Behind the wheel newsletter

From the marketing desk

Hard to believe that we are already on Edition 5 of Behind the Wheel. Time flies. On that score, so is this year. Now whilst most companies are winding down for the holiday season, we’re turning up the wick and in November, at JATO, it’s show time. And we’re all box office.

As we mentioned in the last newsletter, the trail starts at AM Live on 12 November at the NEC in Birmingham. We will be on Stand A20 and our top Retail people will be on it. If you are around, make sure that you come and have a chat about your data needs.

Then, we’re joining up with our North American experts at the LA Auto Show from 21 – 30 November. Fancy a coffee and a chat with our top data experts? Head straight to one of our three coffee bars dotted around. Look for the floor stickers and you’ll know where to go.

Of course we’re not just about auto shows. Read down to see what we’ve been up to across the month of October.

Yours in motoring,

Mark Talmage-Rostron
Content & Design Manager

User research

We asked for your views last month on what you think of our products, how you’d possibly like them improved, and what you’d like to see in the future. Boy did you come out in your numbers and we would like to thank all that participated. All we can say at this stage whilst we go through them is watch this space for updates. That said, the research is still ongoing so if you did not get a chance to contribute yet, here’s the link again.

JATO in the news

Remember when we told you in the August newsletter that you can visit Automotive News from time to time to find out all the news and views that JATO puts out on the wire? Well, there is another publication that could be worthy of your attention. Check out AM Online, the UK’s leading media brand for franchised car dealers, delivering essential insight into the evolving world of modern automotive retail.

Deep dive data

China is the largest automotive market in the world, accounting for approximately 30% of global annual registrations. Until 2022, the Chinese market was predominantly led by foreign OEMs, making it a critical volume hub for foreign automotive brands such as Volkswagen, Toyota, and Honda. Not anymore. In 2023, BYD overtook Volkswagen to become the top-selling brand in the country and in 2024, it secured 6th position globally among automotive groups by volume. This paradigm shift has not only redefined the competitive landscape within China, but has also disrupted the global strategies of long-established Western players. Get the rest of the data here.

OEM news

Ever heard the expression “What you see is what you get”? Well sometimes that’s not the case. Your competitors may be winning market share with incentives you can’t see. JATO Incentives gives you a complete competitive picture across public and dealer incentives with Model Mix weighting that shows real market impact, not just advertised prices.

Advisory news

Our Advisory team have produced a series of insightful reports this month, focusing on the expansion of Chinese automotive brands across Europe. Sitting under the umbrella title, ‘Beyond the Brand: China's growing auto market share in Europe’, the reports are both country and brand specific and of course, as you’d expect, full of insights that you simply can’t ignore. BYD and Germany have already hit the airwaves and there’s many more reports to come. Get them delivered straight to your inbox every Wednesday and you won’t miss a single stat, subscribe now.

Retail news

Much has happened this month, but looking ahead to November, we’re excited to announce our presence at two major industry events. We’ll be at AM Live in Birmingham and the Los Angeles Auto Show, where on both occasions we’ll be showcasing and demoing our expert solutions. If you are in the neighbourhood feel free to drop in and have those crucial discussions about how we can answer your exacting data needs.

Leasing and fleet news

In October, we continued our presence at industry events by attending LeaseEurope, where senior professionals in Leasing and Consumer Credit gathered. Our experts, Jesper Rolink, Domenico Sambrotta, Frederic Lopes, and Helen Fisk, met with key customers including Ayvens, Arval, Alphabet, and VWFS, while also forging new connections. The theme, "Enabling sustainable prosperity and competitiveness," framed presentations and panel discussions on the current and future outlook for leasing in Europe, as well as evolving Consumer Credit regulations and technology. We also saw progress on our upcoming product, set to launch in Q1 2026, designed to help customers select vehicles that meet their customers’ changing needs. More updates to come.

Overview of local markets

As an established global company operating across 51+ countries, it stands to reason that there will be a lot happening in all the geographies that we have a presence in. That ongoing activity has brought about the aggregation of a lot of meaningful and actionable data that will be beneficial for you and your business. We’ve been busy putting together an overview of the regions we operate across, so read on to see what has been happening across Europe, Asia Pacific, and The Americas this month.

Europe

The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) has raised concerns about the potential significant disruption to European vehicle manufacturing if the interruption of Nexperia chips supplies cannot be immediately resolved.

