Latest / Motor Trade Radio / 📈 September new car regs highest since 2017, driven by EVs and new entrant brands (E62, S12)

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📈 September new car regs highest since 2017, driven by EVs and new entrant brands (E62, S12) · Motor Trade Radio

• 0:04
  Speaker: Hello and welcome to the Motor
• 0:06
  Speaker: Trade Radio podcast powered by
• 0:09
  Speaker: Cazoo.
• 0:10
  Speaker: With Philip Northward and Curtis Hutchinson bringing you all the
• 0:14
  Speaker: chatter that matters across the car retailing sector from
• 0:18
  Speaker: factory to forecourt.
• 0:26
  Speaker: Well, here we are, Phil.
• 0:27
  Speaker: We're actually in Q4 now at the beginning of October.
• 0:30
  Speaker: This is episode sixty one, if you can believe that.
• 0:34
  Speaker: And, um, September plate change is is now behind us.
• 0:38
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 0:39
  Speaker: It is, it is certainly is.
• 0:40
  Speaker: And you know, the Smmt have
• 0:43
  Speaker: pushed the figures out before
• 0:44
  Speaker: the, uh, the weekend because
• 0:46
  Speaker: their schedule was for Monday,
• 0:49
  Speaker: but obviously they wanted to get
• 0:51
  Speaker: them out before the, uh, the
• 0:53
  Speaker: weekend.
• 0:53
  Speaker: I'm not quite sure what the rationale is behind that.
• 0:56
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 0:56
  Speaker: It's interesting because in all the time that I've been in the
• 1:00
  Speaker: industry, I've never known them to do this before because I
• 1:03
  Speaker: think traditionally it was always the fourth working day of
• 1:05
  Speaker: the month, and it seemed to have crept a little bit earlier.
• 1:08
  Speaker: But, uh, this is, um, you know, they've released it on the
• 1:12
  Speaker: second day of the month.
• 1:13
  Speaker: So a quick turnaround for the
• 1:15
  Speaker: figures there is, I think there
• 1:16
  Speaker: is a caveat, though, in this
• 1:18
  Speaker: case that they are subject to
• 1:20
  Speaker: some change.
• 1:21
  Speaker: So yeah, they describe they describe them in the full press
• 1:25
  Speaker: release that we'll be working from as preliminary figures.
• 1:30
  Speaker: So it'd be interesting to see if there's any follow up.
• 1:33
  Speaker: But, uh, I think we've pretty much or that they've pretty much
• 1:37
  Speaker: got it nailed, haven't they?
• 1:39
  Speaker: Maybe it's down to the, uh, the
• 1:41
  Speaker: eleventh hour, six p m on the
• 1:43
  Speaker: thirty first, the last day of
• 1:45
  Speaker: the month, um, taxation activity
• 1:47
  Speaker: that, uh, Mr. Smyth from
• 1:49
  Speaker: Swansway referred to in our, in
• 1:51
  Speaker: our chat.
• 1:53
  Speaker: Well, yes.
• 1:54
  Speaker: And talking of Peter Smyth, so,
• 1:56
  Speaker: um, you know, listeners will be
• 1:58
  Speaker: aware of Peter, co-director of
• 2:00
  Speaker: Swansway Group.
• 2:02
  Speaker: We caught up with him a couple of days ago, and it was very
• 2:05
  Speaker: much to get his take on the September market as a retailer.
• 2:10
  Speaker: So he gave us the full lowdown of what he saw across the group
• 2:15
  Speaker: and the various trends, activities, what was doing well,
• 2:19
  Speaker: and a great insight, wasn't it?
• 2:23
  Speaker: It was yeah.
• 2:24
  Speaker: For definite, I think.
• 2:26
  Speaker: You know, it was a great conversation.
• 2:28
  Speaker: And, you know, I think, uh,
• 2:30
  Speaker: Peter was very open and shared
• 2:31
  Speaker: some of their performance in
• 2:34
  Speaker: September.
• 2:35
  Speaker: And I think, you know, we the
• 2:36
  Speaker: full interview of you that the
• 2:38
  Speaker: full recording of that interview
• 2:40
  Speaker: is in your podcast feed from
• 2:42
  Speaker: Thursday of this week and a good
• 2:45
  Speaker: forty minute catch up with
• 2:47
  Speaker: Peter.
• 2:48
  Speaker: Um, so we went into a lot of areas, didn't we?
• 2:50
  Speaker: Yes.
• 2:51
  Speaker: As well as September, it was an opportunity to talk to him about
• 2:55
  Speaker: Q4 and next year.
• 2:57
  Speaker: So we did actually cover a lot of ground.
• 3:00
  Speaker: So do check that one out.
• 3:02
  Speaker: Now also this week we've got a shout out for a friend of the
• 3:06
  Speaker: pod Harry bot from Media Hawk, because he's actually going to
• 3:10
  Speaker: join us for his analysis of how the Chinese OEMs performed over
• 3:16
  Speaker: the course of September.
• 3:17
  Speaker: So do stay tuned for that.
• 3:20
  Speaker: And whilst you are checking out
• 3:21
  Speaker: your previous podcast feeds, um,
• 3:24
  Speaker: to, to catch up with the, the
• 3:26
  Speaker: Peter Smyth interview, then also
• 3:27
  Speaker: if you've not listened to the
• 3:28
  Speaker: full interview with Rupert
• 3:31
  Speaker: Ponting, um, looking at the, the
• 3:34
  Speaker: September trade value
• 3:35
  Speaker: marketplace, then I would highly
• 3:37
  Speaker: recommend having a, having a
• 3:39
  Speaker: listen to that interview as
• 3:40
  Speaker: well, just to have a think about
• 3:41
  Speaker: what's happened through, through
• 3:42
  Speaker: September in terms of that used
• 3:43
  Speaker: car market, particularly trade
• 3:45
  Speaker: values and his view on, on what
• 3:47
  Speaker: to expect over the coming
• 3:49
  Speaker: months.
• 3:50
  Speaker: And I know you've got an update on the Vehicle Remarketing
• 3:54
  Speaker: Associations Automotive Summit, which is taking place on the
• 3:59
  Speaker: twenty fifth of November.
• 4:00
  Speaker: So that's going to come around pretty quickly.
• 4:03
  Speaker: Uh, at Warwick University, sponsored by City Auction Group.
• 4:06
  Speaker: And you've just announced the speakers, haven't you, Phil?
• 4:10
  Speaker: We have.
• 4:10
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 4:10
  Speaker: I mean, this kind of comes around very quickly.
• 4:13
  Speaker: And obviously the chair of the, the VRA.
• 4:16
  Speaker: But yeah, I mean, again, you
• 4:18
  Speaker: know, it's a huge lineup of key
• 4:20
  Speaker: speakers.
• 4:21
  Speaker: You know, we've got Paul Howlett
• 4:22
  Speaker: from the Association of Fleets
• 4:25
  Speaker: Professionals.
• 4:26
  Speaker: We've got um, Chris Ashley from Road Haulage Association.
• 4:31
  Speaker: Surprise.
• 4:32
  Speaker: If you do manage to turn up to the event, there's a simulator
• 4:36
  Speaker: hopefully on, on display.
• 4:37
  Speaker: Um, but don't tell people I told you that.
• 4:40
  Speaker: Um, Gary Burns from Arval will be joining me.
• 4:43
  Speaker: Friend of the podcast.
• 4:45
  Speaker: Um, Graham Potts, I'll be doing a fireside chat with Graham plus
• 4:49
  Speaker: many other speakers and panel discussions on the the topic.
• 4:54
  Speaker: So, you know, if you haven't
• 4:56
  Speaker: registered, um, please do
• 4:58
  Speaker: register.
• 4:58
  Speaker: We're well over the one hundred registrations now.
• 5:01
  Speaker: We've got capacity for about two twenty.
• 5:04
  Speaker: Um, we probably will break the two hundred.
• 5:06
  Speaker: So if you want to spend the day
• 5:08
  Speaker: listening to and the topics and
• 5:10
  Speaker: discussions across the mag, but
• 5:11
  Speaker: more importantly, networking
• 5:12
  Speaker: with over two hundred industry
• 5:15
  Speaker: professionals, then, then please
• 5:16
  Speaker: do, do register and you can find
• 5:18
  Speaker: the links through the VRA
• 5:20
  Speaker: channels or my social channels
• 5:22
  Speaker: as well.
• 5:24
  Speaker: If you're a supplier and would
• 5:25
  Speaker: like us to profile your business
• 5:28
  Speaker: and reach our audience of dealer
• 5:29
  Speaker: group bosses, managers, and
• 5:31
  Speaker: decision makers on one of our
• 5:34
  Speaker: motor trade radio supplier
• 5:35
  Speaker: special episodes.
• 5:37
  Speaker: Then get in touch at Motor Trade Radio at yahoo dot com.
• 5:46
  Speaker: And some of the companies already featured in our supply
• 5:50
  Speaker: specials include auto tech group Autoglym, Live, Shine, Impel,
• 5:54
  Speaker: Prospecting Dynamics and MTC, and you can find them all in
• 5:59
  Speaker: your podcast feed.
• 6:00
  Speaker: Along with our recent OEM specials.
• 6:03
  Speaker: With some of the new EV brands
• 6:05
  Speaker: including Verizon, Ion and
• 6:08
  Speaker: Changan.
• 6:09
  Speaker: And if you'd like us to profile
• 6:11
  Speaker: your business, then just message
• 6:13
  Speaker: us at Motor Trade radio at yahoo
• 6:16
  Speaker: dot com.
• 6:20
  Speaker: You're listening to the motor radio podcast Powered by Cazoo.
• 6:27
  Speaker: Well, we really have got a packed show for you today.
• 6:30
  Speaker: So headlines this week come from car dealer a m motor Trade News
• 6:35
  Speaker: and Auto Sunday.
• 6:37
  Speaker: So the first half of this week's
• 6:39
  Speaker: pod is devoted to the all
• 6:41
  Speaker: important September plate
• 6:43
  Speaker: change.
