03 October 2016

A couple of weeks ago we wrote about the likelihood that prices would have to rise because of the softening of the Pound against the Euro. This now looks certain, as our lead story in Auto Retail Agenda reveals.

In the past couple of weeks several national sales companies have communicated price hikes for the final quarter of the year and more are forecast for 2017.

But this isn’t an ‘I told you so’ article. What has pleasantly surprised me is that both European distribution head offices and the UK sales companies are both talking about minimising the price hikes to make sure that consumers are still tempted into showrooms by attractive offers in 2017 and that retailers can hit their targets.

And as if to reinforce this commitment, we’ve heard that several brands have lowered retailer targets so that sales staff are kept ‘enthused’ by the prospect of a bonus. With the September registration figures out on Thursday, we’ll soon see if the plan has worked.

However, industry sources have told Auto Retail Network that with one day to go both the overall total for September and the retail total were down around five percent. While we all know that the final days in any month see a ‘rush’ of registrations, five percent off last year’s 462,000 total will still be an impressive number and one that should mean good profits for retailers hitting those more realistic targets.

Tristan Young

Editorial Director

Auto Retail Network

Tags: Dealers, euro, exchange rate, OEM, Pound, price rises