News - Page 1366

In the first half of the financial year Honda Motor Company has achieved a fifth consecutive all-time sales record.

Activity in the used car wholesale market has been typified by a shortage of stock during the third quarter of 2005, figures from BCA reveal.

Ford of Britain chairman Roger Putnam has been appointed as a non executive director of European Motor Holdings plc. He takes the place of David Beck who has resigned due to 'unforeseen personal reasons'.

Peugeot has a revised 206 model range. Re-named Urban, Verve, Sport and GTi it replaces the Independence, Zest, S and SE models.

The UK company EPM Technology, which supplies advanced composite body parts to Formula One teams and car manufacturers, has announced plans to establish a production facility on part of the former MG-Rover site at Longbridge in the West Midlands.

Road tolls of up to £1.30 a mile will be collected via satellite navigation systems under Government plans to introduce nationwide congestion charging using existing technology.

Work has finished on a £1.4m re-development of Patterson Motor Group’s Shiremoor dealership.

Chinese carmaker Shanghai Automotive Corp. (SAIC) has not ruled out legal action to stop rival Nanjing Automobile from making two MG Rover models on which SAIC owns the intellectual property rights.

Automotive data provider EurotaxGlass’s has issued cease and desist notices during October to a number of customers and distributors of AuDaCon AG, an automotive information provider based in Weikersheim, Germany.

General Motors has announced it has been subpoenaed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission as part of a probe into its accounting practices and other matters.

Owners of one in five of the last MG Rover’s built in the UK have suffered from manufacturing faults, according to Warranty Direct, which offers warranties to replace the defunct manufacturer’s voided ones.

Are factors really better placed to get parts to market than a dealer operation? There are about 2,400 motor factors in the UK and nearly 6,000 franchised dealer outlets.

AM and HPI are launching a quarterly business confidence index to provide dealers with a measurement on how the industry is performing in a number of key areas.

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.

Construction is under way at Nissan’s Sunderland assembly plant of a £2m wind farm.

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.

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.