Well, where to do we start? I have just looked, and it’s been 3 years since we last wrote a blog and to say the world has changed could be understatement. So, without going into too much detail, I just want to touch on some brief points that I feel have affected the motor trade over the last few years and what I hope 2023 will bring.
When we last blogged our first encounter was Brexit, and this has seen changes with imports and exports of new vehicles coming in & out of the country and at first, we thought we would be seeing a tariff of 10% then being applied on all cars being imported from the EU. Thankfully this was then changed later in 2020 after a trade deal between EU & UK.
The next and biggest encounter that the world came into was of course COVID, it doesn’t need me to say how the world changed and how it continues to impact our lives because I think we all know. But the motor trade did of course get hit quite badly and due to the lockdown and factory closures across the world which of course halted production of vehicles and of course the supply of parts especially the shortage of semiconductor computer chips.
Just as we were starting to get our head around covid and the impact it was having, the world was dealt another blow due to the Russia’s war with the Ukraine, we all saw how hard it was to see the poor people of Ukraine having to evacuate their own country. But the economic affects it had with supply to the rest of world, trade was discontinued with Russia and the risk of supply of raw materials used in semiconductor manufacturing like neon & palladium, not to mention the effect of gas and energy pricing that we have all been hit with.
What has all this meant?
We have seen massive changes to supply and pricing within the motor trade since covid with lead-times on factory ordered vehicles escalating from 2021 onwards with some cars & vans taking well over 12 months before we had some of our customers getting to see their new vehicles. We have also seen campaigns, discounts, and offers changing due these escalating lead times especially last year. To say it’s been tough is an understatement.
What have we seen in 2023 so far?
So far, it’s been very positive, with some offers coming through on various cars albeit probably not quite as good as the pre covid days but certainly loads better than last year, we are also seeing stock levels slightly improving and some lead times are now starting to reduce too. Cupra and Kia seem to have good stock currently along with some pretty good offers too, we are still seeing good offers on Peugeot & Volkswagen too. So, if you want to take advantage of these offers whilst they are still around please get in touch with us on 01980 731112 or sales@vlmleasing.co.uk