Latest / Motor Trade Radio / 🚘 August new car regs with special guest Harry Bott (E57, S12)

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🚘 August new car regs with special guest Harry Bott (E57, S12) · Motor Trade Radio

• 0:04
  Speaker: Hello and welcome to the Motor
• 0:06
  Speaker: Trade Radio podcast powered by
• 0:08
  Speaker: Cazoo.
• 0:09
  Speaker: With Philip Lockhart 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.
• 0:24
  Speaker: Well, we're definitely halfway through or then about halfway
• 0:28
  Speaker: through September now.
• 0:29
  Speaker: Curtis.
• 0:29
  Speaker: So yes, to get through today, we've we've we've got a number
• 0:35
  Speaker: of headlines where we've got some shout outs as well.
• 0:38
  Speaker: And we've got the August registration figures.
• 0:42
  Speaker: So quite a busy show and, and a special guest.
• 0:45
  Speaker: But we'll get to him in a minute won't we.
• 0:47
  Speaker: We will do.
• 0:47
  Speaker: But we must give a big, big
• 0:50
  Speaker: shout out first of all to a
• 0:53
  Speaker: couple of notes that Curtis and
• 0:55
  Speaker: I received over the weekend
• 0:57
  Speaker: after the the Saturday headlines
• 1:00
  Speaker: went out.
• 1:00
  Speaker: And the first one, we covered the story last week with about
• 1:03
  Speaker: Matt Busby, who's the commercial director of Hendy's that's
• 1:08
  Speaker: leaving the business after twenty five years.
• 1:11
  Speaker: And, you know, we wanted to
• 1:12
  Speaker: thank you on the podcast, Mark,
• 1:15
  Speaker: for your kind words about last
• 1:17
  Speaker: week's show.
• 1:18
  Speaker: And when we covered the, you
• 1:19
  Speaker: know, your plans to leave the
• 1:21
  Speaker: Hendy Group.
• 1:22
  Speaker: As I say, after twenty five years at the end of September to
• 1:26
  Speaker: start your own consultancy business, and as we said on the
• 1:30
  Speaker: show, and I think both Curtis and I message as well, you know,
• 1:33
  Speaker: hopefully you'll be you'll find a bit of time to come on the
• 1:36
  Speaker: podcast and give us a brief update of how it's going and
• 1:39
  Speaker: what you're doing.
• 1:40
  Speaker: Yes.
• 1:40
  Speaker: And also a big shout out to another regular listener, Chris
• 1:45
  Speaker: Green, who's general manager of listers group, who got in touch
• 1:49
  Speaker: after last week's pod to to thank us for the pods he'd been
• 1:52
  Speaker: listening to over the previous ten days, which, in his words,
• 1:57
  Speaker: he said, were jam packed with great guests and content.
• 2:00
  Speaker: So many thanks for that, Chris.
• 2:02
  Speaker: I really do appreciate that.
• 2:03
  Speaker: And, um, you and I were
• 2:06
  Speaker: speculating on what he probably
• 2:07
  Speaker: listened to, and we're guessing
• 2:09
  Speaker: that would have covered our
• 2:10
  Speaker: interview with, um, Steve Young
• 2:13
  Speaker: from West London, which was
• 2:15
  Speaker: about the September plate
• 2:16
  Speaker: change.
• 2:17
  Speaker: We did a special episode on that.
• 2:19
  Speaker: Also our supplier special with auto tech groups.
• 2:22
  Speaker: Simon King uh, our trade value
• 2:25
  Speaker: special with Rupert Pontin and
• 2:27
  Speaker: not forgetting the Zev mandate
• 2:29
  Speaker: interview we did with Robert
• 2:31
  Speaker: Forrester.
• 2:31
  Speaker: So that was a pretty packed ten days.
• 2:33
  Speaker: So, um, we're really glad you enjoyed those pods, Chris.
• 2:37
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 2:37
  Speaker: And I think you'll like today's podcast hopefully as well.
• 2:40
  Speaker: Chris.
• 2:41
  Speaker: And because we've got a special guest coming on.
• 2:44
  Speaker: Um, and that is Harry Baur and those that do listen to the
• 2:49
  Speaker: podcast on a regular basis.
• 2:50
  Speaker: Both Curtis and I, um, love going through Harry's analysis
• 2:55
  Speaker: of the new car registration results, particularly focusing
• 2:58
  Speaker: on the the Chinese new entrants because he does a great analysis
• 3:02
  Speaker: every every month.
• 3:05
  Speaker: At the end, once you get sight
• 3:06
  Speaker: of of the figures, well guess
• 3:07
  Speaker: what?
• 3:08
  Speaker: We invited Harry on because we thought rather than.
• 3:10
  Speaker: Curtis and I talk through the.
• 3:12
  Speaker: The year to date and the August
• 3:14
  Speaker: numbers, why not get Harry on
• 3:16
  Speaker: himself and and you know, so we
• 3:19
  Speaker: we managed to catch up with with
• 3:20
  Speaker: Harry.
• 3:21
  Speaker: Um he ran through his analysis
• 3:23
  Speaker: and, and anybody that doesn't
• 3:24
  Speaker: know how he's the director of
• 3:26
  Speaker: media Hawk.
• 3:27
  Speaker: Um, and we've got a what a good
• 3:29
  Speaker: fifteen minutes with, with Harry
• 3:31
  Speaker: to talk through the, uh, the
• 3:33
  Speaker: numbers and his analysis of the
• 3:35
  Speaker: August and year to date
• 3:36
  Speaker: registration volumes.
• 3:40
  Speaker: If you're a supplier and would
• 3:41
  Speaker: like us to profile your business
• 3:43
  Speaker: and reach our audience of dealer
• 3:45
  Speaker: group bosses, managers, and
• 3:47
  Speaker: decision makers on one of our
• 3:49
  Speaker: motor trade radio supplier
• 3:51
  Speaker: special episodes.
• 3:53
  Speaker: Then get in touch at Motortrade radio at yahoo dot com.
• 4:02
  Speaker: And companies already featured
• 4:04
  Speaker: in our Supplier Specials series
• 4:06
  Speaker: include Auto tech Group,
• 4:08
  Speaker: Autoglym, Lifesign, impel,
• 4:10
  Speaker: prospecting Dynamics and
• 4:11
  Speaker: generational.
• 4:13
  Speaker: And you can find them all in
• 4:14
  Speaker: your podcast feed, along with
• 4:16
  Speaker: our recent OEM specials with new
• 4:18
  Speaker: EV brands Verizon, Ion and
• 4:21
  Speaker: Changan.
• 4:22
  Speaker: And we also caught up fairly recently with Suzuki.
• 4:26
  Speaker: And if you'd like us to profile your business, then just message
• 4:30
  Speaker: Phillip and I at motortrade radio at yahoo dot com.
• 4:38
  Speaker: You're listening to the Motor
• 4:39
  Speaker: Trade Radio podcast powered by
• 4:42
  Speaker: Cazoo.
• 4:45
  Speaker: Well, we'll headlines this week come from a m car dealer, motor
• 4:49
  Speaker: trader and Autocar, starting with the UK new car market
• 4:54
  Speaker: recorded its ninth consecutive month of growth and its best
• 4:58
  Speaker: August in over twenty five years, with registrations up
• 5:02
  Speaker: thirteen point seven percent.
• 5:05
  Speaker: LCV registrations were up naught point six percent in August,
• 5:08
  Speaker: marking the fifth month of growth in a row with strong
• 5:12
  Speaker: demand for electric vans.
• 5:15
  Speaker: Jaguar Land Rover is to cut four thousand jobs over the next two
• 5:19
  Speaker: years, and following on from that, a flagship Land Rover
• 5:23
  Speaker: dealership in London's Battersea is about to become a flagship
• 5:27
  Speaker: Amoda Jku site.
• 5:28
  Speaker: Under Lookers and Volkswagen Group is considering retiring
• 5:33
  Speaker: the brand by twenty twenty nine to focus on Cupra.
