The Independent Garage Association (IGA) has welcomed the spotlight shone by the Social Market Foundation (SMF) on the central importance of the UK independent garage sector in ensuring the future mobility of the UK. Readers can download the full report here.
Bridgestone Corporation has published its latest integrated report. It says the Bridgestone 3.0 Journey 2022 Integrated Report provides readers with a “comprehensive and better understanding” of the company’s approach and the initiatives it is undertaking to enhance corporate value over the mid- to long-term.
Data in the NTDA’s “Keeping Tyre Centres Safe” report shows that 95 per cent of tyre centres keeping some or all Covid-19 measures. Providing useful insights into consumer and retail thinking on subject, the NTDA report highlights that: two-thirds of drivers are concerned about Covid-19 restrictions being lifted (this trend was most noticeable in Scotland where the figure was 69 per cent); that the majority “want to see safety measures REMAIN in tyre centres”; and that “63 per cent of the nations’ drivers would be more likely to choose (and 65 per cent more likely to trust) a tyre centre that continues to enforce safety measures”.
When cracks were found in vehicle lifts belonging to Northern Ireland’s MOT body, Driver and Vehicle Agency (DVA), all of its 55 lifts and therefore the country’s centrally run MOT system came to a standstill. A little over a year later, the Northern Ireland Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee published its “Report on Driver and Vehicle Agency 2019-20”, which examined how vehicle testing came to be suspended due to problems with virtually all of the DVA’s vehicle lifts.
NatWest’s latest UK Automotive PMI report registered the sharpest downturn in business conditions across the UK automotive sector for six-and-a-half years. At 43.5 in May, the headline seasonally adjusted UK Automobiles & Auto Parts PMI – a single figure measure of developments in manufacturing conditions – registered below the crucial 50.0 no-change threshold for the second month running. The latest figure was down from 48.9 in April.
The Independent Garage Association (IGA) has published its 2019 report on consumer facing websites seeking to work with independent garages. The 2019 Garage Work Provider Report builds on the detail established in the 2018 report and features significantly more feedback and testimonials from independent garages.
A significant proportion of companies are actively seeking both to reduce business travel and to cut the number of employees commuting to the workplace, research by Sewells has found. The study of more than 1,000 British business leaders found the changes were being driven by the cost of travel, its environmental impact and its negative impact on staff productivity.
New car buyers made savings of over £2300 on average at the end of last year, despite a gradual fall in manufacturer discounts during the last quarter, according to the latest What Car? Target Price Report.
The Independent Garage Association and National Franchised Dealers Association have strongly opposed a report published this week from The Adam Smith Institute which recommends the abolishment of the MOT test.
A survey of 1,289 mycarcheck.com customers has revealed a significant shift in where people buy used cars. 27 per cent of those surveyed in February said they preferred to go to a main dealer or car supermarket, up from 13 per cent of those asked the same question a year ago. The trade has taken this market share from private sellers, down to 35 per cent from 48 per cent the previous year, with independent retailers unchanged on 33 per cent.
With nearly 112 million vehicles now connected around the world, the global market for automotive cybersecurity is expected to grow exponentially – to $759 million in 2023, according to a new report, ‘Automotive Cybersecurity and Connected Car’, from IHS Automotive, part of business information provider IHS Markit. Connected cars are defined as those that have a connection to the internet, through telematics, an on-board modem or a paired device in the vehicle, such as a mobile phone or other device.
New data produced by Smithers Rapra suggests the carbon black market has grown at an average of 5.4 per cent during the period between 2011 and 2015. As a results demand reached 13 million tons in 2015. To put this figure into context, global demand for carbon black was estimated at 10.7 million tons in 2011 – and this figure is said to represent “a good recovery” from the 15 per cent contraction between 2008 and 2009.
A new industry report from global growth strategy consulting company Ipsos Business Consulting presents its vision for how so-called “Connected Cars” will “revolutionise the automotive experience”. The report is optimistic in its vision of the future, suggesting that car ownership worries, such as high costs and significant commuting times, could be exchanged for safer, less stressful travel. According to Ipsos, the automotive industry is in the early stages of radical transformation that will see the connected car “become the most advanced computing device that we own.”
There is strong evidence Indonesia will eventually replace Thailand as the main automotive production hub in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), according to Markus Scherer, global automotive sector leader at Ipsos Business Consulting. This could have major implications for automotive manufacturers and suppliers as well as policy planners in both countries, Scherer said.
A report from Bloomberg predicts that hybrid and electric cars will be cheaper than standard cars within six years, with sales of electric cars reaching 41m by 2040, or a third of the market.
NTDA