Stellantis overhaul, EV sales, Chapelhouse

In February issue of Motor Trader now online we look at Stellantis and its plans for its brands. Stellantis met with dealers at an investor conference held at the NEC, Birmingham. It detailed strategies for the brands to simplify the business , introduce new aftersales and commercial vehicle strategies and push ahead with plans for agency.

The group is furthest ahead with agency with LCVs and its DS and Alfa Romeo brands. It also wants a greater emphasis on multi-franchising with existing dealers, where appropriate, encouraged to take on more Stellantis brands to boost efficiency. It’s clear it has a lot of work to do in its relationships with many dealers.

In this issue the lead story of the month looks at rising operational costs for dealers. Taxes and energy bills are set to be the biggest operational challenge for 90% of franchise dealer workshops in 2023. In a survey conducted by the Motor Ombudsman 64% of respondents said they were paying more for utilities and higher costs had reduced overall business profitability last year.

This month our Dealer Insight is on Chapelhouse, a long time strong performer in the Motor Trader Top 200 dealer groups. The company had a good year in 2022, reporting a profit before tax increase from £3.3m to £5m to June 2022. Turnover increased by 27.2% to £95.1m with strong demand for both new and used vehicles, it said. The group maintained a return on sales of 5.3%. It also took home the Customer Care Award at the Motor Trader Industry Awards 2022.

And finally we look at EVs, which turned in a strong performance in the UK used car market in 2023 although there was growing evidence towards the back end of the year that demand was tailing off due to higher electricity charges and the cost of living crisis. We reveal the fastest selling EVs and the slowest EVs to shift off forecourts. And we look at the most in demand EVs for consumers.