Carmakers push into daily rental and fast churn channels to shift stock

Carmakers are shifting back to fast-churn, low-profit channels in order to shift new cars in a demanding market.

UK new car registrations grew for the 21st consecutive month in April, rising by 1% to reach 134,274 units. Private buyer uptake fell by -17.7% whereas fleet sales rose 18.5%.

“Today we are in a push market,” said Jason Cranswick, managing director of Norton Motors and COO of Marubeni Auto Investments, speaking at The Motor Ombudsman Radium Law Automotive Business & Law Conference in London this week.

“If you look at the tactical activity in March alone with Motability. You see some manufacturers getting back into daily rental in a way they were not for three or four years.

“So, we are definitely in a push market and that is where the OEMs still rely on the skills and dexterity of dealers to get deals done.

The Zero Mandate is also having an impact with carmakers using heavy incentives and PCP deals to shift BEVs.

“In today’s market with the readiness of the market to take electric vehicles, there is a lot of push going into the market there,” said Cranswick.