The National Franchised Dealers Association (NFDA) is the leading trade association representing franchised car and commercial vehicle dealers in the United Kingdom (UK). As the largest employer in the automotive sector, retail accounts for approximately 600,000 jobs in the broader automotive workforce. Dealership staff operate in over 4,500 franchised outlets across the UK, serving as the industry’s customer-facing frontline responsible for selling, servicing, and repairing vehicles. NFDA’s Dealer Attitude Survey (DAS) is a biannual survey examining the relationship between franchised dealerships and manufacturers throughout the UK. The DAS continues to serve as a critical barometer in understanding the complex relationship between franchised dealerships and their respective manufacturer(s). It has been running since 1989 and presents the most comprehensive overview of dealer sentiments and perspectives on manufacturers that the sector has to offer. The Winter 2025 edition of the survey was carried out over five weeks, from 27 January to 28 February 2025. In this edition, the survey garnered responses from an impressive 2,204 sites across 31 franchised networks, equating to a response rate of 61 percent [1]. Jaguar are not in this edition of the survey but will return in the next. Key Points: The highest overall manufacturer rating for Winter 2025 and once again first place for 5 editions in a row with a rating of 9.3/10 is Kia . The lowest overall manufacturer rating is Ford with 4.0/10. Citroen and Peugeot saw the most significant improvement in ratings with an increase of 3.4 and 2.1 points respectively. Citroen had previously been the lowest-rated manufacturer in the last edition. Mercedes-Benz had the biggest fall in rating of -1.1 but still held a high score of 8. The Winter 2025 edition of the DAS saw improvements across all questions, with this edition seeing every question showing an improvement . The survey is structured into its typical distinct sections covering a diverse range of topics and pressing industry issues. NFDA also continues its partnership with Metryx for this edition, presenting the data in a manner that is both clear and concise. Key points from the survey and the survey in full can be found below. Paul Philpott, President and CEO of Kia UK, said: “This is a truly exceptional result and one we couldn’t be prouder to achieve. We have said that dealers are at the core of our business, so it’s particularly noteworthy that they agree and have now rated Kia the best brand for the fifth consecutive NFDA survey. “With numerous challenges facing our industry, we are incredibly proud of our dealer partners whose proactive approach has ensured Kia continues to lead the industry. Together, we have just achieved a record-breaking Q1 and best-ever month in March, with our latest fully electric model, the Kia EV3, becoming the UK’s best-selling retail-market EV in Q1. “We would like to express a heartfelt thank you to all our dealer partners for their commitment to Kia and the hard work they put into the brand’s success every day.” Sue Robinson, Chief Executive of NFDA, said: “The Winter 2025 NFDA Dealer Attitude offers an in-depth look at the evolving relationship between manufacturers and franchised dealerships, shedding light on both advancements and persistent challenges. “This edition of the survey shows increases in all areas. Total New Vehicle Margin saw its first increase in rating over recent surveys, potentially signalling an improved optimism across the dealer network. “Future EV/PHEV range also entered into the ‘top 5’ ratings, showing dealer confidence in new EV products beginning to improve. However, both Overall Profit and EV margin, while not decreasing, continued to score low, potentially showing wider concerns for overall Return on Capital ratings. “There has clearly been significant progress with EVs, but challenges remain. The survey reveals a trend of how EV related questions improved the most, but the relative scoring remains stubbornly low compared to other areas. “The total margin on new EV and Hybrid sales compared with petrol or diesel new car sales saw a large improvement from a 5.2 to a 6.4, and while remaining one of the lowest scoring sections, there is a clear shift to more positivity around EVs. “With the Government recently announcing changes to the ZEV Mandate, the future of EVs is looking better than ever. Nevertheless, against the backdrop of insecurity, global trade wars and tariffs, while positive, these ZEV Mandate changes are likely not going to be enough to support the industry in this transition. “NFDA’s Dealer Attitude Survey maintains its strength of a good response rate, reflecting the automotive industry’s steadfast commitment to sharing valuable data and assessments that surround the retail sector. “NFDA congratulates Kia , who has come top in the survey for what is now 5 editions in a row on the overall manufacturer rating with an impressive score of 9.3, the same score from the last edition.” Paul Philpott, President and CEO of KIA UK Ltd Highlights: 1. Profit Return This edition reveals a decent increase in overall current profit return, however it still remained among the lowest scoring questions, coming in second to last. Topics related to profitability, Return on capital and margins were among the lowest rated in the survey. Current profit return from representing your franchise was the second lowest scoring question in this edition of the survey but did increase by 12.7% in comparison to the last survey. Dealer satisfaction with current profit return has gone up a significant 0.7 from the last edition, with an average score of 6.2, up from 5.5 in the last edition. Assessing the trends from previous DAS surveys, dealer sentiment regarding current profit returns has broken the trend of decline since Winter 2022 and has seen a somewhat return to ‘normal’. Kia held top spot with a score of 8.7, an increase of 0.1 from their score of 8.6 in the previous survey. Mercedes-Benz and MINI rounded off the top three with scores of 8.3 and 7.7 respectively. There were also huge increases for certain brands, such as Lexus, who saw a huge increase from 3.9 in the last survey to 7.3 in this edition. BMW saw their score increase from 4.9 to 7.1 and Citroen saw their score increase from 2.4 to 5.2. The lowest scores were received by Audi (2.0), and DS (2.4) and Ford (3.9). Dealer satisfaction levels for future profit return also shows a more optimistic outlook than in the previous edition, with the average score increasing from 5.7 to 6.5. Kia again held the top spot with a score of 8.9, followed by Lexus with 8.1 and MG with 7.8. DS (3.4), Audi (3.5) and Ford (3.9) received the lowest scores. 