News

A growing MPV market share, the rise of smaller engined vehicles and an increase in the diesel market are just some of the trends unearthed in a new report from the SMMT.

The society’s Motorparc report, which tracks buying changes across each of the 35, 790, 901 cars, vans, trucks, buses and coaches on UK roads has shed light on several important trends among UK car buyers.

The SMMT says the report has revealed a range of trends, which have “redrawn the map on terms of the nation’s motoring preferences.”

Among key locations identified in the report sits Worcester, which has emerged as the UK’s most patriotic town when it comes to buying cars. A quarter of the vehicles on its streets have been built in the UK.

Delphi engineers from the Gillingham Technical Centre have won a gruelling 12-hour cycle challenge at the Rockingham circuit and raised more than £700 for charity.

Pedalling more than 450 miles around the Rockingham Motor Speedway on March 18, the four-man team came first in the marathon cycling challenge for motor industry charity BEN.

“We are glad to have been able to take part in the event and raise money for BEN, a charity which Delphi has supported for a number of years mainly through our annual ‘Excellence Week’ activities,” said team leader and senior development engineer Lloyd James.

George Osborne has delivered his budget, and the reaction is starting to roll in.

The Road Haulage Association

George Osborne has delivered his fourth budget as Chancellor of the Exchequer, promising to support what he calls “our aspiration nation.” “We’re slowly but surely fixing the country’s economic problems,” said Osborne “It is taking longer than anyone hoped, but we must stay on the right track.”

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Maxxis has revealed details of its annual awards programme for its dealers. Run in conjunction with distribution partner Stapleton’s, the awards will recognize dealers with the chance to win a trip to Thailand as well as other rewards.

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J&S Products says it has updated its website to make logging on a "completely new experience" for customers.

A true picture of the debt created at Klarius Group Limited has been revealed with total liabilities standing at nearly £50 million, according to the administrator’s report from KMPG which CAT has obtained.

Three big names in the filters market joined in the war against sub-standard filters. Mahle says it will be distributing a comprehensive guide on filter quality and the importance of replacing like for like to its 450+ customers nationwide.

It’s nothing new for any reader of this magazine to be told that some parts are better than other parts.

Many claim to be of ‘matching quality’ to the original, a provision included in Block Exemption Regulation in order to allow alternative parts to be used and vehicle manufacturer warranties to remain intact.

Sogefi Group is flexing its OE muscles and aiming to retake a sizeable chunk of the UK’s aftermarket filtration business over the next three to five years.

Although it says it remains the market leader in the UK, with 26 percent of sales in 2011, ten years ago it would have had a 40 percent share of the sector, close to the one-in-two aftermarket position it has in France today.

The €1.1 billion company invited CAT to Vire in Normandy to pay a visit to one of its 44 worldwide manufacturing facilities and to talk to Andrea Taschini, General Manager of the Sogefi Aftermarket Division, and newly-appointed Country Area Manager for the UK Nigel Duffield.

OE and the courtroom