6:43 pm, September 4, 2024
The ZEV mandate, the collapse of Cazoo and the recent influx of new EV brands were just some of the topics up for debate at the very first Car Dealer Podcast Live.
The special event, sponsored by Motorway, saw the Car Dealer team each pick what they considered to be biggest story of 2024.
Car Dealer founder James Baggott, chose to speak about Cazoo’s journey to financial oblivion, while associate editor James Batchelor elected to tackle the controversial ZEV mandate.
Meanwhile, regular podcast host Jon Reay gave the audience his takes on the likes of BYD, Nio and GWM Ora as they look to penetrate the UK motor trade.
The trio were joined on the podcast by our panel of esteemed experts consisting of EV Experts’ Estelle Miller, Sean Kelly, MD of Vines BMW, and Wheeler Dealer Mike Brewer.
On the topic of Cazoo, Brewer said: ‘I do take solace in the fact that the only words Alex [Chesterman] will now be saying is “do you want fries with that?”.
‘You know what? I kind of loved it when it fell over. I would excitedly read it as it does show that there are some t**s out there.
‘I do feel sorry for the people who got sucked into it, but talent always shines through and we’re looking for staff at the moment at One Automotive.’
On the subject of the ZEV mandate, Kelly said: ‘Any state intervention into a market always ruins it.
‘That’s what we’ve done with this, focusing on the supply and putting a target into manufacturers, as opposed to a real incentive and a drive for customers to want them.
‘It’s just murdering the whole thing really.’
Meanwhile, Miller was the perfect person to speak about new challenger brands, having recently been a dealer partner of Fisker.
She said that after Fisker went bust, EV Experts was now unlikely to take on any more franchises with the new brands.
‘We have no plans to become a franchise dealership for any of these new ones,’ she explained.
‘We said, “Yes, we would help out” [to Fisker] but obviously we didn’t buy any of the cars. The cars that arrived on our forecourt were owned by Fisker, insured by Fisker and we didn’t have any paperwork for them.
‘They were just there and people would just come through.’
The audience at Milton Hill House in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, enjoyed an extra-long, special edition of the show, ending with Batchelor being declared the winner by our panel for his choice of the ZEV mandate.
Speaking after the event, Baggott said: ‘Our live podcast really hit the mark with some of the most pressing issues in the industry.
‘The discussions around the ZEV mandate, the rise of new Chinese brands and the fallout from Cazoo’s collapse were eye-opening and there were more than a few light-hearted moments, too!
It was great to see so many industry faces here with us and we can’t wait to hopefully do it all again soon.’
The full episode will be available to watch later this week on the Car Dealer YouTube channel with audio available wherever you get your podcasts as well as above.
