All articles by Richard Irvine-Brown
Richard Irvine-Brown
Chinese takeover stalls, Saab bankrupt
Swedish car manufacturer Saab, and associated interests Saab Automobile Tools AB and Saab Powertrain AB, has filed for bankruptcy. Potential investment in the company, including that of Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile, stalled after US stake-holder and supplier General Motors opposed the possibility of Chinese manufacturers accessing technology licences. Saab owner Swedish Automobile NV will entirely write off its interest in Saab Automobile and does not expect a return on any of its shares in the company.
New approvals seal ‘outstanding year for SAF’
A record year for the Specialist Automotive Finance (SAF) scheme has brought praise for motor dealers from the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA). The SAF kite-mark programme designed to promote understanding of car finance for dealers, and thus the public, now includes four-fifths of the 30 largest dealership groups in the UK
Santander Consumer enters China with JV
Santander Consumer Finance is set to launch a motor financing operation in China in a joint venture with Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Company (JAC), starting with 58m in initial capital. Each company will hold a 50% stake in the new company and nominate three of the six board members
Vehicle recoveries down from November peak
The December figures from HPI CrushWatch, in conjunction with the Finance and Leasing Association Association of Chief Police Officers Vehicle Recovery Scheme, show a slight return to Octobers numbers following a busier November. Total enquiries were down 2.9% to 4,943 for the month while total hits (those enquiries that did reveal outstanding finance on a vehicle) remained all-but steady at 464
Irish Life to sell leasing and loan books
There are reports the two could be sold separately with the car loan book worth 500m, spread across loans of a minimum 4,000, and the leasing operation worth 100m, financing agricultural machinery to farmers, local authorities, landscape gardeners and sports clubs The move comes as IL&P seeks to separate its insurance and banking business by the end of the first quarter of 2012.
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CAP and VRA: Used car values holding steady
The December edition of used car pricing organisation CAPs Black Book predicts a drop in trade values of only 1.8% while the Vehicle Remarketing Association (VRA) attributes the relative quiet in the market to lower stock and demand in the approach to Christmas.
The unstoppable Marsh
As finance and portfolio management house Marsh Finance speeds towards £100m of funds under management, Richard Brown talks to MD Andrew Marsh and new recruit Craig Rutherford about the astonishing growth of a family business, and its development of some ambitious dealer joint ventures.
Dear diary: finance and leasing in Leamington Spa
Congratulations this month go to car PR and events company PFPR Communications for raising £1,123 for Movember, with an average of £102 raised per tache nearly twice the national average. No congratulations, however, go to my colleagues Gred Crawley and Frant Collinson (names changed to hide their clean-lipped shame) who both reneged on their hirsute promise and left me the only man in the building with brutish fur across my face. Of course, with no sponsorship dependent on the fuzz, it wasnt long before I realised I was no longer the fun and participatory guy in the office but merely a git with a moustache.
Mazda expands successful ‘no VAT’ and 0% offers
Since beginning the scheme, a third of proposal volumes through Mazda Financial Services have been for the Mazda6, which normally accounts for a fifth or a sixth of proposals, and demand for the model in the second half of November was twice that of the first half, according to Mazda UK. The no VAT offer will now include the Mazda2, Mazda3, Mazda5 and Mazda MX-5 models 29 February 2012, as well as the petrol model of the Mazda6 until 31 March 2012 with the Japan-based manufacturer also introducing 0% APR finance, over four years with 30% or 50% deposit, on a range of cars.
Fiat captive brings operation ‘in-house’
The move means, from the start of 2012, FGA Capital will transact all new retail business in the UK for Fiat and Land Rover, replacing Santander Consumer Finance, as well as continuing to provide finance Alfa Romeo, Arbath, Fiat Professional, Chrysler, Jeep and Jaguar.