• 6:44
  Speaker: We'll start with Swansea's Peter Smythe's take on how he saw the
• 6:49
  Speaker: market on the ground as a retailer, will then look at the
• 6:53
  Speaker: Smt's newly published new car data, which shows registrations
• 6:58
  Speaker: grew by just over twelve percent for the month, making it the
• 7:02
  Speaker: strongest September since twenty seventeen, followed by Harry
• 7:06
  Speaker: Bott's analysis of the contribution made to this growth
• 7:09
  Speaker: by the Chinese brands.
• 7:12
  Speaker: We hope to have the new van figures if they come in on time
• 7:16
  Speaker: as we're recording this, and we'll look at how the used car
• 7:20
  Speaker: market performed over the course of September, as reported by
• 7:24
  Speaker: Kazoos Market View.
• 7:26
  Speaker: Then, if that's not enough, in
• 7:28
  Speaker: the second half, we've got
• 7:30
  Speaker: virtue boss Robert Forrester
• 7:32
  Speaker: hitting out at the National
• 7:34
  Speaker: Franchised Dealers Association
• 7:36
  Speaker: over its response to the Zev
• 7:38
  Speaker: mandate consultation.
• 7:40
  Speaker: And we'll finish with two
• 7:42
  Speaker: impressive year ends from the
• 7:44
  Speaker: franchised and independent
• 7:46
  Speaker: sectors from Waylands and big
• 7:49
  Speaker: motoring world.
• 7:50
  Speaker: But first up, Peter Smyth
• 7:53
  Speaker: talking about the September
• 7:55
  Speaker: plate change.
• 7:58
  Speaker: You're listening to the Motor
• 7:59
  Speaker: Trade Radio podcast powered by
• 8:03
  Speaker: Cazoo.
• 8:06
  Speaker: Let's start off with the plate.
• 8:08
  Speaker: Change the seventy six plate change.
• 8:10
  Speaker: I mean what did you see in terms
• 8:12
  Speaker: of demand for new cars across
• 8:15
  Speaker: the group?
• 8:15
  Speaker: Was it in line with your initial expectations as we came into the
• 8:19
  Speaker: month of September?
• 8:21
  Speaker: And what did it tell you about consumer confidence or the
• 8:24
  Speaker: business in general?
• 8:27
  Speaker: Well, I think it's fair to say that I, funnily enough, have
• 8:31
  Speaker: some statistics here, but broadly speaking, it was about
• 8:35
  Speaker: in line with our expectations and our hopes.
• 8:39
  Speaker: That said, it's felt like a long, hard slog and there was
• 8:46
  Speaker: definitely Some additional hours to put in right at the end.
• 8:51
  Speaker: I mean, right until the death,
• 8:53
  Speaker: the the cut off, uh, is six
• 8:56
  Speaker: o'clock for registering
• 8:58
  Speaker: vehicles.
• 8:59
  Speaker: And believe you me, uh, our
• 9:01
  Speaker: fleet department was still
• 9:03
  Speaker: trying to register cars at one
• 9:05
  Speaker: minute to six on the thirtieth
• 9:07
  Speaker: of September.
• 9:08
  Speaker: So it's been a long, hard slog.
• 9:10
  Speaker: Um, it's, um, it's met our expectations.
• 9:14
  Speaker: In fact, I can, I'm quite happy
• 9:16
  Speaker: to share some information, but
• 9:18
  Speaker: what we do across, um, well,
• 9:22
  Speaker: across every month, but
• 9:23
  Speaker: particularly in September, we
• 9:26
  Speaker: compare our sales rate on a
• 9:30
  Speaker: daily basis.
• 9:31
  Speaker: Um, and our new car gross profit, our used units, our used
• 9:36
  Speaker: gross profit and f and I, uh, we compare it, um, with the
• 9:41
  Speaker: September twenty five.
• 9:43
  Speaker: Um, and just to share some, some interesting bits of information.
• 9:48
  Speaker: Our new.
• 9:50
  Speaker: And this is just retail.
• 9:51
  Speaker: Our new retail units were up by just under ten percent.
• 9:56
  Speaker: Okay.
• 9:56
  Speaker: Um, our new gross profit was
• 10:01
  Speaker: interestingly up by just under
• 10:03
  Speaker: thirty percent.
• 10:05
  Speaker: And that is because of the additional gross profit, I
• 10:10
  Speaker: believe that has been put in there by some of the Chinese
• 10:13
  Speaker: brands that we represent.
• 10:15
  Speaker: Used cars in true numbers terms
• 10:19
  Speaker: are is up by two point seven
• 10:23
  Speaker: percent.
• 10:24
  Speaker: I mean, I think it's fair to say we're pretty good at used cars.
• 10:27
  Speaker: We have twenty rooftops and we sell twenty thousand cars a
• 10:30
  Speaker: year, which the mortar match are encompassed in that.
• 10:34
  Speaker: So each one of our rooftops
• 10:36
  Speaker: sells a thousand used cars a
• 10:38
  Speaker: year.
• 10:39
  Speaker: And that was up by two point seven percent.
• 10:41
  Speaker: But the margin on used cars was
• 10:44
  Speaker: actually up by ten percent F and
• 10:48
  Speaker: I was up by just over five
• 10:51
  Speaker: percent.
• 10:53
  Speaker: And we do, uh, generate a lot of our fee from the, uh, the sale
• 10:58
  Speaker: of used cars because of a lot of the Subvented six schemes that
• 11:02
  Speaker: the, uh, the OEMs have.
• 11:04
  Speaker: So on the whole, our, our total
• 11:09
  Speaker: daily profitability was up by
• 11:11
  Speaker: fifteen percent, but that will
• 11:14
  Speaker: not travel down to the bottom
• 11:17
  Speaker: line because that's a gross
• 11:19
  Speaker: situation.
• 11:21
  Speaker: Um, I would imagine that our bottom line for September will
• 11:25
  Speaker: probably be somewhere in the region of about five percent up
• 11:29
  Speaker: on this time last year, which we're very pleased about.
• 11:33
  Speaker: Well, we couldn't have timed that any better, could we, in
• 11:36
  Speaker: terms of that chat with, um, with, with Peter.
• 11:39
  Speaker: It's almost as though we planned it that way.
• 11:41
  Speaker: Phil Yeah, I think it was.
• 11:43
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 11:44
  Speaker: And he was very open and honest
• 11:45
  Speaker: around the activity within
• 11:48
  Speaker: Swansway onesie.
• 11:49
  Speaker: And yeah, definitely I'm very open.
• 11:52
  Speaker: And you know, the full interview obviously goes into more detail,
• 11:56
  Speaker: but we just felt it was really important to get a retailer's
• 12:00
  Speaker: perspective on, on how the month meant, how the month panned out.
• 12:05
  Speaker: And, you know, Peter's
• 12:06
  Speaker: observations are, you know,
• 12:09
  Speaker: priceless.
• 12:09
  Speaker: Really.
• 12:10
  Speaker: Yes.
• 12:10
  Speaker: He's he doesn't hold back on his
• 12:12
  Speaker: opinions of what's happening and
• 12:14
  Speaker: very open and honest on the, the
• 12:17
  Speaker: chat there.
• 12:17
  Speaker: So as, as I said earlier on that
• 12:20
  Speaker: if you've not listened to the
• 12:21
  Speaker: full interview with with Peter,
• 12:24
  Speaker: then it is on the podcast feed
• 12:26
  Speaker: or through the social channels
• 12:28
  Speaker: and through Peter's social
• 12:30
  Speaker: channels as well, because he
• 12:31
  Speaker: shared it through through their
• 12:33
  Speaker: channels.
• 12:33
  Speaker: Do have a listen.
• 12:35
  Speaker: You will not be disappointed.
• 12:36
  Speaker: And it couldn't be more poignant to the current market that we
• 12:41
  Speaker: find ourselves in, could it?
• 12:42
  Speaker: incorrect.
• 12:43
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 12:43
  Speaker: And we've now got some context around that because when we
• 12:48
  Speaker: recorded the interview with Peter, we hadn't seen the the
• 12:52
  Speaker: data for the registrations, the Smmt data, but as we record it
• 12:58
  Speaker: recorded today's pod, they've just been released.
• 13:01
  Speaker: So we've had a good look.
• 13:03
  Speaker: We've had a good crawl through the data.
• 13:05
  Speaker: And what we're going to do is
• 13:06
  Speaker: we'll we've got the Smmt press
• 13:08
  Speaker: release.
• 13:09
  Speaker: So they went out with the press release Friday morning headlines
• 13:13
  Speaker: record electric car market powers bumper September.
• 13:18
  Speaker: So, um, there's a lot to unpick
• 13:21
  Speaker: in this film, but just to give
• 13:23
  Speaker: the sort of overview, the new
• 13:25
  Speaker: car market grew by twelve point
• 13:27
  Speaker: one percent to three hundred and
• 13:30
  Speaker: fifty thousand five hundred
• 13:32
  Speaker: units over the course of the
• 13:33
  Speaker: plate change, making it the
• 13:35
  Speaker: tenth consecutive month of
• 13:37
  Speaker: growth and the strongest
• 13:39
  Speaker: September since twenty
• 13:40
  Speaker: seventeen.
• 13:41
  Speaker: Within that, a record ninety nine thousand one hundred and
• 13:46
  Speaker: ninety nine battery electric cars joined the road.
• 13:50
  Speaker: The Smmt calculated that at almost five every minute and
• 13:55
  Speaker: year to date, Bev share hits twenty six point two percent,
• 14:00
  Speaker: showing strong progress but obviously still below last
• 14:03
  Speaker: year's twenty eight percent mandate target and the thirty
• 14:07
  Speaker: three percent that's actually required this year.
• 14:10
  Speaker: What where do we start?
• 14:12
  Speaker: Phil, what did you make of this?
