Editor’s Blog

No-one’s going to shout about it but the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) proposals on how GAP will be sold by car dealers are a lot less onerous than expected. Furthermore, the proposals are set to benefit franchised dealers more than their car supermarket and independent counterparts. The FCA’s move to introduce a four day opt-in gives franchised dealers the opportunity ...

This month we reveal the names and rankings of the UK’s biggest groups in the Motor Trader Top 200, the most comprehensive analysis of the health and wellbeing of the franchised dealer sector. The survey, which rates groups according to annual turnover, reveals just how successful the motor trade was during the last financial year, a trend which has continued ...

As press releases go it was a short one. Its timing was also curious; issued as the UK motoring press was en route to the Paris Motor Show, a good day to bury awkward news? So what are we to make of Vauxhall ditching its Lifetime Warranty cover, a flagship product launched to much ballyhoo in 2010? What’s certain is ...

What a shame to be reporting that Unipart Automotive has collapsed, resulting in the loss of over 1,200 jobs; especially at a time when the UK car retailing market is booming. The troubled performance of the automotive distributor, once the UK’s biggest operating 180 branches, has been in the public domain for some time although it was hoped that a ...

The highest achievers in the motor retailing sector were acknowledged and rewarded at this month’s Motor Trader Awards. The gala dinner, held at the Grosvenor House Hotel in the heart of London’s West End, attracted over 1,200 guests making it the biggest night in the event’s 24 year history. Congratulations to all our finalists and winners. The quality of this ...

Curtis Hutchinson What’s happening in the new car sector? May saw another bumper market which heralded the longest period of monthly growth since the late 1980s.

Curtis Hutchinson Congratulations to all the entrants who have made it through to the 2014 Motor Trader Awards. Shortlisting entries for the Motor Trader Awards is never an easy process...

Curtis Hutchinson The advance word on the March plate-change was that it would be a good month, but no-one could have predicted an 18% leap in registrations pushing up Q1 totals by a remarkable 14%. The new car market, which has now been growing year on year for 25 months, has staged a remarkable comeback; encouragingly, it looks sustainable...

Curtis Hutchinson Confidence was the watchword at the Geneva Motor Show. As the first major car show of the year, and always the best, Geneva is the showcase for the European car market so new product was in abundance from the cute, but deceptively significant, Renault Twingo and sensibly evolved Audi TT to the outrageously unobtainable...

Motor Trader and the IM Group are offering dealers an exclusive opportunity to test drive the latest Subaru, Isuzu and Great Wall models...