Car Dealer Magazine: Issue 50

Issue 50 | May 2012 | CarDealerMag.co.uk | £3.50

special

th issue 50th Anniversaries

50 Motoring Moments

We chat to two dealers celebrating 50 years in business

Landmarks that shaped the motoring world

50 Year Fight

Five decades of Ford vs Vauxhall in the sales charts

£50 Car Challenge We take on telly’s test Mike Brewer in our la charity challenge

ALSO INSIDE

Park Life

ing How Kia is transform a car park into a new dealership

Join Car Dealer Club by visiting CarDealerClub.com Members get free legal advice worth £195 for a £34.99 subscription

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IGNITION.

Editorial Director James Baggott james@blackballmedia.co.uk Twitter: @CarDealerEd STAFF WRITER James Batchelor james.batchelor@blackballmedia.co.uk Twitter: @jrrbatchelor Sub Editor Dave Brown dave@blackballmedia.co.uk Twitter: @CarDealerDave ADVERTISING Manager Duncan Chappell duncan@blackballmedia.co.uk Twitter: @CarDealerAds Advertising EXECUTIVE Jade Simmonds jade@blackballmedia.co.uk Twitter: @CarDealerJade Car Dealer Club sales Executive Natasha Smith natasha@blackballmedia.co.uk Twitter: @CarDealerTash

Contributors Mike Jones, Big Mike, James Litton, Tim Naylor, Tim Smith, Martin Hill, Tim Heavisides and Jonathan Such

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wants Welcome. toEverybody be number one – and

that’s never more true than in the motor industry. Competition really is the name of the game. Whether that’s between salesmen on your showroom floor, between you and the dealer principals in your group or the next dealership down the road, everybody wants to be the winner. And when it comes to car manufacturers, the desire to be the best reaches fever pitch.

The new car sales charts have long been dominated by two names. For decades Ford and Vauxhall have fought tooth and nail to be the biggest selling brands in the UK. Back in the 70s it was the Cortina and Viva fighting for customers and today the battle rages on with the diminutive Fiesta and Corsa vying for the number one spot.

Unfortunately for the Luton contingent, the Blue Oval has won every battle quite comfortably. But still it’s made for some interesting war stories along the way. In this issue – our 50th – we’ve charted the bitter battle by looking at the cars that were on the frontline and the people who were drafted to sell them.

CHARITY CHALLENGE As you’ve probably guessed there’s a 50th theme to our issue. Another highlight is our new charity challenge to raise money for BEN. Many of you told me how much you enjoyed reading about the trials and tribulations we encountered as we tried to trade up to a Porsche 911 for the automotive industry charity.

Last month we finally sold that car – for a £2,100 profit

no less – and thanks to some helpful industry contacts we raised £11,995 for BEN. You can read about that on p55.

On the pages after that you’ll also see how we managed to secure two cars for £50 to kick off our latest challenge. This time it’s us versus Mr Wheeler Dealer Mike Brewer to see who can raise the most for BEN in 12 issues. As you can imagine I’ll need all the help I can get, so if you can lend a hand please get in touch. iPad edition This issue also marks a milestone for Car Dealer as it’s the first one available on the iPad. Well, it will be if Apple play ball and get it live in time. If you’re not reading this on your fruit based tablet device, head to the iTunes store and search for ‘Car Dealer Magazine’ – if all has gone well, by the time you read this you should be able to download it.

The App has been developed bespoke for us by App Creatives and offers access to the magazine and multimedia elements too. This page, for example, has a video embedded in it which shows a behind the scenes look at the photoshoot for our cover feature.

The App is free to download and every issue will be free to download each month too. We hope you enjoy it and I’d love to hear your feedback on what you like and dislike about it. My contact details are up there on the left, and iPad users can click my face to email me directly.

I hope you enjoy the issue in printed or digital form!

James Baggott, Editor

CarDealerClub.com Free iPhone App Free legal advice for members, p32

Thousands have got it. Do you?

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 03

PAINT AND FABRIC PROTECTION

Tried and tested in the real world

t The UK market leader for over 22 years t Endorsed by over 20 car manufacturers and 75 car dealer groups t Continually testing and developing products to work specifically on motor vehicles t Free on-site training from our local Business Development Managers t Our world class products are guaranteed to boost your profit potential Supagard Limited 19-27 Gavinton Street, Muirend, Glasgow G44 3EF Tel: 0141 633 5933. Fax: 0141 637 7219

www.supagard.co.uk

Join Car Dealer Club by visiting CarDealerClub.com Members get free legal advice worth £195 for a £34.99 subscription

40

INSIDE.

ford v vauxhall The 50-year fight

ISSUE 50 I May 2012

dashboard

60

50 milestones Key motoring events

66

park life

Kia’s amazing new dealer

Seriously?

What the hell is this thing? This Clio is BASIC

24

New sports car will be built in Britain

08

Car Dealer Power update

09

Trevor Finn interview

12

Mitsubishi dealer boss

16

Why Tesco Cars failed

17

Made in Britain

18

That Was The Month

21

Kia’s Philpott back in the UK

24

Finance

26

Around The World

28

Seward sites saved

29

Big Mike

31

Car Dealer Club

32

forecourt

‘‘ new jaguar f-type

Grab a Lead Generation place

Brewer on the car he has to make a profit on

56

Seat Ibiza

34

Porsche 911

36

VW Beetle

37

Audi A1 Sportback

38

VW Passat BlueMotion

38

features Ford vs Vauxhall

40

50th Anniversary Dealers

52

911 for 2011 – The Result

55

The £50 Car Challenge

56

50 Motoring Milestones

60

Central Car Auctions Insight

65

Kia’s Car Park Dealership

66

DATA FILE

36

new 911

We try new Porsche

a month in A picture...

Rockingham very kindly offered us the use of their amazing facilities for our cover shoot. It’s an incredible place – but usually benefits from its own microclimate, often resulting in sub-zero temperatures and hurricanes.

But this time it was a glorious day, baking the asphalt and melting the bits of tyre rubber strewn across the track. It was so beautiful we even managed to have a McDonald’s lunch on the start finish straight.

Top Tips: Car Buying Cycle

78

Right Click

81

Auctions

82

Net Gains

83

Shares

84

Long Term: Kia Rio

85

The Statistics with Motors.co.uk

87

Suppliers Guide with James Batchelor 90 Trader Directory with Trader Tales 92 CarDealerMag.co.uk | 05

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Call 0844 573 7591 or visit carcareplan.co.uk

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feedback.

Your comments via email at james@blackballmedia.co.uk | From our website at CarDealerMag.co.uk | And from Twitter: Follow @CarDealerEd

Tesco Cars closes for good bit.ly/TescoCarsShuts I wonder why they couldn’t generate enough leads from the Club Card data? Clearly, there are millions of good quality car buyers there. But [the article] is probably true, not helped by the Euro area worries at the end of last year. In November and December, everyone’s sales were slow because of this. Really, there needs to be a successful internet model out there somewhere… ahem.

Ling Valentine, via CarDealerMag.co.uk The ‘mole’ appears to have a bad experience of working for Tesco which is unusual, as I know folk who work for them and that’s certainly not what they say. Tesco is at a turning point in the history, a company posting £3bn can hardly be described as ‘struggling’!

Joe Smith, via CarDealerMag I think that people still like to buy cars from other people. Plus there are a great many influences in a car purchase decision. Tesco thought that cars could be sold like white goods, but didn’t understand that while some people buy cars that way, for many other people, ego, prestige in its different forms, family and many other intangible things influence the deal. The internet is a great place to sell cars, but the human interaction is still important at some point.

Neill Watson, via CarDealerMag I really did think the Tesco Cars venture would work. It was a good idea and something the rest of the industry should learn from. It seems a lack of stock killed it, not the concept of selling cars online.

Jack Tweeny, via CarDealerMag

twitter comments

What does Twitter think of the closure of Tesco Cars?

My mind says that the toe in the water approach is what doomed Tesco. When do they ever do things by half?

Via @racreport Not sure why they thought it was going to work. They didn’t bring anything new really.

Via @UKCarNut Interesting post. I know a lot of people who don’t like Club Card due to the data mining.

Via @neillwatson Interesting story and obviously we ALL wanted to know. Keep up the good work :)

Via @Specialistcars1 I’d be interested to know who the mole is, bet they weren’t on site every day...

Via @cyclonetog

Honda MD congratulates Car Dealer

I have just read through the whole magazine (on a plane to Japan) and just wanted to congratulate your team on an excellent edition, and to yourself

Plenty of ppl touted #TescoCars as the ‘new thing’ in car retailing at the time but I for one had my doubts.

Via @ashpron I believe motor traders all around the land predicted this outcome, some gleefully, some pragmatically. It just couldn’t work.

Via @solentmotorcars Never really saw what Tesco cars could bring to the table. Sounded more like brand leverage than something they’d be good at

Via @Andy__Bruce

in getting through 14 interviews in one day!

All very interesting and well balanced.

Dave Hodgetts, via email Read our report on Tesco Cars shutting up shop on p17

MY CONFESSION

Losing my rag won me the sale In response to the VW sales guy that lost it in last month’s mag...

You know those customers that never make up their mind. ‘Oh I like the red, but then the blue is nice too’ or ‘Well I could do with an estate, but I really want a convertible’. The kind of customers that come in every Saturday for three months and still haven’t bought a car.

Well, I had one, let’s call him Mr I Don’t Know for now. He would visit the showroom every Saturday at about 11am to look at the 3 Series coupe.

Each time he came in, he would have a different magazine with him, pages folded down at the corners and scribbles on the cover. He was a tool.

I had been very patient with Mr I Don’t Know for

two months now, letting him drive five different cars.

We had been down the finance route more than six times and got the monthly payment right each time – this was draining to say the least. Anyway, Saturday morning, and in he strolls, right on time. ‘Hello Mr I Don’t Know,’ I said. ‘How are you?’

‘Ah, I’m OK thanks, I’ve come to look at the 5 Series,’ he said.

‘What? I thought you wanted a 3 Series?’ I replied. I sat back in my chair and put my head in my hands. ‘Are you OK? Shall we go for a drive?’ he asked. I lost it, never before had I shouted at a customer, but he got the full force of my temper.

‘You come in here every Saturday, you drive bloody cars, you drink the free coffee, we do

the deal, you sit and ponder with your stupid magazines, we do a better deal, you ponder more, we throw in more bloody extras, you tell me what Auto f@@king Express say about the car, you say you’ll think about it then you walk out. That’s how it goes. I can’t do it anymore, it’s not me, it’s you!

You will never buy a car!’

With that, he pulled his wallet out and gingerly said: ‘I’ll buy the one I drove first please, that’s the right car for me.’ I snatched the Switch card out of his hand and literally ran to the sales office to get the card machine shouting over my shoulder ‘Good choice, you won’t regret it.’

I’m not saying this method will always work, but it seemed to this time!

RB, Liverpool CarDealerMag.co.uk | 07

DASHBOARD.

Heavisides

warranty wonders Contact Advantage’s Bob Feltham spoke at our Profit Clinic – now the firm is to attend our next event too

The three-year warranty: Are its days really over?

T

here’s been some talk recently about the death of the three-year warranty as a few manufacturers move to extend their cover to four or five years. I think it’s a little premature to predict a wholesale move to longer warranty durations, however.

There’s a danger that longer warranty durations become a bit of a double-edged sword for manufacturers and for dealers, especially if consumers face restrictions in terms of where and when they get their car serviced to comply with cover terms and conditions. And with warranty service rates significantly lower than walk-in retail rates, some networks could find themselves losing out on substantial revenue opportunities too.

On the face of it, longer warranties are great news for buyers but with most vehicle ownership cycles restricted to three years, customers are wary about cover that lasts longer than they’ll actually need.

Clearly for some buyers, the lure of a long warranty helps with the perception of quality but wear and tear items still tend not to be covered, which could lead to customer disappointment. The demise of a couple of manufacturers in recent years also suggests that regardless of duration, some customers could be left high and dry if a brand is unable to follow through on future cover and customers can’t make a claim.

It also seems that extending manufacturer warranty periods could be a very expensive way of supporting retail sales. While some brands have tried to emulate the success of some of the Korean manufacturers, their retail sales rates haven’t significantly increased with the introduction of longer warranties; retail sales might have remained stable but registrations don’t seem to have rocketed as a result of extending cover.

So the jury’s still out. Extending warranty periods seems to cost manufacturers money, could cause dealers to lose out on retail repair work and doesn’t necessarily increase retail sales volumes. A pointless exercise, then? Not entirely – it’s a great way to back up claims of new vehicle quality and to provide buyers with reassurance that their pride and joy is built to last.

But the end of the three-year warranty as we know it? I’m not so sure.

‘Extending warranty periods could cause dealers to lose out on retail repair work.’

Who is Tim Heavisides?

Heavisides is CEO of Car Care Plan, the UK’s leading provider of motor warranty and GAP products.

08 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

Still time to grab a free place at our event Come along, hear our speakers and take home some brilliant ideas!

S

paces at our Lead Generation event being held in assocation with Razsor are being snapped up – but there are still a few free spots left to grab.

The event – being held at the Heritage Motor Museum at Gaydon on May 18 – will see delegates given hints and tips on how to make the most of the leads they get into their dealerships.

We can now announce even more speakers lined up to impart their advice to delegates too. Joining the line up are Contact Advantage – a firm which spoke at our Profit Clinic event in December and went down very well with the attendees – and online advertising portal Motors.co.uk.

That takes the speaker count to seven.

Headline sponsors Raszor will explain the importance of the web to generating leads, trade-to-trade portal Autotrade-mail. com will talk about how they can help you generate more profit from part exchanges, while search giants Google, MediaHawk and C It Now are also on the bill.

Not only will delegates get the chance to hear from our exciting band of speakers,

GET INVOLVED THERE are still ways suppliers to the motor trade can get involved in our Lead Generation event. We have spaces for stands in the exhibition area still available and there’s also the option of adding marketing material and gifts to the goodie bags handed out to all delegates. Call the Car Dealer team on (023) 9252 2434 or email james@blackballmedia.co.uk.

but there’s also a chance to win an iPad on the day in our free prize draw, enjoy a free buffet lunch and look around the amazing collection of cars at the Motor Museum.

The event starts at 9.30am with coffee, then delegates will hear from our speakers.

Once the presentations are over and the great ideas absorbed, the iPad draw will be made, then lunch will be served and delegates will be free to chat to the speakers further in the exhibition area – several other lead generation firms will be displaying their wares in this area and delegates will have the chance to chat to these firms too.

We expect the event to wrap up around 2pm and you’ll be free to spend the afternoon exploring the museum.

Also attending our event will be former Inchcape marketing director Allen Scott who will be explaining how lead generation helped his former dealer group during his reign. His expertise in this sector will be extremely insightful.

The event follows Car Dealer’s successful Profit Clinic, which was held in December, and was attended by more than 100 dealers, one of whom was Darren Williams, MD of Grants Seat who said he gained a lot by attending.

‘If the Profit Clinic was anything to go by, this Lead Generation event will be very worthwhile for anyone attending,’ he said.

Registration to the event is open now. To book a delegate’s place, which is completely FREE of charge, simply email the editor at james@blackballmedia.co.uk – he will confirm that you’ve secured a place and joining instructions will be sent out nearer the time.

Jeep’s Compass falters bit.ly/CompassNCAP

Car Dealer Power’s taking off!

Have you taken time to fill in our survey yet?

E

ntries are flooding in for the Car Dealer Power Awards 2012 as dealers across the country are taking the chance to tell it like it is.

Car Dealer Power – this year supported by G3 Glasscoat – are the only awards voted for by the people that matter most – you, the dealers.

And this year we’re giving dealers the chance to celebrate even more of the very best companies that help them do business.

Survey entries are being buoyed on by the range of fantastic prizes on offer to respondents. Up for grabs is an Alfa Romeo Stradale Touring Bike worth £540, a Red Bull team shirt signed by drivers Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, five pairs of tickets to this year’s Cholmondeley Pageant of Power, a box of Armor All Cleaning Kit, and a pair of tickets to the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu that’s currently showing the fantastic Bond in Motion exhibition.

Now in its third year, Car Dealer Power aims

in association with G3 GLasscoat

to find the best car manufacturer in the UK to represent by quizzing its dealers about how it performs on a variety of levels.

Last year, Seat just pipped the previous year’s winners, Nissan, to the top spot and will be looking to retain the title once again.

For 2012, we’re giving even more prominence to the suppliers that support dealers on a daily basis too. We’ve split a number of the categories up to give the smaller firms more of a chance of recognition in these important awards.

We want you to rate the firms you use in all manner of areas of your business so we can celebrate the very best – and invite them to our special Car Dealer Power Awards night to be held in July.

Car Dealer Power is 100 per cent confidential too. We don’t even ask for your name, only your mobile phone number and this is only used to inform winners of our prize draw that they’ve won. If you don’t want to include your number, that’s fine – it just excludes you from the prize draw.

We want to know the good and bad things about what it’s like to represent your car manufacturer, so please feel free to give the most honest opinions possible. Car makers take our survey very seriously and a number have implemented changes to their processes directly off the back of comments made in previous years’ surveys.

Filling in Car Dealer Power shouldn’t take longer than a few minutes. You can do it by visiting CarDealerPower.com and fill out the online version of the survey.

Your search ends here.

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 09

Now available on ipad free app download free subscription interactive content Search for ‘Car Dealer Magazine’ in the iTunes store*

*At the time of going to press our App was with Apple waiting for approval. If by the time you read this it isn’t live

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How Kia is transforming a car park into a new dealership

continue to search during April. Check CarDealerMag.co.uk for updates as to when the App has gone live

INTERVIEW.

Trevor Finn From service technician to boss of the biggest dealer group in the UK, Finn has been there and done the lot.

Here, he tells James Batchelor what makes him tick

T

revor Finn would be the first man to agree his early life was successful. He rose to the top of his game in the 1980s and has been heading up the UK’s number one dealer group ever since.

Finn started his life in the industry at the tender age of 15. He began as an apprentice mechanic at a BMW dealership, and that kick-started a career that still hasn’t finished.

‘I found that job a young man’s game,’ remarks Finn. ‘In those days it was more manual than it is today, and I quite enjoyed it. The ability to dismantle something and assemble it again stays with you for the rest of your life, even if you’re assembling a business or disassembling a business to find out how it works. It shows you there is an order to how things work and there is a practical application to everything.’

After being a technician, Finn moved on ‘what would today be called a straightforward transition’ to sales advisor, service manager, sales manager and then general manager.

But, in Finn’s words, life has taken a slower pace for the last two decades.

‘When I was 25, I was a general manager of a BMW dealership – and a young general manager at that, something which may not be possible these days,’ he explains. ‘The company I was working for then changed hands, became part of another group, and I then met the chairman of the company.

‘He was 35 and when you’re 25, someone who’s 35 is old, even though at 35 he was young to be chairman of a public company.

We got on well and really hit it off, and over the course of the next five years we added more dealerships to the group’s original number of two. This was in 1989 and we formed Pendragon, and I became CEO at 27.’

The importance of sitting in the CEO’s chair was not lost on Finn, however. He admits he ‘played down his age’ but also adds he never had visions of reaching the top.

‘Starting out at the bottom helps out with

12 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

credibility. It helps out in the sense that if I go into a workshop, I can shake hands with a technician and there’s some community there that I’ve been there and seen it.

‘But I didn’t really have ideas of getting to the top. When I started I didn’t know how it works. When you’re a young person you don’t understand how business works – you have an idea that things happen, but it takes time to simulate what you have learnt. I did have an idea though, that once I was in the industry, there was more to it.’

And more to it there certainly was.

Pendragon PLC currently has 245 franchises with Stratstone, Evans Halshaw, the truck and van retailer Chatfields, parts wholesale business Quickco, and dealer software provider Pinewood all under its rather large umbrella. To be in charge of such a group requires a management style – and a focused one at that.

‘If you are running a single dealership, you could be running five single teams of three to five people,’ says Finn. ‘When you get 18 dealerships, you physically don’t reside anywhere. I really remember in 1982 when one of the guys who was with the company I worked for took me to a waterfront restaurant in Hull. He said to me that we were going to buy some more dealerships, and he wanted me to run them.

‘I asked a question which, looking back, was a really breakout question. I asked: Where will I work?

‘You see, there is a point where you move from working at a place – such as a single dealership – to in effect being self-contained.

‘‘

Having been brought up as a mechanic, the concept of not going to work at the same place every day was a strange one.

‘You end up, over a period of years, letting go and letting go. You release the practicalities and detail of what you would have done to other people.

‘That’s my management style – making sure I have people around me who are thinking the way I’d think so I can let go.’

Finn never stops learning, either. He says that he has to ‘stop, pause, and concentrate to understand something new’ and that Pendragon’s graduate programme helps him to keep in touch.

‘Unlike many other businesses, we do things upside down with our graduates.

When a graduate joins, they do not start at the bottom and work upwards, rather they start with me for a year. That’s not only interesting for them, but also good for me – it allows me to keep in touch with things relevant to the younger generation.’

For a man’s career that has no chance of slowing down, surely choosing his most or least proud moment is a hard thing?

‘No, it’s quite simple really,’ remarks Finn. ‘They are the same moment – but a second apart from each other. Finding ourselves in financial difficulty in November 2008 is my least proud thing. But saving the business and putting it right is certainly my proudest moment in my career.’

And one thing’s quite clear after a chat with Finn – he may have been at the top for a while, but he’s certainly not looking to take a step back any time soon. [CD]

Finding ourselves in financial difficulty in November 2008 is my least proud thing. But saving the business and putting it right is certainly my proudest moment.

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 13

DASHBOARD.

Mason

CRAcKING THE CODE

Helping direct business to committed, quality firms

L

ast month I mentioned that 70 per cent of all visits to the Motor Codes website came via search engines – significant considering around 50,000 people each month visit the site.

Still, this isn’t a back-patting exercise but about directing business to committed, quality garages.

The most active subscribers see our website as a freeto-use marketing tool, to complement any in-house and manufacturer programmes.

The main feature of the site is a postcode-driven garage finder and this attracts a high level of traffic.

Through some simple use of SEO, drawing on location, individual garages can raise the stakes and widen exposure by pulling in people outside of the Motor Codes website – those searching on Google, for example.

By taking some very simple steps, profile pages will appear higher up the Google rankings, maximising the chance of attracting new business.

Very simply, search engines provide answers to questions. A motorist’s search engine question (or query) may be to find out about local garages – where is best to get their vehicle serviced or repaired.

While there will always be many locally irrelevant results for generalised queries like ‘good garages’ and ‘garage reviews’, research shows that these ‘short tail’ queries actually make up less than a third of all searches performed.

Far more common are ‘long tail’ queries – the sort that actually resemble questions – ‘Volkswagen garage Brighton’, ‘Vauxhall garage Southampton’. Targeting them with carefully-written website or profile page copy can pay dividends.

Consider the more detailed search queries when completing your Motor Codes profile page. Put yourself in the motorist’s shoes and consider what keywords you would type into a search engine.

Last year’s refresh of the Motor Codes website focused on localised marketing. We’ve grouped our subscribers geographically, directing motorists to ‘trusted local garages’.

Why not take a few minutes to review your Motor Codes content?

‘Very simply, search engines provide answers to questions.’

Who is Chris Mason?

Mason is managing director at Motor Codes, the government-backed, self-regulatory body for the motor industry.

16 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

It’s good to have the shackles released from Mitsubishi New MD of Colt Car Retail group talks exclusively to us

T

he new managing director of Colt Car Retail, the Mitsubishi dealership group, has spoken of his high hopes for the company.

Simon Moulton officially began his new job on April 2. That was when VT Holdings took possession of the business, which has Mitsubishi showrooms across the south of England, in towns such as Melksham, Wiltshire and Reading, Berkshire.

The group of 11 dealerships, which up until now has been manufacturer-owned, was sold to Japan-based VT Holdings in a deal that was ‘too good to turn down,’ according to Mitsubishi MD Lance Bradley.

Moulton has plenty of Mitsubishi experience, having run four Mitsubishi dealerships for the Southgate Group, which fell victim to the recession and called in the administrators last year. He then joined the Colt Car Retail Group last November.

Moulton told Car Dealer: ‘I’d only been on board for three months when I was told of the VT Holdings takeover and that they were keen to recruit someone domestically – a UK-based director. My title in Southgate Group was operations director on the Mitsubishi side so the next step up is obviously MD. It was the role I’d probably aspired to in my former life and it’s great to have finally landed it.’

Moulton said 156 people were employed at Colt Car Retail but wouldn’t be drawn when asked about possible changes to staff numbers. He told us: ‘There are some really great people there. I’m excited to be working with them. VT Holdings have got

a tremendous pedigree in Japan for turning businesses around.

‘It’s nice to have the shackles released of being manufacturer-owned and with some of the sites, we’ll be able to do some of the things that you can’t do when you’re owned by a manufacturer. Maybe other franchises will come in, but that’s probably a way down the line.

‘The important thing at the moment is to look at the structure of the sites and get them working as we, Mitsubishi and VT Holdings would want them to work.’

Even without the addition of other marques, Moulton is convinced the future is bright: ‘I think there is a tremendous opportunity with Mitsubishi. We’re anticipating some quite exciting products coming in the next 12 to 18 months. The L200 pick-up will remain strong and that should see us through until we get some of the new products.

‘What’s interesting about VT is that this is their first venture into the European automotive market so it might be the start of much greater things. For the people in the Colt Retail Group it’s a really exciting time to be taken over.’

new dealer RED Rose Garage has become the latest dealer to join Mitsubishi Motors’ dealer network. The latest addition to Mitsubishi’s 115 strong nationwide dealer network will provide Mitsubishi sales, service and parts for the Birmingham area.

