Auto Retail Agenda: 18 March 2024
17 March 2024
- FCA: COMPANIES ‘ALMOST CERTAINLY’ GUILTY OF DCA FAILINGS
- STRATSTONE BYD BIRMINGHAM ‘PERFECT’ TRIUMPH
- ALEX CHESTERMAN TO SHARE £30m WINDFALL
- CATCH UP WITH AUTO RETAIL LIVE
- VOLVO EYES DTC IN GERMANY
- US RETAILERS PESSIMISTIC ON EVs
- STOCKWATCH
- COMING UP: BoE interest rate decision
- FROZEN LUXURY CAR TAX SLAMMED
- BITCOIN IN SHARP PULLBACK FROM RECORD HIGH
FCA: companies ‘almost certainly’ guilty of DCA failings
FCA chief Nikhil Rathi said last week it was “improbable we will find nothing to report as we look at historic motor finance sales”. Some companies were ‘almost certainly’ guilty of failings in concealing commissions – but the regulator played down speculation that redress would match the £50bn bill for PPI.
The investigation will also not be as protracted. “I do not anticipate this issue playing out as PPI did, not least because we have intervened early in the interest of market orderliness.”
Money saving expert Martin Lewis earlier speculated the scandal could be “of a PPI-type scandal”.
Rathi added the FCA will “look favourably on firms that have made reasonable efforts to address concerns. We’re not setting out to trip firms up by going after technical breaches”.https://tinyurl.com/2s48ynvr
Stratstone BYD Birmingham ‘perfect’ triumph
Stratstone BYD Birmingham has won the firm’s Top Retailer Award for Customer Service in Q4 2023 – with a perfect score of 100%.
Alex Chesterman to share £30m windfall
The founders of British employee reward platform Perkbox are to enjoy a £70m windfall after selling to a US-based private equity firm. The deal will also hand £30m to UK angel investors including Cazoo founder Alex Chesterman.
Catch up with Auto Retail Live
You can now watch Swansways’ Peter Smyth, Ron Brooks’ Tom Slack and Auto Trader’s Karolina Edwards-Smajda in the latest Auto Retail Live business briefing. The 40-minute session saw the panellists discuss a range of business agenda items, including new car sales, OEM offers and the outlook for the next few months.
WORLD NEWS
Volvo eyes DTC in Germany
Volvo wants to shift to an online direct-to-consumer sales model in Germany by 2026. The UK is currently its online-focused DTC market, with Sweden and Norway next in line. The German switchover will take longer because of IT issues – and Volvo has yet to decide whether it will be a true agency agreement of “a kind-of agency agreement” said Volvo online sales chief Axel Zurhausen.UK sources say Volvo refers to its sales model here as “quasi-agency”.
US retailers pessimistic on EVs
US retailers are less confident in the overall outlook for EVs. Sentiment has worsened from a year ago and is sinking to record lows, according to Cox Automotive’s Dealer Sentiment Index. “You have to hunt to find the dealer that’s optimistic about the EV market growing,” said chief economist Jonathan Smoke.
STOCKWATCH
Closing prices on 15 March 2024 and weekly change
Auto Trader Group 755.0p (+14.0p / +1.8%)
Caffyns 450.0p (n/c)
Halfords 158.3p (-6.9p / -4.2%)
Inchcape 642.5p (+6.5p / +1.0%)
Motorpoint 129.5p (+2.75p / +2.1%)
Pinewood 37.8p (+0.1p / +0.2%)
Vertu 67.1p (-0.3p / -0.4%)
COMING UP
Wednesday, CPI and RPI
Thursday, Bank of England interest rate decision
Friday, GFK consumer confidence
Friday, retail sales
27 April, NFDA Spring Ball
3 May, Radius Law Annual Conference
MONEY MATTERS
Frozen luxury car tax slammed
The luxury car tax, which requires owners of cars priced more than £40,000 to pay an extra £390 a year in VED for five years, has been slammed for not keeping pace with inflation. It has remained frozen for seven years.VED raised £7.4bn for the government in 2022-23, and the OBR predicts it will rise to £9.4bn by 2027-28.
Bitcoin in sharp pullback from record high
Bitcoin fell 9% on Friday, due to factors including traders taking profits after it surged 175% over the past 12 months, and uncertainty in the global economy with higher-than-ex-expected inflation in the US eroding hopes of interest rate cuts. “Bitcoin has an established history of getting volatile and ruthless after hitting a record high,” said analyst Matt Simpson.
Tags:
agency, Alex Chesterman, Auto Trader, Bitcoin, BYD, Cazoo, commission, DCA, EVs, FCA, Stratstone, Volvo 
Why Subscribe?
As an auto retail executive you need insightful and unique industry intelligence to boost your business potential. Here’s a taste of what Auto Retail Network has to offer:
- Get informed and boost your business potential
- More than 1,200 fellow executives have joined us since launch
- Independent, carefully crafted, unique content relevant to you and your business
- Develop a greater awareness of market trends and opportunities
- Access to a wide range of materials whenever, wherever and however you want it
- Significant discounts on ARN events, reports and other publications
