Ford has used an 'empathy' belly and other design aids for the first time in developing a vehicle which can comfortably be driven by a pregnant woman.
Today's challenges for retail groups large and small are examined at this important AM conference on Wednesday 25 June 2003 at The De Vere Belfry Hotel Wishaw, Warwickshire. Sponsored by Grant Thornton and Exxon Mobil.
Japanese car manufacturer Toyota is to create 1000 new jobs at its Burnaston plant in a move to 24-hour production.
The MVRA has sown confusion over the recent Good Garage Scheme 'agreement' signed between the RMI, SMTA, OFT and DTI.
Ford in the United States has won a Supreme Court victory in its efforts to avoid paying a record £177m damages for a sport utility vehicle roll-over accident that killed three family members a decade ago.
Ford chairman Bill Ford has called in 'executive coaches' in a bid to halt the damaging top-level public quarrels which he believes have been an unnecessary distraction from the company's restructuring efforts.
New car prices in the UK are now level-pegging with those in Europe, according to the latest figures released by europrice.com.
A small but significant diesel passenger car market is starting to emerge in North America, according to the latest Ricardo diesel market report.
The sale of insurer Groupama UK has been stopped by its French parent company after the company's French owners gave a five-year guarantee of backing.
Security guards had to smash their way into an official limousine with sledgehammers to rescue Thailand's finance minister after his car's computer failed.
BMW is to start building a convertible version of the Mini – hitting the market by mid 2004.
After a substantial downturn in market growth between 2000 and 2002 and the current stagnation, the European used car market is set to grow – reaching more than 30m by 2007, says Datamonitor.
Ford is to launch a modernised blue oval logo The redesign will coincide with the marque's centenary year. The new logo will replaces the italicised Ford Motor Company logo introduced in 2000.
Struggling carmaker Fiat is looking to the Asian market for salvation with news this morning that it plans to ratchet up production in China to 150,000 -200,000 vehicles by 2006, and launch at least one new model annually.
BMW chief executive Helmut Panke says the prestige carmaker will match its 2002 financial performance in 2003 – in spite of the company's extraordinary expenditure made upfront on its product and market offensive.
Britain's used vehicle market was up 13.9 per cent to 2,283,426 units in the first three months of this year, according to figures released by the SMMT.
Motability has brought the two-seater smart city-coupe and cabrio vehicles into the scheme.
GM in the United States has responded to the safety concerns linked to rollover accidents in vans. The carmaker says it will stability enhancement systems standard features in its 15 passenger vans.
In spite of lower unit sales, Audi revenues rose in the first quarter by 2.4 per cent to 5.658bn euros.Unit sales slipped by 0.5 per cent to 181,825 vehicles.
Fiat Group has reported a increased net loss for Q1 - 699 million euros ($808 million), compared to 663 million euros in the same period last year.
Former Kwik-Fit chief Sir Tom Farmer is set to re-enter the motor business after taking over the tenancy of several prime sites used by his former fast fit company.
US car sales for April were 9 per cent down at 670,637 from 737,334. That means a year-to-date drop of 5.4 per cent to 2,539,393 - from 2,683,405.
Kia Motors Corporation's first quarter net profit surged 43.2 per cent to 141.6 billion won.
Hyundai Motor Company's first quarter net profits rose 28.8 per cent to $348.8m -despite a setback in domestic sales.
A new MG Rover alliance in China may be emerging from the ashes of the failed China Brilliance deal. MG Rover is in talks with with Geely, according to Chinese media reports.
General Motors has announced it is to invest £80m in its Ellesmere Port plant to build the new Astra - despite the uncertainty over entry to the euro.
The RMI's independent garage and bodyshop director Bob Hood has resigned with immediate effect.
Talks on preferential access to the EU car market for South African carmakers are 'advanced'.
Management and unions at Seat have concluded an agreement to make working practices more flexible in order to stave off a redundancy plan.
Hyundai is set to report a 39 per cent drop in Q1profits – a result of lower domestic sales and higher marketing costs.
