Latest / Motor Trade Radio / 📻 EV charge-per-mile gets mixed welcome. VW to cut jobs & models. The return of #Dieselgate! (E44, S12)

Transcript

📻 EV charge-per-mile gets mixed welcome. VW to cut jobs & models. The return of #Dieselgate! (E44, 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.
• 0:10
  Speaker: With Philip Moffat 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, we better not mention the football.
• 0:29
  Speaker: I think it's too late.
• 0:31
  Speaker: We just have.
• 0:32
  Speaker: Yes.
• 0:33
  Speaker: Well, we'll keep it away from.
• 0:36
  Speaker: We'll keep away from football and politics.
• 0:39
  Speaker: Well, you know what?
• 0:41
  Speaker: That's going to be really difficult for this show.
• 0:43
  Speaker: We've already mentioned football
• 0:45
  Speaker: and politics will rear its heads
• 0:47
  Speaker: in a couple of these stories
• 0:48
  Speaker: actually today.
• 0:49
  Speaker: So um but yes, we're, um we're
• 0:52
  Speaker: coming home without any gold
• 0:55
  Speaker: where.
• 0:55
  Speaker: So we will move swiftly on because we're in danger.
• 0:59
  Speaker: So I think we've got a busy, busy show today.
• 1:03
  Speaker: So we'll we'll try and keep the
• 1:06
  Speaker: the shout outs a little bit
• 1:07
  Speaker: light.
• 1:08
  Speaker: But I think Curtis, from my perspective, you might have seen
• 1:11
  Speaker: a little bit of um, social media, um, this week where I'm
• 1:15
  Speaker: doing a bit of a Les Dawson blankety blank, um, clips.
• 1:20
  Speaker: Um, I do love my young marketing team these days that get me
• 1:25
  Speaker: involved with these kind of things outside my comfort zone.
• 1:29
  Speaker: Um, but it's to back the launch of the IQ.
• 1:31
  Speaker: So, um, we've, we've launched our latest insight quarterly,
• 1:35
  Speaker: um, to the market this week.
• 1:38
  Speaker: Um, so yeah, it's, it's a lot in there again this time.
• 1:42
  Speaker: Curtis.
• 1:43
  Speaker: Yeah, yeah, the videos are great.
• 1:45
  Speaker: And uh, I was delighted to see
• 1:47
  Speaker: you channeling your, your inner
• 1:48
  Speaker: Les Dawson.
• 1:49
  Speaker: There's a blast from the past.
• 1:52
  Speaker: Certainly is certainly is.
• 1:53
  Speaker: And especially when I talked
• 1:55
  Speaker: about it and people sort of say,
• 1:56
  Speaker: who's that?
• 1:57
  Speaker: Who's that?
• 1:58
  Speaker: Yeah, well, at some stage in today's pod, I'm sure will be
• 2:03
  Speaker: referencing the heat wave of nineteen seventy six, which I
• 2:07
  Speaker: remember well, but of course, Les Dawson, huge name back in
• 2:11
  Speaker: the seventies at that time.
• 2:13
  Speaker: Yes, yes.
• 2:14
  Speaker: Um, but yeah, anyway, less about Les Dawson and um, because some
• 2:20
  Speaker: of the others have said I actually looked a bit like Les
• 2:22
  Speaker: Dawson, which is more worrying than anything else.
• 2:24
  Speaker: What else?
• 2:25
  Speaker: Whilst we're talking about the report.
• 2:27
  Speaker: I mean it's a great piece of research and um you know, it,
• 2:31
  Speaker: it, it does get cited in a lot of coverage when it comes out.
• 2:35
  Speaker: And, uh, a big part of it is your analysis of the trends in
• 2:41
  Speaker: the new car market and the used car market and of course, the
• 2:45
  Speaker: forecasts, which, um, I mean, you might be able to tease out
• 2:49
  Speaker: something from that.
• 2:50
  Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
• 2:51
  Speaker: So as you say, I mean, each
• 2:53
  Speaker: quarter, you know, we, we
• 2:56
  Speaker: forecast the full year new and
• 2:58
  Speaker: used volume, um, alongside, um,
• 3:01
  Speaker: looking at the EV market in a
• 3:03
  Speaker: little bit more detail and then
• 3:05
  Speaker: forecasting what the, uh, the
• 3:07
  Speaker: next four years looks like from
• 3:09
  Speaker: a sales channel performance,
• 3:11
  Speaker: volume, performance and a fuel
• 3:14
  Speaker: type performance.
• 3:15
  Speaker: But yeah, I think, you know,
• 3:16
  Speaker: this time, you know, obviously
• 3:17
  Speaker: with what's happening, we've
• 3:18
  Speaker: talked about regularly on the
• 3:19
  Speaker: podcast is obviously the impact
• 3:21
  Speaker: of the new entrants and what
• 3:23
  Speaker: they're doing and the new car
• 3:24
  Speaker: market.
• 3:24
  Speaker: And we have refocused our base
• 3:27
  Speaker: line to just short of two point
• 3:29
  Speaker: two million.
• 3:31
  Speaker: Um, and our upside just over two point three million, which I
• 3:35
  Speaker: think if you look at the half year point, which we recovered
• 3:38
  Speaker: recently, looks very optimistic result for this year, um,
• 3:45
  Speaker: because we're on one point one million at the moment, aren't we
• 3:48
  Speaker: at the half way point.
• 3:49
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 3:49
  Speaker: And we've still got September, September you know a big month.
• 3:53
  Speaker: And you know we'll get on to it shortly.
• 3:55
  Speaker: But Bauxite.
• 3:55
  Speaker: In the interview we did with Steve Young from Icdp and Otto,
• 3:59
  Speaker: west London this week.
• 4:01
  Speaker: Um, you know, he was talking about, you know, two month order
• 4:04
  Speaker: bank for JQ and Amoda.
• 4:07
  Speaker: So, you know, we're moving very
• 4:08
  Speaker: strongly towards that, that
• 4:09
  Speaker: September, which will be a big
• 4:11
  Speaker: month.
• 4:12
  Speaker: We're also be forecasting our
• 4:14
  Speaker: used, which was still fairly
• 4:15
  Speaker: firm on seven point eight two
• 4:18
  Speaker: million.
• 4:18
  Speaker: But there's more details in in IQ.
• 4:20
  Speaker: And just to give a bit of a shout out and a thank you in the
• 4:24
  Speaker: main for the contributors that we, uh, which are also part of
• 4:28
  Speaker: Insight Quarterly, just to give that other context and other
• 4:32
  Speaker: insight from, from other areas of the sector.
• 4:35
  Speaker: We have.
• 4:35
  Speaker: Steve Young, um, as we mentioned
• 4:38
  Speaker: there, and we've caught up with
• 4:40
  Speaker: this week, um, he's given his
• 4:42
  Speaker: view on the European automotive
• 4:44
  Speaker: landscape and obviously Chinese
• 4:47
  Speaker: manufacturers and EV come into
• 4:49
  Speaker: that conversation, as you can
• 4:50
  Speaker: well imagine, we've got Owen
• 4:52
  Speaker: Edwards managing director and
• 4:53
  Speaker: co-head of automotive at
• 4:55
  Speaker: Interpath, who's looking at the
• 4:57
  Speaker: resilience in the battery supply
• 4:59
  Speaker: chain as volumes of EVs and
• 5:03
  Speaker: battery development continues to
• 5:05
  Speaker: ramp up.
• 5:05
  Speaker: And then finally, and I knew you'd like this one, Curtis.
• 5:09
  Speaker: We've got Harry bought us out a
• 5:12
  Speaker: few times recently on his
• 5:14
  Speaker: analysis of the particular the
• 5:15
  Speaker: Chinese manufacturers and the
• 5:17
  Speaker: new car market when we get those
• 5:19
  Speaker: figures.
• 5:20
  Speaker: Harry is obviously a director at Media Hawk, but he's shared his
• 5:24
  Speaker: view on the new risk hiding in used car stock.
• 5:28
  Speaker: And that's particularly around the use of AI generated
• 5:33
  Speaker: recommendations and playing into that used car marketplace.
• 5:37
  Speaker: So yeah, there's a lot to get into in this, uh, this quarter's
• 5:41
  Speaker: insight, uh, report.
