Toyota and Lexus have confirmed they ‘currently have no plans’ to change their franchise agreements with dealers and move to agency sales. Pressed on the matter, a spokesperson for Toyota and Lexus stressed that agency sales – where the manufacturer would take on the sale of cars directly to consumers itself – was ‘not in the plan at all’. In an exclusive interview with Car Dealer, Jason … [Read more...]
Stellantis struggling in showrooms
Franchised car dealers have been rating their manufacturers in the annual survey. An analysis of the ‘overall average score’ across all questions of the survey (6.4) put Lexus at the top with 9.2 points out of 10, followed by Mercedes (8.4) and Kia (8.4). The bottom of the table saw Fiat (3.7), Abarth (4.4), and Alfa Romeo (4.7), which is bad news for the parent Stellantis group. Sue Robinson, … [Read more...]
Short-circuit finance costs of new-generation zero cars
New data from Leasing.com shows that leasing a battery electric vehicle is on average 18%, and potentially up to 31%, cheaper than funding a new vehicle on personal contract purchase. According to 2022 pricing data across Leasing.com’s top 15 most popular BEVs, leasing was the cheapest and most cost-effective option on 87% (13) of those models. Across the list, the highest cost difference was … [Read more...]
Lexus, Kia and Toyota are UK’s best brands
Lexus is Britain's best brand to be selling, according to the latest poll for the National Franchised Dealers Association. It is encouraging that despite the challenges affecting our industry, franchised dealers show high levels of satisfaction around a number of key business areas, particularly current profit, margins on used cars and manufacturers’ finance programmes, said Sue Robinson, Chief … [Read more...]
What Car? reliability reports throw up surprises
The UK’s most and least reliable new and used cars have been revealed in the 2021 What Car? Reliability Survey from Britain’s leading new car buying platform and consumer champion. Feedback from more than 16,000 car owners was analysed to find the country’s most dependable 178 models and 30 brands aged up to five years old. A record six models achieved 100%: the current versions of the Audi TT, … [Read more...]
Newslines 10 August
The iconic electric-first brand, Tesla has come out as the Euro NCAP’s safest car brand tied with Polestar, a Swedish EV manufacturer who’s owned by Volvo Cars. Both companies scored an impressive 87% safety rating out of a possible 100%, while Lexus, the luxury division of Toyota, came in third with their safety rating of 86%, closely followed by Genesis and Volvo with 85%, reported … [Read more...]
Newslines 9 July
GoCompare says just 14% of drivers are considering an EV as their next car and of those who would consider buying an EV as their next vehicle, 60% are male and 40% are female. When asked the reasons why people are put off buying an electric vehicle, price topped the list – with more than half saying that electric vehicles are too expensive and 50% said they wouldn’t choose an electric vehicle … [Read more...]
Genesis brand launches in UK
Hyundai’s premium Genesis brand goes on UK sale this summer. There will not be a dealer network but the manufacturer will have a Genesis Studio in Westfield shopping centre, London and also provide sales on-line. Prices are likely to begin about £35,000 for the saloon and £50,000 for the suv, and will be fixed and non-negotiable. It was established in 2015 and has been selling … [Read more...]
Dealers happy with manufacturers relationships
It is positive that despite the significant disruption faced over the past twelve months, dealers are on average fairly satisfied with the relationship with their respective manufacturers, said Sue Robinson, Chief Executive of the National Franchised Dealers Association. Average levels of dealer satisfaction with the support received through the pandemic by respective manufacturers remained … [Read more...]
Sunday drive: Lexus RX 450h Takumi
The Lexus brand came to SUV prominence in 1998, actually year 2000 in the UK with the introduction of the original RX as a luxury, comfortable easy to drive large SUV, writes David Miles. Now in its fourth generation spanning two decades the petrol-electric hybrid RX 450h 5-seater and RX L limousine style 6 or 7-seater premium large SUVs have received further improvements in specification, … [Read more...]