• 14:14
  Speaker: I think the key is obviously I mean, positive that one you
• 14:18
  Speaker: know, we've got double digit growth, twelve point one percent
• 14:22
  Speaker: as you as you cite there.
• 14:24
  Speaker: And that takes us to just over ten percent at ten point two
• 14:28
  Speaker: percent as a as a year to date.
• 14:30
  Speaker: So we can't, you know, can't get away from that positive result,
• 14:33
  Speaker: particularly against, let's say, a fairly volatile, uncertain
• 14:39
  Speaker: economic and political backdrop.
• 14:42
  Speaker: But, you know, even within that, you know, the the private
• 14:45
  Speaker: registrations, twelve point eight percent up year to date
• 14:48
  Speaker: fleet up eight percent, business up twenty two point nine percent
• 14:53
  Speaker: year to date.
• 14:53
  Speaker: But if you look at September in
• 14:56
  Speaker: isolation, you've got thirteen
• 14:57
  Speaker: point nine percent growth for
• 14:59
  Speaker: private.
• 15:00
  Speaker: But, you know, really
• 15:01
  Speaker: indications were that three days
• 15:03
  Speaker: ago, private was, you know, very
• 15:05
  Speaker: positive.
• 15:06
  Speaker: Um, but fleet was flat.
• 15:09
  Speaker: It was fairly level three days ago.
• 15:11
  Speaker: And that's resulted in a nine
• 15:13
  Speaker: point six percent increase in
• 15:15
  Speaker: performance and business, a
• 15:16
  Speaker: thirty seven point six percent
• 15:18
  Speaker: increase.
• 15:18
  Speaker: So no guesses to where the registrations came from in the
• 15:22
  Speaker: final three days of the month.
• 15:23
  Speaker: Hey, Curtis.
• 15:25
  Speaker: Yeah, exactly.
• 15:26
  Speaker: Um, it's almost as though we're back in the nineties and
• 15:30
  Speaker: noughties, isn't it?
• 15:31
  Speaker: Because that's a lot of activity
• 15:33
  Speaker: in the closing days of the
• 15:36
  Speaker: month.
• 15:36
  Speaker: And, uh, as you point out, you know, pretty much led by fleet.
• 15:42
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 15:42
  Speaker: And I think we saw the same twenty nineteen in the September
• 15:46
  Speaker: of twenty nineteen.
• 15:47
  Speaker: It was, I think we finished on about three hundred and forty
• 15:49
  Speaker: three thousand three days before were around the two hundred odd.
• 15:53
  Speaker: And I think ninety four thousand
• 15:55
  Speaker: registrations were done in the
• 15:56
  Speaker: final three days of September of
• 15:58
  Speaker: twenty nineteen.
• 15:59
  Speaker: So it's a bit of a flashback to the pre-pandemic September,
• 16:02
  Speaker: where a lot of activity in the final days of the month.
• 16:06
  Speaker: But I think, you know, clearly
• 16:08
  Speaker: within this story, there's quite
• 16:09
  Speaker: a bit around the fuel type,
• 16:11
  Speaker: isn't there, because there is
• 16:11
  Speaker: some positive news around the
• 16:13
  Speaker: the fuel type, which does segue
• 16:15
  Speaker: into the conversation we have
• 16:17
  Speaker: with Peter, a little bit around
• 16:18
  Speaker: what he declared around the
• 16:20
  Speaker: swansway activity by fuel type
• 16:22
  Speaker: with some of their brands that
• 16:23
  Speaker: they represent.
• 16:25
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 16:26
  Speaker: Fuel type this month is, is fascinating.
• 16:29
  Speaker: It really is.
• 16:29
  Speaker: So the Smmt calculated that if
• 16:33
  Speaker: you take all electrified
• 16:35
  Speaker: vehicles.
• 16:36
  Speaker: So that's BEVs and hybrids.
• 16:38
  Speaker: They collectively accounted for
• 16:41
  Speaker: fifty eight point four percent
• 16:42
  Speaker: of registrations.
• 16:44
  Speaker: So within that um battery
• 16:46
  Speaker: electric vehicles, so pure EVs,
• 16:49
  Speaker: uh, were up thirty six point
• 16:52
  Speaker: three percent to a record high
• 16:54
  Speaker: volume.
• 16:55
  Speaker: As I say of nineteen, well, just
• 16:57
  Speaker: shy of one hundred thousand
• 16:58
  Speaker: units.
• 16:59
  Speaker: So ninety nine thousand one hundred and ninety nine with,
• 17:03
  Speaker: uh, market share up five percentage points to twenty
• 17:06
  Speaker: eight point three percent.
• 17:08
  Speaker: Um, and, uh, you know, this is
• 17:11
  Speaker: really showing the uptake of
• 17:14
  Speaker: EVs.
• 17:14
  Speaker: We know there's natural demand.
• 17:16
  Speaker: We know there's fleet demand.
• 17:18
  Speaker: Um, really, as buyers respond to
• 17:21
  Speaker: this unprecedented model model
• 17:24
  Speaker: choice.
• 17:24
  Speaker: And, you know, we were only talking last week on, on the pod
• 17:28
  Speaker: about the, the number of different models available on
• 17:31
  Speaker: the market, which is now around one hundred and seventy eight.
• 17:35
  Speaker: and the expanded choice, the
• 17:38
  Speaker: number of offers on EVs as well
• 17:41
  Speaker: certainly help drive that
• 17:42
  Speaker: market.
• 17:43
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 17:44
  Speaker: Before we, uh, we head over to, uh, to Harry, I think you've
• 17:48
  Speaker: probably got a top ten and I've got some, uh, some early
• 17:53
  Speaker: European market figures as well.
• 17:55
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 17:56
  Speaker: Um, so also some winners and losers for the month.
• 18:00
  Speaker: And, uh, I'm not going to tread on Harry's toes.
• 18:03
  Speaker: Uh, so I'll leave the Chinese brands out of this, but just a
• 18:07
  Speaker: reflection of who did well in a good month and who didn't do
• 18:11
  Speaker: well in a good month.
• 18:12
  Speaker: So some of the, um, do we call
• 18:14
  Speaker: them legacy traditional or
• 18:17
  Speaker: heritage brands.
• 18:18
  Speaker: So starting with Citroen, they were up a massive one hundred
• 18:22
  Speaker: and thirty six percent.
• 18:24
  Speaker: Dacia was up seven percent, Kia
• 18:27
  Speaker: up one percent, Land Rover up
• 18:29
  Speaker: forty percent, Lexus up twenty
• 18:32
  Speaker: six percent.
• 18:33
  Speaker: And there were a few others that achieved double digit percentage
• 18:37
  Speaker: growth, but some of the losers included BMW, who were down
• 18:42
  Speaker: eleven point four percent, Ford down twenty seven percent, which
• 18:47
  Speaker: in a plate change month is pretty notable for, you know,
• 18:53
  Speaker: the brand that was the market leader for so many years.
• 18:57
  Speaker: Also down were Honda.
• 18:58
  Speaker: They were down fifteen percent, Hyundai down thirty percent and
• 19:03
  Speaker: Nissan down twenty one percent.
• 19:06
  Speaker: And if we look at some of the
• 19:08
  Speaker: top ten best selling models for
• 19:11
  Speaker: the month, so we've got the top
• 19:13
  Speaker: ten here starting with number
• 19:15
  Speaker: ten, Audi A3, number nine, the M
• 19:18
  Speaker: g h, number eight, Volkswagen
• 19:20
  Speaker: Golf, number seven, the Vauxhall
• 19:23
  Speaker: Corsair, number six, the Nissan
• 19:25
  Speaker: Qashqai.
• 19:27
  Speaker: And going into the top five
• 19:28
  Speaker: we've got the Tesla Model Y at
• 19:31
  Speaker: number five Kia Sportage at
• 19:34
  Speaker: number four.
• 19:34
  Speaker: Number three, the Ford Puma.
• 19:37
  Speaker: Number two, the Tesla Model three.
• 19:39
  Speaker: And number one, the J Q seven.
• 19:43
  Speaker: Based on ten thousand eight hundred and thirteen units sold.
• 19:48
  Speaker: So pretty impressive result there for J Q but didn't waste
• 19:52
  Speaker: the buffet at the party then that they had pre-planned for
• 19:56
  Speaker: the results in September.
• 19:58
  Speaker: Yeah, I didn't get an invite did you?
• 20:00
  Speaker: No, no, I didn't know.
• 20:02
  Speaker: Um, but I mean great result and we'll dig into this a little bit
• 20:05
  Speaker: more with Harry Bosch shortly with no LCD van figures.
• 20:09
  Speaker: They don't seem to be pushing those out as, uh, as quickly
• 20:12
  Speaker: before the, uh, the weekend.
• 20:14
  Speaker: So we'll, we'll probably cover those on next week's podcast.
• 20:17
  Speaker: But before we, we head over to Harry.
• 20:19
  Speaker: Just some from the, the European
• 20:22
  Speaker: market, Germany is still yet to
• 20:24
  Speaker: declare.
• 20:25
  Speaker: Um, and we've got France eleven point six percent up.
• 20:29
  Speaker: So another digit double digit
• 20:31
  Speaker: growth in Europe, with one
• 20:32
  Speaker: hundred and fifty six thousand
• 20:34
  Speaker: six hundred, Italy just short of
• 20:37
  Speaker: ten percent at nine point nine
• 20:38
  Speaker: percent growth to one hundred
• 20:40
  Speaker: and thirty nine thousand four
• 20:41
  Speaker: hundred.
• 20:42
  Speaker: Spain ninety three thousand nine hundred with a ten point two
• 20:46
  Speaker: percent growth year on year.
• 20:49
  Speaker: And the US, because I know you
• 20:50
  Speaker: like to hear the the US not as
• 20:53
  Speaker: positive.
• 20:54
  Speaker: I mean in terms of percentage
• 20:55
  Speaker: share just up four point four
• 20:57
  Speaker: percent.
