NEWS

FORD could be planning to extend its warranty to five years in April, a source has told Car Dealer. The move, although unconfirmed by the manufacturer, would make sense as it would bring it more in line with bitter rival Vauxhall and its ‘Lifetime’ warranty. Our source said: ‘I’ve been told by someone in the [...]

FORD Retail Group has reported strong preliminary results for the year ending December 31, 2010. The results show that the company maintained a strong trading performance, achieving a £1.1b turnover and £10.9m pre-tax profit. Total units sold amounted to 77,353 (down on 2009’s 88,053) with new cars accounting for 24,122 (27,332 in 2009) and used 25,905 units [...]

FORD has announced that sales of the latest-generation Fiesta supermini have reached one million in Europe. The landmark was achieved just 28 months after the car went on sale in Ford dealerships, with UK drivers snapping up almost a quarter of the new Fiesta models – sales since launch have totalled 239,742. Seventy four per [...]

NO less than seven of Ford Retail’s 56 service centres have been shortlisted in the Golden Garages competition. The seven centres have been voted into the top 50 list for delivering the best in customer service in the annual Golden Garages competition run by Motor Codes. Lindsay Ford in Bangor, Polar Ford in Runcorn, Hazel [...]

Ford of Britain’s managing director talks exclusively to Car Dealer about his hopes for the new Ford Focus How important is the new Focus to dealers? Well, it revolutionised Ford in 1998 when dealers were having a bit of a tough time. It was such a hit not just in Britain but across Europe that [...]

FORD has been recognised as a leading employer in the training and development of staff through apprenticeships. Ford’s apprenticeship programmes have been recognised by the National Apprenticeship Service. The programmes are open to all age groups, including current unskilled employees, providing paths to career progression and offering the chance to develop core skills.  Ford’s Bridgend [...]

THE Ford Focus regained the number one spot in January’s sales tables, SMMT figures reveal. Sales of Ford’s mid-sized hatchback topped more than 7,500 sold – up four places on December’s figures. The Fiesta followed in second while December’s winner, the Vauxhall Astra, dropped to third. The Griffin-badged hatchback’s younger brother, the Corsa, fell to [...]

SMMT has confirmed Stephen T Odell as the keynote speaker for their 2011 International Automotive Summit. Odell, Ford Group vice president and chairman and CEO of Ford of Europe, will address the automotive industry’s third annual summit in Westminster, London, on June 28, 2011. The SMMT has announced that Odell will ‘discuss the breadth of [...]

FORD of Britain boss Nigel Sharp predicts the UK market will grow more than official SMMT figures estimate in 2011. Speaking exclusively to Car Dealer at the launch of the new Focus, he said he expects new car registrations to exceed the 1.93m the SMMT expects. As the boss of the country’s biggest selling brand [...]

THE SMMT have published the full regional new car registrations figures for December in the UK. Excluding the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, 124,415 cars were registered in December in the UK; 2,019,792 cars in total in 2010. In December England lead the way with 107,29 cars registered, followed by Scotland with 9,943, [...]

FORD has revealed an all-electric Ford Focus will arrive in UK dealerships by 2013. Capable of charging in half the time a Nissan Leaf takes, the Focus will offer a mile-per-gallon equivalent that beats a Chevrolet Volt, says the maker. Ford says the electric Focus will be capable of charging in three to four hours [...]

FORAY Motor Group is celebrating ten years of business by acquiring its 10th Ford dealership. The timing could not be better; 2011 also marks Ford of Great Britain’s centenary. The Salisbury-based business will be integrating the former Reed of Trowbridge business into the group and has already changed the trading name to Trowbridge Ford. Foray managing [...]

Five years ago family hatchback buyers had few choices when it came to buying a new car. They’d either head to Ford and Vauxhall or, if they wanted some style, they would plump for the big-bottomed Renault Megane. But now things have changed with some new hatchbacks from Korea. Kia and Hyundai have really upped [...]

EXPERIAN has published its UK used car sales statistics for the third quarter of 2010 – and the results are good. 1,801,258 used cars were sold during July, August and September; a four per cent increase on Q3 2009 and 1.1 per cent higher than Q2 2010. This makes Q3 2010 the first quarter to [...]

FORD has announced the prices for its all-new Focus range; it’s set to go on sale in March priced from £15,995. The UK-family favourite comes in four trims – Edge, Zetec, Titanium, and Titanium X – and it will be available with three petrol engines and four diesel units. Standard equipment on all models will [...]

BUYERS looking for a seven-seat Ford will have some tough choices to make with the introduction of this, the new C-MAX. Joining the Galaxy and S-MAX in the Ford line-up next this month is the replacement for the Blue Oval’s popular compact people carrier and it now comes in two body styles! The spiritual successor [...]

FORD have locked out the top two positions in November’s best selling car charts with the Fiesta taking top honours. The Focus took second place, jumping up three places compared to October’s figures. 6,488 Fiestas were registered last month, with the Focus reaching 5,537 units – 98,453 and 73,973 units year-to-date respectively. Compared to October, [...]

THE latest batch of Euro NCAP crash tests has been carried out revealing some surprises. Audi A1′s, the Mini Countryman, Ford C-MAX and Ford Grand C-MAX, Kia’s Sportage, the Vauxhall Meriva, the facelifted Volkswagen Passat, and the new VW Sharan/Seat Alhambra were all awarded Euro NCAP’s maximum rating of 5-stars. Nissan’s new Micra was awarded [...]

Over the past few weeks in the Car Dealer Mag office, I have been treated to a large dose of ‘leg pulling’. It turns out that my recently acquired HTC Legend mobile phone is ‘rubbish’ and that its unique feature of  a windscreen wiper sweeping the screen when its raining is also ‘rubbish’. To understand [...]

HENDY celebrated being Ford’s first UK dealer with a special event at Goodwood House on Tuesday. Almost 100 years to the day that Percy Hendy signed the deal wih Ford Motor Company, the Hendy Group put on a special VIP lunch to celebrate the group becoming Ford’s first dealer a century ago – and Car Dealer was there [...]