Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Chrysler UK appoints Senior Managers
Chrysler UK has appointed Jonathan Shaw as chief financial officer and Rob Hatfield as its new sales director with immediate effect.
Shaw has worked in the motor industry for over 10 years and joins Chrysler UK from Nissan Motor (GB) where he held the position of finance manager.
Hatfield has been in the motor industry for over 24 years, holding roles in sales, marketing and operations management. His latest role was at Fiat Auto (UK), where he was logistics and supply chain director responsible for all sales forecasting and production planning.
Federico Goretti, Chrysler UK managing director, said: “The UK motor industry faces tough trading times ahead and it is paramount that we have a first class team in place to drive the business forward.
“Jonathan and Rob bring to Chrysler a broad range of auto manufacturer experience and will play an invaluable role ensuring future success for Chrysler in the UK.”
DATED: 10.12.08
FEED: AM
Carmaker considering buying Volvo
Indian carmaker Mahindra and Mahindra is reportedly considering buying Volvo.
The company, which is known for making utility vehicles, is discussing with private equity players, including Cerberus and Texas Pacific Group, to place a joint bid for the Swedish firm, reports the Hindustan Times.
M and M said they do not comment on market speculation.
Meanwhile The Times says one of China's biggest carmakers, Changan, is talking to Ford about possibly buying Volvo.
If the deal goes through, it will mark Ford's exit from European brands.
The bid value for Volvo is not known although international media reports say Ford wants about $6 billion for it.
DATED: 10.12.08
FEED: AM
Richard Alexander buyout leaves 40 jobless
Administrators for Richard Alexander Group told 40 staff from its former Otley site they are redundant.
They also gave the grim news that they would not be paid their November wages.
AM reported last week that Sytner bought the dealer group from the administrators, but the deal did not include one VW dealership at Otley, which Richard Alexander Group had closed two weeks previously, saying it was relocating to Menston.
One former technician told a local newspaper: "We’ve been treated appallingly. I don’t think the Menston site was ever in the mix yet they’ve kept us working, sending us to other sites, when they must have known they couldn’t pay us.
“They’re saying we can claim back some compensation from the government but it’s capped at £330 a week. I won’t be getting my full salary back.”
Richard Alexander Group's managing director, Richard Smith, has not joined Sytner, as previously reported.
DATED: 10.12.08
FEED: AM
Head sought for Porsche Retail Group
Chris Caygill has resigned as general manager of Porsche Retail Group.
He leaves the manufacturer-owned dealer group at the end of the year.
Porsche GB confirmed that Caygill has resigned, and said a replacement is yet to be appointed.
Porsche Retail Group is one of the most profitable motor retailers in the UK.
DATED: 10.12.08
FEED: AM
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
VW seeks State funding guarantees
The guarantees would cover refinancing of car loans, a VW spokesman said without specifying what amount of guarantees it was seeking from the government's nearly 500 billion euro ($642.7 billion) package to stabilize the financial sector.
Premium carmaker BMW said it was still deciding whether to seek guarantees for its banking unit, while rival Daimler said it had no plans for such a step at this stage but may now reconsider its position.
General Motors' German business Opel last month sought 1 billion euros in guarantees from the German federal reserve.
UK car parts firm Wagon collapses
The UK arm of leading European car parts business, Wagon Automotive, is to go into administration after talks on a new funding deal with its banks failed.
Wagon Automotive employs 500 workers in the West Midlands and supplies parts to Ford, Honda, General Motors and Nissan.
The firm said it hoped some of its plants in other countries would be able to avoid going into administration.
Birmingham-based Wagon employs over 4,000 workers across Europe, and has struggled due to the car market slump.
Several of its customers have cut back production or temporarily shut plants in order to reduce their own costs.
The corporate restructuring group, Zolfo Cooper, is expected to act as Wagon's UK administrator.
In a statement the company said: "Decisions on the overseas group companies have not been made."
"It is anticipated that some may be able to continue to trade without needing insolvency protection," it said.
The firm has plants in Coventry and Walsall.
