivoli B-segment crossover, its most important new vehicle to date, it is looking like a brand that has stepped up a gear as it aims ...

Renault Group, under CEO Ken Ramirez, has overhauled its UK business over the past few years with new warranty packages and the launch of Dacia Renault’s recent history has been well documented. At the end of 2011 it terminated a third of its dealer network and culled five models as car sales plummeted 28%. As an annus horribilis it was ...