In brief

22 Apr 2021

Auto Trader registered record demand on its online marketplace as dealerships were able to fully open their forecourts to the public.

The marketplace saw an average of 2.2m cross platform visits every day in the week, representing a 38.8% increase on the same period in 2019. By the weekend, daily visits had accelerated to 2.4m. Average time on site also increased, with consumers spending an average of 20.3m minutes every day on the marketplace, which is up 35% on 2019.

21 Apr 2021

UK automotive retailer Pendragon has released its results for the first quarter of 2021, revealing a strong performance despite persistent dealership closures across the group.

The firm revealed an underlying profit before tax of £10.8m, an increase of £13.1m when compared to the first quarter of 2020 which posted a loss of £2.3m.

19 Apr 2021

Two Texan men have died after their vehicle crashed into a tree. Both in their 50s, the men were driving a Tesla Model S when they crashed at high speed and the car subsequently caught fire.

The individuals were found in the front passenger seat and the back of the vehicle, indicating that “no-one was driving the vehicle at the time of the impact”, according to Mark Herman, Harris Country Precinct 4 constable.

The case remains under investigation and there is uncertainty over whether Tesla’s Autopilot feature was in use.

19 Apr 2021

Hundreds of thousands of customers deemed their used car buying experience as world-class, according to the latest survey results from MotoNovo Finance.

In response to a questionnaire posed to consumers by MotoNovo between April 2020 and March 2021, 143,485 customer responses generated an average Net Promoter Score of 84.27.

15 Apr 2021

All new cars and trucks sold in the United States could be powered by electricity by 2035, according to a new report from University of California, Berkeley.

According to The 2035 Report 2.0, the electrification of transport could save households $1,000 each year over the next 30 years, and support more than 2 million jobs. However, such progress hinges on the presence of robust policy reforms.

14 Apr 2021

The first ever borderless European online used car retailer, Driverama has launched, in hopes of delivering a “superior bricks and clicks operating model” to customers across the continent.

Part of used car retailer Aures holdings, Driverama will initially launch out of Germany with a range of over 5,000 cars, before expanding into 11 other countries by 2025.

12 Apr 2021

Since their reopening on the 12 April, British showrooms will offer around 460 models and 4,650 standard specifications, with a selection deemed “the cleanest ever” by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

6 Apr 2021

V12 Vehicle Finance has launched a hire purchase (HP) product, following a successful trial of the product last year.

Called Prime Hire Purchase, the new product will provide financing between £3,000 and £55,000 to buy a used vehicle, which will be no older than 12 years old at the end of the agreement.

31 Mar 2021

The Nissan Juke was the most widely purchased used car during the pandemic, new research from Caerus Capital has revealed.

Sales of the vehicle have risen by almost a third, with over 58,000 Nissan Jukes sold in Europe in 2020. Of these sales, around half came from the UK.

30 Mar 2021

The British government has pledged £30m in funding to research in battery technology, the electric vehicle supply chain and hydrogen vehicles.

Of the funding, £9.4m will go towards 22 studies via the Automotive Transformation Fund, facilitating the development of innovative automotive technology. A further commitment of £22.6m is to be allocated to the government-back Faraday Institution, advancing research into battery safety and sustainability.