Motor Trader May 2022 issue online now

Latest issue of Motor Trader online now.

The latest figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders reveal how individual car brands have been impacted by supply constraints, particularly of semi-conductors. In the first four months of the year brands have been hit by up to 43% (P7). The war on Ukraine, which is placing intolerable cruelty on its people is exacerbating the supply shortage. Sales have been hammered as a result.

But there is big pent-up demand for new cars in the UK. Group 1 in the UK, for example, has an order bank for new cars stretching forward seven months (P6). For top end cars it is extending into 2023, according to CEO and president Earl J Hesterberg speaking as the group revealed a record UK performance for the first quarter. Carmakers are also managing the supplies as best than can, prioritising more profitable retail sales of other less lucrative channels.

In this issue of Motor Trader, we turn to MG Motor (P16), which is seeing an upsurge sales and value for money product line-up.

Now that it has 150 dealers on its books it faces a new challenge: how to fill those open points in cities. They are expensive to run. Business rates are higher, labour is more expensive.

MG Motor is aiming to recruit dealers for metropolitan areas as it ramps up sales of electric vehicles. MG said it is “advanced negotiations” with groups to fill open points in conurbations that attract strong demand for electric vehicles, which feature strongly in its line-up.

This month in Dealer Insight (P36) we take a close look at Murray Group, which was recently recognised as a top dealer group in the One Business Scorecard for the Volkswagen network. The One Business Scorecard measures the performance of Volkswagen retailers across a variety of metrics in aftersales and new and used car sales. High standards of customer care are taken as given, consistency of approach is there to see, and the high levels of staff retention speak for themselves.

In the Motor Trader Finance Survey (P23) we ask dealers how was their used car finance offer compared to the high street and online offers? There are new Consumer Duty rules that are to be introduced but are dealers aware of them? We also asked dealers how their suppliers could improve their offer?

Finally, The Motor Trader Industry Awards and Independent Dealer awards are now open for entries. Full details are on the Motor Trader website under Events and within this issue of MT. Plus, we have the Motor Trader EV Retailing Summit taking place later this year.