The roll out of Chinese brand dealer networks is increasing demand for dealer space at a time when supply is structurall constrained.
That’s the view of Savills director of automotive Bill Bexson posting on linkedIn. He said the Chinese acceleration was directly translating into heightened demand for car dealership space at a time when supply is structurally constrained.
“Chinese brands expanding into the UK and Europe—driven by domestic overcapacity and global growth ambitions—are actively taking showroom, aftersales and logistics space. Available stock of car dealerships in the UK is increasingly limited.
“New entrants (notably Chinese brands such as BYD, Chery, XPeng and others) are rapidly absorbing space previously occupied by legacy franchises.
“At the same time, traditional OEM retrenchment (e.g. Ford, Vauxhall, Peugeot rationalising networks) has released sites—but these are being quickly re-let or repurposed, not left vacant.
Bexson said where automotive occupiers are absent, alternative uses (discount food operators, self-storage, trade counters, last mile logistics) are stepping in aggressively, further tightening supply.
“The core message is that the UK dealership market is not oversupplied—it is increasingly undersupplied and highly competitive, with Chinese OEM expansion acting as a major new demand driver,” said Bexson.