Gillian Hamer, dealer principal for Red Rose Garage, said: ‘We are extremely excited about the future.’

New home for Harratts bit.ly/Harrattshome

Why Tesco shut up shop James Baggott gets the exclusive story on why the supermarket giant’s venture into the used car business dramatically failed from an insider

O

ne of the team behind the Tesco Cars launch has spoken out exclusively to Car Dealer as to why he thinks the venture failed. A ‘lack of supply’ was an obvious problem, explained our mole, but more serious than that was the fact consumers simply weren’t buying the cars.

‘There clearly were not enough customers,’ said our source. ‘At the back end of last year Tesco were selling just 150 cars a month. Well, when it was Carsite it was 125 cars a month so the Tesco branding was hardly helping to sell more cars was it?’

Tesco bought into existing car supermarket Carsite when it launched in April 2010 and rebranded the site. It offered used car sales to the public online with customers offered test drives at a special ‘fulfilment centre’.

Our source added: ‘The original goal was a five year plan and within three years they wanted to be as big as Car Craft selling 40,000 cars a year. Well, look at the numbers they were doing and it was clear they weren’t going to get anywhere near that.’

Tesco Cars blamed supply issues as its main reason for shutting up shop. A statement on its website read: ‘Following a review of the business model we and Carsite, our partner, have decided that we cannot offer customers a satisfactory range of vehicles and as a result, have decided it is right to close the business.’

Our source said supply was a problem before the Tesco branding was even put in place. Stock was supposed to come from lease companies and from charity Motability, but both avenues presented problems.

‘It’s clear supply of cars was a problem,’ said our source. ‘Leaseplan were giving them a few cars here and there – but they were boring Fords and Vauxhalls, not the sort of cars you’d want to be selling in any great numbers, or could sell in any great numbers.

‘Then there’s Motability – they were annoyed with Carsite before they even became Tesco Cars. Motability is a charity and they have to get the best prices for their cars, but they deal in hundreds of thousands of cars and have great relationships with dealers via MFL Direct – maybe they got fed up with the hassle?’

WRITING ON THE WALL Our source said the writing was on the wall for Tesco Cars at the end of last year when it made staff redundant – on Christmas Eve! And when they couldn’t get any leads from Tesco’s holy grail – its Club Card members – then it was only a

CLOSURE

SUPERMARKET giant Tesco decided to close its used car operation at the start of April after only 12 months of trading.

Car Dealer was the first to reveal the news that Tesco had partnered with Carsite to create the service this time last year. And in November 2011 the service won the car supermarket category in the Car Dealer Ewards as voted for by our panel of experts.

However, after just a year of business the supermarket firm decided to shut the operation down.

A statement on the firm’s website read: ‘We started Tesco Cars in good faith and we always aim to do a good job for customers.

‘However, following a review of the business

matter of time before the site closed.

‘I know they got access to the Club Card data, but even that didn’t help them sell more cars,’ explained our man on the inside.

‘Perhaps when they realised that, Tesco pulled the plug.

‘I also know there were a lot of changes at board level. The guys driving the Tesco Cars brand along were moved to other parts of the business, which weren’t doing well and that says a lot.

Tesco is really struggling at the moment – they can’t seem to sell food in the UK, so why bother with cars?’

So does this mean the door has been closed on other supermarkets venturing into selling

model, we and Carsite, our partner, have decided that we cannot offer customers a satisfactory range of vehicles and as a result, have decided it is right to close the business.’

Customers were told to contact Tesco Cars’ customer services hotline for further information, and, if Tesco Cars were unable to fulfil customers’ orders, they would be refunded their deposits in full.

The business started trading in April 2011 and allowed customers to find their car online, secure it with a £99 deposit, then receive a full RAC report with video and photo gallery. If the customer was happy they could collect it or have it delivered to their home for just £149.

cars? Well, our man said that although it makes a lot of sense selling cars to their customers when supermarkets also offer finance and insurance, the fact they’re complicated sales makes it very tough.

Our man added: ‘Supermarkets really should stick to selling food. I can’t see any of the others doing it now either – there really will be no interest there.

‘The investment Tesco made into cars was small fry compared to what they spend on other things. It was a toe in the water for them and one that didn’t work. With other parts of the business struggling perhaps they thought it was time to cut their losses…’ [CD] CarDealerMag.co.uk | 17

INTERVIEW.

Made in Britain

Who said manufacturing in the UK was dead?

Certainly not Nissan, reports Dave Brown

I

t’s a widely-held belief that the heyday of manufacturing in the UK is long gone. And while that may be true to some extent, it’s certainly not the whole picture – as British car-manufacturing plants are proving. In fact, the car industry is certainly doing its bit to drag UK plc away from the threat of a second recession.

One such success story is Nissan’s Sunderland factory, currently churning out close on half a million cars a year.

Observers might dismiss the Japanese firm’s contribution to the British economy simply because of its Far Eastern heritage. But to do that would be to ignore the efforts of the thousands of men and women who have helped make it so successful within our shores.

In 2011 the Sunderland plant made a total of 480,485 vehicles, dwarfing the 2010 total of 423,262, which itself was the first time any UK car plant had ever made more than 400,000 cars in a single year.

Demand for the Qashqai and Juke meant the plant exceeded that previous record on November 16. November itself was a record month for the plant with 46,606 vehicles made – the highest monthly total in the plant’s history.

Unquestionably then, a huge success story for Nissan and the north-east of England. But what does it mean for the firm’s dealer network? And does the company shout loudly enough about the success of its Sunderland operation?

We put that question to Jim Wright, the company’s GB managing director.

He told us: ‘When I was with NMGB before, we were building Primeras and Micras. At that point customers didn’t really care so much. I think maybe Qashqai has changed that.

‘And we do actually shout about it quite a bit – we created a lot of noise over the millionth Qashqai. We’re going to start building LEAF and we’ve created a lot of noise over that as well.

‘I think the fact that Invitation is also going to be built in Sunderland is an illustration of the confidence that the company has in NMUK. It’s the biggest car plant in the country now with three shifts a day, six days a week, and they’re working really really hard.’

18 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

FACTORY

A special thank you Car Dealer caught up with Darren Cox, general manager for Nissan Europe, at the Rising Sunderland event. He told us: ‘This event is simply a chance for us on the sales and marketing side to say thank you to the factory. It’s the most efficient in Europe, a real success story.

‘And of course at the heart of everything we do is the customer. Our dealer network can be confident that we’re producing quality cars and that we are building the brand. We do things differently at Nissan.’

Today’s UK arm of Nissan is of course a far cry from the humble beginnings of the mid-80s. In fact it was in September 1986 that Margaret Thatcher, at the peak of her prime ministerial powers, visited Sunderland to officially open the factory.

One of those present on that day was Trevor Mann, below right, who had joined the company the year before. Mann has since enjoyed a long and distinguished career with Nissan, culminating in being awarded the CBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours at the start of 2012 for his services to business in north-east England.

He has now risen to the position of senior vice president, global supply chain management and operating committee, Africa, Middle East and India – but he remembers Mrs Thatcher’s visit very clearly: ‘I remember her walking down the line I was working on and explaining a few things to her. It was a very exciting day.

‘To think that we would ever be as big as we have become is quite phenomenal.’

He’s in no doubt that Nissan owes its success to some tremendous teamwork.

And he added: ‘It’s easy to say, we’re successful, we’re making more than 400,000 cars a year, we’ve got a successful product, but we’ve got all that for a reason: We’ve worked hard for it and we deserve it. We’ve got to keep doing those things.’

FIRST DRIVE

Piloting the Juke R up Lord March’s drive

JIM WRIGHT

We grab five minutes with Nissan’s MD Could you tell us a little bit about Invitation and what it’s going to mean to the Nissan network? It arrives in the second half of next year. It will be able to compete right in the heart of B segment, so to be very explicit, against Fiesta. It will give us something that’s new in comparison to what we have today and something that’s also very fresh-looking. It will give the dealers a different customer base.

What sort of numbers do you expect for it? North of 15,000 is a reasonable expectation.

If the car takes off then it’s simply a question of how many the company will allocate the GB market. The issue with cars that are coming out of Sunderland at the moment is our ability to get capacity. In Europe this year we’ll sell 700,000 cars – 70,000 more cars than the previous year.

Next year the volume will probably be the same.

Sunderland is at maximum capacity. My job involves making sure we get the right amount of supply. We could sell more cars than we have, particularly Qashqai. If Invitation is a success,

which I think it will be, then we’re probably going to be in the same position again.

It must be a little bit frustrating both for yourself and the dealers if you can sell more cars than you can get hold of?

It’s part of my job to make sure that NMGB’s voice is heard and I’m using every lever at my disposal to try to make sure that we are getting the allocation we can sell.

How will you continue the success of Juke when there are rivals planning similar models? We created the crossover segment. The car industry is competitive by its nature. It never gets any easier, so it’s important to show that you are innovative, and that you are constantly making sure that you’ve got something that’s fresh and something that’s different. The difference between Nissan today and Nissan five years ago is that we are first in some of these markets and I think the consumer is recognising that.

I must admit if I had a nice long drive in front of my house, like Lord March, I wouldn’t get much work done. The temptation to hoon up and down and scare the milkman in anything with an engine would just be too much to ignore.

Thankfully, I don’t have that problem – so an invite to apply some rubber to the Goodwood estate’s well wheel-trodden hill climb is always welcome.

Last month the media day for Goodwood’s 2012 motoring events – the Festival of Speed and the Revival – was held.

It’s a chance for Lord March to ramp up the excitement surrounding the two events and a good opportunity for the media to get behind the wheel of some new metal from the supporting manufacturers.

Fortunately I was looking forward to one helluva ride. Nissan had offered a last-minute spin up the hill in one of only two Juke Rs in the world. For those of you that aren’t in the know, this is basically the love child of a Juke/GT-R one night stand – and the right genes made it across into the offspring.

Under the matt black Juke bodywork is the running gear and engine from the GT-R. The 3.8-litre, 485bhp twin turbo charged engine has been squeezed into the Juke’s bodywork, the four-wheel drive carried across and it’s got the performance to match. Foot to the floor and 60mph arrives in around three seconds.

The mad project was conceived as a marketing exercise by Nissan GB’s former MD Paul Willcox who, when he took up his new post in Europe, gave it the green light. Costing £250,000 each the pair were designed and built in the UK by RML – one left-hand and one right-hand drive. The latter is for exclusive use in the UK. So what’s it like to drive? Well, the 1.16-mile Lord March drive was never going to be long enough to get a real feel for this amazing car, but first impressions were staggering. The Juke R handles all that power remarkably well, transferring it into forward thrust with no drama, much like the bigger GT-R does.

There was just enough time to savour the whoosh of the turbos on the start straight as the hay bales and trees quickly melted into a summery soup of colour. It’s just a shame these two marketing models are all we’re ever likely to see. There’s very little chance we’ll ever get a production run model. The cost and build time would make it very difficult to justify – especially when a GT-R can be had for circa £70k.

JAMES BAGGOTT CarDealerMag.co.uk | 19

DASHBOARD.

That Was The Week – our roundups are posted online on Fridays CarDealerMagazine.co.uk

The month, digested We keep an eye on the motoring must-knows so you don’t have to.

Here’s what’s been happening in the auto industry this month

MARCH 12-16 THE Volkswagen Group announced that sales revenue grew 25.6 per cent to €159.3bn (£132.1bn) and operating profit rose by more than half to €11.3 billion (£9.3bn) in 2011.

Jaguar Land Rover created 1,000 new jobs at its Halewood Operations manufacturing facility, near Liverpool. The new positions, which will support the ongoing significant demand for the Range Rover Evoque and Land Rover Freelander 2, take the workforce at Halewood to almost 4,500 – treble the number employed there just three years ago.

For the fourth year in succession, Welsh dealership, David Taylor Garages Ltd, of Crickhowell, Powys, won the annual ‘Isuzu Dealer of the Year’ title.

Mitsubishi announced the appointment of Canterbury Mitsubishi and Red Rose garage to its network (p16).

Ford will preview this summer’s blockbuster film The Sweeney by showing off its new Focus ST at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Seat gave its sport Leon FR+ an aggressive sports body kit. Called FR+ Supercopa, the car is styled by Seat Sport and prices start at £22,530.

MARCH 19-23 THE PEEL P50 returned. The 1960s three-wheeled microcar returned to the market with the help of an £80k investment from the BBC TV show Dragons’ Den – but it now sports a zero-emission electric motor, allowing a top speed of 8mph and a 15-mile driving range.

German firm Daimler launched its Car2go Smart car sharing scheme in Birmingham. A total of 250 Smart Fortwos will be available to use within a 30-mile zone within the city.

Aston Martin launched a new brand centre in London. Called W-One, the centre is more than a showroom – it’s a ‘luxury boutique’ and a place where brand aficionados will ‘feel at home’.

Kia’s Zilina factory in Slovakia reported record growth. The facility produced more than 252,000 cars and 359,000 engines in 2011.

Jaguar Land Rover will build cars in China. The company has signed a deal with manufacturing firm Chery to take advantage of blossoming JLR sales in the country.

Ford’s super-green Fiesta ECOnetic went on sale. The Ford supermini can return more than 85mpg and emits 89g/km of CO2.

MARCH 26-30 GREAT WALL priced up its Steed pick-up. When it goes on sale later this year through Great Wall’s 40 dealers, it’ll cost £13,998, and will be the lowest

Clockwise: Seat’s twitter buyer; Kia’s Zilina plant; JLR; the Citroen C1

TESCO TRAUMA

Story of the month SUPERMARKET giant Tesco has decided to close its Tesco Cars business, after only 12 months of trading. We revealed the news that Tesco had partnered with Carsite to create the service this time last year. And in November 2011 the service won the car supermarket category in the Car Dealer Ewards. But one year on the supermarket firm has decided to close the operation. Full story p17

priced double-cab pick-up in the UK. Vauxhall will offer all Ampera owners a British Gas Home Charging solution, which will include the installation of a home charge point, threeyear warranty on parts and labour, and three-year Home Electrical Care. Prices start from £799.

Citroen’s refreshed supermini the C1 went on sale with the range starting at £7,995. The rangetopping five-door VTR+ is priced at £10,545.

Skoda UK announced Alasdair Stewart will take over as brand director on May 1, replacing Robert Hazelwood.

A Seat dealer harnessed the power of social media to transact almost an entire new car deal exclusively on Twitter. Grants Seat carried out

the entire sales process through a series of tweets.

Order books opened for Renault’s updated Twingo 133. The baby Renaultsport model is priced from £13,565 – and it’s now more fuel efficient and kinder to the environment.

The Infiniti M35h became even more appealing to fleet buyers. The world’s fastest hybrid saloon now emits 159g/km of CO2 – a saving of around £180 in tax.

APRIL 2-5 FORD HANDED over a Focus to one lucky competition winner. The firm’s ‘Win a Car’ competition on its recently-launched UK Facebook page generated more than 30,000 entries in 48 hours, and since the page’s launch in November last year, it has seen more than 70,000 people become fans.

Spanish brand Seat confirmed its Mii threedoor city car costs from £7,845 and is available for ordering. The range tops out at £10,390 for the Mii SE 74bhp DSG version.

Dealer group Jardine Motors has announced it has acquired three Toyota dealerships from Lookers plc – as Car Dealer revealed last month.

The average price of a used car in the UK has fallen 1.5 per cent since January to an average of £9,376, says figures published by UsedCarExpert.co.uk. [CD] CarDealerMag.co.uk | 21

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Philpott back in UK Kia chief takes up president and CEO role

K

ia’s Paul Philpott is to return to the UK to take the position of president and chief executive officer of Kia Motors UK and Ireland. Currently chief operating officer of Kia Motors Europe in Frankfurt, he is returning to the UK to take up the role. It’s the first time a non-Korean has been appointed to such a role at any Kia subsidiary in Europe.

Philpott, 45, was managing director of Kia Motors (UK) Limited from 2007, until he moved to Frankfurt in 2009 and will return to the Weybridge base from the start of July this year.

Brandon Yea, president of Kia Motors Europe, said: ‘The Kia brand is now Europe’s fastest growing thanks to Paul Philpott and he knows very well that we are determined to strengthen local management at all our subsidiary companies in order to become a truly global automotive organisation.’

Philpott added: ‘I am very sad to leave an excellent team at KME but I am truly excited by the task I have been asked to undertake. Of course I am very happy to be moving back to the UK and

to have the chance to work again with an excellent team and some of the best dealers in Europe.

‘With Michael Cole and everyone at Weybridge, I look forward to putting Kia right into the top rank of premium volume manufacturers in the UK and helping to ensure our dealers and customers will have an ever-improving experience with Kia.’ Michael Cole, Kia Motors (UK) managing director, added: ‘Having worked with Paul in the past at Toyota and having succeeded him in this role in the UK I am delighted that he is coming back to help us continue the major task of taking Kia to our longer-term vision of 100,000 sales per year in the UK. ‘Paul’s understanding of the relationship between manufacturer and dealer network is unrivalled and his efforts to construct a strong, aspirational and attractive business proposition for our partners can only contribute positively to the remarkable growth we have enjoyed in the UK. ‘I know that all of our staff and every one of our dealers in the UK will be delighted to see him back here and I am certain that his knowledge and skills will take us to new heights in the UK new car market.’

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24 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

SPORTS CAR

Jaguar’s F-Type: The car we’ve all been waiting for JAGUAR has unveiled an all new sports car and in a double bonus have said it will be built at its Castle Bromwich plant.

The new car – called F-Type – took centre stage on Jaguar’s stand at the New York Motor Show, and engineering prototypes are already leaving the firm’s UK plant.

The F-Type will launch as a convertible and is expected to go on sale in 2013, with more details being announced later this year.

A range of petrol engines will be available – including a ‘new powerplant family’.

Ian Callum, director of design, said: ‘A true sports car needs to be pure in both its purpose and its form; to have the opportunity to produce such a car for Jaguar has been a privilege both for myself and for my team.’

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FINANCE. MG MOTOR UK

GMAC is preferred provider MG MOTOR UK has announced it has appointed GMAC UK plc, a subsidiary of Ally Financial Inc., as its preferred wholesale financing provider for the British marque’s dealerships.

This expands on the existing preferred retail financing relationship between the two companies established last year.

Guy Jones, sales and marketing director of MG Motor UK, said: ‘We chose GMAC as our preferred provider for wholesale and retail financing following a rigorous selection process. GMAC has demonstrated its leadership in the market with attractive financing offerings and high levels of service. The relationship with GMAC will be very beneficial as we seek to broaden our product line and increase sales in the UK.’ Ed Paulat, GMAC UK managing director, said: ‘Following a successful initial cooperation for retail financing, it is a logical step to add a competitive wholesale financing programme for MG dealers.

‘We are a full-service provider and see the potential as the MG brand expands in the UK market.’

Fraudsters selling cars they haven’t finished paying for ‘Conversion fraud’ is on the increase, according to latest figures from FLA

S

elling a car you do not yet own is the most common type of car fraud, according to figures released by the Finance and Leasing Association.

‘Conversion fraud’ – where motorists sell cars they do not own – accounted for almost 40 per cent of all car finance frauds in the last three months of 2011.

This represented around a 10 per cent increase in this type of fraud over the same period in the previous year.

If you buy a car on finance, you are not the legal owner of that car until you have made all the payments.

Until that point, the finance company owns the car, and you are the registered keeper.

If you sell the car, you are committing fraud, as you are selling property that is not yours.

Motor finance fraud cases overall fell by two per cent in 2011 compared with 2012.

The value of motor fraud cases also fell in

‘‘

Motorists could land in trouble by selling vehicles they don’t own

We are telling car finance companies about their rights and how to protect themselves.

2011 to £13.6m, down by seven per cent on 2010. There were a total of 197 cases of motor finance fraud in the last quarter of 2011, and 815 over the year as a whole.

FLA member finance companies prevented around 7,400 cases of attempted fraud in 2011. This avoided £95m of fraudulent deals, which helps keep finance costs down for car buyers.

Paul Harrison, the FLA’s head of motor finance, said: ‘While it may be tempting to sell your car if you are in financial difficulties, if you do so without speaking to your finance company first then you may be classified as a fraudster.

‘It’s important that the owner of the car – the finance company – knows who is driving that car at all times, as required under the terms and conditions of a credit agreement.

‘As part of this week’s third annual Car Crime Awareness campaign, we are telling car finance customers about their rights and how to protect themselves against being the victim of fraud – or inadvertently committing fraud.’

Almost two thirds of people buying a new car use dealer finance GOOD deals meant that 64.5 per cent of people buying a new car used dealer finance to make their purchase in the year to February 2012. This is a record figure from the Finance & Leasing Association whose latest stats revealed that sales of new cars were up by 15 per cent in February compared

with February 2011. The figures also showed a rise in the number of people buying used cars using dealer finance, up nine per cent in February on the same month a year earlier.

All three of the main types of dealer finance were up on February 2011’s figures. Leasing continued to show the

highest growth – up 50 per cent – but still makes up less than 10 per cent of the new car finance market. The most popular finance product is PCP, accounting for around 60 per cent of the new car finance market. HP remains the most popular product in the used car market.

Valuing Service – Valuing You! First Response Finance is the first choice for the UK’s small to medium sized dealer market.

26 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

..in association with

DEAL FINDER Latest finance deals on city cars VW UP VOLKSWAGEN has big plans to shake up the city car market and has introduced its Up, initially as a three-door and later this year as a five-door.

It’s the first of the VW Group threesome to arrive in the UK, and already the German firm has slapped a finance deal on the Take Up version with the 1.0-litre, 58bhp engine.

A deposit of £2,335.58 is required to begin the deal along with an acceptance fee of £125.

Thirty-five monthly payments of £79 at 7.9 per cent APR follow, and if

the customer wants to keep the car, an optional final payment of £3,998.80 is charged along with a £60 purchase fee.

It means the total amount payable by the customer is £9,096.38.

A surprising reaction ow would you define success for your business in today’s UK car market?

This is a question I often ask dealers when I meet them for the first time and rather surprisingly it stops many of them dead in their tracks.

Some will stall for time and ask why I’m asking while others will try to bounce the question straight back at me with a challenging: ‘How would YOU define it?’

I’ve come to realise that both these reactions suggest these dealers wouldn’t have expected to get this kind of question from their own finance company, never mind an outsider like me.

This is a shameful reflection of the poor standard of conversations that take place between car dealers and their finance providers nowadays.

I suppose the well-worn image of an average ‘finance rep’ wandering through the showroom, making small-talk with everyone on their way to your office and then spending the 20 minutes that follow chatting about the weekend football results, the bad weather and or his / her next holiday probably isn’t very far from the truth.

Many dealers tell me that it has been a long time since their finance partners asked them what they could do to help achieve their business goals. Most say that their finance company would perhaps struggle to explain what objectives they wanted to achieve.

Maybe this is what makes First Response Finance different because my follow-on question is usually: ‘How can we help you make your definition of business success a reality for you?’

By the way: If you thought the silence was overwhelming after my first question you can probably guess how pin-droppingly quiet it becomes after this second one. Why not call and ask us how we can help you achieve your business goals?

‘Others will bounce the question straight back at me.’

ownership of the car, customers must put down a final amount of £2,468, which brings the total amount payable to £8,184.

TOYOTA AYGO ONE firm that is all too well aware of Volkswagen’s re-entry into the city car sector is Toyota.

Along with its sister cars – the Peugeot 107 and Citroen C1 – the Toyota Aygo has undergone some revisions, most notable of which is the new front-end which boasts a cleaner new look and day running lights.

But it’s not just the looks that are attractive either. Toyota is allowing customers to choose how much they want to spend on financing their Aygo. But the default deal is also tempting, too.

A customer deposit of £1,783.60 is required followed by 35 monthly payments

time is money

H

SUZUKI ALTO ONE of the cars Volkswagen is trying to compete with is the Suzuki Alto.

It’s been on the market for a while now and has established itself as a car loved by customers, due to its affordability and individual looks.

To keep interest lively in the car, Suzuki has put a tempting finance deal on the model.

Available on the SZ2, customers can start their finance deal by putting down a low deposit of £466 followed by 42 monthly payments of £125 at 7.77 per cent APR. Then, in order to secure

Meldrum

of £119 at zero per cent APR. An optional final payment of £3,686.40 secures the car, bringing the total amount payable to £9,635.

Who is Jim Meldrum?

Jim is regional sales manager for First Response Finance. Call him on 07917 460 111 or email Jimm@frfl.co.uk

Tel: 0844 8730819 Web: www.frfl.co.uk CarDealerMag.co.uk | 27

dashboard.

Around the world

USA

DEALERS made an average of $23 (£14) for every new car they sold in 2011, according to the country’s National Automobile Dealers’ Association. The recession is to blame, apparently, as more and more Americans are not trading in their old cars for new ones.

Dealer news from somewhere other than here WASHINGTON

THE Federal Trade Commission is targeting five dealers who have supposedly promised to pay off customers’ outstanding debts on cars. In their advertising, the five dealers gave the impression they would pay off any debts – but investigators have found that the dealers simply moved the debts into a new car loan.

ABU DHABI

USED car dealers are reportedly being forced off Abu Dhabi island and told to set up shop in a brand new complex called Motor World. Dealers are faced with profits being slashed by 50 per cent this year as the new complex’s rates are more expensive. The reason for the move is to free up more residential parking on the island, as dealers are currently using residents’ spaces to display their stock.

CHINA

China is reporting its worst start to a year of car sales for seven years as a slowing economy and high fuel prices hit the market hard. This year, sales in the world’s largest car market are running two per cent down – the worst decline since 2005.

And manufacturers such as Volkswagen and General Motors are really taking a hit in China as new legislation favouring home-made brands is coming into force.

