NEWS

THE Government has announced today the vehicles which will be eligible for the new ‘Plug-In Car Grant’. Transport secretary Philip Hammond and business minister Mark Prisk set out details for the incentive and announced the UK locations that will receive funding in the second round of ‘Plugged-In Places’, boosting the UK’s electric vehicle charging network. [...]

THE SMMT has accepted the Prince Michael International Road Safety Award for its work over the last 20 years. The award, established in 1987, annually recognises outstanding achievement and innovation in road safety throughout the UK, and was presented by HRH Prince Michael of Kent at an award ceremony held in London. HRH Prince Michael [...]

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, [...]

NOVEMBER saw new car registrations fall by 11.5 per cent figures by the SMMT reveal. Registrations fell to 139,875 units, however the month performed ahead of expectations remaining 3.4 per cent up over the first 11 months at 1,907,029 units. November was the fifth successive month to see registrations down. Paul Everitt, SMMT chief executive, [...]

VEHICLE production in the UK rose by 8.8 per cent in October latest figures from SSMT reveal. During October, UK car output rose by 6 per cent, 31.1 per cent over the year-to-date, while commercial vehicle production rose 47.1 per cent in October; 39 per cent over the year-to-date. However, October also saw engine production [...]

THE SMMT has joined forces with both professional and student photographers to collate a unique photo gallery. The collection of photographs provides a rare ‘behind the scenes’ look at the UK motor industry – some so rare that they have never been seen by the public. The aim of the gallery is ‘to challenge existing [...]

FORD was once again the clear winner in October’s new car registration figures with the Fiesta taking top honours. 6,024 Fiestas were registered last month, with 91,965 units sold in the year-to-date. However, October’s poor sales figures are evident with the Fiesta. In September, more than 19,000 Fiestas were registered – almost 13,000 more compared [...]

GOVERNMENT spending cuts was the reason for October’s slump in new car sales says the RMI. Yesterday the SMMT released figures which revealed that new cars were down 22.2 per cent in October – the worst figures since May 2009. Concerns amongst buyers about Government spending cuts and the economy in gerneral were the reasons, [...]

NEW car registrations plunged by 22.2 percent to 131,495 units during the month of October says SMMT. October’s figures are the worst since May 2009. The new car market fell for a fourth successive month, while the figures also suggest that the October market was 2.4 per cent ahead of 2008′s low figures, and on [...]

THE SMMT and the RMI have joined forces with the Carbon Trust in an attempt to help dealers be more green. The project aims to help motor retailers reduce their carbon emissions by 50,000 tonnes each year and reduce their annual energy bills by more than £6m. The Carbon Trust will visit 30 dealers to [...]

LATEST production figures for September have been released by the SMMT – and the news is good. September saw overall car production up 5.8 per cent with the UK making 126,548 cars, while year-to-date figures rose 35 per cent to 937,891 cars. Of those 126,548 cars, 98,586 were exports – a 30.9 per cent rise [...]

CAR dealers have hit back at a report by Which? Car that claims to reveal dirty tricks of the car trade. The investigation by the consumer association set out to advise buyers on how to steer themselves around ‘salesmen’s hype’. It said dealers use code such as ‘high-balling’, ‘ankle tapping’ and ‘time of the month’ [...]

THE British International Motor Show will NOT be making a comeback in 2012, says the SMMT. After the cancellation of the show in 2010 due to ‘the economic downturn and unprecedented challenges facing the industry’, there were hopes for the show’s return in two years’ time. But despite ‘thorough consultations’ with the industry the decision has been [...]

RADIO 4 Today presenter John Humphrys has been revealed as guest speaker at next months’ SMMT Dinner. The Mastermind host will address car dealers and industry chiefs at the Park Lane event on 23 November. Also speaking at the event will be SMMT President (and Ford of Britain chairman) Joe Greenwell and chief executive Paul [...]

FORD was the clear winner in the 60-plate new car registration stakes with the Fiesta leading the pack. Over 19,000 Fiestas were registered last month – almost 5000 more units than the next-best Vauxhall Corsa. Vauxhall also took third place though, with the new Astra coming ahead of the Ford Focus. This reinforces the Vauxhall [...]

NEW car registrations plunged by 8.9 percent during the key month of September report latest SMMT figures. This is 1 percent better than the SMMT forecast in July… but still fell to the the second lowest volume for the month in over a decade. It comes on the back of a wider decline over the [...]

GOVERNMENT business minister Mark Prisk is tonight hosting 70 car makers at the British Embassy in Paris. He has invited them, on the eve of the Paris Motor Show, to ‘take a fresh look at what the UK can offer potential investors’. He will be joined by Automotive Council co-chairman Richard Parry-Jones, who explained the [...]

GOVERNMENT migration limits must exclude intra-company transfers if UK PLC is not to be penalised. The SMMT has warned that capping the number of migrants could penalise UK competitiveness. This would mean highly skilled migrants may not be able to move into or out of the UK if caps, lottery allocations or stringent eligibility requirements [...]

CAR production in the UK is continuing to grow strongly with a 37 percent rise across all areas in August. This means the year-to-date increase in cars built stands at 41 percent. The stats are all the more impressive when you remember that scrappage was well under way last year, and leading to a good [...]

FORD once again topped the sales charts for August, with the Fiesta taking its familiar number 1 position. This is despite August being the least popular month of the year to buy a new car in. SMMT stats show August usually only accounts for around 3 percent of UK new car sales, so the 55k [...]