Motors.co.uk is celebrating 10 years of providing car dealers with innovative solutions to help them connect with the nation’s car buyers.
In the 10 years since the launch of Motors.co.uk in 2007, the motor industry has witnessed major change, while some things have stayed the same:
- Average new car CO2 emissions have decreased by 27%*
- More than 22.6 million new cars have been registered in the UK*
- The total number of cars on British roads has increased by around 2.5 million*
- Five cars have been in the top 10 best sellers every year (the Ford Fiesta, Ford Focus, Vauxhall Corsa, Vauxhall Astra and VW Golf)*
- The Ford Fiesta has dominated the UK car industry, being crowned the biggest selling car in eight of the 10 years Motors.co.uk has been in business*
- In January 2007, Tesla had not yet put its first car into general production
- When the first Motors.co.uk website was live, there were no production electric cars on sale – now there are dozens. Since 2007, around 90,000 plug-in cars have been registered in the UK, the majority in the past two years. As for other low-emission cars, just over 500 cars registered in 2007 had CO2 emissions below 100g/km, but in 2016, hundreds of thousands fell into this category.
The first Motors.co.uk website looked very different than it does today.
[Motors.co.uk website in 2007]
Over the past decade, the company has grown considerably and invested continuously in its quest to deliver cost-effective advertising and tools that help dealers save time and money. Landmark first to market features over the years include iPad and Android apps, an out-of-hours enquiry service and on-the-go stock management solutions.
The Motors.co.uk website was recently launched onto its fourth technology base, in addition to multiple redesigns along the way. The list of innovations in its field have included: first site in the sector to be mobile responsive; first site to enable multiple make/model searches; Smart Search configured with lifestyle search elements; and monthly payment search.
In 2016, the latest version of Motors.co.uk, built on a mobile-first platform, was launched.
[The Motors.co.uk website in 2016]
Phill Jones, Managing Director at Motors.co.uk, said: “The business has seen an incredible amount of change over the last 10 years, but the one thing that has never altered is the team’s desire to innovate and deliver great service and value. We are incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved but go into 2017 more excited than ever about what we can achieve.
“Together with our parent company, Cox Automotive, our experience and commitment to the industry provides a unique trusted partner for car dealers. We look forward to supporting the evolution of the market in the future.”
The company is older than, and developed through, some of the biggest events of this century. Here are a few examples of what has happened since the website was launched in January 2007:
- The United States elected its first black president in Barack Obama.
- Current US president Donald Trump had hosted two series of The Apprentice before Motors.co.uk was launched.
- The iPhone, now the most used device to visit Motors.co.uk, was not released until June 2007. Since then, Apple has designed 13 different versions and sold more than a billion of their revolutionary smartphone.
- Facebook had only been available to the public for five months ahead of Motors.co.uk’s launch.
- X Factor winner Leona Lewis was UK number one with ‘A Moment Like This’. Six X Factor winners have topped the charts with their winners’ single during Motors.co.uk’s lifetime.
Ends
*Source: SMMT
