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Cambria Automobiles, the AIM listed car dealer group, boosted profits by 4 per cent to £2.6m for the six months to 28 February 2011. Turnover for the group rose 5 per cent year-on-year to £184.2m, including £23.9m from acquisitions made during the previous financial year.

Marshall Motor Group has joined Google as one of the confirmed speakers at Motor Trader’s first social media conference. The event, Social Media and You: Driving Your Online Dealer Business, will be held on 2 June at Mercedes-Benz World in Weybridge, Surrey...

Mazda Motors UK has made two senior appointments at director level. Peter Allibon is now the sales director following the departure of Mark Cameron and Steve Jelliss is taking up the role of fleet and remarketing director.

The F1 TV presenter Jake Humphrey will present this year’s Motor Trader Awards.

Average wholesale used van values fell by 2 per cent to £3,944 in March following a 2.8 per cent fall in February. When compared with March 2010, average values are 6.9 per cent lower.

The number of new cars bought on finance declined 14 per cent in February compared with February 2010, according to the latest figures from the Finance & Leasing Association.

Demand for online auctions continues to rise, according to BCA. In Q1, 477,000 bids were made on its Live Online service, an 18 per cent increase with 28,500 vehicles sold, up 9.2 per cent increase over last year.

March used car values fell 2 per cent to £5,875, according to the RMI's National Association of Motor Auctioneers (Nama) first market report.

The RMI has called in question any moves to introduce longer intervals for passenger car MoTs. Transport secretary Philip Hammond has ordered a review of the MoT test to see if the first one could be pushed back from three to four years with subsequent tests carried out every other year instead of annually.

The high number of pre-registration cars in dealer networks may help alleviate supply issues as a result of some brands cutting back on production in the wake of last month’s earthquake in Japan.