14 July 2019

• HR OWEN PLANS NEW ROLLS-ROYCE MAYFAIR SITE
• SCOTTISH RETAILERS CENTRE ON CITIES
• MINI EV SPARKS INTEREST
• RETAILERS FACING Q3 PUSH
• FCA SPENDS ON FIAT 500 EV
• DAIMLER CUTS PROFIT FORECAST AGAIN
• COMING UP – UK retail sales data, Motorpoint, Vertu and Caffyns AGM, Inchape interim results
• LAUNCH DIARY – VW Passat, Lotus Evija
• MONEY MATTERS – Businesses to check contractors’ tax status, Q2 business investment on hold
• OUR BLOG – It’s tough now, but there’s still a bright future

HR Owen plans new Rolls-Royce Mayfair site

HR Owen is planning to open a new Rolls-Royce showroom in Berkeley Square, with the site due to open its doors in January.

Speaking exclusively to Auto Retail Agenda at the opening of the new Ferrari Mayfair showroom, HR Owen CEO Ken Choo confirmed that the new Rolls-Royce site “will be very close, 50 feet from here. We will unveil it in January, we are working on it, it is a five-window showroom, it is going to be really impressive.”

The new HR Owen Ferrari site is in the building that was previously Rolls-Royce Motor Cars London, with the latter currently in what was referred to as a ‘pop-up’ a few doors further down in the square.

The new Rolls-Royce showroom will strengthen HR Owen’s presence in the Mayfair square, joining the long-established Jack Barclay Bentley that sits next to the Ferrari site. The new Ferrari site replaces the Atelier in Knightsbridge, which is due to close, but the South Kensington store on Old Brompton Road remains.

Scottish retailers centre on cities

Scottish retailers are moving to the bigger cities and relying on online sales and satellite service centres to fill gaps in coverage around towns, according to a new report by estate agent Rapleys.

Citing recent developments over the past 12 months from Peter Vardy in Dundee, Arnold Clark in Aberdeen and Edinburgh, Sytner in Edinburgh, Eastern Western in Dundee and Stirling and others, the commercial real estate specialists, Rapleys, said: “Dealers will seek even greater efficiencies and the network concentration will remain in the core cities and towns, which will be supported by online sales and regional service centres.”

Mini EV sparks interest

Mini retailers took more than 600 deposits and registered around 20,000 expressions of interest for its new electric version within 48 hours of the order books opening on Tuesday despite the car not being available until March 2020.

The car costs from £24,400 after the government Plug-in Car grant has been applied, or on a monthly lease from £299.

Retailers facing Q3 push

Retailers will be pushing hard in the rest of Q3 to cope with the next phase of WLTP and putting maximum effort into driving orders for the September market while their manufacturer partners prepare for a no-deal Brexit, according to Auto Trader.

Ian Plummer, Auto Trader’s commercial director, said: “The market may be down as a whole, but the picture is not as bleak as we may think. In fact, the numbers could have appeared a lot lower this month but at the end of Q2 and H1, many retailers did even more tactical closing actions, such as self-registrations to help reach their targets.”

WORLD NEWS

FCA spends on Fiat 500 EV    

Fiat Chrysler is spending around £630 million to build an EV version of its Fiat 500 with production scheduled for Q2 2020.  A hybrid version of the Maserati Levante is also due next year as FCA moves towards electrification on its own after the failed merger with Renault.

Daimler cuts profit forecast again

Daimler has cut its profit forecast for the fourth time in 13 months and ringfenced more money to cover a regulatory crackdown on diesel emissions and vehicle recalls related to Takata airbags.

The Mercedes-Benz parent company said it would post a Q2 operating loss and that 2019 results will be significantly lower than last year, compared with its previous forecast for a broadly unchanged performance.

https://reut.rs/2YRF15M

COMING UP

Thursday: UK retail sales data

23: Motorpoint AGM

24: Vertu AGM

25: Caffyns AGM, Inchape interim results

LAUNCH DIARY

VW Passat. Eighth generation saloon and estate. From £27,630

Lotus Evija: Hypercar to mark the re-launch of the brand under Geely ownership, 16 July unveil.

MONEY MATTERS

Businesses to check contractors’ tax status

From April 2020 businesses using contractors will have to check if they need to pay income tax and NI contributions, shifting the onus onto the company under the draft Finance Bill published this week.

The off-payroll rules, known as IR35, means that private sector firms entering into contracts or paying workers engaged through a PSC – personal services company – after 6 April 2020 will have to check the workers’ tax status.

https://bit.ly/2SgnWjt

Q2 business investment on hold

Small firms put investment on hold in Q2 and three quarters don’t plan on increasing capital investment in this quarter as they await clarity on Brexit.

The latest Federation of Small Businesses report said 72% of firms will delay investment spend, the highest number in two years. This is backed by ONS data showing that business investment fell for four straight quarters last year for the first time since the financial crash.

https://bit.ly/2FWXCWP

CLICK HERE TO READ OUR BLOG – It’s tough now, but there’s still a bright future

John Swift

Editor

Auto Retail Agenda

Tags: Arnold Clark, Auto Trader, CDK, Ferrari, HR Owen, Lotus, Mini, Peter Vardy, Sytner