F&I Management & Training

Gates, the Hertfordshire based dealer group ranked 89 in the latest Motor Trader Top 200, has opened the doors to its new Mitsubishi outlet in Stevenage.

Situated opposite the group’s Ford dealership in Gunnelswood Road, Gates Mitsubishi is the group’s second outlet for the Japanese brand.

DATED: 17.11.06

FEED: MT

Car supermarket Motorpoint has become the first retail motor group in the UK to become a supporter of RoadSafe, the road safety partnership of leading companies in the motor and transport industries.

Motorpoint will work closely with RoadSafe to promote and extend the RoadSafe objectives and road safety messages to some 30,000 customers that buy cars and vans from the group’s four locations throughout the UK.

The company will also develop campaigns to explain and improve the awareness of active safety systems in vehicles and their ability to prevent road accidents.

DATED: 17.11.06

FEED: MT

Speculation is rife that Porsche is lining up a takeover of Volkswagen.

This comes after the luxury car brand raised its stake in Europe's biggest car maker from 21.2 per cent to 27.4 per cent yesterday.

The Porsche board has reportedly given permission to raise that again to 29.9 per cent, which is just below the point where it needs to make a formal takeover.

Porsche has also extended the contract of its chief executive Dr Wendelin Wiedeking for a further five years. The move came on the same day that Porsche revealed a 70 per cent rise in annual profits.

DATED: 17.11.06

FEED: MT

Europcar has acquired the Alamo and National brands in Europe from their US owner Vanguard for £450m.

Europcar is already the biggest car rental company in Europe and this deal with make it the biggest player in the UK market with a 26 per cent share.

DATED: 17.11.06

FEED: MT

Paragon Automotive, vehicle processing and logistics expert, has announced an expansion with the purchase of a new site in Grimsby and investment in 15 new vehicle transporters.

The new site is located near Humberside port, and increases the company’s vehicle storage capacity to 160 acres, and vehicle processing facility to 250,000 sq ft.

DATED: 17.11.06

FEED: MT

A report has dispelled the myth that used car salesmen are the kings of jargon. According to research from used car retailer Network Q, that ‘honour’ goes to mobile phone sales staff, who are seen as the worst offenders when it comes to information overload.

Used car salesmen were given fifth spot. The study found that over 70 per cent of the public were overwhelmed by sales jargon from retailers. It warned that businesses were in danger of driving more customers away from the high street and onto the web.

DATED: 17.11.06

FEED: MT

Trend Tracker has warned that car makers may need to subsidise used car finance as well as new car deals to enable their franchise networks to compete more effectively with the rising number of used car superstores.

Trend Tracker's study showed that as car quality has improved, consumers are less willing to pay a premium for cars bought from franchise networks’ approved used car programmes.

Author Robert Macnab said: “Car makers need to re-invigorate their almost identical approved used car schemes to defend volume from the superstores’ competition and maintain the higher prices and margins needed.”

DATED: 17.11.06

FEED: MT

Despite its link with vehicle excise duty, company car taxation, congestion charging and wider environmental concerns, emissions levels of new cars are still not a major consideration for customers researching and buying new cars.

According to research undertaken by Newcarinfo.co.uk, a new website providing data for all cars on sale in the UK, visitors to its site listed price, power output and fitted equipment as the top three search criteria when choosing a new car.

Car emissions rated a lowly 31 and even child safety was not a key priority as it was only the eleventh most searched criteria.

DATED: 17.11.06

FEED: MT