The Scottish Motor Show has this week come under fire from two senior retailers, who question whether it has a future.
Ford moved rapidly this week to deny rumours it was planning to offload its £84m turnover Warranty Holdings subsidiary.
American retailers are facing similar attacks on the franchise system as their European counterparts. One US analyst believes multi-franchised retailers will be a common sight within a few years.
Probably the most important Land Rover ever, The all-new Discovery, which goes on sale mid-2004, will underpin both the product strategy and financial health of the world's only specialist four-wheel drive manufacturer for the rest of the decade.
Ford, the UK's biggest-selling carmaker, is to help thousands of independent garages become authorised repairers with the launch of a new website. The site, which goes live later this year, will enable garages that want to apply for Ford approved status to download information and application forms.
Luxury and safety are increasingly standard features in today's new cars, with even air conditioning now automatically included on 47 per cent of today's available models.
The EU Environment Council has agreed the EC's proposed new limits for the emissions of volatile organic compounds in paints, varnishes and vehicle refinishing products.
Motorists will face an average repair bill of £353.87 this winter, according to winter breakdown claims analysed by Warranty Direct.
The latest EurotaxGlass's Fleet index shows signs of a recovery in residual values. Although average values were 0.1 % lower than 12 months ago this is significantly better than the previous quarter (0.8%). The index measures 3-year trade values for approximately 40 benchmark models, which are important for the fleet market. In the UK the annualised decline improved to -2.2%.
Businesses in Greater Manchester, Cheshire and Merseyside are being targeted by the Environment Agency in a campaign to reduce the number of tyres that are fly-tipped in the area
Removing restrictions on the number of licensed taxis on Britain's roads would be good for the public says the OFT in a report published today, which could signal a boost in demand for cabs and minicabs.
Lotus has reported group earnings before interest and tax of £2.7 million for the year ended March 2003 on turnover of £154m, which compares with a loss of £16.6m in 2002 and a loss of £42.2m in 2001.
New car sales in Scotland bucked the national trend last month as they had done in September, when they were up 4.85% year on year. Scottish new registrations were up 7.5% on October 2002 at over 16,000 units, in contrast to Britain's overall 1.39% decline last month, though the Central Region saw a decline.
”The Bank of England's 0.25% increase in interest rates will be a cause for concern in retail motor sector businesses across the country,'” says Matthew Carrington, chief executive of the Retail Motor Industry Federation (RMI).
Maranello Sales Ltd, the importer-owned Ferrari and Maserati dealer, has completed the acquisition of a Maserati dealership in St. Albans, Herts from HR Owen plc, and purchased a second showroom site in Sevenoaks, Kent.
Used lightweight vans have been selling well at auction sites across the UK, boosted by the anticipated need for extra parcel deliveries in the run up to Christmas, reports Glass's Information Services.
Evolution Funding, a new finance company founded by four former managers from First National Motor Finance, is looking to help dealers, “starved of choice in the finance market following years of consolidation”, improve their F&I profit and volumes.
Fiat Auto's German import company is pleased with the initial result of its arrangement with mail order house Tschibo to market a special edition Stilo model via the firm's catalogue and website.
July-September used car sales in Britain rose 1.7% to 1,965,027 units, representing the biggest ever quarterly used market total, according to SMMT figures. The first quarter of this year had already set a record with 1,961,340 units sold.
A new flagship V6 diesel for the Jaguar S TYPE will be the first engine produced at Ford Motor Company's advanced £325 million Dagenham Diesel Centre, which was officially opened yesterday by Tony Blair.
Vauxhall Motors and its subsidiary undertakings has reported a loss before tax of £51.4 million in 2002 against a loss before tax of £100.9 million in 2001.
Notes to the 2002 Companies House accounts of MG Rover owner Phoenix Venture Holdings reveal that a trust fund worth £12.95m was set up during the year, raising the group's total directors' remuneration from £3.7m to £15.1m.
Highlights of new registrations figures for October released today by the SMMT are: - Total market volume dipped 1.4% to 181,589 units, but - Diesel registrations rose to a record 29.7% share - Year-to-date registrations are now up 0.3% to 2,254,539 units - Private buyers continue to fuel the new car market with nearly 50% of sales, and full-year private registrations are expected to be the highest since 1990 at around 1.25 million units.
As widely expected, the Bank of England's rate-setting committee has raised the base lending rate by a quarter of one percentage point to 3.75% - the first such rise in almost four years. The decision will raise repayments on the average mortgage of £60,000 by about £9 a month. It is likely also to impact immediately on car manufacturers' finance-related promotions as well as on consumer demand.
Research by PricewaterhouseCoopers into automotive M&A activity in the first nine months of 2003 shows that the retail and aftermarket sectors accounted for almost 40% of total automotive industry transaction volume. But it accounted for only for 14% of total disclosed deal value,as these transactions were in general relatively small in value.
The new BMW Performance Centre at the Rockingham race circuit near Corby, Northants, will accommodate a programme of internal and external BMW activities, featuring BMW cars, motorcycles and associated technologies.
In September last year, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers (Alliance) and the Association of International Automobile Manufacturers (AIAM) agreed with the Automotive Service Association (ASA) to provide independent repairer access to service information and diagnostic tools. It's now a done deal, all three bodies report, without recourse to legislation.
The European Commission has presented a proposal for a Council Directive on equal treatment between men and women outside the workplace – which would outlaw lower women's life and motor insurance premiums.
The latest report on the car body repair market from automotive analysts MFBI says that few if any independent bodyshops will be appointed as manufacturer-authorised repairers because of an overlooked clause in the new regulation.
Toyota has reported first-half net profits rose 23% to 524.5 billion yen in the six months ended September 30, from 425.8 billion yen a year earlier. Sales for the six months to September also hit a record 8.22 trillion yen, up 8.0% from a year earlier, while pre-tax profit rose 13.7% to a record 812.0 billion yen.
