Since 2020, the UK has experienced a significant decline in new car registrations, resulting in a shortfall of 700,000 cars per year compared to 2019. As a result, there is now a cumulative shortage...

I was driving on the main road into Middleton, a town in rural Nova Scotia in Canada, where there is an electronic speed sign that flashes your speed as you arrive in town. I didn’t think about it...

In July Nissan hit the headlines with its announcement regarding the implementation of the Ideal Network Plan (INP). The INP is the distribution blueprint that automotive OEMs must support, by giving...

Online car sales have dropped after the “bump of lockdown” as customers have returned to the showroom. However, they are still running at a higher level than pre-pandemic, according to Auto...

Retailers who are enabling consumers to complete some or all of their buying journey online believe they are selling more cars, more efficiently and to more satisfied customers. This is a key finding...

The recruitment challenge cited by many retailers as one of their key headaches is changing in shape, but certainly not easing. A key issue for many is the need to recruit outside of the traditional...

The trajectory towards an online used car purchase, which was so crucial during lockdown, has waned since the UK re-opened. This was a key finding from the latest wave of our long-term ‘Attitude to...

Dealer groups have shown a great deal of resilience and flexibility throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, and they can be expected to continue to adapt and work closely with OEMs as the industry evolves....

On paper Ssangyong’s new car registration figures don’t look good. In the first seven months of 2021, sales were down 8% at a somewhat disappointing 615 units against 2020’s 669. With a network...

The digital transformation of the automotive retail sector, accelerated through the Covid pandemic, has been dramatic, with commentators suggesting that the industry went through 10 years’ worth of...

It would be an understatement to say that the UK motor retail sector has performed phenomenally well since the showroom doors were reopened in April. We have seen the lessons learned and advances made...

The fourth industrial revolution is firmly underway. Big data, blockchain, artificial intelligence, machine learning and analytics are all becoming day-to-day words, used across many fields of...

The used car market has proved to be remarkably robust throughout the pandemic and, following the relaxation of some Lockdown restrictions in England on April 12, the market started to heat up. The...

A new report on the future of automotive sales has concluded that the sector is at a tipping point, and should accelerate towards an agency style of retail. Describing the situation as a tipping...

Analysts are predicting a recovery in the new car market in 2021, but little change in the used car sector. Speaking at the December VRA 2021 outlook briefing, Grant Thornton associate director Owen...

There has been much written in the automotive media about online car sales, with lots of views and some conflicting opinions. But let’s examine a hypothetical case study where cars are sold through...

It’s been over two years since Toyota New Zealand (TNZ) made the switch from a franchised dealer model to its Drive Happy agency model for retail outlets. What have been the successes and problems...

Online retail is transforming the way companies and their customers interact, a change that has gained momentum as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, for the transition to be a success it...

A mixture of open leads from pre-lockdown and during lockdown means that dealers nationwide are now slogging through more than half a million open enquiries. At the same time, many are also receiving...

There was a flurry of excitement following the announcement by Volkswagen AG, in May, of their sales plans for the new ID3 electric car. In Germany, they intend to use the agency model from launch....