Auto Retail Agenda: 29 August 2023
26 August 2023
- LSH LOSSES GROW AGAIN; JEMCA PROFIT FALLS
- JAGUAR TO LAUNCH ‘SECOND LIFE LEASING’ FOR USED EVS
- CALL TO CHARGE DIESEL DRIVERS MORE FOR PARKING
- VW CLAMPS DOWN ON SEMICONDUCTOR PROCUREMENT
- NISSAN REVEALS NEW RETAIL MODEL
- INCHCAPE SINGAPORE GOES OMNICHANNEL
- STOCKWATCH
- COMING UP: expanded ULEZ, 73-plate registration
- WHICH GENERATION GETS THE MOST BACK FROM THE STATE?
- LABOUR RULES OUT WEALTH TAX
LSH losses grow again; Jemca profit falls
LSH’s loss-making run continues. In the year ended December 2022, it lost £4.9m, up from the £2.6m loss in 2021. It has lost money in the UK every year since it bought the Birmingham and Manchester market areas from Mercedes-Benz Retail in 2016.
Turnover fell too, from £364m to £327m.
It sold 3,859 new cars, down from 4,704 in 2021 and it sold 6,096 used cars, compared to 8,968 in 2021.
In its results, LSH noted the company has moved to an agency agreement for new Mercedes-Benz and Smart cars, “giving customers a more direct relationship with the respective brands. LSH Auto UK will act as an agent between the brand and the customer, in return for fee income”.
LSH has recently started retailing Chinese new entrant BYD from the second floor of its giant Stockport retailer, as well as a standalone site (an ex-Tesla site) in Birmingham.
Parent company Lei Shing Hong Ltd has committed financial support for it to continue as a going concern until 8 June 2024.
Elsewhere, Toyota and Lexus retailer Jemca saw last year’s profit before tax of £2.9m fall to £529k in the year ended March 2023. Turnover was stable at £314m. The retailer blamed the lasting impact of the pandemic, new car supply shortages and the return of full property tax costs which “significantly impacted operational costs”.
Jaguar to launch ‘Second Life Leasing’ for used EVs
Jaguar is set to launch a corporate used car leasing product, possibly called Second Life Leasing. It’s developing the product with its financial partner Lex Autolease and is expected to launch it in September, before opening to salary sacrifice customers by Q1 2024.
The product would be offered on the electric Jaguar I-Pace and would help offset the high leasing prices of EVs. Vehicles at the end of their first leasing period would be used, and refurbished before entering the second leasing period.
The company, said JLR’s general manager of fleet and business Andrew Jago, is developing the new product gradually in order to gauge demand.
Call to charge diesel drivers more for parking
The MD of Britain’s largest cashless parking app, RingGo, says cities should charge diesel drivers more to park. Emissions-based parking, which ranks vehicles based on their green credentials, is “simple and cheap to enforce, and encourages, rather than forces, electric vehicle adoption”.
Charging older and diesel cars more to park could be an alternative to schemes such as the expanded London ULEZ – can be facilitated by systems such as RingGo’s VRM-based identification tech.
Greenwich Council has already introduced emissions-based parking, with vehicles sorted into 13 different emissions bands, based on CO2. Charges vary from £2 to £7 an hour.
Bath and North East Somerset Council, and St Albans City and District Council, are among those considering such schemes.
VW clamps down on semiconductor procurement
Volkswagen Group is reorganising how it procures semiconductors and electronic parts to make long-term supply more robust. Changes will include dictating to Tier 1 suppliers which semiconductors and other parts are to be used. A new Semiconductor Sourcing Committee has also been established.
Today, the value of electronic components averages around €600 (£515) per car; by 2030, this is predicted to more than double.
WORLD NEWS
Nissan reveals new retail model
Nissan has outlined an “ambitious data-driven retail model” to US retailers that will see far greater customer information sharing between retailers and the factory to “boost the customer experience”. There will be an integrated approach to customer relationships, internally known as ‘One CRM’.
The company has admitted that “there’ll be some dealers that might be wary of that at the start,” but national dealer advisory board chairman Tyler Slade welcomed the strategy: “What is good for the customer is good for the dealer. We certainly don’t want to push back so hard that we become bad partners, and it makes legacy OEMs want to go to direct sales.”
Inchcape Singapore goes omnichannel
Inchcape has launched a new omnichannel platform in Singapore. It’s been developed for the Toyota business and allows customers to save configurations in an account which salespeople can access in a showroom. The launch of the platform has coincided with extensive showroom refurbishments.
STOCKWATCH
Closing prices on 25 August 2023 and weekly change
Auto Trader Group 587.0p (-11.0p / -1.8%)
Caffyns 515.0p (-25.0p / -4.7%)
Halfords 180.4p (-0.8p / -0.4%)
Inchcape 731.5p (+8.5p / +1.1%)
Lookers 128.8p (-0.2p / -0.1%)
Motorpoint 94.9p (-0.7p / -0.7%)
Pendragon 19.06p (+0.08p / +0.4%)
Vertu 69.5p (-1.0p / -1.4%)
COMING UP
Tuesday, Expanded London ULEZ goes live
Tuesday, BRC shop price index
Wednesday, UK consumer credit
Thursday Nationwide house price index
Friday, new 73-plate registration
MONEY MATTERS
Which generation gets the most back from the state?
The welfare state is a ‘pay as you go’ system where workers pay taxes that cover education for their children and pensions for their parents, according to The Times data analysis team. However, the amount each generation receives varies according to the government of the time – and those born between 1956 and 1960 are the biggest beneficiaries, withdrawing 31% of the money they put into the state.
In contrast, those born between 1996 and 2000 are expected to withdraw just 14% of what they pay in.
Labour rules out wealth tax
Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves says she will, if elected, not introduce a levy to target wealth or expensive properties, and will not increase capital gains tax or the top rate of income tax – the latter taking a leadership pledge made by Sir Keir Starmer in 2020 off the table.
The annual business forum at Labour’s October conference is reportedly over-subscribed by 75%, with 150 business delegates on the waiting list.
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