October 2021

54 AFTERMARKET OCTOBER 2021 BUSINESS www.aftermarketonline.net R enewed freedom clashed with rising COVID-19 cases as people began to experience a life closer to normal. With holidays on the cards, those opting to stay in the UK hit the roads, at the same time as the consequences of 2020’s MOT exemption continued to unfurl. 5 August: New car sales; Weakest July since 1998 The combined onslaught of the pingdemic and the ongoing worldwide semiconductor shortage managed to push new car sales down by 29.5% compared with 2020, making it the weakest July since 1998, according to the latest figures from the SMMT. 123,296 new cars were sold during July, compared with 1734887 during the same month in 2020. The decline also reflected the fact that July 2020 was the first full month of opening last year after the end of the first lockdown, when sales shot up. When compared with the average over the last decade, sales were 22.3% down. Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) accounting for 9.0% of registrations, while plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) reached 8.0%. All The SMMT’s forecast for 2021 has been reduced, with total new car sales for the year now expected to be 1.82 million. It is expected that BEVs will make up 9.5% of registrations, with PHEVs adding a further 6.5% of the market, rounding up to around 290,000 cars. SMMT Chief Executive Mike Hawes commented: “The automotive sector continues to battle against shortages of semiconductors and staff, which is throttling our ability to translate a strengthening economic outlook into a full recovery. The next few weeks will see changes to self-isolation policies which will hopefully help those companies across the industry dealing with staff absences, but the semiconductor shortage is likely to remain an issue until at least the rest of the year. As a result, we have CORONAVIRUS ROUND-UP The furlough continued to wind down as the sector continued to wrestle with a host of new challenges downgraded the market outlook slightly for 2021. The bright spot, however, remains the increasing demand for electrified vehicles as consumers respond in ever greater numbers to these new technologies, driven by increased product choice, fiscal and financial incentives and an enjoyable driving experience.” 12 August: Seize every opportunity garages told Garages need to prepare for the growing busy period in the second half of 2021 to make sure they can take advantage of the opportunities, and not be overwhelmed by the workload, GiPA’s Q2 report has suggested. GiPA UK’s Q2 results for their quarterly Aftermarket Pulse report showed that the market recovery situation by the end of June 2021 was 2.9% higher than GiPA’s initial prediction. “While in comparison to the same period in 2020, a double- digit recovery in the market is observed – particularly in the second quarter of the year – the market is far from having recovered its 2019 activity level” said GiPA UK General Manager, Quentin Le Hetet. “This decrease was to be expected because the MOT exemptions for six months introduced in April 2020 structurally changed the aftermarket seasonality. In facts, of all tests to be performed in 2021 about 40% were between January and June, and 60% will be between July and December. This split was 53% and 47% respectively for before the COVID-19 outbreak.” According to Quentin, in order to sustain growth compared to 2020, and to achieve pre-crisis market activity, garages need to jump on every opportunity until December: “The real challenge for the workshops will be during the second half of the year as workshop will face unprecedented volume of MOT tests to be carried out. Levelling up their capacity is going to be challenging when thinking of shortage of staff, pressure on the part supply chain, and increase parts pricing due to raw material price increase. It is important to see every entry as an opportunity and make the most of it.” 16 August: Garage staffing to see improvement following double-jab close contact rule changes? Garages were expected to see staff shortages due to self-isolation requirements start to lessen, due to COVID-19 rule changes that included those who had received two doses of as vaccine no longer being required to self-isolate if they have been identified as having been in close contact with someone who had tested positive. The rule change that came into force on Monday 16 August were announced in July as part of step four of the government’s COVID-19 roadmap. Updates were also made to the COVID-19 app to sync up with the changed requirements. App users identified as a close contact who confirmed they were double vaccinated or under 18 no longer needed to self-isolate and would be given advice to book a PCR test. If someone is called by NHS Test and Trace and told they are a contact, would now be asked their age and their vaccination status. If using the NHS COVID-19 app, people would be asked to self-declare if they are under 18 or double vaccinated. However, double-people are still at risk of being infected, so people were still advised to consider other precautions such as wearing a face covering in enclosed spaces. They will also not be required to self-isolate while they wait for the results of the PCR test. Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid said: “We can take another huge step back towards our normal lives by removing self-isolation requirements for double-jabbed people who are contacts of people with COVID-19. Double-jabbed people who test positive will still need to self-isolate.”