Latest / Motor Trade Radio / 📈 EVs Go Mainstream, Diesel Reaches a Tipping Point (E:63 S:12)

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📈 EVs Go Mainstream, Diesel Reaches a Tipping Point (E:63 S:12) · Motor Trade Radio

• 0:05
  Speaker: Hello and welcome to the Motor
• 0:07
  Speaker: Trade Radio podcast powered by
• 0:10
  Speaker: Cazoo.
• 0:11
  Speaker: With Philip Northward and Curtis Hutchinson bringing you all the
• 0:15
  Speaker: chatter that matters across the car retailing sector from
• 0:19
  Speaker: factory to forecourt.
• 0:25
  Speaker: I think we need to replace our change our jingle for these kind
• 0:30
  Speaker: of episodes, because Curtis is having a well earned week off,
• 0:35
  Speaker: um, sunning himself, um, and, uh, looking over the bay.
• 0:40
  Speaker: I suspect with the beer in his hand and enjoying a relaxation.
• 0:44
  Speaker: But I am joined this week by
• 0:47
  Speaker: friend of the podcast, a
• 0:48
  Speaker: personal friend of mine, and you
• 0:50
  Speaker: all know David Bilsborough from
• 0:53
  Speaker: Cheshire.
• 0:53
  Speaker: So David, thank you again for,
• 0:55
  Speaker: for coming back on to the
• 0:57
  Speaker: podcast and sitting in for, for
• 0:59
  Speaker: Curtis.
• 0:59
  Speaker: I think both of us would rather be in a tavern in Crete,
• 1:02
  Speaker: enjoying the the warmer weather with a beer in our hands.
• 1:06
  Speaker: But we've got a bit of sun here,
• 1:07
  Speaker: aren't we, in the UK at the
• 1:08
  Speaker: minute?
• 1:09
  Speaker: Oh, good morning Phil.
• 1:11
  Speaker: Always a pleasure to join you on
• 1:13
  Speaker: the Motor Trade podcast, as you
• 1:14
  Speaker: know.
• 1:15
  Speaker: And yes, we would like to be somewhere a little bit warmer.
• 1:19
  Speaker: But you know we've had some fabulous weather haven't we?
• 1:22
  Speaker: So yeah, we are blessed.
• 1:24
  Speaker: We are.
• 1:24
  Speaker: Yeah we are, we have been blessed for October haven't we?
• 1:27
  Speaker: We we have.
• 1:28
  Speaker: How are you anyway?
• 1:29
  Speaker: You keeping you.
• 1:29
  Speaker: Keeping well.
• 1:31
  Speaker: Never better, never better.
• 1:33
  Speaker: Um. Sort of.
• 1:34
  Speaker: Um.
• 1:35
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 1:35
  Speaker: No, it's been a busy year um, so far.
• 1:38
  Speaker: So we've got the tail end to come haven't we.
• 1:40
  Speaker: So always, it's always an interesting time actually,
• 1:43
  Speaker: because we sort of sort of look forward to the end of the year
• 1:46
  Speaker: and the celebrations around Christmas and New Year.
• 1:48
  Speaker: But we've still got targets to achieve haven't we, and business
• 1:52
  Speaker: to be done.
• 1:52
  Speaker: So it's always a very busy time really.
• 1:55
  Speaker: It is interesting that and that that's the thing.
• 1:57
  Speaker: And, and we, we, we caught up with Peter Smyth last week,
• 2:01
  Speaker: who's everyone knows is one of the co-directors there at, uh,
• 2:05
  Speaker: at the Swansway group.
• 2:06
  Speaker: And, and that was, you know,
• 2:08
  Speaker: that was part of that
• 2:09
  Speaker: conversation.
• 2:09
  Speaker: It's kind of okay, September's done this deep breath.
• 2:14
  Speaker: Now, post September for the franchise dealers particularly.
• 2:17
  Speaker: And then it's kind of right.
• 2:19
  Speaker: Q4 still an important part of the year.
• 2:22
  Speaker: Got to finish the year off strong.
• 2:24
  Speaker: But at the same time, you've always got one eye on next year
• 2:27
  Speaker: because you've got to kick off the new year as fast as you can,
• 2:31
  Speaker: um, to get everything in place for, for the new year.
• 2:35
  Speaker: So yeah, it never stops does it in automotive.
• 2:39
  Speaker: No, no good.
• 2:40
  Speaker: Operator.
• 2:40
  Speaker: Swansway.
• 2:41
  Speaker: Uh, not too far away from me neither.
• 2:43
  Speaker: Uh, I actually used, I actually used the services of Swansway
• 2:46
  Speaker: for the body shop for alloy wheels, etc. very professional.
• 2:51
  Speaker: Um, seemed to seem to have sort of, uh, be very proactive rather
• 2:55
  Speaker: than reactive, which is always helpful, isn't it?
• 2:58
  Speaker: When you're in retail in any area of the market, if you can
• 3:00
  Speaker: be proactive, it's much better than having to react, isn't it?
• 3:04
  Speaker: Certainly.
• 3:05
  Speaker: It certainly is.
• 3:05
  Speaker: So as I say, we're going to say you're not listening to the
• 3:09
  Speaker: interview there with with Peter Smyth, with Curtis.
• 3:12
  Speaker: Now last week, then do check that on your your podcast feed.
• 3:16
  Speaker: You will not be disappointed.
• 3:18
  Speaker: Everybody who knows Peter is you know, he says it as it is very
• 3:22
  Speaker: open, very honest, and a very worthwhile sort of thirty, forty
• 3:26
  Speaker: minutes of your time to listen to that one.
• 3:29
  Speaker: And the other one we do
• 3:30
  Speaker: recommend is if you listen to
• 3:32
  Speaker: last weekend's podcast as well,
• 3:34
  Speaker: other than, you know, we covered
• 3:36
  Speaker: the, the September new car
• 3:38
  Speaker: registration figures, which came
• 3:40
  Speaker: out on the Friday morning, which
• 3:42
  Speaker: was unusual that the Smmt pushed
• 3:44
  Speaker: them out early just before the
• 3:46
  Speaker: the weekend there were subject
• 3:47
  Speaker: to change and I'll get on to
• 3:49
  Speaker: that shortly.
• 3:50
  Speaker: But we managed to catch up with Harry Bott, who is a media hawk
• 3:56
  Speaker: who anybody knows.
• 3:57
  Speaker: He does a deep analysis on the
• 3:59
  Speaker: the new car registrations in
• 4:01
  Speaker: particular, what's happening
• 4:02
  Speaker: with the Chinese manufacturers,
• 4:05
  Speaker: the new entrants in the
• 4:06
  Speaker: marketplace.
• 4:07
  Speaker: So again, if you haven't
• 4:08
  Speaker: listened to that chat with with
• 4:10
  Speaker: Harry, do tune into the podcast
• 4:12
  Speaker: from last week weekend and have
• 4:14
  Speaker: a good listen to that because,
• 4:15
  Speaker: you know, it highlights some
• 4:17
  Speaker: very interesting shifts from
• 4:19
  Speaker: the, the OEM market share in the
• 4:22
  Speaker: market.
• 4:23
  Speaker: But like I say, you know, we
• 4:24
  Speaker: will get on to the new car
• 4:27
  Speaker: figures.
• 4:27
  Speaker: Just to clarify the the confirmed numbers for September,
• 4:30
  Speaker: surely not a deep dive into it.
• 4:32
  Speaker: And we now have got the, uh, the new van LCV figures out as well,
• 4:38
  Speaker: so we'll get on to that shortly.
• 4:43
  Speaker: If you're a supplier and would
• 4:45
  Speaker: like us to profile your business
• 4:47
  Speaker: and reach our audience of dealer
• 4:49
  Speaker: group bosses, managers, and
• 4:51
  Speaker: decision makers on one of our
• 4:53
  Speaker: motor trade radio supplier
• 4:55
  Speaker: special episodes.
• 4:57
  Speaker: Then get in touch at Motor Trade Radio at yahoo dot com.
• 5:05
  Speaker: And companies already featured in our supplier specials include
• 5:09
  Speaker: Auto Tech group, Autoglym, Live Shine and Impel, Prospecting
• 5:14
  Speaker: Dynamics and MTC.
• 5:17
  Speaker: And you can find them all in your podcast feed.
• 5:20
  Speaker: Along with our recent OEM specials with EV brands Verizon,
• 5:25
  Speaker: Aon and Shangyang.
• 5:27
  Speaker: And we also caught up with Suzuki.
• 5:30
  Speaker: And if you'd like to profile
• 5:31
  Speaker: your business, then just message
• 5:33
  Speaker: us at Motor trade radio at yahoo
• 5:37
  Speaker: dot com.
