20 February 2018

No-haggle retailer Rockar has sold its Hyundai division to neighbouring Motorline for an undisclosed sum.

The deal was revealed to Auto Retail Network by Hyundai’s UK boss Tony Whitehorn ahead of the brand’s annual dealer conference which starts today.

The manufacturer owns the lease for Rockar’s two Hyundai stores in the London shopping centres Bluewater and Westfield Stratford. It is understood the manufacturer was instrumental in moving the business to Motorline. The two stores will also drop the Rockar branding.

Speaking to Auto Retail Network about the sale, Simon Dixon, Rockar founder, said: “We sold the leases to Hyundai along with some assets instore, and further assets and goodwill to Motorline. Our platform is used in store and online as it is the only proven omnichannel platform. We will continue to have a working relationship with Hyundai and Motorline supporting the success of the business.”

Rockar lost nearly £1.8 million in 2016, a deepening from £906,000 in 2015, according to the firm’s most recent financial results. During 2016, the Hyundai division saw losses reduce to £264,000 on a turnover of £14.6m.

Speaking to Auto Retail Agenda at the end of last year Mr Whitehorn had questioned the Rockar sales strategy given Rockar had lost money for the second year running.

He said: “Are we happy with it? It’s been very good for us in terms of learning, in terms of sales, in terms of profile, so all of that has been good. However, I think there are things that we can change.

“You have a very interesting dynamic of people coming into the store and just allowing them to browse and look and order online if they wish. But are the angels just there as assistants, or are they there as advisors as well? And it’s getting that dynamic that we’re trying to work on.

“We have around 500,000 people come into the stores in a year and we’re selling 1,500 vehicles, so is there something we should be doing in terms of giving them more assistance in getting closer to the sale. I’m not saying we should be hard selling, but it’s the difference between advising and assisting and doing it themselves. That is still something that we need to work on.”

It is understood that all staff will transfer to Motorline and the stores will continue to operate in the same haggle-free way, at least initially.

Both Mr Whitehorn and Mr Dixon have previously asserted that Hyundai taking over the stores was part of the plan. “This is not a split with Rockar,” said Mr Whitehorn. “What we discovered is that 95% of people buying from the stores lived within a 10 mile radius. Motorline was the local dealer so it seemed appropriate that they should also run the stores. But we’re still working with Rockar, and what we’re doing together is looking at how those stores, through Motorline, can be most effective.”

Mr Dixon added: “Rockar has felt from the very outset that OEMs should be doing what we do and taking control of the customer journey and digital interaction.

“At the beginning we needed to prove our concept would work and the platform we developed was integral to the success. So the past three years of trading has proved this point and led to Rockar moving to our next phase of our strategy… ‘Enabling Change’. We have already started delivering on this with Mitsubishi Buy Online and opening stores for them, plus our partnership with Next which will see another brand work with us.

“The Hyundai agreement is further proof of how we can work with the brand but also connect the dealer in the relationship (Motorline).”

The change of ownership for the Hyundai business leaves Rockar with just one other physical location a Jaguar Land Rover business which also has a store at Westfield. Rockar is also the powerhouse behind Mitsubishi’s BuyOnline service. Mr Dixon added: “We will always maintain an element of actual retail presence and JLR will be our world showcase for omnichannel retailing. We take a huge amount of learning on a daily basis from operating in this environment and we believe this makes us unique. We use this experience to further develop the platform and retail spaces.”

Rockar is currently working to open a showroom within Next’s Manchester Arndale shopping centre store with a new brand partner that has yet to be revealed. When this opens in March, Rockar claims this will be the first of several showrooms inside Next stores.

Rockar is also working with a number of other OEMs on digitalisation projects. Commenting on the Motorline handover, Rockar managing director Martin Sewell said: “When we started working with Hyundai, it was about us enabling change within the industry. This leaves us exactly where we want to be; focusing on our core activity of enabling digitalisation.”

Tags: Hyundai, Motorline, Rockar