• 20:58
  Speaker: But that is to a one point three
• 21:00
  Speaker: million result for the the month
• 21:02
  Speaker: of September.
• 21:03
  Speaker: So still got yet to see what Germany did.
• 21:06
  Speaker: But still reflecting on what we've seen in the UK.
• 21:09
  Speaker: It feels like the same kind of happened across Europe there.
• 21:12
  Speaker: Curtis.
• 21:12
  Speaker: Yeah, very much so.
• 21:14
  Speaker: And as we've already flagged up.
• 21:16
  Speaker: Next up, we're delighted to
• 21:18
  Speaker: welcome back friend of the pod
• 21:20
  Speaker: Harry bot, industry analyst and
• 21:22
  Speaker: director of Media Hawk, the
• 21:24
  Speaker: specialist industry analytics
• 21:26
  Speaker: business.
• 21:27
  Speaker: And we'll be getting Harry's view on how the Chinese brands
• 21:31
  Speaker: helped shape the all important September new car markets.
• 21:36
  Speaker: Welcome back to the pod, Harry.
• 21:37
  Speaker: I must say it was very difficult doing an overview of the
• 21:41
  Speaker: September new car market without mentioning the Chinese brands.
• 21:46
  Speaker: Well, well, it's wonderful to be
• 21:48
  Speaker: back and I really appreciate you
• 21:50
  Speaker: having me.
• 21:50
  Speaker: So hopefully you'll enjoy this, this segment at the moment.
• 21:53
  Speaker: And thank you for letting me do the fun bit, because what is
• 21:58
  Speaker: happening on the Chinese brand is well beyond what I ever
• 22:02
  Speaker: imagined when I first started looking at this.
• 22:04
  Speaker: This subject, I think, is beyond what everybody imagined about
• 22:07
  Speaker: what was happening with the Chinese manufacturers, how it.
• 22:10
  Speaker: Absolutely.
• 22:10
  Speaker: And the story is unbelievable.
• 22:13
  Speaker: So if I get deeply overexcited, which I do, um, I'm.
• 22:16
  Speaker: And I might start talking too quickly.
• 22:18
  Speaker: So for anyone listening, I do apologise, but um, gosh, where
• 22:23
  Speaker: do I, where do I start?
• 22:25
  Speaker: Well, let's, let's position you, let's help you out on that.
• 22:27
  Speaker: So as I say, I mean, fantastic to have you back on.
• 22:29
  Speaker: I think we said last time Curtis
• 22:31
  Speaker: and I, you know, we want to try
• 22:32
  Speaker: and get you on every month
• 22:33
  Speaker: covering what's happening in
• 22:34
  Speaker: those those Chinese because it's
• 22:36
  Speaker: certainly the the leading topic
• 22:38
  Speaker: of discussion.
• 22:39
  Speaker: So as I say each month, I mean, you're monitoring the share of
• 22:42
  Speaker: the UK new car market, but taken by the Chinese brand.
• 22:47
  Speaker: So let's kick you off.
• 22:48
  Speaker: What did happen in September?
• 22:51
  Speaker: What does it look like and what
• 22:52
  Speaker: are the year to date trends that
• 22:54
  Speaker: you're starting to see from the
• 22:55
  Speaker: new entrant Chinese
• 22:56
  Speaker: manufacturers?
• 22:58
  Speaker: What I what did happen is
• 23:00
  Speaker: September was even bigger than I
• 23:01
  Speaker: anticipated.
• 23:03
  Speaker: I think last time I said, I wonder whether how much they
• 23:06
  Speaker: will, whether they'll throttle back because the expansion has
• 23:09
  Speaker: been so significant.
• 23:10
  Speaker: But actually we've seen them put their foot onto the throttle.
• 23:13
  Speaker: So let's start with number one in the pop charts.
• 23:16
  Speaker: BYD now a year to date has a
• 23:19
  Speaker: three point nine percent market
• 23:21
  Speaker: share.
• 23:22
  Speaker: As a brand who only turned up in twenty twenty three, they are
• 23:26
  Speaker: bigger now than the Nissan, Peugeot and Hyundai.
• 23:29
  Speaker: To give you a sense of the scale of expansion in that period.
• 23:33
  Speaker: Since last year, Nissan has dropped back by from a four
• 23:37
  Speaker: point five percent market share, Peugeot back from four point
• 23:40
  Speaker: four percent and Hyundai four point seven five percent.
• 23:43
  Speaker: So we're seeing those heritage
• 23:45
  Speaker: brands being absolutely
• 23:47
  Speaker: shattered by the the Chinese new
• 23:50
  Speaker: entrants.
• 23:52
  Speaker: BYD I'm sorry about all the data, but just gives you a sense
• 23:55
  Speaker: of the scale of it.
• 23:56
  Speaker: For September only had a five point seven percent market
• 24:00
  Speaker: share, which means that that puts it up just, um, it just
• 24:06
  Speaker: puts it up.
• 24:07
  Speaker: So it puts it up right up in the top ten players.
• 24:11
  Speaker: And then we start looking at
• 24:12
  Speaker: Jayco and a motor and GQ, I mean
• 24:14
  Speaker: Joku uh, again, three point four
• 24:17
  Speaker: percent market share and four
• 24:18
  Speaker: point three percent in
• 24:19
  Speaker: September.
• 24:20
  Speaker: And OJ um Moda we, we see them
• 24:25
  Speaker: at one point eight percent
• 24:27
  Speaker: market share and only in
• 24:28
  Speaker: September to two point one
• 24:30
  Speaker: percent.
• 24:30
  Speaker: But then hats off to cherry.
• 24:33
  Speaker: This time last year, cherry had
• 24:35
  Speaker: only served one thousand three
• 24:36
  Speaker: hundred units.
• 24:38
  Speaker: To date, they've served thirty
• 24:40
  Speaker: three thousand three hundred and
• 24:41
  Speaker: fifty nine.
• 24:43
  Speaker: So if you take the cherry Group has just arrived.
• 24:46
  Speaker: But if you take the cherry group and saw them as a group, i.e.
• 24:51
  Speaker: cherry JQ and Amoda, they would be the biggest.
• 24:55
  Speaker: They would be the biggest.
• 24:56
  Speaker: They would be they'd be above
• 24:57
  Speaker: Volkswagen in terms of their
• 24:58
  Speaker: market share.
• 25:00
  Speaker: They would have the equivalent
• 25:01
  Speaker: of a nine point four percent
• 25:02
  Speaker: market share.
• 25:05
  Speaker: Unbelievable.
• 25:06
  Speaker: I really can't get my head around it.
• 25:08
  Speaker: How the scale of the speed of
• 25:11
  Speaker: the growth of these
• 25:13
  Speaker: manufacturers.
• 25:14
  Speaker: So take another one, Geely, that
• 25:16
  Speaker: was a brand that didn't exist
• 25:18
  Speaker: last year.
• 25:19
  Speaker: They sold fourteen thousand four hundred units.
• 25:23
  Speaker: If you were sitting in the
• 25:24
  Speaker: boardroom of Fiat and places
• 25:25
  Speaker: like that, you must be sitting
• 25:27
  Speaker: there going, oh my God, what do
• 25:28
  Speaker: I do?
• 25:30
  Speaker: Yeah, I mean, it really is unprecedented, isn't it, Harry?
• 25:35
  Speaker: What we're seeing now, and you've highlighted some of the
• 25:39
  Speaker: some of the newer brands, how did some of the older, if we can
• 25:44
  Speaker: call them older, more established Chinese owned brands
• 25:47
  Speaker: do over the course of September.
• 25:49
  Speaker: So the two big, what I call
• 25:51
  Speaker: Chinese brands are m g a
• 25:53
  Speaker: established heritage brands M G
• 25:55
  Speaker: and Volvo.
• 25:57
  Speaker: And they both have done really well.
• 26:00
  Speaker: I mean Volvo sits sits consistently has been moving up.
• 26:04
  Speaker: Back in twenty twenty two they
• 26:06
  Speaker: had a two point three percent
• 26:07
  Speaker: market share.
• 26:08
  Speaker: But they've got good product and
• 26:10
  Speaker: they're now around around the
• 26:11
  Speaker: three point one percent market
• 26:13
  Speaker: share.
• 26:13
  Speaker: So they've just been growing
• 26:14
  Speaker: nicely in a premium end, which
• 26:16
  Speaker: takes on the likes of BMW, etc..
• 26:19
  Speaker: But the one that's really
• 26:20
  Speaker: interesting is um, is m g that
• 26:24
  Speaker: has consistently since twenty
• 26:27
  Speaker: twenty three have been around
• 26:28
  Speaker: the four point two percent mark,
• 26:29
  Speaker: and they're now at four point
• 26:30
  Speaker: five percent.
• 26:31
  Speaker: But actually in September,
• 26:33
  Speaker: September, only that five point
• 26:34
  Speaker: one percent.
• 26:35
  Speaker: So what that shows to me is the Chinese have worked out what the
• 26:40
  Speaker: model is that they need to do to the UK consumer to really give
• 26:45
  Speaker: value and perception of value.
• 26:48
  Speaker: And it's also showing that
• 26:49
  Speaker: people are no longer brand
• 26:51
  Speaker: loyal, which the manufacturers
• 26:52
  Speaker: have historically said, oh,
• 26:53
  Speaker: let's be brand people will be
• 26:55
  Speaker: brand loyal.
• 26:56
  Speaker: No, they're not brand loyal.
• 26:57
  Speaker: People want to see something
• 26:58
  Speaker: that's good value, great finance
• 27:01
  Speaker: offer, which most people are
• 27:02
  Speaker: buying on.
• 27:03
  Speaker: And if you look at the amount of Chinese manufacturers who are
• 27:05
  Speaker: doing zero percent finance, you can see why people are going
• 27:08
  Speaker: flooding to flooding to them.
• 27:10
  Speaker: I mean, Harry, just thinking, we've just talked about the, you
• 27:15
  Speaker: know, the high level numbers from the Smmt with the results.
