Daewoo Cars begins a new television ad campaign on January 1, 2002 with adverts featuring the Matiz and Tacuma.
Motorpoint of Burnley is celebrating its first anniversary with the unveiling of a new 'all-weather' canopy for the sales area and the construction of a dedicated pre-delivery inspection and preparation work shop.
The High Court has ruled that dealers who buy cars as demonstrators and treat them as VAT exempt may be entitled to substantial reclaims from HM Customs and Excise.
Results from the latest auctions by BCA, Manheim and Motorauctions Leeds.
Auto Online, the used car sales locator, has gone into receivership.
The head of Ford Financial, Don Winkler, announced his resignation today.
Toyota has topped the list of car manufacturers in the latest FT/PricewaterhouseCoopers survey of the world's top 50 most respected companies.
Dealers are being warned against joining the General Insurance Standards Council by the RMI after an announcement that the Financial Services Authority is likely to be given sole responsibility for regulating the selling of general insurance.
General Motors has scrapped plans to relaunch Cadillac in the UK as a sister company to Saab next year.
Automotive people and companies who did well as the industry battled through another challenging year – and those who have things to prove in 2002 – are reviewed by Tony Willard.
BMW has donated £300,000 to Ben to mark the launch of Mini and work starting on a Rolls-Royce plant at Chichester.
Hyundai is poised to expand the Direct 2 You initiative in a bid to fill open points in its UK dealer network. Direct 2 You, launched a year ago in a joint venture with Platts Hyundai of High Wycombe, is a 'virtual showroom' concept that minimises dealer investment.
David Zabawa, a senior Capital Bank Motor executive and one of the best known characters in the motor finance industry, has died in a road accident in Cheshire. Mr Zabawa, who was 34, was riding an Aprilla motorcycle which was in a collision with a car.
Ford of Britain marketing director John Mendel has been promoted to head customer, service and parts, sales and marketing for Mazda in the US. Mazda plans 11 car launches in America by 2005.
Renault UK has named Philippe Talou-Derible as managing director, fuelling speculation that the company is to move closer to its Nissan alliance partner.
Nick Reilly will become Daewoo president and chief executive officer once the General Motors acquisition is completed. He moves to South Korea next month as GM looks to speed up the protracted transition process.
Camden Motors hopes to boost business from large fleets by promising end of contract vehicle disposal to reduce depreciation costs. The move is expected to produce a regular supply of cars to allow its Car Shop used car operation to expand.
Nexus Business Solutions has launched two online vehicle disposal programmes that it claims will cut costs and help improve residuals by bypassing the traditional physical auction route to market.
Four sites operated by Scuffs (Cosmetic Repairs) have been sold by the receivers Baker Tilly brought in by the firm on November 29.
Paul Dunkley never harboured ambitions to join the cut and thrust of the motor retail industry – he grew up planning to become an airline pilot and was due to attend British Airways' training college.
Zurich is to offer compensation to repairers changing their estimating system from Motex to Glassmatix, according to a bulletin report.
Franchised dealers are losing service and repair work on cars still under the manufacturer's warranty to independent rivals, according to a survey by Bethell Fleet Services.
The use of non-original equipment (non-OE) parts and panels in the accident repair industry has increased over the past 10 years, as insurers look to cut repair costs on older cars.
Mitsubishi is improving its customer offering for the third year in succession with price reductions or added specification to its range of cars and LCVs with an average value of 5.3%.
By any measure this has been a hectic year for the motor retail business – new car sales at record levels, used car values stabilising and customer confidence in the industry returning. Each week seems to bring another bullish prediction of record growth and turnover.
Direct lenders have held firm despite the latest cut in bank base rates and there are no signs of personal loans getting any cheaper, despite the reductions in mortgage rates. There is a growing feeling that rates have dropped as low as they can in the short term and some signs that rates will rise in the medium term.
Carmakers are keeping their powder dry during December and there has been little change in the retail finance promotions available. Indeed, some schemes have been cut back while others due to end in November are rolled over.
Dixon Motors is due to ask its shareholders tomorrow for permission to sell 17 of its best retail sites for £34m. The deal is necessary because in the last set of accounts Dixon's debt was shown at more than 100% of assets.
Reg Vardy has become embroiled in a legal dispute with a disgruntled customer who acquired the reg-vardy.com domain name in order to air his grievances.
One-third of Mazda's 115 UK dealers are under threat in a "root and branch" review of the brand's franchise strategy.
