Registrations to private buyers of 1.254 million units weren't the only headline news in the 2003 new car market.
Experian has increased the range of its indemnity cover to a maximum of £50,000 and 36 months per vehicle.
Average retail prices for new cars in the UK rose by 4.7% over last year, according to eurocarprice.com/PwC.
Ford's Premier Automotive Group – comprising Land Rover, Jaguar, Aston Martin and Volvo – is reported to have returned a profit for the first time since it was formed in the late 1990s.
Preliminary figures from JD Power-LMC indicate that the West European car market dropped 1.7% in 2003, with a much better total than many had feared at the start of the year, of 14.3 million units.
After December sales up 7% year on year a total of 2,579,050 new cars were sold in the UK last year.
MG Rover has followed its recent sale of 18 acres of Longbridge land to Advantage West Midlands with the sale of 228 acres, including 4.24m sq ft of buildings, to St. Modwen Properties. The sale netted £42.5 million.
Following its December statement concerning the future of the MOT test fee, MVRA has expanded on the reasons why it's against the other aftermarket trade associations' campaign to make the maximum test fee mandatory.
According to the CAP NVD database the number of new car model ranges on sale in the UK now stands at 760 – with a total of 5,776 derivatives.
Forecast advances in consumer expenditure bode well for sales of new and used cars this year, says Glass's; consumer demand is only likely to falter badly once interest rates start to approach 5 per cent.
Economists from the major US vehicle manufacturers and financial institutions at the Society of Automotive Analysts' Detroit auto show round table yesterday suggested that US vehicle sales this year may grow to record levels, though there are doubts that rising sales will make the manufacturers significantly more profitable.
Renault has begun recruiting garage owners to open outlets for its Motrio all-makes service franchise, whose first outlet was opened at Nantes in France in December.
GM, Ford and DaimlerChrysler saw sales decline in 2003 while several import and 'transplant' brands, including Toyota, Honda and BMW, posted record full-year sales.
Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc. has announced a standard 10-year, 100-thousand mile limited powertrain warranty for all Mitsubishi Motors products sold in the US, beginning with 2004 Model Year vehicles.
According to Saab CEO Peter Augustsson, speaking to a news agency at Detroit this week, Saab's full-year 2003 losses will be considerably lower than in 2002, which were nearly €500 million. The US dollar's depreciation alone cost Saab €166m, according to Augustsson, who did not provide full figures.
The combined global sales of Hyundai Motor, Kia, GM Daewoo, Ssangyong and Renault Samsung were 9.6% up on their 2002 volumes at a total of around 3.8 m units last year.
JPMorgan Partners (JPMP), the private equity arm of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co, announced today, 5 January that they have signed a definitive agreement under which JPMP will acquire IMO Car Wash Group Ltd from a group of financial investors led by Bridgepoint, including Phoenix Equity Partners.
Lex Vehicle Leasing has won a pioneering new outsourcing contract with Ford Business Partner, the contract hire arm of Ford Credit.
Land Rover unveiled its first ever concept show car, the Range Stormer today, 5 January, at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
Dodge will become the Chrysler Group's third brand sold in major markets outside North America, starting with the Viper.
Light commercial vehicle manufacturer LDV secured just before Christmas 2003 £45 million growth funding from an equity syndicate led by 3i and comprising European Acquisition Capital and Baring English Growth Fund, that will complete the total funding raised of £90m.
The Leeds office of venture capital company 3i has backed the management buy-out of the Leeds-based Zenith Vehicle Contracts.
Regional development agency Advantage West Midlands has acquired another 18 acres of land at Longbridge as part of a campaign to establish a 'high-technology haven' along the A38.
FreeMarkets Inc., an operator of online auctions, has agreed to acquire for an unknown sum the auction business of Covisint LLC, which was founded by the Big Three manufacturers to help them do business online with their suppliers, but which has disappointed expectations of an e-commerce-led supply chain revolution.
1 January 2004 marks 100 years of new vehicle registrations in the UK, the anniversary of the day the 1903 Motor Car Act passed into law.
Chrysler and Jeep brands will be arriving in Coventry in the New Year, when the Listers group takes on the franchise, extending its territory from Lincolnshire.
Anglian Water group AWG plc has announced the sale of its loss-making leasing subsidiary Powermarque to Venson Holdings Ltd, a subsidiary of Venson Group plc, the independent contract hire and fleet management company. AWG will receive £34.5 million in cash.
Motor retailers have until 31 December 2003 to obtain the new Health and Safety Executive (HSE) approved Accident Book if they want to avoid contravening new data protection laws, warns the Retail Motor Industry Federation (RMI).
Hyundai Motor Company's annual vehicle exports has just passed the one million mark for the first time in Korean automotive history.
Herfina AG, the automotive retail arm of the failed Swiss importer-retailer Erb Group, has been acquired from liquidators by the Belgian group Alcopa. The buyer is taking on the group's staff and stock but not its properties, and the price has not been disclosed.
