Bridgestone Europe has doubled the size of its distribution centre in Zeebrugge, Belgium from 28,000sq m to 56,000sq m. The increase in area allows the centre to hold a much wider range for shipping throughout Europe.
Automotive businesses are failing faster than those in any other sector, according to a report from Experian.
Bodyshops continue to be hit by parts delays, despite trade body pressure on vehicle manufacturers to ease the situation.
Seat believes its retailers can solve overcapacity problems suffered by other VW Group brands like Audi and Volkswagen by becoming multi-franchised repairers.
Workers at Peugeot's UK car plant have agreed to take a pay cut in a last ditch attempt to save jobs.
Reg Vardy, the UK's second biggest dealer group, is to invest around £1m a year in a new customer service satisfaction programme.
BMW has officially revealed its new 6-series coupe, which is to go on sale here by next summer.
MG Rover retailers will finally take delivery of a new small car in November when the company launches the CityRover.
Mercedes-Benz London is to dispose of its sales and service location in Colindale, London. The five-acre freehold site on the Edgware Road includes Mercedes and Smart car sales and service as well as a truck and van dealership.
NGK Spark Plugs has officially opened a 4700sq m office complex on the site of its European headquarters in Ratingen, near Dusseldorf.
A1 Motor Stores – the group of independent automotive accessory retailers formed following the demise of GKN Spa and DIY Motor Stores in 1983 – is to celebrate its 21 years in business.
The new Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren made a surprise debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed two weeks ago.
Horners Motor Group has opened an MG Rover franchise in a £1.2m purpose-built premises in Rochdale, Lancashire.
Kent-based Beadles Group's Volkswagen outlet in Sevenoaks has been ordered by an employment tribunal to pay more than £170,000 damages to a former employee for sexual harassment.
DaimlerChrysler UK Retail has slashed lead times for servicing and repair business in its London territory from five weeks to around three days since taking control of the market area.
AA Tyre Fit plans to control 10 per cent of the UK's tyre market by the end of 2004 and become the country's largest tyre distributor within five years by going entirely mobile.
Bodyshops are set to find themselves at the centre of a price war after Peter Wood, the man who shook the insurance industry to its core when he launched Direct Line, revealed he was setting up a new 'non- standard' venture.
The rate of franchised dealers closing their bodyshops has doubled in the last 12 months, AM-Online has been informed. Less than 1600 automotive retailers now have bodyshops compared with 1791 one year ago, according to experts working on a new study.
Nissan dealerships are offering a sports styling body kit for the latest generation Micra supermini.
Expanding south and west of England dealer group City Motor Holdings is to open a multi-franchise motor retail park in Basingstoke, Hampshire, on September 1 as a template for possible redevelopment in other territories.
Sir Tom Farmer is to return to the automotive industry – but not as a fast-fit repairer of quality marques as suggested in the national media. He intends to put his considerable financial weight behind new entrepreneurs in a bid to recreate the success he enjoyed when setting up his first tyre retail outlet in the 1960s.
Vauxhall has introduced a new personal contract plan as part of a major push to boost sales to private buyers through its 478 UK retailers.
Reg Vardy wants to add 15 sites in the south of England as it strives to hit the 100-dealer mark by April 2005.
Bus operator Arriva has sold the last of its 33 car retailing operations with the disposal of three remaining sites in the West Country to Sytner Group.
The new Mazda3 saloon and hatchback, due at the end of this year, will use 1.6-litre PSA Peugeot-Citroen diesel engines with the more tax-efficient Euro IV format.
Exhibition organiser London Eventco says it will make a decision by the end of October on whether to hold a spring 2005 standalone automotive aftermarket trade show at the Docklands ExCel centre.
Kia Motors UK has increased its sales targets from 18,000 to 20,000 units a year as it works towards creating a network of 150 dealers by the end of 2004. Currently, the distributor for the Korean marque has 111 sites operating in Britain, six close to start-up and another 11 going through the manufacturer's application programme.
A four-point agenda for action has been set out by Tod Evans, the new president of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.
Seventy per cent of the equity in HPI, the UK's largest vehicle information provider, has been acquired by the independent venture capitalist Phoenix Equity Partners.
Prices for Smart's new four-seater small car will start at about £8000 when it goes on sale in September 2004. Smart says 80,000 ForFour's will be sold annually worldwide taking total volume for the marque past 200,000.