JAPAN

NEW car sales are on the up in Japan with 497,959 cars sold in March – an increase of 78 per cent year-on-year according to the Japan Automobile Dealers’ Association.

The strong gains contrast to 12 months ago when Japan was devastated by the tsunami and earthquake. Toyota’s sales doubled in its domestic market; Nissan was up 78 per cent, and Honda was up by 55 per cent.

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Toyota reveals GT86 specifications bit.ly/GT86specs

Seward buyer found Jobs saved as dealer group bought by Eden

S

cores of jobs have been safeguarded with the sale of a major car dealership in East Dorset by administrators Smith & Williamson. Eden (GM) Ltd has acquired the assets and two retail sites of Seward (Wessex) Ltd, where more than 135 people are employed, for an undisclosed seven-figure sum.

The businesses are to be known as Eden Branksome and Eden Christchurch with immediate effect.

Greg Palfrey and Stephen Adshead, from the South Coast office of accountancy group Smith & Williamson, were appointed joint administrators of Seward (Wessex) on February 21 to manage the company’s affairs, business and property after the business ran into financial difficulties.

They successfully traded the firm as a going concern for four weeks while a buyer was found, with sales and servicing continuing as normal.

Palfrey, who heads up Smith & Williamson’s restructuring and recovery services for the regions, said: ‘We always felt confident a buyer would come

forward because Seward (Wessex) was a strong brand with many qualities and opportunities.

‘The two motor dealerships at Poole Road, Branksome, Poole, and 20 Bailey Drive, Christchurch, have been transferred to Eden (GM) Ltd, which also acquired the assets. This deal, put together in a tight timeframe, means the jobs of more than 135 people are thankfully safeguarded.

‘I wish to publicly thank the staff at Seward (Wessex) for their outstanding professionalism during what was, understandably, an anxious and uncertain time for their families and themselves.

‘Our decision to wind down two economically unviable sites in Blandford and Grange Road, Christchurch, with the regrettable loss of 46 jobs overall, ensured that the core business of Seward (Wessex) could be saved. We wish Eden Motor Group every success.’

Eden, established in 2008, operates retail centres in Reading, Newbury, Fareham, Exeter and Honiton, as well as a Vauxhall and Ford aftersales centre in Bracknell.

Graeme Potts, managing director and owner of Eden (GM), said: ‘This is an exciting time for Eden and we thank Greg and his team for everything they have done.’

ELECTRIC

Peugeot and Citroen slash prices of EVs PEUGEOT and Citroen have announced prices of its EV cars have been slashed in an attempt to make them more affordable.

Both the all-electric Peugeot iOn, below, and Citroen C-Zero have been reduced by nearly £7k from £33,155 to £26,216. Once the £5k Government Plug-in car grant is added, prices fall to £21,216.

Unlike Nissan and its Leaf, Peugeot and Citroen lease their EVs to consumers over a three-year period. Now lease prices have been cut to £249 per month.

Meanwhile Citroen has announced it is to increase the number of specialist EV dealers in the UK. The network will rise from 11 to 21 with the additional 10 sites located in UK cities not covered by the original Citroen EV network. Peugeot says it will stick with its 23-strong network.

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big mike.

All Big Mike’s columns are on our website. Enjoy here bit.ly/bigmike

The apprentice, and a repair that didn’t go according to plan

D

rinking a pint of Banks’s finest as I settled in front of the TV news the other night, I watched with interest a bulletin about modern apprenticeships, and how they’re making a comeback.

The motor trade, apparently, is one of the biggest employers of apprentices in the UK. Indeed, it always has been.

Back in the days before you could watch a television in colour, I too was an apprentice. Without my apprenticeship, rather than earn a reasonably comfortable living out of buying, mending and selling cars, I may well have gone on to live a charmed life of Jeremy Kyle, Take a Break, Special Brew and council flats, such was the effort I made with my studies at school.

So in many respects, I’m eternally grateful. OK, so rather than kick back and relax my entire life, I’ve worked my nuts off – but I do have nice things to show for it. Like a pleasant house, a photo album of places I’ve visited, and some self-respect.

As a result of the opportunities my apprenticeship brought me, I’ve always felt it appropriate to pass on acts of kindness and generosity to the younger generations.

Through doing so I’ve made some good contacts.

On the whole, they’ve been bright, articulate and pleasant individuals and one of them, my sales manager, Jason, still works for me to this day – despite the fact he’s fast approaching 30. It’s 13 years since Jason and I first became acquainted.

At the time, I was in my final year working for a main Fiat dealership in the midlands as used car sales manager, just before I set up Big Mike’s used vehicle emporium and turned it into the Alan Sugar-esque empire it is today (hence my need for an apprentice, see…). It was a typical urban dealership, the middle bulk of a row of shops, with an apron forecourt out the front, a hairdresser’s on one side, and an off-licence on the other.

One of the jobs I gave Jason was to carry out minor repair jobs to cars we had coming through into the used side of the business. Being a Fiat franchise in that particular era, our main workshop was nearly always packed full with warranty work, so we tended to do the easy stuff ourselves.

My showroom colleagues had just taken a four-year

Big

mike Our man on the inside spills the beans on the car business...

old Punto in part-ex against the brand new model, and the car was considered good enough, just, to make its way onto my used forecourt, subject to the completion of a couple of jobs. These were pretty simple – a new pair of wiper blades, two front tyres and a good old polish and wax and the thing would look pretty neat.

I knew Jason could change a wheel after we’d tried the old ‘left-handed wheelbrace’ trick on him on the first week of his apprenticeship, so I handed the job over to him and set off for my regular Thursday auction visit, expecting to return three hours later to find the Punto lined up on the forecourt ready to sell.

Imagine my dismay, then, when I returned to see it exactly where I’d left it. Its slightly pinkish red paint was soaking up the sun’s rays as it basked in its own grime,

‘The car was considered good enough, just, to make its way onto my forecourt.’ worn front tyres clearly unreplaced.

Naturally, I was apoplectic with rage, especially when Jason tried to deny he’d not done the work, and indeed had spent a good two hours on the car, and could I not see how much better it looked?

At which point, I asked him to show me exactly what he meant by ‘better’. So he led me outside, and instead of over to the faded red Punto parked at the off-licence end of the forecourt, he took me to a blank parking space outside the hairdresser’s…

It was at this point that the penny dropped for both of us. Instead of sorting out the trade-in, young Jason had spent the entire afternoon fitting two new tyres and a new set of wiper blades to a red Punto belonging to a customer of Short ’n’ Curlies, before rounding off the service with a valet-quality mop and polish. It meant one extremely happy customer for the salon, and left both of us wanting to curl up and dye…

It did, however, give us great ammunition for the rest of Jason’s apprenticeship (and subsequent 13 years as my employee). An expert at giving cars a ‘haircut’, we also ensure he offers ‘finance on easy perms’ and advertises our cars as a ‘snip’…

Who is Big Mike?

Well, that would be telling. What we do know is he’s had 30 years in the car trade and picked up some seriously funny tales along the way.

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 31

helpdesk.

Join Car Dealer Club by visiting CarDealerClub.com Members get free legal advice worth £199 for a £34.99 annual subscription

Ask Lawgistics Car Dealer Club lawyers Lawgistics answer dealers’ legal questions.

Join for £34.99 a year to get advice like this when you need it

Q

I sometimes take in a car as a part exchange which, to be honest, I would prefer not to. However, when cash is tight for customers as well as myself I will take the car in to sell the better car.

I want to maximise my profit on that partexchange vehicle and I know that there will be problems with it sooner or later because it is getting worn out.

It would make virtually nothing at auction or selling to a trader so I want to sell it without comeback. Is there some wording I can use on my invoice to prevent the customer coming back with problems?

DS, Cumbria There is no ‘magic wand’ blanket disclaimer wording that will solve the problem you describe. Unfortunately for you there is that piece of law called the Sale of Goods Act which basically says if you sell something which looks like a car and does most things a car should do, then it has got to be of satisfactory quality and fit for its purpose. The further and further you have something which is less like a car eg no engine, no suspension, half a body shell etc., then the more you can get away with in saying to a customer it’s not a car.

However, of course, Mr and Mrs Smith actually want something to get from A to B safely and are not visiting a breaker’s yard. So, expressions on invoices such as ‘sold as seen’, ‘sold for spares’, ‘no warranties given or implied’ etc (which in fact are still commonly used) are not valid and

A

ADVICE

It’s a flaming nuisance Q. I have just checked my contract with my gas supply company and realise I am tied into the contract for another long period at inflated prices because it has a rollover clause. I thought these were outlawed. What is my position?

MK, Exeter A. Unfortunately many companies still operate these ‘rollover’ contracts. They cynically argue that they use them to avoid problems for their customers in ensuring renewals of contracts proceed with the minimum of fuss but in reality they are designed to lock you into a renewed contract, often at an inflated price.

A glimmer of good news is that Ofcom, which

in fact can lead to a prosecution for being terms that are seeking to take away the customer’s statutory rights. On a positive note, however, we can recommend two tips to help you with selling the cheaper cars.

Always put the car through an MOT at the time of sale. Don’t rely on ‘long MOTs’ because the bit of evidence you will want is that the car came up to the certain basic standards when you sold it.

The MOT will serve you well.

Check the car over. If the stereo doesn’t work and the customer is prepared to leave it or get

is the regulator for the telecoms businesses, has taken the lead in banning broadband and landline suppliers from issuing new rollover contracts from last December and those companies on existing rollover contracts must be offered alternative contracts by December 2012.

it sorted, then write on the invoice, ‘Stereo system inoperative,’ and get the customer to sign acceptance. Likewise for all the various other whistles and bells such as heated windows, fog lights, heated seats, cruise control, etc. The Sale of Goods Act allows you to agree these specific defects with the customer.

Also, of course, there may be advisories for the MOT. Don’t hide them away but let the customer know. Once the customer has accepted them then they can’t come back with complaints about these items.

What’s the best way to sell this car?

Q. A good customer of mine asked me if I would sell a car on his behalf which I am happy to do.

I would like to charge him something for my trouble. What’s the best way to sell it?

PL, Belfast A. There are three different ways to sell the car and the consequences of them are quite different.

In a sale or return arrangement, essentially the car remains in the ownership of the customer, but on your forecourt, and at the moment a customer buys the car, a contact instantly sells the car to you and on to that buyer.

To all intents and purposes the buyer has bought it from you, and will know no different.

The invoice will show your details as the seller

and the buyer’s details as the buyer.

The sale or return agreement should cover what you and the private seller expect from each other, ie, whether you will advertise the vehicle, valet, insure it etc, and of course how much you want to do all of that. It will also cover the ‘return’ part of the agreement, ie, how long you will continue to advertise it for sale and what you might charge if it doesn’t sell.

An alternative way of selling it would be to merely act as an agent of your good customer, disclose the fact to the new customer that it will be a private sale and then you take some commission for arranging the sale.

The person buying the car will not gain legal

Sale of Goods rights since it is a private sale.

As a third way, you could sell it as a private sale but you don’t tell the buyer who the private seller is. This is similar to auction sale arrangements.

In this way if the buyer has grounds for making a claim, eg, because of misrepresentation, they have the right to sue you whereas when the private seller is disclosed as in the second way they would be obliged to sue the private seller.

In all the above schemes, however, remember that you, as the person involved in the selling of the car, will be liable for offences of making misleading statements (by disclosure or not) and as such you can be liable under trading standards legislation. So, beware!

Let Lawgistics help you Lawgistics are extremely experienced when it comes to helping car dealers with legal matters. The firm has a reputation for assisting the motor trade with customer complaints, health and safety issues, trade-to-trade problems and much more.

To get advice like this (worth £199) join Car Dealer Club for just £34.99 per year. Sign up at CarDealerClub.com 32 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

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forecourt.

Peter Wyhinny

Seat’s UK managing director is cautious about the future, despite some excellent new models coming along and more dealers joining the network

How important is the new Ibiza to your dealer network?

It’s a very key car simply because it’s our biggest seller. Last year we sold just over 19,000 cars – so in terms of our dealers and of the brand, it is our number-one car. For this reason we’ve done the brave thing of giving it Seat’s future identity made up of a stronger road presence.

When we introduced the three body styles, we went from a 12,000-car seller to a 19,000 player – and we haven’t maxed-out yet; I think there is more growth to come from Ibiza. When we get the new Leon next year, we expect the same trend to occur.

What’s the reasoning behind bringing out an Ibiza ST FR? We’ve never done this before with the ST, and the FR diesel in threeand five-door is a key seller for us.

We think the ST FR fits perfectly with the brand and it will appeal to people who need that extra bit of space and who want handling and performance to go with it.

What’s the future looking like for Seat at the moment?

We’ve got some excellent and key products coming along. The Mii is a very important car for us as it marks a return to a segment we have been absent from since 2004/5.

34 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

‘‘

We get the three-door in May and the five-door in September/October. It’ll be a largely retail car and that will be great for our dealers. The Mii is followed by the new Toledo, a car that, putting the previous generation to one side, used to sell around 4,000 units a year. I’m confident that we can match those levels and that car will be arriving in the UK very late this year to January 2013. The product coming is like a jigsaw puzzle – it’s all fitting nicely together.

Is there going to be a sporty model of the Mii – such as a Mii FR? There is no planned FR but we will have a sporty derivative. I wouldn’t rule it out as I think it would fit nicely and I would like to have one. But our focus is getting the core Mii models out and taking it from there.

We’ve done the brave thing of giving it Seat’s future identity made up of a stronger road presence.

How are you doing sales-wise?

After the first two months of 2012, we’re ahead of where we were last year. Our order bank and our order take has been improving so we are in not a bad place at the moment. I think with the private consumer, if you have got a strong proposition, then there is money being spent. That is something

we are finding especially with our finance proposition; we have got some very affordable, well-specced products. There is an audience out there waiting to be engaged, though.

So, are you feeling confident about the year ahead?

I still think it is early days to see what the second half of the year presents. Because the market is confidence-based, it depends upon what is being talked about. If the media come out with a lot of negativity, it will put people off.

You have been opening many dealers recently. Are there plans to open more?

We’re at the most complete we’ve ever been.

Taking into account change of dealer ownerships, we’ve had around 21 new dealers taking us up to a 125-strong network. We’ve got some good traction and momentum at the moment with some big dealer groups taking franchises, and they are excited to be joining the network.

There should be some more dealers coming on board in 2012; our open points are still in the south and south-east. We have got Epsom, Guildford open, and we are talking to a number of interested parties about possible open points.

We have managed to fill Swansea – which was one of my biggest open points for a long time – and two players have taken that.

But it is all about finding the equation between cost. We do not go into things blindly – we need to have a plan.

themanual CABIN

Dials have been refreshed, glove compartment is bigger, portable sat-nav added, and the FR gets a flat-bottomed steering wheel. But dash still looks dated.

LOOKS

New head of design hasn’t ruined Luc Donckerwolke’s original design. The front boasts a sportier, more aggressive look. LEDs front and rear standard on FR models.

HANDLING

Agile characteristics carried over from the outgoing model – but so is the hard ride.

Seat Ibiza

the knowledge

Putting 2007 aside, the Ibiza has been Seat’s best-selling car since 1985. James Batchelor drives the latest version What is it?

Seat’s best-selling car worldwide and its most popular car in the UK has undergone a mid-life facelift. With the new Mii on its way, Seat wants to keep Ibiza’s 2011 sales of 19,179 units strong. So in comes a restyled nose, a freshened-up rear, new interior details, new alloys, eight new wheels, distinctive LED front and rear lights on FR models, and the FR range extended to the Ibiza estate – the ST.

What’s under the bonnet?

There’s a wide range of engines to suit. Petrol variants come in the form of a 1.2-litre 12V in 59bhp or 69bhp; a turbo-charged 1.2-litre TSI with 103bhp; an 84bhp 1.4-litre 16v; and a 148bhp turbo and supercharged 1.4-litre TSI. Meanwhile diesels include a 74bhp 1.2-litre and a supereco 92g/km 1.2-litre; a 104bhp 1.6; and a 142bhp 2.0-litre unit.

What’s the spec like?

What do the press think of it?

In contrast to the engines, trim levels are simpler. The three-door SC kicks off with the E 1.2-litre at £9,995 and comes with 15-inch steel wheels and an MP3-compatible radio and AUX input, and rises to £16,340 for the 2.0litre TDI FR. The five-door ranges from £11,430 for the S a/c to £16,840 for the 2.0-litre TDI FR, and £12,140-£17,080 covers the estate ST. The best-seller is predicted to be the five-door 1.4-litre SE at £12,495 which comes with 15inch alloys, air con, and cruise control.

Sporty Cupra comes later this year.

Honest John likes the new Ibiza, saying: ‘To my mind it offers the most practicality, the least pretentiousness, the nicest styling and the most sensible prices of the VW Polo clones,’ while Auto Express pointed out: ‘Seat’s styling department has done a great job updating the firm’s biggest selling model, and while it’s not the most distinctive car on the road, it’s certainly one of the more attractive in its class’.

What’s it like to drive?

What do we think of it?

Compared to the Volkswagen Polo and Skoda Fabia, customers would There was never anything wrong with really only have bought the Ibiza for the way the previous Ibiza drove – and its value for money. Now though, a this trait remains. Even base models light nip and tuck has done wonders are fun and precise to steer with good to the styling, and has made the body composure, while the sporty FR Ibiza a compelling proposition in the model only adds to the enjoyment. supermini sector.

Model: Seat Ibiza SE Price: £12,495 Engine: 1.4-litre, petrol Power: 84bhp, 132Nm Max speed: 110mph 0-60mph: 11.5s MPG (comb’d): 47.9 Emissions: 139g/km Residual values (three years): tbc

target buyers: Young males who value style; ST will appeal to family buyers.

the rivals: Ford Fiesta, Skoda Fabia, Kia Rio.

Key Selling Points: 1. Looks have been freshened-up.

2. Plenty to choose from.

3. As a child of the VW Group, it’s well screwed together.

Deal Clincher: Old model’s entry-level price of £9,995 remains unchanged.

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 35

forecourt. the knowledge Model: Porsche 911 Carrera S Price: From £81,242 Engine: 3.8-litre, 6cyl Power: 400bhp, 420Nm Max speed: 189mph 0-60mph: 4.3s MPG: 32.5 Emissions: 205g/km Residual values (three years): 60 per cent

target buyers: Affluent business men and women who want to make a statement as well as existing 911 owners.

the rivals: Audi R8, Mercedes SL, Aston Martin AM V8.

Key Selling Points: 1. It’s a completely new Porsche 911.

2. It’s still got the classic 911 shape.

3. It’s got space in the back for passengers when many rivals don’t.

Deal Clincher: It’s faster but yet more efficient than its predecessor.

Has Porsche improved on perfection with the latest 991 derivative of its classic 911 model? James Baggott finds out.

What is it?

What’s the spec like?

Meet the seventh generation 911, that’s really only the fourth. By that confusing sentence we mean this is the fourth all-new, under the body, sparkly new sports car from Porsche since time began. Probably. The classic look remains as does the rear boxer engine. But now it’s longer, lower and has a wider front track. Wheels have grown, the door mirrors moved to the door rather than the A pillar and it’s got a bigger sunroof. Oh, and a fussy badge on the boot.

The interior has been inspired by the Carrera GT and Panamera – and it shows. The instrument panel comes right down between the driver and passenger. It looks extremely smart and is easy to use. The display for the sat nav is now bigger, there’s twozone climate control and an electric parking brake. Lots of other kit is on the options list which buyers will take great pleasure in choosing. Some 90 per cent, for example, opt for the Bluetooth hands-free kit.

What do the press think of it?

What’s under the bonnet?

What’s it like to drive?

What do we think of it?

A choice! The Carrera comes with a smaller engine than the outgoing model, a 3.4-litre instead of a 3.6.

But the model that’s likely to be the best seller, the Carrera S, gets a bigger lump at 3.8 litres. Efficiency has been improved and the smaller unit is now under 200g/km. There’s a seven-speed gearbox to choose, but 75 per cent of buyers will opt for the self-shifting PDK. Both are excellent.

Incredible. Like the perfect roast dinner, improvements are often hard to find, but Porsche have managed it – again. The new 911 is outstanding.

Yes, the electric steering does ‘feel’ different, but it’s no real issue. In fact if they hadn’t even mentioned it, most people would never have known.

Performance is gob-smacking too – 60mph is achieved in 4.3 seconds and it’ll hit 189mph.

What’s not to like about the awesome new 911? Not much. If I had to have a moan it’d be about those fussy rear badges, but thankfully they’re a delete option. It’s faster than its predecessor, sounds incredible and makes you feel amazing. The looks have grown on us already and the options list will keep buyers, and dealers, smiling for quite some time yet. Another triumph.

Auto Express claim: ‘The new 911 is the most thorough reinvention of Porsche’s classic sports car ever.’ While MSN Cars said: ‘It’s hard to argue when a car company has managed to make its halo product range faster, more efficient and more luxurious – so in that respect the new Porsche is a triumph.’ Autoblog UK added: ‘It is such a step forward that it has got to go right to the top of the sports car class’.

Porsche 911 ENGINE

The more popular S model’s 3.8-litre unit is a peach. And ensure all buyers spec sports exhausts. They’re a must.

KIT

The standard equipment list is pretty impressive, but there’s plenty left on the options list to keep buyers entertained.

36 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

LOOKS

It looks different, but still retains that classic Porsche 911 shape – which is harder to do than it sounds.

themanual STYLING

TRIMS

Latest car has more of a ‘beetle-back’ but also has more aggressive lowered roofline.

In time, buyers will be able to choose from three models and personalise them.

INTERIOR

Gone are the previous car’s silly details such as flower vase and deep dash. They’ve been replaced by a more grown-up cabin.

VW Beetle

the knowledge

The Beetle is the most successful VW ever. But does the latest car continue the fairy tale? James Batchelor finds out.

What is it?

What’s the spec like?

This car hardly needs an introduction as it probably has the world’s most famous name and shape. What does need to be mentioned, however, is that this is an all-new car. Like its predecessor – the New Beetle of 1998, of which 68,000 were sold in the UK – it may share its underpinnings with the Golf, but it uses the more aggressive, less cutesy styling first shown on the 2005 Detroit Motor Show Ragster concept.

There are three to choose from.

‘Beetle’ comes with 16-inch steel wheels, semi-automatic air con, and hill-hold function with prices starting at £16,490, while ‘Sport’ – which features a gloss black dash, climate control, sports seats and 18-inch alloys – kicks in at £21,220. But, due to a shortage of build slots, customers can only choose the mid-range ‘Design’ trim level with the 1.4-litre TSI unit at the moment. It costs £19,475 and comes with a body-coloured spoiler, adorable retro 17-inch alloys, and an electronic differential lock.

What’s under the bonnet?

The Beetle comes in five engine variants: three petrol – a 1.2-litre TSI 104bhp, a 1.4-litre TSI 158bhp and a 2.0-litre TSI 198bhp. Diesels come in the form of a 104bhp 1.6-litre and a 138bhp 2.0-litre unit. The former is the most efficient in the Beetle range, emitting 112g/km of CO2 while returning an expected 65.7mpg.

However, for the moment, customers will only be able to buy the gutsy 1.4-litre TSI.

What’s it like to drive?

We had the chance to drive the 1.4litre Design model and also an early 1.2 TSI version with VW’s seven-speed DSG ‘box. While the 158bhp Design model is the faster version (for the moment), we preferred the 1.2 with DSG as it suits the relaxed character of the car. It’s a pleasure to drive with direct steering and good visibility.

What do the press think of it?

Auto Express said: ‘The funky design comes at the cost of some practicality, but the verve of this car will overcome that for many. It’s efficient, fast and enjoyable to drive, but is still much more about image than all-out fun.’

Autoblog UK said it’s a ‘massive improvement over the outgoing model’ and ‘can now at least keep in touch with the BMW Mini’.

What do we think of it?

Spec it right and customers will have a very convincing car that has the right amount of retro charm in a well-built, Golf-like package. There’s a brilliant range of accessories to choose from – Denim-blue paint and Fender sound pack are our favourites – and VW may finally have something that rivals the Mini. VW has got off on the wrong foot, though. By not making the complete range available, dealers are in a compromised position for a short while.

Model: Volkswagen Beetle Design Price: £19,475 Engine: 1.4-litre, turbo petrol Power: 158bhp, 240Nm Max speed: 129mph 0-60mph: 8.1s MPG (comb’d): 42.8 Emissions: 153g/km Residual values (three years): 37 per cent

target buyers: Mostly female buyers who prefer good design over practicality.

the rivals: Mini Cooper S, Citroen DS3, Vauxhall Astra GTC.

Key Selling Points: 1. More masculine looks are a throwback to the original.

2. Wide variety of personalisation options for that special touch.

3. Engines range from performance petrols to frugal diesels.

Deal Clincher: Larger, more practical, but no less charming than the Mini Cooper S. CarDealerMag.co.uk | 37

forecourt. the knowledge Model: A1 Sportback 1.4 TFSI Sport S Tronic Price: £19,560 as tested Engine: 1.4 litre petrol Power: 120bhp, 200Nm Max Speed: 126mph 0-60mph: 9.0s MPG (comb’d): 53.3 Emissions: 122g/km Residual values (three years): 47 per cent.

target buyers: Style-conscious individuals who are looking for an entry into the world of Audi.

the rivals:

Mini Cooper Clubman and that’s about all we can think of !

Key Selling Points:

1. Desirability.

2. Packed with technology.

3. Low running costs because of the efficiency of the engines.

Deal Clincher: An affordable way to get into an Audi.

themanual

Audi A1 Sportback

The most compact five-door ever is affordable and accessible. Duncan Chappell took one for a spin What is it?

