Tag Archives: ford

In a move that some industry pundits may have seen coming – but not really believed would happen – Ford has announced that it intends to stop production of saloons (sedans, of course) in North America. This means that such well-known names as Fiesta and Focus (and related C-MAX), together with less familiar names such as Taurus and Fusion will ...

The April issue of Motor Trader is now online and includes an a wide-ranging interview with Ford chairman and managing director Andy Barratt and how dealers can be profitable in a declining new car market. Motor Trader out and about editor Andrew Charman heads up to Backpool to focus on franchise dealer David Cox, managing director of Cox Motor Group. ...

Ford has announced prices and specs for the all-new Ford Focus, on sale now for September delivery. The range will comprise seven variants from launch, starting with Style (at £17,930), the range progresses through Zetec (£19,300), ST-Line (£21,570), ST-Line X (£24,050), Titanium (£21,550), Titanium X (£22,820) and the top-of-the range Vignale (£25,450). The Focus Vignale features new front grille and ...

Andy Barratt, chairman and managing director at Ford of Britain talks about dealer profitability, return on investment for the network, new car sales in 2018 and the crash in diesel confidence The NFDA surveys from 2017 had some good results for Ford. What can you do to maintain that performance, address any issues that might be coming up in the ...

Ford is gearing up to launch Parts Plus a direct sales channel for trade parts, targeting independent repairers. Operated by Ford, the 84 Parts Plus centres planned will supply Ford, Motorcraft and the Omnicraft parts ranges. The first centre opens this summer. Ford has appointed Richard Allott as operations director for Parts Plus. Allott joins from the factory- owned dealer ...

Vospers is investing £12m in a new multi-franchise site in Matford, Exeter to open in late 2018. The site will have a FordStore, showrooms for Ford, Mazda, Fiat, Jeep, and Alfa Romeo and a 28-bay workshop. There will also be four larger car and van bays for while u wait servicing, where two technicians will carry out a standard service ...

Ford has teamed up with Next stores to increase representation of the brand in shopping centres The Blue Oval will open a five-car showroom in the refurbished Next store in Manchester’s Arndale shopping centre in July, partnering with Rockar. Earlier this year Motor Trader revealed that Rockar was to open a new store in Manchester with an unnamed carmaker. Test ...

Following on from the launch of the revised Fiesta in 2017, Ford has launched the third-generation of the high-performance Fiesta ST. In line with the Sports Technologies name, the new ST offers a series of performance-oriented features. To start, the ST is fitted with a new 1.5-litre Ecoboost petrol engine delivering 200PS. Output can be configured in Normal, Sport and Track ...

Ford’s indirect subsidiary Ford Credit Europe (FCE), which is based in the UK, plans to set up a bank in Germany as a post-Brexit contingency plan. The plan was mooted in its 2016 annual report where it said the decision to leave the European Union had increased uncertainty and the company had applied for a banking licence in Germany in ...

Gates Group has acquired four car dealerships in London from TrustFord for an undisclosed sum. The dealerships in Woodford Green, Walthamstow, Enfield and Potters Bar join Gates’ existing dealerships in Bishop’s Stortford, Hertford, Epping and FordStores in Stevenage, St Albans and Harlow. Gates is rated 89 in the Motor Trader Top 200 with annual turnover of £146.2m while TrustFord is ...