Car Buying Guide
We did it. Just like Bilbo Baggins we made it there and back again. The ferry arrived at 0630 this morning at Harwich and by 0800 the adventure was definitely over as I wandered through Tesco gathering the makings of a truly epic fry-up. With 930 miles on the clock we pulled into the driveway at home and the children hurried off to see if Santa had … [Read more...]
Following on from part one of the return trip...the day started at 0800; hot chocolate was all fixed and ready to go, Simon and Julia had already been arguing . . . here we go again! We had gassed up the night before so it was straight onto Malmö and the bridge to Kopenhagen. Traffic was reasonably light and the roads were good and clear so we … [Read more...]
Following on from our five part series following the progress of a 15 year old Toyota Corolla called “Jenny” travelling overland from the UK to Sweden; it’s now time for the return trip! Ay ay we are off again! The holiday in Sweden has flown by. I have gained about half a stone in meatballs, Christmas ham, sausages, cheese and bread. All … [Read more...]
The much lauded scrappage scheme may not have been quite the saviour of the UK motor industry than perhaps it might have been. Word is reaching us that many manufacturers and their dealerships are being hit with big demands for money from the government seeking to claw back funds for what it calls “non-compliance”. It could very well be … [Read more...]
Today, Zipcar announced that its acquisition of Streetcar Limited has been given final clearance in the UK by the Competition Commission. The Competition Commission has reviewed the acquisition and concluded that it does not expect the acquisition to lead to a substantial lessening of competition. This final clearance follows the provisional … [Read more...]
The new Mercedes C-Class will be launched in spring 2011 and is a comprehensive modernisation. The front and rear sections of this best selling model have a more striking design. There is now a high-resolution colour display screen in the instrument cluster, an elegant new dashboard with grained surface and prominent decorative trim emphasising the … [Read more...]
Toyota UK has revealed that sales of both the Land Cruiser and Land Cruiser V8 are up a whopping 77% and 120% respectively over the same period in 2009. Land Cruiser sales for the period January - December 20th 2010 were 1,400 units compared with 789 units in 2009, while Land Cruiser V8 sales for the same period were 439 units compared with 199 … [Read more...]
December has always been the month of culmination; a years' worth of work all down to the wire. The Car of the Year tag is over used and, although the end of the year isn't far away, I've decided on our very own – Best BOTW. I had no idea that two years down the line I'd still be writing MTI's BOTW but it's proven to be a good read and I've … [Read more...]
Toyota has agreed to pay a record fine in the US of $32.4m (£20.8m) over its handling of millions of car recalls. This is the second massive fine the Japanese car manufacturer will pay to US authorities, after agreeing a $16.4m penalty in April. Toyota said it was "pleased to have resolved these legacy issues", while at the same time not … [Read more...]
With every man and his dog predicting tough times in the trade next year and not to mention more bad weather in the short term at least, dealers are gearing up for the pre-new year sales in the hope that they at least get the year off to a flyer. Despite the gloom there are still buyers out there but they are being choosier than ever before and … [Read more...]
Following a tough year for the European car market, there are faint signs of optimism for the industry going into 2011, as shown in the latest analysis from the world's leading provider of automotive intelligence, JATO Dynamics. Sales in Europe's 'Big Five' markets of Great Britain, Germany, Spain, France and Italy all showed negative growth for … [Read more...]
Vehicle sales are anticipated to keep rising in China in 2011 as the country consolidates its position as the world's biggest market. It overtook the US in 2009 with sales surging 45% to 13.6 million units. Monthly figures this year have witnessed double-digit percentage growth and experts are predicting sales may rise roughly 30% to about 17 … [Read more...]
Hej och välkommen till Sverige! Following on from part four of this “adventure”, we left the Malmö area of southern Sweden at about 0930 on Sunday 19th December after a very good night’s sleep. Jenny was doing fine, the children not so good. The verdict was, quelle suprise, that it was too far to go by car! Simon and I were arguing on a … [Read more...]