• 5:37
  Speaker: I'll reach out to Curtis or
• 5:39
  Speaker: myself through the social
• 5:41
  Speaker: channels.
• 5:45
  Speaker: You're listening to the Motor
• 5:46
  Speaker: Trade Radio podcast powered by
• 5:50
  Speaker: Cazoo.
• 5:54
  Speaker: So as I said, David, we talked
• 5:56
  Speaker: about the Smmt figures last week
• 5:59
  Speaker: and obviously there were subject
• 6:01
  Speaker: to slight change and they did
• 6:02
  Speaker: slightly change by the from the
• 6:05
  Speaker: Friday morning until the Monday
• 6:07
  Speaker: morning.
• 6:08
  Speaker: So the the actual result for
• 6:09
  Speaker: September, those that haven't
• 6:11
  Speaker: seen it is three hundred and
• 6:12
  Speaker: fifty thousand five hundred and
• 6:13
  Speaker: thirty six.
• 6:15
  Speaker: That's an increase of twelve percent year on year.
• 6:19
  Speaker: Um, it takes the year to date to one million seven hundred and
• 6:24
  Speaker: thirty nine thousand two hundred and seventy one, which is a ten
• 6:27
  Speaker: point two percent year on year growth, um, for the year to date
• 6:32
  Speaker: double digit growth there.
• 6:33
  Speaker: Private year to date is up
• 6:35
  Speaker: twelve point eight percent, um
• 6:37
  Speaker: up to six hundred and ninety
• 6:39
  Speaker: five thousand nine hundred and
• 6:41
  Speaker: sixty five.
• 6:43
  Speaker: Fleet brought the one million mark year to date at one million
• 6:46
  Speaker: five hundred and nine.
• 6:48
  Speaker: That was up Eight percent and business forty two thousand
• 6:52
  Speaker: seven hundred and ninety seven, up twenty two point eight
• 6:55
  Speaker: percent year on year.
• 6:57
  Speaker: And I think, David, you and I were chatting just before we
• 7:00
  Speaker: started to record.
• 7:02
  Speaker: And last week we talked about
• 7:03
  Speaker: the there and there about was
• 7:04
  Speaker: one hundred thousand
• 7:05
  Speaker: registrations that happened in
• 7:07
  Speaker: the, the closing three days of,
• 7:09
  Speaker: of the month of September, which
• 7:11
  Speaker: is what happened back in twenty
• 7:13
  Speaker: nineteen.
• 7:14
  Speaker: Similar kind of result for September, just marginally
• 7:18
  Speaker: behind what we did this year, September in twenty nineteen.
• 7:22
  Speaker: But again, you know, a very lot
• 7:25
  Speaker: of vehicles happening in the
• 7:26
  Speaker: last few, you know, few days of
• 7:28
  Speaker: the month.
• 7:28
  Speaker: And Peter Smyth did mention that
• 7:31
  Speaker: his fleet department were on the
• 7:33
  Speaker: on the computers until six
• 7:35
  Speaker: o'clock that evening trying to
• 7:36
  Speaker: get everything registered
• 7:38
  Speaker: through.
• 7:38
  Speaker: So I think you and I have been
• 7:40
  Speaker: in the industry long enough,
• 7:41
  Speaker: aren't we, David, that this last
• 7:43
  Speaker: minute activity in key months
• 7:46
  Speaker: was quite normal pre-pandemic,
• 7:49
  Speaker: wasn't it?
• 7:49
  Speaker: When?
• 7:50
  Speaker: When product was freely available?
• 7:53
  Speaker: Yes.
• 7:53
  Speaker: It was always known as last minute dot com, wasn't it?
• 7:56
  Speaker: Yes.
• 7:56
  Speaker: But, um, it even had its own internal email.
• 8:00
  Speaker: So, um, but it's, it's always going to be that case because
• 8:04
  Speaker: you've got lots of dynamics in play haven't you?
• 8:08
  Speaker: But listening to what you've just said about those numbers
• 8:10
  Speaker: from the different sectors of new car registrations, it's all
• 8:14
  Speaker: very pleasing, isn't it really.
• 8:15
  Speaker: Because everyone's like, well,
• 8:18
  Speaker: they're all every area is up,
• 8:19
  Speaker: isn't it?
• 8:20
  Speaker: Private fleet, uh, businesses.
• 8:23
  Speaker: And so yeah, and I think
• 8:25
  Speaker: sometimes it depends how you
• 8:27
  Speaker: look at it that yes, you know,
• 8:30
  Speaker: we talk about is it a fictitious
• 8:32
  Speaker: marketplace?
• 8:33
  Speaker: Is it a false marketplace?
• 8:35
  Speaker: How many of these vehicles are natural registrations?
• 8:38
  Speaker: How many have been tactically registered?
• 8:41
  Speaker: What sort of discount has been
• 8:43
  Speaker: placed to force these
• 8:45
  Speaker: registrations through, but from
• 8:46
  Speaker: your perspective, you're
• 8:48
  Speaker: operating in the used
• 8:49
  Speaker: marketplace.
• 8:51
  Speaker: Do all eventually end up as a used car in the future.
• 8:54
  Speaker: So it's positive.
• 8:56
  Speaker: Yeah it is.
• 8:56
  Speaker: I was going to say that at the beginning, but I'll save that.
• 8:59
  Speaker: But now that you've broken the covenant, um, so yeah, no, I was
• 9:04
  Speaker: thinking when you were reading those figures out, that's got to
• 9:06
  Speaker: be good news for the used car sector in the years, two years
• 9:09
  Speaker: time, hasn't it?
• 9:10
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 9:11
  Speaker: Because it's probably coming through isn't it.
• 9:12
  Speaker: Yeah it is.
• 9:13
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 9:13
  Speaker: It's product coming through.
• 9:15
  Speaker: I think the transition's well and truly underway with EV to
• 9:19
  Speaker: hybrid and to EV.
• 9:20
  Speaker: Um, and that's been led by lots of, I guess, incentives in the
• 9:25
  Speaker: new car registration market, isn't it, where they're quite
• 9:29
  Speaker: competitive on prices.
• 9:30
  Speaker: I saw yesterday, I was looking around comparing a used Tesla to
• 9:36
  Speaker: a new one.
• 9:37
  Speaker: And there are some deals from
• 9:38
  Speaker: Tesla on model threes and also
• 9:41
  Speaker: wise for two ninety nine a
• 9:42
  Speaker: month.
• 9:43
  Speaker: Wow.
• 9:44
  Speaker: So who would have thought that a
• 9:46
  Speaker: few months ago they were back on
• 9:47
  Speaker: to two ninety nine a month
• 9:48
  Speaker: payments?
• 9:49
  Speaker: It's crazy, isn't it?
• 9:50
  Speaker: It's a brand new model three, which is a decent car in itself.
• 9:54
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 9:54
  Speaker: So you've got five thousand
• 9:56
  Speaker: pounds deposit, but you've got
• 9:57
  Speaker: the car for two point nine nine
• 9:59
  Speaker: a month.
• 9:59
  Speaker: That's a strong deal, isn't it?
• 10:01
  Speaker: I mean, obviously a lot of strong deals in the market.
• 10:03
  Speaker: But for that product, you know
• 10:05
  Speaker: those that want that and don't
• 10:06
  Speaker: want one or the other, you know
• 10:08
  Speaker: some of the other brands that
• 10:09
  Speaker: are marketplace.
• 10:09
  Speaker: It's a very strong offering.
• 10:11
  Speaker: And I don't I didn't dive into it.
• 10:12
  Speaker: I just saw the headline two nine nine.
• 10:14
  Speaker: So I, I'm pretty sure it was a lease.
• 10:16
  Speaker: So it has to go back to Tesla.
• 10:17
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 10:18
  Speaker: Um, but even so, you know, you can see that being taken up by
• 10:23
  Speaker: quite a few people, can't you?
• 10:24
  Speaker: Definitely, definitely.
• 10:25
  Speaker: So we'll get on to that in a minute.
• 10:27
  Speaker: Because I know, you know, last
• 10:29
  Speaker: time we, we caught up, we talked
• 10:30
  Speaker: about that EV market and where
• 10:33
  Speaker: you were operating in that
• 10:34
  Speaker: space.
• 10:34
  Speaker: But quickly we'll just cover the LCV because again, these came
• 10:38
  Speaker: out after the weekend.
• 10:39
  Speaker: So the Smmt reported that
• 10:41
  Speaker: September's record electric van
• 10:43
  Speaker: uptake still less than half
• 10:46
  Speaker: mandated.
