NEWS

HYUNDAI has won an unprecedented top-10 sales slot, thanks to the boost from the scrappage scheme.
Just-released SMMT figures for July show that the Korean brand sold 3084 i10s in July.
This gave it a remarkable top-9 position in the sales league!
Overall, sales rose for the first time in 15 MONTHS, in a positive move for the [...]

SSANGYONG has recorded its fourth double-take sales increase in a row – with a 167 percent sales boost for July.
OK, that’s on sales of 99 models in July, rather than 33 last year.
But it is still proof of the gradual recovery the rejuvenated Korean car maker is seeing in the UK, after boss Paul Williams [...]

USED car retailers can now access fuel economy and running cost info on stock dating back to 2001.

This can be used to display new car-style fuel economy labels, to support a scheme being launched to car buyers in November this year.
The scheme is to run alongside the well-recognised new car eco green label, for consistency [...]

GOVERNMENT plans to investigate motoring tax and charges have been welcomed by industry body the SMMT.

Ministers have stipulated that any future environmental taxes must be both clear and consistent – something warmly welcomed by the car makers.

In eight years, says the SMMT, cars reduced CO2 emissions by 20 percent. In the future, CO2 emisisons will [...]

EU ministers have announced the current Block Exemption Regulation should be extended until 2013.
The current deal runs out in May next year.
But, so pleased is the EU with how things are running at the moment, it sees no need to change anything surrounding the sale of new cars.
Levels of car dealer competition, it seems, are [...]

SMMT chief Paul Everitt has echoed MP’s findings of ‘serious concerns’ over the car industry aid programme.
£2.3bn in loans and loan guarantees for the car industry was pledged back in January.
However, six months on, NO car companies have received any cash from the Automotive Assistance Programme scheme.
This, says the SMMT, is because the scheme is [...]

MOTOR industry expert Nice 1 Ltd has analysed the latest scrappage data – and given its judgment.
The firm reveals the UK’s top 10 selling brands have accounted for 86 percent of all scrappage sales so far.
There have been, to the end of June, 29,796 scrappage deals – that’s 3.22 percent of UK sales to date.
However, the [...]

NEW car sales charts for June show some big winners and losers, within a market down 15 percent.
Most eye-opening revelation is that both Hyundai and Kia have chalked up massive sales increases! Hyundai is up a mighty 91 percent, with Kia also booming through a 60 percent rise.
Even bigger gains are recorded from Cadillac (633 [...]

SCRAPPAGE is still some way off revealing its true positive boost to new car sales, say car dealers.
The RMI reports that the SMMT sales figures for June are positive – but car dealers can expect even more gains in coming months.
‘The true impact of the vehicle scrappage scheme will be felt over the next [...]

SCRAPPAGE is easing declining new car sales, with June recording the smallest fall since July 2008.
The SMMT’s latest new car sales figures show that registrations were down 15.7 percent in June. 176,264 new cars were sold, with Ford’s Fiesta topping the pile.
After year-on-year declines of nearly 25 percent in May, this shows the positive impact [...]