• 27:19
  Speaker: And obviously one standout is the, you know, the volume that
• 27:23
  Speaker: happened in the closing days of the month, but particularly that
• 27:26
  Speaker: growth in the fleet market, you know, taking still maintaining
• 27:30
  Speaker: majority at fifty four point five percent market share,
• 27:34
  Speaker: slightly down from fifty five point seven percent at this
• 27:37
  Speaker: point September of last year, but showing a nine point six
• 27:41
  Speaker: percent growth there.
• 27:42
  Speaker: I mean, what are you seeing and
• 27:44
  Speaker: hearing from the Chinese
• 27:45
  Speaker: entrance?
• 27:45
  Speaker: I mean, you know, initially it
• 27:47
  Speaker: was very much the private
• 27:48
  Speaker: consumer market that they
• 27:49
  Speaker: entered the market into the UK
• 27:52
  Speaker: with, but they are very quickly
• 27:54
  Speaker: moving now into that fleet and
• 27:56
  Speaker: rental and business sector,
• 27:57
  Speaker: aren't they?
• 27:58
  Speaker: Yeah, absolutely.
• 27:59
  Speaker: I mean, I, it's anecdotal because I obviously talk to
• 28:02
  Speaker: people and people will never, never put their names to the
• 28:05
  Speaker: frames, but the anecdotes.
• 28:06
  Speaker: Well, there's two issues going on on fleet.
• 28:08
  Speaker: Anecdote number one is the
• 28:10
  Speaker: Chinese are now they've come in
• 28:12
  Speaker: on retail, got that retail, um,
• 28:15
  Speaker: have really grown their share
• 28:16
  Speaker: there.
• 28:17
  Speaker: But actually fleets the way if
• 28:18
  Speaker: you want to get rid of, um,
• 28:20
  Speaker: build your market share fleets
• 28:22
  Speaker: the way.
• 28:22
  Speaker: And I've heard of one
• 28:23
  Speaker: manufacturer who were sort of
• 28:25
  Speaker: offering at thirty five percent
• 28:26
  Speaker: off.
• 28:27
  Speaker: Well, that's great in the short term, but what does that do to
• 28:31
  Speaker: your residuals in the long in three years time when that car
• 28:35
  Speaker: comes back or if that fleet sells it out early?
• 28:38
  Speaker: The other thing that I think people, um, it's difficult to
• 28:42
  Speaker: understand because it's not split out in the fleet figures
• 28:45
  Speaker: is how many, um, EVs that are sold through retail are actually
• 28:51
  Speaker: salary sacrificed and therefore are seen perceived as fleet.
• 28:55
  Speaker: I find that interesting.
• 28:56
  Speaker: And because the Chinese have a very strong EV offering.
• 29:00
  Speaker: And actually, if you look at
• 29:01
  Speaker: Tesla, they've gone up this
• 29:03
  Speaker: year, this month as well and
• 29:05
  Speaker: year on year because they have a
• 29:07
  Speaker: strong Chinese EV offering, I
• 29:08
  Speaker: don't know how much of that is
• 29:10
  Speaker: also reflected in the growth of
• 29:12
  Speaker: the Chinese.
• 29:14
  Speaker: Yeah, it's interesting that one,
• 29:15
  Speaker: because when we spoke to to
• 29:16
  Speaker: Peter Smyth from from Swansway
• 29:18
  Speaker: and he shared some of their
• 29:20
  Speaker: figures and he was talking where
• 29:22
  Speaker: BYD and this is pure Bev, uh,
• 29:26
  Speaker: retail only, uh, figures, but
• 29:29
  Speaker: he's saying that Bev in the BYD
• 29:31
  Speaker: was thirty percent of their
• 29:34
  Speaker: their registrations for them,
• 29:36
  Speaker: the Jayco and Mulder was at
• 29:37
  Speaker: three percent.
• 29:39
  Speaker: So the ninety seven percent was
• 29:41
  Speaker: obviously, uh, hybrid technology
• 29:43
  Speaker: within the Jayco and mortar
• 29:45
  Speaker: brand Volkswagen was around ten
• 29:47
  Speaker: percent.
• 29:48
  Speaker: And interestingly, Audi was
• 29:50
  Speaker: between sixteen and eighty
• 29:51
  Speaker: percent.
• 29:52
  Speaker: Now, obviously, if we listen to
• 29:53
  Speaker: these kind of numbers and
• 29:54
  Speaker: thinking about the Zev mandate
• 29:56
  Speaker: and.
• 29:56
  Speaker: But really very much that split where you've got BYD leading
• 30:00
  Speaker: with that thirty percent.
• 30:02
  Speaker: But they have quite a big lineup of EVs, don't they, across
• 30:05
  Speaker: segments in the market.
• 30:06
  Speaker: And as you say, very much in that benefit in kind company car
• 30:11
  Speaker: opt out marketplace.
• 30:13
  Speaker: Mhm.
• 30:14
  Speaker: Which is also had, I think the everyone uncertainty around
• 30:18
  Speaker: diesel and petrol prices.
• 30:20
  Speaker: That's going to give it a real fillip.
• 30:23
  Speaker: Um and that's I think that's also driven it.
• 30:25
  Speaker: And I think in the run into
• 30:27
  Speaker: December, in the run into
• 30:28
  Speaker: quarter four, which is
• 30:29
  Speaker: historically a much more
• 30:31
  Speaker: difficult quarter.
• 30:33
  Speaker: My money says we're going to see some really weird behaviour.
• 30:37
  Speaker: Some of the manufacturers will
• 30:38
  Speaker: just hold back obviously on
• 30:40
  Speaker: their traditional so they don't
• 30:41
  Speaker: get done by the, uh, by the
• 30:43
  Speaker: mandate.
• 30:43
  Speaker: But we'll see a lot more.
• 30:45
  Speaker: I would imagine electrics will grow quite significantly in the
• 30:48
  Speaker: last quarter as everyone shuffles around to get to try
• 30:51
  Speaker: and get to those numbers.
• 30:53
  Speaker: And Harry, just final question for you and just staying with
• 30:57
  Speaker: that, that focus on Q4.
• 31:00
  Speaker: Um, it is a significant opportunity, isn't it, for the
• 31:03
  Speaker: Chinese brands to, um, promote more sales, push more sells, be
• 31:10
  Speaker: it in retail or fleet.
• 31:12
  Speaker: Where do you think will be by
• 31:14
  Speaker: the end of the year in terms of
• 31:16
  Speaker: the sort of market share and you
• 31:18
  Speaker: know who some of the winners
• 31:20
  Speaker: will be amongst the new entrant
• 31:22
  Speaker: Chinese brands.
• 31:23
  Speaker: I see the top four will continue being the top four, i.e. BYD
• 31:28
  Speaker: motor JQ, um Chery.
• 31:31
  Speaker: Um, and I see them still there.
• 31:34
  Speaker: I think they will get over combined a twenty percent.
• 31:37
  Speaker: Um, they will get over fifteen percent market share, all the
• 31:41
  Speaker: new entrants which will put the Chinese over up to nearly thirty
• 31:45
  Speaker: percent if you include LG and Volvo in there.
• 31:48
  Speaker: The really interesting one,
• 31:49
  Speaker: which doesn't relate to this
• 31:50
  Speaker: quarter, but I'll just go back
• 31:51
  Speaker: to it, is the whole Chinese
• 31:54
  Speaker: brands, new entrants, plus LG
• 31:56
  Speaker: and Volvo.
• 31:57
  Speaker: They accounted for all the growth.
• 31:59
  Speaker: The heritage brands went
• 32:00
  Speaker: backwards by nine thousand
• 32:02
  Speaker: units, or zero point seven
• 32:03
  Speaker: percent.
• 32:04
  Speaker: And I see that's going to carry on going.
• 32:06
  Speaker: I, I think the heritage brands are in real problems.
• 32:10
  Speaker: If I gave you some fag packet numbers, if I was a Nissan
• 32:13
  Speaker: dealer, they've dropped eleven thousand five hundred and sixty
• 32:18
  Speaker: eight units year on year.
• 32:21
  Speaker: Now this is fag packet, so throw rocks at me.
• 32:25
  Speaker: Assuming each dealer got a profit per unit or contribution,
• 32:29
  Speaker: whatever you want to call it, of one thousand pounds.
• 32:32
  Speaker: That's eleven thousand five hundred.
• 32:34
  Speaker: Um, it's eleven, eleven point five million less contribution
• 32:37
  Speaker: these Nissan dealers have had.
• 32:38
  Speaker: Which year to date per dealer.
• 32:40
  Speaker: They've got about one hundred
• 32:41
  Speaker: and eighty in there in their
• 32:42
  Speaker: retail group.
• 32:43
  Speaker: Is sixty four thousand less money than they've got.
• 32:46
  Speaker: And that's similar numbers on
• 32:47
  Speaker: Peugeot, Hyundai, etc.. And
• 32:50
  Speaker: they've got a real problem
• 32:51
  Speaker: because the only way they can
• 32:53
  Speaker: keep up, they've got this
• 32:54
  Speaker: problem.
• 32:54
  Speaker: The only way they can keep up in
• 32:55
  Speaker: quarter four and they will have
• 32:56
  Speaker: seen it.
• 32:56
  Speaker: They will have preregistered like it's going out of fashion.
• 32:59
  Speaker: So the dealers have got it.
• 33:00
  Speaker: Those historic dealers have got
• 33:02
  Speaker: expensive stock on their
• 33:04
  Speaker: forecourt.
• 33:04
  Speaker: They're going to have to get out of in the next quarter against a
• 33:07
  Speaker: load of Chinese manufacturers who are doing proper
• 33:10
  Speaker: registrations, um and making and making their dealers money.
• 33:15
  Speaker: It's a really interesting, exciting.
• 33:19
  Speaker: Whether that's good for European PLC, Europe PLC and UK plc.
• 33:23
  Speaker: That's for a different discussion.
