Managers taking the Honda Institute’s leadership programme saw an 8% increase in departmental profitability and a 62% rise in customer service satisfaction.
The partnership behind automotive training firm PHP has split amicably.
Dealers that used to have a franchised dealership that is now dissolved have less time to claim overpaid VAT on demonstrators, as it takes six weeks for a company to be resurrected to the Companies House Register.
BBC Three is searching for the UK’s top mechanic in its new television show Young Mechanic of the Year 2009.
BMW UK sales director Tim Abbott will be promoted to become the company’s new managing director on February 1.
Technology may be the key to engaging the estimated 80 million people of the “millennial generation” — those born between 1981 and 2000 — as automotive consumers, according to a new US survey by Microsoft.
Do you ever despair over headlines you read in the national press?
Government help for the car industry will be capped at £250m per company, it has emerged since its bail-out offer.
Peugeot’s lowest CO2 offering, the 107, has gone on sale in the UK with three trim levels, starting with the Urban Lite model at £7,595.
Porsche has not been able to escape the global downturn with revenues down by 14.3% to €3 billion between August 2008 and January 2009.
Nationwide, the automotive crash repairer, has revealed that its full years results will be in line with expectations, representing a record year.
Graham Provest (42), General manager, Motorpoint Glasgow
The management of Lex, the UK’s biggest car leasing firm, has approached private equity firms to fund a multi-billion pound buy-out of the business, reported Daily Telegraph.
Franchised car dealers have been targeted by consumer magazine Which? with its latest survey which has accused the automotive retail sector as taking customers for a ride.
Administrator allows £62m-turnover De Vries Group showrooms to continue trading.
With the number of empty dealerships expected to increase this year, analysts are predicting commercial property prices to drop by more than 50% as supply increases but demand falls.
Northumberland-based Vauxhall dealer Davidsons of Morpeth has completed its relocation in order to drive sales forward.
GKN has set aside £120m to pay for costs this year of short-term working, plant shutdowns and redundancies, as the auto parts maker announced the loss of 1,400 more jobs in the past two months.
Pendragon has been forced to abandon a plan to attract an investor to raise the profile of Pinnacle, its division providing back-office software for motor retailers.
More than 43,000 Toyotas in Britain have been recalled after a defect which could cause a fire was discovered.
The first aftermarket parts have been certified under Thatcham and TUV Rheinland’s new joint parts certification scheme.
Toyota’s offers include two 36-month 0% HP deals for January.
Mercedes-Benz has a wide range of PCPs for the first quarter
Do you ever despair over headlines you read in the national press? It’s easy for reporters to lapse into cliché when discussing our industry.
Better financed dealers are expected to lead the market revival in second half of 2009
The RMIF is putting together a paper on vehicle scrappage schemes which it hopes to share with business secretary Lord Mandelson within weeks.
Paul Everitt, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, has told Lord Mandelson today the support package he announced for the UK car industry did not do enough to stimulate demand and ease consumer credit.
Yorkshire-based dealer group JCT600 has reported a buoyant start to the year with used car sales up by 30% in January in comparison to the same month last year.
Daihatsu has launched an enhanced motor insurance policy for its dealer network.
No-one needs to be told how bad 2008 was: sales fell by 11.3% overall and a deeply worrying 27.2% in the final quarter.