• 5:43
  Speaker: So always worth having a look at and digging into some of those
• 5:46
  Speaker: details and anyone wanting to get hold of that.
• 5:51
  Speaker: Phil, can they just get in touch
• 5:52
  Speaker: with you, get in touch with me,
• 5:54
  Speaker: or it will be through my social
• 5:55
  Speaker: channels or automotive social
• 5:57
  Speaker: channels.
• 5:58
  Speaker: I think, you know, you won't miss it probably.
• 6:01
  Speaker: Um, and you might even catch the, the Les Dawson video within
• 6:04
  Speaker: that as well.
• 6:07
  Speaker: Um, yeah.
• 6:08
  Speaker: Sorry.
• 6:09
  Speaker: I was just thinking of mother in law jokes there, but I couldn't
• 6:11
  Speaker: think of one I could repeat.
• 6:13
  Speaker: So moving on swiftly.
• 6:15
  Speaker: Uh, many thanks to Philip Manos.
• 6:18
  Speaker: Um, again, one of our favourite analysts who does a lot of
• 6:22
  Speaker: research on the international markets, and he put out a
• 6:26
  Speaker: release and shared it with this.
• 6:28
  Speaker: This week under the title of BYD falls out of the global top ten
• 6:33
  Speaker: best selling car makers in Q1.
• 6:36
  Speaker: So definitely worth checking this out.
• 6:39
  Speaker: And we'll see if we can put a link to this in the newsletter
• 6:43
  Speaker: that goes out on Monday morning.
• 6:44
  Speaker: But, uh, the research that Philippe has done includes the
• 6:48
  Speaker: official data and estimations from fifty six different car
• 6:53
  Speaker: makers and one hundred and twenty nine brands.
• 6:56
  Speaker: And it really corresponds with the the sales volumes during Q1
• 7:00
  Speaker: of twenty twenty six and compares them to the same period
• 7:04
  Speaker: of last year.
• 7:05
  Speaker: And there's some interesting shifts going on, certainly
• 7:08
  Speaker: amongst the Chinese brands.
• 7:11
  Speaker: Yeah, definitely.
• 7:12
  Speaker: And is there, you know, Toyota still still dominate.
• 7:15
  Speaker: And then it's followed by Volkswagen.
• 7:17
  Speaker: Hyundai, Stellantis sits there in sort of general sort of
• 7:22
  Speaker: overall group level.
• 7:24
  Speaker: General Motors, Ford, Geely,
• 7:27
  Speaker: Suzuki, Nissan and Honda in
• 7:31
  Speaker: those sort of first nine nine
• 7:33
  Speaker: positions there.
• 7:34
  Speaker: So yeah, I mean we do love the data.
• 7:37
  Speaker: We do love the the visuals that Philippe also supports with and
• 7:42
  Speaker: we are trying to get Philippe onto the podcast.
• 7:45
  Speaker: Um, so yeah, do look out for that when we share that because
• 7:48
  Speaker: I think it's always a fascinating chat with Philippe.
• 7:52
  Speaker: And you've already mentioned Steve Young.
• 7:54
  Speaker: We caught up with Steve during
• 7:56
  Speaker: the week and, uh, we've got a
• 7:59
  Speaker: standalone episode.
• 8:00
  Speaker: And again, we'll put a link on
• 8:01
  Speaker: the newsletter that goes out
• 8:03
  Speaker: Monday morning.
• 8:04
  Speaker: But, uh, definitely worth checking out because Steve
• 8:06
  Speaker: Young, he is fascinating really, because as well as being
• 8:11
  Speaker: executive chairman of ICI.
• 8:14
  Speaker: So, you know, an analyst for
• 8:16
  Speaker: industry analyst for many, many
• 8:18
  Speaker: years.
• 8:18
  Speaker: He's also the managing director of Auto West London, which is
• 8:22
  Speaker: the fast growing J. Q and a motor dealership that's um,
• 8:27
  Speaker: being, uh, part of the Chatham Group, the Turkish dealer group.
• 8:33
  Speaker: And he had some great insights,
• 8:35
  Speaker: didn't he, into both what's
• 8:36
  Speaker: happening in the industry as
• 8:38
  Speaker: well as what's happening in his
• 8:40
  Speaker: business?
• 8:41
  Speaker: I think that's it now with Steve, because, you know, he has
• 8:45
  Speaker: that lens of both.
• 8:46
  Speaker: You know, he's gone from that
• 8:47
  Speaker: analyzing the the The UK
• 8:49
  Speaker: European marketplace, but
• 8:51
  Speaker: particularly from a dealer
• 8:52
  Speaker: perspective.
• 8:53
  Speaker: Um, advisory and research, but actually now is at that core at
• 8:57
  Speaker: the front end of it.
• 8:58
  Speaker: Um, and obviously you then share what is actually happening on,
• 9:03
  Speaker: on that showroom floor.
• 9:04
  Speaker: So say we'll be playing a
• 9:07
  Speaker: snippet of that later on in
• 9:08
  Speaker: today's podcast.
• 9:09
  Speaker: And, but as always, if you, if you have missed it in your
• 9:12
  Speaker: podcast feed during the week, then please do head over because
• 9:15
  Speaker: you will not be disappointed with our conversation with Steve
• 9:19
  Speaker: Young this week.
• 9:23
  Speaker: If you're a supplier and would
• 9:25
  Speaker: like us to profile your business
• 9:27
  Speaker: and reach our audience of dealer
• 9:29
  Speaker: group bosses, managers, and
• 9:31
  Speaker: decision makers on one of our
• 9:33
  Speaker: motor trade radio supplier
• 9:35
  Speaker: special episodes.
• 9:36
  Speaker: Then get in touch at Motor Trade Radio at yahoo dot com.
• 9:45
  Speaker: Companies already featured in our supplier specials include
• 9:50
  Speaker: impel, prospecting dynamics, MTC and generational, and many more.
• 9:55
  Speaker: And you can find them all in
• 9:57
  Speaker: your podcast feed, along with
• 9:59
  Speaker: our recent OEM specials with new
• 10:01
  Speaker: EV brands Verizon, Ion and
• 10:04
  Speaker: Changan.
• 10:05
  Speaker: If you'd like us to profile your
• 10:07
  Speaker: business, then just message us
• 10:09
  Speaker: at Motortrade radio at yahoo dot
• 10:12
  Speaker: com.
• 10:15
  Speaker: You're listening to the Motor
• 10:16
  Speaker: Trade Radio podcast powered by
• 10:20
  Speaker: Cazoo.
• 10:23
  Speaker: Well, as Philip said, lots of headlines this week.
• 10:26
  Speaker: And they come from car dealer,
• 10:28
  Speaker: automotive management, motor
• 10:30
  Speaker: trade news, as well as some of
• 10:32
  Speaker: the nationals, including The
• 10:34
  Speaker: Guardian, Daily Telegraph and
• 10:36
  Speaker: BBC news.
• 10:38
  Speaker: Starting with we've got the
• 10:39
  Speaker: lowdown on the government's new
• 10:41
  Speaker: pay per mile charges for EVs,
• 10:44
  Speaker: with the plans getting a mixed
• 10:46
  Speaker: response.
• 10:47
  Speaker: I think it's fair to say Volkswagen Group is planning to
• 10:50
  Speaker: cut up to one hundred thousand jobs globally and half its model
• 10:56
  Speaker: ranges after the break.
• 10:59
  Speaker: We've got the the latest on Dieselgate.
• 11:02
  Speaker: Now, we did mention Dieselgate in passing last week, but it's
• 11:07
  Speaker: raising its head again.
• 11:08
  Speaker: So we've got the latest on the
• 11:11
  Speaker: High Court ruling in London
• 11:13
  Speaker: during the week, which rejected
• 11:15
  Speaker: most of the claims brought by
• 11:17
  Speaker: one point six million UK car
• 11:20
  Speaker: owners.
• 11:21
  Speaker: We've got the latest full year results from Arnold Clark and
• 11:24
  Speaker: Lookers, two of the UK's biggest franchise groups, and we'll
• 11:29
  Speaker: close with a look at why the used vehicle sector needs to
• 11:33
  Speaker: adapt to the back to back heat waves that we're facing.
• 11:40
  Speaker: You're listening to the Motor
• 11:41
  Speaker: Trade Radio podcast powered by
• 11:45
  Speaker: Cazoo.
