News - Page 1496

Knowing your customer means having reliable, relevant information – the sort of information that Sewells has been renowned for over many years. And in a new development for our annual dealer conference, this year we will present the findings of our latest research into new and used car customers, finance customers, and aftersales customers.

Kwik-Fit has appointed Mike Wise to temporarily co-ordinate all its core UK fast-fit activities following parent company CVC Capital Partners’ acquisition of the AA in conjunction with fellow private equity group Permira Advisers for £1.75bn.

The new Audi TT Coupé is offering a Tiptronic automatic option for the first time. The new TT Coupé 178bhp is now available to order priced at £20,725 OTR, or £22,125 OTR in automatic form.

Saab is revising the specification and revealing pricing for its 2005 9-3 Sport Saloon and Convertible model ranges.

The new BMW X3 is now available with a new sports package.

Mitsubishi Motors has released the first picture of its top of the range 150bhp Colt from the all-new 3-door Colt CZ3 range. Due to go on sale early 2005 the Colt CZ3 range will include the Colt CZT turbo charged variant.

The Department of Transport (DfT) has said it would like to see the use of in-car radar detectors banned.

Caterpillar Logistics Services (UK) Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Caterpillar Inc., and Phoenix Venture Holdings Limited have reached an agreement for Cat Logistics to acquire the parts business of MG Rover, a wholly owned subsidiary of PVH.

Caterpillar Logistics Services (UK), a wholly owned subsidiary of Caterpillar Inc, and Phoenix Venture Holdings Limited have reached an agreement for Cat Logistics to acquire the parts business of MG Rover, a wholly owned subsidiary of PVH.

Vauxhall is offering 0% finance deals on most of its models, free air conditioning on the new Tigra and savings of up to £1,000 across the range.

Toyota has sold an all-time record of 502,016 units in the period from January to June 2004 in Europe, an increase of 15% over the first half of 2003.

Figures released by the analyst and forecaster JD Power-LMC show that the overall West European car market turned in a strong sales performance in June.

Glass’s Market Intelligence Service has carried out an analysis of over 200,00 cars to challenge the generally accepted mileage of 12,000 miles per year for a used car.

For the first time in Rolls-Royce history, the marque is officially represented in Korea. The first of a number of new dealer premises around the world have been formally opened at Seoul.

Renault’s new Modus is now available to order with deliveries starting in September and prices starting at £9,250 on-the-road.

Laguna from 2001 onwards lives up to Renault’s reputation for French flair and sculpted styling. It’s far more substantial than the model it replaced and brings executive style and comfort at a price that’s attractive to most families. What’s not so impressive is its reliability record

The pressure continues to build on older models, but as the summer used market doldrums continue the supermini sector is being hit hard, too. Over the first six months of 2004 there has been a decline in value of 13% in a sample of six benchmark cars.

Carlos Ghosn, president and CEO of Nissan motor company, will give this year’s Automotive Academy annual lecture.

Volvo has announced that its worldwide sales have increased by 11%

Labour rates at Mazda franchised dealers have been found to be the lowest in the country for the second year running.

Honda has achieved its best ever car sales performance in the UK nudging 50,000 units at the half year point. This represents a gain of 13% over the same period last year, and is equivalent to 15 months worth of Honda car sales a decade ago.

Kia’s market share in June reached a record 1.51% with sales exceeding Suzuki, Rover, MINI, Jaguar/Daimler, Hyundai, MG and Seat.

BMW has taken pole position in the luxury car market for the first time in seven years, beating German rival Mercedes in global sales for the first six months of 2004.

The DSJ Group has become the new corporate holding name for Premier Supply, Elite Oil, Premier Propshaft and SOC Autoparts.

Honda has launched its new FR-V people carrier

PSA Peugeot Citroën has reported a continued sales growth for new vehicles sold in the first six months of 2004, with 1,743,000 units sold worldwide - a year-on-year increase of 3.2%

AA Tyre Fit – the AA’s mobile tyre fitting operation - has won the contract to supply replacement tyres to vehicle rental company easyCar

Seat will continue its

AA Tyre Fit – the AA’s mobile tyre fitting operation - has won the contract to supply replacement tyres to vehicle rental company easyCar

Reg Vardy has reported record profits for the last financial year.