Editor’s Blog

It came as no surprise that the February car sales figures fell with showrooms shut for business. Although, the decline was smaller than it might have been as more dealers used digital tools and click and collect to transact business. The problem for dealers is that showrooms are not set to open until April, and they will miss out on ...

January got off to a slow start when it came to new car sales. This came as no surprise given that showrooms are shut and there is also a shortage of some vehicles due to cuts in production in 2020 because of the lockdown. The new car market fell -39.5% in January with just 90,249 registrations. Demand was down for ...

Last year was one in which nearly all events were seen through the prism of the Coronavirus, with showrooms closing in March and opening in early June, hammering new and used car sales with aftersales taking a hit as well. That said, dealers in 2020 showed how resilient they can be. While there were casualties, and this is a great ...

This year has been tough for dealers, and and the jury is out on the final quarter of 2020. Critically, all eyes are focused on how registrations will perform in the September plate-change. In the September issue of Motor Trader, we interview John O’ Hanlon, who is well known in the business. He launched Waylands Automotive in November 2017 with the ...

  The UK used market showed signs of cooling in August with volumes down 3.3% year on year. That’s the view of Indicata which said during August sub-three-year volumes fell by 15.75%. Volumes plummeted 50% in the sub 12-month sector as carmakers cut back on self-registrations and demonstrators because of supply shortages following the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown. The six-nine-year age ...

Autorola UK has appointed Brett Henderson and John Upson as national business development managers. Henderson has worked in used car auctions for the past 14 years and joins from Aston Barclay, while Upson has worked in the automotive sector for two decades both for OEMs and in the remarketing sector. He joins from FCA. Meanwhile Nick Wiseman has been appointed as ...

Cazoo was in the news again with its purchase of Imperial Car Supermarkets. There is a lot of interest in what it is doing, a lot of money behind it and curiosity to see whether it can deliver where so many have failed in the past. Cazoo has pitched itself as a disruptor coming into the used car market and ...

Over one third of new vehicle (35%) orders placed in 2020 have been electric or hybrid cars and vans according to Activa Contracts. With WLTP now a reality, companies and drivers have started to order new cars again. The true impact of the new system has become apparent with cars increasing by 20-30g/km, which has helped encourage drivers into a ...

These are extraordinary times.  First and foremost here at Motor Trader we extend our support to all individuals and families, employees and companies impacted by COVID-19 and our thanks to the key workers and emergency services and their huge efforts to slow and control the spread of the virus. In the April  Motor Trader we look at how dealer bosses ...

The February issue of Motor Trader includes the now well established Top 50 Movers & Shakers where we do our best to pick out the people who have influenced the business over the past year and look set to do the same in 2020. Many of these Top 50 individuals will be looking closely at how new car sales are ...