Chancellor Gordon Brown's announcements yesterday included a three-year freeze of VED and company car tax at present levels, and a six-month freeze of fuel duties, while automated road use charging, planned initially for trucks, has been put off until 2008.
Despite an unpredictable climate the clamour among image-conscious Britons to go 'topless' is pushing convertible values up across all years. The trend is revealed in CAP Black Book, the trade guide to current used car values.
International Motors has acquired Showells (Garages) Ltd of Lye, Stourbridge, which represents all three of IM's Japanese marques, saying, “This strategic investment has been made to develop marketing methods to exploit business opportunities presented by the new Block Exemption regulations.”
Among the winners at Wednesday's 2004 Fleet News awards, attended by more than 1,200 people in London, were Volkswagen, which took four of the top prizes.
Warranty Holdings chief executive Peter Head has left the Ford-owned firm “to pursue other interests”, but WH will not say why.
Valeo has brought its Cibie, Marchal, PJ and SWF products under the umbrella of a new collective brand, 'teamValeo'.
2,500 Fiat workers at the Mirafiori assembly plant will be laid off for two weeks of next month, and a further 840 will be laid off for 10 weeks between 12 April and 20 June.
Lexus GB has restructured its marketing, operations management and aftermarket functions.
As part of the pre-audit review of its maiden annual results, body repair group Just Car Clinics Group plc has identified a 'significant overstatement of trading results' in three of its twelve locations.
Auto Data Network, a specialist automotive retail software house quoted on NASDAQ, has invested £6m a 33% share in DCS Automotive, Europe's largest DMS provider. ADN has also acquired the right to purchase the remaining two-thirds equity in DCS Automotive subject to financial performance criteria.
Motaquip is calling for new legislation and rigorous standards to be introduced for safety-critical parts such as steering and suspension to combat a 'growing influx of inferior parts into the UK'
The Malaysian state investment arm Khazanah Nasional has purchased more than half of Mitsubishi Motors' 7.93% stake stock in Proton, recently sold to raise cash. The bank's stake has accordingly risen to 34.3% but it will not make an offer for the remainder of Proton's shares, having been granted a waiver from normal share dealing regulations.
On March 16, 2004, Renault, IDRO, Iran Khodro and Saipa signed the initial terms of their agreement for the creation, as of April 2004, of Renault Pars, a joint venture company, with 51% to be held by Renault and 49% by the Iranian company, AID co.
The Motor Insurance Anti-Fraud and Theft Register (MIAFTR) is to be redeveloped by HPI on behalf of the ABI. The new system is expected to be ready mid-year.
Bodyshop Dynamics has launched [bd] on-line, a communications platform that enables fleet operators and insurers to deal directly with over 100 bodyshops online.
Rob Lindley, previously Dealer Operations Director, has been appointed Sales Director at Mazda Motors UK, while Floyd Timms has been promoted to the role of National Sales Manager. <p>
China National Bluestar Group's bid yesterday appears not to have satisfied Ssangyong's creditors.
A total of 97,000 £80 penalties will be issued this week to motorists whose discs expired at the end of December. Prompt payment reduces the penalty to £40.
BNP Paribas leasing and vehicle management subsidiary Arval PHH, which has acquired the Benelux-based Arma Group and opened a Slovakian subsidiary since the start of the year, is expected two-figure growth this year.
Retail used car sales brought mixed results for dealers in February, with those in Scotland, the East Midlands, Northern Ireland and Eastern England all enjoying better performance in February than January, according to the February CAP Used Car Performance Index.
The French independent repairers' association FNA (Fédération Nationale de l'Artisanat Automobile) has reported that its complaint against certain clauses of Citroen's pre-BER authorised repairer contract has won support from the European Commission.
After months of negotiations with preferred bidder National Bluestar Group Corp. of China, Ssangyong's creditor banks expect a final bid today, report Korean media.
BMW Group group's profit from ordinary activities, at €3,205 million, was 2.8% below the record level of 2002. Net profit for 2003 was €1,947 million, 3.6% down from 2002.
Present at a meeting of the European trade federation CECRA this week, senior automotive sector official of the EC's Competition Directorate Paolo Cesarini declined to pronounce on any of the complaints so far submitted to the EC on dealer contracts.
German trade paper Autohaus reports that some manufacturers, including BMW, Audi and VW have ceased to offer manufacturer warranties following changes to German product liability law.
You may have seen this sleight of hand before – and dismissed it as just that. It's all about selling more while controlling costs and buying well. And here's how it works.
Winner: Nationwide crash repair centre Boston
Winner: Available Car
Winner: Perrys Rotheram
Winner: Beadles group
