F&I Management & Training

Hegarty, the director of operations for IM's Subaru, Isuzu and Daihatsu import operations, is currently recruiting dealers amongst the group's existing franchised partners. Last year the group stopped importing new Daihatsu models blaming the unfavourable exchange rate.

Privately-owned
Great Wall, which, unusually for a Chinese carmaker, is privately-owned, and is expected to be the first of a number of Chinese brands, including Landwind and Geely, considering launching into Europe.

Hegarty is confident that Great Wall's cars will appeal to UK buyers.

"There is a risk of underestimating the quality of these cars. Great Wall won't take three or four years to get up to standard, they will arrive fully competitive," he said.

IM, which is handling all European sales, has taken four of Great Wall's models through full EU Type Approval. Using its distribution business in Scandinavia, IM will start to sell them in the Baltic states at the end of this year. The UK introduction is slated for early 2011.

First models
Initially it will offer two models, a new B-sector car the size and type of a Toyota Yaris, which has been shown as CH031 and is also named Phenom, and a pick-up truck. Although Great Wall is setting up an assembly plant in Bulgaria, which will avoid the EU 10 per cent import duty, the cars for the UK will come from China.
The IM Group has operated in the Chinese market for over 15 years, and currently employs a team of 40 at its Beijing office.

DATED: 12.03.10

FEED: MT

The chancellor's statement will fall just six weeks ahead of the widely expected general election date of 6 May.

Industry response
The UK motor industry moved quickly to deliver a stark message to the chancellor with the SMMT calling for measures to encourage industry and boost consumer confidence.

Pre-Budget submission
In its annual pre-Budget submission the SMMT urged the chancellor to implement measures to support long-term investment, employment and technological development in the UK motor industry and drop or delay the planned introduction of a first year rate of VED tax on new cars from April 2010.

"The scrappage scheme has been a lifeline for the new car market, but further measures are now necessary to build confidence and encourage new investment," said SMMT chief executive, Paul Everitt.

DATED: 12.03.10

FEED: MT

Carmaker Daihatsu is recalling 274,551 vehicles in Japan because of a number of possible defects.

The company, a subsidiary of Toyota, said the recall affected its Hijet and Atrai mini-van models.

Daihatsu said the recall centred on a missing or loose suspension bolt, while other issues included the risk of loose fuel hoses or defective brake lights.

Europe's biggest carmaker, Volkswagen, saw net profits fall 80% last year to 960m euros ($1.3bn; £872m).

Operating profits also fell, down 71% from a year earlier to 1.9bn euros, while revenues fell 8% to 105bn euros.

But global sales rose 1.3% to 6.3 million vehicles, thanks to a 36.7% jump in deliveries to China.

Deliveries to the German car market also rose 17.6% last year on the back of the government's scrappage scheme, gaining a market share of 34.2%.

Sales continued to surge during the early part of this year, with worldwide deliveries rising 27% in the last two months.

The increase outpaced a 20% rise in global vehicle sales by all firms during the period, the company said.

"We have no intention of slowing down in 2010," said VW chief Martin Winterkorn.

The firm aims to overtake Toyota as the world's number one by 2018.

New models

It has been on shopping spree. It bought the Porsche sports car business for 3.9bn euros last year.

In January, it also bought nearly 20% of Japanese small car specialist Suzuki for 1.7bn euros.

The firm plans to use a convertible bond issue and a share sale to help finance its planned acquisitions.

"Such an authorisation would give us a further financing instrument, which we consider to be standard for increasing the financial flexibility of major joint stock companies such as Volkswagen but which is not available to us at the moment," said Hans Dieter Poetsch, Volkswagen Group finance director.

Figures from the SMMT show that 324,991 new cars were registered through the scrappage scheme by the end of February.

Commenting on the data, SMMT chief executive Paul Everitt said, "The scrappage scheme ends this month and has provided a vital stimulus during a difficult period. The scheme has lifted the market from the lows of early 2009, with around 330,000 registrations by the end of February. Industry must now work to sustain this momentum and is urging government to postpone the introduction of the first year rate of VED and avoid dampening demand while the economic recovery remains fragile."

The scrappage scheme accounted for 19.6% of all new car registrations in February, on par with the 20.4% share taken over the May 2009 to February period.

Average new car CO2 emissions fell by their biggest ever margin last year with the impact of recession and the Scrappage Incentive Scheme boosting the continued influence of technological advances made by vehicle manufacturers, according to the annual New Car CO2 Report released today by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.

The average new car sold in the UK in 2009 emitted just 149.5g/km of CO2, down 5.4% on the 2008 figure and 21.2% better than the 1997 base level. The rate of reduction was the best on record, three times the average rate achieved since data was first measured in 1997.

Reductions in average emissions were made across all model segments with MPVs (-28.6%) and 4x4s (-27.4%) making the biggest improvement against their 1997 base levels. Minis and specialist sports cars made the biggest reduction over the past year falling 6.7% and 6.3% respectively on 2008 figures.

2009 saw the 12th successive annual drop in average new car CO2 emissions, but the rate of decline was increased by the recession and subsequent Scrappage Incentive Scheme steering buyers towards more fuel-efficient models. The average car bought under the scheme emitted just 133.3g/km, 26.8% less CO2 than the average scrapped car.

In total, 27.6% of the cars registered in the UK in 2009 emitted less than 130g/km, the target set in the European CO2 regulation for 2015. In addition, showing the influence of the CO2-based road tax system, Band E (131-140g/km) proved the most popular with new car buyers, compared to Band H (166-175g/km) in 1997.

