News - Page 1209

Fiat franchise holder Rockingham Cars has added a Mazda franchise at its Corby site.

BSI has announced the first of three automotive bodyshops to the Thatcham BSI Kitemark scheme for vehicle body repair.

Pearsons Mitsubishi of Longbenton, Newcastle, has added a further site at East Boldon, Sunderland.

Plans to merge United Co-operatives, owner of Sunwin Motor Group, with the larger Co-operative Group have been given the green light by their respective boards and will now go to a members vote.

International Motors, the importer of Subaru and Daihatsu to the UK, has appointed Retainagroup to provide a new marking system to increase the security of its cars.

Nissan has completed the construction of its new extreme off-road track at its Motegi test facility in Japan.

Dealers can earn a cash reward from Lex, the contract hire company, if they can make their company motorists happy.

The UK Alfa Romeo sales network was the worst in Europe. It was left to its own destiny for the last three or four years and no attention was paid to it.

Christopher Macgowan, chief executive of the SMMT has told chancellor Gordon Brown that manufacturers and component suppliers are treading water in the face of higher costs pressures and threats from emerging markets.

Nidd Vale Group, the Harrogate-based independent car retailer, boosted sales by nearly 9% last year to £63 million.

Anyone launching a car in the upper medium sector is taking a huge risk.

A memorable cartoon character ad campaign, low prices and high spec levels mean that Picanto has been a surprise hit as a small car. Now, four years since its launch, it’s a great used buy.

A car dealership that will give customers the opportunity to get behind the wheel of cars normally reserved only for the motor retail trade was launched this week in Harlow, Essex.

Peugeot retailers will form the mainstay of the brand’s increased emphasis on LCV sales with around two thirds of its 300-outlet network expected to generate “significant incremental” van sales volumes.

Crash repair parts cost the motor insurance sector about £1.4bn per year. While much of that is for original equipment (OE) components, some insurers require bodyshops to place emphasis on the use of non-OE replacement body panels in order to reduce repair costs.

Ed Pedder, Franchise Manager, Xpart<br> Gary Osborn, Aftersales Director, Thurlow Nunn

Chrysler Group has appointed Rob Thrift as its national fleet sales manager for Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge in the UK.

Ford has been told by the Advertising Standards Agency that it cannot show its Ford Focus Zetec Climate advert in its current form because it gave ‘misleading impressions’.

Suzuki GB has expressed interest in a customer relationship management (CRM) system called Contact Tracker that is already used in Australia by Mercedes, Mitsubishi and Jeep.

Nissan’s luxury division Infiniti has appointed Wayne Bruce as communications director of its new European operation. The brand is due to launch in the UK in Autumn 2008.

Cathedral Motor Company has fallen foul of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) over the sale of payment protection insurance (PPI) to cover vehicle finance agreements.

An online business is targeting the nine in 10 drivers with cars under three years old who take their vehicles to franchised dealerships to take them to independent garages instead.

Two Kuwait-based investment companies have joined former rally champion David Richards to buy Aston Martin.

Growing new and used car sales has helped Lookers achieve a record financial performance, oultined in its preliminary results for the year ended December 31.

Steph Saville, managing director, Foxy Lady Drivers’ Club

Dealer groups and the RMIF have been warned to be wary because the European Commission has signalled favouring car manufacturers in the 2010 Block Exemption review.

A Pendragon director has challenged the Office of Fair Trading over variations in the way trading standards departments around the UK interpret legislation affecting dealers.

With the Government encouraging more people into higher education on the promise of raising their employability and potential earning power, attracting apprentices can be difficult.

The latest industry appointments.

CV questions to industry highflyers.