• 10:47
  Speaker: So this is that the the new light vehicle commercial vehicle
• 10:52
  Speaker: market was up four point eight percent in the the plate change
• 10:56
  Speaker: month of September with forty nine thousand seven hundred and
• 10:59
  Speaker: four new vans pickups and four four by fours joining the.
• 11:04
  Speaker: The UK market, saying that demand rises for vans of all
• 11:10
  Speaker: sizes and four wheel drive four by fours plus pickup deliveries
• 11:16
  Speaker: continue to sharp decline.
• 11:19
  Speaker: And we know why that is in terms
• 11:20
  Speaker: of that taxation change that
• 11:21
  Speaker: happened.
• 11:22
  Speaker: Um but you know, to say they're
• 11:24
  Speaker: very much a positive story there
• 11:26
  Speaker: again, a bit of a growth four
• 11:27
  Speaker: point eight percent, um, for
• 11:29
  Speaker: the, the month of September,
• 11:32
  Speaker: that takes it up four point two
• 11:34
  Speaker: percent for the year to date for
• 11:36
  Speaker: all vans up to three and a half
• 11:39
  Speaker: ton.
• 11:39
  Speaker: So that's excluding the regions
• 11:42
  Speaker: above three and a half ton
• 11:43
  Speaker: there.
• 11:43
  Speaker: So a bit of a positive story, but obviously as as Smmt and
• 11:48
  Speaker: Mike Hawes is pointing out, the EV element is still a it's still
• 11:54
  Speaker: a challenge for for the commercial vehicle market.
• 11:57
  Speaker: You know, we do feel that it is improving slightly.
• 12:01
  Speaker: But, you know, there's still a
• 12:02
  Speaker: problem out there in terms of
• 12:04
  Speaker: that demand and the targets for
• 12:06
  Speaker: for battery electric vans in the
• 12:08
  Speaker: marketplace.
• 12:09
  Speaker: But I think, you know, we're
• 12:11
  Speaker: starting to see in the wholesale
• 12:13
  Speaker: market volumes start to to
• 12:15
  Speaker: increase.
• 12:16
  Speaker: I think the activity, when
• 12:18
  Speaker: somebody does want that kind of
• 12:19
  Speaker: product, the performance does do
• 12:22
  Speaker: well.
• 12:23
  Speaker: You know, people are prepared to pay the money for it.
• 12:26
  Speaker: Conversions are very positive.
• 12:28
  Speaker: I think the question at the
• 12:29
  Speaker: minute is as the volumes start
• 12:32
  Speaker: to return into the marketplace,
• 12:34
  Speaker: will the demand be there enough
• 12:36
  Speaker: to to cater for that kind of
• 12:38
  Speaker: volume?
• 12:38
  Speaker: And I so, do you ever look at the bond market?
• 12:41
  Speaker: Have you ever played in it?
• 12:42
  Speaker: David or not?
• 12:44
  Speaker: Not not not in a great way.
• 12:47
  Speaker: Um, down the years, I've
• 12:48
  Speaker: obviously had one or two
• 12:50
  Speaker: commercials and I've always
• 12:51
  Speaker: found them to sell quite
• 12:52
  Speaker: quickly.
• 12:53
  Speaker: Um, and so that's a positive.
• 12:57
  Speaker: And if somebody offered me a vehicle, then I would never, not
• 13:00
  Speaker: say never to it.
• 13:02
  Speaker: Um, because, because there is a marketplace for it as people
• 13:05
  Speaker: will can, you know, completely agree with me because there's
• 13:09
  Speaker: some very good operators on the use of commercials, um, and have
• 13:13
  Speaker: been doing that for many, many years, haven't they?
• 13:14
  Speaker: Some of the better ones.
• 13:16
  Speaker: Um, so I think the transition to
• 13:18
  Speaker: electric is very similar to, to
• 13:20
  Speaker: passenger vehicles.
• 13:21
  Speaker: I think, you know, people would be concerned, wouldn't they?
• 13:26
  Speaker: They've got these tight couriers, for example, I've seen
• 13:28
  Speaker: one or two couriers.
• 13:30
  Speaker: I can't mention the names on here obviously, but one or two
• 13:32
  Speaker: courier companies with them.
• 13:34
  Speaker: And I guess they'll have to sort
• 13:37
  Speaker: of pick the deliveries from
• 13:38
  Speaker: depot, weren't they within maybe
• 13:40
  Speaker: fifty miles of a radius just at
• 13:42
  Speaker: the moment for for the battery
• 13:44
  Speaker: life expectancy?
• 13:46
  Speaker: Yeah, I think that's the thing.
• 13:47
  Speaker: Now.
• 13:47
  Speaker: I think people are obviously I mean, we'll get on to the
• 13:50
  Speaker: economy and we'll get on to pump prices and how that sort of, you
• 13:54
  Speaker: know, in your world that, you know, changing behaviours and
• 13:58
  Speaker: opinions on, on, you know, choice of vehicles.
• 14:00
  Speaker: But I think that particularly for the LCV market, I know Paul
• 14:04
  Speaker: Kirby very well who does the work with EV cafe and is on now
• 14:08
  Speaker: EV commercial vehicle business.
• 14:10
  Speaker: But, you know, I think it is the right proposition for the right
• 14:14
  Speaker: kind of business, um, small, you know, local businesses, last
• 14:20
  Speaker: mile businesses, EVs are a very good option for them, you know,
• 14:26
  Speaker: particularly viable options.
• 14:29
  Speaker: Yeah, they're viable.
• 14:31
  Speaker: And if you can have those
• 14:33
  Speaker: batteries doing the journeys,
• 14:35
  Speaker: then it's got to be very
• 14:36
  Speaker: valuable.
• 14:37
  Speaker: Really?
• 14:38
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 14:38
  Speaker: Um, but obviously, I think battery batteries have become
• 14:42
  Speaker: better and better over the last five or six years.
• 14:45
  Speaker: And certainly we're getting more
• 14:46
  Speaker: and more chargers and people are
• 14:48
  Speaker: adapting the Chargers to their
• 14:49
  Speaker: premises aren't they, to their
• 14:50
  Speaker: business premises.
• 14:52
  Speaker: So I think it will be okay
• 14:54
  Speaker: eventually, but it's still some
• 14:57
  Speaker: way to go for the commercial,
• 14:58
  Speaker: isn't it?
• 14:59
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 14:59
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 14:59
  Speaker: I think it is still I mean, obviously, you know, when we
• 15:03
  Speaker: start to put these thresholds against the the Zev mandate,
• 15:06
  Speaker: then it is obviously questionable and particularly
• 15:09
  Speaker: more challenging for the, uh, the van market.
• 15:12
  Speaker: You know, when you start to talk about those tactical activities
• 15:15
  Speaker: at the end of the quarters, at the end of the year, etc., you
• 15:18
  Speaker: know, you've got to be very careful because it is a very
• 15:21
  Speaker: small market and it's not easy to move those vehicles through
• 15:25
  Speaker: like you can with, with cars.
• 15:27
  Speaker: But I mean, David, let's get on to, to you and what you're
• 15:30
  Speaker: seeing at the minute.
• 15:31
  Speaker: I mean, obviously the last time
• 15:32
  Speaker: we caught up, I mean, you know,
• 15:34
  Speaker: we're talking quite a bit about
• 15:36
  Speaker: the shift in that EV marketplace
• 15:38
  Speaker: because you took a while to get
• 15:39
  Speaker: into it.
• 15:40
  Speaker: You played around a little bit and then you saw you got you
• 15:44
  Speaker: were very you know, you're very early in terms of capitalizing,
• 15:47
  Speaker: getting into it, seeing the potential of what you could buy
• 15:50
  Speaker: the vehicles at and obviously capitalize on that.
• 15:54
  Speaker: But it started to change very quickly.
• 15:56
  Speaker: I mean, in the Middle East, conflict hit in in February,
• 16:00
  Speaker: that started to change.
• 16:01
  Speaker: It started to change a bit of the mindset from the the
• 16:04
  Speaker: retailers, both large and small in that marketplace.
• 16:08
  Speaker: And suddenly it became a very competitive market.
• 16:11
  Speaker: So what's happening now?
• 16:12
  Speaker: What are you seeing and hearing
• 16:13
  Speaker: around, you know, used EVs in
• 16:17
  Speaker: the market?
• 16:18
  Speaker: Well, um, I have to say that it's no longer a niche market.
• 16:22
  Speaker: Um, and that has been led by one
• 16:25
  Speaker: driver that was, and that is, as
• 16:27
  Speaker: you've mentioned, it's the Iran
• 16:29
  Speaker: conflict.
• 16:31
  Speaker: And that has had such a dramatic effect to the market for EV, and
• 16:37
  Speaker: we're seeing prices now twenty percent higher at wholesale.
