The RMI is writing to the dealer council chairman at every franchise inviting them to a meeting to discuss standards and audit procedures.
Audi has sold 81,000 models in the UK this year, a rise of 5% (3,118 units) on 2004 sales.
What a year. 2005 has seen it all: falling new car sales, the collapse of MG Rover, Reg Vardy up for sale, location clause ending – and all the while retailers have been facing up to stringent franchise controls and tough audit procedures.
Turbocharging was once the great hope for petrol engines: in the early 1980s everyone seemed to be experimenting with them as they saw the benefits that accrued first to Saab with the 99 Turbo and then to Audi with the original Quattro.
Bramall & Jones has moved its Derby Audi site into a new showroom at Pride Park, Royal Scott Road.
Hugh McMahon, owner of Glasgow Audi, the world’s biggest Audi showroom when it was opened last October, is to build a second dealership.
The John Clark Motor Group, one of Scotland’s biggest dealers, is to invest £2.5 million in the relocation and expansion of its Dundee Audi dealership to a new site at Kings Cross Road in Dundee.
Audi has enhanced its A4 and A6 ranges.
Their dealers must be salivating at the prospect. In two years or so, Audi and Nissan will join the supercar elite, with four-wheel drive flagships to cast a golden hue on showrooms’ more mundane models.
The wrong biscuits: that’s all it took for one German carmaker to withhold a dealer’s bonus during an audit.
Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo, vice president Piero Ferrari and a selected delegation of the company’s representatives have held a private audience with Pope Benedict XVI.
Audi is to overhaul its S line sports versions of the A3, A4 and A6 for the new year.
Manufacturers’ audits are costing dealers tens of thousands of pounds a year in lost bonuses and, in some cases, lost staff.
Audi will put its ‘Le Mans quattro’ concept, now named the R8, into production.
International property consultancy EC Harris is working with Lexus Europe on its network redevelopment programme.
Audi’s new seven-seat Q7 SUV is now available to order and will reach customers next summer.
Despite the unpredictable weather, convertibles remain popular with motorists in the UK. And once a buyer has chosen a soft-top, they tend to stick with them. It’s as much about status as it is the desire for open top motoring.
Audi’s revised A4 Cabriolet range will be available to order later this month.
Audi this week launches it own television channel in the UK which, if successful, could be rolled out in other countries.
A senior BMW executive has accused Audi of producing ‘a good copy’ of its vehicles.