The Ford Fiesta topped the list of the UK’s most popular used cars in April with 11,297 units sold. In second place was the Ford Focus with 9,308 units sold last month, according to figures from Motors.co.uk. Vauxhall cars took third and fourth slots with 7,180 and 6,623 sold respectively. The Volkswagen Gold was in fifth position with 6,063 units sold. Also in the top 10 was the Nissan Qashqai, Vauxhall Zafira and Insignia, BMW 3 series and Volkswagen Polo.   Top 10 Position Make Model April Sold Rank difference MoM 1 Ford Fiesta 11,297 0 2 Ford Focus 9,308 0 3 Vauxhall Corsa 7,180 0 4 Vauxhall Astra 6,623 0 5 Volkswagen Golf 4,063 0 6 Nissan Qashqai 2,964 +3 7 Vauxhall Zafira 2,734 +1 8 Vauxhall Insignia 2,730 -1 9 BMW 3 Series 2,577 -3 10 Volkswagen Polo 2,427 0 – See…

McLaren Automotive has appointed Jolyon Nash as executive director of global sales and marketing and member of the board of management, reporting to CEO Mike Flewitt. Jolyon joins the company from Rolls-Royce where he was sales and marketing director for the last five years. Prior to that he held senior sales and marketing roles at BMW and the Volkswagen Group. Meanwhile, Rolls-Royce has appointed Fintan Knight as Jolyon’s replacement. Knight joins from Infiniti Europe where he was vice president, having previously held senior positions at Lamborghini and is a former managing director of Audi Ireland. Original Story taken from Motor Trader news – http://www.motortrader.com/latest-news/rolls-royce-director-mclaren/

In the Malvern hills, there’s a shed full of blokes that build wooden supercars. They call themselves Morgan, and they’re the height of British quintessence. A few thousand miles away, on another island nation, a group of equally skilled, equally bonkers blokes have had a go at something similar. And somehow made it even more mad. This is the “Maniwa”, built by Sada-Kenbi. And if that name doesn’t appear on your rolodex of Popular Car Manufacturers, that’s because it’s not one. The company specialises in making things out of wood, and insists that extends to cars. It’s a sort of trike thing that’s fully road-legal, features motorbike-like handlebars, a drivers’ seat and a two-person rear bench. There’s also a set of gull-wing doors and lumbering (sorry) top speed of 50mph from the 175cc engine. There’s only one, and it costs £26,000. This, or a…

Profitability at the average UK motor dealership surged 21.5% to £96,000 in March 2014 compared to March 2013. The buoyant performance in the plate-change month was largely due to strong new car sales allied to Q1 bonuses. Dealer profitability specialist ASE said the rolling 12 month return on sales figure now stands at 1.55%, the highest national figure it has recorded. ASE chairman Mike Jones said that the used car performance had held up although there were signs of a “slight softening” in the April market. Overhead absorption in the rolling 12 months to March improved to 56.7% compared to 55.7% a year ago. “It is pleasing to see the growth in overhead absorption, which is now making gains on a monthly basis,” said Jones. “This is a result of increased retail hours sold within the service department, a trend which should increase,” he…

The DVLA and other government motoring agencies will come under scrutiny next week when bosses appear before the Transport Select Committee for questioning. The committee’s aim is to throw the spotlight on how agencies such as the DVLA spend their money and how they interact with users. Under the cosh will be Alastair Peoples, chief executive, Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), Oliver Morley, chief executive, Driver Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) and Paul Markwick, chief executive, Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA). The committee will use evidence session to question the chief executives about the performance of their agencies, the savings they have made and their plans for the future. The committee will also ask Transport Minister Stephen Hammond about the DfT’s policies and its scrutiny of the motoring agencies. In February Hammond agreed to an overhaul of the DVLA to make it more efficient for…

Vertu Motors has bought Lancashire-based Hillendale Group for £8.2m.  It paid £6.4m goodwill and £2m of Vertu shares for Hillendale’s Land Rover dealership in Nelson and Jaguar dealership in Bolton. Hillendale has agreed not to dispose of the shares for 12 months from completion. For the year ended 31 December 2013, Hillendale generated revenues of £34.9m and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) of £1m. Vertu said the business would be earnings enhancing in its first full year of ownership. The deal develops Vertu’s relationship with Land Rover in a territory contiguous with its Farnell Land Rover business in Yorkshire. It is the group’s first Jaguar dealership. Robert Forrester, CEO of Vertu Motors said: “We are delighted to announce the next step in our growth with Jaguar Land Rover and our entry into the Jaguar franchise. “Land Rover remains one of the…

The Geneva Show is always rammed with supercars. Some are serious and wonderful, even if just as many others are the work of egoistic men in little sheds who you’ll probably never hear of again. This year it was Lamborghini and McLaren and Ferrari’s turn to do the wonderful bit, with the Huracan and 650S and California T respectively. But this was actually a show mostly about normal cars for normal people, and many of them were well worth the price of admission. I can’t wait to have a go in the rear-engined Twingo. And it’s not only technically interesting, it’s a great design. It doesn’t try to be cute, which is why it’s cute as a button. I love the manga look of the Toyota Aygo, even if its Peugeot 108 relative is a bit timid. Talking of timid design, what about the…

Ford Retail is targeting ex-armed force personnel to fill sales vacancies. The factory-owned dealer group teamed up with Talent Q, an employee assessment firm. Talent Q conducted a study of 205 sales executives at Ford Retail and compared their results on personality against their sales profits, volumes and customer service rating over a four-month period. The study found that the best sales employees were open communicators with strong verbal reasoning skills and an ability to build rapport. However, those who rated highest for customer service were strong in empathy and were supportive, relaxed and consultative. “Our philosophy is to create customers for life, not just make an initial sale, so we need to recruit well-rounded people who can perform well in both the sales and the customer service aspects of the role,” said Ford Retail HR director Sharon Ashcroft. “We’ve started to attend careers…