Capitalist businesses operating in a capitalist country they may be, but there’s mounting disquiet that car retailers are set to announce record profits, buoyed chiefly by booming margins on used cars and staff counts that were cut at the height of the pandemic.
The root of the grumbling is that many took advantage of the various lockdown support schemes, including furlough and tax breaks, but now things are good haven’t shied away from paying large bonuses to their leadership teams or shareholders ahead of returning any of the money into the national coffers.
Firms don’t agree on the issue. Some, most vocally Marshall Motor, have given back vast chunks of support, while the other extreme is exemplified by Vertu, whose 159 sales and aftersales sites put it in the turnover top five.
