Brexit could give the UK a huge advantage in making trade deals that are beneficial to both Britain and other countries, according to the head of Britain’s biggest car dealer.
Trevor Finn, chief executive of multi-national car dealer group Pendragon, said that despite uncertainty over the result of the referendum, his business has seen no change in sales or enquiries.
According to Finn, Britain leaving the EU will offer massive benefits to the UK’s economy and car industry, despite many other industry heads claiming that Brexit could damage it.
'Opportunity to reset trading relations'
Speaking to the Telegraph, Finn said: “We have got the opportunity to reset trading relations. We have knowledge of the terms of every trade deal the EU has as we are still part of that and that gives us a huge, huge advantage."
“Imagine if a company knew the exact terms a competitor had with its supply chain, we are in a similar position. We can also negotiate specific deals on an individual country-to-country level, rather than terms that have to be acceptable to all the EU members.”
The Pendragon boss is also confident that the EU will agree to trade deals with the UK on cars, claiming that Britain is “too attractive a market” for the EU to implement harsh import tariffs.
Car market expected to slow
Many have suggested that the EU will make efforts to avoid any deals which would give the UK any advantage, so as to discourage other member states from pursuing their own independence.
However, Finn claims that when it comes to cars, the EU will be more forgiving and also suggested that manufacturers are unlikely to raise prices in the UK to maintain margins, despite the fall in sterling.
He did predict that the car market will slow throughout the remainder of the year, but said that that’s to be expected given the all-time record number of car sales last year.