Funding problems
Shares in Wagon were suspended in October after it reported a "steep deterioration" in the European car market and said it was in funding talks with its lenders.
The firm - which is controlled by the American billionaire Wilbur Ross - failed to persuade its banks to led it more money.
The banks, led by the Royal Bank of Scotland and including Lloyds TSB, both of which are now largely controlled by the government, declined to contribute 12m euros (£10.3m; $15.2m) to a 50m-euro funding package.
Wagon's carmaking clients had put up 30m euros and Mr Ross was understood to have been prepared to contribute 10m euros through the purchase of one of its subsidiaries.
The funding package would have kept the firm running for another three months. The banks had already agreed loans totalling 155m euros during the summer.
The Chancellor, Alistair Darling, is set to chair the inaugural meeting of the Lending Panel later this week, which was set up in the pre-Budget report to monitor closely banks' lending practices to companies and individuals.
The company traces its roots back to Wagon Repairs, a business set up at the end of World War I to maintain railway rolling stock.
BMW sales dip more than a quarter
German carmaker BMW has seen its global monthly sales fall by more than a quarter, as consumers tighten their belts amid the economic slowdown.
BMW brand sales fell 26.2% in November from the same month a year ago, said the firm, while sales of its UK-based Mini subsidiary declined 20.8%.
The firm has already said its Mini plant in Oxford will close on Friday for an extended Christmas shutdown.
It is closing the factory for four weeks instead of the usual two.
November sales at BMW's luxury Rolls-Royce arm were down 18.5%.
For the whole BMW group, sales fell 25.4% to 96,570 in November, compared with a much slower decrease of 8.3% to 113,005 in October.
Profit fall
"During the period to the end of November the BMW group performed better than the overall premium segment, and has increased its market share in the segment," said BMW board member Ian Robertson.
Last month BMW reported a sharp fall in its profits and said it could not provide a forecast for 2008 and beyond because of the uncertain economic climate.
The German firm said net profit fell 63% for the three months to September to 298m euros ($375.5m; £236.5m).
During the quarter, sales dropped 9% to 12.6bn euros, from 14bn euros in the same three month period a year earlier.
Almost all of the world's carmakers have seen sales fall sharply since the summer, and Detroit's "Big Three" firms - General Motors, Ford and Chrysler - have asked the US government for $34bn (£23bn; 26.6bn euros) in emergency loans.
Car sales slump means long break
Workers at Vauxhall's car plants are being given up to one month off over Christmas because of falling sales.
The site at Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, will be closed from Monday until 12 January, while Luton employees will not return until 5 January.
A spokesman for parent company General Motors (GM) said it was extending its traditional two-week Christmas break because of a lack of demand for cars.
Vauxhall employs about 5,000 people in the UK, including 2,200 in Cheshire.
In October, the factory in Ellesmere Port stopped production for 14 days because of falling sales in Europe.
Car sales in the UK have fallen 37% when compared with the same time last year. That is an increase from October, when the comparative fall was 27%.
"It's a decline that is part of the huge global credit crunch, which means we are building less cars because we have less customers," said a GM spokesman.
"So we are tuning our production to meet the [current] demand.
Union officials at Ellesmere Port estimate the one-month break will mean a drop in production of 6,000 cars.
Workers will be paid during the extra holiday but normally management expect them to make up the time when there is an increase in demand.
Employees now fear job losses or shorter working weeks may be considered by the company in the new year.
GM did not discuss future plans, but the spokesman added: "It looks like the market will continue to decline so were going into 2009 planning for a lot less car sales during 2009. The experts say it could come back in early 2010 but we'll have to wait and see."
The extended shutdown comes after company reprensentatives, along with other British-based car-makers and trade body, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, met Business Secretary Lord Mandelson.
During the meeting, Lord Mandelson was urged to encourage liquidity back in the finance market, which drives a lot of new car sales, GM said.
New Managing Director for Chevrolet UK
Chevrolet UK has appointed a new Managing Director ahead of a year that sees two more brand new products set to join the company's line-up.
