News - Page 1487

CarLand, one the UK's largest car supermarket groups, has just announced the completion of a 125,000 sq. ft refurbishment centre in Stockport, Manchester, with the capability of refurbishing up to 250 cars per week for its six major CarLand sites throughout the UK.

Japanese cars are now more reliable than their German counterparts according to a car reliability survey.

Auto Trader is now supplying used UK specification Subarus on its website.

General Motors Acceptance Corporation (GMAC), an automotive financial service provider, announced today that it has received Chinese government approval to become the first foreign company to offer automotive financing services in China.

Toyota is presenting a series of offers, new products and special features for the September 1 arrival of the 54 registration plate.

Renault has launched its new 1.5 dCi 100 Auto – the first automatic transmission to be offered on the Megane - with prices starting from £14,490 on-the-road.

July commercial registrations hit 29,259 units, up 3% on July 2003. Registration growth continues, with year-on-year figures for three and six month periods to July up 7.1% and 8.2% respectively.

Retail Motor Industry Federation finance director Kevin Waterman has joined the organisation’s board of directors.

Kia Motors has released first official photographs and technical details of its all-new small SUV, which will make its world premiere at the Paris Motor Show in September.

General Motors says it will use cash, not stock, to pay down about $8bn (£4.38bn) in bonds known as contingent convertible options to combat the dilutive effect on its earnings threatened by new accounting rules for the instruments.

Suzuki has announced the launch of a new Grand Vitara 2.5 V6 X-EC special edition.

Despite a July sales dip of 4.6%, new car registrations are up 1.3% for the year to date to 1,564,199 units, with diesel registrations matching the highest ever monthly level with 32.5% of the total market.

Fiat Auto UK has announced prices for its new Multipla MPV, which goes on sale in the UK on Saturday August 28 with calmed-down front styling.

Fujio Cho, president of Toyota, has warned that the world's third largest carmaker will soon be in trouble unless it reinvents itself.

Isuzu has now made its Rodeo pick-up available in three style-orientated special editions called ‘Max’.

MotorSportVision is set to refresh Britains stale motorsport with the launch of the T1 series, which could see Ford Mondeos, Jaguar X-Types, Alfa 156s, Honda Accords, Mercedes C-Class and even Kia Carens, lining up alongside each other.

Auto Network UK, one the UK’s FSA compliance organisation for the motor retail sector, is warning that the small number of applications received by the FSA for direct authorisation could leave thousands of motor dealers without insurance sales revenues in 2005.

Vauxhall has announced its summer offers on its Corsa, Zafira, Meriva, Astra and Vectra models.

Honda has begun a search for the driver who has clocked up the most miles in its petrol electric IMA vehicles. And the company is prepared to offer a free replacement Civic IMA to the owner of the best presented original model with a recorded mileage of 100,000 or more.

Japan's only unprofitable auto firm unveiled first-quarter operating losses of 31.71bn yen (£156.5m) in the three months to June. Mitsubishi said the figure represented a quarter of its full-year loss forecast of 120bn yen (£59m).

Pendragon, the UK’s largest dealership group (No 1, AM100), today reports interim results for the six months to June 30, 2004.

Ford Premier Automotive Group sportscar maker Aston Martin has announced it is to increase its global dealer network by 20% over the next six months. Currently, Aston Martin has 105 dealers, but that number will increase to 125 worldwide by the end of this year and includes the appointment of new retailers in North America, Japan and in other emerging Asian markets.

The Department for Transport has announced the appointment of Stephen Tetlow as the new chief executive of VOSA (the Vehicle Operator Services Agency).

Toyota Motor Corporation has posted a 32% jump in first-quarter operating profit as powerful sales abroad helped the carmaker offset losses from a weaker US dollar.

Mazda has a new special edition, the Mazda MX-5 Arctic, priced from £17,000 for the 1.6i and £17,500 OTR for the 1.8i model, from August 1, 2004. Air conditioning and new blue heated leather seats as standard.

Fiat Group has reached an agreement to sell its car service network Midas in Europe and South America to privately-owned French Norauto Group for €47.5m.

The AA and Manheim have joined together to launch a new inspection scheme offered to vendors selling vehicles at Manheim’s Auction sites throughout the UK. The aim is to remove some of the uncertainty from car buying at auctions.

A survey has revealed that more than 40% of motorists are ‘an accident waiting to happen’ as they drive too close to the car in front on motorways.

Daewoo is offering free leather and satellite navigation on its Nubira 1.8 CDX model up to September 30, 2004.

The average age of the dealer management system in use by a UK franchise dealer is more than 10 years – putting the motor industry ‘firmly in the dark ages in IT terms’.