News - Page 1146

The National Franchised Dealers Association will be meeting with European Commission competition commissioner Paolo Cesarini later this month to put forward its submission to the Block Exemption 2010 debate.

HR Owen, the prestigious London car retail group run by Nick Lancaster, is in play with big blocks of shares being scooped up by a wealthy car dealer running a string of retailers in Australia.

Drivers of larger vehicles will be hit with increased car tax, following on from Chancellor Alistair Darling’s budget announcement

Lookers' profit from operations is up a fifth from the previous year, according to its preliminary results for year ending 31 December 2007.

Carter & Carter hopes business will return to normal today after support service providers stopped working yesterday for fear of not being paid, leading to 13 apprentices from its Newport site to be sent home.

Last week’s National Apprentice Week further highlighted the importance of developing skills in the motor industry.

HPI has won a three-year contract with Sytner Group to provide the full range of its vehicle provenance checks which include its National Mileage Register.

Salisbury-based Foray Motor Group expects to double the turnover of a dealership at Poole, its seventh Ford outlet and the second acquired within weeks from Pendragon. It bought a Dorchester site in January.

Arnold Clark has joined the RMIF’s National Franchised Dealers Association because its retail operations in England are becoming increasingly important.

Fiat UK has opened its flagship store in London's West End.

Manheim has consolidated its activities in the UK under three divisions – auctions & remarketing, defleet services and retail services – each with a separate business leader.

From the end of the month Proton dealers will have a new four-door saloon in their showrooms

The Thatcham BSI Kitemark has won best safety initiative of the year at the Fleet News Awards.

Mercedes-Benz CharterWay has announced the top performers of its Business Managers Academy

Peugeot has launched a range of sports accessories for its 207 van.

AM readers are being given exclusive entry to the 2008 Mobil 1 Fantasy Grand Prix game.

Two acquisitions have broadened the UK operation of vehicle salvage and recycling specialist Copart to 15 sites.

Skoda has made its two-millionth Octavia in the Czech Republic. The vehicle, AM Used Car of the Year award winner, was a silver Octavia Scout 2.0 TDI.

Volvo’s CitySafe system, which will be fitted as standard to its new XC60 crossover vehicles from the end of the year, will be rolled out across all new models in the future.

Indebted training company Carter & Carter is entering administration today following unsuccessful talks with its bankers.

Returning Chrysler UK managing director Simon Elliott has put dealer profitability at the top of his agenda.

Days after scooping the AM Award for Employer of the Year, Sytner Group has achieved fourth position in the Sunday Times ‘20 Best Big Companies to Work For’ 2008 guide.

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has called for a cut in corporation tax in order to attract more global businesses to the UK. The lobby group said high taxes on business are damaging the UK economy.

Significant fresh product launches provided dream debuts for Volkswagen Group’s two new UK market executives at the Geneva motor show.

Tensions are rising in the Toyota retail network after the carmaker announced a new bonus structure that seriously impacts on dealers’ ability to make money.

Cars that have high emissions of CO2 will be slapped with a large sales tax, according to reports. The measures in this Wednesday's Budget could increase their prices by £2,000.

Former Dutton Forshaw managing director Maurice Rourke is back in the automotive industry with two new ventures.

Condè Nast and Ferrari have reached an agreement to co-publish a magazine dedicated entirely to the high performance car brand.

An industry consortium is piloting a scheme which allows vehicle technicians to work on written-off vehicles during their college training.

Interestingly, latest industry figures suggest that credit reference searches for motor finance are on the increase, while personal loans searches are falling.