• 5:41
  Speaker: You're listening to the Motor
• 5:42
  Speaker: Trade Radio podcast powered by
• 5:45
  Speaker: Cazoo.
• 5:48
  Speaker: Chris Curtis has said.
• 5:49
  Speaker: There.
• 5:49
  Speaker: We're going to head over to Car Dealer, which amongst others
• 5:53
  Speaker: covered the August registration results for cars and the.
• 5:58
  Speaker: The Ford Puma, interestingly
• 6:00
  Speaker: topped the sales charts, whilst
• 6:02
  Speaker: the JQ seven finished in second
• 6:06
  Speaker: place and BEVs took a twenty
• 6:08
  Speaker: nine point eight percent market
• 6:10
  Speaker: share despite petrol still
• 6:13
  Speaker: remaining.
• 6:14
  Speaker: UK's number one powertrain.
• 6:17
  Speaker: So I think the result was was
• 6:19
  Speaker: fairly as you said in the
• 6:20
  Speaker: headlines there.
• 6:21
  Speaker: Curtis optimistic and positive
• 6:22
  Speaker: with a thirteen point seven
• 6:24
  Speaker: percent growth to ninety four
• 6:27
  Speaker: thousand two hundred and thirty
• 6:28
  Speaker: six registrations, which we know
• 6:30
  Speaker: August is primarily a a low
• 6:33
  Speaker: volume month.
• 6:34
  Speaker: But to get that sort of double
• 6:35
  Speaker: digit growth is still a good
• 6:37
  Speaker: performance.
• 6:38
  Speaker: It is.
• 6:38
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 6:39
  Speaker: So ninety four thousand two
• 6:40
  Speaker: hundred and thirty six units
• 6:42
  Speaker: registered.
• 6:44
  Speaker: Private registrations increased by nineteen percent to account
• 6:48
  Speaker: for forty one percent of the market, while fleet sales rose
• 6:52
  Speaker: ten percent, representing fifty seven percent of registrations
• 6:57
  Speaker: and business registrations made up the balance, climbing
• 7:02
  Speaker: fourteen point five percent.
• 7:04
  Speaker: Take a two percent share.
• 7:06
  Speaker: You mentioned powertrains.
• 7:08
  Speaker: Um, all powertrains, apart from
• 7:10
  Speaker: petrol, saw increases with plug
• 7:13
  Speaker: in hybrids experiencing the the
• 7:15
  Speaker: largest amounts of amount of
• 7:18
  Speaker: growth through a rise of just
• 7:20
  Speaker: under forty percent to account
• 7:23
  Speaker: for fourteen point five percent
• 7:24
  Speaker: of registrations.
• 7:26
  Speaker: EVs were up by twenty seven point seven percent.
• 7:30
  Speaker: So a big jump there to take a thirty percent market share.
• 7:35
  Speaker: Whilst petrol, in contrast, dropped by three and a half
• 7:38
  Speaker: percent but still occupied forty five percent of the market.
• 7:44
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 7:44
  Speaker: And I think, you know, we, we, we do talk about this with, with
• 7:48
  Speaker: Harry and the, the interview that, you know, how crucial
• 7:51
  Speaker: September is going to be.
• 7:54
  Speaker: And Mike Hawes in his output is obviously, you know, citing the
• 7:58
  Speaker: the current Zev mandate, um, guideline threshold for, for
• 8:03
  Speaker: twenty twenty six.
• 8:05
  Speaker: And obviously, we, the
• 8:06
  Speaker: consultation as we chatted
• 8:08
  Speaker: through with Robert Forrester is
• 8:10
  Speaker: due up, um, towards the end of
• 8:12
  Speaker: October.
• 8:13
  Speaker: So, you know, but again, as you
• 8:15
  Speaker: say there, Curtis, you know, EVs
• 8:17
  Speaker: taking a reasonable growth in
• 8:19
  Speaker: terms of that, that market share
• 8:21
  Speaker: to twenty nine point eight
• 8:22
  Speaker: percent, up from twenty six
• 8:24
  Speaker: point five percent at August of
• 8:27
  Speaker: last year.
• 8:29
  Speaker: But again, even year to date is still at twenty five point six
• 8:32
  Speaker: two percent of the market.
• 8:35
  Speaker: Even with that twenty eight
• 8:36
  Speaker: point six percent year on year
• 8:38
  Speaker: growth for for BEVs in the
• 8:39
  Speaker: marketplace.
• 8:40
  Speaker: And just to take a further look at the top ten biggest sellers
• 8:45
  Speaker: for the month.
• 8:46
  Speaker: Number ten was the Vauxhall Frontera.
• 8:48
  Speaker: Number nine the Mercedes Benz.
• 8:52
  Speaker: Number eight, the Ford Cougar.
• 8:53
  Speaker: Number seven the Mini Cooper.
• 8:55
  Speaker: Number six the Ohmeda five.
• 8:58
  Speaker: Number five the Kia Sportage.
• 9:00
  Speaker: Number four the JQ five.
• 9:02
  Speaker: Number three.
• 9:03
  Speaker: The M, g h. Number two was the JQ seven.
• 9:07
  Speaker: And as you mentioned, number one was the Ford Puma with two
• 9:11
  Speaker: thousand seven hundred and ninety five units sold.
• 9:15
  Speaker: And the Ford Puma remains the
• 9:17
  Speaker: best selling car in the year to
• 9:20
  Speaker: date, just shy of thirty six
• 9:22
  Speaker: thousand registrations.
• 9:23
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 9:24
  Speaker: And I say we'll shortly we'll go to the interview we mentioned at
• 9:28
  Speaker: the start with Harry boat.
• 9:29
  Speaker: So a little bit more analysis on the the performance there.
• 9:34
  Speaker: But before we got talking about the CV results just a bit from
• 9:38
  Speaker: the the European market, Germany, France was up seven
• 9:43
  Speaker: point four percent to ninety four thousand three hundred
• 9:47
  Speaker: units in August.
• 9:49
  Speaker: Germany not quite as much in terms of percentage up to two
• 9:52
  Speaker: hundred and twelve thousand six hundred, up two point six
• 9:55
  Speaker: percent year on year growth.
• 9:57
  Speaker: Italy three point two percent
• 9:59
  Speaker: growth up to sixty nine thousand
• 10:02
  Speaker: four hundred.
• 10:03
  Speaker: Spain up to sixty nine sixty eight thousand five hundred.
• 10:07
  Speaker: That was eleven point eight percent growth.
• 10:09
  Speaker: So they got into the double digit growth there.
• 10:11
  Speaker: In Spain, the US fell six point three percent, only down to one
• 10:17
  Speaker: point four million registrations in the month of August for the
• 10:21
  Speaker: US market there.
• 10:23
  Speaker: So it's interesting.
• 10:24
  Speaker: The US is down.
• 10:25
  Speaker: That's that's the one I always
• 10:27
  Speaker: listen out for when you do the
• 10:28
  Speaker: round up just to see how they're
• 10:30
  Speaker: doing.
• 10:30
  Speaker: Because obviously um a lot of politics feeding into what's
• 10:34
  Speaker: happening in America at the moment and tariffs and whatnot.
• 10:37
  Speaker: So, uh, so interesting to see
• 10:40
  Speaker: how they're tracking at the
• 10:41
  Speaker: moment.
• 10:42
  Speaker: Certain models coming out of the US as well will be what will it.
• 10:46
  Speaker: So I headed on to the next
• 10:47
  Speaker: headlines that that's in Motor
• 10:50
  Speaker: Trader.
• 10:50
  Speaker: And this is the pickup sales continue freefall down sixty one
• 10:55
  Speaker: percent in August.
• 10:57
  Speaker: So a bit of a I mean, this is this is a continued problem into
• 11:00
  Speaker: it for that commercial vehicle sector for those pickups there.
