Magazine

Fiat’s Club Ricambi is targeting independent retailers for parts sales While the current economic climate has made many drivers cut back on service and repairs they do not consider absolutely necessary, the possible upside to the credit crunch for repairers is that motorists are holding onto their cars for longer. Older cars require more servicing, offering a boost to the ...

Charles Hurst’s Lauren Mitchell is a 20-year-old technician with a bright future The IMI has continued its efforts as the Sector Skills Council to encourage more young people into the sector, having pledged at the start of 2008 a 100 per cent increase in the number of apprentices joining the retail motor industry over the next five years. This effort ...

Prestige brands have to add value to their aftersales, according to Bentley Manchester With today’s challenging economic climate placing particular pressure on sales of luxury marques’, aftersales is becoming even more important to these retailers. Bentley Manchester was the first of the brand’s outlets to be acquired by Sytner Group, and the largest. Motor Trader spoke to Jon Crossley, managing ...

Federico Goretti, Chrysler’s new UK boss, is determined to re-energise the brand Curtis Hutchinson Some of the longest faces in UK car showrooms last month probably belonged to dealer principals with the Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge names above their front doors. The plate-change month was miserable for all but a select few but dealers in this network probably felt the ...

Lookers and Skoda triumph at Auto Trader’s Click Awards Curtis Hutchinson Car retailers have been urged to simplify their sites and increase usability to give them a competitive edge. The call came at Auto Trader’s Click Awards 2008, where Skoda’s website took the top car manufacturer honours, Lookers was voted the Motor Dealer Website of the Year and The Car ...

New managing director to focus on stemming the massive drop in sales Curtis Hutchinson Chrysler’s new UK boss has put a hold on dealer recruitment as the brand moves to turnaround a business battered by falling sales. September sales were dramatically down for Chrysler, falling 69 per cent to just 467 units, while Jeep tumbled 61 per cent to 660 ...

All the major plcs saw their stocks lose value in a turbulent September SHARE prices fell sharply at all the major listed dealer groups in September as the economic turmoil engulfed motor retailing. Inchcape’s stocks suffered a heavy fall, down 27.5 per cent during the course of the month to 187.5 pence, giving the global group a market capitalisation of ...

The credit crunch has made it a buyers’ market as dealers move to off-load stock on the internet Dealers are being forced to make loss-leading sales in an attempt to move slow-selling stock through their showrooms. Simon Empson, managing director of dealer intermediary website Broadspeed.com, said dealers were offering heavily discounted cars through his site. “I can’t name the make ...

European new car sales have slumped for a fifth successive month after volumes in September dropped 8.2 per cent year-on-year. In what is usually a bumper sales month across the region registrations stalled at just over 1.3 million units -the lowest September level since 1998. The latest decline came despite there being two extra working days across Europe last month ...

Dealers happy with business approach of new owner Andrew Charman EXCLUSIVE SIX months on from its £1.15bn takeover by Indian carmaker Tata, UK luxury brand Jaguar is being left to get on with its business boosted by confident dealers buoyed by the success of the new XF model. Speaking exclusively to Motor Trader, Jaguar’s UK managing director Geoff Cousins said ...