Changing how we buy cars

Haven’t we been here before? I can’t help but think back to 2009. I was on a launch event at a swanky new showroom by the side of the A33 in Reading, where BMW, Land Rover and Mercedes-Benz all had shimmering car sales edifices of their own. Nissan was introducing its premium market offshoot, Infiniti, to the UK and hoping to mirror the success Toyota had enjoyed with Lexus.

I drove a couple of its cars, thought the line-up of naturally aspirated V6 and V8 engines was beginning to feel out of touch even then, and listened politely as it was explained to me how Infiniti would rattle the established upmarket players. Within a decade the company had announced it was pulling out of the UK for good. It had sold so few cars there are only 243 used Infinitis of any kind listed on AutoTrader today. (How many BMWs? 37,000.)

What made me most sceptical on that day in 2009 was Infiniti’s arrival here with only three dealerships with which to service all four corners of the country. I remember thinking that was the wrong number altogether. It eventually grew its entire dealer network to six locations.