• 16:42
  Speaker: So and sometimes more than twenty percent.
• 16:46
  Speaker: And we're not seeing that twenty percent added on to retail.
• 16:50
  Speaker: So I think retail prices maybe
• 16:52
  Speaker: five or ten percent higher than
• 16:55
  Speaker: what they were February, March
• 16:56
  Speaker: and April.
• 16:57
  Speaker: So that causes a challenge, obviously, and it's caused
• 17:01
  Speaker: myself personally a big challenge to try and get my head
• 17:07
  Speaker: around what's happening in such a very small amount of time.
• 17:11
  Speaker: It's brought in a lot of retailers that were just holding
• 17:15
  Speaker: back, I guess, and people's, the buyers, the buying public,
• 17:21
  Speaker: obviously, they've decided that now is the time to switch
• 17:24
  Speaker: between petrol diesel to even full electric, not just hybrid.
• 17:29
  Speaker: So that so the space now is, is general space.
• 17:33
  Speaker: It's no longer a niche market.
• 17:36
  Speaker: So I mean, to your point there,
• 17:39
  Speaker: it's becoming more of a volume
• 17:41
  Speaker: throughput.
• 17:42
  Speaker: I mean, we know there's more product in the marketplace just
• 17:44
  Speaker: by default of growth of the EV sector over the the years, the
• 17:49
  Speaker: offerings are increasing.
• 17:51
  Speaker: The price point is obviously lower.
• 17:53
  Speaker: There's more choice in the marketplace.
• 17:55
  Speaker: Um, but to your point, you've
• 17:57
  Speaker: got the supermarkets, aren't
• 17:59
  Speaker: you?
• 17:59
  Speaker: The large supermarkets, you've got your large dealer groups.
• 18:02
  Speaker: Now that, as you say, sometimes
• 18:04
  Speaker: it's more about the throughput
• 18:06
  Speaker: of volume rather than that, that
• 18:08
  Speaker: margin retention.
• 18:10
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 18:11
  Speaker: I think a small, a small
• 18:12
  Speaker: independent retailers, we tend
• 18:14
  Speaker: to look at things differently,
• 18:15
  Speaker: don't we?
• 18:16
  Speaker: We tend to want to sort of
• 18:18
  Speaker: maintain a reasonable
• 18:19
  Speaker: operational profit in the bonnet
• 18:21
  Speaker: of the car, whereby there's
• 18:23
  Speaker: large dealers tend to want to do
• 18:26
  Speaker: it slightly differently where
• 18:27
  Speaker: they'll aggressively advertise
• 18:29
  Speaker: the retail price, but then
• 18:31
  Speaker: hopefully, you know, be able to
• 18:33
  Speaker: do finance and, uh, paint
• 18:36
  Speaker: protection.
• 18:36
  Speaker: ET cetera.
• 18:37
  Speaker: ET cetera.
• 18:38
  Speaker: So, you know, um, you, you must
• 18:40
  Speaker: make your own decision for your
• 18:41
  Speaker: own business.
• 18:42
  Speaker: And obviously I'm not here to say what's right or wrong.
• 18:45
  Speaker: It's all right.
• 18:46
  Speaker: And for everyone that has a different model.
• 18:49
  Speaker: And that's what's happening there is there are different
• 18:51
  Speaker: models out there.
• 18:52
  Speaker: It's now become a general market, not a niche.
• 18:55
  Speaker: So the challenges are different, but you're still buying EVs.
• 18:59
  Speaker: Um, still focusing on Tesla for the time being.
• 19:03
  Speaker: Um, and there isn't a lot of options with Tesla.
• 19:06
  Speaker: Some of them are very, very
• 19:07
  Speaker: expensive, like the full
• 19:09
  Speaker: automated drive.
• 19:10
  Speaker: But, um, yeah, you've just got to make sure you don't miss
• 19:13
  Speaker: anything as always and just keep a finger on the pulse.
• 19:17
  Speaker: But I think the market's still growing in terms, I think the
• 19:20
  Speaker: retail price is, is slowly rising from what I can see.
• 19:25
  Speaker: But it's not it's not risen at
• 19:26
  Speaker: the same rate as the wholesale
• 19:28
  Speaker: purchase.
• 19:29
  Speaker: And so there's a disparity between the two, which is
• 19:32
  Speaker: always, as you know, any business would find that a
• 19:35
  Speaker: challenge, wouldn't it?
• 19:36
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 19:37
  Speaker: And I mean, you and I have known each other for, for many years.
• 19:40
  Speaker: And, you know, I mean, I've
• 19:42
  Speaker: dealt with on buying a car and,
• 19:44
  Speaker: you know, I know your standards
• 19:46
  Speaker: and are extremely high and
• 19:48
  Speaker: rightly so.
• 19:49
  Speaker: I mean, the and you were saying
• 19:52
  Speaker: there that, you know, with that
• 19:54
  Speaker: Tesla, you understand that
• 19:55
  Speaker: product.
• 19:56
  Speaker: You you know, you've done your
• 19:58
  Speaker: research, you've bought them,
• 19:59
  Speaker: you you understand that product,
• 20:01
  Speaker: don't you?
• 20:01
  Speaker: Now, as to what does sell, what people want in terms of the
• 20:06
  Speaker: colour, which models, etc.. And it was quite interestingly, and
• 20:10
  Speaker: I spoke about it before on the podcast, I think car Dealer with
• 20:13
  Speaker: James Bagot did a video where he went to the Tesla repatriation
• 20:18
  Speaker: sites and he, the, I can't remember the gentleman's name,
• 20:23
  Speaker: but he showed the difference of depending where that vehicle was
• 20:26
  Speaker: built, which it was, etc. the slight variances in terms of the
• 20:32
  Speaker: trim, the external trim, the dashboard and things like this.
• 20:35
  Speaker: And, and obviously that then plays into slight variances in
• 20:39
  Speaker: terms of the battery as well.
• 20:42
  Speaker: Yes, yes.
• 20:43
  Speaker: I think with the battery, um we use a battery test machine which
• 20:50
  Speaker: is quite a small machine.
• 20:51
  Speaker: I take it along with me when I'm
• 20:53
  Speaker: looking at the Tesla, simply
• 20:54
  Speaker: plug it inside the car and
• 20:56
  Speaker: within three minutes it
• 20:57
  Speaker: generates a battery health
• 20:59
  Speaker: certificate.
• 21:00
  Speaker: So that gives me absolute confidence that the battery
• 21:03
  Speaker: health is X. And then yes, I'll buy the car or no, I'm not
• 21:07
  Speaker: buying the car, you know.
• 21:08
  Speaker: So thankfully all the Teslas
• 21:11
  Speaker: I've purchased have been
• 21:12
  Speaker: amazingly high in battery
• 21:15
  Speaker: tension.
• 21:15
  Speaker: So the batteries on Tesla seem
• 21:17
  Speaker: to be holding up very, very
• 21:18
  Speaker: well.
• 21:19
  Speaker: Um, but I'm buying primarily
• 21:22
  Speaker: from private individuals who
• 21:24
  Speaker: have made that investment of
• 21:26
  Speaker: thirty forty thousand pounds in
• 21:28
  Speaker: the car, so they're hardly
• 21:30
  Speaker: likely to abuse the battery and
• 21:33
  Speaker: the battery, sort of how you
• 21:36
  Speaker: work a battery, how you charge
• 21:37
  Speaker: it, that seems to be getting
• 21:39
  Speaker: through.
• 21:39
  Speaker: Certainly for Tesla owners,
• 21:40
  Speaker: they're all telling, oh yes, I
• 21:43
  Speaker: charge the charge the car to no
• 21:44
  Speaker: more than eighty percent, which
• 21:46
  Speaker: is correct.
• 21:47
  Speaker: Um, and they're using the home
• 21:49
  Speaker: chargers more than the super
• 21:50
  Speaker: fast chargers.
• 21:52
  Speaker: Um, so battery health is good, but you do need, I think as a
• 21:56
  Speaker: retailer to consider investing in some test equipment.
• 22:00
  Speaker: Um, I don't think I can mention
• 22:02
  Speaker: the name of the well known one,
• 22:03
  Speaker: but again, it begins with a, but
• 22:07
  Speaker: um, yeah, I found that to be
• 22:10
  Speaker: absolutely reassuring to me that
• 22:14
  Speaker: I know the battery is at ninety
• 22:16
  Speaker: plus percent.
• 22:17
  Speaker: So I've just recently conducted a survey on one that was five
• 22:21
  Speaker: years old and the result was ninety three point five percent.
• 22:25
  Speaker: And what was the mileage on that twenty twenty?
