German trade paper Autohaus reports that some manufacturers, including BMW, Audi and VW have ceased to offer manufacturer warranties following changes to German product liability law.
Two UK dealer master technicians have won the BMW international service technician competition. Nearly 6,300 technicians from the German carmaker's dealerships from 33 countries competed to gain a place in the finals in Munich.
In the closely fought compact executive market, one model stands out from the rest: the BMW 3-series.
BMW has reportedly pulled forward the launch of its much anticipated 1-series in order to keep pressure on VW's slow selling Golf, according to rumours swirling through Munich.
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.
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.
Rover has given a strong hint towards future design direction by revealing a new look for the 75. Changes to the front and rear aim to give the car a premium look like core rivals from BMW and Audi.
Ford retailers received a boost this week after a leading used car guide revealed three of its best selling models had firm residual values. CAP Black Book rates the Focus, Mondeo and Fiesta – all permanent fixtures in the list of top sellers – as strong used car performers.
With 1,104,916 BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce Motorcars sold, the BMW Group achieved a new sales volume record last year and surpassed the previous year's (2002) record of 1,057,344 units by 4.5%.
German BMW dealers' legal action over the company's decision to reduce their gross margins on sales of the new BMW 7 Series received a setback in the verdict of a Munich district court
German BMW dealers who had taken legal action over the company's decision to reduce their gross margins on sales of the new BMW 7 Series have received a setback in the verdict of a Munich district court, which last week confirmed on appeal a lower court's ruling of May 2003 that BMW had the right to amend its contract terms.
Retro rockets 6 into space
BMW chief Helmut Panke doesn't like the idea of a BMW people mover. “We won't do a boring van,” he says bluntly. But that doesn't mean BMW isn't looking at building roomy, estate-type vehicles capable of carrying five or seven passengers. Just don't call them people movers...
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.
Sytner BMW in Nottingham has opened a new £10m development that it claims is one of the largest dealerships for BMW in Europe.
This is BMW's new E60 5-series estate, caught on a photographic shoot in South Africa. This late pre-production car is being used for brochure and press photography in preparation for the E60 estate's public debut at the Geneva Show next March.
At the invitation of Phoenix Venture Holdings, unions TGWU and Amicus have jointly apponted Peter Regnier, a former finance director of Rover Group in the pre-BMW 1980s, to inspect Phoenix Venture Holdings and MG Rover accounts on their behalf.
Within 10 years the majority of UK car owners will no longer be buying their cars – they'll be leasing them. That's the vision of BMW, which expects its rising finance penetration – last year 37 per cent; this year 41 per cent – to continue. Frank Munk, chief executive at BMW Group Financial Service GB, predicts that the UK will follow the example of the American market where drivers have no interest in owning their cars.
When historians come to write the story of the first 100 years of BMW, considerable attention will be given to the period 1995 to 2005.
For the first time since its addition of the MINI and Rolls Royce brands to its portfolio, BMW Group is appointing separate brand marketing managements to BMW and to each of the newcomers.
