Auto Retail Agenda: 3 January 2023
01 January 2023
- ARNOLD CLARK HIT BY CHRISTMAS CYBER ATTACK
- ROBERT FORRESTER: 2023 OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE VITAL
- NEW EV SALES OUTPACE NEW PUBLIC CHARGERS
- NISSAN QASHQAI FORECAST TO BE 2022’S TOP NEW CAR
- 2035 IC BAN ‘NOT REASONABLE’ – ITALY PM
- ACURA WORKS WITH RETAILERS ON DIGITAL SHOPPING TOOL
- STOCKWATCH
- COMING UP: 2022 new car registrations
- ‘MILD RECESSION’ FORECAST FOR UK
- IMF: ‘THIRD OF WORLD’ IN 2023 RECESSION
Arnold Clark hit by Christmas cyber attack
Arnold Clark was hit by a Christmas Eve cyber attack. The retailer said it affected computer and telephone systems, which were out of action for several days over Christmas.
Employees had to take customer details using pen and paper, an insider told The Scottish Sun. “It’s like being back to the 1970s.”
Telephones were restored on Wednesday 28 December.
They added that “the IT guy was on holiday in Italy but they couldn’t get hold of him… eventually they tracked him down to his hotel and he was told he had to get the first flight home”.
The Arnold Clark IT security team has subsequently carried out a full investigation and concluded that there is no evidence of any customer data being compromised.
Robert Forrester: 2023 operational excellence vital
Despite headwinds, Robert Forrester told BBC Radio 4 Today over Christmas, new car order take remains “pretty good” and used car demand levels are matching late 2021 levels. “Staggering” used car price growth is now moderating, he added – but prices are remaining strong.
The exception is EVs, whose used prices are actually falling, and at a far faster rather than hybrid and plug-in hybrids. This may present challenges for new EV PCPs, he said. “Do you need to factor those lower RVs in, making EVs even more expensive? It’s going to be one to watch.”
As for 2023, the focus for retailers will be how businesses manage costs, he said – including rising wages and the 1 April business rates revaluation.
“People will, operationally, have to be absolutely on it.”
EV sales outpace public charger installations
There was a 30% year-on-year increase in new public electric car chargers during 2022 – but new EV sales outpaced this with 38% annual growth to November 2022. A record 8,700 public chargers were installed last year, taking the total to more than 37,000. Boris Johnson’s government targeted 300k public EV chargers by 2030; sustained 30% year-on-year growth is enough to hit this target.
Nissan Qashqai forecast to be 2022’s top new car
The Nissan Qashqai is expected to this week emerge as the best-selling car of 2022 – and the first British-built best-seller this century. The Ford Escort was the last UK-built best-seller, back in the 1990s.
WORLD NEWS
2035 IC ban ‘not reasonable’ – Italy PM
Italian PM Giorgia Meloni says the EU’s 2035 ban on combustion engines does not make sense and is harmful to Italian business. “I think there is a certain alignment by other European countries on our position,” she said.Stellantis is one of Italy’s largest OEMs.
In November, EU internal market commissioner Thierry Breton said Europe’s EV push poses risks to employment and vehicle affordability – and urged OEMs to keep making ICE vehicles.
Acura works with retailers on digital shopping tool
Premium US Honda brand Acura is working with a handful of retailers to hone an online shopping platform that will launch with its first EV, the ZDX, due later in 2023. The company has, however, insisted it will not deploy an agency model: the new platform, called Tekion, keeps retailers as the nucleus of the sale. The so-called Acura Innovation Committee comprises eight retailers.
STOCKWATCH
Closing prices on 30 December 2022 and weekly change
Auto Trader Group 515.6p (-2.6p / -0.5%)
Caffyns 500.0p (n/c)
Halfords 209.0p (+8.4p / +4.1%)
Inchcape 820.0p (-4.0p / -0.4%)
Lookers 76.2p (n/c)
Motorpoint 145.0p (-1.0p / -0.6%)
Pendragon 19.2p (+1.35p / +7.2%)
Vertu 54.0p (+0.8p / +1.4%)
COMING UP
Wednesday, UK consumer credit
Thursday, SMMT December and 2022 new car registrations
Friday, Halifax house price index
MONEY MATTERS
‘Mild recession’ forecast for UK
UK GDP is predicted to fall 0.7% in 2023 – a recession, but a mild one. That’s the findings of the latest Treasury compilation of independent forecasters’ predictions. Inflation is also predicted to fall, to an average of 5% by Q4 2023 – still way above the official 2% target.
IMF: ‘third of world’ in 2023 recession
The IMF has warned a third of the global economy will be in recession this year. The US, EU and China will all see economies slow; Europe will not escape recession and the US is “teetering on the edge”.
Strategist Bill Blaine said the IMF’s warning was a “good wake up and smell the coffee moment”. He added interest rates are not going to fall as rapidly as the markets think, which will “create a whole series of consequences that will keep markets on tenterhooks for at least the first half of 2023”.
Tags:
Acura, agency, Arnold Clark, cyber attack, electric cars, EU, EV, Ford, GDP, Honda, ICE ban, interest rates, IT, Italy, Nissan, recession, Stellantis, Tekion 
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