F&I Management & Training

The car industry is gathering at the motor show in London this week to wow an audience subdued by a series of economic showers that are threatening to whip up a perfect storm. Falling house prices, coupled with soaring food and fuel prices as well as rising taxes and charges for drivers, have already resulted in a fall in car sales, down 6.1% last month when compared with June 2007. "This slowdown is not unexpected, but signals an increasingly tough retail environment," predicts Paul Everitt, chief executive of the car industry body SMMT. The carmakers are bracing themselves for worse to come by preparing to defend or even grow their market shares, rather than by targeting overall sales growth. At the London show, the mantra will be low emissions. There will be a dedicated electric vehicle village, and several carmakers will display cars emitting less than the 140g/km target that the industry set itself a decade ago.

DATED: 22.07.08

FEED: AW