Performance Communications | January 31, 2022
This briefing document provides a fortnightly overview of the main automotive industry stories making the news and key product announcements. It also includes some of the interesting stories and campaigns that have made the news from outside the automotive sector over the past two weeks.
Automotive news
Key industry stories from the last two weeks:
Industry
- Matt Becker joins Jaguar Land Rover as Mike Cross retires
- UK car production fell 6.7% in 2021
- Bentley invests £2.5 billion to build Crewe ‘Dream Factory’ for 2025 EV
- Volkswagen Golf retains title as Europe’s best-selling new car in 2021
- The Kia EV6 electric car wins What Car? Car of the Year 2022
- Tesla announces record-breaking profits for 2021 as vehicle sales reach sky high levels
- Customer satisfaction ‘drives stock turn’ at dealerships
Driving
- The Highway Code is changing: the ‘Hierarchy of Road Users’ and what it means
- The golden age of the wedge-shaped car
- UK’s best driving tunnels revealed in new Alfa Romeo ‘Sound Tunnel Index’
- Driveway rentals net homeowners £26m in 2021
- What Car? Awards 2022: Best car in every class revealed
- Sébastien Loeb and Isabelle Galmiche have won the Monte Carlo Rally
Environmental
- British hydrogen car maker reveals new roadmap
- Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi to bring out 35 electric vehicles together by 2030
- British Volt: Electric car battery plant gets millions in funding
- 37 per cent rise in public electric car chargers
- Lamborghini electric plans: PHEV Aventador confirmed by boss, new e-GT in the pipeline
- Would you sacrifice EV range for new tech? Tesla buyers may not have a choice
- Shock! Your kids want you to drive an electric car
- EV chargers almost as profitable as fuel pumps, says BP
- The first electric car made by every major car maker
- How do we make the move to electric cars happen? Ask Norway
Product launches / unveils
Key industry product launches or unveils:
- Mercedes – Next-generation Mercedes E-Class to stick with combustion engines
- Land Rover – New 2022 Land Rover Defender 130 revealed in patent images
- Jeep – New Jeep Renegade and Compass e-Hybrids revealed
- Porsche – Porsche reveals limited-run 911 Edition 50Y Porsche Design
- Volta Zero – New Volta Zero electric truck set for central London trial
- Nissan – Electric Nissan Micra confirmed for 2025
- Mini – MINI Recharged unveiled as official classic EV conversion
- PEUGEOT – Peugeot 9X8 Le Mans Hypercar shown in new images
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Non-automotive winners
- Powered by dance: Glasgow arts centre generates energy from clubbers
- ‘His passion is infectious’: Highsnobiety on Francis Bourgeois’s Gucci X North Face ad
- ‘Haven’t been seen for 25 years’: rains bring back salmon to California streams
- Joy as baby given to US soldier during Afghan withdrawal is reunited with relatives
- Covid blueprint to transform new drugs for millions
- Deliveroo’s marketing pays off as total orders jump 70% in 2021
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Non-automotive losers:
- Welsh ports had 30% less traffic due to Brexit – shipping chief
- Netflix faces rocky road after pandemic wins
- Paris is full of litter – but that is the least of France’s problems
- Complaints about GP’s triple, with focus on difficulty of getting an appointment
- Ofcom warns Royal Mail over month-long post delays
- Tories slump in polls amid Sue Gray report anger – as Cummings says party’s problems may become ‘unsolvable’
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Research and insights:
Automotive Insights
- Three-quarters of car buyers looking to purchase from their local dealer next, find What Car?
- Survey of 1,158 in market buyers demonstrates the importance of dealer network despite shift to online sales
- 74% of buyers wish to ‘buy local’ when buying a new car
- 56% of respondents were willing to to accept a longer wait if it meant being able to support a local dealership
- Steve Huntingford, What Car? Editor said: “At a time when the industry is embracing online sales, this is a reminder of the role local dealers play for motorists, the loyalty this generates and the benefits of nurturing lasting relationships with customers.”
Non-Automotive Insights
- How remote work is influencing what we buy – Deloitte
- It is expected that globally, remote working will outlive the pandemic. 53% of people say they can do their job remotely. Among those 57%, on average they spend 2.7 days a week at home
- The data suggests that those in the UK, Canada, US and Australia are spending 3-4 days per week working from home, whereas in France, Denmark and Norway it is closer to two days
- The data suggests a greater shift towards staff prioritising their work/life balance no matter their age group
- The fundamental shift of where we work has seen an increase in spending on food at home and homeware, but reduced spending on restaurants, clothing and on public transport and new cars
- No turning back: UK CEOs are approaching a purpose tipping point – PWC
- Large number of employers looking to hire this year, but will need to show a clear commitment to ‘purpose’ in terms of showing care of their staff, customers, communities and the environment to ensure they attract new recruits
- ‘Not all commitments are created equally’ but 71% of UK CEOs who have made a carbon neutral or net zero commitment say that they were influenced by the need to attract and retain talent
- There is a general view that companies are accountable to the public now too, as well as to their investors and this accountability will filter through to actions in the business such as equality targets or decarbonising supply chains and procurement processes
- Companies are starting to demonstrate this by including metrics into their corporate strategy on issues such as climate change and equality, with a ‘vanguard’ of CEOs including such metrics in their own bonus and incentive plans. This number is currently low, but is expected to grow quickly