• 11:48
  Speaker: So as Curtis has said there, we're going to head over to Car
• 11:51
  Speaker: Dealer and this cover.
• 11:53
  Speaker: This story has also been covered in Auto Sunday.
• 11:56
  Speaker: But not everybody can access that without a A subscription.
• 12:00
  Speaker: But if you do want to subscribe with your.
• 12:01
  Speaker: Tristan Young will be very much appreciated to that one.
• 12:04
  Speaker: Um, but we, we're talking about the announcement that came out
• 12:08
  Speaker: this week from the government following their consultation
• 12:12
  Speaker: towards the Yvette, um the ev e d taxation for the penny paper,
• 12:18
  Speaker: mail on battery electric vehicles and plug in hybrid
• 12:22
  Speaker: vehicles and saying that the, the government's uh, pay
• 12:26
  Speaker: confirms pay per mile charges on EVs as plans get mixed response,
• 12:32
  Speaker: uh, saying that EV drivers set to face pay per mile scheme from
• 12:36
  Speaker: twenty twenty eight.
• 12:37
  Speaker: I think that's April twenty twenty eight that the new tax is
• 12:41
  Speaker: being implemented following a full consultation period.
• 12:46
  Speaker: Experts are divided on whether
• 12:48
  Speaker: plans are too complex or a
• 12:51
  Speaker: pragmatic foundation.
• 12:53
  Speaker: So very mixed views.
• 12:55
  Speaker: As I say there, in terms of the
• 12:56
  Speaker: way this has been sort of
• 12:58
  Speaker: received by, by the sector, um,
• 13:01
  Speaker: you know, from how this will
• 13:03
  Speaker: work.
• 13:04
  Speaker: My view is it's probably created
• 13:05
  Speaker: more questions than it has
• 13:07
  Speaker: actually given answers, but it's
• 13:09
  Speaker: a very complex way of doing it
• 13:10
  Speaker: isn't it.
• 13:12
  Speaker: Yes.
• 13:12
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 13:13
  Speaker: And um, I mean, it's no surprise we were expecting this, uh, as
• 13:17
  Speaker: you say, the introduction of this new e d e will be from
• 13:22
  Speaker: April next year.
• 13:24
  Speaker: And I mean, the gist of what's been introduced, we pretty much
• 13:28
  Speaker: knew a lot of this in advance.
• 13:30
  Speaker: Um, so the, the government is
• 13:33
  Speaker: introducing a three pence per
• 13:35
  Speaker: mile charge on EVs as part of a
• 13:38
  Speaker: plan to combat falling revenue
• 13:39
  Speaker: from fuel duty, obviously, with
• 13:42
  Speaker: fewer diesel and petrol cars
• 13:44
  Speaker: being sold, the the Treasury is
• 13:47
  Speaker: losing out on tax on those
• 13:49
  Speaker: vehicles, and that's now going
• 13:51
  Speaker: to be made up with this new tax
• 13:53
  Speaker: on EVs.
• 13:55
  Speaker: The announcement, which was included in last November's
• 13:58
  Speaker: budget, was followed by this lengthy consultation, which has
• 14:03
  Speaker: now been concluded.
• 14:05
  Speaker: So the piece in Car dealer says that after taking views from
• 14:10
  Speaker: experts and members of the public, the government has
• 14:13
  Speaker: decided to plow ahead with the plans and with ministers saying
• 14:18
  Speaker: that drivers of EVs will be required to pay the three p per
• 14:22
  Speaker: mile charge, while owners of plug in hybrid models will have
• 14:26
  Speaker: a lower rate of one point five pence per mile.
• 14:31
  Speaker: Both stand at less than the equivalent six pence per mile
• 14:35
  Speaker: that drivers of petrol and diesel cars pay in fuel duty.
• 14:40
  Speaker: Now that all sounds fairly
• 14:41
  Speaker: straightforward, but there are
• 14:44
  Speaker: complexities around this, isn't
• 14:45
  Speaker: there, in terms of ownership and
• 14:48
  Speaker: what happens in that first three
• 14:51
  Speaker: years of ownership where you're
• 14:52
  Speaker: not having an m o t to check the
• 14:55
  Speaker: mileage?
• 14:56
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 14:57
  Speaker: And we'll include a link to the
• 14:59
  Speaker: actual consultation paper on the
• 15:02
  Speaker: newsletter on, on Monday
• 15:04
  Speaker: morning.
• 15:05
  Speaker: For those that haven't had scientific and do want to, to
• 15:08
  Speaker: dig in the detail.
• 15:09
  Speaker: I think, you know, clearly there's a big question of
• 15:12
  Speaker: there's no clarity of how a mileage is going to be captured
• 15:15
  Speaker: in the naught to three year period before it goes into an m
• 15:20
  Speaker: o t station for its first m o t. There's questions that they're
• 15:25
  Speaker: expecting the MRT station to capture the mileage and input it
• 15:29
  Speaker: into a system to confirm the driver's forecast mileage was
• 15:35
  Speaker: correct for the money they paid, um, of which I believe is he's
• 15:39
  Speaker: being paid in advance.
• 15:40
  Speaker: So you you're expected to
• 15:42
  Speaker: estimate your annual mileage,
• 15:44
  Speaker: pay for your annual mileage in
• 15:46
  Speaker: advance.
• 15:47
  Speaker: Um, and then it gets corrected when you go in for your m o t.
• 15:51
  Speaker: Um, but they don't want the customers to pay for that work,
• 15:55
  Speaker: that service, that resource.
• 15:57
  Speaker: And the government don't want to
• 15:58
  Speaker: pay for that resource at the
• 15:59
  Speaker: minute.
• 16:00
  Speaker: So there's a big question around that.
• 16:03
  Speaker: There's no clarity around change of ownership within the either
• 16:07
  Speaker: the three year period, which is not fully confirmed of how that
• 16:11
  Speaker: mileage is going to be captured.
• 16:13
  Speaker: They are looking at telematics as the solution for that.
• 16:17
  Speaker: But again, you know what, if the car gets written off, how do
• 16:21
  Speaker: they get the money back?
• 16:22
  Speaker: What if the car is repossessed or change of ownership?
• 16:26
  Speaker: How does that change of ownership, does that just pass
• 16:29
  Speaker: on with the car?
• 16:30
  Speaker: There is a comment that, um, if you do less mileage than you
• 16:36
  Speaker: estimated, do you get a refund.
• 16:39
  Speaker: And I think, and I can I'll
• 16:41
  Speaker: stand corrected on this if I'm
• 16:42
  Speaker: wrong.
• 16:43
  Speaker: I think the response was that, no, you wouldn't get a refund if
• 16:47
  Speaker: you say forecast twelve thousand miles and you did eight thousand
• 16:50
  Speaker: miles because the government feels that you will benefit
• 16:54
  Speaker: because the car is worth more in its value, because it has less
• 16:58
  Speaker: mileage on it.
• 17:00
  Speaker: I'm not quite sure how that works out for the driver of that
• 17:05
  Speaker: and paying that advance.
• 17:06
  Speaker: So I think, yeah, I think clearly the government is still
• 17:10
  Speaker: pushing ahead as thing, but there is a few comments in this
• 17:13
  Speaker: that say different views.
• 17:15
  Speaker: Yeah, yeah there is.
• 17:16
  Speaker: And I mean, my view on this was
• 17:19
  Speaker: that okay, it's been in
• 17:20
  Speaker: consultation, but there's still
• 17:22
  Speaker: seems to be a lot of loose ends
• 17:23
  Speaker: because, I mean, some of it is
• 17:26
  Speaker: actually okay.
• 17:27
  Speaker: I mean, you estimate your annual mileage in, I guess much the
• 17:31
  Speaker: same way that you would do with your annual insurance.
• 17:35
  Speaker: And uh, if you're retaining that car.
• 17:38
  Speaker: So, you know, for normal
• 17:40
  Speaker: ownership cycles, that kind of
• 17:42
  Speaker: makes sense.
• 17:43
  Speaker: And, uh, if you overestimate,
• 17:45
  Speaker: then you get a credit for the
• 17:47
  Speaker: following year.
• 17:48
  Speaker: And if you underestimate, then
• 17:50
  Speaker: you pay up at the end of the
• 17:51
  Speaker: year.
