F&I Management & Training

Franchise dealers under threat from fleet switch to independents The traditional franchised dealer network, which car manufacturers depend on as their key channel to market, is under strain as a result of a growing fall-off in aftersales business, according to the '2007 Business Car Perceptions Report' published by business and management consultants BearingPoint. It reveals that fleet servicing business, which provides an important source of revenues for car manufacturers and franchised dealers alike, is being lost to non-franchised dealers.

DATED: 19.09.07

FEED: AW

Fuel duty increase - hold off to help petrol retailers 'With both oil prices and interest rates on the rise, the Government must postpone the fuel duty increase scheduled for 1 October, or risk putting undue financial strain on motorists and petrol retailers alike,' according to Ray Holloway, director of the RMI Petrol Retailers Association (PRA). The upcoming two-pence-per-litre increase was announced in March as part of the Budget, but deferred until the autumn. Duty has already increased twice in the last ten months, with increases that coincided with the Pre-Budget Report in December 2006, and with the Budget in March 2007.

DATED: 19.09.07

FEED: AW

Long-term trend data from BCA's Pulse Report underlines the fact that the true market performance of fleet and lease cars is generally not equivalent to CAP Clean. With a data set representing several hundreds of thousands of vehicles going back to the beginning of 2004, fleet and lease cars averaged 97% of CAP Clean over the 42-month period. The highest quarterly average achieved in the period was 98.4% in the autumn of 2005, while the lowest was the 2nd Quarter figure in 2004, which averaged 95.2%.

DATED: 19.09.07

FEED: AW

The most important car in Jaguar's history, the all-new XF will have its UK dual venue debut at MPH '07 this November in London and Birmingham. The mid-sized executive car marks a radical departure for the company and is the start of a revolution in Jaguar styling. The XF will join the Aston Martin DBS in making its debut at the annual motoring extravaganza. The new cars will feature in the live motoring theatre, fronted for the first time by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May.

DATED: 18.09.07

FEED: AW

Four vehicle manufacturers, DaimlerChrysler, Fiat, General Motors and Toyota, have been told by the European Commission to provide technical information about car repairs to all independent garages in the European Union. A Commission investigation found that inadequate access to the full range of technical information could drive independent repairers from the market and that the agreements between the carmakers and their authorised repairers would therefore infringe EC Treaty rules on restrictive business practices.

DATED: 18.09.07

FEED: AW

A raft of 'green' transport taxes have been backed by the Liberal Democrats at this week's party conference in Brighton, designed to put Britain on a carbon neutral footing by 2050. Additionally, the Liberal Democrats have backed calls to ban all petrol cars by 2040. The taxes include:
An increase in the top rate of Vehicle Excise Duty from £300 to £2,000, while the lowest two bands would be zero-rated Freight companies paying tolls to transport goods by roads.
The cash raised would be ploughed into a future 'transport fund' - road tolls, it is estimated, would raise £600m - which would be used to raise a capital sum of £12 billion extra to spend on rail projects, including a new high north-south high speed line. The tax-raising move was part of a discussion around a Liberal Democrat paper entitled 'Towards Carbon Free Transport'. The paper set out a target of zero emissions from cars by 2040 and said that positive incentives to tempt people away from cars were not enough to achieve the carbon cuts needed. The 'green' policies will now become part of the Liberal Democrat manifesto at the next general election


DATED: 18.09.07

FEED: AW

'The motor sector has become the target of choice for political parties jostling to be the greenest during this year's conference season, and the Treasury's leak of plans for a £2,000 tax on new cars, prior to an official announcement as part of the Pre-Budget Report, is another cynical attempt to score points,' according to Sue Robinson, director of the National Franchised Dealers Association (NFDA), the body representing franchised car dealers. A leaked Treasury paper has revealed plans for a £2,000 'Purchase Tax' on new, higher emission vehicles bought from franchised car dealers, linked to an increase in road tax. Those buying vehicles with lower emissions would still pay the tax, but receive a rebate.

DATED: 18.09.07

FEED: AW

There was controversy at the Frankfurt Show as wildfire rumours suggested that one of the two Chinese exhibitors at the show was about to be thrown out, following objections by western car makers over allegations of design piracy. A media scrum ensued, though no eviction notice was serves on China Automobile Deutschland, the German-based importer that is trying to turn itself into the "Aldi or Lidl of the car business". At the centre of the storm were two car models, the Jonway UFO and the Sheunghuang CEO. The former looks like a clone of the Toyota RAV4; the latter bears more than a passing resemblance to the BMW X3. In China, this sort of "design piracy" is rife, but allowable.

DATED: 18.09.07

FEED: AW

Drivers could be paying £1 a litre for fuel in the next few weeks as a surge in crude oil prices is expected to feed through to the pumps. The renewed pressure on the price of petrol and diesel - currently averaging 95.2p a litre and 96.7p a litre respectively in the UK, according to the AA - has prompted calls for the Chancellor to freeze a planned 2p rise in fuel duty announced in the spring Budget and due to be introduced on October 1

DATED: 18.09.07

FEED: AW

Meridian Motor Group's Toyota Centres in Knaresborough, York and Bridlington are to be renamed as 'Vantage Toyota'. The re-brand follows the company's purchase of three Toyota Centres in Colne, Blackburn and Preston from the Vantage Group. Uniting all six dealerships under one brand will give Meridian an even stronger foothold in the Northern Toyota market.

DATED: 18.09.07

FEED: AW