Automotive News – Early April 2024
Estimated reading time 3 minutes
Full year sales numbers for luxury car maker, Jaguar Land Rover, rose by 20% year-on-year, the group has revealed.
It said the improvement reflects improved production and sustained global demand. The group, which has production plants at Halewood in Merseyside and Solihull and Castle Bromwich in the West Midlands, said wholesale volumes of 110,190 units in the fourth quarter – excluding the Chery Jaguar Land Rover China JV – were up 16% compared with the same quarter a year ago and up nine per cent compared with the quarter ended December 31, 2023.
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March new car market sustains growth as manufacturers shore up electrified demand.
- New car registrations rise 10.4% in best March since 2019 and 20th consecutive month of growth.
- Overall increase driven by fleet investment with weak confidence constraining private retail demand.
- Industry calls for EV incentives with battery electric car market off the pace.
The UK new car market clocked up its 20th consecutive month of growth in March, with a 10.4% rise in registrations. In what is typically the busiest month of the year due to the new numberplate, 317,786 new cars reached the road with a 24 plate – the best March performance since 2019, although still 30.6% below pre-pandemic levels.
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Bumper March for new vans as fleet demand surpasses 50,000 units.
- Britain’s new light commercial vehicle (LCV) market grows 11.1% to 52,916 units in best March performance for three years.
- Growth in uptake of all LCVs besides medium-sized vans, with the largest models up 16.1% as demand for smaller vans bounces back with a 44.8% rise.
- Electric van uptake reaches highest volume on record for a new plate month – but a national plan for van-suitable public charge points remains crucial to tackling fleet charging anxiety.
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Midlands-based engineering firm Autocraft Solutions Group has secured a £24m asset-based lending facility from HSBC UK to fund domestic growth and set up new facilities in Europe and the USA.
The move will directly fund significant growth for Autocraft Solutions Group’s existing UK and European contracts with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and as part of the expansion plans, the business is projected to increase turnover by over 50% and to increase its headcount by over 10%.
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Go-Ahead Group will introduce an additional 201 zero emission buses by March 2026 in a bid to take its green fleet count to more than 1100.
The total investment, comprising both buses and infrastructure amounts to £112 million, with Go-Ahead’s investment totalling £62 million as it looks to achieve a fully decarbonised bus fleet by 2035.
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