With court appearances imminent lawyers for Ford and Firestone are still discussing how to consiolidate some 100 cases being brought against them in federal courts. It is still hoped to draw all claims before a single judge for a pre-trial preparation. However, continuing differences between Ford and Firestone may lead to a split defence. Plaintiffs’ lawyers are said to be jubilant at the lack of united front on the recall.
A Californian judge has ordered Ford to recall up to two million vehicles in the state. The vehicles were fitted with an allegedly faulty ignition module which, it is said, can lead to vehicles stalling. Ford says it will appeal. A law firm has filed an action against Ford to recall nationwide all of the vehicles fitted with the module and to reimburse customers who have been injured or who have lost out economically. It is estimated that there are 23 million such vehicles in the USA.
The Kwik-Fit group plans to grow from its present 2,000 centres to a total of 5,000 centres by the year 2010. This is made possible due to the financial backing of car giant Ford, said Sir Tom Farmer recently in a key-note speech in England.
Avon Rubber has blamed falling car production in the UK for a 40% drop in annual profits to £3.3 million. Direct sales of automotive and technical products to Ford and Rover fell £7.6 million to £27.1 million. Shares fell 12.5p to 455p.
Business analysis specialists Datamonitor predict that the European Fast Fit Market will have an annual growth of more than 4 per cent each year and reach 11 billion Euros by 2004. It is also anticipated that new competitors Ford (who acquired Kwik-Fit) and Fiat (who acquired Midas) will significantly increase their standing in the market during this period.
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