Friday, December 04, 2009
UK car sales up 57.6% in November
UK car sales rose by 57.6% in November compared with a year earlier, industry figures have shown.
There were 158,082 cars registered last month, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said, up from a "weak" November 2008.
So far this year, 1.84 million cars have been sold in the UK, 8.8% lower than at the same point last year.
The SMMT said the continuing impact of the UK government's scrappage scheme was helping to drive car sales.
New car sales have increased year-on-year in each of the past five months.
"The increase in new car registrations in November reflects the positive impact of the scrappage incentive scheme, customers avoiding the VAT increase in January and the very difficult conditions we experienced a year ago," said Paul Everitt, SMMT chief executive.
'Uncertain'
The SMMT said that the outlook for the car industry was "uncertain" when the scrappage scheme ends and VAT returns to 17.5%, as well as new first year road tax rates coming into effect in April.
"Much will rest on the wider economic recovery," the body said.
GM plans new small car for India
US car giant General Motors plans to form a new venture with its Chinese partner, SAIC, to focus on the small car market in India.
It aims to produce the vehicles within India itself, making SAIC the first major Chinese company to so do.
GM has said it wants to use India as a small car production base for export.
At the same time, GM announced it would turn over 1% of its biggest Chinese joint venture to SAIC - which would give the Chinese majority ownership.
In a statement, SAIC chairman Hu Maoyuan said: "SAIC and GM are in a strong position to introduce [vehicles] that will satisfy the needs of consumers in India and other high-potential global markets."
New bid made for Volvo
A group led by a former Ford executive has submitted a revised bid to buy the Volvo Cars unit.
The Wall Street Journal has reported that the bid has come from the Crown Consortium, which is led by former Ford director Michael Dingman and Shamel Rushwin, previously a Chrysler executive.
The consortium had been seen as an outsider after Ford nominated Chinese carmaker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group as its preferred bidder for Volvo.
However, WSJ sources said Crown had been encouraged by Ford - if it could find the necessary funding, which is believed to be around $1.8 billion. Ford declined to comment.
GM names Reilly as GM Europe President
False dawn for auto industry as new car sales soar?
On the face of it, the latest UK car sales figures look like great news for the beleaguered auto industry: a total of 158,062 new vehicles were registered in November, a 57.6% increase on the same month last year. However, before we get too excited, it’s worth remembering a couple of things. For one thing, last November new car sales suffered their biggest month-on-month drop of the downturn, so we’re comparing against a very low base. What’s more, people are clearly trying to get in before the end of the Government’s various stimulus schemes early next year, which is also boosting sales artificially. So do carmakers really have any cause for optimism yet?
In truth, the headline figure looks good because car sales were in the doldrums this time last year; by way of context, last month’s sales were about the same level as in November 2007. All in all, about 1.84m new cars have been driven off the forecourts in the first 11 months of 2009, which about 9% down on the same period in 2008. That’s not great, but the industry will tell you that it’s an awful lot better than they feared it would be. (Apparently the Ford Fiesta was the biggest selling car of the month for the tenth time this year - small is clearly beautiful in Austerity Britain).
The principal conclusion we can draw from this is that the Government’s efforts to stimulate demand have obviously worked, at least to some extent. The ‘cash for bangers’ scrappage scheme has clearly persuaded people to trade in their old cars for new ones – it accounted for about a fifth of last month’s total sales. Cutting VAT to 15% has also helped, since that’s quite a decent saving on the cost of a new set of wheels.
The problem with both of these temporary schemes, of course, is that they’re temporary. VAT goes back to 17.5% in January, and the scrappage scheme ends in February (unless industry lobbyists succeed in getting it extended again) – at which point car sales might drop off a cliff faster than Thelma & Louise’s Thunderbird. Time will tell whether these stimulus measures have created additional demand, or just persuaded people to bring forward purchases they would have made anyway. If it’s the latter (as would be our fear), that’s not necessarily a bad thing. But it does mean the car industry could face an equally torrid year in 2010.
DATED: 04.12.09
FEED: MgT
Surrey dealer in court for mis-selling vehicles
A Surrey used car salesman sold vehicles with faulty mileage and worthless warranties to unsuspecting customers, a county court heard.Witnesses told the Guildford court how Godstone Cars owner Mark Phillimore failed to comply with terms of warranties and left customers with cars requiring expensive repairs.
Trading Standards led the civil proceedings against the businessman, who denies charges of breaching the Trade Descriptions Acts and Business Names Act.
The agency told the court it had more than 100 complaints against Phillimore and its dealings with him went back as far as 2004.
Phillimore used a range of trading names after attracting bad publicity including Broughton Group, Godstone Cars and Prestige and Performance.
Prosecuting barrister Jerome Wilcox said: "The complaints continue. He's the sixth most complained-about business in the whole of Surrey, out of approximately 60,000
DATED: 04.12.09
FEED: AM
Overfinch creates new factory sales facility
Overfinch has created a new sales facility at its factory to help customers choose from its range of Range Rover enhancements.
The move follows changes to its distribution network, appointing Park's Motor Group in Hamilton, Scotland and terminating its distribution agreement with Autobrokers in Leeds.
The company said: “Discussions are at an advanced stage to back this up with regional representation by some of the UK's most prestigious dealer groups and an announcement will be made imminently.”
Overfinch has recently launched its most luxurious Range Rover, the £138,000 Holland & Holland Range Rover.
Chief operating officer Neil Underwood said: "2010 is set to be Overfinch's best year yet, with new models based on Land Rover's stunningly good new cars being distributed through sales facilities that reflect Overfinch's status as being to Range Rover what AMG is to Mercedes-Benz and Alpina is to BMW."
DATED: 04.12.09
FEED: AM
False sales leads to jail for dealer
An Irishman accused of running a car dealing racket across the Eire/Northern Ireland border has been jailed for contempt of court.