The A1 Sportback is a combination of of quality, efficiency and technology all wrapped up in the most compact five-door ever. Adding to the huge 42-model line up, this little bit of Vorsprung durch Technik will make Audi even more accessible and broaden their customer base further.

What’s under the bonnet?

Some very clever and efficient units.

All bar one of the available engines are VED-free in year one too. There is a choice of two petrol engines starting with a 1.2 TFSI developing 85bhp and a 1.4 TFSI with 120bhp and topping out with 183bhp. There are two diesel engines: a 1.6 TDI with 104bhp and a 2.0 TDI pumping out 141bhp. Audi expects to sell more petrol than diesel.

What’s the spec like?

Prices start at just £13,980 with the usual suspects such as air con, alloys and alarm. We drove the 1.4 TFSI Sport priced at £16,475, optional extras including 17-inch wheels, Connectivity package (sat nav and Bluetooth etc) taking the OTR price to £19,560. There is a bunch of technology in this car.

What’s it like to drive?

The sport has a no cost delete option

of softer suspension, but we found it better to stick with the standard, stiffer set-up. This particular car had a few creaks and rattles, but all in all is a solid little thing. Although it is called the Sportback, don’t be fooled.

It isn’t that sporty at all. The 1.4 TFSI Sport that we drove was swift, but not the grown-up hot hatch that some people might think. If you want a fast A1, you would have to pay over £40k and buy a Quattro, but they’re all sold!

What do the press think of it?

Top Gear said: ‘You’re looking at a refined, cosseting, comfortable but ultimately uninvolving drive’. Auto Express added: ‘The Sportback is a worthy addition to the A1 line-up.’

What do we think?

In a nutshell, we think it is a good looking, well-built city car.

VW Passat BlueMotion VW’s BlueMotion technology is available on a lot of cars.

Now there’s a specific Passat model. James Batchelor reports What is it?

This is what happens when Volkswagen go all out to build the most efficient Passat possible. It’s a specific model and benefits from a lowered ride height, low-rolling resistance tyres, a smoother radiator grille and clever underbody panels to minimise drag. Saloon models also get a little boot spoiler.

What’s under the bonnet?

Quite simply a modified version of the 1.6-litre diesel unit. It packs 104bhp, and thanks to a six-speed manual gearbox and stop/start fitted as standard, allows the Passat saloon to return 68.9mpg and emit 109g/km of CO2. The estate returns 65.7mpg and emits 113g/km of CO2.

What’s the spec like?

The BlueMotion model is based 38 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

What do the press think?

on the entry-level S model, so buyers will be treated to air conditioning, electronic parking brake, electric windows, and radio/CD with MP3 connectivity.

What’s it like to drive?

You won’t be surprised to hear it drives like a standard Passat. That is no bad thing as the Passat is one of the most comfortable and well-built cars in its class. Despite its small dimensions and power figures, the 1.6-litre lump performs very ably.

Car Enthusiast said: ‘Spacious, good to drive, great value for money and incredibly efficient and economical – there really is plenty to like about the Passat BlueMotion’. Autocar said they were impressed by the car, but added that if customers don’t need the extra space, they’d be better off with the Golf BlueMotion.

What do we think of it?

It’s hard to get excited about the Passat BlueMotion – but, when you pass filling stations due to the extremely large fuel tank, the car emits its own unusual excitement.

If customers will be spending a large amount of their time on the motorway, want a saloon or an estate car, and they are conscious of the pounds, there really is no better car they could go for.

the knowledge Model: Volkswagen Passat BlueMotion Price: £20,300 (as tested) Engine: 1.6-litre, diesel Power: 104bhp, 250Nm Max speed: 123mph 0-60mph: 12.0s MPG (comb’d): 68.9 Emissions: 109g/km Residual values (three years): 33 per cent

target buyers:

Money-conscious families will like it, but predominantly fleet buyers.

the rivals:

Ford Mondeo, Peugeot 508, Hyundai i40

Key Selling Points: 1. Spacious, well-screwed together interior is sure to appeal.

2. Good and relaxing to drive in all environments.

3. Residual values are VW Group-strong.

Deal Clincher: 70-litre fuel tank has a theoretical range of a 1,000 miles.

Feature.

50 The

YEAR FIGHT Words: James BATCHELOR | Pictures: matt richardson

40 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

G

ermany has BMW and Mercedes-Benz; France Peugeot and Renault; In Japan it’s Toyota and Nissan. Their rivalries are unparalleled, overshadowed only by the next big car manufacturer dust-up in the another of the world’s economies.

Here in Blighty sales forecourt war has been left to Ford and Vauxhall. In the blue corner, from Dagenham, is the 101-year old brand whose memorable names, contemporary style, and affordable ownership costs have made it the bestselling manufacturer in the UK since 1972.

Then over in the red corner lies its implacable rival; Vauxhall, from Luton. The General Motors-owned brand can also lay claim to providing Brits over the last 50 years with cars carrying famous names that didn’t dent their trouser pockets.

Over the last five decades the UK car market has changed unquestionably. Buyers have seen the fall of giant British car conglomerates, the rise of the repmobile and three financial crises. But there has been one unvarying trend. Selling a combined 26m cars since 1970, the battle between Ford and Vauxhall has run at football derby levels of fever.

To celebrate this unrelenting rivalry, we’ve got the best-selling Fords and Vauxhalls from each of the last five decades (including the current one) together for a special shoot-out at Rockingham Motor Speedway.

For the Seventies, there’s the Ford Cortina and Vauxhall Viva; the Cavalier and Escort are here from the Eighties; the Ford Fiesta and Vauxhall Vectra represent the Nineties; for the Noughties it’s the Focus and Astra; and, showing the battle is far from over, the Fiesta and Corsa are here for the present decade.

Let battle commence...

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 41

Feature.

Viva vs Cortina

1970s

SALES FIGHT

A

gainst a backdrop of strikes, rising inflation, mass unemployment, the three-day working week, and the Winter of Discontent, the UK car market battle between Ford and Vauxhall could not have been stronger.

The Blue Oval’s model range for the Seventies consisted of the pint-pot Fiesta, mid-sized Escort, big-barge Granada, and sporty Capri – but it was the Cortina that had the British public clamouring into Ford dealers.

With the Cortina, Ford established a winning formula of simple, well tried and tested engineering, clothed in a fashionable, modern body. And the Cortina MkIII, introduced to UK buyers in October 1970, was no exception.

A range of sturdy engines were available, suitably upgraded to meet ever-growing 70s buyers’ performance and economy yearnings,

42 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

they were wrapped up in a body that could be anything but 1970s. A pinched waist – affectionately called the ‘Coke bottle’ look – came straight from America, and it was the Cortina, in fact, that was the first car in the UK to wear trim levels denoted by letters – so beginning an industry norm for the next two decades, and fuelling Britain’s love affair with cars as symbols of status and hierarchy.

A sum of £913 saw buyers to slip into the entry-level two-door 1300, while for £1,637 a top-of-the-range 2000E, complete with vinyl roof, shiny ‘rostyle’ wheels, nylon upholstery, and wood trim could be had.

Brian Hendy, chairman of Hendy Group, was general manager of his family’s Ford dealership in Cosham, Portsmouth, in the 1970s and puts the Cortina’s success down to one thing: Style.

‘The Cortina, especially in MKIII form, was a

very stylish and good-looking car,’ Hendy told us.

‘Ford really moved with the times and it was a very fashionable car. In those days, we were less reliant on fleet business, rather we mostly dealt with retail business. The Cortina was perfect for this as there was a large cross-section of models for buyers.

‘There was one retail buyer I will never forget, though. One day an elderly couple came in and wanted to buy a Cortina L from us. We did the deal but we had trouble valuing their part exchange – it was a 1928 Ford Model A! The couple happily drove off in their new Cortina, and we still have that Model A now.’

Thanks to the Cortina moving with the times and later Mks IV and V hitting buyers’ sweet spots, the Cortina was the best-selling Ford throughout the 70s with 1,412,239 units sold.

Vauxhall’s best-selling car of the period was the

‘‘

The Cortina was the best-selling Ford in the 70s selling 1,412,239

trusty Viva HC. Like Ford, Vauxhall peered across the pond for its Viva and its styling had nods towards large chrome-clad American cruisers.

Former Vauxhall sales and marketing director Ian Coomber was a district sales manager in the late 70s, and remembers the car all too well.

‘The Viva HC was a bit of a disappointment in the looks department compared to the Cokebottle-styled Viva HB of the ‘60s, but its build quality was far better, and it was Vauxhall’s first real footing into the fleet market as it was the mindset of fleets to buy British.

‘Vauxhall was pretty protected retail wise too, as in the 70s there just wasn’t the level of competition there is these days. Competition was great from British Leyland, Rootes and of course Ford, but the Japanese were not a major player.’

Like Ford, the Viva used a simple formula of well-tried components dressed up in a stylish

body to woo buyers. One way of attracting customers was by creating special editions – and it was a special version of the Viva that is engrained on Coomber’s mind forever.

‘It was called the Viva S and came with a black vinyl roof and was available in a choice of two colours – blue or green. Working then as a sales manager in Scotland, I approached one of my dealer contacts and gave him three blue and three green ones. Before I knew it I was thrown out of the dealership; the dealer was a director of Rangers football club and the idea of having three Celtic-coloured green Vivas disgusted him.’

Even with the arrival of the Euro-sleek Chevette in ’75, the Viva continued to sell in reasonable numbers and finally finished its run in 1979 being Vauxhall’s best-selling car of the 1970s with sales figures amounting to around 640,000 cars.

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 43

Feature.

cavalier vs escort

1980s

SALES FIGHT

w

hile the British car industry was wilting, the Eighties saw the rise of the City as a financial powerhouse, rampant consumerism, and mass privatisation.

Glass towers sprung up as quickly as bankers’ bonuses, and new technology allowed people to make phone calls on the move. And while glorious British car names such as MG, Wolseley and Riley faded away, it was business as usual at the top of the best-selling cars charts.

The Eighties saw the Vauxhall Cavalier really grip the nation selling 1,007,866 units to British buyers during the decade. Along with the Cortina, the Cavalier became a generic name to describe a four-door saloon driven by both families with 2.4 children, and red-braced reps hammering along Britain’s ever-growing motorway network.

It was also the Cavalier that helped Vauxhall 44 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

finally knock its German sister firm Opel out of the British car market, and brought increased revenue to Vauxhall. Before the Cavalier, General Motors had run Opel and Vauxhall as two competing brands even though they were selling largely the same product. But it was cars like the Cavalier that led to independent Vauxhall and Opel dealers selling both franchises.

Available at various points throughout the Eighties as a saloon, coupe and estate, the Cavalier Mk I was little more than an Opel Ascona with a different nose. But buyers warmed to the Cavalier for it was good to drive, stylish, affordable, and had a British badge on its nose.

‘The Cavalier was a hugely important car to Vauxhall,’ says the firm’s archivist Andrew Duerden. ‘It was a simple, conventional and wellengineered car and was very much Vauxhall’s

‘‘

The Cavalier was a hugely important car to Vauxhall

reaction to the controversial jelly-mould Ford Sierra.’

The Cavalier was also the first real Vauxhall to really pander to the fleet market.

‘Company car drivers loved them – not only because they were reliable and comfortable, but also because the MkII and MKIII Cavaliers never had their engines sizes advertised on the boots – apart from the top-of-the-range V6 model. It meant that people could drive around in what looked like an SRI, but with a smaller engine under the bonnet.’

The Griffin-badged firm was not averse to a bit of fun too. ‘One feature the MKII CD model had was door pockets that could be removed to be used as hand-bags. It was advertised quite enthusiastically in the brochure.’

While Vauxhall was showing the other benefits the Cavalier’s door pockets could bring,

Ford began the 1980s with a key car. Since its introduction two decades previously, the Escort had established itself as a car well-loved by Brits.

Launched a few weeks before the Austin Metro – a car that hoped to bring back the glory days at BL Cars – the Escort MKIII was the product of a company finally embracing front-wheel drive technology in a small hatchback.

Though panned by the press, British buyers bought the Escort in their droves. Available in a range of engines and trims – from a 1.1-litre three door right up to the hairy RS Turbo – Ford shifted 1,607,999 Escorts throughout the 1980s.

Ford took its long-running mantra of valuefor-money to the next level with the 1980s Escort. It was front-wheel-drive so it didn’t need a long drive shaft or rear axle casing, therefore weight was saved aiding fuel consumption

– an important consideration for buyers. But even though prices for the Escort started at a reasonable £3,374 for the 1.1-litre three door, one in 10 sales were the 80s icon – the XR3.

In typical Ford fashion, the sporty XR3 model was aspirational and tempted buyers to progressively move up the range.

‘The Escort was an easy car to sell,’ says Polar Ford of Castleford’s John Stanley. ‘I remember selling them in the 1980s and they were easy to shift because it was ahead of the competition.

Customers appreciated the easy-to-understand trim levels and bought them enthusiastically.

‘The majority of buyers didn’t care the Escort was now front-wheel-drive. It brought down running costs which was well received.

The Escort of the 1980s also had a good reputation for reliability.’

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 45

Feature.

fiesta vs vectra

1990s

SALES FIGHT

T

ony Blair may well have coined the phrase ‘Mondeo Man’ to describe the type of ex-Labour voter he was aiming to win over in 1996, but it was not the Mondeo that was Ford’s best-selling car of the 1990s.

That honour fell to the Fiesta. Despite its introduction roughly two decades earlier, it was the 1990s that saw the first dominance of the diminutive supermini selling a total of 1,213,960 cars during the decade.

Like the very best Fords before it, there was a Fiesta for everyone. Running costs were taken very seriously by the Blue Oval, and so the MKIII version was 27 per cent cheaper to service than its 80s forebear. And to ensure there was a Fiesta for everyone, the range benefited from more models.

Throughout the decade, customers could slip into a myriad of different models to suit their budgets. Whether it was the entry-level 1.0-litre Popular for a meagre £5,199, a 1.4-litre Popular Plus, a diesel, an LX, a Ghia, an XR2i, or an RS 1800, the baby Fiesta soon became a familiar sight

‘‘

46 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

As the 20th century drew to a close, the sales battle wasn’t getting any more peaceful.

on every street corner across the country.

Even though Ford dabbled in collaborations with other car makers and joined niches such as the MPV market with the Galaxy and the SUV market with the Maverick, the Fiesta was one of Ford’s core products throughout the 90s.

In 1996, Ford was up to its old tricks and introduced much the same car but with a nicely rounded body reminiscent of the Mondeo as a face-lift and by the end of the decade a further renose arrived sporting a Focus-style look.

‘The face-lift wasn’t the only feature of the Fiesta that got better through the 1990s,’ says Peter White, Dagenham Motors’ assistant service manager. ‘The quality and the reliability of the product got better too.’

White was an apprentice during the 90s and frequently worked on the car due to its popularity with consumers. ‘The MkIII, especially, had bullet-proof mechanicals. We still have a couple that come in these days with 150,000 miles on the clock. If customers looked after them, the cars looked after the customers,’ added White.

It wasn’t just retail that Ford and Vauxhall were chasing in the 90s. Fleets and daily hire rentals were markets the two titans viciously fought over – and one car that strengthened Vauxhall’s firepower was the Vectra.

Taking on the task of replacing the much-loved Cavalier was no easy thing for the new Vectra.

Replacing a car that had done wonders to Vauxhall’s profits and had formed a large part of British lives for two decades was a difficult thing to match. The new car, available in four-door saloon, five-door hatch and estate and built at Vauxhall’s Luton factory was a success though – even if journalists constantly put it down, including famously Jeremy Clarkson refusing to drive it on Top Gear.

At its introduction in 1995, the range began at a reasonable £12,235 for the entry-level 1.6litre Envoy, And just like the Dagenham boys, buyers could match a Vectra to their status easily with a whole raft of models ranging from the aforementioned Envoy right up to the CD and SRi with juicy 2.5-litre V6s under their plain bonnets.

In 1999 Vauxhall thoroughly updated the Vectra, making 2,500 revisions to it. Mechanical changes took the lion’s share of those revisions and were carried out to keep the Vectra in tune with late 90s buyers’ requirements – a move that helped Vauxhall sell a total of 995,427 Vectras throughout the 1990s.

‘It was a thoroughly good car to drive,’ says Steve Davis, quality controller at Vauxhall dealer Motorbodies. ‘It’s a simple thing to say but it’s true. There were a large range of engines, and the car was well-built, modern, and benefited from a very comfortable ride and a good chassis.

‘The Vectra was also a very easy car to fix.

Due to it being well-engineered, if there were any problems they could be remedied quickly meaning they spent a short time in the service bays. And they go on forever – my neighbour has a 1996 car, and the last time that came in for a check-over it had 300,000 miles on the clock.’

As the 20th century drew to a close, the Dagenham vs Luton battle certainly wasn’t getting any more peaceful.

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 47

Feature.

astra vs focus

2000s

SALES FIGHT

I

f you thought the battle between Ford and Vauxhall was fierce during the 20th century, the 21st was just as colourful.

The 2000s saw a total of three Vauxhall Astras grace dealer showrooms as the Griffin badged firm threw its efforts into capturing a slice of Ford’s dominance of the previous three decades.

Still mightily pleased with its MK IV model, introduced in 1998, Vauxhall began the new decade busily fulfilling large orders from fleet companies and private retail buyers.

With sharp creases and an agile little chassis, the MK IV was so well-loved by UK buyers that a third shift was added to the Astra’s production line at Ellesmere Port to keep up with demand – a move that ensured the three millionth Astra rolled out of the plant on time. A keen pricing structure and familiar trim names such as Envoy, Club, CD, LS, CDX and Sport all helped take on Ford. The Astra range even saw the addition of coupe and convertible models, both styled by Bertone, and the introduction of the Astra-based Zafira people carrier.

But consumers’ tastes change and requirements quickly fluctuate in the hatchback market, and an

‘‘

Anything built in this country is well-liked by customers

48 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

all-new car, the MK V, arrived in 2004 sporting a range that’s now very commonplace.

By the time the fifth-generation car was ushered in, Vauxhall had sold more than two million of its trusty Astras to UK buyers, and the MK V of 2004 was the most stylish yet. More models were added to compete with the Blue Oval to keep the Luton firm in contention, and never one to let its rival firm have an easy life, Vauxhall attached the letters VXR to take the fight to Ford and its Focus ST. In 2009 the rounded MK VI arrived, and by the decade’s end 1,004,229 Astras had been sold making it Vauxhall’s best-selling cars of the Noughties.

‘The Astra has been an excellent seller for us, largely due to it being a well-proven product and it being highly respected by customers,’ said Nigel Grey, general manager of Motorbodies Vauxhall.

‘I also think it being built in Britain helps with consumers. Of course, anything built in this country is well-liked by customers, but I do think buyers are heartened by the Astra being British.

It’s attractively styled and well-priced.’

And competitive pricing was certainly a feature of both the Astra and its nemesis of the

Noughties – the Ford Focus.

Like Vauxhall, the Blue Oval began the decade with a car that arrived two years earlier. The Focus first arrived in 1998 replacing the aged Escort range, and with it came a daring look labelled ‘New Edge’ featuring sharp creases, bold shapes, and high-mounted rear lights.

Long a Ford trademark, the Focus was rewarding to drive thanks to double wishbone suspension at the rear, and direct steering.

And buyers loved it. The Focus shot to the top of not only Ford’s best-seller list but also the UK sales chart for the decade totting-up sales of

1,198,131 units. Though widely criticised for being too anaemic in the looks department, the second-generation Focus really showed that Ford could make a quality, grown-up hatchback if they wanted.

The range was spiced-up with the ST and RS meaning the Blue Oval’s hatchback appealed to families and performance freaks too – just like the good old days.

‘The Focus was a revelation,’ one south west Ford dealer told us. ‘Putting it politely, by the late 1990s the Escort had become a little old and was falling short of the competition.

‘It was brilliant selling not only a market leader, but selling something that looked as good as the Focus. The Mk I especially was so daring in design it won a huge number of customers over.

‘But the Focus was great to drive too, its build quality was beyond what anyone expected, and its looks were really quite shocking. What more could you want?’

The first decade in the new century showed that the fiery battle between Ford and Vauxhall was still alight, and neither firm was going to rest until they had succeeded in pleasing their customers.

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 49

Feature.

fiesta vs corsa

2010s

SALES FIGHT

J

ust like the decade before it, the fight between Ford and Vauxhall in the current decade is still raging.

Ford is currently topping the sales charts with its boldly-styled Fiesta with sales of 199,125 by the end of 2011, and Ford of Britain’s managing director, Mark Ovenden, is clear why his product is leading the way.

‘The current Ford Fiesta has been successful from the start in 2008 and took over as bestselling car in the UK from the Focus in 2010,’ he told us. ‘The Fiesta’s dramatic exterior design and exciting interior styling sets it apart from its rivals, with the use of high-quality materials, bold colours, confident handling with a sophisticated ride, combined with super fuel-efficient engines and robust safety performance.’

Ford’s current Fiesta is a significant car for 50 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

another reason, though. Traditionally, cars such as the Fiesta were designed for their specific markets, with trim levels and engines selections being the only differences between a car designed for Bradford or Berlin. However, the MK VI is the first product under Ford’s global product development plan, meaning that a nurse living in Battersea could be driving the same car to one in sunny Australia. While this is all about economies of scale, the Fiesta’s traditional values that have wooed buyers for 40 years are still there.

‘The Ford Fiesta is popular due to its inherent values of style, efficiency and value for money, which are fundamental components of the One Ford strategy,’ explains Ovenden. ‘The strategy is in place to accelerate the development of new products while making large car technology available to smaller cars, at a good price where the

‘‘

Ford’s greatest rival has something to shout about too

economies of scale benefit the customer and keep Ford’s business efficient.’

Looking ahead to the next decade and beyond, Ovenden believes Ford has the strategy, the mentality, and, more importantly, the customer base to continue its success story.

‘Ford has had the best-selling car in Britain since 1972, when the Cortina was topping the sales charts. Ford’s best-selling cars have always provided good value for customers as well as the classic Ford attributes of good design, style, driving quality and low running costs. Ford’s successful car sales owe a lot to the most effective and largest dealer network in the country.’

Ford’s greatest rival has something to shout about too. Its well-packaged Corsa has been a roaring success for the Griffin-badged firm.

Thanks to increased build quality, youthful

good looks, and a model range stretching from Expression through to the sports-minded VXR Nurburgring, the Corsa is a well-loved addition to Britain’s streets. Between January 2010 and December 2011, Vauxhall notched up 155,149 sales of the Corsa – and it’s not slowing down.

‘Corsa has everything you could look for in a supermini: A stylish yet practical design, it’s comfortable and fun to drive, with a great selection of economical petrol and diesel engines,’ says Vauxhall’s product manager for small cars, Ian Mitchell.

‘Corsa has the winning combination of great styling, excellent build quality, a dynamic chassis and frugal diesels and punchy petrol engines plus bags of clever features. And it has wide appeal with three and five door body styles, eight trim levels and plenty of power options.

‘We are very pleased that the Corsa has been a hit with the British public and has never been far from the top of the sales charts.’

Like Ford, the Luton-based firm has clear ideas on how it is going to continue the success of its supermini, and take the fight to its rival.

‘We’ll do this through our industry-first Lifetime Warranty which shows the level of confidence we have in our product range,’ says Mitchell.

‘Also, our Flexible Finance programme offers customers zero per cent APR and no fixed deposit requirement ensuring the Corsa remains a valuefor-money proposition.’

Looking at each decade in isolation reveals that even though fashions, shapes, and tastes change, the rivalry between the two firms has remained undiminished – and we can only imagine that will continue for many years to come. [CD] CarDealerMag.co.uk | 51

Feature.

50th

DEALER ANNIVERSARIES

FAWCETT’S

Relationships are key to Volvo dealership’s success

M

ark Jones calls Fawcett’s time selling Volvos as the ‘long-run’. The long-run is putting it mildly, though, as this September marks 50 years of Fawcett’s selling Volvos to buyers in the Newbury area.

‘After the war, Mr ‘Fuzz’ Fawcett – as he was known – took on both Volvo and Saab,’ explains managing director Jones. ‘In those days they were located in a little village called Froxfield. The business then moved to Newbury in the 1960s, and then, 15 years ago, the business moved again to the motor park it is currently situated on.’

The dealership was one of the first to take on the Volvo brand after the Second World War, as the Swedish manufacturer ramped-up its operation in the UK and created a franchise network. Fawcett’s is the third oldest Volvo dealer in the country after acquiring the franchise in September 1962.

The business then fell into the hands of Roger and Ann Sampson in 1983 – the same year that Jones joined the firm. ‘I go a long way back with the Sampsons, so on a personal level it is like a family business. In fact Ann used to be my teacher! The business has been under that continuous ownership since then, and hasn’t changed.’

It is for that very reason Fawcett’s has been so successful for Volvo. The business has created many long-term relationships with customers who have come to appreciate the firm as a friendly and trustworthy business to buy their cars from.

‘We have been very fortunate in being close to our customers,’ says Jones. ‘Our customers have seen us through the bad times and the good times. We have had a large number of customers who have had a succession of cars and they are genuinely friends now.’

And Jones believes Fawcett’s really has something to celebrate this September.

‘We really do have a good cause to celebrate – it’s not just the 50 years of business, but also Roger Sampson is celebrating 40 years, I’m celebrating 30 years, and one of our sales guys is celebrating 10 years. In other words, we do like long-term relationships.’

52 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

‘‘

Our customers have seen us through the bad times and the good times

It’s those relationships that Jones is trying to celebrate too. He and his team are trying to find and mark the business’s first customers from the 1960s to create a special celebration later this year.

‘We still very much operate with the ethos of a family-owned business at our heart,’ says Jones.

‘Many of our customers are our friends who have been loyal to both the business and the brand for several years.

