September 2023 – Data from Dealer Auction’s Retail Margin Monitor has revealed that BMW models offered significant opportunities for dealers looking to bolster their profit margins in August. Three BMW models placed in the top 10, while the brand as a whole achieved second place in the average retail margin ranking.
The BMW 3 Series saloon continued to be a stalwart of the top 10 model chart, clocking an average retail margin of £2,850. The 1 Series hatchback joined the fray for only the second time, achieving an average retail margin of £2,790. It was also the third-fastest seller of the month, selling in 34 days on average. Completing the spread of BMW products was the X1 SUV, which re-entered the chart at joint-tenth place, with an average retail margin of £2,780.
Dealer Auction’s Marketplace Director, Kieran TeeBoon, commented: “The success of BMW products in August – and the fact that BMW hatchbacks, saloons and SUVs all performed well – is a real attention-grabber, as the top 10 often features a wide spread of brands and is dominated by SUVs. As dealers vie for buyers’ attention, it’s unique opportunities for profit like these that will help them attract new business as we move into autumn.”
Elsewhere in the table, trends continued from previous months – including the Range Rover Evoque holding onto the top spot, with an average retail margin of £4,130, rising from £3,510 in July.
The Mazda CX-5 proved the fastest-selling profit-turner in for the third month in a row, selling in just 25 days on average. It was also the top-rated model with an average Auto Trader Retail Rating of 90.1
Another entry for this month was the Hyundai Tucson, which featured in the Top 10 for only the third time.
At brand level, Land Rover once again topped the table with an average retail margin of £3,800, followed by BMW (£3,000) and Mercedes-Benz (£2,900). The brand table was ruled by premium makes, with the three mainstream makes represented by Volkswagen, Nissan and Kia.
TeeBoon concluded: “There are a lot of conversations in the automotive sphere (and, indeed, most industries) about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and how it will shape the industry. All of this tech talk has given rise to conversations about the importance of data and crunching the numbers in order to pinpoint new opportunities. It’s vindicating to see, especially as our platform has been providing smart data insights since our launch. Our Retail Margin Monitor gives dealers tangible evidence of the most profitable vehicles and shows them how their stock stacks up against consumer demand.”
Richard Walker, Director of Data & Insights at Auto Trader, the UK’s largest online marketplace commented on the Margin Monitor: “The current retail market is incredibly nuanced and volatile at the moment with headline figures masking the underlying health of the used car market. As the data shows, there’re still very strong pricing pockets available – the demand is there, so if retailers use data to buy them and to sell them at the right price, there’s plenty of profit potential available.”
About Dealer Auction
Dealer Auction is the UK’s leading digital remarketing platform. We give buyers and sellers more choice, better insight and greater margins. Dealer Auction is an independent company, created through a joint venture between Cox Automotive and Auto Trader. For more information, visit www.dealerauction.co.uk.
Launched in January 2022, Dealer Auction’s Retail Margin Monitor tracks the potential retail margin that can be achieved on vehicles bought via Dealer Auction’s open network. We track models meeting two key criteria: more than 20 units sold with a retail price of less than £25,000. We then compare the sold price for each model with the Auto Trader market average to reveal the potential margin. For the brand table, we compare models with more than 50 units sold. We crunch the numbers at the start of every new month. This edition analyses data from 1st August to 31st August 2023.
Notes:
The average ‘Auto Trader Retail Rating’ uses three key metrics to determine the consumer demand for the vehicle:
- Average days to sell – Calculated for the whole of the UK and then adjusted for the variations Auto Trader have observed locally in your area.
- Live market supply – Comparing the national supply level for the vehicle over the last seven days with the usual level of supply Auto Trader have seen in the market over the last six months.
- Live buyer demand – Analysing how many people are currently searching for the vehicle on Auto Trader, comparing consumer search behaviour over the last seven days against the level of interest over the last six months.