Commenting on the report Paul Everitt, SMMT chief executive said; "Vehicle manufacturers have invested heavily in both improving conventional technologies and bringing advanced systems to market that reduce the environmental impact of new vehicles. Whilst scrappage incentives made a positive contribution to fleet renewal in 2009, there is a risk that over the next few years, motorists may be deterred from investing in the latest technology. Developing a long-term and consistent approach to vehicle taxation and environmental incentives will be important in maintaining the current rate of improvement."

The adoption of the new car CO2 regulation in December 2009 set a phase-in target for vehicle manufacturers to ensure their average fleet emissions do not exceed 130g/km by 2015.

Toyota has rejected claims that faulty electronics are behind its worldwide recall of more than eight million cars.

The company said mechanical faults with accelerator pedals and floor mats were the cause of the problems, rather than the car's electronics.

Outside studies have recently criticised Toyota's electronic safety systems.

But at a press conference on Monday, Toyota rejected those findings as not credible.

Last month, the US Congress heard from a Southern Illinois University engineer David Gilbert, who said that Toyota's electronic safety systems could be rewired to allow the car to unintentionally accelerate.

But Toyota said a review of the findings by a Stanford University expert found no "real-world" evidence of an electronic flaw.

Chris Gerdes, a professor of mechanical engineering at Stanford, said that the researchers had essentially rewired the car's electronics to create the problem - something that could not happen in real life.

"We're confident in our electronic throttle control systems," a spokesman for Toyota said.

"The scrappage scheme helped bring welcome relief to car dealers with the vast majority of networks - almost 80 per cent - feeling more confident about their profit margins. Dealers also reported an increase in satisfaction surrounding the relationship with their manufacturer despite the economic downturn," according to Sue Robinson, RMI Director, commenting on the latest RMI National Franchised Dealers Association Dealer Attitude Survey.

The Dealer Attitude Survey, published this week, shows green shoots emerging partly as a result of the highly successful scrappage scheme:

• 75 per cent of dealer networks reported a rise in satisfaction over their profit return, and as a result the dealer average increased significantly from 3.0 to 3.4 out of 5 from the summer 2009 survey.



• 66 per cent of the dealers surveyed reported an improved or sustained partnership with their manufacturer compared to the summer 2009 survey.



• Dealers reported a significant feeling of value for holding a franchise, averaging 7.2 out of a possible 10, up from 6.7 in the summer 2009 survey.

Robinson continued, "Most dealer networks have reported improved profitability, the scrappage scheme has played a key role in achieving this alongside the work done by franchised dealerships in cutting costs, and streamlining their business operations.

"Unsurprisingly we've found that dealers were happier with manufacturers who have been more willing to collaborate with their dealer networks in setting sales targets and more ready to appreciate the difficulties faced by their networks in the current market.

"At the time of survey there appeared to be a feeling of improved relationships and understanding for most dealers with their manufacturers. Despite continued political and economic uncertainty in the coming months the dealers surveyed seem reasonably positive about their businesses in the next six months"

Hundreds of hard-up motorists are putting themselves at risk by failing to take their cars in for their annual services - because they can't afford the cost, HiQ has claimed.

The leading fast fit network has revealed that 36 per cent of drivers opted against paying for a service, relying instead on their cars passing their MOTs in a penny saving measure.

But in doing so, they are often being hit harder in the pocket and leaving themselves in danger, because many vehicles fail with serious faults.

HiQ commercial manager Farrell Dolan said the ongoing economic downturn was playing a big part in motorists' decisions to opt out of taking annual services.

He said: "Due to the recent tough times that our consumers have had in the last year the normal vehicle servicing has been neglected due to the costs involved.

"Relying on the MOT has been how a lot of motorists have been judging their vehicle performance.

"This has meant that we are seeing a lot more vehicles arriving with major faults and minor faults that would have been picked up on a normal service--battery condition and the condition of the terminals are part of the service.

"Above all of this, people are putting their own safety in jeopardy if they are aren't taking their car service, as a fault may arise which is not picked up for weeks or even months, before the MOT is due."

About 2,000 manufacturing jobs in the West Midlands have been safeguarded by production of the new Jaguar XJ, a car industry advisory group has said.

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) said the model was vital to helping it survive the recession and had also helped the region's car components industry.

It has employed 400 staff for the XJ production, which is being assembled at Castle Bromwich in Birmingham.

Car industry body Accelerate said every JLR job supported five others locally.

'Big coup'

Rachel Eade, from Accelerate, which provides support and advice to the automotive industry, said: "The XJ is important to the supply chain across the whole region and across the country.

"It's a new vehicle that's being launched as we come out of the very difficult period. It's anticipated volumes would put production back into what we would call high volumes, large numbers, which means security of jobs and a chance of innovation in manufacturing."

Matt Dhillon, a plant manager for Lear, a Coventry-based firm which makes seats for a variety of JLR models, said: "Winning the XJ work has secured 90 plus jobs here.

"From where we were in 2008/2009 it's a big coup for us to win the replacement business. It secures the jobs in the area, so the area becomes more buoyant."

The seat manufacturer is classed as a 'first tier' supplier because it supplies parts directly to JLR factories, but across the West Midlands there are hundreds of firms that have contracts with JLR suppliers.

Birmingham-based Lander Automotive, which makes metal frames which support Lear's seats for the XJ, said the new model had been a source of extra orders.