• 11:04
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 11:04
  Speaker: And we'll look at pickups in a minute because I think the main
• 11:09
  Speaker: story here is really the recovery of the light commercial
• 11:14
  Speaker: vehicle sector, because sales registrations were up naught
• 11:18
  Speaker: point six percent in August to fourteen thousand four hundred
• 11:22
  Speaker: and forty five units.
• 11:23
  Speaker: And while, you know, we know
• 11:25
  Speaker: that August is typically a low
• 11:26
  Speaker: volume month, both for cars and
• 11:29
  Speaker: vans, um, you know, that's a
• 11:31
  Speaker: respectable performance.
• 11:33
  Speaker: And as a result, year to date registrations reached just over
• 11:38
  Speaker: Two hundred and one zero zero zero units, which means that
• 11:41
  Speaker: registrations are up four percent on where they were this
• 11:44
  Speaker: time last year.
• 11:46
  Speaker: It was also a strong month for EV van uptake, with
• 11:50
  Speaker: registrations rising twenty six percent, but that's only to two
• 11:55
  Speaker: thousand three hundred and ninety five units.
• 11:59
  Speaker: But it took a record sixteen
• 12:01
  Speaker: point three percent market
• 12:03
  Speaker: share.
• 12:04
  Speaker: Although August is typically
• 12:06
  Speaker: low, overall volumes can of
• 12:09
  Speaker: course exaggerate those
• 12:10
  Speaker: percentage shifts.
• 12:11
  Speaker: But you mentioned pickups, and we know the desirability of
• 12:16
  Speaker: pickups has been hit by the changes to benefit in kind
• 12:21
  Speaker: taxation on them.
• 12:23
  Speaker: So as a sector they saw the
• 12:25
  Speaker: steepest decline over down sixty
• 12:27
  Speaker: one percent, just over four
• 12:29
  Speaker: hundred units in August, down to
• 12:32
  Speaker: just two point eight percent of
• 12:34
  Speaker: the market.
• 12:35
  Speaker: So as you said there, I mean, it's a challenge.
• 12:38
  Speaker: It's very difficult to read the market completely in the month
• 12:41
  Speaker: of August, just because of the low volumes and the influence
• 12:44
  Speaker: that that has on on percentages.
• 12:46
  Speaker: And you know, what's happening
• 12:47
  Speaker: with that new plate change in
• 12:50
  Speaker: September.
• 12:51
  Speaker: But we'll head over now to the the interview and catch up.
• 12:55
  Speaker: We had with Harry Bock, a
• 12:57
  Speaker: director of Media Hawk, who who
• 13:00
  Speaker: goes through his analysis of the
• 13:02
  Speaker: the new car market and year to
• 13:04
  Speaker: date figures for August, and
• 13:06
  Speaker: particularly paying attention to
• 13:07
  Speaker: those new entrants in the
• 13:09
  Speaker: marketplace.
• 13:10
  Speaker: Next up, we're delighted to welcome Harry Bott, industry
• 13:13
  Speaker: analyst and director of Media Hawk, the specialist industry
• 13:17
  Speaker: analytics business, for his overview of how the Chinese
• 13:21
  Speaker: brands helped shape the August new car market.
• 13:24
  Speaker: Now, Philip and I are both fans of Harry's monthly registration
• 13:29
  Speaker: stats, which he shares on LinkedIn, so we're really
• 13:32
  Speaker: delighted to welcome you for the first time to the pod, Harry.
• 13:36
  Speaker: Well, well, it's absolutely wonderful to be on.
• 13:39
  Speaker: And I really appreciate you giving me your time.
• 13:41
  Speaker: And I love listening to the pod.
• 13:43
  Speaker: So I feel very honored that you have me on the pod.
• 13:46
  Speaker: So I'm looking forward to discussing the Chinese brands.
• 13:50
  Speaker: It's absolutely our pleasure, Harry.
• 13:51
  Speaker: As Curtis said, you know, we we
• 13:53
  Speaker: look forward and you and I speak
• 13:55
  Speaker: regularly anyway, but we do look
• 13:57
  Speaker: forward to your analysis every
• 13:59
  Speaker: month.
• 13:59
  Speaker: And I think this time we
• 14:01
  Speaker: thought, you know what, rather
• 14:01
  Speaker: than us try and digest and sort
• 14:04
  Speaker: of make a poor job of your
• 14:06
  Speaker: analysis ourselves, then why not
• 14:08
  Speaker: get Harry on to talk us through
• 14:10
  Speaker: it himself?
• 14:11
  Speaker: So yeah, it's, it's absolutely fantastic to have you on.
• 14:15
  Speaker: And if it goes well, we might make it a regular occurrence.
• 14:17
  Speaker: If you if you want Harry, I
• 14:19
  Speaker: would I would absolutely love
• 14:20
  Speaker: that.
• 14:21
  Speaker: Absolutely.
• 14:22
  Speaker: So as I say, as Curtis said, I
• 14:23
  Speaker: mean, welcome and you know, we
• 14:26
  Speaker: touched on there, you know, each
• 14:27
  Speaker: month, you know, you monitor the
• 14:29
  Speaker: share of the UK new car market
• 14:32
  Speaker: taken by particularly the new
• 14:34
  Speaker: Chinese manufacturers.
• 14:36
  Speaker: I mean, how did August look and what are the year to date trends
• 14:41
  Speaker: looking like for you now?
• 14:43
  Speaker: On the analysis you've been looking at, uh, August has
• 14:46
  Speaker: really been very interesting because traditionally August is
• 14:50
  Speaker: a, a dead month because you've got the month before plate
• 14:53
  Speaker: change and what my children might call meh.
• 14:56
  Speaker: However, what I found fascinating about it is two, a
• 14:59
  Speaker: couple of things.
• 15:00
  Speaker: Firstly, it grew point nine
• 15:02
  Speaker: point eight percent year on
• 15:03
  Speaker: year, which if you annualize
• 15:05
  Speaker: that says the market's going to
• 15:06
  Speaker: be about two point one million
• 15:08
  Speaker: units by the end of the year,
• 15:09
  Speaker: but obviously September will
• 15:10
  Speaker: actually make it harder than
• 15:11
  Speaker: that.
• 15:12
  Speaker: So that was interesting that
• 15:13
  Speaker: actually there were new car
• 15:14
  Speaker: quite a lot of new car sales in
• 15:15
  Speaker: August.
• 15:16
  Speaker: But more importantly is the
• 15:18
  Speaker: Chinese absolutely took up that
• 15:21
  Speaker: that rise.
• 15:22
  Speaker: I was anticipating them to slow up and then grow again.
• 15:27
  Speaker: And I'll give you an example of that is in twenty twenty five.
• 15:31
  Speaker: Um, in twenty twenty five, we
• 15:34
  Speaker: saw the total sales up to
• 15:36
  Speaker: August.
• 15:37
  Speaker: Uh, the Chinese new entrants
• 15:39
  Speaker: represented six point three
• 15:40
  Speaker: percent of the market year to
• 15:43
  Speaker: date.
• 15:43
  Speaker: They're now twelve point four percent of the market.
• 15:46
  Speaker: And for August only, they're
• 15:47
  Speaker: sixteen point two percent of the
• 15:49
  Speaker: market.
• 15:50
  Speaker: So we've had more than a doubling in market share.
• 15:53
  Speaker: But the really, really important point, and I think we'll see
• 15:57
  Speaker: this again in September.
• 15:58
  Speaker: But this is I think the biggest
• 16:00
  Speaker: news is for the first time since
• 16:03
  Speaker: I've done these stats, the all
• 16:05
  Speaker: the growth in the market is
• 16:07
  Speaker: greater than the heritage or
• 16:10
  Speaker: traditional brands.
• 16:11
  Speaker: So this year, for the first time
• 16:13
  Speaker: ever, the heritage brands are
• 16:14
  Speaker: market in total sales have gone
• 16:17
  Speaker: backwards.
• 16:18
  Speaker: So their total market share has gone backwards.
