Disruptors: Lessons to learn, Space for Polestar

This month we take another look at disruptors who entered the used car market over the past few years with big marketing spends, large scale refurbishment centres and a focused, customer driven proposition.

There was also a lot of accompanying hype. So, what did they do well, where did they fall down and what are the lessons to be learnt by the disruptors themselves and franchised and independent dealers, too?

Keeping with the theme of disruptors, we take a look at Polestar in the UK as a pure EV play with its Space proposition. Again, are there lessons to be learnt from their performance so far?

In the Cover Feature this month Lookers CEO Mark Raban points out that the dealer group is now representing Polestar and has learnt much from the brand.

For its part, Lookers has made a strong recovery from its position three years ago with the FCA probe and that’s to be celebrated. Lookers got into a difficult position with sales processes, acknowledged failures, went through the grinder, rectified the problems and pushed on.

This month’s magazine includes our regular look at EV Retailing. In early October we held the inaugural EV Retailing Summit in Birmingham, which attracted a lot of interest. The National Franchised Dealers Association had a strong presence. It has been promoting EV retailing since 2019 when it launched its EVA scheme to enable dealers to communicate clearly with customers on EVs.

Finally, the Motor Industry Awards 2022 take place at the Grosvenor House hotel in Park Lane 23 November. The number of dealers who entered the awards this year is up and the quality is high. Dealers have emerged from the pandemic stronger and in many cases leaner. A succession of recent financial results show just how successful dealers were in 2021, selling fewer new and used cars but achieving higher margins.