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3 days ago | 
motortrader.com | John Kirwan
John Grose weathered the headwinds of 2024 with pre-tax profits down -34% to £4.2m on turnover down 4% to £191.1m. It said new vehicle supply was now more in line with consumer demand and depreciation had settled to more normalised levels. “Despite the uncertainty created by the political turbulence during last year, the motor retail sector enjoyed steady growth in new vehicle demand.
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3 days ago | 
motortrader.com | John Kirwan
Dealers can overhaul their customer database getting rid of inaccurate records using a new tool. Marketing Delivery has built a new Data Cleanse Report that retailers can use to conduct a ‘live’ health check of their full customer database, identifying and amending any records with inaccurate details. The new report is available to all existing Marketing Delivery customers for no charge.
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4 days ago | 
motortrader.com | John Kirwan
in Editor's Blog
Arnold Clark has opened BYD dealerships in Ayr and Newcastle. The new branch will showcase the BYD line-up, including the BYD Atto 3, BYD Dolphin, BYD Seal and new BYD Seal U DM-i. With the addition of the two sites, Arnold Clark now has seven BYD locations across the UK, with five in Scotland and two in England.
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4 days ago | 
motortrader.com | John Kirwan
The founder of the Kwik-Fit fast fit chain, Sir Tom Farmer, has died. Sir Tom, 84, built the chain into the world’s biggest independent tyre and automotive chain, selling it to Ford for £1bn in 1999. Sir Tom owned a majority stake in Hibernian FC for 28 years. He set up Kwik Fit in 1971 and built it into a chain with more than 2,000 locations.
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4 days ago | 
motortrader.com | John Kirwan
We’re all familiar I think with the fierce loyalty that some brands can attract, one of the most notable being Harley-Davidson Motor Cycles where some owners have gone so far as to tattoo the badge onto their body, demonstrating their lifelong commitment to the brand.
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1 week ago | 
motortrader.com | John Kirwan
The UK’s used car market saw 2,020,990 transactions in Q1, the first time sales have breached two million in the first quarter since before the pandemic.
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1 week ago | 
motortrader.com | John Kirwan
Motorists are increasingly turning to the used car market with consumer confidence under pressure and new car price inflation. That’s the view of Gaurav Jain, commercial director at Carwow, commenting on the release of used car sales figures by the Society of Motor Manufacturers today, who said: “The high level of demand for used cars in Q1 is, in part, a consequence of persistent new car price inflation.
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1 week ago | 
motortrader.com | John Kirwan
The consumer new car finance market surged in March with sales brought forward due to changes in vehicle excise duty and a later Easter. The consumer new car finance market reported new business by value in March 25% higher than in the same month in 2024, while new business volumes grew by 21%, according to figures from the Finance & Leasing Association. In Q1 2025, new business volumes in this market were 16% higher than in Q1 2024.
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1 week ago | 
motortrader.com | John Kirwan
Pendragon has refurbished the Evans Halshaw Kia Stourbridge dealership which has now reopened to customers following £2m investment. The store, located on Hagley Road, took six-months to refurbish and turn into one of Kia global store concepts. Kia’s new brand identity was introduced at the start of 2021, featuring a new logo that reflects its position as a leader in electrification.
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1 week ago | 
motortrader.com | John Kirwan
We are just finalising our rankings of the Top 300 dealer groups in Europe for the 2023 financial year. That might sound like we’re a bit slow off the mark, but the further you go down the rankings, the more you are dependent on company filings that can be many months beyond the year end, and some estimates to fill gaps in the data for KPIs like sales volumes. In reality, that doesn’t matter as the interesting thing is the trends year-on-year rather than the position at a particular point in time.