• 17:52
  Speaker: So that all makes sense.
• 17:53
  Speaker: But as you've pointed out, what happens when the cars written
• 17:57
  Speaker: off or it's sold, um, now once it goes into the used car
• 18:02
  Speaker: system, the, the, the tax, the outstanding tax on it or sorry,
• 18:08
  Speaker: the tax that is on the vehicle goes with the vehicle similar to
• 18:12
  Speaker: our old system, you know, before we went digital.
• 18:15
  Speaker: So it does sit with the car, which I guess makes it a more
• 18:19
  Speaker: attractive proposition on a used car forecourt because it will
• 18:23
  Speaker: have three months tax or whatever on it.
• 18:26
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 18:27
  Speaker: So I think the, I think, you know, conscious that, you know,
• 18:30
  Speaker: we could fill the whole show with this conversation, but
• 18:33
  Speaker: there's a lot I think you, know, I think you cleared out.
• 18:37
  Speaker: You clarified that.
• 18:38
  Speaker: I think it leads a lot of loose ends still to be refined.
• 18:43
  Speaker: I think the I mean, there's a couple of statements in here
• 18:46
  Speaker: that are similar.
• 18:47
  Speaker: I mean, Vicki Edmonds from the
• 18:49
  Speaker: Electric Vehicle Association
• 18:50
  Speaker: England says that this the move
• 18:52
  Speaker: still does not work for the
• 18:55
  Speaker: drivers and that the government
• 18:57
  Speaker: has made one welcome change for
• 18:59
  Speaker: new EVs.
• 19:01
  Speaker: But the wider scheme remains too complex.
• 19:05
  Speaker: This.
• 19:05
  Speaker: Leaving people out of pocket and fails to give drivers the
• 19:11
  Speaker: confidence they need.
• 19:13
  Speaker: And I think that that does sum the the current situation up
• 19:16
  Speaker: quite, quite well.
• 19:17
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 19:17
  Speaker: And just for a bit of balance, Nick Connor, CEO of the I am I
• 19:22
  Speaker: um took a different stance.
• 19:24
  Speaker: He said the consultation outcome
• 19:26
  Speaker: shows the government has
• 19:27
  Speaker: genuinely listened to the
• 19:28
  Speaker: automotive profession.
• 19:30
  Speaker: So um and goes on to say that this is a Pragmatic foundation,
• 19:35
  Speaker: and we welcome it.
• 19:37
  Speaker: And just before we sign off on
• 19:39
  Speaker: this story, I was amused by the
• 19:41
  Speaker: Daily Telegraph's coverage
• 19:42
  Speaker: because it went on, went in on
• 19:45
  Speaker: the headline that, um, if you
• 19:47
  Speaker: take your EV abroad, you're
• 19:49
  Speaker: paying tax on every mile that
• 19:52
  Speaker: you use.
• 19:52
  Speaker: And there was quite an outcry,
• 19:55
  Speaker: um, on the Daily Telegraph
• 19:57
  Speaker: website.
• 19:57
  Speaker: So once readers realised they'd
• 20:00
  Speaker: been paying for taking the car
• 20:01
  Speaker: abroad.
• 20:02
  Speaker: Yeah, paying tax for driving the car on foreign roads.
• 20:06
  Speaker: Yes.
• 20:06
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 20:08
  Speaker: So we'll, we'll head over to the next couple of stories really.
• 20:12
  Speaker: And this is all around Volkswagen um group.
• 20:16
  Speaker: And this was covered very well by Theo Leggett.
• 20:20
  Speaker: A great story on BBC news saying
• 20:23
  Speaker: that Volkswagen planning to cut
• 20:26
  Speaker: up to one hundred thousand jobs
• 20:28
  Speaker: globally.
• 20:29
  Speaker: Now there are other stories been um published around this, but
• 20:34
  Speaker: they were all cited in the fifty zero zero zero jobs.
• 20:37
  Speaker: Um but I think that was purely in Germany.
• 20:41
  Speaker: Um, not necessarily the Volkswagen group.
• 20:44
  Speaker: So yeah, they're talking about the chief executive of the
• 20:48
  Speaker: German car giant Volkswagen Group has confirmed it is
• 20:52
  Speaker: looking to cut one hundred to one hundred zero zero zero jobs,
• 20:55
  Speaker: twice as many as previously stated, saying that the group,
• 21:00
  Speaker: which includes Porsche, Audi, Seat and Skoda, as well as the
• 21:06
  Speaker: Volkswagen brand, had previously said it would act some fifty
• 21:09
  Speaker: zero zero zero job posts in Germany by twenty thirty.
• 21:15
  Speaker: Now, we talked about this with Steve Young, didn't we?
• 21:18
  Speaker: Um, which I won't spoil that for
• 21:20
  Speaker: those that haven't listened to
• 21:21
  Speaker: the interview.
• 21:22
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 21:22
  Speaker: But Steve really did have some great insight into this story.
• 21:27
  Speaker: So again, do, do check out that episode because we did spend,
• 21:31
  Speaker: quite a little while on this story and, you know, definitely
• 21:35
  Speaker: worth checking that out.
• 21:37
  Speaker: And interestingly, this
• 21:39
  Speaker: particular story, it came from,
• 21:41
  Speaker: um, a memo to staff that was
• 21:44
  Speaker: sent by the group chief exec
• 21:47
  Speaker: Oliver Bloom, um, who said the
• 21:49
  Speaker: group's costs were twenty
• 21:51
  Speaker: percent higher compared to rival
• 21:53
  Speaker: businesses and it would need to
• 21:56
  Speaker: reduce its outgoings, um,
• 21:58
  Speaker: further than it initially
• 22:00
  Speaker: thought.
• 22:01
  Speaker: Um this, he said, would mean a theoretical loss of fifty
• 22:05
  Speaker: thousand jobs worldwide.
• 22:07
  Speaker: And within the, the this memo
• 22:10
  Speaker: he's quoted as saying, we are
• 22:11
  Speaker: currently assessing across all
• 22:13
  Speaker: brands, companies and regions
• 22:16
  Speaker: how many adjustments are
• 22:17
  Speaker: actually actually necessary and
• 22:20
  Speaker: feasible.
• 22:21
  Speaker: Going on to say we need to become a more efficient, more
• 22:24
  Speaker: robust and simpler, we must reduce our costs.
• 22:28
  Speaker: So I mean, that's a mantra that
• 22:30
  Speaker: will be familiar to to many
• 22:31
  Speaker: businesses, but not on this
• 22:34
  Speaker: scale.
• 22:34
  Speaker: No, not at all.
• 22:36
  Speaker: And sticking with Volkswagen,
• 22:38
  Speaker: but heading over to the
• 22:41
  Speaker: Telegraph.
• 22:41
  Speaker: And this is Volkswagen to axe its half of its car models and
• 22:47
  Speaker: saying again that the German auto giant announces measures
• 22:51
  Speaker: after board fails to agree to proposals for the one hundred
• 22:56
  Speaker: thousand job cuts.
• 22:57
  Speaker: But saying that the German car
• 23:00
  Speaker: brand has been battling a
• 23:03
  Speaker: downturn in performance,
• 23:04
  Speaker: announced that the the the
• 23:07
  Speaker: measure back into that that jobs
• 23:09
  Speaker: cuts again.
• 23:10
  Speaker: But it does cite that they are
• 23:12
  Speaker: looking at reducing their model
• 23:14
  Speaker: line up quite significantly,
• 23:16
  Speaker: aren't they?
• 23:16
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 23:17
  Speaker: And it's not really surprising this because for for the
• 23:22
  Speaker: Volkswagen Group brands, the, the, the, the model lineups have
• 23:27
  Speaker: increased quite dramatically over recent years.
• 23:30
  Speaker: And, um, just before we started
• 23:33
  Speaker: recording, Phil, I just did a
• 23:35
  Speaker: quick round up of the number of
• 23:38
  Speaker: models in each of the main
• 23:40
  Speaker: ranges.
• 23:40
  Speaker: So if we start with Volkswagen, there's sixteen cars.
• 23:45
  Speaker: That's before you start splitting out.
• 23:47
  Speaker: Um, estates and hatchbacks, uh, including one called.