• 22:29
  Speaker: But it's a much it's a it's as much to do with the way the
• 22:32
  Speaker: charging of it.
• 22:34
  Speaker: Yes.
• 22:34
  Speaker: As the mileage.
• 22:35
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 22:35
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 22:36
  Speaker: So and just quickly on that one,
• 22:38
  Speaker: David was talking about that in
• 22:40
  Speaker: terms of because obviously
• 22:41
  Speaker: Tesla, you can get the display,
• 22:43
  Speaker: the it.
• 22:45
  Speaker: They do sell.
• 22:46
  Speaker: But, but the, the, the, the state of health, they do a
• 22:49
  Speaker: deeper dive into health a bit.
• 22:52
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 22:53
  Speaker: So you can with a Tesla do it
• 22:55
  Speaker: via the car, but it takes twenty
• 22:56
  Speaker: four hours.
• 22:58
  Speaker: Right.
• 22:58
  Speaker: Would you believe so the test that I do takes three minutes.
• 23:03
  Speaker: And it's it's been designed and developed over about a decade, I
• 23:06
  Speaker: think by the firm.
• 23:07
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 23:08
  Speaker: So, um, you can pretty much
• 23:11
  Speaker: hold, you know, hang your hat on
• 23:12
  Speaker: it and they will give you a
• 23:14
  Speaker: twelve month guarantee with it
• 23:16
  Speaker: as well.
• 23:17
  Speaker: So you can pass that on to the consumer.
• 23:20
  Speaker: Even though my cars tend to be still within the battery
• 23:22
  Speaker: warranty from Tesla.
• 23:24
  Speaker: So many, many people have a misconception about batteries.
• 23:29
  Speaker: So what some people think is if
• 23:32
  Speaker: there's a problem with the
• 23:33
  Speaker: battery, they change the whole
• 23:34
  Speaker: battery.
• 23:35
  Speaker: They don't because the vehicles are made up of hundreds of tiny
• 23:39
  Speaker: battery cells, so they can pinpoint the areas that are
• 23:43
  Speaker: below average and replace just those battery cells so they
• 23:48
  Speaker: don't replace the whole battery.
• 23:49
  Speaker: They replace individual battery cells that are not performing.
• 23:53
  Speaker: Um, and regarding the warranty of eight years on a Tesla, it
• 24:00
  Speaker: also covers the drive motors.
• 24:02
  Speaker: So it's not just the battery warranty.
• 24:04
  Speaker: So that might help some retailers.
• 24:07
  Speaker: I'd probably do myself out of some business.
• 24:09
  Speaker: Otherwise you're giving a lot of insight saying too much.
• 24:13
  Speaker: But um, a lot of, you know, I mean, I know, I know, but that's
• 24:18
  Speaker: what we do, isn't it?
• 24:19
  Speaker: That's what we do.
• 24:20
  Speaker: It is.
• 24:20
  Speaker: That's what the show's about.
• 24:21
  Speaker: That's what the show's about, isn't it?
• 24:23
  Speaker: And that's what you know.
• 24:24
  Speaker: That's what we do generally, isn't it?
• 24:26
  Speaker: I mean, we're all in.
• 24:27
  Speaker: We've all got the same challenges.
• 24:29
  Speaker: We've all got the same opportunities.
• 24:31
  Speaker: And, you know, the more we help each other and, you know, you
• 24:34
  Speaker: and I had the pleasure of being involved with setting up the
• 24:36
  Speaker: Imda we did many years ago.
• 24:38
  Speaker: And, you know, that was the
• 24:41
  Speaker: whole point was to help each
• 24:43
  Speaker: other share ideas and stuff like
• 24:45
  Speaker: that.
• 24:45
  Speaker: So I think, David, at the
• 24:47
  Speaker: minute, I mean, you're out
• 24:49
  Speaker: talking to dealers, you're
• 24:51
  Speaker: talking to people across the
• 24:52
  Speaker: sector, you're talking to
• 24:54
  Speaker: customers.
• 24:55
  Speaker: More importantly, because you're out looking at buying cars
• 24:58
  Speaker: direct from the the consumer.
• 25:00
  Speaker: And we touched on it a little
• 25:01
  Speaker: bit, obviously, the Middle East
• 25:02
  Speaker: conflict.
• 25:03
  Speaker: And, you know, we've got the budget coming up at the end of
• 25:07
  Speaker: the month and obviously now more recently that that Middle East
• 25:11
  Speaker: conflict is still bubbling on.
• 25:12
  Speaker: And we're now talking about two pounds a litre, depending on
• 25:15
  Speaker: where you are in the country for, for diesel.
• 25:19
  Speaker: What's your feeling generally in
• 25:21
  Speaker: the market at the minute from
• 25:22
  Speaker: your conversations?
• 25:23
  Speaker: Because I get I get the feeling
• 25:25
  Speaker: that there's good and bad at the
• 25:27
  Speaker: minute.
• 25:28
  Speaker: There seems to be quite it's
• 25:29
  Speaker: quite, you know, a variance of,
• 25:31
  Speaker: you know, feedback from the
• 25:33
  Speaker: dealer market.
• 25:33
  Speaker: But what are customers saying to
• 25:35
  Speaker: you at the minute are those kind
• 25:36
  Speaker: of conversations?
• 25:38
  Speaker: Well, they've always maintained, I've always maintained through
• 25:41
  Speaker: the last six or seven years that diesel still has a place and a
• 25:44
  Speaker: part to play in the industry.
• 25:46
  Speaker: Um, now that we're seeing two
• 25:48
  Speaker: pound plus a litre, that's
• 25:50
  Speaker: something to do, which we can't
• 25:52
  Speaker: control.
• 25:53
  Speaker: You and I, that's something
• 25:54
  Speaker: that's been made from a
• 25:56
  Speaker: commercial point by the oil
• 25:57
  Speaker: companies.
• 25:58
  Speaker: The refining of diesel is less than petrol.
• 26:01
  Speaker: So in, in, you know, if you look
• 26:03
  Speaker: at the cost to produce diesel,
• 26:05
  Speaker: it's a lower cost than it is to
• 26:08
  Speaker: produce petrol.
• 26:09
  Speaker: So why have we got.
• 26:11
  Speaker: Why are we seeing diesel prices twenty five thirty pence a litre
• 26:15
  Speaker: more than petrol.
• 26:17
  Speaker: Perhaps it should be not quite the other way, but it should be
• 26:20
  Speaker: at least on parity with petrol.
• 26:22
  Speaker: So that's the conversation that you and I, we wouldn't be able
• 26:26
  Speaker: to do anything about.
• 26:26
  Speaker: It's just it's just a commercial decision for the oil companies.
• 26:30
  Speaker: So I then think that now is a tipping point.
• 26:35
  Speaker: Personally, I think diesel is probably now beginning to wane
• 26:40
  Speaker: in its popularity.
• 26:42
  Speaker: And the appetite to buy diesel is certainly diminishing.
• 26:46
  Speaker: And that's coming across loud
• 26:48
  Speaker: and clear with consumers to me
• 26:50
  Speaker: and to other people that I speak
• 26:52
  Speaker: to.
• 26:52
  Speaker: So there are certain
• 26:54
  Speaker: manufacturers that are heavily
• 26:56
  Speaker: involved with diesel JLR, for
• 26:58
  Speaker: example.
• 26:58
  Speaker: Mhm.
• 26:59
  Speaker: Um, and if you want to buy a JLR
• 27:01
  Speaker: product, then you're probably
• 27:02
  Speaker: going to end up buying a diesel
• 27:04
  Speaker: because diesel is still quite
• 27:05
  Speaker: heavily, uh, influenced on their
• 27:08
  Speaker: range.
• 27:09
  Speaker: So as we go forward, they have produced hybrids, as we know.
• 27:13
  Speaker: Um, but they've been met, I believe, with mixed response.
• 27:18
  Speaker: So I do think we've reached the
• 27:20
  Speaker: tipping point, Phil, and I think
• 27:23
  Speaker: that we will see a gradual
• 27:25
  Speaker: decline in people wanting to buy
• 27:28
  Speaker: diesels.
• 27:29
  Speaker: It may take longer if you see
• 27:31
  Speaker: any sort of increasing inquiries
• 27:33
  Speaker: from people wanting to sell
• 27:34
  Speaker: their diesels or have, you know,
• 27:37
  Speaker: not yet.
• 27:38
  Speaker: Personally?
• 27:38
  Speaker: Not yet.
• 27:39
  Speaker: Um, I am thinking myself about
• 27:42
  Speaker: should I buy another, you know,
• 27:44
  Speaker: should I'm very, very picky now
• 27:46
  Speaker: on diesel.