• 16:21
  Speaker: So the Chinese not only are
• 16:23
  Speaker: eating heritage brands, but
• 16:24
  Speaker: they're sending the heritage
• 16:25
  Speaker: brands backwards and looking
• 16:27
  Speaker: specifically at the the new
• 16:30
  Speaker: brands.
• 16:30
  Speaker: Harry who were the top performers for August.
• 16:35
  Speaker: So so the top former says what I call the big four.
• 16:39
  Speaker: Um it's BYD who have had the
• 16:42
  Speaker: highest growth, which is three
• 16:43
  Speaker: point five percent, followed by
• 16:45
  Speaker: Jaiku at three point one
• 16:46
  Speaker: percent.
• 16:47
  Speaker: When you think there's only a couple of models, um, followed
• 16:50
  Speaker: by a moder at one point eight percent and then cherry at one
• 16:53
  Speaker: point seven percent.
• 16:55
  Speaker: So they are the, the bulk of the
• 16:58
  Speaker: sales are in those with those
• 17:00
  Speaker: four brands.
• 17:01
  Speaker: And the O.J. cherry combine is absolutely roaring ahead.
• 17:06
  Speaker: Um, and if I was a traditional manufacturer, I would be very,
• 17:10
  Speaker: very nervous about that, especially as these are not a
• 17:13
  Speaker: large amounts of brands.
• 17:14
  Speaker: So some of the portfolios say,
• 17:15
  Speaker: say Peugeot, you've got quite a
• 17:17
  Speaker: lot of brands within their
• 17:18
  Speaker: portfolio.
• 17:19
  Speaker: They're beginning to have
• 17:20
  Speaker: they've got a higher market
• 17:21
  Speaker: share.
• 17:21
  Speaker: So give you an example.
• 17:22
  Speaker: BYD and Jaiku had over four
• 17:25
  Speaker: percent market share only in
• 17:26
  Speaker: August.
• 17:26
  Speaker: Peugeot only had a have a three
• 17:28
  Speaker: percent market share market
• 17:29
  Speaker: share.
• 17:30
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 17:31
  Speaker: And context is everything, isn't it?
• 17:33
  Speaker: And it really does show the acceleration.
• 17:35
  Speaker: Now you've identified some of the winners.
• 17:38
  Speaker: You know, the the big four.
• 17:39
  Speaker: But it wasn't a great month for all Chinese brands.
• 17:43
  Speaker: Can you take us through some of
• 17:44
  Speaker: the weaker performance
• 17:46
  Speaker: performers over the course of
• 17:47
  Speaker: the month?
• 17:48
  Speaker: Yeah, absolutely.
• 17:49
  Speaker: So what what we're seeing is
• 17:51
  Speaker: almost, um, a three tier market
• 17:54
  Speaker: going place.
• 17:55
  Speaker: So we've got the big four.
• 17:56
  Speaker: And then after that you've got them around, you've got some
• 17:59
  Speaker: growth from Leap Motor and Geely who are up on the oh point seven
• 18:02
  Speaker: percent along with Polestar.
• 18:04
  Speaker: But actually the interesting ones are there are three
• 18:07
  Speaker: interesting ones that then come next, which is Changan, which
• 18:11
  Speaker: they've been going since last year, and they're still only oh
• 18:14
  Speaker: point two percent.
• 18:15
  Speaker: And they, they've got the network, but they need to get
• 18:18
  Speaker: the sales out Xpeng, which really interestingly, um,
• 18:23
  Speaker: they've announced that they're changing how their route to
• 18:25
  Speaker: market by going direct and not using Im group, they still are
• 18:29
  Speaker: only zero point one percent and unless they get moving, then
• 18:33
  Speaker: dealers will say, well, why do I want to represent them?
• 18:36
  Speaker: And then the final one is Ian,
• 18:37
  Speaker: who's very new to market with
• 18:39
  Speaker: their extraordinary offer, the
• 18:41
  Speaker: Great Eight.
• 18:42
  Speaker: I don't know if you've discussed
• 18:43
  Speaker: the Great Eight recently, but
• 18:45
  Speaker: yes, it's an extraordinary
• 18:47
  Speaker: concept.
• 18:48
  Speaker: Um, what they've done and we're
• 18:49
  Speaker: very interested to see if
• 18:50
  Speaker: consumers pick up on that and
• 18:52
  Speaker: like that.
• 18:52
  Speaker: But the three, the great eight
• 18:54
  Speaker: is the extended warranty and
• 18:57
  Speaker: roadside assistance.
• 18:58
  Speaker: It covers all things like that doesn't it?
• 19:00
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 19:00
  Speaker: Well it does for things.
• 19:02
  Speaker: Extended warranty for eight
• 19:03
  Speaker: years, roadside assistance for
• 19:05
  Speaker: eight years, motor for eight
• 19:06
  Speaker: years.
• 19:06
  Speaker: But obviously it's only five.
• 19:08
  Speaker: Um and extended.
• 19:11
  Speaker: And then there's final and servicing for eight years.
• 19:13
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 19:14
  Speaker: That's extraordinary.
• 19:15
  Speaker: But when I started writing this
• 19:17
  Speaker: book, oh, God, two and a half
• 19:19
  Speaker: years ago, I called it rather
• 19:21
  Speaker: tongue in cheek, the Chinese
• 19:23
  Speaker: brand national.
• 19:24
  Speaker: And the reason I called it the Chinese Grand National.
• 19:26
  Speaker: It was all about the dealers working out which horse was
• 19:29
  Speaker: going to win, because we all know the brand, the Grand
• 19:32
  Speaker: National, the the winning horse always has very high odds.
• 19:35
  Speaker: And I said, right, we've got all
• 19:36
  Speaker: these these manufacturers coming
• 19:38
  Speaker: in and there's three that need
• 19:40
  Speaker: putting.
• 19:41
  Speaker: Well, one has had itself put down, which is sky.
• 19:43
  Speaker: Well, it's gone to the yard this year and it's fallen.
• 19:47
  Speaker: Uh, but the other two that I
• 19:48
  Speaker: can't see why they're still
• 19:50
  Speaker: here.
• 19:50
  Speaker: Gwm and Maxus.
• 19:52
  Speaker: Now Maxus is um has sold four cars to August this year.
• 19:57
  Speaker: And if you look at that van sales, they're not there and
• 19:59
  Speaker: they've got a whole network.
• 20:00
  Speaker: So I can't see the retailers will keep there.
• 20:02
  Speaker: But the interesting one is Gwm.
• 20:05
  Speaker: And the reason I say they're
• 20:06
  Speaker: interesting, they had it all to
• 20:08
  Speaker: play for back in twenty twenty
• 20:10
  Speaker: three, twenty twenty four, and
• 20:11
  Speaker: they've just let themselves slip
• 20:13
  Speaker: off.
• 20:13
  Speaker: And I'm sure their lords and masters will say, well, hey,
• 20:16
  Speaker: let's come back into the market.
• 20:18
  Speaker: But the problem they face is the retailers now are all powerful.
• 20:21
  Speaker: And if you've represented Gwm
• 20:23
  Speaker: and you've put up with the pain,
• 20:25
  Speaker: your.
• 20:25
  Speaker: Are you going to believe the story that they're going to have
• 20:27
  Speaker: the ability to get up a one percent market share?
• 20:29
  Speaker: I doubt it.
• 20:30
  Speaker: So I would have thought that the two next horses that are light
• 20:34
  Speaker: is not stay around would be Maxxis and Gwm.
• 20:36
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 20:37
  Speaker: Well, we'll definitely keep an eye on those.
• 20:40
  Speaker: And as part of your, um analysis, you look you also look
• 20:44
  Speaker: at some of the older, more established Chinese owned brands
• 20:48
  Speaker: like M, G, Volvo and Polestar.
• 20:52
  Speaker: How did they perform over the course of the month?
• 20:54
  Speaker: Um, well, actually, interestingly, I kind of see
• 20:57
  Speaker: Polestar as being one of the new entrants, but actually I'll run
• 21:00
  Speaker: you through how they've done.