Following on from part three of this “adventure”, we made it into Sweden via the bridge from Copenhagen at 2105 local time. That's just short of 13 hours and roughly 500 miles in Europe. We decided to take the short cut rather than drive north out of Hamburg and all the way through Denmark. We went NNE and picked up the ferry at Putgarden. … [Read more...]
Latest update: Following on from part two of this “adventure”, much like the batting collapse suffered by the England cricketers over in Perth at the moment things have not got off to a good start and we are now communicating with Nick via SMS as the laptop, rather than anything mechanical, is the first thing to break down. We do know they … [Read more...]
Car production rose by more than 11% in November to 125,458 units, which is nearly double the pace witnessed in October, figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders show. Production in the UK was up almost 30% in annual terms. Overall, vehicle production, which includes both cars and commercial vehicles, was up close to 12% to … [Read more...]
Ford has announced that prices for the new Focus will start at £15,995 (about $25,000) while Focus prices in the US will start at $16,995 when it goes on sale early next year. The car will launch in March in European markets including the UK, but Ford has not yet announced prices for the rest of Europe. Ford said in a news release that the … [Read more...]
Following on from part one of this "adventure" Jenny has now got her snow tyres on, Bridgestone Blizzack I think they’re called. She had her idle speed successfully slowed down at Abigail’s in Acle, who also discovered that the water in the radiator had dropped by about a litre so I’m obviously a little worried about that. The oil is low to … [Read more...]
Jaguar Land Rover's global sales rose 22% to 22,957 units in November, while Jaguar's sales for the month rose 30% to 5,621 vehicles and Land Rover's volume increased 20% to 17,336 SUVs. Helped by strong demand for the Jaguar XJ saloon and Land Rover Freelander, total JLR sales for the fiscal year starting April 1st are up 33% to 154,089 units. … [Read more...]
Yes you read that headline correctly. Oh and I should have added “in time for Christmas!” It’s a long shot but we know a man who can... So what do you do when you have to visit the “outlaws” in Sweden for Christmas and you’ve missed the cheapo fares at your favourite budget airline? Simple, pick up 15 year old Toyota Corolla … [Read more...]
Ford have revealed that vehicle sales in its primary European markets fell by 11% in November compared with the same month in 2009 as the overall market constricted and competitors maintained what ford regarded as “heavy” discounts. Registrations in the 19-nation region declined to 100,500 units, while Ford’s share of the market, which it … [Read more...]
At this time of year valuing cars becomes somewhat of a lottery. The true value of the car is dictated not so much by what it is really worth but more by the strange dynamics of the end of season market. Throw in “economic uncertainty”, dealers looking to bank end of year cash, hideous weather and many people with their minds elsewhere and … [Read more...]
The competition for car servicing business is a battle that looks set to continue for quite some time yet. Repairers like Kwik-Fit and Halfords are striving to present car drivers with a real choice when considering their options at service time. However it looks as if franchised dealers are finally facing up to the battle. Having taken … [Read more...]
Every new BMW M car forms part of a very special family tree that can trace a lineage of iconic performance road cars back to the legendary BMW M1 from the 1970s. The latest car to feature the letter M comes with stunning performance from a race-bred powertrain, a controllable, agile and exploitable chassis, the finest materials and components, and … [Read more...]
Understanding your market is perhaps more important than ever and the ability to match cars with customers has never taken on such significance. As dealers begin to comprehend that they cannot quickly and easily provide the exact model with the exact spec for every customer, they need to understand the need to be more creative and “switched on” … [Read more...]
We are always looking for experienced writers who can write good original quality posts on motor-trade-insider.com.
Please contact us if you would like us to consider you. Make sure you give us details of your own blog or a link to some articles you have written.
Copyright Motor Trade Insider © 2012 Press enquiries - Tel 0208 3286 2309 Affordable Web Design