Mark Terry, 42, replaces outgoing MD Rory Harvey, who has moved within GM UK and Ireland to become Aftersales Director across the company's multibrand portfolio. During Rory's time in charge Chevrolet sales grew 27.6% in 2007 and were up again by a further 6.5% through to the end of September 2008.
Mark joined Chevrolet from Saab GB, where he worked in the role of Operations Director from 2006 until 2008, having previously worked as Saab's national sales manager and in regional sales before that. He has been a Saab employee since 1987, with a background in engineering as well as sales.
Speaking of his appointment, he said: "Chevrolet is a core GM brand and to be part of a successful growth phase is an exciting prospect. From a brand point of view there is nothing better than Chevrolet to meet the demands of modern social and automotive developments, and our product expansion over the coming years will prove this.
"Over the coming years, my ambition is to establish Chevrolet not just as the car of choice in the value sector, but for a multitude of customers in many key segments such as MPV, SUV, youth, and family."
Despite challenging times in the motor industry, Mark remains buoyant about Chevrolet's future prospects. "Chevrolet is rightly placed to take advantage of the current economic challenges," he added. "Not only do we have great value cars that appeal to a more cost sensitive consumer, but also, in the SUV market, our Captiva offers exceptional value and specification for customers looking to consolidate their financial position."
Mark expresses excitement, too, about Chevrolet's forthcoming products. "Personally, I'm thrilled about Camaro as it is an exciting extension to Chevrolet's brand and heritage," he said. "The Volt is also going to be fantastic for Chevrolet, building awareness and exemplifying GM's environmental credentials, while the production version of the Beat concept will underscore our emergence into a more fun and youthful market."
His first major activity with Chevrolet will be the launch of the Cruze - Chevrolet's new global compact car, which arrives in the UK in the first half of 2009. A second new Chevrolet will be unveiled later in the year, and will again be a global leader for GM in terms of its architecture.
He takes up his role as Chevrolet UK Managing Director with immediate effect.
Legal challenge on HBoS Takeover
The Competition Appeal Tribunal is considering whether the Government was right to bypass competition concerns on the takeover of Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) by Lloyds TSB.
The case is being brought by an organisation calling itself the Merger Action Group (MAG).
HBOS said it was confident the deal would be approved. HBOS shareholders will vote on the £12.2bn Lloyds rescue deal on December 12 and the approval from the Competition Appeal is expected to be made before then.
MAG is a group of businessmen, bank customers and shareholders who feel that allowing Lloyds TSB to buy HBOS will be bad for Scotland's economy.
It says that business secretary Lord Mandelson's decision to allow the deal to go ahead was based on new legislation that had not been in place at the time it was announced.
DATED: 09.12.08
FEED: AM
Honda on Eco-Drive
Honda has appointed creative agency Wieden & Kennedy to develop an environmental advertising plan using its £100m-plus budget across Europe and Africa.
The Japanese car manufacturer has set itself a target of becoming the automotive industry's most environmentally friendly company by 2015.
Honda has appointed W&K Amsterdam, following a five-way pitch, to work across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Russia.
The agency's first task in a wider, long-term strategy is to launch a new hybrid car, the Honda Insight, across Europe with a major TV, press and digital ad campaign in the new year.
W&K London, which started working with Honda in 2002, has created a string of award-winning TV commercials including "Cog", "Choir" and "Impossible Dream", as well as print ads such as "Banana" and "Perfume".
The agency was also responsible for the TV ad "Grrr", featuring an animated eco-friendly diesel engine and the jingle "Hate something, change something", and "Sense", which showed lights dimming and brightening as a car drives past to dramatise a hybrid model.
"Where we want to be by 2015 is the environmental leader. I mean that in a credible sense, not a greenwash sense," Chris Brown, the head of marketing for Honda Motor Europe, told The Guardian.
In the UK, the Advertising Standards Authority has been on a crusade to stamp out misleading eco-claims in the increasing number of environmentally-themed ads being run by car manufacturers.
"We want to change the conversation [about eco-ads] completely. At the moment everything is heavy-handed, preachy and over-whelming. We want it to be positive, optimistic, joyful, powerful," Brown added.
DATED: 09.12.08
FEED: AM
