F&I Management & Training

Speaking at the trade association's annual dinner in London, Williams said the joint lobbying of the two industry bodies helped drive through the scrappage scheme and its subsequent extension.

"The scrappage incentive scheme has been a great success and will continue to be so and achieve the primary goal - maximising employment within our industry.

"There are a number of positives emanating from the scheme. For me the most important was the joining of forces between ourselves and the SMMT.

Joint lobbying
"Both Joe Greenwell, the SMMT's chairman, and I are determined to be more proactive in presenting a joint industry view whenever the need arises. Believe me when I tell you that government response is noticeably more pronounced when we join forces and remind them of our presence in the UK economy," he said.

Williams told the audience the retail industry employs 600,000 people in 23,000 business across the UK and the combined figure with vehicle manufacturers is nearly 1 million.

"As a whole our industry contributes 5.5 per cent of UK GDP. It is this size and enormity that makes government sit up and take notice," he said.

Frustrations
Williams, who is also the chairman of Vertu Motors, also shed some light on the frustrations of dealing with government bodies.

"As a retailer I used to think that sales objective discussions with manufacturers were difficult. I was wrong. Dealing with the ministerial hierarchy of government made light of anything I have ever encountered. All that matters is we succeeded. Not just once but twice," he said.

DATED: 19.10.09

FEED: MT