• 23:52
  Speaker: And I challenge you on this, uh, Phil, if you've ever heard of
• 23:55
  Speaker: this one, the Volkswagen Tayron is that, is that a car that's
• 24:00
  Speaker: familiar to you?
• 24:01
  Speaker: I've heard of it.
• 24:02
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 24:04
  Speaker: To describe what it looks like
• 24:06
  Speaker: because it's probably I've heard
• 24:09
  Speaker: the name mentioned, but I don't
• 24:10
  Speaker: know what.
• 24:11
  Speaker: Um, okay, we'll we'll give you a tick for that one.
• 24:15
  Speaker: Um, Skoda has got, uh, ten cars in, in its range.
• 24:19
  Speaker: Um, say only four.
• 24:21
  Speaker: So it's kept it fairly slim.
• 24:23
  Speaker: Audi has fifteen cars and you
• 24:26
  Speaker: don't have to go back that far
• 24:28
  Speaker: to when Audi just had half a
• 24:31
  Speaker: dozen or so cars in its model
• 24:34
  Speaker: lineup, including one called the
• 24:36
  Speaker: new Villari.
• 24:39
  Speaker: You know that one, Phil?
• 24:40
  Speaker: You know that one?
• 24:41
  Speaker: No, that's a cross.
• 24:43
  Speaker: Then that's a that's a that's a yeah, yeah.
• 24:48
  Speaker: And, uh, Cupra, there's six cars in its model lineup.
• 24:52
  Speaker: So interestingly interesting that there's more cars in the
• 24:55
  Speaker: Cupra lineup than the lineup because Cooper is obviously, um,
• 25:00
  Speaker: originated from set, uh, including the Ravel.
• 25:05
  Speaker: Do you know that one?
• 25:06
  Speaker: No, no. Yeah, yeah.
• 25:11
  Speaker: I think it's illustrated.
• 25:13
  Speaker: I think we've just illustrated that there, there are niche
• 25:16
  Speaker: models in these lineups that, um, you know, would be quite
• 25:20
  Speaker: easy to lose.
• 25:21
  Speaker: And I rather suspect that dealers wouldn't mind losing
• 25:25
  Speaker: them and just concentrate on the more mainstream ones.
• 25:29
  Speaker: Yeah, I think I think this is the problem.
• 25:31
  Speaker: I mean, it doesn't it's not just with Volkswagen.
• 25:34
  Speaker: I think the brands over the decades have had this challenge
• 25:37
  Speaker: that they have these vehicles that sit in the wannabe in every
• 25:40
  Speaker: sector and everything else, and they just don't have the demand.
• 25:44
  Speaker: They're not, you know, they're not very well known.
• 25:46
  Speaker: And again, without science in the conversation with Steve
• 25:49
  Speaker: Young too much on today's podcast, but we did have this
• 25:53
  Speaker: conversation with him.
• 25:54
  Speaker: He does mention one of the, the
• 25:56
  Speaker: Volkswagen models that he'd
• 25:58
  Speaker: never heard of that came in part
• 26:00
  Speaker: exchange.
• 26:00
  Speaker: And he said, obviously the customers haven't heard of that
• 26:02
  Speaker: either, because it did become a very old days in stock vehicle.
• 26:07
  Speaker: So again, it kind of illustrates
• 26:09
  Speaker: the fact that, you know, if it's
• 26:11
  Speaker: not a brand, a model that people
• 26:13
  Speaker: are aware of, then the chances
• 26:14
  Speaker: are it won't be one of their
• 26:16
  Speaker: best sellers.
• 26:17
  Speaker: Um, and doesn't really work for the brand nor the, the retailer.
• 26:22
  Speaker: So again, want to want to consider going forward.
• 26:26
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 26:26
  Speaker: And talking of Steve Young,
• 26:28
  Speaker: we'll be back after the break
• 26:30
  Speaker: with an extract from our
• 26:31
  Speaker: interview earlier this week with
• 26:33
  Speaker: Steve, who is the executive
• 26:35
  Speaker: chairman of Icdp and MD of Otto
• 26:38
  Speaker: West London.
• 26:40
  Speaker: You're listening to all the chatter that matters on the
• 26:44
  Speaker: Motor Trade Radio podcast powered by Cazoo.
• 26:49
  Speaker: And Steve, moving closer to home, last weekend on the pod,
• 26:54
  Speaker: we reported that Sky Wells importer Innovation Automotive
• 26:59
  Speaker: had pulled out of the UK with the Chinese car brand, which has
• 27:03
  Speaker: sixteen dealers now looking for a new importer.
• 27:07
  Speaker: Now, you wrote a blog on this last week, and I identified some
• 27:11
  Speaker: of the pitfalls facing new entrants and the dealers who
• 27:16
  Speaker: sign up with them.
• 27:17
  Speaker: What do you think are some of
• 27:19
  Speaker: the lessons that can be learned
• 27:20
  Speaker: from this?
• 27:22
  Speaker: Well, I think Skywhale is a is quite a useful case because, um,
• 27:28
  Speaker: as you said, there are only sixteen dealers and those
• 27:31
  Speaker: sixteen dealers were mainly sort of used car traders, you know,
• 27:35
  Speaker: putting their toe in the water and, and they, their real
• 27:38
  Speaker: exposure was relatively small.
• 27:40
  Speaker: And then my main concern would
• 27:43
  Speaker: be that the tabloid press will
• 27:45
  Speaker: pick up on it and say, Chinese,
• 27:46
  Speaker: you know, Chinese dealer brand
• 27:48
  Speaker: goes bust.
• 27:49
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 27:50
  Speaker: Um, without referencing the scale or anything else.
• 27:53
  Speaker: And then that has a ripple
• 27:54
  Speaker: effect through the whole, whole
• 27:56
  Speaker: industry.
• 27:57
  Speaker: But, um, the, it was fairly clear to me from the beginning
• 28:03
  Speaker: that Skywhale wasn't going to work, uh, in the UK.
• 28:07
  Speaker: And, you know, I think there's
• 28:09
  Speaker: some, there's some fairly
• 28:10
  Speaker: straightforward tests that you
• 28:12
  Speaker: should apply as a dealer or as
• 28:14
  Speaker: a, you know, software provider
• 28:16
  Speaker: or logistics partner or anyone
• 28:18
  Speaker: who's going to be doing business
• 28:20
  Speaker: with a, with a new entrant brand
• 28:22
  Speaker: and, you know, that's things
• 28:26
  Speaker: like, you know, how much skin in
• 28:27
  Speaker: the game is the OEM got, you
• 28:29
  Speaker: know, not, not, not the
• 28:30
  Speaker: distributor, um, but the, the
• 28:32
  Speaker: actual OEM.
• 28:33
  Speaker: So how committed are they to the market?
• 28:36
  Speaker: Um, you know, how strong are they at home because you can't
• 28:39
  Speaker: build a house on sand.
• 28:41
  Speaker: Uh, you know, do they have a solid pipeline of product that's
• 28:45
  Speaker: coming through to actually give you good market coverage to get
• 28:48
  Speaker: your dealership full, you know, and are they working with
• 28:51
  Speaker: credible local partners or they're recruiting people that
• 28:53
  Speaker: you might know from one of the major brands and, you know,
• 28:57
  Speaker: Skywall fails on, you know, on all of those tests.
• 29:02
  Speaker: And, you know, I'm reminded of the, uh, you know, the analogy
• 29:07
  Speaker: that people, you know, draw between, um, you know, about,
• 29:11
  Speaker: uh, you know, in a full English breakfast, you know, the pig in
• 29:15
  Speaker: the hen who's committed, who's involved, you know, and, and you
• 29:19
  Speaker: want to work with the pigs.
• 29:20
  Speaker: she wants to work with the ones
• 29:21
  Speaker: who've got skin in the game, you
• 29:23
  Speaker: know, not not with not with
• 29:25
  Speaker: someone who can disappear off or
• 29:27
  Speaker: is never really been here in the
• 29:28
  Speaker: first place.
• 29:29
  Speaker: You know, it's a big venture to bring a new brand to market.
• 29:32
  Speaker: You know, they, um, many people will either have been to
• 29:36
  Speaker: Goodwood at the weekend or seen the images of BYD's presence.
• 29:40
  Speaker: And that stand apparently cost over five million pounds.
