WELCOME.

Seems an awfully long time ago now, but during those weird months of 2020 that consisted of enforced lockdowns, watching daytime television, Joe Wicks and Captain Tom, Car Dealer carried on throughout. We knew that dealers were just as confused and as worried about the future as we were, which is why we launched our Car Dealer Live series – live interviews with the great and the good of the motor trade and car industry.

Every single day, we’d go live to James Baggott’s kitchen or me sitting on my yellow velvet sofa to hear how everyone was getting on, and the interviews quickly became a highly popular thing.

Nearly three years on from the start of lockdown (yes, really), Car Dealer Live is still enormously popular. From interviewing the big chiefs to exposing fake car dealers, we put an awful lot of time and effort into them.

For 2023, though, we thought we’d make Car Dealer Live a major event in the flesh as well. On March 9, we’ll be at the British Motor Museum in Gaydon, taking over some of the venue’s fantastic conference rooms, laying out a couple of hundred chairs, constructing a stage and bringing along some amazing guests.

The theme of our first Car Dealer Live conference is, rather appropriately, the future of the car dealer. Since we started the Car Dealer Live series, we’ve seen how much the motor trade has had to adapt, and we thought it might be good to hear how it’s likely to change over the next few years. So, we’ve got some of the most passionate, interesting and knowledgeable faces in the business to give their thoughts on what’s going to happen.

You can find a full programme of events and details of the speakers on pages 6 to 9 of this magazine. I really do hope it’s something that you’ll support and, more importantly, that you’ll go with something new. At the time of writing and putting this issue of the magazine to bed, threequarters of the tickets had been sold, with the remaining spaces going quickly. Tickets can be bought at cardealerlive.co.uk.

Elsewhere in this magazine, we take a look at the amazing rise of Motorway, have a poke around Land Rover’s new showroom in Mayfair and feature all the latest news.

I hope to see you at Car Dealer Live either in person or via our web stream, and if you’re at the event in Gaydon, please do come and say hello.

Enjoy the magazine.

JAMES BATCHELOR Associate editor