News - Page 1585

Appalling weather conditions failed to dampen the spirits of the Bentley team at the weekend's Le Mans 24 Hour Race having made a return to the sport in triumphant style.

A small number of leading figures in the motor industry have been recognised in the Queen's Birthday Honours

Vauxhall is targeting the independent garage service sector and its own dealer network with a promotion to help its Trade Club members and MasterFit Centres achieve cost savings across its parts and accessory ranges this summer.

Goodfellows, the Walsall Peugeot dealership, has become one of the first in the country to adopt the manufacturer's new corporate identity.

Manheim Auctions, Bristol hosted the site's first multi-manufacturer sale of nearly 200 vehicles from seven different vendors including Alphabet, Daewoo Cars, Fiat Auto (UK), Ford, Kia Cars (UK), Mitsubishi and Volkswagen.

Alfa Romeo's new 147 made its auction debut at a special sale held at BCA Nottingham, where it proved the star of the show averaging nearly 90% of list price.

Smart, the wholly-owned subsidiary of DaimlerChrysler, is to continue its exploration of alternative ways of selling cars - and seek closer links with Mercedes dealerships.

The RAC has been rated Britain's most satisfying roadside rescue and recovery organisation in the latest annual survey from JD Power and Associates, regaining the title from the AA.

Delphi Aftermarket Operations has launched a new scheme to offer courtesy cars from as little as £5 a day.

Two models in the new second-generation BMW 3-series Compact range are to go on sale in the UK on August 16.

Senior white collar redundancies are expected to follow the announcement of a radical management restructure at Mitsubishi Motors.

The first fruits of BMW Group's £22 million skills training programme at its Hams Hall, Warwickshire, engine plant have been harvested in the form of a batch of NVQ awards to employees.

Britain's fourth largest motor retailer has opened a £1.8 million Toyota dealership – the first in the country to use the Japanese car maker's 'new retail concept'.

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Confidence in the used car market is approaching record levels, according to Cap, with sales almost 10% higher in May than the same month last year.

BMW's new car sales in May reached record levels, with the company selling more than 80,000 cars worldwide for the first time - an increase of 7.9% compared to last year.

Lloyds UDT and Chartered Trust will mext month launch their new Black Horse brand. From July 5 this new brand will replace existing ones in a phased programme over the next few months.

Kia Cars (UK) has set itself the target of achieving a 1% share of the UK new car market by the end of 2004 through steady growth backed up by extremely competitively priced new models.

Autobytel UK's CEO Kevin Turnbull has been made its chairman with greater responsiblity for the organisation's European operations.

The latest auction prices from BCA, Manheim, Brightwells, Cars Direct and Premier Motorauctions Leeds

Information solutions company Experian has teamed up with creditor insurer Pinnacle to launch a new “platinum” indemnity insurance option for Experian's Car Data Check, with double the term of standard cover and up to 50% greater return in cases of total loss.

Land Rover has taken on an extra 200 workers in preparation for the expected demand for the Freelander in the US when it's launched in the autumn.

The Labour government is being urged to make transport a high priority in its new term in office.

Citroen is planning a four-year product offensive in an effort to increase European sales by more than 30% to 1.5m cars a year fuelled by a £1.8 billion per annum investment plan.

Audi has revealed the Audi A4 Avant (pictured left) which it says is the first of an extended family of variants based on its compact saloon. The estate will reach UK dealers in September.

Autobytel has launched In-drive, a package said to provide “the reassurance of having a company car” for people who opted out of fleet provision.

Jean-Gabriel Carlier has been named Renault Retail Group UK managing director, replacing Bob Bennett who has left the company.

A fleet maintenance and management company has criticised Mercedes-Benz dealerships in London after research revealed labour rates were as high as £100 an hour.

Motoreasy, the one-stop shop motoring services operation which collapsed in August, is relaunching this summer after Castrol provided the investment capital.

BMW is the most popular manufacturer in three out of the nine classes of car, analysis of Auto Trader searches has revealed. Both the 3 and 5 Series models gained more than twice as many searches as their nearest rivals.