Japan wants an end to automobile and parts tariffs in negotiations on a post-Brexit trade agreement with Britain, the country’s trade minister said yesterday. After decades outsourcing its trade policy to the European Union, Britain is embarking on negotiating free trade deals with countries around the world including Japan and 10 other Pacific nations and which must be agreed before 2021. … [Read more...]
Retail News
Essential maintenance rising issue
As lockdown restrictions start to ease off in the UK, drivers are discovering that their cars require essential maintenance due to being out of use for weeks, new research reveals. Analysis of search trends data conducted by car leasing specialist AMT shows that queries for issues like seized brakes, flat batteries and deflated tyres have increased substantially across the UK since the lockdown … [Read more...]
Newslines 9 June
Vehicle owners in the UK will be given £6,000 towards a new electric car if they scrap their current petrol or diesel model, according to media reports. The announcement is scheduled to be made on 6 July in a bid to boost the flat UK car sales and the impending new number plate change coming in September, but some believe it will only keep up high prices of electric vehicles and is not backed by … [Read more...]
Fiat launch ‘Pay As You Go’ deal
Fiat has become the first car firm in the UK to launch a ‘Pay As You Go’ finance deal where the average commuter can drive a brand-new vehicle to work for less than £10.50 per day. The government continues to advise against the use of trains and buses where possible, despite lockdown starting to ease. And research by Fiat has revealed 35 per cent of motorists are considering driving more to … [Read more...]
Sunday drive: On the road and in the news 7 June
Although the lockdown measures have eased with some people already back at work, or they should be working from home, some schools in England open for some age groups, most car dealerships ready for business with some car manufacturing plants already producing vehicles even if in limited amounts and sporting events happening again under restrictive measures, we are slowly easing back into working … [Read more...]
Cars are an escape from Coronavirus
Cars, councils and the country make strange bedfellows, but they now depend on one another to fight Coronavirus-19. After decades of being squeezed out, criticised and taxed as a milk-cow it now seems that councils and the country cannot survive without cars. All the investment pushed into public transport at the expense of improving roads and parking seems to be wasted as the country is told to … [Read more...]
Bentley cut jobs and JLR get massive Chinese loan
Bentley is cutting about 1,000 jobs, a quarter of its workforce at Crewe, due to a fall in sales for the 101 year old company. It had increased sales last year by 5% to 11,000 models but the pandemic fallout hit them hard and now it’s preparing to offer voluntary redundancy to many before making redundancies. Jaguar Land Rover has entered into agreements with lenders in China for a secured term … [Read more...]
Welsh car dealers doing better than expected
New car sales have faired better in Wales than the rest of the country this year. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders show sales so far this year in Wales amounted to 19,042, some 45.5% below the same five months in 2019 but a smaller dip than England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, however only 685 cars were registered last month about tenth of the number in May 2019. The top ten in … [Read more...]
Newslines 5 June
Passengers might have to pre-book bus and train tickets in future to help prevent the spread of coronavirus, Wales' economy minister has warned. Ken Skates said space on services would be "vastly reduced" for passenger safety but Transport for Wales said passenger numbers have collapsed in ten weeks and social distancing has cut capacity by over 90%. Britain's new car … [Read more...]
Aston Martin St Athan plant importance grows
Aston Martin Lagonda’s Welsh plant will play an increasingly important part in the company’s “reset plan” to boost sales around the world. The luxury car maker has seen a steep collapse in its sports cars sales and introduced new management as it prepares to roll out production of its DBX SUV at St Athan in coming weeks. Today it announced 500 job cuts across the business, but mostly at Gaydon … [Read more...]