BMW is bullish about diesel prospects after launching the 320d at £21,345 - £22,645 in SE trim.
BMW is confident the 3 Series Touring will rapidly gain ground on its main rivals, Audi's A4 Avant and Mercedes-Benz C-class estate, which have consistently outperformed the estate.
Companies gearing up for Christmas and the Millennium celebrations created a November surge of medium LCV sales.
London body repairers, many at the point of collapse from spiralling overheads, have decided to take direct action in a bid to persuade insurers to improve remuneration packages. Bob Hood, senior manager of the Retail Motor Industry Federation Bodyshop Services Division, chaired a meeting of 70 leading repairers at the association's headquarters in London where an agreement was reached to set up a 'London Bodyshop Alliance'.
Mini - pioneering, classless and 40 - is the Automotive Management car of the century. In Las Vegas this weekend, it battles for the supreme accolade against Citroen DS, Ford Model T, Porsche 911 and VW Beetle. The award is based on public Internet votes and those of 132 automotive journalists in 32 countries.
Mitsubishi's price cuts brought an instant reaction from the buying public. More calls went through the dealer network in two days than in the previous month and dealers increased their daily order rate from 25 cars to 150.
Automotive industry leaders were this week infuriated by the Competition Commission's failure to meet the December 16 deadline set for its report on new car retailing.
The European Commission is next week expected to announce an investigation into the UK Government's planned £152m aid package for BMW's Rover Birmingham plant.
Mitsubishi dealers have had to take a margin cut and reduced bonuses to help fund the highly-publicised price cuts of up to 15% announced this month.
The Greenhous Group has launched a low-price used car operation which offers customers a 'no-frills' package.
A new internet car shopping service is posing a fresh threat to established websites like Autobytel and Autohit, which charge dealers monthly subscription fees.
Tax rules changed at the beginning of December to enable VAT-registered businesses buying double cab pick-ups with a payload of more than one tonne to reclaim the VAT charged on the purchase price.
North-east retailer Benfield Motors is claiming an instant success for its 'two-for-one' sales scheme launched this month.
Used car retailer Concept Automotive Services has opened a flagship store in Enfield, north London, during a flurry of activity that resulted in two senior appointments.
Carmakers rescued the November new car market from collapse by clearing unsold stocks of old model year cars at bargain basement prices. Both Ford and Vauxhall intervened to offer extra sales bonuses to dealers registering 1999 model year cars in an effort to clear the parking lots.
Dealers are bracing themselves for a tough final six weeks of trading in 1999 as customers delay new-car purchases until the new year, anticipating a cut in list prices.
The supermini sector has seen an enormous amount of investment and development over the past year or so. Many of the biggest launches have been the smallest cars and there are very good reasons for this.
In a market which continues to be extremely difficult it is easy to lose sight that some people are still enjoying considerable success. But the market certainly has changed. At one time you would have a guy specialising in cars up to £5,000 and he would make a good living out of buying and retailing small hatchbacks.
Another motor show comes and goes, with all the razzmataz, glitz and glamour that the industry can muster. How impressive even the humblest new model looks under thousands of pounds worth of display lighting.
One of the interesting features of the price realignment debate has been the continual repetition of one of the most fundamentally flawed assumptions made in the industry - that lower list prices automatically lead to reduced residuals. This fallacy has even been used by some to suggest that the much touted realignment of UK list prices with those in Europe would be damaging to existing car owners.
The entire car retail market is in turmoil at the moment. New and used sales are not as strong as many had expected and everyone is looking for reasons. Confusion over the twin plates? Oversupply of good retailable cars? They may be factors but the dominant reason is the uncertainty felt by the average retail punter, bombarded by stories of massive impending price cuts.
Where once there was Renault, now there is Volkswagen. After 18 months during which the French company dominated growth in new-car registrations, the official Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders' figures for the first six months of 1999 show how powerful the German company has become.
August registrations crashed from more than 500,000 last year to 74,444, a drop of 85.3%, as the market continued to re-adjust following the dropping of the annual plate change.
Patchy looks like being the word for the whole of 1999 - the year has not seen a universal mood across the industry. While some have reported nothing but gloom, others have undoubtedly had it very good. And everyone else has experienced all points in between.
While it is too early to see exactly how things will pan out in terms of registration numbers, one thing is certain. There will be more V-plate cars registered in September than there were T-plates in August.
Residual values are determined not by manufacturers, or indeed Cap Monitor, but the typical used car buyer. To understand the whys and wherefores of residuals you must get inside the head of that person.
Retail optimism remains quite high but there is still no shortage of late-plate cars around - especially Ford and Vauxhall. This means 98 and 99S plate Mondeo LX and Vectra LS are available in reasonable numbers at around £8,200 if sourced individually.
Stronger than expected new car registrations in July have lifted industry confidence for the second half of the year and yet again forced market planners to revise their total sales projections upwards.
The switch to a twin plate change seems to be paying off, despite a shaky start to the year, after June registrations leapt 15.7% on last year.
The past few weeks have failed to bring the much-needed upturn in retail interest which is necessary to steady the fall in used car values. Car prices have by no means crashed, but they have fallen for well over a year, leaving most people surprised and disheartened.
