Industry

Newslines 9 May

9 May 2016

SsangYong has introduced zero rate finance on selected models. The Tivoli SE is available from £108 per month, the Korando SE from £133 per month, Turismo SE from £158 per month, Rexton SE from £192 per month and the Korando Sports SX pick-up from £125 per month, all over five years. ŠKODA’s new large SUV is to be called Kodiaq when it appears later … [Read more...]

Wales car sales dip amid jobs worries

7 May 2016

New car registrations in Wales dipped by just under 3% to 6,535 in April. Possibly reflecting uncertainty about the Welsh economy and buyers staying away from showrooms, the decrease contrasts with a 2% rise in the UK as a whole. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said it was the highest April total for 13 years, 189,505 cars were … [Read more...]

Newslines 6 May

6 May 2016

UK police forces have spent nearly £400,000 in the last five years repairing their fleets after officers misfuelled patrol cars, according to an exclusive Auto Express investigation. Since 2011, there have been 2,147 incidents, more than one a day at an average repair cost of over £181 and the problem is getting worse, with the figures in the 2015 … [Read more...]

Motor insurance industry faces radical restructuring

4 May 2016

The multi-billion pound motor insurance industry faces a period of radical restructuring as a result of the advent of autonomously driven cars. The number of crashes could drop by 80 per cent by 2035 and insurance premiums must plummet, a high-level panel discussion organised by Volvo Cars and Thatcham Research was told yesterday. Research by Swiss Re … [Read more...]

Majority want to drive and not be ‘autonomous accessories’

1 May 2016

More than 65 per cent of motorists want to retain the right to drive even though driverless cars are coming, according to two new pieces of research. IAM RoadSmart – formerly the Institute of Advanced Motorists – conducted an independent survey of 1,000 British motorists and a separate poll among its 92,000 members. Those 65 per cent of motorists … [Read more...]

Mitsubishi facing collapse after lying about emissions for 25 years

30 April 2016

Mitsubishi has lied about the fuel economy of its cars for the past quarter century and the company is now facing a collapse in its share value. It is now only worth half what it was last week after it admitted engineers falsified data since 1991, but only the Japanese models have reportedly been affected and no compensation for buyers has been outlined, … [Read more...]

Newslines 29 April

29 April 2016

Ford has posted the highest quarterly pretax profit in its 113-year history. European operations earned more in the first three months than in all of 2015 and the automaker reported its best-ever results in North America, thanks to F-150 sales in particular, as Ford’s profit for the quarter was $3.8 billion, up from $1.7 billion a year earlier … [Read more...]

British car manufacturing is booming

29 April 2016

British car manufacturing continued its strong growth in March with output increasing 9.8% to 159,074 units, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. Overseas demand showed the biggest gains, up 14.3% in the month, while production for the home market was broadly stable, falling slightly by -1.4%. It was a trend reflected in first … [Read more...]

Car makers want rapid change in emissions testing

27 April 2016

Vehicle makers want the rapid introduction of Real Driving Emissions testing, says ACEA. The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association takes note of the announcements of recent vehicle tests by Germany’s federal motor transport authority (KBA) as well as the UK Department for Transport. Both these announcements highlight the known differences … [Read more...]

Overloading outweighs new technology in vans