• 27:47
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 27:48
  Speaker: So, you know, I have a sort of
• 27:52
  Speaker: an evoking at the moment, an
• 27:53
  Speaker: autobiography.
• 27:54
  Speaker: I thought it represented good value when I saw it.
• 27:57
  Speaker: So I did buy that car.
• 27:58
  Speaker: Nice.
• 27:59
  Speaker: I've seen that.
• 27:59
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 28:00
  Speaker: Have you?
• 28:00
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 28:01
  Speaker: I still believe, I still believe it represents great value.
• 28:04
  Speaker: So, um, if I've got it in six months, I might think different.
• 28:08
  Speaker: But I think at the moment it's, uh.
• 28:10
  Speaker: I'm quite happy.
• 28:11
  Speaker: Quite settled with it.
• 28:14
  Speaker: But I think for dealers that are
• 28:16
  Speaker: heavily involved in those
• 28:17
  Speaker: products.
• 28:18
  Speaker: SUV, um, there's one or two good retailers around the country.
• 28:22
  Speaker: Um, again, I don't want to mention people's names, but four
• 28:25
  Speaker: by four dealers, um, they're, they're good at what they do and
• 28:30
  Speaker: they won't be able to just change tact overnight will they.
• 28:35
  Speaker: So, you know, um, I still think there's a market, there's
• 28:38
  Speaker: probably opportunities actually in fairness, because the prices
• 28:41
  Speaker: will undoubtedly come down, the wholesale cost will come, will,
• 28:44
  Speaker: will sort of not drop off a cliff, but it will gradually
• 28:49
  Speaker: three hundred, five hundred pounds a month, maybe over the
• 28:52
  Speaker: next two or three months, when historically the back end for
• 28:56
  Speaker: four by fours has been quite good, hasn't it?
• 28:58
  Speaker: Historically?
• 29:00
  Speaker: I mean, that's the bit that, you
• 29:01
  Speaker: know, we talk obviously a lot
• 29:02
  Speaker: about EV and hybrid in today's
• 29:04
  Speaker: market, particularly in the new
• 29:05
  Speaker: car market.
• 29:06
  Speaker: But you know we've got to remember we've got a thirty six
• 29:09
  Speaker: million vehicle park.
• 29:11
  Speaker: in diesel was the dominant
• 29:13
  Speaker: market share for for many years
• 29:16
  Speaker: until obviously the old hashtag
• 29:17
  Speaker: Dieselgate arrived.
• 29:19
  Speaker: And then we saw that that decline and then followed by the
• 29:22
  Speaker: transition to electric.
• 29:24
  Speaker: But there's a lot of people
• 29:25
  Speaker: that, you know, they still like
• 29:27
  Speaker: diesel for the torque and other
• 29:30
  Speaker: other reasons and the mileage,
• 29:32
  Speaker: etc.. So there is still a place
• 29:34
  Speaker: for it.
• 29:34
  Speaker: And I think, you know, some people, yes, to your point, you
• 29:38
  Speaker: know, we start talking to pound and some reports this morning of
• 29:41
  Speaker: two, two twenty seven in some areas for, for diesel.
• 29:45
  Speaker: But, you know, if you're driving that to your point, that JLR
• 29:49
  Speaker: vehicle and I don't know, does it matter to a degree?
• 29:53
  Speaker: Yes.
• 29:53
  Speaker: It's not it's not great.
• 29:55
  Speaker: I mean, you know, you don't know when you go to that, you get a
• 29:58
  Speaker: bit of a shock don't you.
• 29:59
  Speaker: When you you fill those kind of vehicles up at the pumps.
• 30:02
  Speaker: But you know, you still like the product, don't you?
• 30:07
  Speaker: I think there might be a generational shift in ownership.
• 30:10
  Speaker: So we might find people who've retired, who haven't got the
• 30:13
  Speaker: same outgoings as a family of two children and mortgages, etc.
• 30:18
  Speaker: so I think there could be a shift to buyers.
• 30:20
  Speaker: So the age might go older.
• 30:22
  Speaker: So the people that are buying the used cars are now becoming
• 30:25
  Speaker: fifty, sixty, even seventy.
• 30:28
  Speaker: And it's May you may see a decline in the twenty five to
• 30:32
  Speaker: forty five, fifty age group.
• 30:34
  Speaker: And they'll be shifting to hybrids and EV.
• 30:37
  Speaker: Maybe, maybe I'm right, maybe I'm not.
• 30:39
  Speaker: But I think that from what I can see, my last few customers
• 30:43
  Speaker: who've bought JLR product have been, you know, retired people.
• 30:48
  Speaker: So it matters less to them, you know, because the money isn't so
• 30:52
  Speaker: tight, is it?
• 30:54
  Speaker: No, no. And I think, you know,
• 30:55
  Speaker: they may do that mileage and
• 30:57
  Speaker: things like this that doesn't
• 30:58
  Speaker: matter.
• 30:59
  Speaker: And yes, it doesn't.
• 31:00
  Speaker: No it's not great paying two pounds a litre.
• 31:03
  Speaker: But you know, if you're not
• 31:04
  Speaker: doing heavy mileage and things
• 31:06
  Speaker: like that, I think the biggest
• 31:07
  Speaker: is when we touched on it on last
• 31:09
  Speaker: week's podcast, is obviously the
• 31:10
  Speaker: business and supply sector and
• 31:12
  Speaker: that kind of area that that, you
• 31:14
  Speaker: know, really do see that energy
• 31:17
  Speaker: cost increase on their bottom
• 31:18
  Speaker: line.
• 31:18
  Speaker: I mean, just before we head to the break, David, what how is
• 31:22
  Speaker: the market at the minute?
• 31:23
  Speaker: What are you feeling at the minute?
• 31:25
  Speaker: We've come out of you know we're now in the fourth quarter.
• 31:27
  Speaker: We touched right at the start
• 31:28
  Speaker: there that you know still an
• 31:31
  Speaker: important quarter.
• 31:31
  Speaker: It's all the way up.
• 31:32
  Speaker: Yes we start to think about Christmas and the new year etc.
• 31:36
  Speaker: but there's still a job to do.
• 31:38
  Speaker: How is the market today?
• 31:39
  Speaker: How have you found it through through September for yourself?
• 31:43
  Speaker: What's what's what's your general, what are you picking up
• 31:46
  Speaker: generally from, from people within the industry?
• 31:48
  Speaker: I think I think the majority of
• 31:51
  Speaker: dealers I speak to have had a
• 31:54
  Speaker: tough time.
• 31:55
  Speaker: Um, they haven't been able to buy the volume of vehicles.
• 31:59
  Speaker: The inquiries have been dropping.
• 32:01
  Speaker: Um and these are dealers that
• 32:03
  Speaker: would ordinarily be very, very
• 32:05
  Speaker: upbeat.
• 32:06
  Speaker: So there is a there is it is a challenge.
• 32:09
  Speaker: Uh, personally, I'm doing okay.
• 32:10
  Speaker: I'm probably just about, you
• 32:13
  Speaker: know, returning a profit
• 32:14
  Speaker: overall.
• 32:16
  Speaker: But it's tough.
• 32:17
  Speaker: It is tough out there.
• 32:18
  Speaker: And, um, I think what we've seen in the last year or two is the
• 32:23
  Speaker: growth, the expansion of the bigger groups and the decline of
• 32:27
  Speaker: the smaller independents.
• 32:30
  Speaker: People are retiring, uh, or selling their businesses or just
• 32:35
  Speaker: giving up, closing the doors.
• 32:36
  Speaker: I know that sounds a bit sort of
• 32:37
  Speaker: negative, but it's reality in
• 32:40
  Speaker: twenty twenty six, there's been
• 32:41
  Speaker: quite a lot of people like
• 32:43
  Speaker: myself who've just decided,
• 32:45
  Speaker: that's it, you know, stocks
• 32:47
  Speaker: getting ever and ever
• 32:48
  Speaker: increasingly more difficult to
• 32:50
  Speaker: source when you source it, the
• 32:52
  Speaker: components that you make to
• 32:53
  Speaker: build the car with four years
• 32:55
  Speaker: ago, they're not lasting five or
• 32:57
  Speaker: six years.
• 32:58
  Speaker: So they wrote the warranty claims are coming through.
• 33:01
  Speaker: So the market is um, is challenged for independence.
• 33:06
  Speaker: I know for probably the bigger
• 33:08
  Speaker: groups like Swansway, it won't
• 33:10
  Speaker: be so much because you can get
• 33:11
  Speaker: the throughput of pilots
• 33:13
  Speaker: changes, but if you can't get
• 33:15
  Speaker: the stock or not enough of the
• 33:17
  Speaker: stock, then you are going to see
• 33:19
  Speaker: yourself not having quite a good
• 33:21
  Speaker: year.
