AM News Show: Waylands’ John O’Hanlon with eBay Motors’ Phill Jones

Leveraging a start-up culture in car retail emerged as a key topic in this episode of the AM News Show podcast, featuring Waylands Automotive CEO John O’Hanlon and eBay Motors chief operating officer Phill Jones.

As AM Awards winning Kia, MG and Volvo retailer O’Hanlon reflected on five years of trading since his car retail group started its journey with a “blank canvas”, Jones has his mind set on growth for his online used car marketplace as it moves forwards with the help of private equity funding.

AM news and features editor Tom Sharpe sat down with O’Hanlon and Jones for the most recent episode in the podcast series recorded in partnership with Armchair Marketing.

View the latest episode of the AM News Show here:

Speaking in this episode, Waylands boss O’Hanlon said: “What we have been able to do is choose the brands that we want to work with and that’s clearly been based around the things that are important to me, be it comfort, electrification or safety.

“We can be more fleet of foot as a small organisation, we don’t have the same legacy issues as a large group and that’s what’s exciting to me.”

Giving his appraisal of the year ahead for used car retailers as his business looks to support their marketing activity, meanwhile, Jones tells the AM News Show podcast: “The need for dealers to attract consumers and get their cars exposed online is as great as it’s ever been.

“Cost of living doesn’t always mean people are looking for cheaper cars, people are considering electric, they are considering would they think about subscribing, do they need one car rather than two cars, do they need a small car rather than a bigger car?

“You’ve still got 70 to 80% of people that are buying a car because they have to. People do have to fundamentally change their car.”

Among the other topics on the agenda in this episode are:

• Looking back at Automotive Managment Live 2022 at the Birmingham NEC
• Waylands’ AM100 debut
• Ongoing investment in car retail property

Available via Youtube, the AM News Show’s recent guests include Auto Trader commercial director Ian Plummer, Suzuki GB director of automobile Dale Wyatt, Steven Eagell Group chief executive Steven Eagell, carwow chief executive James Hind and HR Owen chief technical officer Brett Ward.

View the full list of episodes by clicking here.