• 21:01
  Speaker: So M, G, and Volvo are really interesting.
• 21:04
  Speaker: They let's start with Volvo.
• 21:06
  Speaker: I'll go backwards and then come up.
• 21:08
  Speaker: Actually I'll start at the lowest, which is Polestar.
• 21:10
  Speaker: Polestar has got itself round
• 21:12
  Speaker: about a zero point seven percent
• 21:14
  Speaker: market share.
• 21:15
  Speaker: So although they're expanding
• 21:16
  Speaker: their model range, they seem to
• 21:18
  Speaker: be struggling to jump out of
• 21:19
  Speaker: that area.
• 21:20
  Speaker: And I find that particularly interesting because, um, when
• 21:25
  Speaker: you think that they've effectively been thrown out of
• 21:27
  Speaker: America, you would have thought that they would be trying to
• 21:30
  Speaker: throw themselves into any market they could to make up for that
• 21:33
  Speaker: loss of American exposure.
• 21:35
  Speaker: And there's no indication that
• 21:37
  Speaker: they're really coming out of
• 21:38
  Speaker: that.
• 21:39
  Speaker: And actually, if you look at the
• 21:40
  Speaker: sales to only August, although
• 21:42
  Speaker: they're sitting around zero
• 21:43
  Speaker: point seven percent market
• 21:44
  Speaker: share, they were only zero point
• 21:45
  Speaker: four percent.
• 21:46
  Speaker: That could be.
• 21:47
  Speaker: But they're holding back to really go for September.
• 21:49
  Speaker: But let's see the next one.
• 21:52
  Speaker: If we then come to Volvo, they've got themselves since
• 21:55
  Speaker: twenty twenty four.
• 21:56
  Speaker: They've been around the three percent market share.
• 21:58
  Speaker: They've got great product.
• 22:00
  Speaker: I think they're sort of the thinking person's uh, premium
• 22:03
  Speaker: German, if I can call it that.
• 22:05
  Speaker: And so they seem to be, they've
• 22:06
  Speaker: got great product doing what
• 22:08
  Speaker: they're doing, what it says, and
• 22:09
  Speaker: they sit around the three
• 22:10
  Speaker: percent.
• 22:11
  Speaker: Um, and year to date, they're three percent.
• 22:12
  Speaker: Although interestingly, August, again, down to two point two
• 22:15
  Speaker: percent, they fell off.
• 22:17
  Speaker: But I think that's probably
• 22:18
  Speaker: again holding back till
• 22:19
  Speaker: September.
• 22:20
  Speaker: But the one that I've been
• 22:21
  Speaker: really surprised by is actually
• 22:23
  Speaker: Ng.
• 22:24
  Speaker: And in twenty twenty two, they had a three point two percent
• 22:28
  Speaker: market share in a lower market.
• 22:31
  Speaker: They're now up at four point four percent.
• 22:33
  Speaker: And for August only, they've got five point three percent.
• 22:37
  Speaker: And so you can see a real intent to say, you know what?
• 22:41
  Speaker: We're going to motor.
• 22:42
  Speaker: We're going to really excuse the pun.
• 22:44
  Speaker: We're going to really push forward here.
• 22:46
  Speaker: And and they've got good product and they seem to be doing well.
• 22:50
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 22:50
  Speaker: I couldn't agree more.
• 22:51
  Speaker: And they're obviously in quite a few of the sectors as well,
• 22:55
  Speaker: aren't they through that rental and leasing sector as well as
• 22:58
  Speaker: that, that retail environment.
• 23:01
  Speaker: I mean sticking to the, the horse theme that we've mentioned
• 23:04
  Speaker: several times on here, I mean, you know, you and I speak and
• 23:09
  Speaker: I'm quite vocal on this one, but there's a popular view within
• 23:12
  Speaker: the sector, um, that the Chinese brands are EV Specialist, but we
• 23:18
  Speaker: know that that's not necessarily the case, is it?
• 23:21
  Speaker: I mean, as many of them are, you know, doing very well selling
• 23:24
  Speaker: the plug in hybrids, the PHEVs.
• 23:26
  Speaker: I mean, what's your take on that?
• 23:28
  Speaker: And are EVs in what's been quoted recently in one of the
• 23:34
  Speaker: media as a Trojan horse has been suggested in the press.
• 23:40
  Speaker: I think I think the journeys have been absolute geniuses.
• 23:44
  Speaker: And the reason I think that is that they've come in making
• 23:48
  Speaker: everyone have the perception that they are they are EV
• 23:51
  Speaker: brands, especially BYD.
• 23:56
  Speaker: And so that created the Halo
• 23:58
  Speaker: that they've got great
• 23:59
  Speaker: technology.
• 24:00
  Speaker: It's up there with Tesla in the performance.
• 24:03
  Speaker: But actually the reality is when someone comes in and they look
• 24:06
  Speaker: at whether they want EV, they've got Phev and the hybrid option.
• 24:12
  Speaker: And I think what's been the secret to that?
• 24:13
  Speaker: One of the secrets to their
• 24:14
  Speaker: success I love when Moda came
• 24:17
  Speaker: in, they said they talked about
• 24:20
  Speaker: themselves as being, um,
• 24:22
  Speaker: affordable premium.
• 24:24
  Speaker: And so if you combine that technical expertise with
• 24:28
  Speaker: electric, with being affordable premium, you can see that
• 24:31
  Speaker: absolutely hit the right guys.
• 24:32
  Speaker: It's been amazing.
• 24:33
  Speaker: And Harry, just returning briefly to, to some of the
• 24:37
  Speaker: heritage or legacy brands, call them what you will.
• 24:41
  Speaker: You made some interesting comments at the beginning about
• 24:44
  Speaker: how their share had dropped this month, certainly in relation to
• 24:48
  Speaker: the way the Chinese brands grew.
• 24:51
  Speaker: Um, and you've actually singled out, um, you know, five of the
• 24:55
  Speaker: brands who have in particular have lost market share.
• 24:58
  Speaker: Can you take us through any
• 24:59
  Speaker: analysis you have on those
• 25:01
  Speaker: brands?
• 25:02
  Speaker: Yeah, I think as I said at the beginning, that's a major shift
• 25:07
  Speaker: that's happened, that the heritage brand now are making
• 25:10
  Speaker: fewer sales than they made this time last year, which if we're
• 25:13
  Speaker: going up to two point one million market, you must be.
• 25:16
  Speaker: If you are sitting in a
• 25:17
  Speaker: boardroom in Europe, you must be
• 25:19
  Speaker: sitting there going, we've got a
• 25:21
  Speaker: real problem.
• 25:21
  Speaker: I mean, beyond a problem, this is pretty existential.
• 25:24
  Speaker: And if I went through the top five US manufacturers by loss of
• 25:29
  Speaker: units, not necessarily loss of market share, but just to begin
• 25:33
  Speaker: with, we can talk about loss of market share as well.
• 25:36
  Speaker: They combined, they lost thirty two thousand units when if I
• 25:40
  Speaker: said to the top five Chinese new entrants had over added over one
• 25:46
  Speaker: hundred thousand units compared to last year.
• 25:49
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 25:50
  Speaker: So who are the top five?
• 25:52
  Speaker: Peugeot nine thousand one hundred and ninety five units
• 25:56
  Speaker: less sixty percent drop from the same time last year.
• 26:00
  Speaker: Nissan eight thousand eight point six thousand units,
• 26:04
  Speaker: fifteen percent drop.
• 26:05
  Speaker: Hyundai six point four percent
• 26:08
  Speaker: thousand units eleven percent
• 26:09
  Speaker: drop, say, at Four point four
• 26:11
  Speaker: percent.
• 26:12
  Speaker: Now I know they're removing the brand, but still thirty percent
• 26:15
  Speaker: drop Ford four thousand units, five percent drop.
• 26:19
  Speaker: I mean, there is an element, and I talked to some of my
• 26:22
  Speaker: customers, um, who have got exposure to the Chinese brands
• 26:26
  Speaker: and then they, they'll go out to a show or a show.
