- UK a ‘dream’ market for Chery
- Court rules Trump tariffs are illegal
- Exclusive: August ‘stable’ for used cars, says Motors
- BCA wins RoSPA Gold Award for Health and Safety
- WEEK AHEAD: 75-plate new car registration
- HMRC warns on tax refund scams
- Reeves in talks to raise VAT threshold
- BYD misses quarterly earnings
- LMP shareholders sue founder Samer Tawfik
- OPINION: FCA redress will test 15 years of retail consolidation
UK a ‘dream’ market for Chery
The UK is a “dream market” for every new entrant brand, particularly Chery, CEO Gary Lan said in an interview with Auto Sunday on Thursday. Speaking ahead of the brand’s glitzy UK launch event at the O2 in London, Lan said UK highlights include “a hundred years of automotive history, profound customer professionalism, and the media… to have our vehicles recognised here is a compliment for every car manufacturer.
“We have been running the overseas business for 24 years but it’s taken up 20 years of preparation to be here. It’s not just the regulation, it’s the expectations of quality, durability and reliability, which is the highest of any country. It takes a long time to get prepared for you.
“I will not screw things up in the UK,” he added.
Chery, he explained, is a brand for conventional family buyers – many executives draw comparisons with Volkswagen – whereas Omoda is more style-conscious and Jaecoo is more of an off-road SUV brand. Chery models will be (even) more affordable, with the company set to introduce a full range of ‘Tiggo’ SUVs.
The aim is to build on the success of Jaecoo and Omoda, which have already grown to a combined 2% market share barely a year since launch. Product manager Oli Lowe observed that UK customers are particularly open to new brands and “we are not done yet”.
* Read the full interviews in the September issue of sister title Auto Market Insight: subscribe here
Court rules Trump tariffs are illegal
A US appeals court has ruled that most of Donald Trump’s tariffs are illegal. The decision from the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington DC addressed both Trump’s April reciprocal tariffs, and February’s tariffs against China, Canada and Mexico. The court has allowed the tariffs to remain in place until 14 October in order to give the Trump administration time to file an appeal with the US Supreme Court.
The court’s decision does not impact Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminium imports.
Over the weekend, it also emerged that the EU has proposed eliminating US tariffs in trade offer in return for reduced US tariffs on European cars. “We are protecting our defensive interests,” Auto News reports a Commission official as staying.
“What we are giving are commitments that are certainly meaningful, but at the same, I would observe that are not very costly for us today.” The average EU tariff for US goods is 1.35%, although it does charge 10% for cars.
Exclusive: August ‘stable’ for used cars, says Motors
August was a stable month for used cars ahead of the 75-plate change, said Motors MD Lucy Tugby in information exclusively shared with Auto Sunday. There were minimal changes to prices, days to sell and retailer stock levels, with the average price of a used car rising 1.2% to £17,721, driven mostly by nearly-new cars.
“Nearly new cars provided an August sweet spot for many dealers, with strong prices accompanied by fast sales,” said Tugby. A shift in fuel type continues too, with EVs up from 4% to 6% of listings year-on-year, and hybrids up from 9% to 11%.
“With the 75 plate change now underway, franchised dealers will be looking to build up their inventories with retailable part-exchanges ahead of the final quarter.”
BCA wins RoSPA Gold Award for Health and Safety
BCA has attained the RoSPA Gold Award for health and safety performance during 2024. Described as the ultimate symbol of achievement in safety and excellence, it is believed to be a first for the remarketing industry. COO Stuart Pearson called it “recognition of the commitment and robust actions that all of our teams place around a positive workplace safety culture every single day”.
WEEK AHEAD
Monday, ’75-plate’ new car registration
Monday, UK consumer credit
Thursday, SMMT August new car registrations
Friday, Halifax house price index
DATA INSIGHT
HMRC warns on tax refund scams
170,000 The number of fraudulent phone calls, texts and messages offering a refund, or threatening legal action over tax owed, reported to the HMRC in the first seven months of 2025. More than 47k involved fake refunds.
Reeves in talks to raise VAT threshold
£100k: The tax threshold chancellor Rachel Reeves is considering raising the VAT registration threshold to in an effort to boost growth. It is currently £90k. The Resolution Foundation, pensions minister Torsten Bell’s former think tank, has previously called for the threshold to be slashed to £30k. Bell is playing a key role in drawing up Budget plans, reports The Telegraph.
GLOBAL AUTO
BYD misses quarterly earnings
BYD has reported lower than expected Q2 earnings, after being hit by Beijing’s crackdown on aggressive discounting and long-term supplier payment practices. The FT says it is the group’s first decline in quarterly profits in more than three years, with gross margin dropping from 18.7% to 16.3%. Net income fell nearly 30%.
Meanwhile, in Australia, strong demand for BYD has helped lift profits at the country’s largest retail group, Eagers Auto. It now plans to add more Chinese car brands to its stable.
LMP shareholders sue founder Samer Tawfik
Samar Tawfik, founder of US publically-traded LMP Automotive Holdings Inc, is being sued by shareholders who allege he took at least $3m from the company. LMP wanted to roll up dozens of retailers, reports Auto News, but faltered and sold its last stores in 2023. Launched in 2017 initially as a vehicle subscription service, the business still exists as a legal entity.
OPINION
FCA redress will test 15 years of retail consolidation
The Financial Conduct Authority’s decision to push ahead with a consultation on a redress scheme reaching back to 2007 has already set alarm bells ringing across the dealer sector. While the fairness question around discretionary commission arrangements is well rehearsed, the industry’s transformation over the past 18 years raises a far more complicated challenge: ownership consolidation.
Since 2007, the UK auto retail landscape has been reshaped by a relentless tide of acquisitions and consolidation. Groups such as Pendragon, Lookers and Marshall, to name just three of the largest, have changed hands, while dozens of mid-sized regional operators have been absorbed into larger groups and smaller owner-operator businesses sold up. What began as an era of family-owned businesses has morphed into one dominated by scale and balance-sheet firepower.
This consolidation creates a thorny problem for any FCA redress scheme. If liability is traced back to a showroom acquired multiple times since the original transaction, which corporate entity is responsible today?
The acquiring groups will argue they should not bear legacy costs for practices they did not oversee. Meanwhile, lenders, as the other side of the broker relationship, may seek to push the exposure back onto retailers. It is a recipe for years of legal and administrative wrangling.
The FCA has flagged access to data as a critical issue. Record-keeping from the pre-digital era is patchy at best and the likelihood of reconstructing potentially millions of agreements accurately is slim. Yet customers will expect clarity and pressure groups will demand accountability.
For dealers, the message is stark: you are not yet out of the woods. Even if today’s commission structures are compliant and transparent, the administrative cost burden of historical redress could be significant. The sector’s consolidation, once seen as a defensive strength, may prove an Achilles’ heel in the FCA’s forthcoming scheme.
Tristan Young
Editorial Director
Get in touch: tristan@autosunday.co.uk
ISSN 2977-6597