‘In the run-up to our 50th anniversary celebrations we are hoping to find as many of our very first customers or even the sons, daughters and grandchildren of the county’s first Volvo drivers as possible.

‘We will be compiling as much historical material as we can lay our hands on and we would really love some photos from across the years of people collecting their new Volvo from us at Fawcett’s Garage.

‘We also want to compile anecdotes of people’s experiences of the vehicles and the dealership in those early years.’

With a venture like that, it is easy to understand that Jones is unsure what the next 50 years hold. But we can be guaranteed of one thing – developing relationships with customers is certainly going to be high on the list of priorities of Fawcett’s Garage of Newbury.

SNOWS

A car dealer group which started out in hairdressing? You’d better believe it...

S

tephen Snow puts his business celebrating its 50th anniversary this year down to one clear reason: A simple business doing a great job.

‘I think the reason why we are where we are now is because we have always tried to keep things simple. We’ve tried to make it easy to buy cars from us, and to deliver a service to our customers that’s of a good quality. We’ve kept doing the basics right.’

Indeed, any cynic would find it hard to disagree with Snow. The business now has eight franchises under its group umbrella, and its name simply trips off the tongue when one thinks of a south coast-based motor trader. That’s not to mention Snows being one of both Volvo’s and Seat’s largest dealer groups, either.

However, a glance at Snows Group’s 50-year timeline reveals a business that could hardly be described as a simple one.

In 1962, Snows was not selling cars. Fulfilling a childhood ambition, Snows’ father Geoff, started up his own business called Snows Office Supplies Ltd. after acquiring the lease of a Southamptonbased bookshop and stationers. Snows Office Supplies specialised in selling office equipment and had a workshop to repair business machines.

Within a year, the Snows business had become a mini-empire after Snow bought a printing works in Southampton and opened an office supplies branch in Salisbury.

By now, the Snows name was becoming familiar to southerners as the company’s cars of choice were Austin A40s. With the Snows name painted on the roofs, the name quickly became known locally. But that wasn’t Snow’s only association with cars; by 1963 Snow was a skilful motor racing driver, and finished third in the British Autocross Championship that year in his trusty Triumph Vitesse.

But it was this interest in cars that nearly became Snow’s downfall. Leading the 1965 British Autocross Championship, Snow was involved in an accident which saw his Triumph flip, overturn, and burst into flames.

Snow escaped the fireball ‘relatively’ unscathed with four broken ribs and a dislocated shoulder.

Within two weeks, Snow had sold the wrecked Vitesse and concentrated on his business which now consisted of a number of office supply outlets including a printing side that was the largest supplier of specialised stationery to the motor trade.

By the 1970s, the Snows empire even included two ladies’ hairdressing salons, a ladies’ and gentlemen’s boutique, a design and renovation outfit, and a boat-building business – but it was in 1979 that Geoff Snow’s motor trade really began.

Snows BMW in Portsmouth; and below, Stephen Snow, left, and Geoff Snow

‘‘

We’ve got the confidence to take on new ventures

Snow invested in St James Toyota Centre in Shirley, Southampton, and a year later BMW and Volvo businesses too. It was then that various parts of the Snows business – including the two hair salons – were sold. But don’t think Geoff Snow was a ‘Jack of all trades’, says Stephen Snow: ‘We’ve got the confidence to take on new ventures, but we’re brave enough to stop what we’re doing if we think it’s the wrong thing to do.’

Throughout the 80s and 90s, the business took on more motor dealers and began trading with Seat and Lexus. Following the turn of the century Snows soon added Mini and more recently Kia and Peugeot. But Snow is in doubt that if it were not for BMW, Toyota and Volvo, Snows would now be celebrating its half-century.

‘Probably our two biggest landmarks were acquiring Volker Harms Ltd. and Kings Worthy Motors in 1980,’ says Snow. ‘With those businesses we acquired BMW and Volvo franchises, and since then we have had great relationships with those brands.’

Snow is unsure of what will occur in the next 50 years – but one thing he is sure of: ‘We won’t go back into hairdressing!’ [CD] CarDealerMag.co.uk | 53

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Feature.

Sold!

The Porsche 911 we traded our way up to from nothing has been sold, and we’ve handed over a whopping £11,995 to BEN. James Baggott reports

I

t seems an awfully long time ago I was haggling with two used car dealers on my drive over an Audi A3, sold for spares and repairs on eBay. That was one of our first cars, donated to us by the industry, to kick off a challenge that would eventually see us secure a Porsche 911 in aid of motor industry charity BEN. The trading challenge saw us hit some serious highs – with the purchase of a grass-covered Hyundai i10 and a trio of MX-5s – and some tough times too.

However, in October we finally managed to find the Porsche from a used car dealership in Birmingham that fitted the bill and that we could afford. We shelled out £9,900 on R97 RRK, and after handing over the cash embarked on a quest to make it as desirable as possible.

Some serious servicing work was carried out

by Porsche GB and then a remarkable renovation took place at Autoglym’s headquarters. After nine hours of hard graft in the valeting bay, our 911 emerged looking like it had just rolled off the manufacturer’s Stuttgart production line.

After following our quest in the magazine, Porsche specialists 911Virgin.com offered to sell the car on our behalf. Boss Henry Firman knows 911s inside out and said he was far more likely to turn a decent profit for BEN than we would manage selling it privately.

However, there was one stipulation before he would agree to put it up for sale – it must have a 12-month warranty. This was understandable.

Firman was going to be selling the car FOC, handing over the entire wedge to BEN, so any comeback could see him seriously out of pocket.

So we got to work. Several firms offered to help, but none could come up with the goods that Car Dealer Power winners Car Care Plan could.

The warranty specialists devised a unique plan exclusively for the BEN car which would cover it for the next 12 months – sales gold for Firman and his team.

With the warranty sorted, our 911 was advertised on PistonHeads.com and very soon after that a thread appeared on the site’s forum all about our car and the story behind it. This got the advert huge amounts of interest and within a few days Firman had real interest.

The problem with many 996 models is although they’ve become affordable, the big bills that can come with them scare many buyers off. However, our 911 had the luxury of that 12-month warranty and the buyer would be safe in knowledge it had just been given the once over by Porsche GB. So

what about the sale?

‘We fielded a number of enquiries on the car,’ explained Firman. ‘Some decided to spend more money for something a little better, others decided to look elsewhere in Porsche’s line up where their money worked harder and got a newer car. But eventually a buyer was found in the form of Timothy Coxon, a youngster looking for his first Porsche. The prospect of a warranty definitely helped clinch the deal.’

Firman admitted he was a little nervous about selling the car for us, especially with its patchy service history, but said the Car Care Plan warranty helped put his mind at rest. Coxon paid the asking price of £11,995 too realising a whopping profit for BEN! ‘We thought the best option was to get you to pull some strings and arrange a year’s warranty then market the car very much on price, which worked a treat,’ added Firman. ‘There are loads of early 996 model 911s on the market at the lower end of the price range but many of them have skeletons in the cupboard. We’re just glad we could help make the charity even more money.’

So that’s it – the end of the 911 for 2011 story, but turn over to see what we’ve got up our sleeves for the next challenge

911 Virgin’s Daniel Green (L) hands over the keys to buyer Timothy Coxon

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 55

Feature.

0 5 £ The

e g n e l l a h C Car

To help mark our 50th issue we managed to source two £50 part exchange cars to help kick off our next trading up feature to raise money for BEN, but this time there’s a twist... it’s us versus Mr Wheeler Dealer himself Mike Brewer.

56 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

Pictures: matt richardson

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 57

Feature.

James’ story w

ith the Porsche 911 finally sold and the cash winging its way to BEN, we knew we needed to kick off another charity challenge soon. As we proved with the Porker, with some help from the industry, real life-changing amounts of cash can be raised, so with our 50th issue around the corner it was the perfect time to start again.

This time, instead of having a specific car as the target to trade up to we decided a set trading time frame could prove a little more interesting. But who to battle against for the next 12 issues? Well, letting the high of our Porsche success go to my head, it seemed only right to take on the best – so in went the phone call to TV’s golden used car salesman, Mr Brewer. Not afraid to get his hands dirty for charity he quickly agreed to give it a go.

So then the search began for the cars. I said I’d sort the first two and we’d toss a coin to see who got what. With the help of some cracking contacts we soon had an offer from two dealers – and as you can see here, I won the toss...

Marshall Motor Group chief executive Daksh Gupta replied to my email pleading for help in less than five minutes. ‘Of course we’ll help – give me a couple of days,’ said Gupta. True to his word, two days later the email arrived with pictures of this little beauty you see here. It’s a 2.0-litre diesel, W-reg Peugeot 406. There’s 100k on the clock, it’s got a potted service history, six months tax and four months MOT. And it drives like a peach.

I picked it up from Marshall Renault and Mazda, Milton Keynes, and drove it all the way back to Gosport on what can only be described as a mug of diesel. We needn’t have worried about the fuel crisis that was gripping the nation at the time as it appears the 406 runs on fairy dust.

It’s a cracking spec too. It’s got electric front seats, CD changer, air con, electric windows, and decent condition alloys with what appear to be four brand new Continental tyres on them.

So what’s my plan? Well, to soundly beat Mr Wheeler Dealer and prove that us pen pushers (Brewer’s words, not mine) can shift a set of wheels for a few quid too. I’ve already dropped the car off to Matt The Mechanic who’s going to check it over and see what it’ll take to get 12 months’ ticket on it. We all know that’ll help it sell for a lot more.

Then it’s a cheeky advert on eBay and fingers crossed a mini cab driver is in need of a new smoker for trips south of the river...

Thanks to Trader Media Group, I’ve been given access to their excellent App for dealers too. Enter a car’s reg and mileage and it immediately gives you an idea of what you can sell it for, using real time data on AutoTrader.co.uk. The App reckons I could get up to £1,500 for it, so I’ll be aiming high.

Wish me luck. I think I’m going to need it...

58 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

‘‘

So what’s my plan?

Well, to soundly beat Mr Wheeler Dealer for a start...

£50

carchallenge

Mike’s story S

‘‘

I know it’s only £50 worth of metal, but it’s so basic it doesn’t even have a spec.

eriously? What the hell is this thing? I know it’s only 50 quids worth of metal, but this Clio is so basic it doesn’t even have a spec. In fact it doesn’t even have a fancy name either – just ‘Clio’.

Baggott really has stitched me up with this hunk of purple haze – but then if anyone can turn it into a decent profit, it’s me right? As you probably know, I’ve had quite a bit of practice turning a profit from lumps of metal even scrapyards would turn away on my Discovery series Wheeler Dealers, so buying and selling a few cars to make some money for charity is right up my street.

Baggott tells me this car came from car supermarket Motorpoint and its Auction4Cars. com arm. He picked it up from their Derby site before dropping it down to me and it’s a pretty good deal for £50. And to be honest, I’m glad it made it here, because at least that proves it runs – otherwise I would have had to trouble Edd...

It’s an S-reg, wheezy 1.2-litre model which is in serious need of some tlc. In fact I don’t even think this Clio’s mother loved it, such is the state it’s in. There’s one wheel trim left (who steals three for goodness sake?) and I’m going have to sell the wind-down windows as a good keep-fit routine, because I thought they went out with the Ark. Apparently not.

So what’s my plan? Well isn’t that obvious?

I’m going to spray the wheels gold, stencil on a Williams tag on the back and sell it as a Mk4 Clio Williams – the 1.2-litre eco version of course.... It’ll be snapped up by a McDonald’s car park terrorist in no time.

No, in all seriousness, I’m going to give it a bloody good clean – the sort hospitals give to wards after an MRSA breakout. Then a few new wheel trims (possibly gold), a bit of investigation into the service history and perhaps six months tax and she’ll be ready for the local paper. Or eBay. I might even try to get 12 months MOT on it too, but it all depends on what that’ll cost.

Price wise, it’s worth £500 of anyone’s money.

That 1.2-litre is good on fuel and won’t need a lottery win to insure for a 17-year-old so the market’s good for little cars like this. Even purple ones that Auntie Mavis has smoked 40 a day in for the last 10 years...

Baggott, you’d better watch out. I may have drawn the short straw on the car front, but I’ve sold more cars than you’ve written stories (that people believe) and I’m going to prove why I’m Mr Wheeler Dealer and why you should stick to shuffling mice around a mat! [CD] Mike Brewer presents Wheeler Dealers.

Catch the latest series on Tuesdays at 9pm on the Discovery Channel CarDealerMag.co.uk | 59

Feature.

0 5

motoring milestones

A lot has happened in the last 50 years in the motoring world, so picking a top 50 was never going to be easy. Here, Dave Brown and James Batchelor have a go

A

s you may have guessed, this issue is Car Dealer Magazine’s 50th so to help mark the anniversary we’ve been on the hunt for the 50 motoring highlights of the last 50 years. If you think we missed any milestones, tweet the editor (@CarDealerEd) or email via the link on page three and we’ll include your suggestions in a future issue.

1962: MILLION BUGS In contrast to today, Volkswagen’s only product in 1962 was the Beetle. That year saw the German firm pass a million Beetles built in 12 months.

1962: PAIR OF BEST-SELLERS The Ford Cortina and MG B – both destined to become best-sellers – were launched to the world in 1962. The Cortina enjoyed 20 years of popularity while the MG B was declared the best-selling sports car of all time in 1980.

said we should include Jim Clark’s triumph in the 1965 Indy 500. ‘It marked the start of UK domination of world motorsport engineering,’ he said.

1966: SAFETY FIRST The issue of drink-driving was tackled in the Road Safety Bill of 1966, which set a limit of 80mg of alcohol in 100cc of blood. It became an offence to drive when over this limit. In 1967, the breathalyser was introduced.

1968: CHITTY CHITTY CHARM Benny Hill, Dick Van Dyke and Sally Ann Howes all appeared in the 1968 movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang… but the true star was the flying car, based on the celebrated English racers built by Count Zborowski in the 1920s. DJ Chris Evans bought the original Chitty earlier this year.

1964: NEW FACTORY OPENS

1968: GREAT CARS AND A GREAT DEAL MORE

In 1964, Vauxhall opened a factory at Ellesmere Port near Liverpool, which currently manufactures the Astra. Vauxhall boss Duncan Aldred told Car Dealer recently that he will fight for the future of the plant when Astra production concludes in a few years’ time.

The merger of British Motor Holdings (made up of BMC and Jaguar/Daimler) and Leyland Motor Corporation created the leviathan British Leyland Motor Corporation (later British Leyland and BL Cars) in 1968. Britain’s first millionth car was also produced in ‘68.

1965: JIM’S INDY 500 TRIUMPH

1968: WHAT A WACKY WORLD

John McGregor (@Racing Puma on Twitter)

Dick Dastardly, the Creepy Coupe and Penelope Pitstop all took to the road in the celebrated Hanna-Barbera cartoon series Wacky Racers in 1968. Of course, the dreadful Dastardly never won a race, despite his evil scheming.

1965

That’s the limit The 70mph national speed limit was introduced – as a temporary measure – in December 1965. It was made permanent in 1967. In 1965 Tom Fraser was transport minister, not Barbara Castle, as widely believed. Castle was in the job in 1967 though.

60 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

1969: KEEPING A PROMISE The Ford Capri went on sale in the UK in 1969, under the slogan ‘the car you always promised yourself’. More than two million examples of the iconic car were sold in Europe and America over the next 18 years. Bodie and Doyle, Cliff Richard and Jackie Stewart were all fans.

1973

Oil crisis Western countries cripple due to an embargo on fuel exports from Arabian countries. Queues at petrol stations became a common sight; petrol prices quadrupled; and sales of gasguzzling cars plummeted. Small cars became popular – a trend that hasn’t changed since.

1973: MY CAR’S A TURBO BMW’s 2002 is not only an iconic car from the Bavarian firm, but it was also a ground-breaking one. In 1973 it became the first production car to be turbo-charged – a car that led to the turbo craze of the 1980s, and the addition of turbochargers to engines to make them more efficient in the current decade.

1976: THE HUNT FOR GLORY Described by rival driver Niki Lauda as ‘the most charismatic personality who’s ever been in Formula One’ James Hunt beat his Austrian rival to the F1 title in 1976, after the crash at the Nurgburgring that almost claimed Lauda’s life.

Hunt died in 1993 aged 45.

1976: GOLF GTI Arguably the greatest hot hatch of all time, the Volkswagen Golf GTI, was launched. Despite there being a few hot hatchbacks before it, the Golf GTI established a formula that’s been copied ever since. Some believe the ’76 GTI has never been bettered.

1978: FRENCH INVADE COVENTRY PSA Peugeot-Citroen Group buys Chrysler’s European operation and so with it came the Ryton plant in Coventry. The factory eventually

1976

1985

1986 1983

1962 closed in 2006 with the loss of 2,300 jobs – a decision that was described by union officials at the time as ‘disastrous’.

1979: £1 A GALLON The price of a gallon of four-star petrol hit £1 a gallon in 1979. Now it’s over £6 a gallon for unleaded. Even David Cameron seems embarrassed about the cost of UK motoring, telling a group of US students recently it would ‘make them faint’.

1979: SIGN HONDA DOTTED LINE Under Sir Michael Edwardes, British Leyland signed an historic agreement with Honda in 1979.

Some Japanese working practices were introduced into BL factories and the first car produced under the agreement was the Triumph Acclaim.

1982: EDWARDES DEPARTS Sir Michael Edwardes leaves behind a leaner BL in 1982. The company, now Austin Rover, has

1986 half the number of employees but still produces two-thirds the number of vehicles it did when he joined five years earlier. He was replaced by Harold Musgrove.

1983: DELOREAN DISASTER The DeLorean Motor Company, based in Belfast, went bust in 1983. Not too many of the firm’s iconic gull-winged sports cars were actually sold, but the vehicle achieved lasting fame as a time machine in the 80s sci-fi flick Back To The Future.

1983

Belt up In 1983, it became a legal requirement to wear a seatbelt in the front seats of cars.

A law forcing back seat passengers to belt up was introduced in 1991. Recent figures estimate that up to a third of people killed in road accidents are not strapped in.

1985: C5 SURPRISE Who could forget the wacky C5? (If you’re actually old enough to remember of course.) Invented by Sir Clive Sinclair and launched in 1985, the singleperson electric three-wheeler was not a success and attracted its fair share of ridicule.

1986: GOING INTO ORBIT The M25 London orbital motorway was completed in 1986, with the final section opened

by PM Margaret Thatcher. At 118 miles, it is one of the longest ring roads in the world and was originally going to be one of FOUR such roads to encircle London.

1986: THE RISING SUN-DERLAND Nissan’s Sunderland plant was officially opened in September 1986. From modest beginnings, producing just 187,000 Bluebirds in its first year, the plant churned out nearly half a million cars in 2011. Over a million Qashqais have been built there.

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 61

Feature.

1998 2003

2005 1986: BRITAIN SLIMLINED Austin Rover becomes Rover Group in 1986 and only the names Rover and MG appear on British cars. In 1994 BMW buys Rover Group from British Aerospace, and then famously sold it in 2000 with Ford taking Land Rover, and the company becoming independent and known as MG Rover.

1989: ICONIC ROADSTER LAUNCHED Andrew Charman (@ShortAxle on Twitter) asked us to include Mazda’s launch of the MX-5. ‘It took the Japanese to prove fun roadsters didn’t die with the MGB,’ he told us. Launched more than 20 years ago, the iconic roadster is still going strong.

1992: TWO NEW FACTORIES In 1992, Japanese giants, Toyota and Honda, both opened factories in Britain, at Burnaston, Derby and Swindon, Wiltshire, respectively. Toyota’s plant built its three millionth car in June 2010.

Work at Honda was disrupted by last year’s tsunami.

1992: MARVELLOUS MANSELL Nigel Mansell’s Formula One championship win was in 1992, the highlight of an F1 career that spanned 15 seasons. Mansell remains the most successful British Formula One driver of all time in terms of race wins with 31 victories.

1993: IT’S MONDEO MAN Mondeo, the successor to Sierra, was launched in January 1993, a fact we were reminded of by @simonscarspots on Twitter. The seventh 62 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

1994

Chunnel opened The Queen and France’s President Francois Mitterrand formally open the Channel Tunnel during two ceremonies in France and Britain in 1994. The longest undersea tunnel in the world, the Chunnel is 31 miles in length, of which 23 are underwater.

generation of the hugely popular family saloon was launched earlier this year.

1996: HILL’S F1 TRIUMPH Twenty years after James Hunt’s F1 triumph, Damon Hill was champion in 1996, winning eight out of 16 races. Born in 1960, two years before his father Graham won his first driving title, Damon certainly did justice to the family name in his career.

1996: KNOW YOUR SIGNS The theory test is introduced in July 1996 and is the biggest shake-up of the driving test since its introduction in 1934. It initially came in the form of a written examination and then moved across to a computer-based system in 2000. The hazard perception test arrived in 2002.

1997: RAC CELEBRATIONS Frederick Richard Simms and Charles Harrington Moore formed the RAC back in 1897, although at that point it was called the Automobile Club Of Great Britain. The organisation celebrated its centenary in 1997.

1997: SPEED RULES The current supsersonic land speed record is set.

Andy Green piloting Thrust SSC puts Britain back on top by travelling at 763.03mph at Black Rock in Nevada.

1998: SPEEDY SPORTS CAR The McLaren F1 broke the world speed record for a sports car, reaching 240.1mph in March 1998.

The vehicle held the world speed record for over a decade and was described at the time as ‘the finest driving machine yet built for the public road’.

1998: BENTLEY BOUGHT The Volkswagen Group bought Bentley in 1998.

In 2009, Bentley Motors celebrated its 90th anniversary with the addition of the Bentley Mulsanne to the range. The company takes great pride in its ‘traditions of craftsmanship and ultimate luxury’.

2000: GERMANS SELL ROVER BMW dismantled the Rover Group in 2000, selling Land Rover to Ford and MG Rover to the Phoenix Consortium, but leaving the Mini brand for itself. The two millionth Mini rolled off the production line at Oxford last year.

2001: RICHARD TRIUMPHS Richard Burns won the World Rally Championship in 2001, becoming the first Englishman to do so, and after two years of taking the runner-up spot. Tragically, he died at the age of 34 after a long illness, and on the

2009

2005 fourth anniversary of his title win.

2002: LUTON’S LAST CAR Vauxhall ceased car production at Luton, where it had made cars for more than 90 years, although Ellesmere Port still turns out the Astra.

2003: PHANTOM OF SUSSEX Having wrestled the Rolls Royce brand from VW, BMW began production of the new Phantom at Goodwood, West Sussex. £60m was invested in Rolls-Royce’s new factory, which was designed by Eden Project architect Sir Nicholas Grimshaw.

2005: 100 YEARS OF THE AA The AA celebrated its centenary in 2005. Like the world of motoring itself, the AA has changed immeasurably in its history. These days, not only can it help you get safely from A to B, but can also help organise your finances and even buy a new or second-hand car.

2005: ROVER and out April 2005 sees the death knell for MG Rover as it files for bankruptcy and later closes. An estimate of 30,000 jobs are lost, and the Chinese move in and buy the company. Production of the MG TF restarted at Longbridge in 2008.

2008: JLR SOLD TO TATA Jaguar and Land Rover were sold to Indian giant Tata Motors. JLR recently announced the creation of 1,000 new jobs at its Halewood factory near Liverpool to meet worldwide demand for Range Rover Evoque and Land Rover Freelander 2.

2005

World’s fastest car The Volkswagen-owned Bugatti name returns to a full-production car and, thanks to an 8.0-litre 16-cylinder engine, its Veyron supercar reaches 253.8mph – an all new record. It was reportedly sold at a loss by VW, though.

2008: CAR DEALER’S DEBUT The first issue of Car Dealer magazine was published. Although we hate to blow our own trumpet, it has gone from strength to strength, having won awards, gained thousands of readers and raised loads of cash for automotive charity BEN.

2009: SAD DAYS FOR SAAB GM switched the lights off at Saab in 2009 after a last-minute deal to sell the company to Koenigsegg fell through. But up stepped Victor Muller to save the day ­– before Saab ran out of money. Can Saab survive these dark days? Only time will tell…

2010: FIRST LEAF DELIVERED The first all-electric Nissan LEAF was delivered to its owner in California in December 2010. In the UK, the first owners of the emissions-free hatchbacks took delivery in March 2011. More than 22,000 are now on the road worldwide.

2010: INTO THE FUTURE The first Future Car Challenge was held. Following the route of the London-to-Brighton veteran car run (but in reverse), and held the day before that event, owners and drivers of electric, hybrid and low-emission cars showed off their vehicles.

2011: BLUE OVAL PASSES 100 Ford of Britain reaches the golden landmark of 100 years of selling cars. The firm has been responsible for selling some of the most iconic cars – from the Model T, through Consul, Cortina, Escort, Fiesta, to the Mondeo. A special rally to celebrate the achievement travels the country, ending at the Goodwood Revival.

2011: E-Type Turns 50 Jaguar’s E-Type becomes 50 years old. Since its debut at the Geneva Motor Show in 1961, the car has been hailed as a motoring icon – and even prompted the great Enzo Ferrari to describe it as ‘the most beautiful car ever made’. The car eventually bowed out in 1975 and was replaced by the XJ-S.

2012: UK JOBS SECURED 2012 begins well with two announcements from JLR and Nissan that future world-class products will be built in Britain. JLR creates 1,000 new jobs at its Halewood facility while the Sunderland Plant will be producing Nissan’s new Invitation safeguarding 600 existing jobs and creating a further 400. [CD] With thanks to... Heritage Motor Museum, Gaydon

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 63

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‘‘

Our customers tell us that with a trip to Central, they are already in profit the moment they visit

‘‘

ourcing cars is becoming an increasingly difficult job for dealers. With customers wanting top quality stock with the right mileage, buying the right car is as important as ever.

