8:27 am, January 29, 2014
Car manufacturer bosses and suppliers at our Automotive Influencers event at the RAC Club
CAR manufacturer bosses are predicting a growth in sales this year of as much as 10 per cent on 2013, Car Dealer Magazine can exclusively reveal.
Ten car manufacturer managing directors and presidents – and the boss of the UK’s biggest car dealership group Pendragon – have given Car Dealer their thoughts on what the industry has in store for 2014 as part of our annual Automotive Influencers event.
In a video filmed this week at the RAC Club in London, the car industry experts predict the industry is in for good times once again in 2014.
Last year, new car registrations bounced back to pre-recession levels with 2.26m units chalked up by car manufacturers in the UK. Many have been asking whether this is sustainable – and it appears bosses feel it most certainly is.
Trevor Finn, CEO of car dealer group Pendragon, said: ‘In my mind there is no question the car market will grow. While the southern European markets remain under pressure then the UK will take some of that capacity and the cars will find a way into the market. There’s no reason why we won’t see some growth again.’
Renault Group UK managing director Ken Ramirez was even more upbeat – predicting a healthy surge in sales.
‘We see the pace in volume being very similar with up to 10 per cent growth versus 2013,’ he said. ‘But the mix of sales will be different and retail will be stronger.’
Jaguar Land Rover – one of the UK’s biggest car makers – has seen tremendous growth in exports of its products across the world. UK managing director Jeremy Hicks said: ‘We think 2014 ought to be equally as strong as 2013 – the early signs are very good. We are seeing a good recovery growth and that’s very positive.’
Jon Wellsman, aftersales director for Ford – the UK’s biggest selling car manufacturer last year with 310,856 new cars shifted – believes many buyers who’ve put off shelling out will do so in 2014.
He said: ‘Now customers are feeling a little bit more confident about the economy and the recovery, we will see more coming into showrooms and replacing their vehicles, some of which are actually getting quite old now as they’ve postponed purchasing decisions. I think they’ll take that decision to buy this year.’
While some car manufacturer bosses speaking to Car Dealer weren’t quite as bullish, none of the 11 said they thought sales in 2014 would fall.
‘The economy is on a growth spurt at the moment,’ said Tony Whitehorn, president and CEO of Hyundai UK. ‘That’s great for consumers and some of that will translate into the car industry.
‘I do think sales will be up a little bit – not massively like we had in 2013 – but 2014 looks to be quite a good year.’
Executives from Peugeot, BMW, Nissan, Kia, Toyota and Mitsubishi also gave their opinions exclusively to Car Dealer Magazine and they can be seen in the following video.
The full Automotive Influencers feature will be published in the next issue of Car Dealer – out on February 18 – subscribe here to get it on our free iPad edition.