Earlier this month, OEMs and their suppliers received notice from the Dutch firm outlining a sequence of events that resulted in them no longer being able to guarantee delivery of their chips to the automotive supply chain. Alongside Taiwan’s Foxconn, Nexperia is an important, high-volume supplier of semiconductors that are often used in the electronic control units of vehicle electrical systems. Without these chips, automotive suppliers cannot build the parts and components needed to supply vehicle manufacturers and this therefore threatens production stoppages.

While the industry already sources the same types of chips from alternative players on the market such as Foxconn, the homologating of new suppliers for specific components and the build-up of production would take several months, while current stocks of Nexperia chips are generally predicted to last only a few weeks.

“Automakers have taken steps over the last years to diversify supply chains, but risk cannot be mitigated down to zero. This is a cross-industry issue affecting a large number of suppliers and virtually all of our members” said ACEA Director General, Sigrid de Vries. “We suddenly find ourselves in this alarming situation. We really need quick and pragmatic solutions from all countries involved”.

New-car sales in Europe rose by 11% in September, according to preliminary figures, although the pace of growth of battery-electric vehicles has slowed marginally. Chinese automakers, led by BYD and MG, continue to disrupt the region with sales of brands from China up 149% in the month, resulting in a record 7.4% market share.

European brands were up 9.7%, Japanese brands’ sales were flat and South Korean brands gained 2%.

In September, BEV sales increased 22%, plug-in hybrid electric vehicle sales were up by 63%, while full-hybrid sales rose 16%.

Chinese brands have also pivoted to selling more combustion-based models, including PHEVs, after European Union tariffs on BEVs imported from China slowed sales gains starting last year. Four of the top 10 bestselling PHEVs in September were Chinese.

The fastest-growing volume brand was China’s BYD, with sales up 444 % to 24,336 for the month. BYD was the 20th-selling brand. Another Chinese brand, MG, was up by 77 % to 33,536 to rank 15th overall, ahead of Volvo, Nissan, Citroen and Cupra.

Asia Pacific

Porsche has seen its sales slide in China and come under pressure in the United States, a reflection of how Germany's once dominant carmakers are battling the toughest global conditions in years. The German marque saw global deliveries decline by around 6% in the third quarter of this year, calculations based on its nine-month and half-year data showed. Sales were down around 20% in China and 5% in North America in the quarter.

The carmaker said the slide in China was linked to "challenging market conditions, particularly in the luxury segment, and the intense competition in the Chinese market."

Chinese electric vehicle maker Xiaomi recently announced purchase tax subsidies of up to CNY 15,000 (USD 2,105.85) for car orders locked in by November 30 for delivery in 2026. The incentive covers its SU7, SU7 Ultra sedans and YU7 SUVs, Xiaomi said in a Weibo post.

Xiaomi received some 240,000 orders it considers locked in the first 18 hours after it began taking orders for YU7 in late June. YU7 deliveries exceeded 40,000 vehicles, CEO Lei Jun said in late September.

A long wait for delivery could subject buyers to additional costs next year, as China's tax breaks for green cars are due to halve the exemption to as much as CNY 15,000 per vehicle over the next two years from a maximum of CNY 30,000 in 2024-2025.

The Americas

GM has announced plans to drop support for phone projection on all new vehicles in the near future, and not just its electric car lineup, according to its CEO, Mary Barra.

In a recent interview, Barra confirmed GM will eventually end support of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto on both gas-powered and electric cars. The timing is unclear, but the CEO pointed to a major rollout of what the company is calling a new centralized computing platform, set to launch in 2028, that will involve eventually transitioning its entire lineup to a unified in-car experience.

In place of phone projection, GM is working to update its current Android-powered infotainment implementation with a Google Gemini-powered assistant and an assortment of other custom apps, built both in-house and with partners.

The Trump administration has formally imposed 25% tariffs on imported medium and heavy-duty trucks and parts, as well as a 10% duty on buses, while extending a key tariff reprieve for American automakers. President Trump signed a proclamation earlier this month, hitting trucks and buses with tariffs from the beginning of November.

These decisions underscore Trump’s difficult balancing act as he seeks to reorient global trade flows and revive domestic manufacturing. Trump has broadly wielded tariffs to penalize imports and spur domestic production and jobs. But manufacturers rely on global supply chains to produce finished goods in the US, exposing even domestic production to Trump’s duties.