9:02 am, May 11, 2023
Vertu Motors boss Robert Forrester has taken a fresh swipe at online retailers, saying that disruptors like Cazoo have been left facing reality.
The Undercover Big Boss star spoke to several national media outlets yesterday following the news Vertu’s turnover rose to more than £4bn last year.
In one interview, with Sky News, the 53-year-old said used car buyers still wanted to touch a vehicle before purchase.
He said that just one in 80 used cars sold by Vertu are purely online transactions, despite the service being available since May 2017.
His comments come as Cazoo continues to struggle, despite a small boost in performance in first quarter.
‘I take away what was obvious from the start, which is that pure online retailing of cars is a very very minor item,’ said Forrester.
‘We’ve actually been doing it in our business since May 2017 and we sell an average of used 8,000 cars a month, of which about 100 are sold purely online.
‘People want to touch and feel. They want to see a used car and make sure it suits them. The number of people who actually want to do a pure online transaction with nobody talking to them is minimal.
‘This is just a reflection of reality and what has happened to the online disruptors.’
‘No reason why a fair proportion of the population can’t drive an EV’
In a separate interview, this time with BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme, Forrester discussed the future for EVs.
Vertu said in its results that demand for electric cars is ‘cooling’ but CEO Forrester believes a recovery could be just around the corner.
‘I think it’s actually quite an interesting position’, he said.
‘As each car is launched, these electric vehicles are better so they’ve either got better range or better technology – there are phenomenal levels of technology in these cars.
‘I think some people are just reticent of “what is the right time to buy?”.
‘I have not had a pure electric vehicle to date because I travel up and down the country from Glasgow to Kent but I have actually just put an order in for a brand new pure EV because the range is now good enough for me to actually do that.
‘We’ve seen massive growth. 15 per cent of the new car market is now pure electric vehicles and it is only going to go one way because the manufacturers are making millions of electric vehicles.
‘The government are putting targets, regulations and even fines in place from next year if you don’t hit levels of electric vehicle sales if you’re a manufacturer.
‘There is no reason why a fair proportion of the population can’t drive an electric vehicle.’
