There’s a well-kept little minutes book sitting in Jeff McCartney’s office which dates back well over a century.
Motoring giant Charles Hurst looked like a very different business back then, compared to its position as one of Northern Ireland’s biggest firms, boasting turnover of more than £700m and coming in at the number 11 spot in this year’s Ulster Business Top 100 Northern Ireland Companies, in association with KPMG.
And with the move to electric, there will be a time in the next few years where the huge sprawling forecourts at Charles Hurst’s main base on the Boucher Road in Belfast are devoid of any new petrol or diesel cars.
“Absolutely. From a new car point of view? Yes. I think 2030 will become the date (whereby you cannot sell a new traditional internal combustion engine car),” Jeff tells Ulster Business.
But he says the Government must reintroduce grants or incentives to make the move possible for the industry, and for customers.
Charles Hurst’s group operations director has 36 years under his belt in the motoring trade. And it’s an industry which is going through its biggest upheaval and changes, arguably since the invention of the internal combustion engine.
“We employ just over 800 people both here and in Dublin,” Jeff says.
“In terms of the business itself, it’s going really well. We are ahead of last year for the first six months.”
New car sales are up around 8%, while the luxury brands are seeing their own sizeable resurgence.
“Ferrari is up 35%, Bentley is up 31% and Aston Martin is up 22%.”
The market here is up around 8%, according to Jeff. But taking out motability that figure rises to 11%.
Jeff says Charles Hurst is continuing to sell more of its vehicles into the Republic.
Charles Hurst operates a vast range of brands across its huge Boucher Road site, including Jaguar Land Rover, Audi, Vauxhall, Nissan, Renault, Peugeot, and a fresh badge to the UK – Chinese electric car giant BYD.
In terms of the luxury end it also sells Lexus, Ferrari, Maserati, Aston Martin, Bentley and Lotus.
But all eyes are on the future and the electric car market. The current cut off for traditional petrol and diesel engine new car sales here is 2035, but that could be brought forward again by the current Labour government.
“While electric is doing the mix which it needs to in Northern Ireland – about 16% in the UK and 14% here – it needs to be 22%,” Jeff says.
That’s centred around the Government’s EV mandate. It means manufacturers must now up their EV production to 22% of their fleet, otherwise they face hefty fines.
“The Government needs to come to the party with grants,” he says.
“If they are really serious about it, they need to. We had a grant [system] for the vehicle, which was up to £5,000, but we’ve seen that erode over time.”
“[Production of vehicles] will go up. [They] need to go up in retail. A lot of the [brands] are starting to realign their offers and offerings because of the likes of [brands like] BYD.”
And costs are coming down. Dacia’s new electric car will come in at less than the £17,000 mark for a new vehicle.
“From a customer’s point of view, they want to see [price] parity with petrol,” he says. “Until we get close to that… then I think the retail market for electric will struggle.
“Next year 20% of vehicles sold must be electric – that’s a big jump from where we are today.
“We as an organisation are spending a huge amount of money on training our technicians for the new world. It’s one of the biggest burdens which we have faced – our costs have rocketed.”
Hybrid and plug-in models are even now being rolled out across the traditional power-heavy, large-engined sports and supercars.
And there will come a day in the very near future where the iconic roar of a new V12 Ferrari will fall silent as all brands, including the top end luxury supercars, will have to move to electric car production.
“We already have hybrid Ferraris, so they are already moving there,” Jeff says.