John Kane, also known as Alex Kane, who runs an SUV dealership in Longford, has been locked up for a week for his "flagrant" disregard of a court order freezing his assets during the investigation.
The court appointed a receiver last July to his business, Kanes of Granard, after a 10m euro judgement was made against them for tax evasion.
However Kane removed cars from the business without the consent of the receiver, and checks showed that other vehicles had been sold to people who didn't exist.
DATED: 04.12.09
FEED: AM
Thursday, December 03, 2009
Administrators in at Lythgoe
Restructuring specialist Zolfo Cooper has appointed Kevin Coates, Simon Wilson, and Anne O'Keefe, as joint administrators of the group.
Citroen and Mazda
Lythgoe holds Citroen and Mazda franchises in Bolton, Oldham and Rochdale. It also has Fiat in Bolton and a service centre in Wardley.
It has sold cars in the Greater Manchester area for 30 years and, as of November, employed 160 staff.
Lythgoe's management sold the Higher Bridge Street branch in Bolton prior to the appointment of the joint administrators.
The joint administrators are talking to potential buyers and said they were "hopeful of achieving a sale of the remaining sites in the near future". A number of interested parties are said to have already submitted offers for the remaining business.
Wardley site
None of the offers received so far have included the Wardley aftersales site and the 31 employees at there have been made redundant. The joint administrators said they would continue to explore options for this site.
Kevin Coates, of Zolfo Cooper, said: "The priority for the joint administrators is to seek a buyer for the remaining sales sites and we are confident of achieving this in the coming days and weeks.
Investment opportunity
"The remaining franchises represent a strong investment opportunity for other players in this market to expand their businesses and we are seeing significant interest from a number of parties.
"The company's key stakeholders have all been very supportive of our early efforts, which show a great deal of confidence in these franchises.
"We're also very grateful to the dedicated, professional employees of Lythgoe, whose commitment to the business and sale, especially in these difficult times, is an invaluable asset."
DATED: 03.12.09
FEED: MT
Spyker breaks cover as SAAB bidder
Spyker, which announced in November that it is relocating its production from the Netherlands to Coventry, confirmed it was in the running and has the backing of its shareholder the Moscow-based Convers Group.
Development
The latest development in the future of ownership of Saab was prompted after Koenigsegg, the Swedish supercar maker, unexpectedly withdrew its bid in November prompting GM to put the business back on the market.
GM evaluating
Yesterday (2 December 2009) GM confirmed it would evaluate potential bids by the end of December and if a suitable buyer was not found it would "begin an orderly wind down of the global Saab business".
Koenigsegg's withdrawal was a bitter blow for GM which is in the middle of an international restructuring process which saw it pull its European operations off the market in November after agreeing to sell them to Magna International. GM has also just lost its president and CEO, Fritz Henderson, after a surprise resignation.
Spyker background
Spyker is primarily known as a specialist supercar maker which builds its cars by hand. It has reportedly made just 300 cars since 2000 when the current company was formed, although it can trace its roots back to 1875.
The brand's relocation of production to Coventry, which is expected to be completed by the end of this month, was prompted by a need to work closer with its supplier partner, CPP (Manufacturing) UK. It will retain head office functions in the Netherlands.
Victor R. Muller, CEO of Spyker Cars stated: "With approximately half of our vehicles' parts and components sourced in the UK, and virtually all key suppliers being located there, moving closer to our suppliers and engineering partners will result in substantial savings and tangible efficiency improvements".
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
GM CEO Fritz Henderson resigns
Fritz Henderson is stepping down as chief executive at US car giant General Motors, the company has announced.
GM's chairman of the board, Ed Whitacre Jr, will serve as an interim replacement.
The news came minutes after the end of a GM board meeting to discuss the fate of its Swedish car brand Saab.
In a statement, Ed Whitacre commended what he described as Mr Henderson's "remarkable job in leading the company through an unprecedented period of challenge and change".
"While momentum has been building over the past several months, all involved agree that changes needed to be made," the statement continued.
He said he looked forward to working with the entire GM team "as we now begin the next chapter of this great company".He assured GM's employees, dealers, suppliers, union partners and customers that it would be business as usual with an emphasis on "a return to profitability and repaying the American and Canadian tax payers as soon as possible".
The White House denied any involvement in the resignation.
"This decision was made by the Board of Directors alone. The administration was not involved in the decision," a White House spokeswoman said.
In March, Fritz Henderson replaced the then chief executive, Rick Wagoner, who was ordered to step down by US President Barack Obama.
Mr Wagoner had headed the company since 2000, after first joining the company in 1977.
Car troubles
Earlier on Tuesday, GM released information that US sales figures for its cars and other passenger vehicles fell 2.2% from November 2008 to 151,427.
In November, the company announced that it was calling off plans to sell its other European business, Opel, along with its UK brand, Vauxhall.
GM had agreed to sell Opel and Vauxhall to Canadian car parts firm Magna, but changed its mind.
In July GM said it had emerged from bankruptcy protection after creating a "new GM" made up of the carmaker's best assets.
Fritz Henderson described it as the beginning of a "new era".
But in November, the company released figures that it had suffered a net loss of $1.15bn (£692.3m) in the period since July.
DATED: 02.12.09
FEED: BBC
SAAB wins temporary reprieve
GM said that due to the emergence of new potential buyers it would evaluate bids for carmaker Saab by the end of December.
GM said that if it did not find a "suitable arrangement" it would then "wind down" Saab.
A group led by Sweden's Koenigsegg Automotive dropped out of a possible takeover and this marked the third failed Saab sale this year.
About 4,500 jobs at Saab are at stake.
DATED: 02.12.09
FEED: ANE/BBC
