Vehicle body structure design/manufacturer Wagon has announced pre-tax profits of £14.1m (2002 = £22.2m). The 2002 profits had been buoyed by £9.1m from sale of its storage systems division.
PSA Peugeot Citroen is finding the European car market tougher going than expected, according to CEO Jean Martin Folz at the company's annual shareholders meeting.
Fiat is set to present a new 'operating plan' for its ailing Fiat Auto subsidiary by the end of June, according to Fiat SpA chairman Umberto Agnelli.
The new Ford Mondeo range will include 1500 new parts, the carmaker's first direct injection petrol engine, the Duratec Sci, Durashift six-speed manual transmission for higher-powered models and a steering-wheel mounted shift control option for the Durashift 5-tronic automatic.
Warranty provider Warranty Direct says UK car buyers are being charged 44 per cent more for labour at franchised dealers than five years ago – while the wage for a manual worker has increased by 12.1 per cent over the same period.
Booming Cayenne SUV sales pushed up Porsche sales 18.2 per cent in the first nine months of the fiscal year. The Cayenne gains made up for a drop in Boxster and 911 demand and pushed sales up to 3.89bn euros compared to 3.29bn euro last year.
The on-going safety/environmental campaigner lobby against sports utility vehicles in the United States may have finally come across the Atlantic. British MP and Liberal Democrat Environment Spokesman Norman Baker this week called for SUVs to be banned from the school run and trips to the supermarket.
Dealer group Reg Vardy has set its sights firmly on the fleet market with the launch of a new corporate sales department – Vardy Group Fleet. Sales target is 15,000 vehicles in its first year.
In 25 years' time 75 per cent of vehicles on the roads could be hybrids, the rest powered by hydrogen, according to Ford chief executive Bill Ford.
Honda's former president Nabuhiko Kawamoto has caused US media controversy by labelling his former company 'inferior' and 'headed downhill'.
Mitsubishi profits for the fiscal year tripled to £193m – thanks to cost cuts and growing sales in the US offsetting its money-losing Japan operations.
BMW may be set to ask its UK dealers to establish separate Mini showrooms following the expansion of the brand's model range with the Mini One diesel and a convertible.
Audatex is extending its management information services with the launch of a new-generation on-line estimating tool, AudaStats On-line.
The RMI and Citroen's secondary agency network have both okayed the carmaker's authorised repairer contract which will cost garages around £35,000 to comply.
Miles Roberts, Director of Sales and Marketing, Singer & Friedlander Finance Ltd urges the industry to work together and stop voluntary terminations
Europe's first legal challenge to the approved repairer clauses in the new block exemption has been thrown down. The Federation Nationale de l'Artisanat de l'Automobile (FNA), the French independent garage trade association, has lodged a formal EU competition complaint against Citroen.
BMW is looking to build another plant for Mini production to add to the Oxford site in order to meet demand, according to Spanish media reports.
Isuzu Motors, the Japanese carmaker struggling to turn its business around under an alliance with GM, has reported a $1.2bn deficit for 2002 – the fourth year of substantial losses.
Aston Martin, Jaguar and Land Rover's vice president in the United States, Simon Sproule, is to take on a similar role at Nissan North America Inc.
Paragon Car Finance has today reported an 18 per cent increase in its vehicle loans portfolio and a 7.7 per cent increase in new advances for the six months ended 31 March 2003.
Ford may be planning more trenchant cuts as part of its restructuring plan, according to insiders at an investor presentation in the US.
Vehicle manufacturers and tier one component suppliers are wasting more than £10bn every year thanks to a critical lack of communication around new product development, according to new research by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Nissan's has reported a 33 per cent rise in profits for the fiscal year ended March 31. Sales grew in regions bar Europe, the company says.
Toyota plans to recall more than 724,419 cars in Japan – a move which involves nine models and prompted by a gearbox problem that could cause steering problems.
Plans to regulate MOT-style testing across the European Union could put 19,000 UK-based garages under threat, according to the Retail Motor Industry Federation (RMI).
Road safety officials in the United States are to set to start putting SUVs through test drives rather than relying on a mathematical simulation to determine their roll-over potential.
Virgin Cars is set to make its long-awaited move into 'traditional' car retailing when it opens its first 'bricks-and-mortar' retail site, in Salford, Greater Manchester, on 23 May. It will stock 200 new and used cars.
Trafficmaster and Peugeot UK have announced a new joint venture which should see the Smartnav satellite navigation system as an approved accessory across the carmaker's entire UK model range.
A UK employment tribunal ruling has criticised the management of DaimlerChrysler UK's HQ at Milton Keynes as having 'no demonstrable commitment to equality of opportunity.
Nissan Motor is to form a new joint venture with Nissan Diesel to develop LCVs destined for Europe, Japan and the growth market of China.
