News - Page 1504

If your company hasn't applied to the Financial Services Authority for authorisation to sell and advise on insurance-related products, you're running out of time. The deadline to guarantee that you become authorised from January 14, 2005, is July 13 – just weeks away

Whitehouse Group has been named Kent's largest private company in a survey by the media business Kent Messenger Group

Seven manufacturers will offer test drives at next week's Sunday Times Motor Show Live. Organisers say the line-up will appeal to prospective car buyers, who will be accompanied by a co-driver around an outdoor circuit

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders has written to the Department of Trade and Industry pressing for a clause to restrict Voluntary Terminations under the revised Consumer Credit Act (CCA)

Virgin has launched its own car insurance product just three months after selling its internet-based car sales operation to Derek Cook's Motor Solutions group

Renault is planning to open more than 150 satellite service and repair sites during the next three years to accommodate its growing vehicle parc

Ford retailer Jennings has taken on the Subaru franchise at its Middlesbrough site, investing £800,000 in new facilities for the Japanese marque

No BMW, no Mercedes-Benz – but at least Porsche will be representing Germany at the Sunday Times Motor Show Live this week. And it has one of the few world premieres planned for the NEC, Birmingham, event – the new 911 Turbo S

Ailing car giant Mitsubishi Motors has negotiated a 450bn yen (£2.24bn) rescue package with Japanese and US investors

Nick Lancaster, chief executive of HR Owen, has dismissed industry speculation that he plans to pull out of motor retailing to concentrate on property dealing

Vehicle manufacturers are calling for urgent talks with the Royal Bank of Scotland following its decision to replace the entire management team at Dixon Motors, including father and son Paul and Simon

Toyota GB has signed its 10th retailer to be funded under a programme that backs entrepreneurs with an eight-year loan, and plans a total of 15 within two years

Volvo has outlined plans for new-look showrooms before all of its UK dealerships have completed the upgrades to a corporate style introduced in 1997

Trevor Finn, Pendragon chief executive, is confident manufacturers will refranchise most dealerships acquired in the acquisition of CD Bramall, despite the announcement that Tony Bramall has bought back two Audi sites

The BMW Group and Brilliance China Automotive Holdings today performed the official grand opening ceremony of their joint venture plant BMW Brilliance Automotive in Shenyang, the capital of the Liaoning Province in the north-east of the People's Republic of China

Jardine Motors Group has acquired Milcars Holdings' London BMW and Mini business. The purchase, for an undisclosed sum, came to light while AM was compiling its annual listing of the top 100 automotive retail groups

Can Mazda make it three in a row? The original Mazda MX-5, launched in 1988, single handedly revived the small, affordable sports car segment that British brands like MG and Triumph made their own in the 1960s

Fiat Auto has held a series of aftersales business forums in the UK, as it looks to improve standards following a poor showing in the JD Power survey

Alfa Romeo and Fiat are considering introducing dedicated areas in the aftersales departments of single-site showrooms to represent each brand

Click on the links below to view pages from the May 2004 issue of Autortrade.

The Financial Services Authority today fined Universal Salvage PLC £90,000 for breaching financial listing rules

An industry row has broken out over whether the residual values of diesel cars will slump in the future as a result of their soaring popularity among company car drivers

Andrew Lester has been appointed country manager of Alfa Romeo in the UK. He replaces Glyn Owen, who is leaving the company

Two pairs of tickets to the British Grand Prix on July 11 2004 at Silverstone are being auctioned online by fleet software specialist cfc solutions – with the proceeds going to motor industry charity BEN

The new Toyota Corolla Verso has achieved five stars for passenger crash protection in Euro NCAP testing

Franchise dealers need to acquire new skills to take advantage of rapid growth in Motability new car sales, according to Network Automotive Management

AA Business Services has been selected to provide breakdown assistance to Smart cars in the UK. All Smart cars up to two years old now come with two years AA breakdown cover under the new 'Smartmove assistance'

Showroom staff can now have their mental abilities assessed by a new psychometric test offered online

With a fourth record year for new car sales in succession likely, franchise dealers are being warned not to neglect their prospecting skills

Click on the links below to view pages from the April 2004 issue of Autortrade.