• 26:28
  Speaker: I don't know, some agricultural show or whatever.
• 26:31
  Speaker: And they'll take their full
• 26:32
  Speaker: portfolio to have the Chinese on
• 26:33
  Speaker: one end.
• 26:33
  Speaker: And they might have, say, Honda or one of the other brands, uh,
• 26:37
  Speaker: traditional brands on the other.
• 26:39
  Speaker: And no one looks at the
• 26:40
  Speaker: traditional brands and they
• 26:41
  Speaker: climb all over the Chinese
• 26:43
  Speaker: brands.
• 26:43
  Speaker: They've really caught the zeitgeist.
• 26:45
  Speaker: It's really interesting.
• 26:46
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 26:47
  Speaker: I mean, we haven't got time for
• 26:49
  Speaker: it today, but I'm sure we'll
• 26:50
  Speaker: pick up at some point in the
• 26:51
  Speaker: future.
• 26:51
  Speaker: I mean, you talk about that loss
• 26:53
  Speaker: volume and that mark, you know,
• 26:55
  Speaker: it's not just the lost market
• 26:56
  Speaker: share.
• 26:57
  Speaker: It's those lost vehicles going into the used vehicle park and
• 27:01
  Speaker: consequently hitting that the after sales market and revenue
• 27:05
  Speaker: through the after sales for, for the dealer network representing
• 27:08
  Speaker: those brands as well.
• 27:09
  Speaker: But we haven't got time for that today.
• 27:11
  Speaker: So finally Harry.
• 27:12
  Speaker: I mean, we are now then
• 27:14
  Speaker: thereabouts, getting halfway
• 27:15
  Speaker: through September.
• 27:17
  Speaker: You know, you cited at the start.
• 27:18
  Speaker: I mean, September is going to be
• 27:20
  Speaker: a crucial month for all
• 27:22
  Speaker: manufacturers, be it the
• 27:23
  Speaker: established or or the new
• 27:25
  Speaker: entrants.
• 27:25
  Speaker: And I think you and I think that there will be a significant
• 27:29
  Speaker: month for, for registrations, um, you know, order banks are
• 27:33
  Speaker: building and there's some flowing into, um, October.
• 27:37
  Speaker: I mean, how significant an
• 27:40
  Speaker: opportunity do you expect this
• 27:42
  Speaker: September to be, particularly
• 27:45
  Speaker: for the Chinese new entrant
• 27:46
  Speaker: brands?
• 27:48
  Speaker: I think it's, it's going to be they're going to go for it.
• 27:51
  Speaker: Absolutely.
• 27:52
  Speaker: Go for it.
• 27:53
  Speaker: The only issue I see, and they'll be primarily in the big
• 27:57
  Speaker: four rather than the next level below, will be.
• 28:02
  Speaker: Do they have sufficient stock to to sell stuff in September?
• 28:06
  Speaker: And I just think they might contract between themselves
• 28:10
  Speaker: purely on their ability to sell.
• 28:13
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 28:14
  Speaker: No, I think you're hearing some of the same reports that you're
• 28:18
  Speaker: trying to control.
• 28:19
  Speaker: Control that stock, that volume.
• 28:21
  Speaker: Because, you know, I think some of them have got quite
• 28:24
  Speaker: significant order banks.
• 28:26
  Speaker: And you know, you.
• 28:27
  Speaker: Steve.
• 28:28
  Speaker: Steve Young from ICG in west London.
• 28:30
  Speaker: I mean, he cited that some of
• 28:32
  Speaker: that that GQ product is now
• 28:33
  Speaker: October depending on the model
• 28:37
  Speaker: that the consumer wants, which
• 28:39
  Speaker: he does quite well out of his
• 28:41
  Speaker: nearly new demos and courtesy
• 28:43
  Speaker: cars.
• 28:43
  Speaker: I think Steve's said it's never in the same car for long
• 28:46
  Speaker: because, you know, they just sell his company car.
• 28:49
  Speaker: But I think, you know, I think
• 28:51
  Speaker: that's your your point made
• 28:53
  Speaker: there is that I think some of
• 28:54
  Speaker: the September activity is not
• 28:57
  Speaker: necessarily be constrained about
• 28:59
  Speaker: demand.
• 28:59
  Speaker: It's probably, as you say, about vehicle supply, isn't it going
• 29:02
  Speaker: into availability and, and But the ones I find really
• 29:07
  Speaker: interesting is what some, uh, what's people like Jelly and
• 29:12
  Speaker: Leap mote are going to do because they're tracking up.
• 29:15
  Speaker: Will they really go for it?
• 29:16
  Speaker: Will Shannon really go for it?
• 29:17
  Speaker: Because, you know, Shannon needs to get off point two percent and
• 29:20
  Speaker: get herself up to zero point five pretty quickly for it to
• 29:23
  Speaker: support its network.
• 29:25
  Speaker: Um, so I think it's some of the, the level two level three is
• 29:29
  Speaker: going back to my tier analogy.
• 29:31
  Speaker: That's where I think we might see some serious growth.
• 29:34
  Speaker: I would if, if Jaiku roughly sat
• 29:38
  Speaker: around the three point five bid
• 29:40
  Speaker: got up to three point seven
• 29:42
  Speaker: percent.
• 29:43
  Speaker: Do you know what I mean?
• 29:44
  Speaker: I wouldn't surprise me.
• 29:45
  Speaker: Do I see the massive growth there?
• 29:47
  Speaker: I could see it coming in level two.
• 29:50
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 29:50
  Speaker: No I couldn't agree more.
• 29:51
  Speaker: I mean hopefully we'll we'll get
• 29:53
  Speaker: you back on in the future to do
• 29:56
  Speaker: this analysis.
• 29:56
  Speaker: And I think definitely when we get the the September numbers in
• 30:00
  Speaker: in October, I think, you know, on this, it's going to be Give
• 30:04
  Speaker: you a little bit of time to analyze the numbers first,
• 30:07
  Speaker: Harry, that we will we will get you back on.
• 30:09
  Speaker: I mean, for the listeners, I mean, say, you know, Curtis said
• 30:11
  Speaker: about the start, Curtis and I are huge fans, and we follow
• 30:14
  Speaker: everything you do for anybody that isn't, you know, connected
• 30:18
  Speaker: with you and looking at some of the analysis, how can they get
• 30:21
  Speaker: in touch with you?
• 30:22
  Speaker: What's the best way of checking out some of the outputs and
• 30:25
  Speaker: activities that you're on with?
• 30:27
  Speaker: I use good old LinkedIn, so I'm very easy to find on LinkedIn.
• 30:31
  Speaker: Uh, and I'll tell you how to
• 30:33
  Speaker: find me because it's very simple
• 30:34
  Speaker: because I have such a stupid
• 30:35
  Speaker: name.
• 30:36
  Speaker: Harry dot um, if you just think Harry bot, which I was known as
• 30:40
  Speaker: all my life, um, you'll find me.
• 30:43
  Speaker: Uh, that's the easiest way to
• 30:45
  Speaker: remember me, to be totally
• 30:47
  Speaker: honest.
• 30:48
  Speaker: I mean, I like Serrano de Bergerac.
• 30:50
  Speaker: I've had it all my life, so honestly, just think.
• 30:53
  Speaker: Harry Bosch, Harry Bosch, you'll find me.
• 30:55
  Speaker: Fantastic.
• 30:56
  Speaker: Just go on LinkedIn.
• 30:57
  Speaker: I think there is one other.
• 30:58
  Speaker: He's out in America and he probably gets bored of people.
• 31:03
  Speaker: I'm the only one there.
• 31:04
  Speaker: So you'll find me.
• 31:05
  Speaker: I've got a silly name.
• 31:06
  Speaker: So again, you know, and then happily link up.
• 31:09
  Speaker: I'm very friendly.
• 31:10
  Speaker: Always pass my data out to anyone who wants it and and all
• 31:14
  Speaker: and talk happily talk for hours about the trade because I
• 31:17
  Speaker: actually love it.
