Lamborghini is preparing to roll out its first approved used programme as parts of plans to prepare its UK car dealers for a doubling of sales volumes following the launch of its forthcoming Urus SUV.
Used car sales grew 5.2% in February, says enquiryMAX Car dealers increased their used car sales by 5.4% during February as new sales faltered, enquiryMAX has found. Analysis of data from over 700 dealers showed new sales dropped by 14.5% during the month, despite a 30% jump in the number of sales leads delivered via manufacturers and a nominal 1% increase in enquiries via the web. The number of leads generated from the service department dropped by 1%, meanwhile. David Boyce, managing director of enquiryMAX, said: “Our latest analysis shows that 2018 is set to be the year of the used car. “Dealers with strong used car operations are maintaining sales momentum in a traditionally profitable area of business. “Cross-selling from the service department to sales is a low cost and efficient route to generating business, and this should be a focus for every dealer.” PCP penetration continued to grow with an increase from 65.8% in February 2017 to 69.5% in February 2018, according to enquiryMAX’s data. The number of sales completed on the first day showed a marginal decline of 1% and the average price of a part exchange increased from £7,727 to £8,659.
Jaguar Land Rover’s relationship with its UK car dealer network will change from a “parent-child” to “adult-adult” after two constructive sets of talks with retailers, conceded managing director Jeremy Hicks.
The Institute of the Motor Industry has presented Citroen’s global chief executive Linda Jackson with the Sue Brownson Award for Outstanding Leadership in Automotive at its annual dinner.
Volvo Car UK’s sponsored dealer programme bore its first fruits when dealer principle Chris Carr opened the doors to Volvo Cars Shrewsbury for the first time.
Cox Automotive has said that sales of used diesel vehicles have continued to contrast those of new diesel cars, despite a year-on-year price rise less than a third of those attracted by petrol counterparts.
Slaters of Abergele has announced that it will close its Abergele Nissan dealership due to ‘pension deficit’ – with staff from the facility now facing redundancy.
Polestar has plans to create a dealer network of 80 franchised sites by the end of 2020 as part of plans to bring the electrified performance car brand to market via an innovative subscription platform.
Stoneacre made it three new acquisitions since the start of 2018 with its move for Platts Garage’s multi-franchise site in Stafford.
ADESA Remarketing has appointed former Cap HPI Black Book senior editor James Dower as its new head of business development.
Dyson remains poised to become one of the biggest disruptors to the EV market with plans to boost the development of its electric car range with the recruitment of 300 additional engineers.
Regit raised more than 50% of its £1.2million crowdfunding target within 24 hours as it aims to use the innovative funding stream to grow its online users from 1.4 million to six million.
Car dealers’ relationships with their manufacturer partners have suffered “further deterioration” amid the current uncertainty of the retail market, according to the latest results of the NFDA’s biannual Dealer Attitude Survey.
Cox Automotive is set to host a series of webinars and Santander Consumer Finance will take to the road with its GDPR Inform & Explain Roadshows as car dealers are offered more ways to get up-to-speed with the new data regulations.
Skoda named John Mulholland Motors Ltd as its Retailer of the Year for a third time as it celebrated the top performers in its UK car dealership network.
