New car discounting

“If you want to guess who is doing it the most, you have to look at who is doing the most units in the highest cost channel to market – daily rental. 

"Outside of that, in retail, it’s wrong just to look at discounts.

“What are some of the most aggressive offers in the marketplace now? It’s pretty costly to have five-year, 0% finance. 

"That’s probably costing, on an average car, £2,500.

“Discounts are on the way up, but I don’t think it’s any worse in the UK than in Italy, Spain or France or, indeed, Germany.

“But exchange rates and spare capacity are driving discounts up in the UK, the one major market in Europe that is showing signs of, at worst stability, at best, some growth.”

The UK – and European – market

 

“We’re going to see the current 2-2.2 million new car market for the next 10 years. We’ll get to 2.2m somewhere around 2016.

 

“Europe returning to 16m from its current 11m is many years off and impossible to call when markets like Spain and Italy have slumped.

“The UK should never get back to a 2.5m market as this was just short-sighted, boom-and-bust business.”

The viability of other brands

“There are many manufacturers making very significant losses in Europe now.

“If they cannot turn it around they will not be sustainable in the long-term.

“And when China starts making a serious impression in the European markets in the next seven years, the balance of power will have changed.

“Some will shrink, others may have merged.

“Who’d have predicted five years ago that Renault would now have a 1.9% UK market share when it peaked at 7%?

“I think it’s difficult to perceive or to predict who is going to decline or fall by how much, but the size of the losses being made by a number of the major manufacturers in Europe cannot be sustained.”

Citation from the AM Awards judges on Kia Motors (UK) training programme

“The Kia Motors (UK) training scheme is comprehensive, progressive and is demonstrating positive results in terms of customer handling, staff turnover and CSI.

The company should be given the ultimate accolade for taking a long-term commitment to its dealer network, pushing standards with definable outcomes.”