Robin's Diary
Robin Luscombe
Managing Director Luscombe Motors Ltd | 2022 Car Dealer Lifetime Achievement | 4 x Suzuki Dealer of the Year | 5 x AM Award Winner | Auto Trader Retailer of the Year 2018 & 2020 | 5 x Motor Trader Award Winner
A different angle…..
This week I was asked by a journalist for my thoughts on the shortages affecting the motor industry – and the journalist was amazed by what I said!
He obviously expected me to say how bad it was, so he was extremely shocked to hear the industry is doing OK! And I reckon he must be an environmentalist, because when I told him factories were producing cars that had customers waiting for them, rather than over producing and filling old air fields etc with new cars with no buyers, his take on that was how much better for the environment that is, which is something I hadn’t considered.
It’s almost impossible for any business to match supply perfectly to demand, and there is definitely a shortage, but over supply doesn’t benefit anyone, even the end user who thinks they have bought a cheap car, as it’s all reflected in the residual value.
Accordingly, the journalist was delighted as he hadn’t looked further than ‘not enough cars’, ‘fewer registrations’, etc, and fully expected me to be downbeat, but instead we finished the call with a positive good news story to tell!
It might be a bit of spin, but we all need some good news - hopefully it won’t end up in the editor’s bin!!?
“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” Wayne Dyer
I develop HR strategy for SMEs that minimise risk, protect profits and add value .............. speaker | author | HR business strategist
2 年This is great Robin Luscombe. Thanks for sharing!
? Helping Car, Van, Motorhome and Caravan dealers to become more Efficient and Profitable ?
2 年Looking at the numbers, clearly a supply shortage is good for dealers - they have been posting record profits for the past couple of years... You always want supply to be ideally one unit less than demand t.... But having demand more than supply will always increase profit on each sale.. Providing supply is high enough to enable sufficient profit to be made then its happy days. The market is turning, and there seems some negativity about that... But fundamentally whilst demand is weakening, supply is also still weak. The interesting point is whether across some parts of the market supply levels - although reduced compared to "normal" - will be above demand... Either way, as pricing stops risingv(even if it doesn't fall) then this will dilute profitability as stock stops being an appreciating item! Either way, the good dealers will make the very best of any situation.. And Robin, you're one of the best..