Car manufacturers and the iPhone generation

596 More

Earning the right to be successful

576 More

Knowledge is power

670 More

Selling cars – it’s all about timing

951 More

Truemag

  • Home
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Archives
  • Contact
  • Subscribe

We’re all in this together aren’t we?

With an estimated £6billion in cuts forecast by the new coalition government, it is inevitable that the car trade will feel some aftershocks from these measures. Although the cuts are mainly directed at public services the knock on for normal everyday people often results in a lack of confidence and this lack of confidence often manifests itself when it comes to putting money into big ticket items such as cars.

I am no economist (I’m a motor trader) but the fact that the financial markets appear to be in freefall and the banks appear to be tightening up on lending once again (the rate of mortgage lending dropped significantly in April) it can’t help but have a dramatic effect on the retail sector.

As a consequence car dealers will need to be as creative as possible to encourage buyers to part with their cash.

I still believe that everybody needs to play a part. Everyone is now pretty much in agreement that the much heralded worldwide scrappage scheme was a success for all the players, we got our industry back on an even keel whilst learning some harsh lessons about how we created a false market in the past with self-registrations and buy back deals.

The car makers realised that building cars with abandon and hungrily chasing market share without responding to the real needs of the market was a folly. The government realised that the car industry is a huge deal which affects virtually every single one of us at some time or another and that car ownership is part of the fabric of the country and always will be so, the genie having escaped that particular bottle a long time ago.

What I want to hear besides cuts is how we are to rebuild and inject vital confidence in order to get industry in general but especially our industry back to where it should be.

I do have a simple solution, if any influential politicians are reading this, which has seemingly been staring us in the face. Why not get highly profitable companies such as Vodafone, Tesco’s, Shell and BP (ok let’s leave them out of it for now) and unfeasibly wealthy individuals like Roman Abramovich and Lakshmi Mittal (amongst many others) to contribute a bit more of what they make.

Apparently “we’re all in this together” and you never know we might then be able to get back to normal knowing that such great acts of philanthropy will immortalise the givers forever.

May 24, 2010In51der
  • Car dealers assunimg the brace position but we’ve been here before
  • Long lead times playing havoc with part-exchange valuations
  • Scrappage – what happens next?
  • More calls for UK scrappage scheme but can it really help?
  • At least the motor industry is doing something
  • Problems run far deeper than one manufacturer
  • Autotrader v Autotrader – what’s in a name?20% rise in VAT could make a tough year even worse
    In51der

    Motor Trade Insider - Bridging the gap between the customer and the Motor Trade

    12 years ago Blog, Manufacturerseconomy, Featured, motor trade recession, new car buying, Scrappage70
    Most viewed
    Top 100 UK Dealer Groups
    39,437 views
    The car sales process and the “9 point plan”
    11,455 views
    webuyanycar review – They will buy any car but beware of the asterisk
    5,977 views
    Most commented
    Car sales and the power of silence…
    25 Comments
    Car dealers still not prepared to play the “we buy any car” game
    23 Comments
    A Traders Tale – Part Four
    22 Comments
    Win a pre-loaded Ipod Shuffle!
    19 Comments
    Bargain of the Week – StreetKa 1.6i Luxury
    14 Comments
    Bridal Hair Berkshire
    Fox Body to 2018 Mustang Parts
    and Accessories
    About MTI

    Motor Trade Insider
    is written by people working actively in the motor trade for people on the inside and people on the outside.

    Our aims
    Build a bridge between consumers and the trade, create Interesting and informative content, break down barriers and create better understanding, expose bad practices and rip-offs and promote outstanding products and service.
    Have something to say?
    We are always looking for experienced writers who can write good original quality posts on motor-trade-insider.com. Please contact us if you would like us to consider you. Make sure you give us details of your own blog or a link to some articles you have written.
    2017 © Motor Trade Insider
    Truemag theme by StrictThemes