DaimlerChrysler has reported an unexpected sharp rise in third-quarter operating results, as new products and efficiency savings lifted profits at its Mercedes car division.
A new EC directive on the use of solvents in paints and vehicle refinish products could save repairers money.
Dealers have been urged to examine the potential tax savings available when they invest in property alterations and modernization.
Alfred Bartlett has quit commercial property firm Donaldsons and set up his own business, specializing in motor retail and roadside property.
Ambitious planners could be about to scupper plans by JCT600 to build a £5m+ Porsche Centre in Leeds.
Spirit Motor Holdings has gained outline planning permission for a multi-franchise development in Banbury, Oxfordshire.
Waters Group, part of MCL, is mid-way through a programme of dealership refurbishment which has introduced Peugeot’s latest showroom standards at its sites in Lea Valley and Winchmore Hill.
Construction is under way at Nissan’s Sunderland assembly plant of a £2m wind farm.
Maidstone dealer Lipscomb Motors has secured a 2.5 acre site on Forstal Road to home a new sales and service operation.
The final touches are being made to Sytner group’s Lexus dealership in Milton Keynes ready for it to commence trading on November 1.
European Motor Holdings has reported a pre-tax profit exceptional items for the six months to August, 2005 of £8.1m compared with £8.5m over the same period last year.
Sales are up 9% in cars and LCVs. Stephen Briers looks at Nissan’s future expectations
Canadian-based bodyshop franchise Fix Auto has recruited 10 UK repairers within a year of the company revealing its plan to establish a subsidiary here.
The Vehicle Builders and Repairers Association has dealt with 14 complaints about bodyshop members in the first year of operating its new consumer code.
Bodyshops are being advised of an important change in regulations concerning licences for explosives.
Insurance company Liverpool Victoria has advised repairers that it will no longer write-off a vehicle until the cost of repair reaches the full market value of the vehicle.
Akzo Nobel Coatings is now an approved paint supplier to Honda UK bodyshops.
The MVRA hopes to gain full approval of its code of conduct from the Office of Fair Trading in the next few months.
The Auto Body Projects website has been revised to become the home of the ABP Club.
Dealers have been warned to stop illegally retaining ownership as ‘keeper’ for three months of new cars sold to customers, so as to qualify for carmakers’ bonuses.
The flagship Clio – remixed by Renaultsport – has broken cover. The supermini hot hatch has surfaced at the Nürburgring, an unusual move for Renault, which tends to stick to its French proving grounds.
Carmakers are being put under pressure to standardize the height and strength of bumpers, following a report published this week by Thatcham, the motor insurers’ research centre.
Last year everything looked peachy. General Motors turned over $193bn. It made $3.7bn profit, selling nine million cars.
Car buyers are becoming more internet-savvy, but dealerships aren’t, according to a study showing that 65% of customers who want to buy cars via the internet never receive a response to an online query.
Car supermarket Motorpoint is rebranding as it continues to expand its operation throughout the country.
Audi this week launches it own television channel in the UK which, if successful, could be rolled out in other countries.
Total car production in the three months to September rose by 5.6 per cent compared with the previous three months, says the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The Newcastle and Midlands-based Nissan and Ford supplier Vickers Pressings Tolwood Automotive, has been placed in administration.
Tougher emissions regulations have signalled the end of production of Toyota’s Corolla T Sport model, but its hot hatch reputation is being kept alight with the introduction of a Corolla that’s faster, more powerful and has better handling.
Dixon Motors has sold seven dealerships and is in the process of disposing of a further four, as it looks to move the business back to a “more traditional motor trade model”.