• 29:44
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 29:44
  Speaker: Um, and, you know, you also saw BYD's, you know, huge
• 29:49
  Speaker: expenditure on the euros couple of years ago, which got, you
• 29:52
  Speaker: know, significantly higher brand awareness than any of the other
• 29:55
  Speaker: new entrants at the time.
• 29:57
  Speaker: And that's what you're looking
• 29:59
  Speaker: for before you're going to put
• 30:00
  Speaker: your own money and your own
• 30:02
  Speaker: time, your own management
• 30:03
  Speaker: resources, uh, behind, behind a
• 30:06
  Speaker: new brand.
• 30:07
  Speaker: Some great insight as ever from, from Steve and following on
• 30:11
  Speaker: from, you know, we covered the story last week.
• 30:13
  Speaker: So if you didn't catch last week's episode, it's worth just
• 30:17
  Speaker: referring back to that because, Sky well are continuing in the
• 30:21
  Speaker: UK, but their distributor, their importer is pulled out.
• 30:26
  Speaker: Yeah, exactly.
• 30:27
  Speaker: I mean it, it's uh, I love these
• 30:30
  Speaker: chats with, with Steve and, um,
• 30:32
  Speaker: you know, it never fails to
• 30:35
  Speaker: disappoint, but yeah, very, uh,
• 30:37
  Speaker: pragmatic view towards some of
• 30:40
  Speaker: these new entrants and the way
• 30:42
  Speaker: him and, and probably other, you
• 30:44
  Speaker: know, people at that similar
• 30:45
  Speaker: level that are looking at these
• 30:47
  Speaker: new entrants are looking at them
• 30:48
  Speaker: or should be looking at them
• 30:50
  Speaker: going forward in terms of, you
• 30:52
  Speaker: know, what is that, um, you
• 30:53
  Speaker: know, the skin in the game kind
• 30:55
  Speaker: of situation that, uh, yeah, is
• 30:58
  Speaker: questionable.
• 30:58
  Speaker: So yeah, great, great insight there as, as always from, from
• 31:02
  Speaker: Steve and as we keep saying, do listen to the full interview
• 31:05
  Speaker: there with, with Steve.
• 31:06
  Speaker: Now we'll talk about things, uh,
• 31:08
  Speaker: coming back and never going
• 31:10
  Speaker: away, such as the, the FCA
• 31:12
  Speaker: redress.
• 31:13
  Speaker: We talk about the Zev mandate and other other things.
• 31:16
  Speaker: And here's Dieselgate yet again.
• 31:18
  Speaker: So the Guardian and there's been a huge announcement this week.
• 31:24
  Speaker: Um, we did mention that, uh, this, this was in court.
• 31:28
  Speaker: Um, and it was an ongoing court case.
• 31:31
  Speaker: And this is the high court rejects most of Dieselgate
• 31:35
  Speaker: claims brought by one point six million UK car owners.
• 31:42
  Speaker: And this is that car makers
• 31:44
  Speaker: welcome ruling against, uh suit
• 31:47
  Speaker: claims manufacturers including
• 31:49
  Speaker: Nissan, Ford, Peugeot are
• 31:52
  Speaker: against fitted devices to defeat
• 31:55
  Speaker: emission tests.
• 31:57
  Speaker: So I think there'll be some happy manufacturers here from
• 32:00
  Speaker: this, uh, this announcement.
• 32:02
  Speaker: Yeah, it's it's a win for manufacturers, although it's not
• 32:08
  Speaker: great PR, I must say.
• 32:10
  Speaker: And, you know, my understanding of this, I mean, let's go back
• 32:14
  Speaker: to the original Dieselgate briefly because it's actually,
• 32:17
  Speaker: um, twenty fifteen and we were on the pod back in twenty
• 32:21
  Speaker: fifteen talking about Dieselgate as it broke.
• 32:24
  Speaker: Uh, you know, it came from America.
• 32:27
  Speaker: Um, and it was mostly to do with Volkswagen who admitted fitting
• 32:33
  Speaker: these, uh, cheap devices in, in their cars and ended up with,
• 32:38
  Speaker: um, there were eleven million cars affected globally.
• 32:43
  Speaker: And VW recalled just under half a million.
• 32:47
  Speaker: I think it was about four hundred and eighty zero zero
• 32:49
  Speaker: zero cars in the US.
• 32:50
  Speaker: So a major, major news.
• 32:52
  Speaker: But um, this particular case has
• 32:54
  Speaker: a very sort of UK flavor to it
• 32:58
  Speaker: because this is um a case that
• 33:00
  Speaker: was brought by car owners here
• 33:03
  Speaker: in the UK as part of a class
• 33:04
  Speaker: action.
• 33:05
  Speaker: And um, you know, the report in the Guardian says that car
• 33:09
  Speaker: manufacturers have welcomed this high Court verdict that rejected
• 33:13
  Speaker: most of the allegations in this Dieselgate claim, brought on
• 33:17
  Speaker: behalf of one point six million UK owners of polluting cars.
• 33:23
  Speaker: And it goes on to quote the judge who made the ruling, um,
• 33:29
  Speaker: who said in the majority of instances, the court found that
• 33:34
  Speaker: the relevant strategy did not constitute a prohibited defeat
• 33:39
  Speaker: device, which is software that enables engines to behave
• 33:44
  Speaker: differently in tests.
• 33:46
  Speaker: Um, she did go on to say that
• 33:47
  Speaker: the technology and strategies
• 33:49
  Speaker: used in some Mercedes and Polo
• 33:52
  Speaker: Citroen cars could constitute
• 33:54
  Speaker: defeat devices.
• 33:55
  Speaker: So, um, it takes me back to, I don't know if you remember the
• 34:00
  Speaker: old soap sitcom, um, Phil, but it started off with confused.
• 34:04
  Speaker: You will be because there's not
• 34:07
  Speaker: a huge amount of clarity in
• 34:09
  Speaker: this.
• 34:09
  Speaker: And I think it's really a battle
• 34:12
  Speaker: over the semantics of what
• 34:14
  Speaker: actually constitutes a defeat
• 34:16
  Speaker: device.
• 34:17
  Speaker: Yes.
• 34:17
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 34:18
  Speaker: And I suspect they would have found it quite difficult to
• 34:22
  Speaker: confirm that, um, you know, this this is the, the situation.
• 34:28
  Speaker: So say it's, uh, again, it seems to be the thing at the minute.
• 34:31
  Speaker: There's lack of clarity in things in there.
• 34:33
  Speaker: Um, but I think clearly, you know, this has been rumbling on,
• 34:37
  Speaker: um, obviously, you know, one point six million claims.
• 34:40
  Speaker: Um, obviously a lot of that would be through the, the little
• 34:43
  Speaker: claim companies out there, um, that, you know, you hope that
• 34:49
  Speaker: this brings an end to it, but I don't know, am I being cynical?
• 34:53
  Speaker: I don't think it will.
• 34:54
  Speaker: Do you.
• 34:54
  Speaker: I think it's still going to rumble on a bit.
• 34:56
  Speaker: I think it will rumble on.
• 34:58
  Speaker: And you know, it's worth adding
• 35:00
  Speaker: that, you know, this was the
• 35:01
  Speaker: largest group action trial in
• 35:03
  Speaker: English legal history because
• 35:05
  Speaker: it's been rumbling on for
• 35:07
  Speaker: fifteen weeks.
• 35:08
  Speaker: So it started in October last year, um, being heard in the
• 35:12
  Speaker: High Court, and it focused it actually focused on twenty
• 35:16
  Speaker: vehicles sold by five manufacturers, which we listed
• 35:20
  Speaker: earlier Mercedes, Ford, Renault, Nissan and Peugeot Citroen, with
• 35:24
  Speaker: those vehicles dating back from two thousand and nine.
• 35:27
  Speaker: So pretty comprehensive.
• 35:29
  Speaker: But the judgment also binds other manufacturers.
• 35:33
  Speaker: So as you say, it's going to rumble on this one.
• 35:37
  Speaker: Yes, there'll be some challenges, but we will see.
• 35:40
  Speaker: Now the next two headlines is around financial performance.
• 35:45
  Speaker: We have talked about these kind of things before.
• 35:47
  Speaker: Surprise surprise.
