More than 20 high-profile banks, financial support services, and venture capitalists have signed-up to attend SMMT's 'Meet the Funder' event later this month, keen to enhance their understanding of the UK's automotive supply chain and boost funding in the sector.
Following the tabling of the European Commission’s CARS 2020 Action Plan to aid the European automobile manufacturing industry, there are a number of concrete proposals that are likely to affect the industry. According to the details, which we summarise here, the commission and member states must now implement the policies announced. In order to monitor this process, and continue the dialogue with the stakeholders a dedicated process will be established called "CARS 2020".
PricewaterhouseCoopers Automotive partner Phil Harrold has forecast a continuing “renaissance” for the British automotive industry. The analyst suggests the next five years will see the sector improve its workforce’s skills base following recent investments by major brands such as Toyota, and rises in new car registrations. Harrold commented after the firm’s auto analyst arm, Autofacts, predicted global production figures would top 83.19 million in 2013 up from 79.1 million this year.
The SMMT figures for commercial vehicle registrations in October paint a gloomy picture, with year-on-year CV sales down 8.1 per cent to 21,661 units; the rolling year figure is also down 0.9% to 293,312.
Truck registrations dipped to 3,867 units, down 8.1 per cent in the month, but the rolling year figure is up 16.3 per cent to 47,352.
New car sales figures from the SMMT show month on month sales were up 12.1 per cent compared to October last year. Fleet registrations increased by 4.5 per cent last month whilst private registrations increased by 23.9 per cent. Alternative Fuel Vehicles (AFVs) saw sales increase by a huge 38.8 per cent.
Commenting on the figures, Sue Robinson, Director of the RMI National Franchised Dealers Association (NFDA) which represents franchised car and commercial vehicle retailers across the UK, said: "Retail car sales continue to drive the market in October whilst fleet sales remain flat."
Matthew Hammond, Tony Barrell, Ian Green and Mike Jervis were appointed joint administrators of Manganese Bronze Holdings plc, LTI Limited, MBH Services Limited and MBH Property Services Limited (“the Group”) on 30 October 2012.
The Group is the manufacturer and retailer of the iconic London taxi, sold in the UK and abroad. It provides a retail and maintenance service through its wholly-owned dealerships throughout the UK, under the trading name The London Taxi Company. It has a turnover of £75m and 277 employees in total including three overseas employees. 175 employees are based at the Group’s head office and manufacturing site located in Coventry with the remaining employees spread across dealerships in London, Manchester, Leeds, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Coventry.
September results in the segment of buses and coaches over 3.5 tonnes were diverse across countries, leading to an overall 5.5 per cent contraction of the EU market. While the UK (+43.3 per cent) and Spain (+5.3 per cent) performed better than in the same month last year, France (-22.7 per cent), Germany (-26.3 per cent) and Italy (-26.6 per cent) experienced a double-digit downturn.
September, demand for new vans (light commercial vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes) declined across the EU, except in Slovakia (+9.5 per cent) and the UK (+1.1 per cent), resulting in an overall 13.5 per cent decrease. France (-12.4 per cent), Germany (-14.6 per cent), Italy (-27.6 per cent) and Spain (-34.3 per cent) all faced a double digit downturn. In total, the region counted 123,938 new vans in the month.
In September, the EU recorded 18,529 new heavy trucks (over 16 tonnes), or 14.8 per cent less than in September 2011. All significant markets contracted, from -6.7 per cent in the UK to -18.6 per cent in France, -22.9 per cent in Germany, -28.6 per cent in Spain and -33.8 per cent in Italy. Nine months into the year, the decline was 7.7 per cent, with a total of 162,355 new registrations.
In September, ACEA figures reveal that a total of 150,910 new commercial vehicles were registered in the EU, which is 13.7 per cent less than in the same month last year.
Good news for owners of McLaren's MP4-12C production car – Pirelli has developed bespoke versions of the P Zero and P Zero Corsa tyres, for road and track use, respectively, for the supercar. The tyres are the result of collaboration between Pirelli researchers and McLaren engineers at Woking.
Sergio Marchionne, president and CEO of Fiat, painted a bleak picture of the immediate future for his industry in a message to the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA).
Writing in the UK newspaper The Times, Robert Lea says "One of the great names of the British motor industry, renowned for building high performance engines for racing teams and sports cars, has been put up for sale.
New car registration figures for the EU from ACEA show that demand for new cars was down -10.8% in September, amounting to 1,099,264 units, compared with September 2011. Nine months into the year, the downturn reached -7.6%, with a total of 9,368,327 new cars registered in the EU.
At June’s Reifen trade show in Germany, Falken Tyre Europe shared that Volkswagen had selected its Sincera SN831A in size 165/70R14 81T for its new compact model, the ‘Up!’. The car maker has now selected another Falken product as original equipment, this time for the Polo; in certain European markets the Eurowinter HS449 winter tyre will be fitted to the Polo in size 185/60 R15 85H.
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