Auctions can be a great way of doing just that – and one auction firm that knows how to assist is Central Car Auctions.

‘We are the largest heated indoor car auction in Scotland, with a prime location just off the M8 at Junction eight and nine near Glasgow,’ explains Jason Miller, managing director of Central Car Auctions.

‘With more than 1,400 previously owned cars bought and sold every week, and hundreds for under £3,000, franchised dealers, independent car traders and the general public can’t beat Central Car Auctions for range or choice of vehicles,’ explains Miller.

‘Many of our auctioned vehicles come from Scotland’s largest dealer groups, and with prestige vehicles to pick-ups, small family hatchbacks to estates, 4x4s, convertibles and light commercials, there is always something for everyone and much more besides. We are without doubt, the number one auction complex for buying and selling.’

The business stretches back to 1965 and is very much a family business, under the stewardship of generations of the Miller family. Central Car Auctions has a staff of just over 50 people who have expert knowledge and give a friendly service.

The firm’s nine-acre site sees more than 70,000 vehicles pass under its hammer thanks to three auctions a week.

But what can the firm offer dealers? ‘We offer trade customers free indemnity fees, and can organise vendors vehicle collections and delivery throughout the UK at competitive rates,’ says Miller.

The firm is also technically savvy with a free to download App that puts the full and latest vehicle list straight into the palm of your hand, and there’s the opportunity to bid on vehicles online through ‘Livebid’.

‘We also offer free and instant vehicle valuations which allow traders to accurately establish the value of their vehicles at the touch of a button, and we

have a unique vehicle alerts function that allows dealers to search and be notified directly by email of specific cars they are interested in.

‘Our customers tell us that with a trip to Central, they are already in profit the moment they visit and every time they buy or sell,’ adds Miller.

Sounds impressive already – but Central Car Auctions does not intend on resting on its laurels.

Instead the firm wants to introduce new features to its business.

‘Following consultation with our key customers, recognising their own business requirements, the cultural changes in working practices and our own ability to attract customers from across the UK, it is

intended before the end of the year that Central will launch its brand new and state-of-the-art two ring auction rostrum,’ says Miller.

‘This innovation will allow the organisation to offer the same amount of vehicles (400 and more on Monday auctions, 600 and more on Wednesday auctions, and 400 and more on Fridays auctions) in half the normal time. This will allow for an even higher level of buyers to attend the three weekly sale events. In turn, our selling customers can expect an even better return in our conversion rate performance.

‘With the support of our continuously improving functions and resources, our underlying objective this year is to work our way through what is forecasted to be a continuation of these tough economic times,’ continues Miller.

‘By maintaining our marketing position through enhanced one-to-one customer engagement via our dedicated sales team and well-targeted marketing initiatives, and giving a fresh emphasis on business development strategies to attract and secure new key accounts, we believe we will be well placed as we move towards 2013.

‘In fact, our strategies are already reaping rewards in the first quarter of 2012,’ adds Miller. Perhaps you should be working with the firm in the last three quarters to sell your cars. [CD] CarDealerMag.co.uk | 65

Feature.

Park life Car

Space for new dealerships is at a premium in London, but that’s not a problem for Kia. The firm is busy transforming a multi-storey car park into an all-new showroom, reports James Batchelor

I

t would a take a brave man to call Kia’s wave of newfound confidence anything other than well earned.

With quality products rolling out of factories and customers turning away from traditional brands and placing their money and faith with Kia, the Korean firm’s badge is one more dealers want on their showroom facades.... but there is a problem.

‘Kia is in a great place at the moment with a continued drive in sales in growth and the quality of its products,’ explains Kia’s dealer development director Simon Hetherington. ‘This is brilliant – but there is now a gap between the quality of product and the quality of our dealerships.’

Dealers who have been with Kia for many years are now facing a problem. Whether it be out-dated showroom facilities or lack of space and infrastructure, as the brand moves forward, Kia dealers are in danger of being left behind.

There’s no complacency at Kia, though. ‘The standard and quality of our showrooms is a major focus for us at the moment.

We do not plan to increase the number of dealers in our network, rather increase growth in the business and the brand through our existing dealerships. We need to upgrade our presentation to customers in both capacity and quality,’ adds Hetherington.

That’s why the Korean brand is rolling out its new corporate identity. Called ‘Red Cube’, dealers across the country are being comprehensively made over to give their premises a match for the bold products they are selling. ‘Some 40 per cent of our network already has Red Cube, with more getting it by the month. It’s the most complete form of Kia dealership available,’ says Hetherington.

For the vast majority of the UK, rolling out a bold corporate identity to dealers is relatively free from challenges. However, metro areas such as London present issues that require thought and planning – not to mention space being at a premium.

One dealer that knows all about space being a challenge is Humming Bird Kia. They’ve been selling cars since 1935 and have been an important dealer for 66 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

From left: Lucie Herman; Larry Wood; Simon Hetherington; and Kia MD Michael Cole

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 67

Feature.

An artist’s impression of the new site, and left, how it looks now

Kia since 2004.

‘We chose the Kia franchise because we wanted a new challenge,’ says Lucie Herman, Humming Bird Kia’s customer service and marketing director. ‘We looked at Kia and we believed it would be a great franchise to have – not only because they have always invested heavily in advertising, but, in 2004 when we joined, Kia was just starting to make an impact on the British public. A good example of this was the £1 deposit on the Kia Rio deal. Since then, we’ve never looked back.’

Humming Bird Kia performed faultlessly under the scrappage scheme and have continued to trade with aplomb since the scheme ended. But the dealer has always fallen victim to one of London’s biggest problems – a lack of space.

Herman explains: ‘At our current dealership we have three car spaces for stock on our forecourt – three! That is London for you. We have been looking for somewhere that has a great presence, a large forecourt, and lots of space to display all of our stock.

‘Currently we have our sales centre in one location, our aftersales centre in another 10 minutes away, and then we have a compound which is a further 20 minutes down the road. At 68 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

‘‘

the moment, I fear customers are seeing our sites as different businesses as opposed to different sites.’

However, a discussion between Herman’s father – and Humming Bird Kia’s dealer principal – Larry Wood along with executives at one of Kia’s dealer events four years ago, would see Humming Bird’s position as a key London dealership sealed.

From early July, Humming Bird Kia will relocate to the lower levels of a multi-storey car park on the Edgware Road in north London. It’ll be called Colindale and will boast a 15-car showroom, a seven-bay workshop, a dedicated MOT facility, a parts operation, and a customer handover area. It’s a £1m re-development – of a car park!

‘We have been in discussions with Humming Bird Kia for around four years with this venture,’ explains Hetherington. ‘When the idea was first mentioned, we knew that it would be a good venture to put in place, believing that it

fitted perfectly with Kia’s bold and confident image.’

Kia are now investing heavily to get the site completely renovated and sporting the marque’s new image. And it’s an investment that Humming Bird could never have undertaken themselves.

‘A project of this scale would be too difficult for an individual dealer,’ said Hetherington. ‘We are taking the head lease meaning we can invest in it. It’s a long-term arrangement.’

Herman added: ‘To make this dealership work for us requires significant investment. The project would be too much for us to take on, so we needed help and backing from Kia to make this work. We are a strong dealership for Kia and we are delighted they are partnering us with this.’

‘This development is all about imagination,’ adds Hetherington. ‘It’s appropriate for the brand.’ The new showroom will not take on the entire Red Cube branding, though, rather it’ll take ‘elements’ of it to give it a corporate feel but it will still retain its unusual car park architectural style.

Currently we have three car spaces on our forecourt – three! That is London for you.

The plans for the new dealer and below, how it looks inside now

‘We’re not trying to cover up this being a car park,’ remarks Hetherington. ‘We’re not ashamed a Kia dealership will form the lower levels of a car park. It’ll be a triumph of taking something that’s unattractive and making it useable. It’ll also be a really good symbol for Kia – we’re here, excited about the future, willing to invest, and we’re creating landmark representation. We don’t have the heritage like some other brands – but we’ve got something to shout about now.’

A dealership that will be as bold as Colindale will be one big bonus, says Herman. Moving to Edgware Road will allow Humming Bird to really expand its customer base.

Herman said: ‘We used to have a dealership in St Albans and its location used to be called “car alley”. There you would have customers who would walk along the street and browse from one dealership to another. Customers will be able to do this on Edgware Road too.

‘The internet is playing an ever-increasing role in car buying – but people still like to come and touch the cars and drive them. I can’t wait to get stuck in on Edgware Road and compete against all of the other dealers with better offers and by shouting louder.’

But are there challenges?

‘Well, how do you create a link between departments when they are on different levels?’ says Hetherington. ‘The upper levels will remain a car park, we cannot go in there and start demolishing ramps and other car park furniture, so this project is all about lateral thinking.’

The problems of converting an inherently un-car showroom friendly site into one that can rival Edgware Road’s best are all too familiar to the contractors.

‘There are issues such as deliveries of materials,’ says Keir Edmonds, MCS Group director, specialists in motor retail contracting work. ‘This being London it can get very congested, and

getting people into the site is also a problem. We will have to address some structural elements to make the building as strong as possible, too.’

However, Edmonds and his team are unfazed – they have, after all, just completed the build of a joint McLaren and Rolls-Royce dealership in Solihull. The team also built the new dealership for the car park’s former tenants a short distance away.

‘It will be a clever use of space once completed and we are looking forward to getting in there.’

The final word must go to the people who are going to work there, though. ‘For us it feels like the next chapter,’ says Herman. ‘We’ve come from having three guys running a tiny dealership to where we are now. Our current average length of service for our 46 staff members is 11.9 years and we are very much like a family.

‘Looking back to where we started to where we are now is fantastic – but it’s not just fantastic for the directors, but also for the staff who will be a part of the future of Humming Bird. We really are a dealership that’s moving onwards and upwards.’

Car Dealer will be following the build of the new Kia dealership. Read all about it in future issues of the magazine.

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 69

For a more Complete Picture Speak to our Regional Managers At Northridge Finance, the expertise of our three Regional Managers is only part of the picture when it comes to delivering quality service. They lead three teams of dedicated professionals, who cover the whole of the UK, providing the kind of face-to face contact and decision-making that all but disappeared from the marketplace.

So, if you would like to know more about Northridge Finance, it’s competitive pricing structure, it’s Target 365 booking process or it’s personal service - contact us now.

One of our Regional Managers will complete the picture.

David Smith - RM South

Andrew McIntosh - RM Scotland

Mike Lomas - RM North

0845 6076775

www.northridgefinance.com

focus on.

F&I Northridge Finance

The finance firm that’s ready to listen to you W: northridgefinance.com T: 0845 6076775

A

Northridge Finance’s Alan Carson

‘‘

We are focused on improving our service, and are keen to make sure our dealers are getting the best from us.

‘‘

rguably the most important message being given to dealers at the moment is about customer service. Making sure you look after customers from the moment they enquire to the day they buy is one of the safest ways of ensuring continued business.

But while dealers are doing this with their customers, some dealers are being let down by their service providers. One company that realises the importance of excellent customer service is Northridge Finance.

In August of last year, the firm carried out a survey to find out how its services and products were rated by dealers. Some 32 per cent of respondents said Northridge’s services and products were ‘excellent’ and a further 47.1 per cent voted ‘good’. When asked whether Northridge’s performance was getting much better, 19.5 per cent of its dealers agreed, while 36.4 per cent said it was getting better, and a strong 40.3 per cent said it was ‘at the same level’.

‘We carried out the survey because we are focused on improving our service, and are keen to make sure our dealers are getting the best from us,’ says Northridge Finance’s Alan Carson. ‘We were pleasantly surprised with the results, with a good ratio of dealers rating us highly.’

The Belfast-based business began trading in 1999 and is part of the Bank of Ireland Group. It’s been trading as NIIB Group Ltd for more than 50 years, and is the leading local company in Northern Ireland for car dealer finance.

Northridge’s specialism is providing prime finance, personal lease contracts, and loan products but their skills also extend to providing systems, products, and account management facilities for a number of areas of the Bank of Ireland.

For car dealers, the business has a large number of managers and representatives on hand who can assist dealers in as many ways as possible – whether face-to-face or over the phone.

‘Northridge is a very geographical company and has people at hand right across the country to help out our dealers,’ says Carson.

He adds that the firm is focused on delivering a premium service to its dealer customers, and will continue to seek improvements through 2012.

‘We are constantly finding ways of furthering our help to dealers. That’s why the survey was so important for us. It was not only heartening to know that we are delivering a good service our dealers are pleased to be using, but it also shows us there are ways of improving the service.’

Carson is clear on why dealers should be partnering with the firm, too.

‘We are consistent in our approach with dealers,’ he says, ‘and we are the only independent finance firm who can provide the unique Joint Trading Agreement.’

That’s not all, though. Northridge is aware that not every solution suits every dealer, hence why they have a variety of ways a dealer can send finance proposals. Whether it’s by fax, by computer – using Northridge’s newly launched Target365 service – or by phone, dealers can send and receive approval and customer documents as quickly and as easily as possible.

‘Using our experience and the survey we carried out this year, we are expecting a good year ahead,’ says Carson. ‘We are targeting a 20 per cent growth figure in 2012, and we’ll do this by adding additional numbers to our field team, gaining new accounts and strengthening our long-term relationships with existing dealers.’

Perhaps it’s time you should be starting a long-term relationship with Northridge Finance.

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 71

How to accelerate your profits.

By Eric Stone, WMS Group Business Development Director.

The past two years have witnessed a 30% growth for our business, despite operating in a saturated market where competition is rife. This increase in trade isn’t a stroke of luck though, but instead a combination of having the right people, with the right products and armed with the right training. More dealerships than ever are choosing us as their warranty partner because we assess their needs – and then we design, build and integrate strategic business solutions, fitting seamlessly into their sales processes to help improve bottom lines, product penetration, customer retention and cashflows. Every day, dealers generate word-of-mouth referrals for us because of our innovative product range (including the ‘Safe and Sound’ customer satisfaction scheme and monthly Guaranteed Asset Protection plan); personal service and understanding of what they and their customers, want from a warranty company.

Today, we work with in excess of 3,500 dealerships - and included within that number are many of the UK’s largest franchises, determined by their turnover. The award-winning ‘Safe and Sound’, scheme endorsed by Sir Stirling Moss OBE, has even been adopted by Proton for their non-home brand stock to boost footfall, with many other manufacturers’ recognising that it is comparable, if not better than their approved used programme.

Aftersales, not after thought!

We’re here to help.

Did you know that we also have a team of experienced vehicle warranty specialists on hand to give you an edge in the market by offering your business an exceptional aftersales service?

Together with a national network of dedicated account managers, our focus is working with your sales team to maximise product penetration and increase profitability for the dealership - and our re-solicitation team are available to help prevent lost opportunities. They can be tasked with canvassing your customers after the vehicle is sold, where customers may have left your dealership without a warranty or any other valuable protection products, and a commission payment will then be generated for your business from all successful sales. Additional customer contact can be made if required too, such as organising open days to encourage potential customers into your dealership, along with service and MOT reminder calls to provide you with further revenue streams.

The WMS Group provide everything from dealer administration schemes and online policy registration systems, to inhouse telephone claims handling, bespoke policy documents, and comprehensive sales and compliance training. We are committed to helping you to achieve real results with our extensive product portfolio including warranty cover for cars, motorcycles and commercial vehicles; GAP and added-value offerings such as recovery breakdown.

Yesterday’s customers create today’s opportunities and tomorrow’s profit - and making dealerships more money is what we’re all about.

For further information about any of our products or services, please contact me, Eric Stone on 07789 682502 or 0800 021 3030 or visit www.WMSGroupUK.com.

Improving profit mar retention and cash fl

Is your dealership firing

on all cylinders?

With the ability to design and build bespoke business solutions, we have proven time and time again to help dealers improve their bottom line by offering comprehensive yet affordable customer care solutions.

rgins, product penetration, customer flows since 2003.

“

I have worked in the motor trade for over 25 years, retailing over 1,000 cars a year and have never found a warranty company as good as the WMS Group.

They have helped to increase our profitability and retain customers, who see the value in the products offered.

Steve Mclaughlin Essex Car Company

“

In these tough times where having a competitive advantage could mean the difference between your business flourishing or becoming extinct, many of our products carry an assortment of incentives for your customers, such as receiving fifteen months cover for the price of twelve, or thirty six months when buying twenty four. It all adds up to fantastic profit opportunities for your business.

Why Parrot hands-free?

PARROT CK3100

PARROT MKi9200

Maps

s Compatibility: All Parrot products are compatible with every brand of mobile phone.

Regular free software updates ensure the highest possible compatibility at all times. s Discreet, Easy Installation: Parrot strive to ensure compatibility with all models of vehicles. Steering wheel controls are also available.(1) s Simple, automatic connectivity: Once paired the Parrot system will automatically recognise and connect the mobile phone. s Wireless music: The MKi & ASTEROID ranges have advanced music playback functionality and can play music from a variety of sources through the vehicle’s speakers. s Advanced voice recognition and excellent audio quality from the World leader in Bluetooth hands-free systems.

To find out how Parrot can help your business generate more revenue contact us at sales.uk@parrot.com Available as an optional extra on the Parrot CK3000, Parrot CK3100 and MKi Series. “Made for iPod” and “Made for iPhone” mean that an electronic accessory has been designed to connect specifically to iPod, iPhone, respectively, and has been certified by the developer to meet Apple performance standards. Apple is not responsible for the operation of this device or its compliance with safety and regulatory standards. iPhone and iPod, are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. The Bluetooth word mark and logos are owned by the Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and any use of such marks by Parrot is under license. COYOTE, iCOYOTE and COYOTE logo are trademarks of COYOTE. LIVERADIO, ORANGE LIVERADIO and ORANGE LIVERADIO logo are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of France Telecom. Parrot trademarks figuring on this document are the property of Parrot SA. Other trademarks and trade names are the property of their respective owners. Parrot SA - RCS PARIS 394 149 496.

(1)

www.parrot.com

focus on.

F&I PARROT

Music, maps and more: Why Parrot is just perfect W: parrot.com T: 0844 4722360

I

‘‘

My vehicle came with a factory-fitted kit, but the Parrot kit gives me so much more capability

‘‘

f there’s one word that sums up the wireless technology company Parrot, it’s innovation. The business, which came into being in 1994 and was the first manufacturer to bring out a Bluetooth car kit, is very much in the forefront of technology with a huge range of hands-free multimedia options for cars.

The possibilities are, quite simply, endless – and enormously exciting. With Parrot technology in your customers’ cars, they could be making a hands-free phone call, listening to a radio station they have created themselves, finding out where the cheapest and nearest fuel is, and checking their location with the company’s mapping technology.

All of which is great news for dealers and a fantastic way to increase profitability.

Asif Gillani, country manager for the UK and Ireland, explained: ‘We work with car dealers around the world and help them increase their revenue by giving them an aftersales opportunity.

‘If they’ve got a customer with a new or used vehicle, who wants to have a hands-free kit or advanced music features in their vehicle – a Parrot kit is ideal. We have a number of products in our range. Some of them are straightforward car kits but others are full music kits. By that I mean that you can plug your iPhone or iPod into them, have access to your album artwork, your playlist and experience full music capability.

‘Alternatively you can plug a USB stick or SD card in. These are things that customers don’t necessarily get on a factory-fitted car kit but give the dealer an opportunity to upsell.

‘For the dealer, we’re happy to work in two ways.

Either we can put them in touch with one of our certified installers, who will come and install the kit in the dealer’s workshop. The dealer can then charge a fee for that. Alternatively, if the dealer has the confidence and the spare capacity in their workshop, they’re able to buy from our distributors and do the fitting themselves.

‘We can support dealers with POS material, with posters, leaflets and visits from our field team. We also have trainers who are employed by us directly and in some circumstances we can provide a live demo unit as well.’

Asif uses one of Parrot’s kits in his own vehicle – the MKi9200. He says: ‘Even though my vehicle came with a factory-fitted kit, the Parrot kit gives me so much more capability.’

Of Parrot’s 600 staff globally, just over half are in the company’s engineering function – a major strength of the firm and a feature that helps Parrot lead from the front. Another key feature of the service Parrot provides is the free software updates it offers to keep up-to-date with the latest phones.

As Asif explained: ‘Dealers are not going to get people coming back to them complaining that the car kit they bought six months ago is no longer

working with their new phone. We have UK-based technical support, who are happy to speak to a dealer or end user. We’re more than happy for dealers to give our number out, so we can deal with the customer inquiry ourselves.’

Another area where Parrot has been busy is digital radio, which is very much coming to the fore for dealers and drivers.

As you’d expect, Parrot is in the forefront of developments here too with their Asteroid car radio unit, which has an Android operating system, meaning apps can be developed for it.

Asteroid comes with some preloaded apps, one of which is an internet radio that provides access to an incredible 10,000 stations from around the world plus thousands of podcasts.

Parrot Maps is also pre-installed, which although not quite a full sat-nav, provides a wealth of information. And why not become a Deezer geezer?

This advanced subscription-based music-streaming service means you can create a personalised radio station, so if you want to listen to a particular artist or genre the technology will stream it to you through your car radio.

Music to your – and your customers’ – ears.

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 75

focus on.

F&I ORACLE FINANCE

Speed is everything W: oraclefinance.co.uk T: 08450 944 997

W

hen carrying out a finance deal, speed is everything.

Relying on a finance partner who reacts slowly could mean your customer walks out of the door.

Oracle Finance know this too, that’s why they make sure their service is as quick and efficient as possible.

‘With access to the best interest rates and a strong focus on customer service, Oracle Finance is able to provide fast and positive credit decisions,’ say Andy King, Oracle Finance’s sales director, pictured right. ‘This means that dealers are paid quickly ensuring their customers take

76 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

speedy delivery of their prestige car.

Having a depreciating asset off sale is an expensive exercise, we know the factors that are involved to provide the finance solution in order to sell the car and deliver excellent levels of customer service.’

Oracle has a range of products available to dealers including PCP, balanced payments, lease purchase and hire purchase plus many more bespoke products to meet individual needs.

‘These bespoke packages are built around customers’ exact requirements and we have a proven track record of delivery, whatever the challenge,’ explains King.

‘In short all we need is a name, telephone number and vehicle details and we’ll do the rest enabling dealers to get on with the job in hand; selling cars.

‘We also help dealers to sell more cars through our focus on customer retention.’

King is clear why dealers should be using Oracle. ‘Oracle Finance provides strong commission payments bringing additional revenue.

‘For partners who are willing to make a volume commitment with ourselves we offer stocking loan facilities, which will be exceptionally competitive on rate. To cap it all off we’ll even pay you for the privilege.’ [CD]

Driving Traffic to your Showroom

With TelephoneSuccess™, we can help you increase showroom traffic by over 100% Our re-engineered programme analyses your sales calls, providing sales and service managers with key facts and tools they need to make improvements exactly when and where they are needed.

More than 40% of car buyers telephone dealers before deciding where to place their business, can you afford to be without TelephoneSuccess™?

Benefits of TelephoneSuccess™: • • • •

Better understanding of your customers and sales team More skills and confidence for your sales and service people More sales and more revenue Increases Customer Satisfaction

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Increasing Sales Ratio

For more information please contact us: Martec Europe Limited 14 Chiltern Court, Asheridge Road Chesham, Buckinghamshire HP5 2PX

Tel: 0844 854 9669 Email: training@martec.co.uk Website: www.martec.co.uk/telephone-success

DATA FILE.

TopTips n

Our helpful feature that gives you hints and tips to improve your business

It’s all about

the internet

Okay, you knew that. But did you realise the extent to which the web dictates buyers’ behaviour? Dave Brown reports

T

he internet rules, okay? It is of absolutely crucial importance if you are to sell cars and do well in today’s market.

This is nothing new of course, but just when we thought it had infiltrated our lives at work and at home with desktop PCs, along came webfriendly mobile phones and tablets meaning we can take the net with us wherever we go.

And plenty of people do of course. When you greet a potential purchaser at your dealership on a Saturday morning, you can be fairly sure that they have already viewed your stock online, checked out in detail the cars they like the look of and also had a gander at what your rivals have to offer.

Not surprisingly, plenty of research has been carried out in this area so we in the automotive industry can better understand the effect of the web on buyers’ behaviour. And it’s thanks to the internet that we probably know more about how Mr Joe Public prepares to buy a car than we ever have before.

Nathan Coe, group director at Auto Trader, told us: ‘With 90 per cent of consumers searching for cars online, the internet is the single most influential tool for buyers and dealers alike.

‘And these consumers are not just browsing as 75 per cent of those searching are ready to buy with 55 per cent expecting to do so within three months.

‘Research by Auto Trader shows that with so much information available on the internet, consumers are becoming more and more pricesensitive with 62 per cent saying that a dealer asking a fair price for a car is the most important factor in choosing which dealer to spend their money with.

MORE KNOWLEDGEABLE ‘Consumers are also becoming more knowledgeable, spending on average 11 hours online researching cars. Twenty-four per cent of buyers admit they will travel more than 100 miles to buy a car that is the one for them.’

Not surprisingly, Google have plenty to say on the subject too. Alex Rose, who delivered a fascinating speech to his audience at Car Dealer’s Profit Clinic shortly before Christmas, is the company’s industry manager for automotive.

He told us: ‘We survey 850 UK new car buyers every year to ascertain how they went about the research process. This gives us a fascinating insight into the UK car-buying public, their motivations and

MOTORS.co.uk

Some people take over a YEAR to decide MOTORS.CO.UK have some facts and figures which make fascinating reading. In a survey carried out in November 2010 (A&N Media / Kantar Media), 53 per cent of respondents said they spent less than a month deciding what used car to buy.

