NEWS

PRE-registration for the 2012 Motor Codes Garage of the Year competition, brought to you by Havoline, is now open. The free-to-enter competition is open to all service and repair centres – franchised and independent, large and small – aiming to find UK motorists’ favourite garage – and voting starts February 24. Motor Codes, the self-regulatory [...]

NEW research of smartphone users has resulted in one firm urging dealers to be mobile ready. Recent research on the use of smartphones in the UK by Our Mobile Planet shows that nearly 50 per cent of smartphone users go online multiple times a day. And of those users looking at local information, over a [...]

THE Knights Group has adopted an innovative advertising medium to communicate its BMW and Mini promotions. Utilising new floor-applied graphics, the Staffordshire-based dealer is building awareness for the prestige brands at their sites in Stoke and Stafford. Highly visible, large format, graphic panels enable Knights to engage with customers at the point of sale as [...]

CAR production was up by almost six per cent in last year reveals the SMMT’s latest automotive manufacturing data. Total car production in the UK was up 5.8 per cent to 1,343,810 units in 2011. A figure helped by a 1.6 per cent rise in December. UK engine production also rose, and was up by [...]

THE next phase in green motoring in the UK could be one step closer thanks to a new combined initiative. The new programme – UKH2Mobility – brings together three government departments and industrial participants from the utility, gas, infrastructure and global car manufacturing sectors. The group will evaluate the potential for hydrogen as a fuel [...]

SPANISH brand Seat has announced two new dealerships who have taken its franchise. South coast-based dealer group Snows Group, which already operates Seat franchises in Southampton, Portsmouth and Poole, will add another dealership in Salisbury in February. And Currie Motors, operator of Toyota and Lexus franchises in Middlesex and London, will open a new Seat [...]

THE family-run group Barlow Motors has completed the acquisition of Robert Eardley Skoda in Crewe and Stoke. After many years working with Skoda, Robert Eardley has decided to sell the business and retire. New owners Barlow Motors also operates Seat franchises in Wolverhampton and Stoke. Mark Owen, Barlow’s managing director, said: ‘The two Robert Eardley [...]

PEUGEOT’S 207 will not be offered as a budget alternative to the new 208, the firm’s UK boss has told Car Dealer. While the brand-new 208 arrives in June, Peugeot MD Tim Zimmerman has ruled out offering the 207 as a cheaper alternative. ‘When the 207 was launched, we offered a 206 Plus for a [...]

DEALERS are more confident about the prospects for 2012 but it will still be a challenging year according to Manheim. A recent survey from the firm sent to more than 5,000 franchised and independent dealers showed that used car sales are predicted to rise, with 36 per cent of respondents expecting to see an increase. [...]

PEUGEOT’S managing director has revealed he won’t follow Renault in slashing its dealer network by a third. Speaking to Car Dealer, recently-appointed Peugeot MD Tim Zimmerman said his firm is looking at ways of cutting costs – but they won’t come at the expense of axing its dealers like French rival Renault. ‘Every manufacturer needs [...]

JCT600 has announced that its new Kia dealership in Castleford, is now open and ready for business. The dealership is the result of ‘a significant investment’ from both Kia and JCT600, and it will provide a six-car showroom and modern service facilities extending to in excess of 2100 sq ft, incorporating the very latest Kia [...]

MANHEIM is to close its Middlesbrough auction centre following a review of its physical auction infrastructure. The firms says the centre is to close so it can ‘meet the expected challenging market conditions of 2012 and beyond’. Manheim Auctions Middlesbrough specialises in main dealer part exchange and trade vehicles. But the site accounts for just [...]

A SPECIAL sale at BCA Bedford has netted a £3m-plus turnover and saw 400 end-of-lease and prestige cars sold. Lex Autolease and BCA combined for the sale which attracted more than 300 buyers to the Bedford auction centre. A further 533 logging on to bid via BCA’s Live Online internet bidding service. More than 90 per [...]

HERE ARE the most interesting and talked-about stories over the past five days, collated and summarised by us. Monday, January 9 VOLKSWAGEN has delivered more than eight million vehicles in a year for the first time in its history. PEUGEOT’S new 208, launching in the UK in June, will include an all new one-litre three [...]

MITSUBISHI has unveiled its brand new approved used remarketing scheme which goes live February 1, 2012. It’s yet another announcement from the Japanese firm who only recently announced all of its dealers will become EV centres this month, and a wave of new dealers appointed, The package will offer a 30-day vehicle exchange, a 12-month vehicle [...]

NOVEMBER’S figures showed that dealer motor finance remained UK consumers’ first choice for new cars, new figures suggest. The Finance & Leasing Association’s latest figures show that 61.5 per cent of consumers buying a new car in the year to November used motor finance provided through dealers, almost ten percentage points up from November 2010. [...]

JAPANESE firm Mitsubishi has announced it has appointed a new dealer in Doncaster and who opened its doors this week. Riverside Mitsubishi will provide sales, service and parts for the Doncaster area operating from Crompton Road, Doncaster, South Yorkshire, DN4 4PJ. Riverside Motor Group, established in 1982, is a successful motor retail group and has several [...]

TRADER Media Group has reorganised its digital marketing division to ‘enhance its market leading proposition’ through its Razsor brand. The business has announced it has been ‘re-geared to deliver a critical focus on new product and service development, as well as integrating more services from sister-company, Auto Trader’. As part of the restructure, managing director, [...]

ITALIAN car manufacturer Alfa Romeo has announced 2011′s registration figures were the highest since 2002. At the year’s end, Alfa had registered 11,563 cars – the highest yearly registration figure since 2002. The firm’s market share also rose in 2011 by 30.8 per cent. Alfa Romeo puts its success down to a combination of factors, [...]

VAUXHALL has announced pricing of its new Ampera and the dealers who are charged with selling the new car. Offered in three trim levels, the first Amperas will arrive in showrooms on May 1, 2012. Starting at £29,995 – inclusive of the £5k government plug-in car grant – prices will top out at £33,995 – [...]