Mini - pioneering, classless and 40 - is the Automotive Management car of the century. In Las Vegas this weekend, it battles for the supreme accolade against Citroen DS, Ford Model T, Porsche 911 and VW Beetle. The award is based on public Internet votes and those of 132 automotive journalists in 32 countries.
London body repairers, many at the point of collapse from spiralling overheads, have decided to take direct action in a bid to persuade insurers to improve remuneration packages. Bob Hood, senior manager of the Retail Motor Industry Federation Bodyshop Services Division, chaired a meeting of 70 leading repairers at the association's headquarters in London where an agreement was reached to set up a 'London Bodyshop Alliance'.
Companies gearing up for Christmas and the Millennium celebrations created a November surge of medium LCV sales.
BMW is confident the 3 Series Touring will rapidly gain ground on its main rivals, Audi's A4 Avant and Mercedes-Benz C-class estate, which have consistently outperformed the estate.
BMW is bullish about diesel prospects after launching the 320d at £21,345 - £22,645 in SE trim.
A German Internet sales service specialising in prestige used cars is about to receive the backing of one of Europe's largest publishing houses.
Citroen is going head-to-head with the Renault Scenic when it launches the Xsara Picasso into the crowded UK MPV sector in late spring.
British Car Auctions has introduced a revised brand structure for its business divisions, enabling customers to clearly identify the range of services offered.
A year ago, we began by noting that the difficulties of 1998 had come as a shock to many because the residuals from some forecasters had been considerably more optimistic than turned out to be justified. That was because those forecasters had been working in the heady atmosphere of the mid-90s, when the market was booming.
Most people would agree that 1999 has been one of the worst trading years in memory. It began with even the most experienced trade people apparently mis-reading the market, and hardly anybody is seeing the year out without a few bruises.
A used car stock locator promising to “pile high and sell quick” has been launched specifically for the trade.
Volkswagen has cut the prices of commonly replaced parts on the current Transporter range by up to 70%.
In a market which continues to be extremely difficult it is easy to lose sight that some people are still enjoying considerable success. But the market certainly has changed. At one time you would have a guy specialising in cars up to £5,000 and he would make a good living out of buying and retailing small hatchbacks.
The supermini sector has seen an enormous amount of investment and development over the past year or so. Many of the biggest launches have been the smallest cars and there are very good reasons for this.
Dealers are bracing themselves for a tough final six weeks of trading in 1999 as customers delay new-car purchases until the new year, anticipating a cut in list prices.
Another motor show comes and goes, with all the razzmataz, glitz and glamour that the industry can muster. How impressive even the humblest new model looks under thousands of pounds worth of display lighting.
Where once there was Renault, now there is Volkswagen. After 18 months during which the French company dominated growth in new-car registrations, the official Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders' figures for the first six months of 1999 show how powerful the German company has become.
The entire car retail market is in turmoil at the moment. New and used sales are not as strong as many had expected and everyone is looking for reasons. Confusion over the twin plates? Oversupply of good retailable cars? They may be factors but the dominant reason is the uncertainty felt by the average retail punter, bombarded by stories of massive impending price cuts.
One of the interesting features of the price realignment debate has been the continual repetition of one of the most fundamentally flawed assumptions made in the industry - that lower list prices automatically lead to reduced residuals. This fallacy has even been used by some to suggest that the much touted realignment of UK list prices with those in Europe would be damaging to existing car owners.
August registrations crashed from more than 500,000 last year to 74,444, a drop of 85.3%, as the market continued to re-adjust following the dropping of the annual plate change.
While it is too early to see exactly how things will pan out in terms of registration numbers, one thing is certain. There will be more V-plate cars registered in September than there were T-plates in August.
Patchy looks like being the word for the whole of 1999 - the year has not seen a universal mood across the industry. While some have reported nothing but gloom, others have undoubtedly had it very good. And everyone else has experienced all points in between.
Stronger than expected new car registrations in July have lifted industry confidence for the second half of the year and yet again forced market planners to revise their total sales projections upwards.
Retail optimism remains quite high but there is still no shortage of late-plate cars around - especially Ford and Vauxhall. This means 98 and 99S plate Mondeo LX and Vectra LS are available in reasonable numbers at around £8,200 if sourced individually.
Residual values are determined not by manufacturers, or indeed Cap Monitor, but the typical used car buyer. To understand the whys and wherefores of residuals you must get inside the head of that person.
The switch to a twin plate change seems to be paying off, despite a shaky start to the year, after June registrations leapt 15.7% on last year.
For a long time now we have seen the phenomenon of Scorpio, Omega and Renault Safrane 'executive' sector cars suffering far greater depreciation rates than smaller cars. And now we are beginning to see the ultimate proof of this with some used small cars retailing at more money.
The past few weeks have failed to bring the much-needed upturn in retail interest which is necessary to steady the fall in used car values. Car prices have by no means crashed, but they have fallen for well over a year, leaving most people surprised and disheartened.
The Government's fuel escalator now means that diesel is more expensive per litre than petrol and with the typical knee jerk reaction of our industry there are now widespread predictions that diesel car residuals will suffer as a consequence. This, however, is not the case.
Back in April I predicted that year and letter values might begin to give way to model year as the determiner of values, due to the retail customer's improved product knowledge. This is happening.