Thirty-two per cent of buyers spend one to three months, with nine per cent of buyers spending three to six months in the decisionmaking process. Four per cent spent six to 12 months… while one per cent of buyers spent more than a year making their minds up!

78 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

Another piece of research carried out a year earlier by BMRB showed that franchise dealers were the preferred choice of 50 per cent of people looking for a used car, with independents considered by only 11 per cent.

In February 2011, FlyResearch carried out a survey in which they asked people: ‘How many used car websites do you typically look at in the process of looking for a new car?’ Fifty per cent of respondents said two or three, with 28 per cent of people turning to used car websites first.

research behaviour. The biggest single trigger for purchase is ‘‘improved fuel efficiency’’ (18 per cent of buyers). 2011 was the first year in which this was top of the list for incentive to change.

‘At the start of the process, 76 per cent of buyers are open-minded on makes and models. Only 24 per cent knew exactly what they wanted. As a result, just 48 per cent of buyers replaced their brand likefor-like (ie replaced a Ford with another Ford).

‘This gives dealers a fantastic opportunity to get in front of buyers who are open to influence, and who are truly evaluating their options and choosing the car that best suits their needs, rather than a triedand-tested ‘‘reliable choice’’ brand.’

Different research exercises produce different results of course but the general consensus seems to be that buyers take around three months to make their minds up when looking for a replacement vehicle.

Rose told us that Google’s findings show buyers take 3.6 months to make a purchase decision. Auto Trader put the figure at about three months. Of Google’s group of respondents, 53 per cent take

DataFile CONTENTS.

Right click 81 Auctions 82 Net Gains 83 Shares 84 The Statistics 87

Franchised dealers are the first choice of 50 per cent of used car buyers, according to research

‘The biggest single trigger for purchase is improved fuel efficiency.’ up to three months, 19 per cent take three to six months, and 27 per cent actually take six months or longer to make their purchase!

‘This is understandable when you consider the economic uncertainty, fuel price increases and barrage of incentive programmes that influence today’s buyer,’ he added.

‘The very first thing that 56 per cent of buyers do is turn to the internet. Twenty-two per cent will visit or call their dealer, but just four per cent will begin with a magazine! So dealers MUST ensure visibility online in front of local buyers. Those who don’t do so will be missed by over half of potential buyers as they evaluate the marketplace for the first time.’

Rose said that buyers go on to use 3.6 online sources during the research phase, against an average of just 1.3 physical dealer visits.

‘So the dealer visit experience is absolutely critical,’ he explained. ‘Most dealers will only have one shot at it – but without a strong online presence, they may never reach that stage. Far from being a window into dealers’ businesses, its increasingly the case that their website and web presence IS their business.’

When it comes to which online sources buyers use, 85 per cent of online researchers use search engines, the vast majority of whom, 90 per cent, turn to Google. Remarkably, 48 per cent of online researchers will watch online video, be it manufacturer content, reviews or even amateur content created from a mobile phone! And YouTube has become the go-to site for this content.

And as smartphone penetration in the UK nudges 50 per cent, its no surprise that buyers are turning to their phones to research their next car, say Google.

Thirty-four per cent of search engine users did so on their phone, 31 per cent visited manufacturer websites, and 25 per cent visited dealer websites.

Any more detail when it comes to selecting the dealer? The same patterns emerge.

SMMT sales figures 89 Suppliers guide 90 Trader directory 92 Jobs 96 Time Is Money 98

FASCINATING FACTS

Mags losing power Below are four fascinating facts from Google’s most recent research… and data that shows magazines don’t wield the power they once did with the car-buying public. n Sixty-eight per cent will use the web to gather information compared to 11 per cent using magazines. n Sixty-nine per cent will use the web to compare and refine their choices, again, compared to 11 per cent using magazines. n Forty-five per cent will use the web to decide on make and model against six per cent using the mags. n And 66 per cent will use the web to select the dealer as opposed to 11 per cent using magazines.

Forty-five per cent used an online source, while just 10 per cent used traditional media, for example, a local paper.

The remainder will have driven or walked past, received a personal recommendation, or bought from that dealer in the past. So the in-dealer experience, customer service, physical appearance and so on do still matter, of course. But almost half of your marketplace – despite the fact that they’re likely to be local – are going to use the web to identify and locate their dealer.

Not only is online research becoming THE place where purchase decisions are made, those who research online are more open to influence than those who still use traditional sources. For example: those who use search engines consider more brands (4.1 vs 3.6) and are 45 per cent more likely to switch brands. So if you’re looking to bring new buyers into the dealership, having a strong presence in search is absolutely key.

Tim Smith, commercial director at GForces, said the rise and rise of the internet meant that when car buyers turned up at dealerships, ‘they are serious, not curious’.

‘The internet is now the number one tool for car buyers,’ he confirmed. ‘Dealers need to make sure their web presence provides all the information a customer may need – including tools to engage, such as live chat or social media.

‘Dealers could find the buying cycle shortened further, and in favour of their business, if they provide suitable online research and enquiry tools.’

With thanks to...

Tim Smith, gforces.co.uk Nathan Coe, autotrader.co.uk Alex Rose, google.com Stephen Jury, motors.co.uk

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 79

RIGHT CLICK.

..in association with GForces

Your SEO strategy needs to be advanced The days of traditional tactics are ending ... so keeping up with the times is more vital than ever

S

earch Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the bedrock of online marketing. It can get a dealer’s website to the top of the search rankings, increasing online visibility and leads.

SEO is not simple. It is a process of continual website development. Improving natural search rankings can take many months, especially in a crowded marketplace like automotive search.

For car dealers, getting SEO right could be the difference between a cost-per-lead of £10 and a cost-per-lead of under £3; a big difference.

Changes to the way Google generates natural search listings (see timeline below) add to the need for a good SEO strategy. Some common tactics have become less effective due to changes in the way Google operates.

Over the last 18 months, the shift in how brands should focus SEO, driven by changes to Google, has been faster than ever before. As a result, a ‘set strategy’ which does not move with the latest SEO trends will not work well.

The timeline shows the various changes to how Google picks natural search results: June 2010: ‘Caffeine update’: Fresh and new website content was favoured; up-to-date websites with recently updated pages would rank higher than ones without.

August 2010: ‘Brand update’: Brand visibility and strength increased in importance. Brand listings could now appear many times within search results.

December 2010: ‘Social signals’: A major change in how Google picks results, this update meant that posts on social media sites would now be used as ranking factors.

February 2011: ‘Panda/farmer update’: SEO tactics like publishing lots of low-quality content and links were hit by this change.

March and June 2011: Google ‘+’ updates: In March, Google launched the ‘+1’ button, and June saw the Google+ social network launch meaning Google users could influence search results by clicking the ‘+1’ button.

October 2011: ‘Query encryption’: This change removed a specific type of keyword data from some searches, making it harder to identify keywords that generate traffic.

November 2011: ‘Freshness update’: An update similar to ‘Caffeine’, it impacted time-sensitive results.

January 2012: ‘Search + your world’: Enhancing the relevance of social profiles, such as Google+, meant that natural search listings were even more informed by social media.

February 2012: ‘Venice update’: A significant

change in how search listings are produced by localising results. Searches in a given area are now more likely to produce local results.

An integrated approach to SEO is now the only way to guarantee success.

Improving the technical content (videos), the general content (news and images) and the architecture of a website is the starting point, but the SEO strategy has to be advanced. Maximising the impact of pages relating to a dealer’s website, such as social media, is now highly important.

Equally, with localised search more prevalent, a high local brand visibility must be a top priority.

In short, the days of ‘traditional’ SEO tactics are coming to an end. The focus for the UK’s top automotive web providers is now on promoting sites and brands through a holistic digital marketing strategy that encompasses social media, local brand prominence and personalisation of results. Only by keeping with the times and continually evolving SEO will car dealers reap the benefits.

Who is Tim Smith?

He is commercial director for serial award winners GForces. Learn more about how he can help you at gforces.co.uk or call 0845 658 9290.

‘A high local brand visibility must be a top priority.’

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION RANK #1 WITH GFORCES To stay in pole position you need to adapt your strategy, because what works today, may not work tomorrow. Drive your dealership to the top with GForces’ SEO

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE

FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL GFORCES ON 0845 658 9290 WWW.GFORCES.CO.UK CarDealerMag.co.uk | 81

auctions.

Saab Parts UK network grows bit.ly/SaabParts

Over 500 convertibles sold at special sales Results of exciting new initiative speak for themselves

Dutch delight AUCTION firm Aston Barclay is celebrating after selling a rare Dutch supercar.

One of only 250 ever built, the Spyker C8 Spyder was bought by a Dorset-based businessman for £83,000.

David Scarborough, Aston Barclay’s commercial director, said: ‘We were extremely privileged to be asked to auction the Spyker.

‘I don’t believe we have had such a rare car come into our auction rooms and as you can imagine, there was enormous interest in the car from both genuine bidders and enthusiasts.

‘Because of its rarity, there are no official guide prices to work with so we had to believe in our buyers.

‘The bidding opened up at £60,000 and the price continued to rise with bids coming in thick and fast from buyers in the hall and Live internet bidders around the country. As soon as the hammer fell, I had a call from the vendor who was delighted.’

82 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

auction stations

Regional price hotspots: Are they fact or fiction?

W

M

ore than 500 convertibles, generating a turnover of £4.5m, have been sold at two special BCA LexAutolease sales.

Large crowds of buyers and hundreds of online bidders participated in the special Lex Autolease Convertible sales staged simultaneously at the BCA Blackbushe, Surrey and Belle Vue, Manchester auction centres on St Patrick’s Day. The average value of the vehicles was nearly £9k. The event combined physical bidding, Live Online and a special ‘Bid Now’ online auction.

Each sale was also streamed live via LCD screens into the other location, allowing buyers in one venue to bid in real time on the cars being marketed at both venues.

The number of registered buyers for the sales at the two locations stood at more than 400, with a further 502 Live Online bidders participating via their PCs, laptops and mobile devices. Fifty per cent of the cars (252) were sold to Live Online buyers, representing a value of £2.25m.

Henstock

Overall performance exceeded 103 per cent of CAP Clean. Both sales were open to the public, and every convertible offered was covered by the BCA Assured programme, giving peace of mind to buyers by providing a report on a 30-point mechanical check.

Dale Evans, northern area auction manager for Lex Autolease, said: ‘This was a sophisticated and complex two-day sales programme that involved two venues, bespoke online sales channels and live video streaming.

‘Our close working partnership with BCA gives us the opportunity to try such new initiatives with confidence and the result speaks for itself.’

Corporate account manager for Lex Autolease, Alan Gupwell, added: ‘This result underlines the growing importance of the online buyer in the remarketing mix.’

Sales capacity doubles as second hall is opened BCA has opened a second auction hall at its Measham Commercial Remarketing centre, doubling sales capacity.

The new purpose-built facility includes a large undercover auction hall and rostrum with full Live Online and e-Auction capability, back office and vendor hospitality facilities.

Sales run in tandem, which means Measham now has the capacity to offer more than 500 light commercials through two lanes every sale day.

Alongside the weekly LCV sales, Measham will continue to stage fortnightly heavy commercial sales on every second Thursday and specialist monthly plant and equipment and, farm and agricultural sales.

Centre manager Dominic Burr said: ‘Measham is one of the busiest Commercial Auction centres in the BCA network and we are all delighted with this new facility.

‘The work was completed right on schedule and we had great support from buyers and sellers alike for this first sale in the new auction hall.’

e are often asked if there are good and bad places to try to remarket certain types of vehicle. Can similar vehicles achieve different results in different bits of the country?

The simple fact is that regional price hotspots are very much a myth of the motor industry and hark back to a time when buyers had to travel to bid in person using a transport network that was nowhere near as comprehensive as it is today.

The rise of internet remarketing led by BCA’s Live Online service which launched over a decade ago has all but killed off the notion of regional price variations, because now buyers can bid on vehicles all over the country without leaving the comfort of their office. And while a vehicle may be sold in the south, the highest bidder may well be in the north or vice-versa.

There will always be local price fluctuations and a car sold in the south on Monday may do better or worse than a similar model sold in the north, west, east or Midlands on Friday – that is the nature of an open, competitive marketplace.

And while there may be occasional local price hotspots for certain types of used vehicles, they are unpredictable and tend to be short-lived, which makes them largely irrelevant to most sellers.

Any perceived value improvement would have to outweigh additional logistics fees for a start, and if there is a sudden influx of similar product, any presumed price benefit will soon evaporate.

For example, the recent BCA Lex Autolease convertible sales in Blackbushe, Surrey and Belle Vue, Manchester took place at the same time and with similar selections of stock – and they achieved very similar results.

While it would seem sensible to sell vehicles in the geographic location that has the most receptive marketplace, there is little data to support any real price benefit. In fact, seasonality and the prevailing weather conditions have a much stronger effect on demand, particularly for sectors such as 4x4s and convertibles.

‘Seasonality and the weather have a stronger effect on demand.’

Who is Simon Henstock?

Simon is UK network operations director for BCA. Visit british-car-auctions.co.uk or call 0845 600 6644.

NET GAINS.

..in association with Codeweavers

Add real pulling power to the net Use the people in your business to keep your web presence relevant

W

ant to know one of the best-kept secrets about marketing on the internet? Promise you won’t tell anyone? OK, here we go...

In order to be successful on the internet you have to work really, really hard!

Sorry, I know you know that already but you would be amazed how many companies think you just pay your money to your media company, add in a few associated services to pimp it up a bit and – hey presto – this time next year Rodney, we’ll be millionaires.

Unfortunately it won’t just happen on its own.

So where to start? Well, a good place is to ask yourself what you want your site to achieve for you. Do you want a simple ‘web presence,’ a full-blown e-commerce platform or something in between?

Whatever your aspirations you will need a mixed bag of strategies to help potential customers find your site.

There are the old favourites such as SEO (search engine optimisation, for those that have been on interstellar travels for the past decade), pay-per-click campaigns and link building to name a few, not forgetting the black hole that is ‘social media’.

So that’s getting people to the site boxed off.

What about converting those visitors to inquiries or even better, pounds, shillings and pence?

‘How can any company outsource its social media strategy?’

Well, you will need some of the following: engaging content, interactive functionality, competitively-priced stock, keen finance offers, well-positioned calls to action, not to mention special offers and inducements.

OK, so now we have visitors and customer interaction, how are we doing? That brings us nicely onto analytics and reporting. Next you need information and feedback as to how well you are doing. Google Analytics, live chat, customer surveys, Twitter and Facebook can all help you understand what works and what doesn’t.

Right that’s us done then? Er, well not really.

This is just the start.

The one thing that is constant on the web is change and you need to challenge and change every aspect of the way you do business on the

web in order to stay ahead of your rivals.

Some companies mitigate the hard work by outsourcing. Nothing wrong with this but be selective with what you contract out.

What’s wrong with taking an active role in the management and promotion of your own site?

My belief is that the best people to drive the changes needed in order to keep your web presence current, relevant and focused are the people in your business.

The best example of this is social media. How can any company outsource its social media strategy? Social media should directly reflect the personality of the business. If it doesn’t, it loses all relevance to your customers and becomes a token gesture.

So if you want success on the web my advice is simple. Work hard and reap the rewards.

Who is Roland Schaack?

Roland is managing director at Codeweavers. Learn more about how he can help you at Codeweavers.net or call 0800 021 0888.

0800 021 0888 www.codeweavers.net contactus@codeweavers.net

EMBRACE THE POWER OF THE INTERNET CarDealerMag.co.uk | 83

SHARES.

..in association with ASE-global.com

Is another recession coming?

The economists can’t agree With an entertaining start to the year behind us, we have now entered the results season

MANUFACTURERS ENJOY A MARVELLOUS MARCH

March completed a recordbreaking quarterly performance for MercedesBenz in the UK

I

t has certainly been a turbulent time for the listed motor retail stocks so far in 2012. We have been kept entertained with a series of market rumours boosting the share price of Pendragon and whoever the markets believed might be interested in buying them. Whilst this may prove to be a series of cases where two plus two did not equal four, it certainly provided a bit of excitement.

We have now moved fully into the results season with the majority of listed groups issuing full results or trading updates.

There has been no consistency in market reaction to the results, except from the continuing nervousness over companies deemed to have too high a reliance on debt.

The principal gainer during March has been Lookers with the share price gaining 10 per cent during the month. The annual results for 2011, announced at the start of the month, saw slightly lower profits at the new car division (with lower fleet sales being partially masked by increased retail sales) offset by growth in parts

‘There has been no consistency in market reaction to the results.’ and used cars. This message was received well by the market, as was the positive outlook on the first quarter, despite the company forecasting flat profits for 2012.

Inchcape has continued its steady share price growth during 2012, with the shares being up over 20 per cent on the year. Inchcape also announced its annual results at the start of March and this drove the share price up close to its 52-week high and to a gain of over 25 per cent on the year. While there has been settling (profit taking) since then, geographical diversity has seen the business able to deliver profit improvements which could not be matched in the still-contracting UK market.

HR Owen also announced their preliminary results for 2011. The share price has seen a

A WHOLE host of car manufacturers reported strong gains in registrations in March – a month that saw registrations rise 1.8 per cent across the board.

Vauxhall showed the biggest leap in yearon-year retail sales in March, with 3,701 more cars sold than in March 2011. The figures lift Vauxhall’s retail share by 1.46 percentage points.

Toyota reported sales had increased by 8.7 per cent in the year to March 2012, compared to the first quarter last year. Its share of the car market now stands at 4.6 per cent, up from 4.2 per cent this time last year.

Biggest sellers for the Japanese were the new Yaris, introduced late last year, and the Aygo city car.

There was pleasing news for the British-built Auris and Avensis with the models accounting for nearly one-in-four Toyotas sold in 2012. steady downward trend during 2012 losing 10 per cent of its value. This trend was reversed with an immediate gain of half of the loss on the publication of the trading results.

Whilst profits were down slightly on 2010, the company produced positive statements about bucking the downward trend in new luxury vehicle registrations. Following the acquisition of Broughtons in 2011, further expansion looks on the cards as we move through 2012. The extent to which this will be earnings (and share price) enhancing will be interesting to watch.

Vertu issued its pre-close trading update at the end of February which produced a reversal of the February losses in share price. Despite positive forecasts for March 2012 (over 10 per cent higher

Who is Mike Jones?

He‘s executive chairman of ASE Global. If you want to talk to him about his column call 0161 493 1930 84 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

During March, 23,185 new Nissans found homes giving the company a market share of 5.6 per cent. This represents a 16 per cent increase in total registrations compared to the same month in 2011.

For the full financial year, the company’s registrations were 111,893, giving it a market share of 5.1 per cent – a record for the company.

In terms of overall sales it was the best year for Nissan since 2003.

And March completed a record-breaking quarterly performance for Mercedes-Benz in the UK, with the company reporting its bestever new car registrations over a three-month period. Mercedes-Benz registered 16,166 new cars in March, an increase of 10.2 per cent over the same month in 2011. The first quarter saw 25,348 new Mercedes taking to the road, a rise of 12.7 per cent, and giving a market share of 4.5 per cent – another record. private orders than in March 2011 at the time of publication), the share price has seen a slight decline during March.

There has been little movement at the remaining listed stocks.

We are now entering an interesting period for the economy, with economists unable to agree on whether they believe that we are re-entering recession or not.

The March registration numbers may provide some guide to the outlook for the listed stocks, however, as always, it will be the self registration component of the numbers and the extent to which margin has been lost to achieve that volume which will be all-important in determining overall profitability levels.

the fleet.

longtermer

Kia Rio There’s a new arrival in the Car Dealer car park in the shape of Kia’s Ford Fiesta challenger

with Kia’s all-new B segment challenger.

In Geneva, European boss of Kia Paul Philpott – and now UK president and CEO – told me that ‘without a successful B segment car, you can’t have a profitable network’, so the new Rio has a lot of weight on its shoulders.

It helps that it’s actually very good indeed. reat drives come in many forms and Park it next to the model it replaced and the Peter I’ve had my fair share of a few. However, Schreyer penned newcomer makes it a laughing I never thought I’d be saying it about a stock.

The bold front end, LED drving lights and run in a Kia Rio. But, last month, I good looks really make it stand out. had a drive across the South Downs that put a We picked the three door model, in Blazed Red, whopping grin on my face – and it was all and with the two-tone alloys it certainly looks thanks to a 1.4-litre, three cylinder diesel impressive.

It helps it drives brilliantly too.

Korean hatchback.

There have been a few moans about the And, you know what? I’m not ashamed to say I steering, but I find it nicely weighted and loved every minute of it. Now, stick with me for a solid, and the ride is a little firm but incredibly second. Great drives don’t have to mean massive compliant. In fact, on my back road run it was bhp and rear wheel drive. They can be had in far faultless. more sensible machinery too.

I’m already a big fan of this little car and as In fact, I’d actually go as far as saying it can be a current Sportage owner, it’s nice to see the more fun threading a low-powered hatch along a B family look carried over to the baby brother of road, than, say, a Caterham you’re always worried the range. It’s not all rosy though. My drive was is going to spit you into a hedge.

There’s simply something special about driving spoilt somewhat by the incessant flashing from oncoming drivers. Everyone thought I had full cars with just a little less power than they need. beam on when I hadn’t.

You really have to work at keeping your speed up At one stage, the Citroen Saxo driver in front – momentum is key and corners, road furniture, of me flashed his rear fog lights at me in mobile HGVs – all become a challenge. disco fashion for at least 10 miles. But what could My drive from Gosport to Crawley late one I do short of turn off the lights? night was one of the most enjoyable I’ve had on So, a trip to the local dealers is already planned the road in months. Traffic was light, the roads dry to see if they need adjusting. Strange for a car with and our little Rio was on form. just 700 miles on the clock, but perhaps the lights LB61 UVL is the latest addition to the Car were incorrectly set at the factory. I’ll report back Dealer fleet. Ok, that’s a lie, it’s the only member what they say after my visit. of the fleet (for now), but still we’ll be running it JAMES BAGGOTT for a few months to see just what it’s like to live

G

second opinion

To Sunderland!

After the ed had had his fun in the Rio, my mission was to drive from Portsmouth to Sunderland and back to visit Nissan’s factory (p18): around 680 miles in total, with a hotel stay in Gateshead included.

The car was a pleasure to drive. I haven’t been behind the wheel of that many diesels in my time but I loved everything about the car: the handling, responsiveness, and general ‘driveability’.

I found it comfortable too, with ample leg room and good visibility.

My normal motor is a Mazda 6 (sarcastically referred to by Batch as ‘the mighty Mazda’) but if it wasn’t for the fact that I still need a family four-door car from time to time, the Kia Rio would do me just fine.

DAVE BROWN

the knowledge Model: Kia Rio 1.4 CRDI ‘3’ Eco Price: £14,295 Engine: 1.4-litre, 3cyl Power: 89bhp, 90Nm Max speed: 107mph 0-60mph: 13.7s MPG (comb’d): 70.6 Emissions: 105g/km Mileage this month: 1,127 Costs this month: £0

This month’s highlight: Realising fun in a car doesn’t have to mean rear-wheel drive and a million bhp.

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 85

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DATA FILE.

..in association with

Thestatistics Used Cars n Top 10 Searches n SMMT Sales Data

Motors.co.uk now part of the world’s biggest auto services provider O

nline classified website Motors. co.uk has been bought by Manheim from the Daily Mail and General Trust.

Manheim chief executive John Bailey said: ‘The acquisition of Motors.co.uk is a significant and important investment for us and it fits perfectly within our evolving portfolio of products, particularly as the digital marketplace becomes ever more influential.

‘We have been watching the online classified business here in the UK for some time and we’ve had a growing presence in this important market with our own sites All Approved Cars and, more recently, Carmony.

‘In the USA Manheim is by far the market leader, owning the US Autotrader. com which consistently lists over 2.7m vehicles. In just five years Motors.co.uk has built up a substantial presence and great reputation in the UK and the opportunity to acquire them has come at a perfect time for us, as we look to expand our services in this space.’

The amount paid by Manheim is undisclosed. Motors won a Car Dealer Power gong in 2011.

The company has announced that all Motors. co.uk employees will transfer to Manheim and the business will sit within its Manheim Retail Services area however there are no immediate plans to change the day-to-day operations.

‘‘

In addition to Motors.co.uk the acquisition also includes the associated businesses of automotive web and photography specialist Auto Exposure, as well as Complete Automotive Solutions which provides customer contact management and showroom marketing products for retail dealers.

Motors.co.uk chief executive Garry Hobson added: ‘We are all extremely excited about being part of the world’s largest automotive services provider and, in particular, to have access to the online classified media expertise within USA Autotrader.com.

‘One of the first compelling opportunities will be to combine the Motors.co.uk used vehicle listings with those offered through Manheim’s portal, Carmony.

‘This should immediately create an available selection of over 230,000 retail quality vehicles for consumers to browse in a highly interactive online environment. For dealers and manufacturers it’s a great route into the private motorist and one which will be fully supported by an extensive range of valueadded, consumer related marketing services.’

Motors.co.uk has built up a substantial presence.

Kelleher

Market insight

A question of timing

W

e’re often told that the secret to life, comedy and being a great sales person is good timing, which got me thinking – what are the best times to advertise a car online? We’ve done a deep dive into consumer search behaviour on our site over the course of a typical week and have some interesting insights.

In terms of the busiest day of the week for visits, while the range is relatively narrow, Monday is the most active day with a 14.9 per cent share of total visits. What is more surprising is the second busiest day on our site; namely Sunday, which has a 14.4 per cent share of the total.

In terms of the quietest day on the site for visits, we find Saturdays bring up the rear, with 13.9 per cent of total visits. However, when looking at visits from mobile devices over the course of the week, Saturday goes from being our weakest day to our second strongest (marginally behind Sunday).