2. Electric/Plug-In Vehicles The Overall sentiment towards EVs has improved with this edition of the DAS. Whilst there has been good progress, the topic of EVs once again remains stubbornly low compared to the rest of the survey topics. All six questions saw increases, with a substantial rise in Total margin in EV vs. ICE. This question saw an increase of from 5.2 to 6.4, but it is the lowest scoring EV question. Return on investment from EV equipment and training saw a rise from 5.5 to 6.5. Again, while this score saw a big improvement, it is still one of the lower scoring questions in the survey. Verbatim generated on the section centred around ‘ low margins ’ (38%) and ‘ lack of product offering’ (31%), echoing the key concerns of the wider sector. Kia maintained its dominance in the EV focus section of the survey, claiming the top spot in all questions, whilst Seat and Ford shared most of the lowest scores throughout the section. Question 5j, the effect the ZEV Mandate is having on obtaining new vehicles for customer orders saw a good increase in score rising by 0.8. Mazda topped this question followed closely by Mercedes, both with an impressive score of 9. Ford received the lowest scores, with 2.8, dropping from 3.4. This provides useful insight particularly as we start the second year of the ZEV mandate, with the target for the year rising to 28%. The survey continues the trend that progress is being made on EVs, especially when it comes to current products and future products, showing that the technology and cars are improving. There have been substantial investments made in the transition to electric vehicles and while some concerns remain over the profitability of EVs, the progress is positive. While the industry has not received any strong support in the forms of incentives from the government, which would really drive adoption, there has been some flexibilities added to ZEV Mandate recently. While welcome, a stronger fiscal commitment to EVs from the government is really what the industry really needs, especially now EVs are no longer exempt from Vehicle Exercise Duty and many customers will face paying the Expensive Car Supplement. 3. Apprenticeships Dealer opinions around manufacturer’s apprenticeship programmes saw a rise of 0.3, rising to 7.9 in this edition of the survey. The overall survey top performers shared first and second with MINI (9.3) just besting Kia with a higher rounding average score. BMW also continue to excel in this topic receiving a 9.2 average score. Seat saw an improvement to 6.1 from 5.6 from last edition, but still ended up towards the bottom, but Ford came in last with a rating of 5.9 These all-round high scores demonstrate the automotive industry’s steadfast commitment to developing the skills of the next generation of talent, which will be crucial in the transition to Electric Vehicles. 4. Used Cars Used car topics continue to score highly, with manufacture’s used car standards the highest scoring question of the survey at 8.1. Lexus topped the question on manufacturers used car standards at 9.4, while the lowest score was DS with a 5.5. Fiat improved with a score jump of 3 points, going from 4.3 in the last edition to 7.4 currently. T argets set by manufacturers for used cars saw a 0.3 increase and received an average score of 7.7. Comparing New and Used Vehicle margin, scores remain broadly consistent between the two with an improving background overall. However, some brands are seeing large disparities between New and Used profitability. In line with Overall Profit, the sharp falls from the last 3 surveys have been reversed, indicating a much healthier financial position for the majority of the dealer networks surveyed. Kia topped the ranking on total margin on used cars with a high score of 9.2. Toyota, Subaru and Honda all received a joint score of 8.4, the next best score. 5. Overall Manufacturer Rating The overall question ‘How would you rate your manufacturer overall on a scale of 1 to 10?’ returned an average of 7.2, a 0.5 increase from our last survey. Kia took the top spot, replicating an impressive score of 9.3 , to once again claim the title of winner for this edition of the DAS. Lexus saw big improvement with their rise to second place with an 8.9 and Toyota scored the 3 rd spot with 8.6. At the other end saw Seat (4.8), DS 4.4 and Ford (4.0). 6. Biggest Overall Movers and Shakers 20 brands improved their overall rating in this survey whilst 10 brands saw their rating decline. Citroen saw the biggest increase by a large 3.4 points. They also saw the biggest increase on total margin on new vehicles , improving 122% and the biggest improvement on total EV margin vs. ICE at 211%. Stellantis Group brands lead the improvements in Manufacturer Relationship, tabling the Top 5 improvers for the latest survey in Alfa Romeo, Citroen, Peugeot, Fiat and Vauxhall. Mercedes saw the biggest drop in overall manufacturer, decreasing by -1.1 points, but maintaining a high score of 8.0 overall. ENDS – NOTES TO EDITORS – Dealer Attitude Survey – WINTER 2025 FULL REPORT: https://www.nfda-uk.co.uk/downloads/dealer-attitude-download/NFDA-DAS-Winter-2025.pdf Dealer Attitude Survey – WINTER 2025 STORYBOARD: https://www.nfda-uk.co.uk/downloads/dealer-attitude-download/NFDA-DAS-Winter-2025-Storyboard.pdf [1] The national response rate has been calculated using Total responses received / Total network sites – this is different from prior years where the average of brand response rates % were used.