Motorpoint Group, the national car supermarket chain, has posted interim results showing significant rises in turnover for the six months to 30 September 2017. The listed business, rated number one in the Motor Trader Top 50 Independent Dealers, saw revenue increase 18% to £483.2m (2016: £408.9m) and profit before taxation and exceptional items up 64% to £10.5m (2016: £6.4m). Motorpoint, ...

The SMMT has called on the government to move faster to agreeing a transition period for Brexit or risk undermining the UK automotive industry’s competitiveness. The call came from SMMT president Tony Walker at the trade body’s annual dinner in London. Addressing more than 1,100 industry leaders, government representatives and other stakeholders, Walker said that while the prime minister has ...

MG dealers now have a third model to sell as the brand grows its line-up and revives the ZS badge. The ZS takes MG into the currently mushrooming compact or B-SUV market, a sector predicted to double in size by 2020. MG management expect the car to help double the brand’s UK sales by the end of next year, from ...

Lookers has more than doubled its intake of apprentices over the course of 2017, This year the group has grown its intake 78 in 2016 to 162.  The retailer has trained 238 technical apprentices over the last three years and currently has over 550 on its books. Matthew Clay, group qualifications manager at Lookers, said: “2017 has been a huge year ...

Jardine Motors Group has acquired a 3.5 acre site in Tonbridge, Kent, to build a new Jaguar Land Rover showroom. The £12m project is being managed by Colliers International’s Automotive and Roadside team, and will see the relocation of the group’s Sevenoaks Jaguar and Tonbridge Land Rover businesses. The project will see the construction of a 43,300 square foot dealership ...

Luscombe Suzuki in Leeds hosted a visit from the brand’s European boss who was in the UK on a fact finding mission. The Motor Trader Award-winning business, owned and run by Robin Luscombe, welcomed Suzuki Motor Corporation’s head of European Automobiles, Takanori Suzuki and Nobuo Suyama,  managing director of Suzuki GB. Takanori, a previous head of Suzuki GB, was on ...

Slowing retail demand and an increase in wholesale stock availability pushed used car values down by 2% in November, at three years/ 60,000 miles, according to cap hpi. Average values at both six months 5,000 miles and 12 months 10,000 fell by 2.1% which is a higher rate than seen in the same period of 2016 where the downward movements ...

Another month and another new supermini-sized SUV enters the market. What can Hyundai’s Kona add? When the small B-segment SUV sector is set to double by 2020 to reach 2.2m units across Europe, it’s logical for any carmaker to get involved. Hyundai is incredibly late to the party – by conservative estimates there are another 18 or so already launched ...

Wilsons Auctions, the UK and Ireland’s largest independent auction company, has acquired Newport Auctions in South Wales for an undisclosed sum. The purchase of the family-run business, which is the result of retirement, brings the total number of nine centres across the UK and Ireland, as well as eight storage locations. The Newport site has been in business for 35 ...

GForces has announced a strategic partnership with Gubagoo to become the exclusive UK reseller for the US-based specialist provider of live chat and marketing services for car dealers. Gubagoo currently works with 3,000 retailers in the US and has hosted over 10.6 million live chats. The deal will see GForces offer UK dealers a suite of Gubagoo products without customers ...