The fastest and slowest selling petrol, diesel and electric cars on ebay Motors group

This year is expected to see dealers turn a forensic eye on costs as they strive to maintain profitability in a weak new car market.

During 2019 dealers saw an increase in overheads and according to Mike Jones, chairman of dealer profitability specialist ASE, they will need to look at used cars to maintain the status quo.

“Over the past year we have seen an increase in general overheads of 3%. As we move into 2020 I expect to see a real war on costs taking place.

The new car market is not forecast to improve, therefore retailers will need to manage cost increases to compensate, while continuing the focus on used cars and aftersales,” said Jones.

But, the used sector, too, is also coming under pressure, said Jones and while it is not a major cause of concern it is an area to monitor closely. For example dealers saw their used car return on investment fall to just above 75% in November.

“This was a result of a drop in sales volumes in the month compared to the prior year. While not yet significant this is an area to watch closely,” said Jones.

Past performance can give some indication of what the future will look like. Looking back at 2019 we can see those cars that were fastest – and slowest – to shift off forecourts. Overall, the Peugeot 206 was the fastest car to retail, selling in 31 days followed by the Peugeot 307 and Vauxhall Vectra on 31 and 33 days respectively. The Citroen Xsara Picasso and the Audi S3 sold in 36 days.

But if some cars sold fast, there were also those that found it more difficult to find buyers. The Vauxhall Viva was slow to sell, shifting off forecourts in 89 days followed by the Ford Transit in 87 days, the Mercedes-Benz SL in 82 days and the Audi 8 and Hyundai ix20 on 70 days.

Diesel was in the news throughout 2019 and pretty much always for the wrong reason. The overall UK new car market -2.4% last year to 2.3 million units, according to SMMT figures. The market was hit by a freefall in demand for diesel cars with registrations for the year down -21.8%, the 33rd month of diesel decline. Diesel has been hit by concerns over the environment and health grounds and confusion on the government position regarding the fuel in the future.

In the used car market it is a different story. It is a much bigger market and has greater inertia to new trends. So, diesel has not seen a vicious fall in demand. In fact fewer new car diesel sales mean fewer diesels entering the used market down the road, propping up values in the chain. The two fastest selling diesels in the used car market were the Chevrolet Captiva and Volvo V50, both selling in 35 days followed by the Land Rover Discovery 3 (37 days), Vauxhall Antra (38 days) and Porsche Macan (39 days).

And what about alternatively fueled vehicles (AFVs). In the new car market AFV registrations surged in 2019 to take a record 7.4% market share. In the used car market they are filtering through and dealers are seeing some accelerate off forecourts in record times while others find the going tougher. Toyota has a good track record in hybrids and this is reflected in its C-HR model recording the fastest selling time in 2019, shifting off forecourts in 33 days along with the Hyundai Ioniq, also on 33 days. The Volvo XC90 sold in 34 days followed by the Renault Zoe (36 days) and BMW 2 Series (37 days).

But where there were winners there were also, relatively speaking, losers. The Suzuki Swift was on average the slowest selling electric/electric hybrid, shifting off forecourts in 83 days. The Lexus RC and BMW i8 were both on 71 days followed by the Mercedes-Benz E Class (59 days) and Range Rover Sport (58 days).

So, what can we glean from this? There is still big demand for diesel in the used car sector and values have been maintained in part because supply is dwindling with fewer new diesels being sold.

And when it comes to electric and hybrid cars there are some clear winners and losers, in terms of the time it takes them to sell. With the used car return on investment coming under pressure, buying well in the first place has never been more important.

Meeting the changing needs of online buyers

Dermot Kelleher, Head of Marketing and Research, eBay Motors Group

What a challenging year 2019 turned out to be for dealers. Economic and political uncertainties around Brexit dented consumer confidence, while those buyers in the market for a used car faced mixed messages about which fuel type to choose.

Added to that used values dipped, having tracked at historically high levels, before stabilising at the mid-point and rallying in the final quarter as a result of a shortage of wholesale stock across the sector.

Competition among dealers for good condition ready to retail cars will remain high in 2020, which is why sourcing the right mix of makes and models and presenting them effectively online will make all the difference. Meanwhile, consumer online buying behaviour is changing.

The forthcoming eBay Motors Group Digital Touchpoints Study shows how buyers are spending longer looking for cars online than was previously thought, with the average search taking 41 days.

Furthermore, the average consumer views more than three car search websites during their online journey, with only 11% saying they only use one.

The clear message here is that dealers need to build and maintain high online visibility through multiple digital touchpoints to enable buyers to start narrowing down their options ahead of visiting showrooms.

eBay Motors Group, which launched in January 2020, is able to offer dealers the combined reach of eBay Motors, Gumtree Motors and Motors.co.uk, enabling them to engage with buyers looking for the reassurance of seeing the car of their dreams advertised on different platforms.

Discover the new way to reach millions of buyers at: www.ebaymotorsgroup.co.uk