Just a number of hours after Automotive Management Live 2024 closed the doors almost three dozen senior leaders of dealer groups joined Automotive Management and this 12 months’s AM100 sponsors at an invitation-only dinner.
It was an outstanding opportunity to network, share thoughts about industry opportunities and listen to insights from this 12 months’s AM100 research.
Our thanks go to the sponsors of the evening: Assurant, Direct Affinity CX, GardX, MFL Direct and RWA Automotive. And special due to BDO’s motor retail team for his or her collaboration with the research.
“What an exciting period that is for motor retailers,” Automotive Management’s editor Tim Rose told the gathering.
“Never in recent memory have we had so many recent automotive brands attempting to change into established within the UK market, at the exact same time because the incumbents are battling to adapt and maintain market share.”
He added: “Even before we collated the AM100 data, it has been clear that we’ve also had the most important takeover activity because the era of Pendragon buying Reg Vardy. Consolidation means there may be a bunch of latest retailer names within the AM100 this time.”
The editor identified that the best ranked real newcomer is Ray Chapman Motors, which doubled in size to 4 Volvo dealerships with its acquisition of Clive Brook. That move, and its existing success in selling Volvos, catapulted it past the underside 10 of last 12 months’s AM100.
On the subject of dealer group profitability, he identified that the AM100 research by our partner BDO found that just over 1 / 4 of the AM100 are still achieving above 2% return on sales, but only 7 of all of the groups improved profitability.
This Article First Appeared At www.am-online.com
