Buoyancy In UK Car Market Drives Demand For Specialist Porcelain Tiles By Minoli

Since the 1960s, Minoli have built expertise in supplying the automotive retail sector with specialist porcelain tiles for showrooms and workshops. Over the years we have supported over 20 manufacturer brands and their networks in delivering consistency in their retail identities, plus a range of motorcycle, collector and tuning specialists, as well as garaging solutions for private individuals.

As such, it’s exciting to see the UK market for new cars enjoying a period of sustained growth, with consecutive months of increased registrations from January through to July of this year.

This strong ongoing recovery sees the market tracking towards an expected full-year total of roughly 2.18 million new car registrations according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), which would represent a year-on-year growth of near 8%.

This upward trend is primarily driven by strong corporate fleet demand, competitive manufacturer discounting, and a surge in new Chinese entrant brands offering affordable plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles. Improving supply chains and broader vehicle choice are helping both new and used sales return to pre-pandemic levels.

The UK automotive retail property market is also entering an investor-friendly phase characterised by multi-franchise consolidation, overseas acquisitions, and modular showroom redesigns, driven by the demand for electrification and shifting omnichannel retail models.

However, the ongoing investment in automotive dealerships is also a customer-led phenomenon. A recent survey of UK car buyers verified that dealership visits continue to play an important function in the car buying journey.

While automotive purchases have become increasingly multi-channel, Codeweavers, Cox Automotive’s retail software brand, revealed that 59.5% of UK buyers visited dealerships during the purchase process, while 47.3% went to retailer websites and 43.1% to manufacturer websites. Social media was also referred to in the research process for 26.3% of buyers.

Today we explore some of the specialist porcelain tile series and designs that leading automotive brands are currently specifying, as Minoli support them in ensuring coherence and conformity of corporate identity throughout their retail facilities.

In carefully defining bespoke showroom and workshop specifications, we help network development teams deliver distinct and brand-specific schemes across widespread geographic regions, whether for refurbishments or new-build sites, throughout the UK, on a pan-European basis, or even as far afield as eastern Asia.

Contemporary Concrete Effects

When the car is the star, a more subdued floor finish creates an ideal stage on which to perfectly present the latest cars and commercial vehicles. Ranging in colour from paler grey and beige, through to graphite and tarmac tones, modern, concrete-effect tiles create a flawless finish but, with subtle, layered, tone-on-tone shading.

In showroom environments, where large surfaces are tiled and need to stand up to both pedestrian and four-wheeled traffic, the watchwords are quality, consistency, durability and ease of maintenance, and Minoli’s high-performance porcelain product portfolio certainly meets the brief. With smooth surfaces, near-zero porosity and impenetrable by water and oil, they are easy to clean and maintain, and remain highly fade-resistant, even in bright sunlight.

As production technology in porcelain tiles evolves, we’re now seeing larger size 120/120 tiles applied in showrooms, which minimise the number of grout lines and provide a more continuous, seamless surface.

The latest retail schemes by brands such as Lotus, Stellantis, BYD, MG and Renault all feature modern, concrete-effect porcelain tiles, to create a neutral, modern surface in showroom display areas.

A Return To Terrazzo

The irregular inclusions within the surface of traditional Terrazzo-effect tiles create a dynamic and durable platform on which to display vehicles. Also, given the varied patterning in the finish, Terrazzo designs are also remarkably resilient against showing marks and footprints.

Available in light and dark designs, the most recent iterations of Terrazzo in porcelain incorporate the cutting-edge of the ceramic industry’s production methodologies to deliver high load bearing floors with excellent colour stability and uniformity of rectified, calibrated sizing.

Recent installations of Terrazzo-effect tiles at sites for Kia Europe and Omoda & Jaecoo demonstrate just how well this finish works in highly contemporary settings.

Warming Wood Effects

In customer consultation and hospitality areas, the latest retail schemes often include the welcoming warmth of wood-effect tiles. With the same durability and desirability of all porcelain ranges, within the expansive spaces of car dealerships, designers are creating distinctly differentiated zones, using flooring to demarcate display areas from other customer facilities.

Across the breadth and depth of Minoli’s wood-look collections, specific ranges offer up a variety of aesthetic qualities to support the trend of incorporating natural finishes into modern interior designs. Within the surfaces of the latest ranges, we see the natural knots and gorgeous graining you would find in hardwood planks, but with all the practical advantages of porcelain.

Over natural wood, porcelain tiles will not shrink, split, splinter or warp, and they are ultimately easier to clean and maintain. Being almost impervious to moisture and dirt, they do not require sealing and, manufactured with precisely rectified edges and calibrated sizes, highly technical designs, and exact installations can be achieved.

Top-flight automotive brands such as Mercedes-Benz, Lexus, Fiat, Peugeot, Volvo and BYD have all specified wood-look finishes in their retail standards, particularly for the lounge and consultation areas of their dealerships.

Withstanding Wear & Tear In Workshops

Minoli supplies a number of specialist series that are specifically produced to withstand the test of a workshop environment. Laid correctly, porcelain tiles are extremely hardwearing and high load bearing. These products are more resistant to chemicals, oil and extreme temperatures, deliver excellent colour stability over time and have grippy textured surfaces that yield improved anti-slip properties.

Within design schemes we’ve also seen different shades of workshop tile used to great effect to mark out work bays and vehicular access routes, providing a level surface but with a visual step change.

These include the Serizo/STG Series with Emerald GSC and Dakota PGR colourways, both in Matt porcelain, with 20/20 dimensions and a 12 mm thickness, or 30/30 size with 8 mm thickness. Plus, for workshops walls, Minoli W.R. Cemento and Blanco provide two colour options in a ceramic, 20/20 format.

Many of the ranges in the Minoli collection are available with complementary indoor and outdoor versions to match. Through garage doors, on walls and floors, and through to non-vehicle areas, near seamless transitions can be achieved. The 20 mm exterior product with textured surface is particularly suitable for driveways, garage and workshop floors, wash-down areas and ramps.

Minoli’s specialist Workshop Series feature in the corporate standards for Renault, Dacia, Kia, Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis, amongst many others.

Stock, Service & Supply

With extensive experience in supplying the automotive retail trade, Minoli understand the requirement to minimise the downtime of a dealership during development and to ensure deliveries are reliably completed in line with ambitious build and fit-out schedules.

With a significant stock-holding capacity, most orders are delivered promptly in complete packages, enabling clients and contractors to proceed smoothly through the build programme. In order to fulfil major roll-out programs, Minoli hold vast stocks of each client’s individually specified porcelain tile selections, predominantly produced to order for each brand.

Where required, we also liaise directly with retail group owners, dealership management, contractors and tile fitters on behalf of the manufacturer brands, to ensure scheme fidelity across diverse networks.

With proficiency and exceptional customer service that are considered second to none, we’re delighted to work with a long list of well-known volume, premium and performance brands including Lotus, Aston Martin, Ferrari, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, Renault, Alpine, Dacia, Stellantis Group (including Citroen, Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Abarth and Jeep), Kia, BYD, Omoda-Jaecoo, MG, Volvo, Geely, Chery, Lepas, Infiniti, Ducati and the Yamaha World Superbike Team, but also collectors and independent specialists such as RPM Technik, Dura Workshop Systems, our friends at DK Engineering and Girardo & Co.

The automotive team is led by Jonathon Minoli who would be delighted to discuss opportunities to support other manufacturers and specialists: jonathon@minoli.co.uk