• 35:48
  Speaker: Um the first one is from Arnold
• 35:51
  Speaker: Clark and this is the Anne
• 35:53
  Speaker: Clark.
• 35:53
  Speaker: Profit hits one hundred and
• 35:55
  Speaker: twelve point five million as
• 35:58
  Speaker: Chinese brands help drive new
• 36:00
  Speaker: car growth, saying that the UK's
• 36:02
  Speaker: largest independent dealer group
• 36:04
  Speaker: saw revenue soar past five point
• 36:07
  Speaker: five six billion last year and
• 36:11
  Speaker: that the rise in new car sales,
• 36:13
  Speaker: plus the addition of Chinese
• 36:16
  Speaker: brands, helped drive this
• 36:18
  Speaker: growth.
• 36:19
  Speaker: But the pre-tax profits slipped,
• 36:22
  Speaker: though, down six point six
• 36:25
  Speaker: percent.
• 36:25
  Speaker: So it's kind of a story we're
• 36:27
  Speaker: always talking about with these
• 36:29
  Speaker: results around revenue versus is
• 36:31
  Speaker: profit.
• 36:32
  Speaker: So we are constantly seeing this revenue growth, but it's not
• 36:35
  Speaker: playing through down to the profit due to increased costs
• 36:39
  Speaker: that are hitting these dealers.
• 36:41
  Speaker: Yeah, absolutely.
• 36:42
  Speaker: So, um, this is the latest in the full year results.
• 36:46
  Speaker: It goes up to December twenty twenty five.
• 36:49
  Speaker: So it is for the full year last year.
• 36:51
  Speaker: Arnold Clark number three in the a m one hundred.
• 36:54
  Speaker: And as you pointed out, the biggest independently owned
• 36:58
  Speaker: franchised dealer group.
• 37:00
  Speaker: Um, so revenues of five point five six billion, they were up
• 37:05
  Speaker: seven point nine percent from five point one five billion in
• 37:09
  Speaker: the previous year.
• 37:10
  Speaker: And as you mentioned, profits were down.
• 37:13
  Speaker: They were down to one hundred and twelve point five million in
• 37:16
  Speaker: twenty twenty five.
• 37:19
  Speaker: But despite the fall in profit, the group significantly
• 37:22
  Speaker: strengthened its balance sheet, with net funds available rising
• 37:27
  Speaker: twenty five percent to four hundred and fifty million pounds
• 37:30
  Speaker: and shareholder funds increasing to one point six three billion.
• 37:35
  Speaker: Now, interestingly, in the story, they give a breakdown of
• 37:39
  Speaker: new car sales.
• 37:40
  Speaker: And, uh, there's some great
• 37:42
  Speaker: figures here because new car
• 37:43
  Speaker: sales jumped eleven point two
• 37:45
  Speaker: percent to seventy one thousand
• 37:48
  Speaker: three hundred and eighty eight
• 37:50
  Speaker: units.
• 37:50
  Speaker: So really giving a flavour of how strongly Arnold Clark
• 37:55
  Speaker: performed in new cars.
• 37:57
  Speaker: But you wait until you see the used car figures, because they
• 38:00
  Speaker: were actually one hundred and eighty seven thousand nine
• 38:03
  Speaker: hundred and twenty units, which is a pretty impressive figure,
• 38:07
  Speaker: but they were actually down two percent year on year.
• 38:12
  Speaker: But Arnold Clark said it actually maintained margins by
• 38:16
  Speaker: increasing average selling prices and focusing on retailing
• 38:22
  Speaker: higher quality stocks.
• 38:23
  Speaker: So fewer used cars sold, but
• 38:26
  Speaker: they maintain the margins on
• 38:27
  Speaker: them.
• 38:28
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 38:28
  Speaker: As you say there.
• 38:29
  Speaker: I mean, those numbers really do
• 38:31
  Speaker: illustrate the size and scale of
• 38:34
  Speaker: Arnold Clark's.
• 38:35
  Speaker: And, you know, as you say that
• 38:36
  Speaker: that I mean, I try and work it
• 38:38
  Speaker: out, but that percentage of new
• 38:39
  Speaker: cars of overall new cars is a
• 38:42
  Speaker: good chunk of the the new car
• 38:44
  Speaker: volume into it for the year last
• 38:47
  Speaker: year.
• 38:47
  Speaker: So, so really there's some great figures there and they are
• 38:51
  Speaker: continuing to buy and expand and grow out there.
• 38:53
  Speaker: So we'll just continue to see that that growth.
• 38:57
  Speaker: But heading over to AM online and this is that lookers has
• 39:01
  Speaker: posted a fifty eight point five million profit boost as
• 39:07
  Speaker: efficiency drive pays off.
• 39:09
  Speaker: And this is saying that they've
• 39:10
  Speaker: reported a thirty three point
• 39:13
  Speaker: nine percent increase in pre-tax
• 39:15
  Speaker: profit during the year twenty
• 39:16
  Speaker: twenty five, as cost savings
• 39:18
  Speaker: from its post acquisition
• 39:20
  Speaker: efficiency program helped offset
• 39:23
  Speaker: continued pressure on the new
• 39:25
  Speaker: and used margins across the
• 39:27
  Speaker: sector.
• 39:27
  Speaker: Now, obviously, they're coming from a fairly low base point in
• 39:32
  Speaker: terms of performance because they've had a lot of challenges,
• 39:35
  Speaker: but I suppose it's great to see lookers back in in good profit.
• 39:39
  Speaker: Yeah, definitely.
• 39:40
  Speaker: And you know, another major
• 39:42
  Speaker: group number five in the a m one
• 39:44
  Speaker: hundred.
• 39:45
  Speaker: And this is actually for the
• 39:46
  Speaker: same period as the Arnold Clark
• 39:48
  Speaker: results.
• 39:48
  Speaker: So to the end of December last year.
• 39:51
  Speaker: And what they're really calling out is the efficiencies that
• 39:55
  Speaker: they've achieved over the course of the year.
• 39:59
  Speaker: So following the takeover of the group by um, Global Automotive
• 40:04
  Speaker: Holdings, uh, The group launched a major efficiency program that
• 40:10
  Speaker: we reported about this in over the course of twenty twenty
• 40:14
  Speaker: three and twenty twenty four, because it resulted in
• 40:17
  Speaker: redundancies as it sought to simplify the business and reduce
• 40:22
  Speaker: its cost base.
• 40:23
  Speaker: But it looks as though this is actually paying dividends now,
• 40:27
  Speaker: in that the company said operational efficiency and cost
• 40:32
  Speaker: savings initiatives reduced underlying operating costs by
• 40:37
  Speaker: fourteen point six million pounds during the year.
• 40:40
  Speaker: So that's that's a pretty
• 40:42
  Speaker: impressive saving for for last
• 40:45
  Speaker: year.
• 40:45
  Speaker: It is.
• 40:45
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 40:46
  Speaker: And I know there will be listeners to this morning's
• 40:49
  Speaker: podcast that know a little bit more about what's going on
• 40:51
  Speaker: within the, the structure of, of lookers in relation to the,
• 40:55
  Speaker: their parent company with global auto group and the way the
• 40:59
  Speaker: finances are arranged.
• 41:02
  Speaker: So but it's not really covered in this story.
• 41:06
  Speaker: So I'm sure that we might see a
• 41:08
  Speaker: little bit more of that going
• 41:10
  Speaker: forward.
• 41:10
  Speaker: But we have got a final story, uh, today and it relates to the
• 41:16
  Speaker: football and the weather.
• 41:18
  Speaker: Um, that's been happening across the sector over recent months.
• 41:23
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 41:23
  Speaker: There were, as listeners will have noticed, we've gone from
• 41:27
  Speaker: heatwave to heatwave in a way that we haven't done since
• 41:30
  Speaker: nineteen seventy six.
• 41:31
  Speaker: There you go.
• 41:32
  Speaker: I've mentioned it again, Phil.
• 41:35
  Speaker: Um, but I was fascinated by this story.
• 41:38
  Speaker: So it was covered in, um motor trade news under the headline of
• 41:42
  Speaker: used vehicles sector needs to adapt to heatwaves.
• 41:46
  Speaker: Um says the Vehicle Remarketing Association.
