F&I Management & Training

Fiat Group has opened a new showcase site in Croydon housing all four of its sites: Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Jeep and Chrysler.

This is one of the first sites of its type in Europe and will trade as Motor Village Croydon.

A major, undisclosed investment has been made by Fiat in the site which features four separate showroom areas.

Motor Village Croydon joins Fiat Marylebone in central London, Fiat’s Battersea service centre and Fiat Direct in Hayes, to increase the brand's presence in London and Surrey.

“We started here with Fiat in January and Alfa Romeo came in May,” said Tony Dittli, director, Motor Village Croydon.

“Chrysler and Jeep joined us in July, so it’s continually evolving. We are still developing and learning but I think we have a superb showroom site from which to offer quality service and become the reference point for these great brands.”

DATED: 14.09.11

FEED: MT

Cambria Automobiles has acquired a Vauxhall site in Southampton for an undisclosed sum.

This will be the AIM-listed group's first Vauxhall site and brings its representation up to 27 sites representing 39 franchises.

The south-east based group also announced in its pre-close statement, for the 12 months ended 31 August, that it has achieved another year of significant earnings growth despite the 9 per cent fall in new car market and 21 per cent fall in retail sales in the year to date. Despite a tough second half the group confirmed it will issue its first dividend.

"Following a strong first six months, the group experienced a mixed performance in the second half of the year, but remains on track to deliver full year results broadly in line with market expectations," it said.

Cambria said the acquisition of the Hartwell business was completed on 1 September.

"The Board is delighted to be partnering with Vauxhall and intends to pursue further opportunities with it. The acquired business has been loss making in recent years, and it is anticipated that the acquisition will be earnings dilutive in the short term while the Cambria systems and processes are implemented.

"We are confident of returning the business to profitability in the medium term. The business was acquired on a net asset basis and no goodwill was paid," it said.

Cambria confirmed it is looking for further businesses to acquire.

“I am pleased with the performance achieved by the group against a background of a very challenging new and used car market.

"We continue to use this market weakness to drive forward our buy-and-build strategy, utilising our strong balance sheet. We continue to out-perform our underlying markets and view the future with confidence notwithstanding the obvious short-term challenges the industry faces,” said Mark Lavery, chief executive officer.

Cambria trades as Doves, grange, Dees, Motor Parks and Invicta Motors.

Meanwhile, private equity group Promethean wants to sell all or part of its 33.3 per cent stake in Cambria. Promethean is locked in to its investment until 30 June 2012, unless Cambria agrees to an earlier exit.

DATED: 14.09.11

FEED: MT

Seat has appointed Steve Robertson to the new role of head of fleet and business sales following the departure of Nick Andrews to Mercedes-Benz.

Robertson, who has worked in the motor industry for 30 years with dealer and fleet experience, has been head of marketing at Seat since 2006.

“I'm very pleased to be making this move across to Seat UK's successful fleet and business operation,” he said.

Seat UK managing director Peter Wyhinny said: “This is a fabulous gain for Seat fleet. Steve will bring his extensive motor industry experience to bear on this important part of Seat UK's business, and I have every confidence that he will lead the growing fleet team to significantly bigger and better things over the coming months and years.”

Meanwhile, ex-Seat UK head of operations Richard Harrison has been appointed as group sales director for Seat SA with responsibility for Germany, the UK, France, Italy and Portugal.

Harrison spent four years heading up Seat UK's operations team during which time he oversaw the network grow and sales increase.

A separate announcement concerning his successor and the new Seat UK head of marketing will be made in the near future.

Wyhinny said: “This is a great opportunity for Richard, and I'm very pleased that his talents have been recognised by our colleagues at Seat SA headquarters in Martorell.

DATED: 14.09.11

FEED: MT