Editor’s Choice

UK car dealers are confident about future business prospects, despite the uncertainty surrounding Brexit, according to a Close Brothers Motor Finance’s Dealer Satisfaction Survey. The quarterly survey found that 95% of dealerships are confident about market prospects and stability for the coming year, and that the expansion of new vehicle types and new finance products are the biggest opportunities of ...

Groupe Renault has appointed Louise O’Sullivan as network operations director. She was previously Dacia brand manager. O’ Sullivan joined Groupe Renault UK in 1995 on the Graduate Scheme. After two and a half years as sales director for Groupe Renault UK, Nick Tame will be taking up a new strategic management role within Groupe Renault. O’Sullivan said: “I’m delighted to ...

Franchised dealers have been urged to gear up workshops for record number of over 2.6 million cars due their first MoT over the next 12 months or risk losing it to independents and fast fits. This warning comes from Coachworks Consulting as the sector faces an influx of three year old cars first registered in 2016, when the new car ...

Arnold Clark confirmed today that it is buying Phoenix Car Company. Phoenix Car Company is rated 98 in the Top 200 with annual turnover of £124.9m. The company carried out a restructuring in 2018 to boost its performance. It represents Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mitsubishi and Suzuki. John McGuire is chairman and CEO of the family run company, which commenced trading ...

Mini has recognized its top performing dealer at the annual retailer awards ceremony. Cotswold Mini Cheltenham was presented with the ‘Retailer of The Year’ award after demonstrating excellence across 13 separate criteria, including new car sales, used car sales, profitability, customer satisfaction and more. Other categories and their winners included Vines Group for retailer marketing, Fairfield Mini for aftersales and ...

Dealers are being urged to ensure they are compliant with the Government’s new Making Tax Digital service, designed to make it easier for businesses to get their tax right and keep on top of their affairs. From 1 April 2019, all VAT-registered businesses with a taxable turnover above the VAT threshold (£85,000) are required to keep their VAT business records ...

Groupe Renault UK has recognised its best performing dealers of 2018. Dealers were assessed on key performance indicators including customer satisfaction, sales volume for the Renault and Dacia brands, aftersales turnover, and profit. The overall winning dealers were Renault Cardiff (pictured), which was voted the Best Large Dealer, Gravells of Kidwelly (Best Medium Dealer), Bells of Crossgar (Best Small Dealer) ...

The Vauxhall Mokka was the fastest selling used car of 2018, the SUV taking an average of just 26 days to leave UK forecourts. The Mokka knocked the Kia Sportage off the number one spot, a title it has held for the past two years. SUVs dominated the fastest selling listings with the Renault Captur, Renault Kadjar, Mazda CX-5, Skoda ...

Marshall Motor Group today has become a member of the UK Automotive 30% Club. The club was established in 2016 by Julia Muir, Gaia Innovation CEO, to bring together automotive manufacturers, retailers, and suppliers. The aim of the club is to work towards having women in 30% of key leadership positions by 2030. According to its website it has 23 ...

Activist investor Teleios Capital Partners has boosted its stake in Pendragon. The dealer group said last week Teleios had increased its stake by more than 4% from 17.02% to 21.3% of the company. Teleios invests in European mid-cap companies that are publicly traded, typically acquiring substantial minority positions which it holds for the long term. Pendragon changed direction in 2017 ...