F&I Management & Training

JOHN RUSSELL (57) vice president and managing director of Harley Davidson's European arm is to join black cab-maker, Manganese Bronze as chief executive on March 5. He replaces Ian Pickering who left last July. Mr Russell began his automotive career with Unipart in 1972 and then spent 6-years at Peugeot. He was then sales director at Rover Group before joining Harley Davidson in 1998.

DATED: 23.02.07

FEED: AW

BOTH VOLKSWAGEN and Renault have declared they have no interest in buying Chrysler in the US.
"There are no such considerations at the moment," said Volkswagen which has its mini van built in the US by Chrysler.
The Wall Street Journal reports a similar response from Renault-Nissan.

DATED: 23.02.07

FEED: AW

THE HENDY Group is currently building a new dealership on the Manor Bakeries site at Eastleigh, Southampton.
Around 6.5-acres of the site have been earmarked for the retailer.
The company told Autowired that Ford 'plus other' franchises would be established on the new site. Details of the other franchises are to be announced later.
The new dealership is set to be the flagship for the group.

DATED: 23.02.07

FEED: AW

VERTU MOTORS is about to make its first acquisition.
It said this morning that it was in discussions about a possible reverse takeover which would involve an equity fundraising.
It has requested the London Stock Exchange to suspend trading with immediate effect.
Shares in the company, which was created by former Reg Vardy directors, closed at 101-1/2p, yesterday, a 16% gain since last Friday. At yesterday's price the company is valued at around £47.5m.

DATED: 23.02.07

FEED: AW

Motor sport group Prodrive has emerged as a late front runner to buy Aston Martin. Reports indicated that owner David Richards was understood to have submitted an offer of around £450m. The reports said that Richards was working on a joint bid with a number of private investors, including Naeema Capital which has submitted a final round bid. Richards also finds himself up against Doughty Hanson, the buy-out group and Simon Halabi, the Syrian-born property tycoon in the fight to buy the luxury car marque put up for sale by Ford.

DATED: 22.02.07

FEED: MT

Infiniti, the luxury Nissan brand, has moved a step closer to being launched in the European market. This follows the brand appointing Wayne Bruce as the communications director of its new European operation. Infiniti plans to distribute its products in Europe through a dedicated sales and service network that will begin operations during 2008. Since the brand’s debut in 1989, it has sold more than one million units globally. The last two years has seen it launch in Korea, Taiwan, Russia and the Gulf. China and Europe are next on the cards.

DATED: 22.02.07

FEED: MT

Honda has defended the latest extension to London’s congestion charge zone. The brand argued it would lead to massive growth in the adoption of cleaner hybrid cars. Honda is set to cash in on the extension with sales forcasts predicting there will be over 6,500 more low-emission hybrid cars on London’s roads by 2008. The brand is trebling supply of its petrol-electric Civic Hybrid in the UK to 3,000 this year. The Japanese marque will also launch a concept hybrid sports car in March, with plans to take it to market in 2009.

DATED: 20.02.07

FEED: MT

The new car market in Western Europe was up slightly by 1 per cent in January compared with the same month last year, according to figures from Jato Dynamics. The analyst pointed to manufacturers boasting significant new model introductions as the ones which benefited from the greatest growth in market share. While VW remained Europe’s best selling brand, Toyota saw its share rise 22 per cent thanks to the Aygo, new Yaris and Rav 4 models. Opel/Vauxhall’s Corsa accounted for an 8 per cent improvement with Fiat's successful new Grande Punto and Panda models boosting sales close to 5 per cent.

DATED: 20.02.07

FEED: MT

The UK’s motorists are calling on car manufacturers to provide more information on the environmental impact of their cars. Research by automotive property firm Gilbran found that 86 per cent of car buyers wanted standardised information on how green their car is. A further half of drivers claimed brands did not supply sufficient information while 18 per cent said the current green information was not useful.

DATED: 20.02.07

FEED: MT

THE FAMILY-owned Sandicliffe Group has opened a new outlet at New Basford to sell new Kias and Fiats alongside more than 100 used cars.
The £1m investment at Vernon Road makes Sandicliffe the city's only official Fiat and Kia dealership. It is headed by Kia and Fiat brand manager Darin Quaintance, supported by sales manager Laurence Dyer and a team of nine sales executives.
"This is a very exciting time for Sandicliffe, and the team and I am delighted to be part of it," said Quaintance.
"Not only are we now the only dealer for both Kia and Fiat in the area, but we will also be providing service and parts for these marques - a welcome thought for the 10,000 Fiat drivers in Nottingham, I'm sure."

DATED: 20.02.07

FEED: AW

HYUNDAI MOTORS is the first car-maker to distance itself from speculation that it could be in the running to bid for Chrysler.
"We are not considering to buy Chrysler because our hands are full," Hyundai spokesman, Jake Jang, said.
But, only two days after Daimler Chrysler AG said it was considering all options for its American Chrysler division, unconfirmed reports abound that JP Morgan Chase & Co., Daimler Chrysler's investment banker, is to issue a prospectus to potential buyers fairly soon, and that the German company is already in talks with GM about a possible Chrysler deal.
A Daimler Chrysler spokesman, however, declined to comment on the reports and Bob Lutz, GM's vice chairman, did likewise.
Analysts such as Global Insight and the Center for Automotive Research at Ann Arbor, both talk cautiously about a GM buy-out.

DATED: 20.02.07

FEED: AW

US investment bank JP Morgan is set to begin a £7bn auction of Chrysler, the struggling U.S. arm of DaimlerChrysler this week. Interested parties include GM, which is already in preliminary talks with Chrysler’s parent about an acquisition of all or part of Chrysler. They are reported to be particularly interested in its Jeep and Dodge brands. Korean firm Hyundai is also on the list of interested bidders. Last week, DaimlerChrysler said it would cut 13,000 jobs in North America and indicated it could sell or spin off the unit, which it bought nine years ago.

DATED: 20.02.07

FEED: MT

Truckmaker Iveco and Tata Motors have announced a memorandum of understanding to analyse the feasibility of cooperation in the commercial market vehicles sector. The agreement will focus on developments in engineering, manufacturing as well as the sourcing and distribution of products. Both parties will set up a joint steering committee with the intention of entering an alliance in the coming months. Tata managing director Ravi Kant, said: “We are truly excited about the potential this cooperation offers, complementing each other’s strengths in products and across markets."

DATED: 20.02.07

FEED: MT