• 41:49
  Speaker: So this actually came out of a
• 41:51
  Speaker: meeting that you hosted
• 41:53
  Speaker: recently.
• 41:54
  Speaker: Um Phil didn't it.
• 41:55
  Speaker: And really sort of focusing in on something that was affecting
• 42:00
  Speaker: everyone in the room because, uh, you know, it's not it's not
• 42:04
  Speaker: just dealers, but it's also the auction houses that are being
• 42:08
  Speaker: affected by the, the, these back to back heat waves.
• 42:12
  Speaker: And it's not just trade radio podcast either, as we.
• 42:14
  Speaker: Yeah, exactly.
• 42:15
  Speaker: These these heat waves.
• 42:17
  Speaker: No, I think, you know, what was,
• 42:18
  Speaker: what was clear in terms of some
• 42:20
  Speaker: of the conversations across the
• 42:22
  Speaker: the day was at the AGM that we
• 42:24
  Speaker: had, um, recently, but, you
• 42:27
  Speaker: know, we've had these heat
• 42:29
  Speaker: waves, the UK is not ready for
• 42:31
  Speaker: it.
• 42:31
  Speaker: You know, whether that's, you
• 42:33
  Speaker: know, in work environment or
• 42:34
  Speaker: home domestic environment, we're
• 42:36
  Speaker: not, we're not really set up,
• 42:38
  Speaker: but there was lots of
• 42:39
  Speaker: conversations around, you know,
• 42:40
  Speaker: the, the temperatures in, in
• 42:42
  Speaker: cars, somebody cited that they,
• 42:45
  Speaker: they saw a forty nine degrees
• 42:48
  Speaker: temperature in a vehicle that
• 42:50
  Speaker: was parked up in one of their
• 42:53
  Speaker: locations.
• 42:54
  Speaker: And, you know, when you dig into
• 42:55
  Speaker: it a little bit, you know, it's,
• 42:57
  Speaker: it's these vehicles are sat
• 42:58
  Speaker: there in these, uh, in compounds
• 43:00
  Speaker: or wherever they are across the
• 43:03
  Speaker: whole ecosystem of the, the, the
• 43:05
  Speaker: remarketing sector that, you
• 43:07
  Speaker: know, people are trying to move
• 43:08
  Speaker: these vehicles.
• 43:09
  Speaker: They're struggling to start them because of that heat that
• 43:12
  Speaker: they've been sat in or, you know, just generally it's a
• 43:15
  Speaker: little bit more difficult when you're, you're trying to get
• 43:17
  Speaker: into a vehicle that's sat in thirty, thirty five degree heat
• 43:21
  Speaker: for the last four hours.
• 43:22
  Speaker: It's a little bit hot in those, those vehicles.
• 43:25
  Speaker: And then, you know, generally people are a little bit more
• 43:29
  Speaker: lethargic in general in that sort of work environment.
• 43:33
  Speaker: Plus, the challenges that we
• 43:35
  Speaker: talked about was, you know, that
• 43:36
  Speaker: balloting, you know, when you
• 43:38
  Speaker: put in US patent protection or
• 43:41
  Speaker: polish on vehicles, that the
• 43:43
  Speaker: heat is the temperature just
• 43:45
  Speaker: driving these vehicles far too
• 43:47
  Speaker: quickly.
• 43:48
  Speaker: Um, so we, you know, we had a
• 43:50
  Speaker: long discussion about some of
• 43:51
  Speaker: these challenges around the
• 43:53
  Speaker: sector that we're not really
• 43:54
  Speaker: geared up for these kind of
• 43:56
  Speaker: temperatures.
• 43:56
  Speaker: And it does, it affects, you know, Resource and efficiencies
• 44:02
  Speaker: across the network.
• 44:03
  Speaker: People not being able to get,
• 44:05
  Speaker: you know, because trains are
• 44:06
  Speaker: being cancelled and things like
• 44:07
  Speaker: this.
• 44:07
  Speaker: And, you know, you've got drivers that are trying to get
• 44:09
  Speaker: from A to B to move vehicles.
• 44:11
  Speaker: So yeah, it's something that
• 44:13
  Speaker: we've never really thought of
• 44:14
  Speaker: that's really hitting the
• 44:16
  Speaker: sector.
• 44:16
  Speaker: And it hits financially because of the efficiency side of it.
• 44:20
  Speaker: Yeah, definitely.
• 44:21
  Speaker: And I know we keep referring back to our chat with Steve
• 44:24
  Speaker: Young, but it's something we asked him about, you know,
• 44:27
  Speaker: whether or not the heat waves and indeed the football had a
• 44:31
  Speaker: negative impact on um customer inquiries and footfall.
• 44:36
  Speaker: But he said with footfall it
• 44:38
  Speaker: didn't because um they're in
• 44:41
  Speaker: quite a nice air conditioned
• 44:43
  Speaker: environment.
• 44:44
  Speaker: The site in Chiswick.
• 44:46
  Speaker: So customers if anything were spending a bit longer in the
• 44:50
  Speaker: dealership because it was nice and cool there.
• 44:52
  Speaker: Yeah, I sat in a cinema watching the football.
• 44:55
  Speaker: Yes.
• 44:56
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 44:57
  Speaker: So yeah, I think, you know, essentially I think it's on a
• 45:00
  Speaker: very serious note.
• 45:01
  Speaker: I think these three heat waves
• 45:03
  Speaker: that we've had now, I think that
• 45:05
  Speaker: they they've they've blurred
• 45:07
  Speaker: into one.
• 45:08
  Speaker: Yes.
• 45:08
  Speaker: Well, yeah, I mean, they do talk, but I don't think we've
• 45:11
  Speaker: had that softening of the weather have we.
• 45:12
  Speaker: But I think it's a serious topic that's hitting, you know, in
• 45:17
  Speaker: general away from obviously global CO2 and things like this.
• 45:21
  Speaker: But actually, you know, from an efficiency and a cost
• 45:24
  Speaker: perspective, um, it is playing straight through and, you know,
• 45:28
  Speaker: we've got to now start to think about, you know, from a
• 45:30
  Speaker: marketing perspective, if these heat waves are going to continue
• 45:34
  Speaker: now going, going forward, um, for other reasons, then how do
• 45:38
  Speaker: we accommodate it?
• 45:39
  Speaker: How do we look at changing
• 45:41
  Speaker: systems and processes to, to
• 45:43
  Speaker: accommodate this?
• 45:45
  Speaker: And the cars need to display
• 45:46
  Speaker: temperatures higher than forty
• 45:47
  Speaker: nine degrees.
• 45:48
  Speaker: Because I think there was an indication that some of these
• 45:51
  Speaker: vehicles were actually topping out at forty nine degrees, that
• 45:55
  Speaker: they couldn't go any higher.
• 45:57
  Speaker: yeah.
• 45:58
  Speaker: So yeah, it's a big, big question.
• 46:00
  Speaker: Yeah, definitely.
• 46:01
  Speaker: So. Well, we've covered a lot of
• 46:02
  Speaker: ground this week haven't we
• 46:03
  Speaker: Phil?
• 46:04
  Speaker: We have.
• 46:04
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 46:05
  Speaker: But nobody's got anything better to do this weekend have they.
• 46:07
  Speaker: These days you know.
• 46:07
  Speaker: So uh yeah.
• 46:09
  Speaker: But yeah, everyone's got a bit of spare time this weekend.
• 46:15
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 46:15
  Speaker: Now listen to us.
• 46:17
  Speaker: I sat in the garden.
• 46:18
  Speaker: In the shade.
• 46:18
  Speaker: Yes.
• 46:19
  Speaker: Which I think is where you're heading off to after this.
• 46:21
  Speaker: After this?
• 46:22
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 46:23
  Speaker: I'm going to sit under the apple tree in the shade and just try
• 46:26
  Speaker: and cool down a bit.
• 46:27
  Speaker: So, uh, but that is really all for now.
• 46:29
  Speaker: So many thanks to you for
• 46:30
  Speaker: listening to this Motor Trade
• 46:32
  Speaker: radio podcast.
• 46:33
  Speaker: Until next weekend.
• 46:34
  Speaker: It's goodbye from me and it's goodbye from him.
• 46:40
  Speaker: Thank you for listening to the Motor Trade Radio podcast
• 46:43
  Speaker: powered by Cazoo.