The latest data supplied by the SMMT reveals the scale at which Mercedes appears to be engaging in pre-registrations activity. This is a practice that should have stopped under the agency model that...

Tim Abbott will be a familiar face to many. He has been head of region at INEOS Automotive since July this year, but is better known in the UK as BMW’s former managing director and one-time SMMT...

BMW US is reportedly facing investigation from the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) into encouraging pre-registration of vehicle – known as ‘punching’ in the US new car market. The...

Group 1’s UK boss has cited the level of manufacturer push in the car market as the reason the franchised retail model hasn’t switched to agency agreements yet. In a wide-ranging interview for...

As soon as the impact of WLTP was understood retailer performance was always going to be down in 2018 on the level we would normally see for September. Even if the demand had been there, there simply...

The automotive industry has much to celebrate in 2016. A second record year of new sales and a used car market characterised by strong fleet and consumer demand. In a benign market, used prices...

Turnover and return on sales percentages were up for automotive retailers in 2015, but growth was most prevalent among the larger groups while the smaller businesses appear to have struggled. Want to...

As time moves forward it is becoming clearer that the impact of Brexit has yet to be felt, indeed for many there is no indication yet that it even will have an effect. With new car sales still looking...

Looking back you would probably give September (and the whole of the third quarter) about a score of seven out of ten. Results were mixed and failed to live up to the heady heights of the previous...

With new car registration volumes continuing to run at unprecedented levels the UK market could be in real danger of overheating if some are to be believed. What is certain is that despite the...

2016 is definitely the year of the quarter-ends. We are seeing increasingly volatile performance as dealers move through the first two months of the quarter making losses as they strive for targets,...

The pace of decline in used values is accelerating with prices sliding 1.9% in May. The trend follows an established seasonal pattern that sees firm values in the first quarter of the year and a...

There could be trouble coming after March for automotive retailers who have indulged in too many self-registrations and who are not on top of their used stock inventory. And certainly the market is...

Welcome to 2016 and I hope it turns out to be a great year for the industry. For many in automotive, 2015 looked good on paper with increased new car sales, PCP continued growth and manufacturers...

A falsely buoyant picture is likely to be painted by September’s new plate change, with the situation being complicated by record levels of pre-registrations and some worrying factors about to...

Booming new car ‘sales’ in 2013 have stoked a lot of discussion in the trade and wider media about the accuracy of registration figures and their relation to actual new car sales. In other words,...

The question of forced registrations has always been one of the worst kept secrets in the auto retail industry but suddenly, it seems, everybody is talking about it. Since Vertu Motors drew attention...

An internet car broker in Derby has been prosecuted and fined under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPRs) for failing to inform consumers about the consequences of buying...

The pre-reg discussion within the industry, triggered by Vertu Motors’ stock exchange statement, continues this week with another tip-off. It seems pre-registered or nearly-new BMWs are like...