• 33:22
  Speaker: I was talking to someone this week who's run a very good
• 33:25
  Speaker: professional business, would sell fifty sixty cars a month,
• 33:29
  Speaker: and they're down on numbers this year, over one hundred.
• 33:33
  Speaker: You know, they were down twenty on one month.
• 33:36
  Speaker: So there is it is a challenge.
• 33:38
  Speaker: It is a challenge.
• 33:39
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 33:39
  Speaker: It's going to be interesting when we see the the Q3, um, use
• 33:44
  Speaker: car transaction numbers though obviously, you know, caveat that
• 33:47
  Speaker: they are change of ownership numbers from the DBL a, but, you
• 33:52
  Speaker: know, we achieved over two million Q1, again, just over two
• 33:55
  Speaker: million in Q2.
• 33:56
  Speaker: So, you know, which was positive.
• 33:59
  Speaker: I mean, that's, you know, to get over two million.
• 34:02
  Speaker: Both of those quarters was a great result.
• 34:04
  Speaker: It's going to be interesting to
• 34:05
  Speaker: see whether that did slow down
• 34:07
  Speaker: through, through Q3, um, as we
• 34:10
  Speaker: head in.
• 34:11
  Speaker: So be interesting when we, we do get that, but we'll be back with
• 34:15
  Speaker: chatting more with David after this brief break and talk to
• 34:19
  Speaker: David next about what to expect as we go through Q4 into the
• 34:24
  Speaker: into twenty twenty seven.
• 34:27
  Speaker: You're listening to all the chatter that matters on the
• 34:30
  Speaker: Motor Trade Radio podcast powered by Cazoo.
• 34:37
  Speaker: So David, we now, you know, mid
• 34:41
  Speaker: mid-October there and
• 34:43
  Speaker: thereabouts.
• 34:44
  Speaker: And so I don't want to wish the month away too fast with the
• 34:47
  Speaker: first third of the, the month.
• 34:49
  Speaker: Um, we don't want to get through Q4 too quickly.
• 34:52
  Speaker: Do it.
• 34:52
  Speaker: Um, what we've got lots of things happening at the minute.
• 34:56
  Speaker: You know, if you look at the new
• 34:57
  Speaker: car market, you've got the Zev
• 34:59
  Speaker: mandate consultation, closing
• 35:01
  Speaker: down and whatever that will
• 35:03
  Speaker: happen there.
• 35:04
  Speaker: We've got the budget at the end
• 35:05
  Speaker: of the month, which is obviously
• 35:07
  Speaker: hitting the headlines on a daily
• 35:08
  Speaker: basis through the the various
• 35:10
  Speaker: political conferences.
• 35:12
  Speaker: You know, we've, you know, as
• 35:14
  Speaker: we're recording, it's nice
• 35:16
  Speaker: weather, which is always
• 35:17
  Speaker: positive.
• 35:18
  Speaker: You know, people are out and about when the weather's nice, a
• 35:20
  Speaker: little bit more upbeat.
• 35:22
  Speaker: What's your outlook now as we sort of head through the the
• 35:26
  Speaker: fourth quarter and and start to think about twenty twenty seven?
• 35:31
  Speaker: Are you optimistic?
• 35:32
  Speaker: You think it's just going to be more of the same?
• 35:35
  Speaker: What are you thinking of as you
• 35:37
  Speaker: you're sort of you know, you go
• 35:39
  Speaker: to bed at night and wake up the
• 35:40
  Speaker: next morning.
• 35:40
  Speaker: What's on your mind as we head into this fourth quarter?
• 35:44
  Speaker: Cornflakes, toast and tea.
• 35:48
  Speaker: Do you want me to put the heating on yet?
• 35:50
  Speaker: No. Not yet.
• 35:51
  Speaker: No. Although I have had the gas fire on a few evenings.
• 35:54
  Speaker: But anyway, um.
• 35:56
  Speaker: No. I think you've got to be optimistic.
• 35:57
  Speaker: Goodness me.
• 35:58
  Speaker: If you're not going to be optimistic.
• 35:59
  Speaker: Then, you know, you shouldn't be
• 36:01
  Speaker: an independent or any retailer,
• 36:03
  Speaker: should you?
• 36:03
  Speaker: You've got to be optimistic.
• 36:04
  Speaker: There's a sense of realism, I
• 36:06
  Speaker: think, as we come to the end of
• 36:08
  Speaker: twenty six.
• 36:09
  Speaker: I think the sort of brightness
• 36:12
  Speaker: on the horizon of those
• 36:13
  Speaker: registrations being made now or
• 36:16
  Speaker: have been made this year, that
• 36:18
  Speaker: will filter through to used car
• 36:19
  Speaker: stock in one or two years time,
• 36:21
  Speaker: won't it?
• 36:22
  Speaker: So I think we've got to remain optimistic.
• 36:25
  Speaker: I think we still retailers must, you know, do what they need to
• 36:28
  Speaker: do for their business models that they've got and always put
• 36:32
  Speaker: the customer at the forefront of everything they do, which the
• 36:34
  Speaker: better dealers will do that.
• 36:37
  Speaker: And if you do that and you offer
• 36:39
  Speaker: a superior product, and you make
• 36:41
  Speaker: it very easy for consumers to
• 36:43
  Speaker: interact with you, and I think
• 36:46
  Speaker: the court of law will be quite
• 36:48
  Speaker: positive.
• 36:49
  Speaker: And, you know, again, with prices and prices tend to drop a
• 36:53
  Speaker: little bit, don't they, towards the end of the year wholesale.
• 36:55
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 36:55
  Speaker: Um, so I think there's reason to be optimistic.
• 37:00
  Speaker: We've just navigated a very difficult year with tariffs
• 37:03
  Speaker: coming in and out with a war that's still, well, still the
• 37:07
  Speaker: Ukrainian war as well, isn't it?
• 37:08
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 37:09
  Speaker: So these are events that we as an industry can't control.
• 37:12
  Speaker: We don't control them.
• 37:13
  Speaker: We have to just, you know, go
• 37:14
  Speaker: with the keep on the surfboard
• 37:16
  Speaker: and keep, you know, ourselves
• 37:18
  Speaker: balanced.
• 37:19
  Speaker: Um, I personally think I'll do fine.
• 37:22
  Speaker: I mean, I've done fine this year.
• 37:24
  Speaker: Um, you know, it's it's, it's about what I expected it to be.
• 37:28
  Speaker: Um, so, you know, and I've moved
• 37:31
  Speaker: premises recently as well, so I
• 37:33
  Speaker: had to negotiate going, coming
• 37:35
  Speaker: through moving, which is never
• 37:36
  Speaker: easy.
• 37:37
  Speaker: Um, so no, I think it'll be fine.
• 37:40
  Speaker: I think the good retailers will
• 37:42
  Speaker: continue to flourish just like a
• 37:44
  Speaker: little bit more, a few more
• 37:45
  Speaker: opportunities for wholesale
• 37:47
  Speaker: acquisitions.
• 37:48
  Speaker: And hopefully that will build up slowly over the coming twelve to
• 37:52
  Speaker: eighteen months with with those extra new car registrations and
• 37:55
  Speaker: a continual expansion into EV.
• 37:58
  Speaker: You know, the Chinese have been here now for a few years.
• 38:02
  Speaker: Um, so there's an opportunity there, I think, for you to use
• 38:05
  Speaker: Chinese to ask you what your what's your view?
• 38:07
  Speaker: I mean, obviously, you know, you saw that niche initially in EVs.
• 38:11
  Speaker: Um, you know, and I know you've obviously in terms of your, your
• 38:16
  Speaker: buying levels and what you look for in terms of age, mileage,
• 38:20
  Speaker: condition, etc. and it's all pristine and you.
• 38:23
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 38:24
  Speaker: What are your, what's your thoughts around the, you know,
• 38:26
  Speaker: we're not really seeing a high volume of the, the, the new
• 38:29
  Speaker: entrant product in the marketplace, but indications are
• 38:32
  Speaker: that we will start to see that ramp up next year.
• 38:36
  Speaker: Yeah, I think the indications are BYD will be first by the end
• 38:40
  Speaker: of the year.
• 38:40
  Speaker: We'll start to see some of the JQ and other product coming in.
• 38:43
  Speaker: So it's going to become a more sort of a larger proportion of
• 38:49
  Speaker: the used wholesale market.
• 38:51
  Speaker: Yes.
