Motor retailing entrepreneur Tony Bramall, who sold his group to Pendragon for £230m in February, has paid around £4m to buy back standalone Audi sites at Lincoln and Grimsby
Audi has announced that it has sold more cars worldwide than ever before in the first quarter of 2004
TRW Automotive has launched its next generation electric parking brake (EPB) system on the new Audi A6. The system, a step-up in electrical braking systems, handles emergency stop and conventional parking brake applications
A6 snubs nose at 5-series
As part of the pre-audit review of its maiden annual results, body repair group Just Car Clinics Group plc has identified a 'significant overstatement of trading results' in three of its twelve locations.
German trade paper Autohaus reports that some manufacturers, including BMW, Audi and VW have ceased to offer manufacturer warranties following changes to German product liability law.
Winner: Audi Academy
Poole Audi is to plough its profits into moving its bodyshop to a standalone 1.5-acre site. The retailer, which posted turnover up from £14.4m to £20.1m in 2003, says it recorded a “substantial” profits increase.
Audi has officially unveiled its new face by taking the wraps off its new A6. Making its world debut at the Geneva motor show, the new luxury saloon will arrive here in May.
Audi's net profit in 2003 was up 5% year on year at €816m, but pre-tax profit was hit by exchange costs and dropped 11.6% to €1.1bn.
Toyota and eBay have concluded a unique marketing agreement in the US that includes a one-year exclusive sponsorship deal on eBay reaching a 95m audience.
Lamborghini London, the official sole UK dealer for Audi-owned Automobili Lamborghini SpA and part of H.R. Owen Plc, will account for approximately 10% of Lamborghini's production in 2004.
The January 2004 edition of the Castrol Business Services Trend Tracker shows Honda and Toyota dealers achieved the best service retention performance last year. VW, Audi Mercedes and Volvo also gave good accounts of themselves.
Rover has given a strong hint towards future design direction by revealing a new look for the 75. Changes to the front and rear aim to give the car a premium look like core rivals from BMW and Audi.
Small car dealers and repair operations are set to save thousands of pounds after the Government unveiled new rules for company auditing. Ministers have raised the threshold for companies that need to be audited from £1m turnover to £6.5m a year.
The European Court of First Instance says "TDI" designates one of the characteristics of the cars and repair services and therefore cannot be registered as a Community trade mark.
“Government plans to raise the limit at which companies need to be audited will be great news for small businesses,” said the RMI chief executive Matthew Carrington, commenting on a new accounting and audit bill included in yesterday's Queen's Speech.
Damon Hill and Midlands franchise dealer Nick Whale have completed their acquisition of the Exeter Audi dealership from Inchcape.
Audi is driving forward its used car operations by opening a series of supersites to double sales and bolster residual values. The German carmaker wants to increase used vehicle sales through its franchised dealers from 32,000 this year to 65,000 by 2007.
Gilder Group's parts business was opened on a 30,000sq ft site in Sheffield five months ago at a cost of £100,000 in premises, IT and equipment. The VW and Audi dealer's parts division is now on target to achieve annual turnover of £1.5m.