• 33:25
  Speaker: But it's I, I genuinely can't believe the scale and the speed
• 33:30
  Speaker: of what they're doing.
• 33:31
  Speaker: It's quite remarkable.
• 33:33
  Speaker: I couldn't agree more.
• 33:34
  Speaker: And I mean, there's lots to pick through with some of this.
• 33:37
  Speaker: And I know, you know, we kind of in we like to get sort of those
• 33:42
  Speaker: key key numbers.
• 33:43
  Speaker: But I think, you know, it's huge.
• 33:45
  Speaker: Thank you for again coming on
• 33:47
  Speaker: and sharing your thoughts on, on
• 33:50
  Speaker: the market, particularly those
• 33:51
  Speaker: those Chinese manufacturers in
• 33:53
  Speaker: September.
• 33:54
  Speaker: And obviously, you know, if
• 33:55
  Speaker: somebody wants to, to look at
• 33:56
  Speaker: your full analysis on the the
• 33:58
  Speaker: Chinese brands as a result,
• 34:00
  Speaker: then, you know, if you're not
• 34:01
  Speaker: already following Harry on the,
• 34:03
  Speaker: the LinkedIn particular, then we
• 34:04
  Speaker: do urge you to, to follow Harry
• 34:07
  Speaker: and, and check out some of that
• 34:09
  Speaker: analysis and commentary and data
• 34:11
  Speaker: that.
• 34:12
  Speaker: How you very kindly spend the
• 34:14
  Speaker: time on analyzing and sharing to
• 34:17
  Speaker: the market.
• 34:17
  Speaker: So just personally, I think, you know, we'll have you on every
• 34:20
  Speaker: month, hopefully to deep dive into some of this data.
• 34:23
  Speaker: And a huge thank you for again joining us on the podcast.
• 34:26
  Speaker: Harry.
• 34:26
  Speaker: It's been absolutely fabulous.
• 34:28
  Speaker: I love it and thank you very much for giving me your time.
• 34:31
  Speaker: I really appreciate it.
• 34:32
  Speaker: And it's an area that I find
• 34:34
  Speaker: boundlessly and endlessly
• 34:36
  Speaker: fascinating.
• 34:37
  Speaker: And gosh, if you're a heritage manufacturer, you've got to do
• 34:41
  Speaker: some really quite clever things.
• 34:42
  Speaker: But I mean, Renault is showing the way with what they're doing
• 34:45
  Speaker: on their Renault five, etc. and some of the manufacturers have
• 34:49
  Speaker: got to stop.
• 34:50
  Speaker: They've got to get their heads
• 34:51
  Speaker: out of the sand and start
• 34:53
  Speaker: competing.
• 34:53
  Speaker: Otherwise they're going to be in an existential position.
• 34:57
  Speaker: Yeah, totally agree Harry.
• 35:00
  Speaker: And once again, you know, many
• 35:01
  Speaker: thanks for coming on and we'll
• 35:03
  Speaker: catch up with you again next
• 35:04
  Speaker: month.
• 35:05
  Speaker: Thanks.
• 35:06
  Speaker: Look forward to it.
• 35:06
  Speaker: Thank you.
• 35:07
  Speaker: Thanks, guys.
• 35:08
  Speaker: And moving on.
• 35:09
  Speaker: The next headline is from Motor Trade News and it is used car
• 35:13
  Speaker: prices stable in September whilst inventories grow.
• 35:18
  Speaker: So this is the latest research from Cazoo and their market view
• 35:22
  Speaker: which I worked with the team on.
• 35:25
  Speaker: So I did see the data for this.
• 35:27
  Speaker: And uh, this is um, this is all fresh data.
• 35:31
  Speaker: Uh, you know, as we close
• 35:32
  Speaker: September, go into October and
• 35:35
  Speaker: what they found was used, car
• 35:37
  Speaker: prices remained stable over the
• 35:39
  Speaker: course of September with only
• 35:41
  Speaker: fractional movements from August
• 35:43
  Speaker: and September last year, while
• 35:46
  Speaker: dealers of all types grew their
• 35:48
  Speaker: inventories.
• 35:50
  Speaker: Um so prices let's look at prices first.
• 35:53
  Speaker: They average seventeen thousand four hundred and eighty four
• 35:56
  Speaker: pounds on the Cazoo platform.
• 35:59
  Speaker: And that was up naught point four percent on August.
• 36:03
  Speaker: But it was down naught point nine percent from September.
• 36:07
  Speaker: But um you know, that level has
• 36:09
  Speaker: been pretty consistent now for,
• 36:12
  Speaker: you know, certainly recent
• 36:13
  Speaker: months.
• 36:14
  Speaker: So showing that stability in used car prices.
• 36:18
  Speaker: They also had a look at dealer stock levels.
• 36:21
  Speaker: So the average dealer stock was fifty nine cars in September.
• 36:26
  Speaker: And that was up one unit from August.
• 36:29
  Speaker: But it was actually up three units year on year with EVs
• 36:34
  Speaker: continuing to grow their share of, you know, certainly the used
• 36:39
  Speaker: car market and the volumes of cars being stocked by dealers
• 36:44
  Speaker: with the number of EV units listed on the Cazoo platform up
• 36:49
  Speaker: two percent month on month.
• 36:51
  Speaker: But that was actually up seventeen point six percent year
• 36:55
  Speaker: on year, with Cazoo saying that strong demand for older cars
• 37:00
  Speaker: helped also help provide that that market stability with
• 37:05
  Speaker: prices for cars aged over ten years, increasing by ten point
• 37:10
  Speaker: eight percent year on year, compared with a one point three
• 37:14
  Speaker: percent decline in pricing for cars under two years old.
• 37:17
  Speaker: And that really supports some of
• 37:19
  Speaker: our conversation that we had
• 37:21
  Speaker: with Rupert Pontin from Brega,
• 37:23
  Speaker: where there's, uh, there's a lot
• 37:26
  Speaker: of strengthening, strengthening
• 37:28
  Speaker: in that older car market, isn't
• 37:30
  Speaker: there?
• 37:31
  Speaker: I think it is the case, isn't it?
• 37:33
  Speaker: And, you know, I think we, we touched on a little bit with
• 37:35
  Speaker: the, uh, the full interview with, um, Peter Smyth from
• 37:39
  Speaker: swansway of, you know, what we sort of seen in the, the new car
• 37:44
  Speaker: figures and what happened in the closing days of the month.
• 37:48
  Speaker: And, you know, there is a lot of price competitiveness now in
• 37:51
  Speaker: that nought to twelve pushing into that nought two years.
• 37:55
  Speaker: So that's kind of where the, the, the pressure point is now
• 37:59
  Speaker: in, in that nearly new market.
• 38:01
  Speaker: So, you know, really coming away from that.
• 38:03
  Speaker: And I think we talk a lot about
• 38:05
  Speaker: the, the continued impact of the
• 38:07
  Speaker: loss of production and volume
• 38:09
  Speaker: from the pandemic period that
• 38:12
  Speaker: really the older vehicle are in
• 38:14
  Speaker: short supply and their
• 38:16
  Speaker: commanding the market value at
• 38:18
  Speaker: the minute.
• 38:18
  Speaker: So you can see where that's coming from and even into that.
• 38:21
  Speaker: I mean, you've got cited in the piece here about the five to ten
• 38:25
  Speaker: year old market still saw an increase of three point six
• 38:29
  Speaker: percent year on year.
• 38:30
  Speaker: So you're really looking at that strength, as you point out,
• 38:33
  Speaker: Curtis, that over five years being where the the increase in
• 38:38
  Speaker: values has been.
• 38:39
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 38:40
  Speaker: And it was also another strong month for used EVs.
• 38:43
  Speaker: So EVs accounted for four point
• 38:46
  Speaker: three percent of all AD views in
• 38:49
  Speaker: September.
• 38:50
  Speaker: And that was up from two point
• 38:52
  Speaker: four percent recorded September
• 38:55
  Speaker: last year.
• 38:56
  Speaker: So a virtual doubling there.
• 38:58
  Speaker: Hybrids accounted for seven and
• 39:00
  Speaker: a half percent of all ad views
• 39:02
  Speaker: last month.
• 39:03
  Speaker: Um, so looking at fuel types.
• 39:06
  Speaker: Petrol models still account for
• 39:08
  Speaker: over half of all cars listed on
• 39:11
  Speaker: the platform, so that's at fifty
• 39:13
  Speaker: one percent.
• 39:14
  Speaker: But this number is down from
• 39:16
  Speaker: fifty two point eight percent
• 39:17
  Speaker: last September.
• 39:19
  Speaker: Whilst Diesel's share declined
• 39:21
  Speaker: two from thirty point eight
• 39:23
  Speaker: percent to twenty nine point
• 39:25
  Speaker: nine percent.
• 39:26
  Speaker: And that's a figure that's going to be interesting to monitor.
• 39:29
  Speaker: Now that we're seeing diesel going over two pound per litre
• 39:34
  Speaker: at the pumps.
• 39:36
  Speaker: Yeah I agree.
• 39:37
  Speaker: I think, you know, obviously
• 39:38
  Speaker: over the years that diesel
• 39:40
  Speaker: market share has continued to
• 39:42
  Speaker: decline and obviously from a new
• 39:44
  Speaker: car perspective.
• 39:45
  Speaker: But obviously, you know, moving
• 39:47
  Speaker: into that used car market in
• 39:48
  Speaker: terms of availability and demand
• 39:50
  Speaker: for diesels.
• 39:51
  Speaker: But as you say there, as the the headlines are now very much
• 39:56
  Speaker: leading that that two pound a litre and the risk that that
• 40:00
  Speaker: will start to continue to go up.
• 40:02
  Speaker: Then what does that start to do
• 40:03
  Speaker: with those those diesel demands
• 40:05
  Speaker: into it.
• 40:06
  Speaker: And that's before the embargo from President Trump.
• 40:10
  Speaker: That happens.