• 38:52
  Speaker: What what's your take on it from
• 38:53
  Speaker: a retail retailer's perspective,
• 38:55
  Speaker: I think you've got to really be
• 38:57
  Speaker: focused on what a new car is
• 39:00
  Speaker: costing.
• 39:00
  Speaker: What's the cost of ownership of a new product?
• 39:03
  Speaker: Because if you are buying a BYD or something like that, it's one
• 39:07
  Speaker: year, eighteen months old.
• 39:08
  Speaker: You've got to be really focused
• 39:11
  Speaker: on the wholesale purchase price
• 39:13
  Speaker: as always, but even more so for
• 39:15
  Speaker: the deals available for new
• 39:17
  Speaker: cars.
• 39:17
  Speaker: So I think if you've got if you know what one is being listed at
• 39:22
  Speaker: currently for sale, and you can build a. Because we sometimes
• 39:25
  Speaker: forget, don't we.
• 39:26
  Speaker: We've got VAT on, on a new car haven't we.
• 39:29
  Speaker: We've got three to five thousand
• 39:30
  Speaker: pounds worth of VAT, sometimes
• 39:32
  Speaker: more.
• 39:33
  Speaker: So that's, that should be lost immediately shouldn't it.
• 39:35
  Speaker: From from the cost ticket price.
• 39:38
  Speaker: And before you even talk about depreciation and that's not been
• 39:42
  Speaker: the case has it for the last three or four years.
• 39:44
  Speaker: So I think there's quite a few changes to happen.
• 39:47
  Speaker: Um I think just do your homework
• 39:51
  Speaker: and you know specs and mileages
• 39:55
  Speaker: and cetera.
• 39:55
  Speaker: ET cetera.
• 39:56
  Speaker: Comes into play, doesn't it?
• 39:57
  Speaker: Bide I think offer, you know,
• 39:59
  Speaker: reasonably well priced new car
• 40:01
  Speaker: products.
• 40:02
  Speaker: Um and they've made it as easy as possible I think for people
• 40:06
  Speaker: to get into them haven't they.
• 40:07
  Speaker: Have you been offered any Chinese product in stock.
• 40:11
  Speaker: Well yes.
• 40:13
  Speaker: Yes.
• 40:13
  Speaker: I mean I've seen it every day on the marketplaces that I go to.
• 40:18
  Speaker: Um and I try and buy from.
• 40:20
  Speaker: So yes, there are there on
• 40:22
  Speaker: there, but I haven't dived in
• 40:23
  Speaker: other than just saying to
• 40:25
  Speaker: myself, that looks quite a nice
• 40:26
  Speaker: car.
• 40:27
  Speaker: Um, but I haven't yet explored too many times.
• 40:31
  Speaker: So I will have to do that
• 40:33
  Speaker: because it is a market that as
• 40:35
  Speaker: we go into twenty twenty seven,
• 40:37
  Speaker: there will be more
• 40:38
  Speaker: opportunities, I think, in that
• 40:39
  Speaker: sector.
• 40:40
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 40:41
  Speaker: Just just just be careful as to what that how volatile it is.
• 40:44
  Speaker: And yeah, but just as it was for the retailers on the new cars
• 40:48
  Speaker: that moved, you know, let go some very you know, long
• 40:52
  Speaker: standing franchise agreements and arrangements, didn't they,
• 40:55
  Speaker: to go into Chinese.
• 40:57
  Speaker: So they seem to have done very well from it.
• 40:59
  Speaker: So I think there is an opportunity for used car
• 41:02
  Speaker: retailers to consider.
• 41:04
  Speaker: I think, like you say, it's a. And things like the, you know,
• 41:07
  Speaker: right at the start we talked about, you know, the the last
• 41:10
  Speaker: minute registrations happening for the new car market.
• 41:13
  Speaker: And that's not to say that all that was tactical activity.
• 41:16
  Speaker: You know, some of that will be fleet.
• 41:18
  Speaker: Some might be just natural retailers that, you know, retail
• 41:21
  Speaker: customers that will be last minute, etc.. Um, but, you know,
• 41:24
  Speaker: you start to see it.
• 41:25
  Speaker: And even if you start to look at and without necessarily calling
• 41:29
  Speaker: out brands, but, you know, we're talking with somebody the other
• 41:32
  Speaker: day who's, you know, looking at got a, a, a, a coarser, um,
• 41:38
  Speaker: trying to get twelve thousand pounds for this course.
• 41:42
  Speaker: But then you look on, on, on the classified and you can get one
• 41:45
  Speaker: with delivery mileage obviously being tactically registered for
• 41:48
  Speaker: fourteen thousand, you're not going to get twelve thousand for
• 41:52
  Speaker: your three year old.
• 41:53
  Speaker: No, you've got to be.
• 41:54
  Speaker: So I think Tesla have had that problem in the last six months
• 41:58
  Speaker: with their new model Ys.
• 42:00
  Speaker: They've been sort of wholesaling
• 42:01
  Speaker: anything, anything from forty
• 42:03
  Speaker: thousand upwards.
• 42:04
  Speaker: And they're not a great deal more brand new.
• 42:07
  Speaker: Yeah, it's very, very volatile.
• 42:09
  Speaker: So yeah it is.
• 42:09
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 42:10
  Speaker: Yeah it is.
• 42:11
  Speaker: I mean, as always David, it's it's always a pleasure.
• 42:14
  Speaker: I mean, you're at the coalface.
• 42:16
  Speaker: You know, you spend a lot of your time talking to customers,
• 42:19
  Speaker: you know, because that's where your, your product, your source
• 42:22
  Speaker: of vehicles come from.
• 42:23
  Speaker: And, you know, I always have the pleasure of, you know, seeing
• 42:27
  Speaker: things and your train journeys when you go and looking at cars,
• 42:29
  Speaker: when you pick them up, you, you process that you put those
• 42:33
  Speaker: vehicles through, which is, you know, top notch process for
• 42:37
  Speaker: cleaning and everything else.
• 42:38
  Speaker: So, you know, it's always great to have these conversations
• 42:41
  Speaker: because like you say, you're at that customer end talking to
• 42:45
  Speaker: them and understand that.
• 42:46
  Speaker: So I mean, for me, it's just
• 42:48
  Speaker: always a pleasure having a brief
• 42:50
  Speaker: catch up with you, um, on these
• 42:52
  Speaker: podcasts.
• 42:53
  Speaker: And when you, uh, when you can do that with us.
• 42:56
  Speaker: So a huge thank you for me and for Curtis, for stepping in for
• 43:00
  Speaker: Curtis Curtis to, uh, have a week off in the summer.
• 43:04
  Speaker: Well, Curtis calls me the Michael Portillo, the car
• 43:07
  Speaker: industry on the train journeys.
• 43:10
  Speaker: So, um, I don't mind that actually, but, um, no, it's.
• 43:14
  Speaker: I really enjoyed talking to both of you.
• 43:16
  Speaker: So long.
• 43:17
  Speaker: May that continue.
• 43:18
  Speaker: It's good for us.
• 43:19
  Speaker: Good for everyone who listens, I think hopefully anyway.
• 43:22
  Speaker: And, uh, yeah, look forward to the next time.
• 43:24
  Speaker: Nice.
• 43:25
  Speaker: Absolute pleasure.
• 43:26
  Speaker: So I say thank you again for joining me on today's podcast.
• 43:30
  Speaker: As I said, right at the start,
• 43:31
  Speaker: if you've not listened to the
• 43:32
  Speaker: full interview there with, uh,
• 43:34
  Speaker: Peter Smyth, then I suggest you
• 43:36
  Speaker: do.
• 43:37
  Speaker: Um, we caught him right at the end of September, the day after,
• 43:40
  Speaker: and I think it was the first or second of October, um, getting
• 43:45
  Speaker: his thoughts on what happened in September for his business.
• 43:49
  Speaker: Um, so do do have a listen to that.
• 43:51
  Speaker: And if you want to sort of listen to how he bought on the
• 43:54
  Speaker: Saturday podcast for ten, fifteen minutes that catch up
• 43:57
  Speaker: with Harry big deep dive into what happened around the Chinese
• 44:01
  Speaker: manufacturers by market share volume, what the impact is on
• 44:05
  Speaker: the the more established brands through through September.
• 44:09
  Speaker: But that's it from from us today.
• 44:12
  Speaker: And again, thank you to David for joining and jumping in and
• 44:15
  Speaker: uh, in replace of Curtis Curtis and I will be back as normal on
• 44:21
  Speaker: next week's Saturday podcast.
• 44:23
  Speaker: So until then, thank you very much and we will speak soon.
• 44:29
  Speaker: Thank you for listening to the Motor Trade Radio podcast
• 44:32
  Speaker: powered by Cazoo.