Clearly a significant proportion of this activity is driven by used car buyers out on the road visiting dealerships to either view a car they have seen on their desktop computer earlier in the week or checking that the price that they are being offered is at fair market rate while on a dealer forecourt.

There are also some interesting insights in terms of what time of the day that consumers visit the site. As you might expect, visits during the core working hours of 8am to 7pm constitute just over 60 per cent of total visits. However, the individual peak hour for traffic is actually between 8pm and 9pm at night.

Who is Dermot Kelleher?

He is head of research at Motors.co.uk. Find out more about how the portal can help you on their website or call 0845 265 6000.

sales@motors.co.uk

0845 265 6000 www.motors.co.uk/mediacentre

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 87

DATA FILE.

Thestatistics Used Cars n Top 10 Searches n SMMT Sales Data

The most searched-for cars on Motors.co.uk

Most popular manufacturer 1 Ford 2 Vauxhall 3 Volkswagen 4 BMW 5 Audi 6 Peugeot 7 Mercedes-Benz 8 Toyota 9 MINI 10 Renault Most popular models 1 Ford Focus 2 Ford Fiesta 3 BMW 3 Series 4 Volkswagen Golf 5 Vauxhall Corsa 6 Vauxhall Astra 7 Ford Mondeo 8 Audi A3 9 Renault Clio 10 Audi A4 most popular sub-£10k cars 1 Ford Focus 2 Ford Fiesta 3 Vauxhall Corsa 4 Vauxhall Astra 5 Renault Clio 6 Peugeot 206 7 Volkswagen Polo 8 Vauxhall Zafira 9 Peugeot 207 10 Renault Megane

Good news! Sales march on as registrations rise by 1.8pc ‘Retail and private buyers are returning to the market’

Something to smile about: Paul Everitt

N

ew car registrations rose 1.8 per cent in March, according to the latest figures from the SMMT. The month saw 372,835 new 12plate cars registered, with quarter one volumes rising 0.9 per cent to 563,556 units.

Private registrations showed one of the best monthly increases in the past two years, up 7.4 per cent in March. The month, which typically accounts for 18 per cent of annual volumes, bettered the SMMT’s forecast by some 20,000 units or almost six per cent.

‘The important March new car market performed above expectations rising 1.8 per cent to 372,835 units, boosted by the third consecutive month of retail growth,’ said SMMT chief executive Paul Everitt.

‘Domestic demand for new cars is showing signs of recovery with private buyers increasingly returning to take advantage of a wide range of excellent products and, this month, the new 12plate.’

‘The increase in retail car sales

‘‘

highlights the early signs of a more stable market,’ said Sue Robinson, director of the RMI National Franchised Dealers Association (NFDA).

‘March is typically a strong month for new car registrations with the March plate change boosting sales.

‘However, the strong increase in private registrations shows some signs of economic recovery with consumers feeling confident enough to commit to purchasing a big ticket item. In order for the market to remain stable the Government should offer support by reviewing schemes that could improve consumer confidence and boost spending.’

Graham Smith, global head of automotive and

March is a strong month for new car registrations.

diversified industrials at KPMG, said: ‘These are an encouraging set of figures. Optimism appears to be growing, with the 12-plate making its usual contribution in March. It’s clear there’s a buyers’ market out there which is being driven by low interest rates.

‘Car brands are competing for market share. Retail and private buyers are returning to the market with some competitive deals as the continued stability provided by a low bank base rate gives buyers confidence to change their vehicle.

‘At a fleet level there is also extreme competition, with significant price pressure in the premium sector, which is resulting in exceptional deals being available as manufacturers and leasing companies take some brave decisions around future residual values in their quest to gain market share.’

sales@motors.co.uk

0845 265 6000 www.motors.co.uk/mediacentre 88 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

..in association with

SMMT sales data Mar/year to date March Marque

Abarth Alfa Romeo Aston Martin Audi Bentley BMW Chevrolet Chrysler Citroen Daihatsu Fiat Ford Honda Hyundai Infiniti Jaguar Jeep Kia Land Rover Lexus Lotus Maserati Mazda Mercedes-Benz MG MINI Mitsubishi Nissan Perodua Peugeot Porsche Proton Renault Saab SEAT Skoda smart Ssangyong Subaru Suzuki Toyota Vauxhall Volkswagen Volvo Other British Other Imports Total

2012

282 1,540 207 23,416 198 20,566 2,743 634 12,995 0 8,730 53,830 10,134 11,715 102 2,907 444 11,178 11,490 1,744 10 48 6,869 16,334 236 8,451 1,417 20,586 83 18,969 1,160 59 7,364 105 6,817 8,507 972 171 542 5,941 18,032 38,624 30,756 5,637 153 137 372,835

% market share

0.08 0.41 0.06 6.28 0.05 5.52 0.74 0.17 3.49 0.00 2.34 14.44 2.72 3.14 0.03 0.78 0.12 3.00 3.08 0.47 0.00 0.01 1.84 4.38 0.06 2.27 0.38 5.52 0.02 5.09 0.31 0.02 1.98 0.03 1.83 2.28 0.26 0.05 0.15 1.59 4.84 10.36 8.25 1.51 0.04 0.04

ALFA ROMEO -32.13%

INFINITI +117.02%

Year to date (YTD) 2011

% market share

2012 % Change

288 2,269 223 20,736 165 17,987 2,514 125 12,921 0 8,509 52,829 11,021 11,337 47 2,951 335 10,007 10,083 1,734 55 61 6,981 14,776 8 9,319 2,503 16,951 104 18,597 884 98 14,717 1,766 7,251 6,421 1,116 4 742 4,968 16,183 41,578 28,069 6,585 139 144 366,101

0.08 0.62 0.06 5.66 0.05 4.91 0.69 0.03 3.53 0.00 2.32 14.43 3.01 3.10 0.01 0.81 0.09 2.73 2.75 0.47 0.02 0.02 1.91 4.04 0.00 2.55 0.68 4.63 0.03 5.08 0.24 0.03 4.02 0.48 1.98 1.75 0.30 0.00 0.20 1.36 4.42 11.36 7.67 1.80 0.04 0.04

-2.08 -32.13 -7.17 12.92 20.00 14.34 9.11 407.20 0.57 0.00 2.60 1.89 -8.05 3.33 117.02 -1.49 32.54 11.70 13.95 0.58 -81.82 -21.31 -1.60 10.54 2,850.00 -9.31 -43.39 21.44 -20.19 2.00 31.22 -39.80 -49.96 -94.05 -5.99 32.49 -12.90 4,175.00 -26.95 19.59 11.43 -7.10 9.57 -14.40 10.07 -4.86 1.84

362 2,309 303 35,962 329 30,063 5,282 782 19,585 0 13,059 82,848 14,747 17,761 144 4,020 682 17,211 15,810 2,692 35 99 9,708 25,576 446 11,306 2,102 30,081 135 29,411 1,728 95 11,581 114 10,084 13,878 1,488 233 920 7,711 25,760 57,836 49,873 8,875 268 262 563,556

%market share

0.06 0.41 0.05 6.38 0.06 5.33 0.94 0.14 3.48 0.00 2.32 14.70 2.62 3.15 0.03 0.71 0.12 3.05 2.81 0.48 0.01 0.02 1.72 4.54 0.08 2.01 0.37 5.34 0.02 5.22 0.31 0.02 2.05 0.02 1.79 2.46 0.26 0.04 0.16 1.37 4.57 10.26 8.85 1.57 0.05 0.05

2011

Figures supplied by SMMT

%market share % Change

401 3,148 317 32,821 253 30,290 3,763 199 20,546 2 12,340 80,028 17,027 17,343 93 4,034 459 14,670 13,264 2,276 133 109 10,452 22,632 18 12,106 3,574 25,006 153 28,491 1,354 157 20,391 2,378 10,471 11,172 1,489 7 1,006 6,857 23,696 66,701 46,679 9,441 317 272 558,336

0.07 0.56 0.06 5.88 0.05 5.43 0.67 0.04 3.68 0.00 2.21 14.33 3.05 3.11 0.02 0.72 0.08 2.63 2.38 0.41 0.02 0.02 1.87 4.05 0.00 2.17 0.64 4.48 0.03 5.10 0.24 0.03 3.65 0.43 1.88 2.00 0.27 0.00 0.18 1.23 4.24 11.95 8.36 1.69 0.06 0.05

-9.73 -26.65 -4.42 9.57 30.04 -0.75 40.37 292.96 -4.68 -100.00 5.83 3.52 -13.39 2.41 54.84 -0.35 48.58 17.32 19.19 18.28 -73.68 -9.17 -7.12 13.01 2,377.78 -6.61 -41.19 20.30 -11.76 3.23 27.62 -39.49 -43.21 -95.21 -3.70 24.22 -0.07 3,228.57 -8.55 12.45 8.71 -13.29 6.84 -6.00 -15.46 -3.68 0.93

Smmt Has Removed The Following Brands As They Registered No Vehicles In The Uk In 2011: Cadillac, Corvette, Daimler, Dodge, HuMMER

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 89

data file.

Batchelor

BACKFIRED

Tweet that came too late – my ideal car had gone!

O

ne of the side-effects of working within the car industry is that everyone comes to you for car advice. ‘We need to replace our lovely Hyundai Amica, but with what?’ and ‘I know it’s boring, but should I buy a VW Polo?’ being the most recent letters to Dear Batch.

Normally the reply is the first thing that pops into my head. ‘Why not replace it with a Vauxhall VXR8?’ I said to Amica man, for example. But while I can easily give out advice, choosing my own next car is different.

After many months I’ve finally decided to take the plunge and do the whole ‘New Mini’ thing. My 1950s persuasions have resisted this German pastiche for years, but now I’ve realised that there really is no other car more suitable for me.

Interweb searches began and I found a most delightful one at a VW dealer. Like an increasing number of dealer websites, a customer can enquire about a particular car there and then. So I did.

Now, one of the biggest pieces of advice from our Car Dealer Ewards last year was always reply to a customer’s query within an hour.

Twenty-four hours later, with my cash at the ready, I’d still had no reply.

So I sent an email to the dealership itself; no reply. I even tweeted them and showed them my displeasure.

Three days after my initial contact with them I picked up the phone. And, guess what? The car had been sold.

Now, to be fair, the dealer has since tweeted me back but that’s no good to me. You see I was a lead that had approached the dealer on three separate occasions and had not even been acknowledged.

There’s little point in embracing new technology if you do not use it. ‘Enquire about this car’ functions and email enquiries should be taken as seriously as a customer walking into a showroom.

But so what? The dealer sold the car in the end and has his money, you might be thinking.

But remember the query about the Polo earlier?

Guess where I told my neighbour NOT to buy his next car...

‘Twenty-four hours later, with my cash at the ready, I’d still had no reply.’

Who is James Batchelor?

Award-winning Car Dealer writer James is one of the fastest-rising new talents in motoring journalism. Read him here every month.

90 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

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mini test: VAUXHALL ASTRA GTC

Auctions

Cleaning Products

Car dealer says HHHHH

Central Car Auctions

Drymotive

Additional Income

Sales training

AutoProtect (MBI) Limited

Martec

This is the replacement for the swishlooking Astra Sports Hatch and marks Vauxhall’s re-entry into the burgeoning small coupe market. The firm is keen to point out it’s no three-door version of the humdrum hatchback – only the aerial and door handles are the same.

It’s one of the prettiest and finest driving Vauxhalls for as long as we can remember. There’s no doubt Vauxhall engineers’ hard work has paid off for the GTC is mightily adept on British roads, and British designer Mark Adams’ design is probably class

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leading. The top-of-the-range, £22,430 SRi 2.0-litre diesel is the predicted best-seller. The only downside is that we feel the entry-level Sport trim is a bit too basic.

Price: £22,430, tested in Issue 45

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mfldirect.co.uk

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mini test: NISSAN QASHQAI 1.6DCI

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Nissan has slipped in a new low-emissions, frugal diesel unit of 1.6 litres which all but replaces the 2.0-litre dCi in its hugely popular Qashqai range. The new lump offers 23 per cent lower CO2 emissions and a 31 per cent improvement on fuel economy over the unit it replaces. There will be few who’d bet against the 1.6dCi adding a fair few more sales to the Qashqai’s already impressive tally.

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Finance

Wholesales

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DSG Finance

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Trader tales

THE INSIDE TRACK

Predictable pikeys and what to watch out for

M

any manufacturers have sales courses designed to identify certain types of customers and adapt your behaviour according to their traits.

There is one group of customers which transcend the behaviour of a normal car buyer yet remain as predictable as night following day.

I am talking about the displaced people of Great Britain, or pikeys as they are more commonly known.

The recent documentary (or circus sideshow) My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding appears to have romanticised the community or at least added humour to people who in my experience do not warrant attention from anyone apart from the Inland Revenue.

The typical process is for a selection of men of all ages to descend upon the dealership, help themselves to drinks, brochures and in some extreme cases cigarette lighters or parts of cars which are not attached to the chassis.

I think Henry Winkler would be proud that so many young travellers appear to model themselves on the Fonz.

Part-exchange prices are their first requirement.

‘What’s me car worth boss/guv/mush?’ while pointing to a car with more bling than Mr T. Pick-ups are the normal currency but the prestige franchises are equally desirable.

My typical modus operandi is to bid the car around £5,000 off the book (while standing on the other side of the car).

After they have finished their verbal tirade, we get to the negotiation. ‘Best price for cash.’ List price should be your only response.

If, for whatever reason, you make the mistake of actually selling a car to one, be prepared for an unprecedented level of grief. Accusations will be made that you’ve damaged the car, raced the car, stolen parts from it, in fact pretty much everything bar being the second gunman on the grassy knoll.

The final result will be the inevitable return of their purchase price.

You may prolong the pain and agony for as long as possible but let me assure you of one thing.

It is going to happen.

‘You may prolong the pain and agony for as long as possible...’

Traderdir Alfa Romeo

Alfa Romeo

Alfa Romeo

Sturgess Alfa Romeo

Benfield Alfa Romeo

Dax Pearce dax.pearce@Benfield motorgroup.com Alfa stock wanted up to 40,000 miles. n Call for immediate bid. 07501 257220 or 0191 211 2200

Mangoletsi (Holdings) Ltd. London Road (A50), Allostock, Knutsford, Cheshire, WA16 9NS Tel: 01565 722899 Fax: 01565 722229

Aston Martin

Audi

Audi

HWM Aston Martin

Wimbledon Carriage Company Limited

Walton & Epsom Audi

John Crisp 07885 211872

Mark Loughnane 01932 220404 07739 519306

BMW

BMW

Bentley

Williams Rochdale

Vines Group

Harwoods

Bentley

Chrysler

Daihatsu

Jack Barclay Bentley

Horsham Car Centre

Alan Nicholas 07703199478 alan@horshamcarcentre.co.uk Best buyer for all late Chrysler/ Jeep

Stephen Barnard 0208 504 0017

Daihatsu

Ferrari

Ferrari

Proven Daihatsu

HR Owen Ferrari Nick Carey

Scott Allen 0116 275 8800 scottallen@ sturgesscars.co.uk

Paul Spires paul.spires@hwm.co.uk 01932 240611 07850 326755

Craig Fenlon 01706 717700 07808 092110

Derek Bennett 020 7629 7444 07713 887 88

Keith Pattison 01428 652554 07771 547406

Dominic McConnon 07776 246905 dominic.mcconnon@ vinesguildford.bmw-net.co.uk n Buying used BMWs up to five years old

Simon Elkin 01798 877211 07803 088711

Woodford Motor Co Ltd

Monza – Ferrari

nick.carey@hrowen.co.uk 07824 362229

Andrew Ludlow ferraribuyer@ntlworld.com 07889 305 053

Ferrari

Fiat

Fiat

Maranello Ferrari

Glyn Hopkin Ltd

Sturgess Fiat

John Dutton 07817 019 456

Glyn Hopkin 07730 711889

Perry Beaver 0116 254 1717 perrybeaver@sturgesscars.co.uk

About Trader Tales

The views expressed in Trader Tales are not those of Car Dealer magazine, but of our mystery columnist, who prefers to keep his identity a secret.

92 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

To have your details included here log on to CarDealerMagazine.co.uk/trader-directory.htm

ectory

Finding the right cars at the right prices isn’t always that easy. On top of that, selling cars that you don’t necessarily want to put on the forecourt can be tough too. Our Trader Directory aims to alleviate these problems.

Instead of thumbing through endless pages in

price guides looking for the right trader, you can consult the Trader Directory, either in the magazine or online, and find them right away.

If you’d like to be included you can submit your details in the Directory find out how at the bottom of this page.

Ford

Ford

Ford

Honda

Honda

Benfield

Benfield Alfa Romeo

Lifestyle Ford

Honda

Thames Honda Group

Honda

Hyundai

Hyundai

Jaguar

Jaguar

Holdcroft Honda

Bushey Heath Hyundai

Hatfield Hyundai

Sturgess Jaguar

Lookers Park Royal

Jeep

Kia

Kia

Lexus

Land Rover

Horsham Car Centre

Tower Hill Garage

Chapelhouse Kia

Lexus Twickenham

Sturgess Land Rover

Des Sammon des.sammon@benfield-ford. co.uk 07831 828024

Luke Regan / Chris Thursfield 07971 543884 07813 737 921

Alan Nicholas 07703199478 alan@horshamcarcentre.co.uk Best buyer for all late Chrysler/ Jeep

Richard Walker 07748 177889

Dax Pearce dax.pearce@Benfield motorgroup.com Alfa stock wanted up to 40,000 miles. n Call for immediate bid. 07501 257220 or 0191 211 2200

Mark Littler/Tim Barnes 0161 767 9500 07920 599 394 07787 921 222

Jon O’Donoghue 0208 420 5100 07976 177 959

Lee Gilmour 01923 263700 07768 367085

Andy / Neil 01925 570800 07891 531129 07825 311 297

Brayley Honda Mark Corr 07812 342 635

Chris Allen chrisallen@sturgess jaguar.co.uk 0116 282 6868

Dave Cooper / Steve Gurr 07831 704134 07921 408983

Jerome Chandiram 0208 845 3551

parkroyaljaguar@lookers.co.uk 0208 938 1300 07534 927 821

Mike Mongiello mikemongiello@sturgess cars.co.uk 0116 282 6969

Land Rover

mini test: HYUNDAI I20 BLUE

Lotus

Maserati

Beadles Land Rover

Car dealer says HHHHH

Murray Motor Company

Meridien Modena

Greg Wilcox g.wilcox@beadles-landrover. co.uk 07740 717209

For a no-nonsense supermini, the i20 is more than up to the job – 98 g/km, no road tax or congestion charge; we like it.

Brandon Ware 0131 200 8888 0750 326 0186

Warren Butt 02380 283404 07860 530703

Price: £13,195, tested in Issue 45

Maserati

Mazda

Mini

Want this spot?

Nissan

HR Owen

Lifestyle Mazda

Vines Group

Your advert here

Nissan

Toyota

Volvo

General

Hyundai

Want this spot?

Currie Motors Toyota

Sturgess Volvo

Barry Freedman

Sturgess Hyundai

Your advert here

Nick Carey nick.carey@hrowen.co.uk 07824 362229

Dave Cooper / Steve Gurr 07831 704134 07921 408983

Mark Spowage 01293 845045 07974 770020

Scott Allen 0116 275 8800 scottallen@ sturgesscars.co.uk

There’s also a more comprehensive list of traders on the website, updated throughout the month

Dominic McConnon Buying used MINIs up to 5 years old 07776 246905 dominic.mcconnon @vinesguildford.bmw-net.co.uk

01753 543105 07836 338694 barry.freedman@virgin.net n Trade buyer of PX vehicles anything up to £8k

Making sure you’re in front of other dealers when they need to trade their cars on is vital. And for £30 per month you’d be mad to miss out!

Perry Beaver perrybeaver@sturgess cars.co.uk 0116 2541717

Sturgess Nissan Perry Beaver 0116 254 1717 perrybeaver@sturgesscars.co.uk

Making sure you’re in front of other dealers when they need to trade their cars on is vital. And for £30 per month can you afford to miss out?

Prices for six month listings: £29.99 On Website Or £39.99 for Magazine & Website.

Payments can be made online via credit or debit card. Or send your cheque made payable to Blackball Media Ltd to Car Dealer, Endeavour Quay, Mumby Road, Gosport, Hants PO12 1AH. Your details will appear in the next issue.

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 93

workshops.

Want to be included in our new section? Call (023) 9252 2434

Special deal from the cleaning experts Karcher announces new £100 cashback scheme and competition to tempt buyers to shell out

K

archer, the world leader in design and manufacture of cleaning machines, has announced its highly successful £100 cashback incentive on new Karcher HDS hot water pressure washers is back.

For every HDS machine (excluding upright models) sold through a participating Karcher dealer between March 1 and June 30, Karcher will reward the customer with a cheque for £100.

On top of the £100 gift, HDS customers will receive automatic entry into a weekly draw to win an NT 70/2 professional multi-purpose vacuum worth over £500. Draw winners will be announced on the Karcher website every week.

Using hot water can reduce cleaning time by up to 40 per cent and improve final results. This is because oil and grease stains emulsify and flow more easily when heated, making them easier and

quicker to shift. Hot water also accelerates chemical processes, making detergents work more quickly. On top of all this, the object being cleaned will dry quicker because it has been warmed by the hot water.

With a wide range of power options there is a machine to suit your specific requirements and budget. Many HDS machines feature Karcher’s superb machine protector chemical system, preventing limescale build-up and corrosion of internal components.

The system features a water hardness dial to ensure only the required amount of protector chemical is required, and is backed by a three-year warranty on the heater coil.

For more information on the cashback offer, and to discuss finance options, call 01295 752142 or visit karcher.co.uk

Top 100 garages in the UK shortlisted Motor Codes has revealed the nation’s 100 most trusted garages, following six weeks of voting by thousands of motorists.

Motor Codes let the public do the talking, inviting satisfied customers to nominate their local garage through its annual Garage of the Year contest.

Chris Mason, managing director at Motor Codes, said: ‘The main purpose of Motor Codes is to point motorists in the direction of responsible businesses, committed to our transparent customer service guidelines. We want people to be able to choose where to trust their car with confidence and what better way to make people aware of consistently good businesses than letting customers shout about the good guys?’

Reflecting the diversity of garages signed up to Motor Codes, the shortlisted finalists in the Garage of the Year competition are split by business size, with entrants battling it out to take the prize of best small and large garage. Voting continues for the top 100, closing on April 22, after which the judges will select the overall winners.

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Remove Winter Dirt with the Cleaning Power of Hot Water Kärcher’s HDS hot water high-pressure cleaners offer incredible dirt shifting performance, and clean more quickly and thoroughly than cold water machines. Our comprehensive range features the right machine for your cleaning jobs, with features designed to save you time and money. With the UK’s largest network of independent dealers, you’re never far from expert help and advice.

To find out how Kärcher can make a difference to your business call 01295 752 142 email hds@karcher.co.uk or visit www.karcher.co.uk *£100 cashback on purchases of HDS machines between March 1st and June 30th 2012. Offer excludes HDS U models. Claim at www.karcher.co.uk. **Cashback claimants also receive free entry to a weekly draw to win an NT 70/2 multi-purpose vacuum worth £580.

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We shouldn’t need trading standards to tell us what to do

I

nviting your local trading standards officers into your sales meetings to give an overview of what they work on and how they operate may be enough to send most sales people to sleep.

Fortunately for me (as I was the one who invited them with our head of compliance), this was not the case when they visited our head office recently. The script (for them) was simple: come and talk about what you do and we will ask you some questions, focussing on items that we come up against from our point of view as a finance company. Also, and just as importantly, we can discuss the day-to-day scenarios that our dealers come up against, so that we can work together and offer advice to overcome any obstacles to good business conduct.

A good question to ask here is – what actually constitutes good business conduct?

Nottinghamshire trading standards’ current gripes against car dealers are: vehicles being advertised incorrectly; the mileage on vehicles being proven to have been adjusted; vehicles themselves being unroadworthy; and the non-returning of deposits.

Certainly, in my eyes, none of this seems to come under the banner of ‘good’.

The question is, what is the cause of these effects? Is it to do with current economic conditions? Perhaps the fact that profit margins have decreased in conjunction with overall sales means that a small minority are taking shortcuts to earn some cash. Perhaps.

Their most common dealer-related inquiry trading standards receive is from consumers stating the vehicle they have just purchased is not of satisfactory quality (slightly more from independent than franchised dealers).

Naturally, this results in unhappy customers, and who

Jonathan

Such TIME IS MONEY

wouldn’t be if they had bought a car that wasn’t right?

In the examples I’ve just mentioned, there will be some genuine mistakes, but also some genuine attempts to bypass the law.

This is not fair to the rest of us who are trying to conduct business in a good manner. And while some people may feel trading standards departments are there as a hindrance, they are on the side of good for both businesses and consumers.

Common advertising mistakes that car dealers make are when they give finance examples including an incorrect APR. The good point about this is that there is advice available either from your local trading standards

‘In business, the responsibility lies with us to legally do the right thing.’ office or First Response Finance who are both happy to help. Certain dealers who aim at the sub-prime market sometimes put a message on their forecourt or other advertising mediums that they can ‘guarantee car finance’ which causes problems, as legally speaking if you say you can guarantee finance you MUST provide finance to anyone who asks.

In business, the responsibility lies with us to legally do the right thing. Not only is this right in the eyes of the law, it is also right in the eyes of the customer.

My overall learning from the day was that it shouldn’t take a government body to tell us what to do; this should come as second nature to any ‘good’ business.

Who is Jonathan Such?

Such is regional sales manager for First Response Finance. You can contact him on 07917 781608 or email jons@frfl.co.uk

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