• 31:18
  Speaker: Fantastic.
• 31:19
  Speaker: Fantastic.
• 31:20
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 31:20
  Speaker: Well, um, Harry, many thanks for joining us.
• 31:22
  Speaker: And as Phil said, do come back again soon.
• 31:26
  Speaker: Thank you very much.
• 31:27
  Speaker: Thank you.
• 31:28
  Speaker: Well, that was Harry's first
• 31:29
  Speaker: appearance on the podcast, not
• 31:31
  Speaker: his last and definitely not his
• 31:34
  Speaker: last.
• 31:34
  Speaker: No, no, he's, uh, he's got an open door now into the motor
• 31:39
  Speaker: trade radio studio, but some great analysis there and really
• 31:45
  Speaker: bringing to life what he does on a monthly basis on LinkedIn.
• 31:50
  Speaker: Because as we said at the top of that interview, he does produce
• 31:53
  Speaker: this analysis in chart form, but he also gives a little detail, a
• 31:58
  Speaker: little context around it.
• 32:00
  Speaker: So it was great to have him on to actually flesh that out.
• 32:04
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 32:04
  Speaker: Fantastic.
• 32:05
  Speaker: And and I know he will be he will be listening this morning
• 32:08
  Speaker: to the podcast.
• 32:09
  Speaker: So again, thank you, Harry, for,
• 32:11
  Speaker: for giving up your, your time
• 32:13
  Speaker: and your analysis and, and I'm
• 32:15
  Speaker: sure the feedback will be
• 32:17
  Speaker: extremely positive.
• 32:19
  Speaker: And as we said at the start of
• 32:20
  Speaker: the show, we will certainly have
• 32:22
  Speaker: you back on next month to talk
• 32:25
  Speaker: about the, the September
• 32:27
  Speaker: figures, but we'll be back with
• 32:28
  Speaker: the rest of this week's
• 32:29
  Speaker: headlines after this short
• 32:31
  Speaker: break.
• 32:33
  Speaker: You're listening to all the chatter that matters on the
• 32:36
  Speaker: Motor Trade Radio podcast powered by Cazoo.
• 32:42
  Speaker: So heading back to the headlines, BBC news.
• 32:44
  Speaker: This obviously got a lot of
• 32:46
  Speaker: coverage over the course of the
• 32:48
  Speaker: week.
• 32:48
  Speaker: The headline is Jaguar Land Rover to cut four thousand jobs
• 32:52
  Speaker: over the next two years.
• 32:54
  Speaker: And so this Jaguar Land Rover
• 32:57
  Speaker: cutting four thousand jobs is
• 32:59
  Speaker: the.
• 32:59
  Speaker: The car maker struggles with.
• 33:02
  Speaker: Certainly.
• 33:02
  Speaker: Chinese competition, as we've
• 33:05
  Speaker: certainly seen in Harry's
• 33:07
  Speaker: analysis.
• 33:08
  Speaker: US tariffs and the transition to
• 33:11
  Speaker: electric vehicles and the cuts
• 33:13
  Speaker: will happen over the next two
• 33:15
  Speaker: years and will mostly affect the
• 33:18
  Speaker: head office, which is based in
• 33:20
  Speaker: the UK.
• 33:21
  Speaker: And I think that's rather key to
• 33:22
  Speaker: this story because they the four
• 33:25
  Speaker: thousand jobs, they're talking
• 33:27
  Speaker: about a voluntary redundancy
• 33:28
  Speaker: program.
• 33:29
  Speaker: But it's really affecting those those desk jobs, you know,
• 33:33
  Speaker: rather than any of the production line jobs, isn't it?
• 33:37
  Speaker: It is.
• 33:37
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 33:38
  Speaker: And that's the thing with this,
• 33:39
  Speaker: you know, I mean, David Bailey,
• 33:41
  Speaker: who I know personally is the
• 33:43
  Speaker: business and economics professor
• 33:45
  Speaker: at Birmingham University, you
• 33:48
  Speaker: know, he talks in the story here
• 33:50
  Speaker: about the as strategically
• 33:53
  Speaker: important as it gets for the UK
• 33:55
  Speaker: economy.
• 33:57
  Speaker: Who's talking about obviously
• 33:59
  Speaker: saying that, uh, the many UK
• 34:01
  Speaker: jobs were dependent on its
• 34:04
  Speaker: supply chain and the economy as
• 34:07
  Speaker: a whole took a hit from the
• 34:10
  Speaker: firms, closed down production
• 34:13
  Speaker: because of last year's cyber
• 34:15
  Speaker: attack.
• 34:15
  Speaker: So we know that at the time, we talked quite a bit about the
• 34:18
  Speaker: cyber attack at the JLR business, but that has hit him
• 34:22
  Speaker: quite hard as well financially and on top of everything else.
• 34:26
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 34:27
  Speaker: Because the redundancies are
• 34:28
  Speaker: being made in a in an attempt to
• 34:31
  Speaker: save one point seven billion
• 34:33
  Speaker: pounds over the next two years,
• 34:35
  Speaker: but certainly in its results,
• 34:39
  Speaker: said US tariffs and the cyber
• 34:42
  Speaker: attack were the main reasons why
• 34:44
  Speaker: its sales had slumped by a fifth
• 34:47
  Speaker: to twenty two point nine billion
• 34:49
  Speaker: pounds from twenty nine billion
• 34:52
  Speaker: pounds in the previous two
• 34:54
  Speaker: years.
• 34:54
  Speaker: So that's really why it's taking these measures.
• 34:58
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 34:58
  Speaker: No. And there's obviously quite
• 35:00
  Speaker: a few opinions in the story
• 35:02
  Speaker: around what and why this is this
• 35:04
  Speaker: is happening.
• 35:05
  Speaker: Interestingly, the the shadow
• 35:07
  Speaker: transport Secretary, Richard
• 35:09
  Speaker: Holden, said that the the Zev
• 35:11
  Speaker: mandate and higher energy costs
• 35:13
  Speaker: were crippling the British
• 35:15
  Speaker: automotive industry, pledging to
• 35:18
  Speaker: scrap the the mandate, saying
• 35:21
  Speaker: that.
• 35:21
  Speaker: And that the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance
• 35:25
  Speaker: Association has defended the Zev Monday, previously calling it
• 35:29
  Speaker: crucial for attracting finance into this infrastructure as it
• 35:35
  Speaker: sets out a clear, predictable pathway for the growth of the
• 35:40
  Speaker: electric vehicle market.
• 35:42
  Speaker: So yeah, I mean, there's a lot going on here isn't there?
• 35:45
  Speaker: That could be influencing.
• 35:46
  Speaker: But as you say, I mean that's a significant saving.
• 35:48
  Speaker: But a lot of jobs just in that that business in the UK.
• 35:53
  Speaker: Yeah, and staying with Land Rover for the next story, which
• 35:57
  Speaker: is from a m online, that the headline is how an old Land
• 36:01
  Speaker: Rover dealership is to become a modern day London flagship.
• 36:06
  Speaker: Well, um, I remember when this site opened because it is ten
• 36:10
  Speaker: years ago and it was around the time of the the revived London
• 36:15
  Speaker: Motor Show, uh, in Battersea.
• 36:17
  Speaker: And this, this um particular
• 36:20
  Speaker: site was at the time, it was one
• 36:23
  Speaker: of the first arch concepts
• 36:26
  Speaker: opened by Land Rover when Jaguar
• 36:29
  Speaker: Land Rover introduced them into
• 36:31
  Speaker: the UK.
• 36:32
  Speaker: But um, I think it's quite significant.
• 36:34
  Speaker: And again, really following on from our conversation with Harry
• 36:38
  Speaker: bot that this flagship site is now being, um, transferred into
• 36:44
  Speaker: an a Moda and Jku dealership at the same site in Battersea.
• 36:51
  Speaker: And it does really raise the question, you know, how what
• 36:55
  Speaker: what actually prompted this?