• 40:12
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 40:12
  Speaker: You couldn't make it all up, could you?
• 40:14
  Speaker: But, you know, I think interesting within the story
• 40:17
  Speaker: they do cite that the most viewed, uh, brands manufacturers
• 40:21
  Speaker: were Ford, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Vauxhall.
• 40:26
  Speaker: Whilst the most searched for model was the, uh, the VW golf.
• 40:31
  Speaker: So they've got the golf is still
• 40:32
  Speaker: still in there as a, as a key
• 40:34
  Speaker: vehicle for the used car market,
• 40:36
  Speaker: isn't it?
• 40:36
  Speaker: It certainly is.
• 40:37
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 40:38
  Speaker: It's it's become well it's, it's a go to car isn't it?
• 40:42
  Speaker: It's that reliability.
• 40:44
  Speaker: It's the brand.
• 40:45
  Speaker: And you know, no wonder it's so popular.
• 40:48
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 40:48
  Speaker: And there's a closing comment in the, uh, the story there from
• 40:51
  Speaker: Lucy Tugby, who's the, the chief marketing officer there at Cazoo
• 40:55
  Speaker: saying that, uh, summarizing it, that the dealer stock levels
• 40:58
  Speaker: rose month on month and the year on year across the three car
• 41:02
  Speaker: retailing sectors in September.
• 41:05
  Speaker: Yet buyer demand, particularly for older, more affordable cars,
• 41:09
  Speaker: help dealers maintain competitive pricing, saying that
• 41:12
  Speaker: they believe that this strong pricing also reflects the
• 41:16
  Speaker: growing volume of electric vehicles now entering the the
• 41:20
  Speaker: used car market.
• 41:22
  Speaker: AD views for those models have nearly doubled since last
• 41:27
  Speaker: September, providing further evidence of buyer interest in
• 41:31
  Speaker: electric alternatives, especially as petrol and diesel
• 41:35
  Speaker: pump prices rise.
• 41:36
  Speaker: Just summing up that what Curtis
• 41:38
  Speaker: and I were just saying there and
• 41:39
  Speaker: saying as the final quarter
• 41:41
  Speaker: begins, diesel dealers will be
• 41:45
  Speaker: looking for continued stability
• 41:47
  Speaker: in the used car market, whilst
• 41:49
  Speaker: closely monitoring broader
• 41:51
  Speaker: economic and geopolitical
• 41:53
  Speaker: developments that could affect
• 41:56
  Speaker: consumer demand.
• 41:57
  Speaker: So again, reiterating what Peter was saying in that that full
• 42:00
  Speaker: interview there that, you know, Q4 is still a crucial quarter
• 42:04
  Speaker: for the dealers and used cars is definitely going to be, uh, the,
• 42:07
  Speaker: the sector that makes or breaks the performance for the year.
• 42:11
  Speaker: Definitely.
• 42:12
  Speaker: So we'll be back with the rest
• 42:14
  Speaker: of the week's headlines after
• 42:15
  Speaker: the break.
• 42:17
  Speaker: You're listening to all the chatter that matters on the
• 42:20
  Speaker: Motor Trade Radio podcast powered by Cazoo.
• 42:27
  Speaker: And again, referring back to the full interview there with Peter.
• 42:31
  Speaker: We can't not do, can we really?
• 42:32
  Speaker: We covered quite a bit.
• 42:33
  Speaker: He covered a lot of bases, didn't he?
• 42:36
  Speaker: Did.
• 42:36
  Speaker: Yeah, but we did.
• 42:37
  Speaker: We did cite that, um, in auto Sunday.
• 42:41
  Speaker: Um, Tristan had picked up on some of the social activity that
• 42:45
  Speaker: had been happening in, uh, on the platform and that, uh,
• 42:50
  Speaker: Robert Forrester hits out at NFT a of Zev position.
• 42:56
  Speaker: And this is that, uh, virtue chief Robert Forrester and
• 42:58
  Speaker: friend of the podcast has called the FDA's position on the Zev
• 43:02
  Speaker: mandate an act of self-harm, as the industry body called for a
• 43:08
  Speaker: fifty to sixty percent.
• 43:10
  Speaker: Bev mix by twenty thirty, rather than a firm fifty percent, which
• 43:16
  Speaker: is what we said to Peter.
• 43:18
  Speaker: It's kind of didn't understand that that sort of fifty to sixty
• 43:22
  Speaker: percent why why give that?
• 43:24
  Speaker: Why not just ask for a firm number?
• 43:27
  Speaker: But yeah, the Robert went to social, didn't he went on X and
• 43:32
  Speaker: shared his views.
• 43:33
  Speaker: He certainly did.
• 43:35
  Speaker: Yes.
• 43:35
  Speaker: So to give this a bit of context.
• 43:38
  Speaker: So last Friday.
• 43:39
  Speaker: So it was actually after we recorded the last episode, the
• 43:42
  Speaker: FDA announced its response to the government's Zev mandate
• 43:46
  Speaker: consultation, which is going on at the moment.
• 43:49
  Speaker: We've spoken about it a number of times on the pod, and that
• 43:53
  Speaker: consultation closes on the twenty third of October.
• 43:57
  Speaker: But it made the argument.
• 43:59
  Speaker: The FDA National Franchised
• 44:01
  Speaker: Dealers Association made the
• 44:03
  Speaker: argument that the Zev mandate
• 44:05
  Speaker: should better reflect customer
• 44:07
  Speaker: demand.
• 44:08
  Speaker: So it came up with this fifty to sixty percent Bev mix and also
• 44:14
  Speaker: proposed a forty percent target for electric vans.
• 44:18
  Speaker: But I mean, the thing that
• 44:21
  Speaker: struck me when I first read it
• 44:22
  Speaker: was that it's such a broad gap
• 44:25
  Speaker: between fifty and sixty percent,
• 44:27
  Speaker: which is what you just alluded
• 44:29
  Speaker: to, Philip.
• 44:30
  Speaker: Why not just settle on fifty, which would presumably get more
• 44:36
  Speaker: more support from the industry?
• 44:38
  Speaker: Because it's more precise.
• 44:41
  Speaker: It gives greater clarity.
• 44:42
  Speaker: So this obviously Niggled Robert Forrester, because he took to X
• 44:48
  Speaker: and he said, our automotive sector faces many challenges
• 44:53
  Speaker: from the state.
• 44:54
  Speaker: The Zev mandate is a key one and we are going to end up with sky
• 44:59
  Speaker: high unachievable targets coming out of the consultation.
• 45:03
  Speaker: The Nfda lobbying for sixty percent and not fifty percent is
• 45:08
  Speaker: an act of self-harm.
• 45:10
  Speaker: Hard to explain.
• 45:12
  Speaker: So pretty forthright there.
• 45:14
  Speaker: We know that Robert's no fan of the Zev mandate, but, you know,
• 45:18
  Speaker: he he makes a point here, doesn't he, Philip?
• 45:22
  Speaker: It certainly does.
• 45:24
  Speaker: And, you know, we touched on
• 45:26
  Speaker: obviously EV performance within
• 45:29
  Speaker: the brands a little bit on the
• 45:31
  Speaker: September with with Swansway,
• 45:34
  Speaker: which, you know, I think again,
• 45:36
  Speaker: you know, looking at the
• 45:37
  Speaker: September results, you know,
• 45:40
  Speaker: it's not quite black and white,
• 45:42
  Speaker: is it, with with what's
• 45:43
  Speaker: happening.
• 45:43
  Speaker: And we certainly do do know that.
• 45:46
  Speaker: And Robert, again, you know, he
• 45:48
  Speaker: does say that the issue with the
• 45:49
  Speaker: sector, um this the issue the
• 45:52
  Speaker: sector does not talk about
• 45:54
  Speaker: enough is the rise of
• 45:56
  Speaker: authoritarian anti motorist
• 45:59
  Speaker: policies squeezing cars off the
• 46:02
  Speaker: road.
• 46:03
  Speaker: The state does not see cars as an embodiment of freedom and
• 46:08
  Speaker: mobility, but as an evil.
• 46:12
  Speaker: So in the ltns are not on the rise again.
• 46:15
  Speaker: Twenty mile an hour limits.
• 46:17
  Speaker: This is a problem.
• 46:19
  Speaker: Um, so really, you know, getting to the nooks and crannies of it
• 46:23
  Speaker: into there and quite directly.
• 46:26
  Speaker: Yeah, very much so because, you know, within the auto Sunday
• 46:30
  Speaker: piece, um, that they, uh, quote chief exec, uh, nfta chief exec
• 46:36
  Speaker: Sue Robinson telling them that the fifty to sixty percent
• 46:40
  Speaker: figure was arrived at in consultation with its members.
• 46:44
  Speaker: But, uh, you know, um, Robert
• 46:48
  Speaker: very forthright there in his
• 46:50
  Speaker: view on it, as indeed Peter
• 46:52
  Speaker: Smyth was um, in our interview
• 46:54
  Speaker: with him, he, um, he questioned
• 46:57
  Speaker: this fifty to sixty percent
• 46:59
  Speaker: target and so clearly doesn't
• 47:02
  Speaker: have the support of two major
• 47:04
  Speaker: groups there.
• 47:05
  Speaker: No, it has very much does back up the Robert Forrest's view and
• 47:10
  Speaker: opinion on that one.
• 47:12
  Speaker: So heading over to a final couple of stories here.
• 47:14
  Speaker: And this is based on a the
• 47:16
  Speaker: latest financial results that
• 47:19
  Speaker: uh, am online report that
• 47:20
  Speaker: Waylon's lifts pre-tax profit by
• 47:24
  Speaker: a third to four point one
• 47:27
  Speaker: million.
• 47:28
  Speaker: So this is reporting on the a m one hundred dealer group.
• 47:30
  Speaker: Waylands and friend of the
• 47:32
  Speaker: podcast, Mister John O'Hanlon,
• 47:33
  Speaker: and his team there increased
• 47:35
  Speaker: pre-tax profit by a third to
• 47:38
  Speaker: forty one point one four point
• 47:40
  Speaker: one million.
