The availability of large numbers of one-to-three-year-old low-mileage cars is having a massive impact on ex-lease high milers. Those with 80,000 plus are a burden to some fleet and auction vendors. Those which had contracts extended and now exceed 100,000 miles are even more burdensome.
Citroen C5 and Renault Laguna are roomy, modern rep-mobiles. But they have yet to make an impact on private buyers, and used values are easing as a result. The jury is still out on reliability, but both are well equipped and easy to drive, with fleet-cheap service and parts costs.
The charismatic Alfa 156 is a stylish alternative to the Audi A4, BMW 3-series and Lexus IS200. A great deal less expensive, too. A 99S 1.8 TS with 42,000 miles is £8,500 privately.
The Hyundai Trajet and Kia Sedona are popular with large families and private hire drivers alike. What these big MPVs lack in character, they more than make up for in equipment and ease of ownership.
Latest figures from Alliance & Leicester show car prices in April dropped for the fifth consecutive month, falling 2.5 per cent year-on-year. In real terms, cars are now a third cheaper than in June 1998.
Motor World managing director John Mousell is believed to be considering a bid for Halfords, the retail car parts and cycle store chain.
The Vehicle Builders and Repairers Association's pre-tax profits last year slumped by 72 per cent to £15,399, compared to £54,085 in 2001. Turnover dipped 1.67 per cent to £698,244.
Renault has slashed the cost of genuine wear and tear replacement parts for its three-to-10-year-old car parc by up to 60 per cent.
Shareholders at Trinity Supply Chain, which trades as Nationwide Auto Service, were this week due to vote on placing the company into liquidation.
Fiat is moving urgently to fill open points in its British dealer network after year-to-April figures slumped 15 per cent to 30,729 units compared with 2001.
BMW is to launch a Mini diesel variant in 2003 after securing a deal with Toyota to source between 10,000 to 20,000 engines a year. Toyota will supply the 1.4-litre D-4D unit used in the Yaris to the Mini plant at Oxford, where engineers will modify it for performance and fit. Production at the plant is likely to increase by 25 per cent, from 100,000 to 125,000 vehicles a year, to handle the new variant.
Jobs go and prices cut as Fiat fights to stem losses Fiat UK's radical business revamp is revealed as Fiat Auto announces losses of 529m Euros (around £330m) for the first quarter of 2002.
Ford has reshuffled its senior management team in the US and Europe as chairman and chief executive officer Bill Ford bids to return the company to profitability.He has persuaded former vice chairman Allan Gilmour, who retired in 1995, to rejoin the company, replacing Martin Inglis as chief financial officer. Inglis is moved across to group vice-president of business strategy, though Ford claims this is not a demotion.
Last minute sales surge gives Seat an April plus With all the April new car registration figures now counted, Seat emerges as a surprisingly strong performer. With just a few days to go to the end of the month the Volkswagen-owned Spanish carmaker had looked to be struggling - with 1891 units sold it was 15.05 per cent down on the same period last year.
After months without a general manager for its UK car division, Honda has named David Strangeway as the man to drive the company forward. Previously head of human resources, he joined Honda in 1990 as franchise and dealer development manager to mastermind its dealer network boom from 130 to 150 outlets.
Former Autobytel UK chairman Kevin Turnbull completes the speaker line-up at AM's spring conference on June 7, the day after the AM100 dinner. Both events are at the Belfry Hotel, Wishaw, near Birmingham, where delegates can watch the England v Argentina World Cup match on widescreen TV during the lunch break.
The automotive retail market in Yorkshire is set to witness a major shake up after JCT600, the multi-franchise dealer group, announced plans to invest £17m in a new Mercedes-Benz retail area.
Nissan plans to wipe out its worldwide debt of nearly £3bn by 2005 and boost model sales by 1m under proposals laid out in its new '180' action plan. Carlos Ghosn, Nissan president and chief executive officer, is looking to boost revenue, reduce costs and improve quality under the three-year programme. It succeeds the Nissan Revival Plan (NRP) which fulfilled its commitments a year ahead of schedule.
Mazda has vowed to continue its aggressive cost cutting drive and axe jobs in the boardroom, despite announcing record turnaround profits. Japan's fifth largest carmaker, which is one-third owned by Ford, reported a group net profit of Yen 88bn (£472m) for the year ending March 31, up on last year's losses of more than Yen 155.2bn (£831m).
Citroen has sparked speculation it is to launch a new online sales channel by announcing “internet-only” offers on its C5 range. The French carmaker is giving drivers the chance to save up to £350 via www. citroen.co.uk. Online print-out vouchers are redeemable at Citroen dealerships, which order the car and act as delivery points.
Speculation is mounting that Stapleton's Tyre Services is ready to sell its majority shareholding in Tyreserve, the internet-based fleet tyre operation, to help it expand its range of services to garages.
Richard Pepper, the former chief executive of failed smart repair firm Scuffs, has been appointed to a new high profile position.
Regency Finance and Insurance Services has been purchased by South Staffordshire Group for an undisclosed amount. The Somerset-based company, which supplies motoring finance and insurance products to a number of dealerships and carmakers, including Mercedes-Benz, Seat, Quartic and Howard Group, says the acquisition will enable it to expand.
Mitsubishi and MG Rover will be at this year's British International Motor Show. Just three months ago Mitsubishi said it would not attend the NEC event because of costs - about £750,000. But after securing new product managing director Jim Tyrrell says the company will exercise its option to attend, although with a smaller display area.
West Midlands and Shropshire Ambulance Services are to sign a deal with MG Rover to take delivery of two MG ZT-T estate cars as rapid response vehicles. The deal is worth more than £40,000 at showroom prices.
Chairman Richard Allan, chief executive Adrian Dunleavy and finance director David Hogg have resigned from Nationwide Accident Repair Services following its takeover by Guinness Peat Group and JO Hambro.
LuK Aftermarket Services has announced ambitious plans to expand in the UK after identifying key areas for investment.
Group Tyre, one of the largest national independent tyre wholesaling organisations in the UK, is gearing up for a major expansion programme.
A new internet-based service that acts as an electronic interface between fleets and workshops claims to offer smaller dealers the tools to compete with larger groups for servicing work.
