Williams Liverpool, one of the UK's biggest BMW dealerships, is to open a new aftersales department as part of a £2.3m expansion project on the former Tate & Lyle sugar refinery site it occupies.
Strike action at Land Rover's Midlands factory is starting to have negative knock-on effects on the supply chain. Presswork provider Sertec is considering laying off workers as the ban on overtime at the Solihull plant begins to bite.
Garages issued £1.6bn worth of repair bills last year with the average invoice ranging from £86.49 to £1,623, according to new research.
A new system that enables workshops, motor factors, distributors and parts manufacturers to sell and check products online has been launched by Activant.
Aftermarket giant Bosch has re-launched its vehicle-servicing 'soft franchise' scheme to help repairers take advantage of the rapidly growing out-of-warranty, three-years-plus vehicle parc.
Nissan Motor (GB) Ltd. has announced the appointment of Bill Bosley as its Managing Director to replace Brian Carolin, who is moving to Nissan Europe in Paris after eight years in the UK to become vice president of sales operations.
RAC plc's provisional profit for 2003 before goodwill amortisation, exceptional items and tax was up 24% to £86.7 million. Total revenues increased by just 1% to £1,526 million, a figure reduced by disposals.
"Our research suggests that most buyers simply accept the first offer of finance they get, which means they could be wasting as much as £1,000 by not looking for the best finance deal," says Lloyd East, general manager of the AA's Personal Finance division.
UK vehicle production figures released today by the SMMT show car output in January rose 3.8% to 141,320 units, in the fifth consecutive month of increased production. Production for export surged 12.4% to 96,389 units.
Audi's net profit in 2003 was up 5% year on year at €816m, but pre-tax profit was hit by exchange costs and dropped 11.6% to €1.1bn.
The Citigroup Private Bank has taken title sponsorship of Top Marques Monaco, the luxury motoring event taking place in Monte Carlo, April 22-25.
The SMMT is anticipating that March registrations could hit a record 450,000, in view of still buoyant demand and a progressive narrowing of the gap between the two peak new car registrations months of September and March since the two-plate system's introduction in 1999. <p>
Tight stock control, together with careful monitoring of forecourt prices, are key to maximising used car dealers' profitability, says CAP Black Book.
Automotive Lease Guide and consumer automotive advice web site Edmunds.com have launched a new rating system to tell car buyers what their potential purchase might be worth in three years.
The average easily-obtainable discount on UK cars has reached £1,337, according to What Car? magazine and Sainsbury's Bank.
Tools distributor Sealey has just launched its 'biggest ever' vehicle service tool promotion featuring nearly 300 of its newest and fastest-moving specialised service tools
Longer service intervals - two year/20,000 miles (petrol) or two year/30,000 miles (diesel) - on GM's new 5th-generation Astra will be determined by a warning system that takes the individual's style of driving into account when indicating when maintenance is due.
MG Rover's Monogram Bespoke Build programme launched in 2002 has attracted almost 3,000 customers.
Three of the best young vehicle technicians in the UK have been honoured by retail motor sector trainer ReMIT at its Learner Awards Ceremony for 2004. One learner from each of ReMIT's three year-groups was chosen as pre-eminent in his or her year.
DaimlerChrysler is sending Andreas Renschler, president of the Smart subsidiary this week to lead a firefighting team to help turn around Mitsubishi's losses with a new 'mid-term business plan'.
Smart moves to mainstream
Robust sales are putting the UK in danger of becoming the 'treasure island' of Europe again for carmakers – this time not because prices are higher than the mainland, but because markets with a strong manufacturing base, such as Germany and France, are underperforming.
Toyota and eBay have concluded a unique marketing agreement in the US that includes a one-year exclusive sponsorship deal on eBay reaching a 95m audience.
SEAT ended 2003 with profits of €135 million, down from €202m in 2002 after €582m was invested last year in the new Altea model to be launched at Geneva next month.
Steve Jelliss is to be Mazda UK's Customer Relationship Marketing Manager on 1 March, replacing Australian Michael Davey who is returning down under to become Loyalty Manager for the Ford Trustmark group.
According to The Office for National Statistics, transport now takes the biggest single slice of household expenditure at an all-households average of £59.40 per week. Motoring alone is the second biggestitem.
According to a survey by credit checker Experian, the motor industry ranks eighth among industry sectors in the time firms take to pay supplier invoices at an average 61.83 days.
Echoing criticisms from a parliamentary Select Committee, the RMI fears that gaps in the Government's ELV proposals could leave dealers with dumped vehicles.
The one-millionth Peugeot 206 to be built in Britain at the PSA Peugeot Citroën manufacturing plant in Coventry rolled off the production line on 18th February.
BMW Group says ideas from employees at the Oxford MINI assembly plant have saved £10.5 million in the past two years implementing BMW's Continuous Improvement Process.
