Coronavirus-prompted car dealership closures resulting from Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s lock-down of non-essential retail businesses will see ‘80% of car dealership employees’ placed on Government salary support.
Several franchised dealer groups had announced on Monday the temporary closures of their car showrooms just hours before Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a lockdown of all non-essential workers and businesses tonight.
Government will only reimburse up to 80% of the monthly wage of car dealership employees if their jobs have been put “at risk” by the current COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak.
The Finance and Leasing Association’s (FLA) head of motor finance has said that every effort should be made to keep motorists “in their cars” as coronavirus inhibits some consumers’ ability to make repayments.
While Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is still producing cars in the UK (for now), the rest of the UK mass auto industry has effectively shut down, as the devastating economic effects of coronavirus unfold across Europe, disrupting supply chains and dramatically reducing demand.
Car showrooms have been included in the list of businesses which will be exempt from business rates during 2020/21 – regardless of their taxable value.
MHA MacIntyre Hudson has published a free report paper aiming to address car dealers’ immediate need for proactive business continuity planning as the impact of COVID-19 coronavirus begins to be felt.
The National Franchised Retailers Association (NFDA) has urged Government to introduce fiscal measures to protect the automotive retail sector from the impact of COVID-19 coronavirus.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and automotive sector analysts have expressed an inability to speculate over the economic impact of coronavirus as businesses grow increasingly “anxious over the duration” of the outbreak’s impact.
Automotive retail sector analysts suggested that the limited eligibility of many business benefits announced in Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s Budget 2020 could limit the advantages for the automotive retail sector.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has outlined an investment of £12 billion to help manage the effects of coronavirus on UK households and business in his 2020 Budget.
The Government has recently started consulting on bringing forward the ban on petrol and diesel cars from 2040 to 2035...or perhaps even 2032.
The National Franchised Dealers Association (NFDA) has urged Government to safeguard the plug-in car grant (PCIG) in order to “ensure a consistent and successful transition to electric vehicles” by 2035.
The announcement that the UK government is bringing forward the final date for the sale of fossil fuel powered vehicles to 2035 is without a doubt a laudable commitment.
The UK Government is poised to ban the sale of all hybrid, petrol and diesel cars from 2035, Prime Minister Boris Johnson will announce at today’s launch of the COP26 United Nations climate summit.
The National Franchised Dealers Association (NFDA) has called on the Driver and Vehicle Agency (DVA) to allow franchised car dealers to carry out MoT tests as part of a reform of testing legislation in Northern Ireland.
Government’s decision to double its funding of residential, on-street electric vehicle (EV) charge points to £10 million next year has been hailed as “a positive move” by the NFDA.
Consumer interest in electric vehicles (EV) grew by 126% in Q3 of 2019 according to data compiled for a Europe wide ‘EV Index’ to determine various markets’ progress in the adoption of alternative fuel vehicles (AFV).
Over a third of car retailers (34%) believe that half of the new cars sold in the UK will fall into the Government’s ultra-low emission vehicle category by 2030.
The National Franchised Dealers Association (NFDA) has called for a “targeted and consistent approach” to addressing urban air quality and the adoption of electric vehicles (EV) following Bristol City Council’s decision to ban diesel vehicles from its streets.
