Auto Retail Agenda: 5 February 2024
04 February 2024
- BEV REGISTRATIONS OFF TO A ROCKY START IN 2024
- JLR REAFFIRMS AGENCY SALES DATE
- AUTO RETAIL LIVE PODCAST: LISTEN NOW
- McLAREN RECEIVES YET MORE BAHRAIN FUNDS
- RETAILERS: BIDEN EV STRATEGY ‘TOO AGGRESSIVE’
- HYUNDAI AMAZON PILOT DELIVERS FIRST VEHICLE
- STOCKWATCH
- COMING UP: January new car registrations
- NEW CASH ISA SPLITTING PRODUCT LAUNCHED
- TATA IN LEAD TO TAKE OVER FASTER PAYMENTS SERVICE
BEV registrations off to a rocky start in 2024
January new car registrations, out at 9am on Monday 5 February, are expected to reveal a significant drop in BEV market share against the overall figure for 2023, according to Auto Retail Agenda sources.
With a couple of days to go to the end of the month, Auto Retail Agenda understood that EVs accounted for around 14% of the market. While this is up from January 2023’s 13% share, it compared poorly against the end of 2023, which had an EV share of 16.5%.
One source said: “It’s a surprise, because we were expecting some sandbagging of EVs in December, then dumping them in January to help with the ZEV targets this year. That’s just not happened.”
Retailers and manufacturers have said that retail demand for EVs is low and accounts for, at best, well below 10% of the total market.
Overall new car registrations for January 2024 are expected to be at, or just below, the same figure last year, with nearly 132,000 new cars.
JLR reaffirms agency sales date
JLR intends to move to a ‘direct-to-sales’ agency model at the back end of 2024. While other manufacturers have pushed back their agency plans, UK MD Patrick McGillycuddy said JLR will go agency across the whole business and the firm has been working with partners for the past two years on the project.
He insisted the human element will remain key as part of JLR’s desire to be a “modern luxury brand… we need humans to deliver that experience as much as we need great online experiences”.
The OEM is also working with JLR retailers on how its new corporate identity will be rolled out in showrooms. “Internally, we’ve started to make most of the changes already. So I guess we’re going inside out.”
As part of the House of Brands structure, there will be four different brands: Range Rover, Defender, Discovery and Jaguar. Each JLR retailer will organise their showrooms to place vehicles into different zones to reflect this.
“We’ll start to bring that to life more and more over the next year or two in terms of that zoning, and the branding, and the look and feel.”
Auto Retail Live podcast: listen now
Vertu CEO Robert Forrester, Carwow CEO John Veichmanis and One Auto API’s Rupert Pontin discussed disruptions to the used car market and the impact of agency on part exchanges in last week’s Auto Retail Live webinar – and the session is now available to listen in your favourite podcast app.
* Search for Auto Retail Live wherever you get your podcasts or watch the webinar here: http://tinyurl.com/3979t4ha
McLaren receives yet more Bahrain funds
Bahrain sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat has injected a further £30m into McLaren Automotive, two months after investing £80m. The new funds mean shareholders have injected nearly £500m into McLaren over the past year.
WORLD NEWS
Retailers: Biden EV strategy ‘too aggressive’
More than four in five US retailers believe the Biden administration is forcing the auto industry to move too far ahead of demand for electric vehicles. “The market should be driving sales of EVs, not the government,” said one retailer.
New EPA proposals could see EVs having to make up two-thirds of new car sales by 2032. Thousands of retailers are urging president Joe Biden to reconsider the ambitious proposal, which could be finalised as soon as March.
Hyundai Amazon pilot delivers first vehicle
One month in to its partnership with Amazon, Hyundai has delivered its first vehicle to an Amazon employee in Seattle. The beta phase sees in-market Amazon employees connected to 18 Hyundai retailers in major markets including Los Angeles and New York.
Hyundai North America CEO Jose Munoz has created a subcommittee of the Hyundai dealer advisory board to identify potential problems as the partnership begins. NADA is on board too, he added.
STOCKWATCH
Closing prices on 2 February 2024 and weekly change
Auto Trader Group 732.0p (+9.8p / +1.3%)
Caffyns 450.0p (-20.0p / -4.3%)
Halfords 178.0p (+3.2p / +1.8%)
Inchcape 680.0p (-3.5p / -0.5%)
Motorpoint 103.5p (+4.8p / +4.7%)
Pendragon 34.9p (+0.7p / +2.0%)
Vertu 65.8p (-0.1p / -0.1%)
COMING UP
Monday, January 2024 new car registrations
Tuesday, BRC shop price index
Wednesday, Halifax house price index
Thursday, RICS housing market survey
MONEY MATTERS
New cash ISA splitting product launched
New rules come into force on 6 April allowing savers to spread their £20k allowance across several cash ISAs in the same year. Currently, it’s only possible to save into one of each type of ISA.
Tata in lead to take over Faster Payments Service
Tata Consultancy Services is understood to be a leading contender to take over Britain’s Faster Payments Service. It is responsible for processing more than 90% of salaries, over 70% of household bills and almost all state benefit payments.
The appointment is said to be on hold until the government publishes a sector strategy called Vision for Payments.
Tags:
agency, Amazon, Auto Retail Live, BEV, electric cars, House of Brands, Hyundai, ISA, JLR, McLaren, New car registrations, SMMT, ZEV Mandate 
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