Cazoo is back (but friendlier); Car makers and SMMT get huge fines

The latest Car Dealer news and views from our editor-in-chief

Happy Friday! Welcome to your round-up of the week’s motor trade headlines all in one easy to digest format.

This week I’m taking a closer look at the news 12 car makers and the SMMT have been fined for colluding with each other over, of all things, recycling.

Who got fined? And, importantly, which car maker blew the whistle?

Elsewhere, Cazoo is back but this time with less bitterness for car dealers and instead more promises of help. What have the new owners got planned?

Also featured this week are:

• Trump tariffs

• Vertu kills of brand names

• Motorpoint’s u-turn

• Saxton 4x4 losses

• Hyundai’s concept car

• Hendy profits tumble

• Vauxhall slashes prices

Ok, let’s get into the headlines and my take on the week’s news.

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What’s happening?

The Society for Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), as well as 12 car manufacturers, were slapped with multi-million-pound fines this week for illegal manipulation.

The Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA) handed out fines totalling £77.7m – the biggest of which went to Ford which was hit with an £18.5m bill – for illegally agreeing not to compete with each other when advertising what percentage of their cars could be recycled.

The CMA reached settlements with BMW, Ford, Jaguar Land Rover, Peugeot Citroen, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Renault, Toyota, Vauxhall and Volkswagen.

However, the whole case was blown open by just one car manufacturer…