• SUBARU EMBRACES RETAILERS IN RENEWED PUSH
• RNLT: RENAULT’S NEW URBAN STORE
• CALL FOR SCRUTINY OF UK REGULATORS INCLUDING FCA
• BUSSEYS FORD MARKS 100 YEARS – AND BYD JOINS FORD IN SHEFFIELD
• EV SALES DOWN 29% IN GERMANY – LEAVING UK NO.1
• FIVE-FIGURE EV DISCOUNTS IN US
• STOCKWATCH
• COMING UP: GFK consumer confidence
• NEIL WOODFORD: ‘REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL’ FOR UK
• BITCOIN PRICE BARELY MOVES AFTER ‘HALVING’

Subaru embraces retailers in renewed push

More than 125 Subaru retailers last week heard new MD Lorraine Bishton rule out the agency model and commit to franchised retailers. “The dealer model is here to stay,” she said. “People buy from people.”

The event in North Yorkshire was part of a renewed focus on the Subaru brand by parent IM Group, which includes increased marketing activity and a fresh emphasis on PR. It comes as Bishton marks 100 days in the job after a broad-based career at Ford, JLR and McLaren.

Subaru, she said, will continue to focus on its rural retailers. “That’s where our customers are – we’re not looking to take them away into the city centre. We also know these customers are extremely loyal, buying Subaru after Subaru.

“Once you’ve sold someone a Subaru for the first time, there’s a very high chance they’ll buy another.”

Subaru, she told Auto Retail Agenda, was the third fastest growing brand in the UK in 2023, up 73% in an industry up 17.9%. So far in 2024, the growth has continued, with Subaru sales up 54.7%. This includes a 16% mix of its Solterra EV, meaning it should be on course to meet the ZEV Mandate this year. “It’s something we’re monitoring very closely on an ongoing basis.”

IM Group has also invested in recruiting other senior Subaru executives. “There are six new members of the Subaru management team in total, and we’re only just getting started.”

Bishton, who joined the brand from McLaren Special Operations, added that “opportunities like this don’t come along very often – this is a great heritage brand, positioned for growth, that has an exciting future ahead of it in the UK”.

 

rnlt: Renault’s new urban store

Renault is to introduce a new city-focused point-of-sale format called ‘rnlt’. The new stores will be a showcase for the brand, showing off new models and the brand itself in a smaller space than traditional Renault showrooms.

Renault says the new stores will “work in synergy with existing traditional-scale showrooms located on the outskirts”. It will mean the city centre rnlt stores can still offer a full range of sales and aftersales, including test drives, vehicle delivery and maintenance.

Around 20 rnlt sites will be created across Europe, including London. They will be located in what it calls “hyper downtown” areas.

The announcement comes just weeks after an executive at investment firm Abrdn, formerly Standard Life Aberdeen, accused the press of “corporate bullying” by making “childish” jokes about its vowel-less name.

 

Call for scrutiny of UK regulators including FCA

A top City body has called for greater comparison of the UK’s financial regulators to their international counterparts to evaluate progress on their new secondary objective for competitiveness. TheCityUK wants to see “meaningful international comparison” into the objectives and performance metrics of bodies including the FCA.

“TheCityUK report recognises that we are already providing world-leading standards of accountability and transparency, providing metrics that very few other regulators do,” the FCA told CityAM. “We will actively engage with suggestions on an international benchmarking framework.”

https://tinyurl.com/ykaaps9j

 

Busseys Ford marks 100 years – and BYD joins Approved Used Ford in Sheffield

Busseys Ford is celebrating 100 years as a Ford main dealer in Norwich. The company is still owned by the Bussey family, which has five sites across Norfolk.

“We look forward to continuing our relationship with Ford and the exciting future their new products will bring to the county,” said Paul Bussey – who was presented with a celebratory plaque by Ford of Britain chair and MD Lisa Brankin.

Over in Sheffield, a new Lookers BYD showroom has opened alongside an Approved Used Ford centre. “Already, we’ve got more than 80 vehicles on site,” said general manager Ryan Smith. The new BYD models will complement the used Ford line-up.

 

 

 

WORLD NEWS

EV sales down 29% in Germany – leaving UK no.1

Electric car sales in Germany, Europe’s largest new car market, fell 29% year-on-year in March. Notably, sales also nearly halved in Norway, where up to 9 in 10 new cars had been EVs. Overall in Europe, EV sales are down 11%.

The collapse in demand means the UK is now the no.1 EV market in Europe. Sales here grew 4% in March, and are up 10% so far in 2024.

https://tinyurl.com/3kcvf5ax

 

Five-figure EV discounts in US

Bloated EV inventory is leading to huge electric car discounts in the US, with double-digit percentage cuts commonplace. Nissan is offering a third off its Ariya EV and Mercedes-Benz is giving a 19% discount on new EQS SUV. The Q1 average discount on EVs was $6,000 (£4,900).

As of 1 April, EVs were sitting on retailer forecourts for an average of 119 days.

https://tinyurl.com/ye24ztka

 

 

STOCKWATCH

Closing prices on 19 April 2024 and weekly change

Auto Trader Group 668.6p (-18.8p / -2.7%)

Caffyns 500.0p (+50p / +10.5%)

Halfords 147.6p (-7.0p / -4.6%)

Inchcape 726.0p (+27.5p / +3.8%)

Motorpoint 138.0p (+2.5p / +1.8%)

Pinewood 39.0p (+0.5p / +1.2%)

Vertu 64.9p (-1.5p / -2.2%)

 

 

COMING UP

Tuesday, public sector borrowing

Friday, GFK consumer confidence

27 April, NFDA Spring Ball

15 May, Radius Law Annual Conference

 

 

MONEY MATTERS

Neil Woodford: ‘reasons to be cheerful’ for UK

Neil Woodford, the former star fund manager who presided over one of Britain’s worst investment scandals, has reinvented himself as an economic commentator. He says there are “reasons to be cheerful” about the UK’s economic prospects.

Last week, he launched a new economic and business website called woodfordviews.com. In his first piece, he said the UK had not been a “serial underperformer” with 2% average growth between 2010 and 2019, ahead of France, in line with Germany, but behind America. He now plans to publish two more “reasons to be cheerful” pieces.

https://tinyurl.com/498yjusf

 

Bitcoin price barely moves after ‘halving’

Every four years or so, the bitcoin cryptocurrency ‘halves’ the rate at which new bitcoins can be mined. This happened on Saturday – but the price barely moved. Even so, crypto fans are predicting this halving will be “the most consequential ‘halving’ in the history of bitcoin”. Interest in bitcoin has already surged following SEC approval of 11 bitcoin ETFs – more than $50bn has flowed into them just as supply is slowing down.

https://tinyurl.com/28ecp4v6