Carshock, the car supermarket, plans to quadruple its turnover in the next three years. The £20m-turnover firm, which is based in the north-east, aims to open a site every three months.
Nidd Vale Group, the Yorkshire-based motor retailer, is investing more than £1m in new facilities and drawing up a new internet sales strategy to help grow its business.
Manufacturing in the UK is facing unprecedented pressure and even a new report from the SMMT suggests survival is by no means guaranteed. Mark Catterall looks at the arguments
This is BMW's new E60 5-series estate, caught on a photographic shoot in South Africa. This late pre-production car is being used for brochure and press photography in preparation for the E60 estate's public debut at the Geneva Show next March.
Dealers left reeling from any negative impact of block exemption are being urged to complain to a more robust Office of Fair Trading. From May 1, 2004, the OFT will have greater power and resources to look at the issues arising from changes to the way new cars are sold.
Peugeot is considering staging a special one-marque event for its dealers at next year's Sunday Times Motor Show Live in Birmingham.
Manufacturers are embracing a new training initiative designed to improve sales standards in the dealership and encourage more people into the industry.
Euro NCAP has announced details of a new crash rating designed to measure the protection given to children in passenger cars, but the AA has questioned the relevance of the new ratings to most parents.
Sussex dealer group Caffyns made pre-tax profits of £1.5m for the six months to September, a 12 per cent drop on the same period in 2002.
Sytner BMW in Nottingham has opened a new £10m development that it claims is one of the largest dealerships for BMW in Europe.
Insight: Digby Jones, CBI director general talks about car manufacturing in Britain
Ninety dealers have been recruited by Isuzu importer International Motors (IM Group) as the company strives to grow its network on the back of a new pick-up.
The results of the latest Euro NCAP tests see both the Renault Scenic and Volkswagen Touran achieve five stars for occupant protection. But while occupant safety continues to improve, carmakers continue to achieve low ratings for pedestrian protection.
Data mining techniques that help dealers maximise used car sales are being massively under-exploited. That is the view of management systems provider Pinewood, which provides training courses to help sales people make the most of the data available to them.
Small car dealers and repair operations are set to save thousands of pounds after the Government unveiled new rules for company auditing. Ministers have raised the threshold for companies that need to be audited from £1m turnover to £6.5m a year.
Volvo Car UK has been better informed about life in the showroom since a dealer council took over from its franchised executive committee earlier this year. But the car company's executives will be hearing a lot more from retailers in future, according to the senior members of the network.
Franchised dealers in the UK are set to come under increasing pressure as manufacturers seek to recoup losses on car sales in continental Europe, a leading industry expert is warning.
Asda is joining Sainsburys, Tesco and Argos in offering a motor insurance service which will put car retailers under greater pressure to maintain point-of-sale finance and insurance business.
The Sunday Times Motor Show Live, the new name for the International Motor Show, is optimistic about attracting virtually a full house of carmakers to the Birmingham NEC next May as the organisers strive to rejuvenate the re-scheduled event with a series of live action attractions.
Volvo is recalling 71,000 vehicles worldwide to fix driveability problems caused by petrol leaks into the engine. No fires have resulted and Volvo says the recall, which includes 8000 UK cars, is a precautionary measure.
HM Customs and Excise is set to review the insurance premium tax (IPT) that is applied to guaranteed asset protection (GAP) insurance sold by motor traders.
Major leasing firms could drop franchised dealer networks in favour of independent outlets for servicing and repair.
Dealers risk jail if they continue to sell or advise on insurance-based products after January 2005 – unless they become accredited by the Financial Services Authority.
Phoenix Car Company, one of Scotland's largest car retailers, is planning an aggressive expansion strategy that will see it nearly double turnover to £100m.
The Government's failure to agree a workable solution to the issue of producer responsibility on the disposal of scrap tyres could have major repercussions in 2006, when the landfill ban comes fully into force and 100 per cent of scrap tyres will have to be recycled.
ReMIT, the RMI's technician training arm, has welcomed the Chancellor's pre-Budget announcement of the extension of skills training allowances for high skills training (allowances were previously only available for low skills training).
The Chancellor's pre-Budget statement confirmed that the Treasury has decided that the environmental benefits of LPG did not warrant the current level of fuel duty incentive. Duty on LPG will gradually rise during the next three years to a level “more consistent with its perceived benefits”.
On company car tax, the Government's pre-Budget statement on 10 December said that it will analyse the impact of recent changes to company car taxation before making decisions about further changes.
The Internet presence of U.S. franchised new car and truck dealers has reached an all-time high this year, according to new survey research from the National Automobile Dealers Association's (NADA) Industry Analysis Division.
Reg Vardy, one of the UK's biggest dealer group's, saw takings rocket on the back of record new car sales for the six months to October. Pre-tax profits were up 35.2 per cent to £24.6m on a turnover of £794.6m – up 18 per cent from £668.7 in 2002.
