Motorists in West and Mid-Wales are the luckiest in Britain. Car theft analysis shows they are the least likely to have a vehicle stolen. DVLA statistics studied by insurer Confused.com reveals those living in Dyfed-Powys are the safest from vehicle theft, where just 22 per 100,000 cars are stolen. North Wales is only slightly worse with 37 per 100,000, … [Read more...]
KIA is king say dealers but PSA are pitiful
Kia is the highest rated marque by dealers in their annual showroom and business survey while PSA Group companies were among the lowest. The all-important question ‘how would you rate your manufacturer overall on a scale of 1 to 10?’ returned an average of 6.5, on par with six months ago. Kia (9.3), Lexus (9.2), and Mini (8.8) were the top performers … [Read more...]
No agency plan for Toyota & Lexus
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 … [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 … [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 … [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’ … [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 … [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 … [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 … [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 … [Read more...]
