General News

DEALERS should focus on selling Gap insurance products to SUV customers as the residual values of big 4x4s threaten to fall through the floor, according to AA Warranty.

A new, sixth-generation Volkswagen Golf will be on sale before the end of this year. This is significant as the Golf has been Europe’s best-selling model over the past 25 years and also because the previous Golf V has been replaced after only five years. Bringing forward the new model is an acknowledgement that Golf V was not the popular and commercial success of its predecessors.

Peugeot recently produced its 50 millionth car and had a small celebration centred on the museum adjacent to its factory in Sochaux.

Volkswagen is faring well in the current straitened circumstances. The group increased its worldwide sales by 7.2 per cent from January to June this year and in doing so overtook Ford, to take third position in global sales league, behind Toyota and General Motors. Chief executive Martin Winterkorn is confident Volkswagen will meet its sales and financial targets for 2008 despite difficult market conditions in Europe and the USA.

The IMI’s new careers website Autocity is now up and running, following its official launch last month at the British International Motor Show.

The IMI is introducing a car launch competition for school students in September this year.

Wokingham Motors is a typical Peugeot dealer on a street corner just outside a town centre.

XPart is investing in specialist MG Rover training for its network of AutoService Centres at the NAC training centre in Longbridge.

Colin Appleyard is set to launch its own sales training scheme designed to offer opportunities for people looking for a career in car or motorcycle sales.

Car dealer groups suffered another traumatic four weeks on the stock exchange last month as plunging prices left values close to their yearly low points.