Blogs

As an industry, the automotive finance sector has faced significant regulatory change over recent years. But the FCA’s Consumer Duty, which came into force on 31 July 2023, looks set to be one of the biggest game-changers in recent times. The aim of Consumer Duty is to improve the way customers are served and help them make good financial decisions. ...

There has been so much in the news recently about Tesla that it has been a potential subject of my blog for most of this year, and I’m sure that now I’m (metaphorically at least) committing pen to paper, there will be a lot more news in the weeks following this publication, making this rapidly look stale.  Depending on where ...

I think for the first time since I started doing a regular blog I’ve actually missed two consecutive weeks for which I apologise, but it’s a reflection of a particularly hectic period preparing for our Autumn Members’ Meeting last month, getting our European Top 50 ranking out and various other commitments for external events and consulting clients.  Although one of ...

  Car manufacturers and their captive lenders need to find ways to support the new electric vehicle (EV) sector to overcome growing buyer objections, says iVendi. The motor retail technology market leader says factors such as high prices, delaying the EV production deadline to 2035, and rapidly rising insurance premiums are all causing some potential buyers to lose confidence in ...

I seem to be on a stream of blogs with a common theme of looking at things differently, and potentially getting different answers as a result.  I make no apologies for this one continuing that theme as there is always a danger of getting stuck in a rut, particularly when an industry tends to be quite insular as is the ...

We have just finished our Autumn Meeting for members of the ICDP European Research Programme.  It seemed to go well with a lot of interaction between the delegates both during the formal sessions and over dinner and drinks in the bar.  The meetings force us to pause the daily routine and the reactions from members and discussions sometimes prompt new ...

SMMT new car registration figures for September show a fourteenth month of consecutive overall growth, with battery electric vehicle (BEV) sales up 18.9%. That paints a positive picture for electrification, but deeper scrutiny shows that growth in the BEV market is largely being driven by fleet demand. Just as consumer consideration for EVs appeared to be rising in 2023, the ...

Legendary businessman Jack Welch once advised, ‘change before you have to’. It’s a sentiment that feels pertinent to automotive retail at the moment. As an industry, we are faced with the shifting sands of government legislation, new retail models driven by OEMs, new market entrants from China and an ever-increasing cost of doing business due to lending costs and the ...

Dealerships must act immediately to rapidly increase sales of electric vehicles ahead of January’s zero emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate. Manufacturers will already be setting much higher EV targets for dealerships to avoid potentially eye-watering fines. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has already announced that, despite diluting net zero policies, the government still requires more than half of new cars in the ...

Attention of late has mainly been on the larger players in our sector – the long drawn out sale of Pendragon, the UK dealer group to an even larger group (probably Lithia, but we don’t yet know for certain). There is the continuing saga of would-be used car disruptor Cazoo desperately trying to cling on to what is left of ...