All articles by Richard Brown

Richard Brown

WCG welcomes Australian car finance stability

Despite the end of the mining boom, the economy in Australia has held stable, relative to Europe and the US, with ‘positive developments’ for the auto and fleet finance markets, according to White Clarke Group.

Hyundai conditional sale and PCP on i30

Similar to the offer from Subaru UK on the XV, Hyundai has announced a 0% interest conditional sale finance deal on the i30 Style, as well as a PCP offer.

General Motors brings international funding back home

General Motors Financial Company is set to reacquire GMAC UK in a global swoop for the international funding operations of Ally Financial, while Santander has announced plans to pull out of the US, and Vauxhall, the biggest-selling brand under the GM umbrella in the UK, has declared it won’t chase fleet sales to close the registrations gap on Ford.

The key to customer retention and re-purchase

However, for the majority of car dealers, prospecting is not a task that is undertaken with excitement or enthusiasm rather the opposite The flaws in the traditional approach are clear when looked at from the customers perspective:

Carlyle rebrands as MotoNovo

Cardiff-based independent motor finance lender Carlyle Finance has changed its name and logo to MotoNovo Finance. All Carlyles web pages have altered in appearance to reflect the new brand.

Dear diary: All mouth and no trousers

Unfortunately, my attitude and behaviour are made of the same colour-clashing, itchy hessian as my officewear.

Dear diary: going it alone

To the surprise of all concerned, both colleagues returned to find the office not burned out, with a Lord of the Flies-style hierarchy established and me declaring myself King of the Hamburger People.

HML debut may bring new lenders to market

The company is on the lookout for new portfolios to manage, while hoping to remove barriers to entry for foreign investors looking to lend by providing an end-to-end outsourcing service. Commercial manager Graham Donald admits the motor finance market has been “a bit more circumspect in the past year” but is confident HML is in a position to diversify into secured and unsecured lending.

Nissan sales up, profit down

Nissan Motor Company announced a 12% loss in net income for the first half of the financial year (ending 31 March 2012), compared to the same period in the previous year, though vehicles sales rose by 10.7%. Compared to 2010, from April-to-September, 2011, net revenues were up 1.1% to 4.4trn (£34.97bn) and operating profit was down 7.5% to 309.7bn.

Dear diary: Press to release

Press releases, baby seats, the culture of fear and car thefts in Richard Brown’s Ocotber diary