• 36:57
  Speaker: Because, you know, Battersea Land Rover, it's a good mix.
• 37:02
  Speaker: And, you know, lookers who who own the site and, you know,
• 37:06
  Speaker: they're, um, putting in a motor and GQ into this site, they
• 37:10
  Speaker: would have worked hard to make Land Rover work there, but
• 37:15
  Speaker: clearly it didn't.
• 37:16
  Speaker: I mean, they're still representing Land Rover at other
• 37:20
  Speaker: sites in the country.
• 37:22
  Speaker: So it'd be fascinating to know what actually prompted this.
• 37:26
  Speaker: Yeah, as you say, I mean, it's significant.
• 37:29
  Speaker: And citing our chat with, um, with Steve Young, who obviously
• 37:33
  Speaker: runs the auto west London site for, for Jaguar, uh, for GQ and,
• 37:39
  Speaker: um, older, um, you know, we talked about space and capacity
• 37:42
  Speaker: and the challenges out there.
• 37:44
  Speaker: And just to give you a sort of a size of this one, this is a, you
• 37:48
  Speaker: know, this, this site for lookers at Battersea is at
• 37:51
  Speaker: eleven car showroom there a fourteen ramp workshop, um,
• 37:56
  Speaker: including rooftop parking area.
• 37:59
  Speaker: And it has space for around one hundred and seventy vehicles.
• 38:03
  Speaker: I'm sure Steve might might like that one.
• 38:06
  Speaker: Mighty.
• 38:06
  Speaker: I think he did probably.
• 38:07
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 38:08
  Speaker: Space and capacity and without a roundabout direct outside his
• 38:12
  Speaker: his doors there.
• 38:13
  Speaker: And final story for this week is it's really a us revisiting a
• 38:18
  Speaker: story that we covered some months ago, um, which when we
• 38:21
  Speaker: covered it, it was highly speculative, but it's, um, it
• 38:24
  Speaker: seems to be growing, gaining traction now and it's from
• 38:28
  Speaker: Autocar and the headline is VW group considers retiring site
• 38:33
  Speaker: brand by twenty twenty nine to focus on Cupra.
• 38:38
  Speaker: So this is um VW Group considering phasing out say at
• 38:43
  Speaker: uh, as a brand.
• 38:44
  Speaker: And the proposal has reportedly already been approved by
• 38:48
  Speaker: Volkswagen's management board.
• 38:51
  Speaker: So this story seems to be very well sourced.
• 38:54
  Speaker: Um and it's due to go before the supervisory board um this week.
• 39:00
  Speaker: Uh, according to German media.
• 39:02
  Speaker: Now under the plan that would
• 39:04
  Speaker: disappear from VW group's brand
• 39:07
  Speaker: portfolio by the end of the
• 39:09
  Speaker: decade, with financial resources
• 39:11
  Speaker: instead concentrated on Cupra,
• 39:14
  Speaker: which was the subbrand that, uh,
• 39:17
  Speaker: seat launched some years ago but
• 39:20
  Speaker: has now overtaken seat in many
• 39:23
  Speaker: markets in terms of sales, and
• 39:26
  Speaker: the performance orientated
• 39:28
  Speaker: offshoot brand um launched its
• 39:30
  Speaker: own brand eight years ago, but
• 39:33
  Speaker: now comfortably outsells the
• 39:35
  Speaker: brand.
• 39:35
  Speaker: As I say, which it emerged.
• 39:38
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 39:39
  Speaker: And as you say, there's some stats in here saying that the
• 39:41
  Speaker: reasoning behind Volkswagen's proposal is reflected in the
• 39:45
  Speaker: Spanish brands sales figures, saying that Cupra delivered a
• 39:48
  Speaker: record one hundred and seventy thousand one hundred vehicles
• 39:52
  Speaker: during the first half of twenty twenty six, compared to one
• 39:56
  Speaker: hundred and twenty nine thousand six hundred for C8, and that
• 40:01
  Speaker: Cupra now accounts for almost fifty seven percent of the
• 40:07
  Speaker: pair's combined two hundred and ninety nine thousand seven
• 40:10
  Speaker: hundred deliveries from January to the end of June.
• 40:14
  Speaker: So I suppose in one way, you can sort of see where some of the
• 40:17
  Speaker: rationale is coming from.
• 40:20
  Speaker: And obviously now Cupra are probably seen as a little bit
• 40:22
  Speaker: more of a premium brand above the C8, um, for the, for the,
• 40:27
  Speaker: for the VW group business.
• 40:29
  Speaker: So yeah, I can, I can understand this.
• 40:31
  Speaker: And obviously, I think we're
• 40:32
  Speaker: expecting and everybody sort of
• 40:34
  Speaker: cited, particularly for some of
• 40:36
  Speaker: the more established brands that
• 40:38
  Speaker: we might start to see a
• 40:39
  Speaker: cleansing of brand model
• 40:41
  Speaker: representation across the
• 40:42
  Speaker: businesses.
• 40:43
  Speaker: Yeah, I think you're right.
• 40:45
  Speaker: And say it's certainly been in the UK for many, many years now,
• 40:51
  Speaker: but they they only reached a certain point in terms of market
• 40:55
  Speaker: share representation and awareness as well, I think.
• 41:00
  Speaker: And, uh, you know, it's kind of
• 41:02
  Speaker: testament to the strength of the
• 41:04
  Speaker: VW group that they were able to
• 41:05
  Speaker: launch this subbrand that
• 41:07
  Speaker: actually took over because it
• 41:09
  Speaker: was seen as more upmarket, more
• 41:11
  Speaker: desirable, and, um, you know,
• 41:14
  Speaker: soon surpassed it in terms of
• 41:16
  Speaker: sales.
• 41:17
  Speaker: So it is a kind of logical move.
• 41:20
  Speaker: How it will go down in Spain is another matter, of course.
• 41:23
  Speaker: Yes, definitely.
• 41:25
  Speaker: Definitely.
• 41:26
  Speaker: So again, I mean there's a lot going on here.
• 41:28
  Speaker: And obviously we'll bring you
• 41:29
  Speaker: when you know I think there's a
• 41:31
  Speaker: lot of speculation around this
• 41:33
  Speaker: this, but I think um, you know,
• 41:34
  Speaker: I think that looks and sounds
• 41:36
  Speaker: like it's a, it's a, let's say a
• 41:38
  Speaker: done deal, uh, for what's
• 41:40
  Speaker: happening.
• 41:40
  Speaker: But as you say, um, we'll see
• 41:42
  Speaker: what the Spanish response is to,
• 41:46
  Speaker: uh, to this one, but hopefully
• 41:47
  Speaker: we've covered some of the main
• 41:49
  Speaker: headlines this week, a little
• 41:51
  Speaker: bit of an early recording this
• 41:52
  Speaker: week.
• 41:52
  Speaker: So there may be some of the big
• 41:53
  Speaker: headlines that we may miss
• 41:55
  Speaker: towards the the end of this
• 41:56
  Speaker: week.
• 41:57
  Speaker: We will pick up next week.
• 41:59
  Speaker: We want to make sure that we've got time with Harry to do that.
• 42:02
  Speaker: And Alice, particularly on the
• 42:03
  Speaker: year to date and the August
• 42:05
  Speaker: numbers around those Chinese
• 42:06
  Speaker: manufacturers, which we hope you
• 42:08
  Speaker: enjoyed that, uh, that snippet
• 42:11
  Speaker: or that that interview there
• 42:12
  Speaker: with Harry.
• 42:13
  Speaker: That's all for now.
• 42:14
  Speaker: Many thanks to you for listening
• 42:16
  Speaker: to this Motor Trade radio
• 42:17
  Speaker: podcast.
• 42:17
  Speaker: Until next time.
• 42:18
  Speaker: It's goodbye from me and it's goodbye from him.
• 42:24
  Speaker: Thank you for listening to the Motor Trade Radio podcast
• 42:27
  Speaker: powered by Cazoo.