Auto Retail Agenda: 14 February 2022
13 February 2022
- ARNOLD CLARK TO LOSE TOYOTA FRANCHISES
- THE SUN: DEALERS OFFERING £10k TO BUY BACK CARS
- WILLIAMS ROCHDALE IS BMW RETAILER OF THE YEAR
- CHRONIC WORKER SHORTAGES HITTING UK BUSINESS
- HEDIN BUYS RENAULT NORDIC DISTRIBUTOR
- CHINA’S XPENG OPENS IN NETHERLANDS, SWEDEN
- HONDA VOWS TO MAINTAIN INCENTIVES DISCIPLINE
- STOCKWATCH
- COMING UP: CPI, RPI
- BRITAIN TO BE FASTEST-GROWING ECONOMY IN G7
- BIG FOUR AUDITORS ‘BEHAVING BADLY’
Arnold Clark to lose Toyota franchises
Toyota has issued termination notices for its six franchises held by Arnold Clark with Vertu’s Macklin Motors expected to pick up the manufacturer in Scotland, according to Auto Retail Agenda sources.
The Arnold Clark physical sites in Aberdeen, Ayr, Paisley, Stirling and two in Glasgow have not been sold to another group. It is understood staff at the dealerships have been told about the loss of the franchise.
Privately owned Arnold Clark is often held up as one of the most successful retail groups in the UK. In its most recent annual results covering 2020, Arnold Clark saw profit before tax grow 33.7% from £117 million to £156.5m, despite revenue falling 15% to £3.8 billion. Used car sales fell 20.2% and new car sales declined 26.5% but the business ended the year with significantly more cash resources, boosting net funds available to £524m.
Toyota is also one of the most sought-after franchises and has consistently featured in the top five highest rated brands by retailers in the NFDA Dealer Attitude Survey over the past five years.
When quizzed about the terminations and the appointment of Macklin Motors, a spokesman for Toyota declined to comment. Vertu also declined to comment.
Asked about the changes, an Arnold Clark spokesman said: “We are in conversation with lots of new and existing manufacturers at the minute, but at this moment we are not in a position to comment further.”
The Sun: dealers offering £10k to buy back cars
The Sun has reported retailers are offering up to £10k over book price to buy back customers’ used vehicles. One Land Rover owner, who bought his vehicle just months earlier, said: “It’s unbelievable. The car market is on its head at the moment.” A sales executive at Lookers Mercedes-Benz Sevenoaks said: “If a dealer has a buyer willing to pay above market value, they will try to source that car from wherever they can.”
The AA said used car price growth has taken motor retail “to an almost bizarre level”.
Williams Rochdale is BMW Retailer of the Year
Williams Group’s Rochdale site has been crowned BMW Retailer of the Year. Its head of business Owen Duncan praised the team for overcome the challenges of the pandemic. Inchcape Ipswich won the BMW Sales prize, North Oxford Garage won Aftersales, Bowker won Marketing and Ocean Plymouth won the Customer Service gong.
“The BMW retail network excelled last year,” said UK CEO Chris Brownridge. The awards for BMW’s 135-strong retail network were held virtually for the second year, hosted by comedian Hugh Dennis.
Chronic worker shortages hitting UK business
Figures this week are expected to show job vacancies “running hot” with “too many jobs and not enough candidates”. The biggest cause of the 1.1m drop in people in the workforce is older workers aged 50 and over leaving the workforce altogether. Support for older workers has not been good enough and both government and employers need to tackle “Britain’s chronic skills deficit”.
WORLD NEWS
Hedin buys Renault Nordic distributor
Hedin Mobility and Salvador Caetano have formed a joint venture, Hedin Caetano, to acquire the Renault, Dacia and Alpine distributor in Sweden and Denmark from Groupe Renault. “Automotive retail is changing,” said Anders Hedin. “This represents a unique opportunity for implementing a new efficiency and customer focused retail and distribution platform.”
China’s XPENG opens in Netherlands, Sweden
Chinese EV brand XPENG is expanding in Europe by opening retail stores in the Netherlands and Sweden in Q1 2022, in partnership with Emil Frey and Bilia respectively. Sales will be conducted on an agency model. “Our global journey starts from Europe,” said chairman and CEO He Xiaopeng. “We are forging partnerships with top-tier local payers.” XPENG’s European headquarters are in the Netherlands.
Honda vows to maintain incentives discipline
Honda America aims to maintain a “disciplined approach” to incentives and inventory as the semiconductor shortage eases. It will do this through introducing new product that commands better pricing power, although US boss Kohei Takeuchi conceded “we will have to consult with dealers as to how much inventory they will hold… there might be some margins to increase incentives due to this”.
STOCKWATCH
Closing prices on 4 February 2022 and weekly change
Lookers up another 10.6% after last week’s 22.6% rise.
Auto Trader Group 654.0p (+0.6p / +0.09%)
Caffyns 600.0p (+50.0p / +8.6%)
Halfords 308.4p (-16.8p / -5.3%)
Inchcape 836.0p (+3.5p / +0.4%)
Lookers 96.3p (+7.7p / +10.6%)
Marshall Motor Holdings 397.0p (n/c)
Motorpoint 296.0p (+8.0p / +2.7%)
Pendragon 22.7p (+0.8p / +3.5%)
Vertu 65.2p (-0.8p / -1.2%)
COMING UP
Tuesday, UK unemployment
Wednesday, CPI and RPI
Friday, GFK Consumer Confidence
MONEY MATTERS
Britain to be fastest-growing economy in G7
The UK economy grew 7.5% in 2021, the fastest rate of growth since the Second World War. It means most of 2020’s 9.4% collapse in output has been regained. Britain is expected to be the fastest-growing economy in the G7 in 2021.
Big Four auditors ‘behaving badly’
Big Four accountancy firms are back in the spotlight over failures to spot companies going wrong, reports The Sunday Times. PwC is facing an investigation into its audits of two construction groups, taking the number of regulatory inquiries into PwC audits to seven. Deloitte, EY and KPMG have also come under scrutiny after “high-profile accounting scandals”.
A government consultation on audit and corporate governance reform is underway.
Tags:
Arnold Clark, auditors, Bilia, BMW, economy, Emil Frey, Hedin, Honda, Lookers, Renault, Toyota, Vertu, Williams Group, worker shortages, XPENG 
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