The Ford Kuga topped Dealer Auction’s Retail Margin Monitor for profit opportunity in the sub £10,000 retail bracket in 2024 and the BMW brand has been highlighted as one to watch for 2025.
The Retail Margin Monitor identifies the highest retail margins seen on used vehicles bought via the Dealer Auction wholesale platform each month.
There has been a relatively consistent top 10 throughout 2024, with either the Land Rover Discovery Sport or Range Rover Evoque taking the top spot each month – plus, Land Rover dominated the brand table every month.
As a result, for this special annual round-up – and going forward – the platform has updated its profit margin data set and is now splitting it into two brackets: vehicles with a retail value of £0–£9,999 and over £10,000.
Dealer Auction’s marketplace director, Kieran TeeBoon, said: “Over the past three years, the Retail Margin Monitor has proved a valuable resource for savvy dealers who are looking to identify the most profitable stock for their forecourts.
“It’s important that we stay agile in order to support our dealers in the best possible way and there’s been an appetite among our followers and industry experts to see more depth to the detail we publish.
“Going forward, we’ll therefore comment on what’s happening in the two brackets – not only to ensure a sharper focus on the models most commonly sold by our dealers, but also to provide more actionable insights to help maximise profit.”
Kuga takes the top spot
In the sub-£10,000 retail bracket, the Kuga took the top spot for 2024, with an annual average retail margin of £2,250.
It was also a strong performer across other metrics – selling in 33 days on average and achieving an Average Auto Trader Retail Rating of 74.1
The Kia Sportage followed, with an annual average retail margin of £2,100, further underlining the popularity and performance of family-friendly SUVs.
Indeed, 60% of the top 10 were SUVs/crossovers, with the remaining 40% made up of hatchbacks and superminis – including the third-place Peugeot 2008 (£2,080).
The fastest seller of the top 10 profit-makers was the Nissan Qashqai, which sold in 29 days on average.
As expected from this price point, mainstream brands ruled the roost, with the exception of the BMW and MINI models.
TeeBoon said: “It’s a competitive 2024 top 10 in the sub-£10,000 sphere, with only £350 difference between the models in first and tenth place.
"Furthermore, when we look at December’s data, the Sportage came out on top, and we also saw the Ford Focus, Volkswagen Golf and Honda CR-V enter the fray.
"So, we encourage dealers to keep an eye on each month’s rankings to see the top-performing models.”
Land Rover dominagtes above £10,000
Looking at the data for models retailing above £10,000, Land Rover products dominated for the fourth year running, while other premium makes continued to deliver strong returns.
Topping the chart was the Discovery Sport with an annual average retail margin of £3,700, followed by the Range Rover Evoque (£3,550) and Volvo XC60 (£3,075).
At brand level, in the top 10 makes for models with a retail value of under £10,000, BMW took the crown with an annual average retail margin of £2,300. The brand was closely followed by Mercedes-Benz (£2,200) and Audi (£2,150).
The brand chart showed more diversity between premium and mainstream makes, with a 60:40 split.
Interestingly, December 2024’s top 10 was held by 90% mainstream brands – a trend to watch as we move into 2025.
It was a strong all-round 2024 performance from BMW.
As well as topping the brand table for the year overall, it also ended 2024 as the top model in December.
What’s more, the 1 Series was the fourth most profitable model for the year (£2,070), while BMW also came third (£3,250) in the top 10 for makes with models retailing above £10,000.
Meanwhile, Land Rover drew the highest profit for the fourth year running, with an average margin of £4,475.
The 2024 Retail Margin Monitor comes hot on the heels of industry predictions for 2025 and beyond.
Cox Automotive have projected that used vehicle transactions will rise from 7.4 million in 2024 to nearly 7.9 million by 2027, with a baseline scenario of a gradual resurgence, as economic factors keep inflation at elevated levels, influencing consumer behaviour and spending patterns.
Elsewhere, Auto Trader has warned dealers to keep on top of pricing, with their data showing a profit opportunity of almost £30 million on under-priced stock in December 2024.
TeeBoon concluded: “Our annual round-up shows plenty to be optimistic about as we head into 2025.
"Trade demand remains robust, with ample opportunities to seek out profit. Although this report is a brilliant gauge of long-term trends, the variations seen in December reinforce the importance of looking at the most up-to-date insights to stay ahead of the curve.
“To succeed in 2025, it’s crucial for dealers to fine-tune their forecourt for that perfect balance of speed to sale and maximising margins.”
AM Dealer Recommended 2025
In this issue we present the top perfomers in the 2025 AM Dealer Recommended research.
Significant motor retail industry suppliers have been endorsed by UK automotive retail leaders in our research programme.
We surveyed dealers from our audience to find out who they trust most and rely on for products and services in a variety of critical aspects of their motor retail operations.
Almost 30 companies received sufficient support from AM's dealer audience to become Dealer Recommended this year.
Find out who they are and learn from them how they can problem solve in your business.
Read now
Author:
Tom Seymour
Freelance writer
Freelance writer for AM, Tom Seymour has been a specialist B2B journalist covering the automotive sector for over 14 years. He started his freelance career in 2015 and currently writes for a variety of automotive, business and technology publications.
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