• 47:41
  Speaker: I think you like the forty one point.
• 47:43
  Speaker: Um, take that.
• 47:44
  Speaker: You take that four point one
• 47:46
  Speaker: million in twenty twenty five as
• 47:47
  Speaker: dealership expansion, higher
• 47:49
  Speaker: vehicle sales and a sharp rise
• 47:52
  Speaker: in after sales activity helped
• 47:54
  Speaker: revenue reach a record of two
• 47:57
  Speaker: hundred and sixty six point two
• 47:59
  Speaker: million.
• 48:00
  Speaker: I mean, that's a fantastic
• 48:01
  Speaker: result for the business, isn't
• 48:02
  Speaker: it?
• 48:03
  Speaker: It is.
• 48:03
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 48:04
  Speaker: And I think pretty much every time this year we report on
• 48:08
  Speaker: another record year for Waylons.
• 48:10
  Speaker: I mean they don't put a foot wrong do they?
• 48:13
  Speaker: So within this report in AM, it shows that revenue at the group
• 48:19
  Speaker: rose by thirty four point four percent, and that was supported
• 48:22
  Speaker: by thirty six point five percent increase in vehicle volumes.
• 48:26
  Speaker: So on a like for like basis,
• 48:29
  Speaker: volumes were actually up twenty
• 48:31
  Speaker: seven point five percent on the
• 48:34
  Speaker: previous year.
• 48:35
  Speaker: And you mentioned after sales activity that that's actually a
• 48:39
  Speaker: key to this because service departments made a significant
• 48:43
  Speaker: contribution, with hours sold increasing by thirty seven point
• 48:48
  Speaker: eight percent compared with Twenty twenty four and also just
• 48:54
  Speaker: going on despite higher operating costs and obviously
• 48:58
  Speaker: difficult economic conditions.
• 49:00
  Speaker: Pre-tax profit grew by thirty three percent.
• 49:04
  Speaker: And on a like for like basis,
• 49:06
  Speaker: that was thirty seven point nine
• 49:07
  Speaker: percent.
• 49:08
  Speaker: So, uh, impressive results here
• 49:10
  Speaker: for for the year ended thirty
• 49:13
  Speaker: first December twenty twenty
• 49:15
  Speaker: five.
• 49:15
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 49:15
  Speaker: And John, John Allen sums it up very nicely.
• 49:18
  Speaker: There was a chief executive
• 49:19
  Speaker: there at uh, Wellington in
• 49:20
  Speaker: twenty twenty five was another
• 49:22
  Speaker: record year for Wales with
• 49:23
  Speaker: strong growth across vehicle
• 49:25
  Speaker: sales after sales and
• 49:27
  Speaker: profitability.
• 49:28
  Speaker: Saying that this performance
• 49:29
  Speaker: achieved a achieved against a
• 49:32
  Speaker: challenging economic backdrop
• 49:35
  Speaker: reflects the strength of their
• 49:37
  Speaker: strategy and commitment of
• 49:40
  Speaker: colleagues across the groups in
• 49:42
  Speaker: the.
• 49:42
  Speaker: Their expansion into Bristol and into Cardiff was given the.
• 49:46
  Speaker: The business of greater scale
• 49:48
  Speaker: and broadened their manufacturer
• 49:51
  Speaker: partnerships whilst continue to
• 49:53
  Speaker: investment in their their
• 49:54
  Speaker: properties technology people is
• 49:57
  Speaker: building a strong platform for
• 50:00
  Speaker: sustainable growth.
• 50:02
  Speaker: Um, so saying that the seven
• 50:04
  Speaker: consecutive years of EBITDA
• 50:06
  Speaker: growth is a significant
• 50:08
  Speaker: achievement, um, saying that,
• 50:11
  Speaker: but they, they remain focused on
• 50:13
  Speaker: the future and delivering
• 50:15
  Speaker: consistency for their customers,
• 50:17
  Speaker: colleagues and manufacturer
• 50:19
  Speaker: partners.
• 50:19
  Speaker: So really summing up what you've just said there, Curtis, that
• 50:22
  Speaker: seven seventh consecutive year of EBITDA, bottom line growth
• 50:27
  Speaker: is, is quite some achievement.
• 50:30
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 50:30
  Speaker: Um, as an accountant and a
• 50:32
  Speaker: dealer group boss, John O'Hanlon
• 50:34
  Speaker: will be very pleased with those
• 50:36
  Speaker: figures.
• 50:36
  Speaker: And you know, congratulations there to him and his team.
• 50:40
  Speaker: They're doing a great job aren't they?
• 50:42
  Speaker: They certainly are.
• 50:43
  Speaker: And the final story today is that we're heading back over to
• 50:46
  Speaker: Motor Trade News.
• 50:48
  Speaker: And this is big Motoring world
• 50:49
  Speaker: reports a one billion turnover
• 50:53
  Speaker: for its full year twenty twenty
• 50:55
  Speaker: five.
• 50:56
  Speaker: So this is the business that broadens its supply channels,
• 51:00
  Speaker: supporting the development of the three sites there.
• 51:05
  Speaker: And this is a big number.
• 51:07
  Speaker: I mean this is for their
• 51:08
  Speaker: financial year ending the thirty
• 51:10
  Speaker: first of December twenty twenty
• 51:12
  Speaker: five reporting.
• 51:13
  Speaker: As I said, there are exceeding a turnover of one billion for the
• 51:18
  Speaker: first time, while the group's profits jumped by twenty six
• 51:23
  Speaker: point six percent.
• 51:25
  Speaker: And that's a again, a fantastic result and big numbers there.
• 51:29
  Speaker: It really is.
• 51:30
  Speaker: And it's another record, you
• 51:33
  Speaker: know, going over one billion
• 51:35
  Speaker: pounds turnover for the first
• 51:36
  Speaker: time.
• 51:37
  Speaker: So turnover was actually up
• 51:38
  Speaker: twenty eight percent year on
• 51:40
  Speaker: year and ahead of a twenty
• 51:43
  Speaker: percent increase in retail
• 51:45
  Speaker: vehicle volumes.
• 51:46
  Speaker: So trading profit for the group jumped to eleven point one
• 51:51
  Speaker: million from six point eight million in twenty twenty four,
• 51:55
  Speaker: whilst gross profits increased sixty million, up from forty
• 52:00
  Speaker: eight point two million in twenty twenty four and very much
• 52:04
  Speaker: as a result of the greater sales volumes because sales exceeded
• 52:08
  Speaker: sixty thousand cars for the first time and improved, as well
• 52:13
  Speaker: as improved uptake of finance and other value added products.
• 52:18
  Speaker: So a good set of results here
• 52:20
  Speaker: for big motoring world, which,
• 52:22
  Speaker: let's face it for quite a few
• 52:25
  Speaker: months, has been in the
• 52:26
  Speaker: headlines, probably for reasons
• 52:28
  Speaker: that it didn't want to be in the
• 52:29
  Speaker: headlines.
• 52:29
  Speaker: But this is showing how sound the business is.
• 52:33
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 52:34
  Speaker: And Laurence Barnes is the CEO there at Big Mastering World,
• 52:37
  Speaker: saying that the used vehicle market remained volatile in
• 52:41
  Speaker: twenty twenty five, requiring a level of resilience that big
• 52:45
  Speaker: muffin world was ideally equipped to to deliver, saying
• 52:49
  Speaker: that their strong and diverse supply channels will be
• 52:53
  Speaker: developed further in twenty twenty six to unlock more volume
• 52:58
  Speaker: and strengthen their EV position, saying that they'll
• 53:02
  Speaker: they'll be putting out outstanding customer service and
• 53:05
  Speaker: the development of the best and most engaged team in the sector
• 53:10
  Speaker: at the centre of their strategy.
• 53:12
  Speaker: So clear intention there at the
• 53:14
  Speaker: end from Lawrence Vaughan as to
• 53:16
  Speaker: what to look forward to from big
• 53:19
  Speaker: motoring world.
• 53:19
  Speaker: But that's it for this week.
• 53:21
  Speaker: So as we said right at the start there.
• 53:23
  Speaker: Um, do have a listen to the full interview.
• 53:26
  Speaker: You will not be disappointed
• 53:29
  Speaker: with the full interview there
• 53:30
  Speaker: with, uh, Peter Smyth,
• 53:32
  Speaker: co-director there at Swansway
• 53:35
  Speaker: Motor Group.
• 53:36
  Speaker: We cover quite a lot in in forty minutes.
• 53:38
  Speaker: I think it's about forty minutes
• 53:39
  Speaker: that, that full interview with,
• 53:41
  Speaker: with Peter.
• 53:42
  Speaker: Um, and obviously, as always, if you you know, if you're if
• 53:45
  Speaker: you're not following Harry bot with his, uh, analysis of the
• 53:49
  Speaker: new car figures in particular, what the the Chinese
• 53:52
  Speaker: manufacturers are happening in the marketplace then suggests
• 53:56
  Speaker: you do not always promote that one and suggest that people do
• 53:59
  Speaker: follow Harry on the the social channels, don't we?
• 54:02
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 54:03
  Speaker: We're both big fans of him.
• 54:04
  Speaker: And, you know, thanks to Harry for coming on the pod today and
• 54:09
  Speaker: making sense of the volumes, especially the Chinese brand
• 54:12
  Speaker: volumes in September.
• 54:14
  Speaker: But that is all for now.
• 54:16
  Speaker: So many thanks to you for
• 54:17
  Speaker: listening to this Motor Trade
• 54:19
  Speaker: Radio podcast.
• 54:20
  Speaker: Until next time.
• 54:21
  Speaker: It's goodbye from me and it's goodbye from him.
• 54:27
  Speaker: Thank you for listening to the Motor Trade Radio podcast
• 54:30
  Speaker: powered by Cazoo.