If there is one word that captures automotive retail’s relationship with sustainability right now, it is silence, writes Belle Moss, director at Torque Agency Group.
Dealerships across the UK are investing in solar panels, EV charging infrastructure, energy-efficient facilities and cleaner operations. Yet when it comes to telling anyone about it, the industry has gone remarkably quiet.
That silence has a name. It is called greenhushing, and it is becoming as commercially damaging as the greenwashing it seeks to avoid.
The chill effect
Since April 2025, the Competition and Markets Authority has had the power to fine businesses up to 10 per cent of global turnover for misleading environmental claims under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act. The CMA can investigate and impose penalties directly without going through the courts and has made green claims a priority enforcement area.
The intent is sound. Consumers deserve accurate information and businesses making unsubstantiated claims should face consequences. The problem is that the regulation has created a chill effect across entire sectors.
In automotive retail, where sustainability communications were already underdeveloped, the response has largely been widespread retreat. Dealers are unsure what constitutes a defensible environmental claim, so many have concluded that saying nothing is the safest option. That’s rarely the case.
The commercial cost of silence
The demands for sustainability credentials are intensifying from every direction. OEMs are mandating environmental standards across their networks. Fleet buyers increasingly require ESG data as a condition of contract, customers expect transparency and procurement teams are filtering suppliers on sustainability performance.
Dealer groups are sitting on real stories. They sell electric and hybrid vehicles at a time when there is so much focus on decarbonisation, invest in charging infrastructure, manage strict regulatory requirements around tyre disposal and waste in their aftermarket operations, and run increasingly efficient showrooms and workshops.
So many are making real capital investments in their environmental performance.
Yet much of this is not communicated effectively, whether to consumers at the point of sale, fleet buyers during tender processes, or OEM partners who are themselves measured against legally mandated sustainability targets. The industry sells the green transition every day on the forecourt while saying little about its own role in delivering it.
With profits healthy and significant sums going into facilities and infrastructure, this gap between action and communication could be costing dealers contracts, customer loyalty and competitive differentiation. These businesses are not being asked to fabricate credentials. They are being asked to articulate what they are already doing.
Two sides of the same problem
In 25 years across automotive communications, I have seen the challenge come down to capability rather than intent. Some businesses communicate claims that are vague or unsubstantiated, exposing themselves to exactly the risk the CMA is targeting. Others do meaningful work and stay silent, fearing scrutiny.
Greenwashing and greenhushing stem from the same root: a lack of structured sustainability strategy and a disconnect between what a business does and what it says.
This challenge led Torque Agency Group to form a strategic partnership with Wylde Connections. Communications expertise alone is not enough. You cannot craft defensible messaging without a robust evidence base.
Equally, a credible sustainability strategy has limited value if no one knows about it. The two disciplines need to work together from the outset, so every claim is grounded and every narrative is defensible under the CMA’s Green Claims Code.
What dealers should do now
The regulatory environment will not soften. Dealer groups need to move beyond paralysis.
First, understand your starting position. What sustainability activity already happens across your operations, from energy and waste through to aftersales and supply chain? Most businesses have far more to talk about than they realise once it is properly mapped and evidenced.
Second, get the evidence in order before the messaging. Every claim must be specific, substantiated and considered in the context of your whole operation. Broad statements about being green or sustainable without supporting data are precisely what the CMA is targeting.
Third, align strategy and communications from day one. Do not develop a sustainability programme in isolation and hand it to a marketing team to translate afterwards. Build communications into the process from the start so that every claim is grounded and every narrative is defensible.
The businesses that get this right will win more fleet contracts demanding ESG credentials, strengthen OEM relationships, attract environmentally conscious customers and differentiate themselves in an increasingly competitive market. Automotive retail has earned the right to talk about sustainability. It is time to find the confidence, and the framework, to do so.
Author: Belle Moss, director, Torque Agency Group
Ensure you always receive AM insights. Make us a preferred source of news on Google