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World's oldest car returns temporarily to Germany
An 1888 Benz Patent Motor Car, considered to be the world's
oldest original automobile, is returning temporarily to
Germany for display at the Automuseum Dr. Carl Benz in
Ladenburg. The car is on loan from the Science Museum in
London, which has owned it since 1913; it will return to
England in November 2008. Carl Benz introduced the Patent
Motor Car in 1886 and subsequently built about 25 of the
three-wheeled vehicles. The original, the Model I, used
wire wheels and design details adopted from advanced contemporary
bicycles; Model II was converted to four wheels for test
purposes, and was used to test axle pivot steering. The
Model III, considered the first true automobile and the
model of the museum's vehicle, had two driven rear wheels
and a steered front wheel. Benz worked with Emile Roger
of Paris, who set up the first foreign sales office; the
vehicle on display was supplied to Roger and then sold
in England. It is assumed that it was built by Benz in
1888 and originally displayed at an exhibition in Munich
that year. The car is believed to be the first gasoline-engine
vehicle operated in England. It is considered the world's
oldest vehicle in its original condition; the German Museum
owns an 1886 Patent Motor Car, but it was reconstructed
from original parts around 1900. The Science Museum purchased
the car in April 1913 and it was retained in ready-to-drive
condition; in 1936 it was even driven outside the museum
once a week. The car was completely overhauled in 1957
and was registered by the museum for the London to Brighton
Veteran Car Run that year, but only covered 22 km, at an
average speed of 12 km/h, before the brakes failed in a
rainstorm and the front fork was damaged in a collision
with another vehicle. In 1958, the car finished the 90
km rally in six hours and 25 minutes, at an average speed
of 14 km/h. That year it was also returned to Munich, where
it participated in a parade marking the 70th anniversary
of Daimler-Benz AG. Later that year, the car became a permanent
exhibit in the London museum.
Ontario car dealers select CarProof to supply vehicle history
reports
The Toronto Automobile Dealers Association (TADA) and the
Ontario Automobile Dealers Association (OADA) announced that
they have selected CarProof Vehicle History Reports as their
official report. Members of the associations will now be
able to purchase CarProof reports through their association
web site at www.tada.com and www.oada.com. Each report will
provide details about a car's complete history including
where it has been registered, any accident claims that may
have been made and whether or not the vehicle is stolen. "We
selected CarProof because we are of the opinion their reports
provide the most accurate and comprehensive information on
Accident Damage, Vehicle History and Liens in the marketplace
today," said TADA Executive Director, Barry Gee. CarProof
is a Canadian company and the only service of its kind that
is connected "live" to each motor vehicle and lien
jurisdiction in Canada so that it can deliver the most up-to-date
information available in the Canadian automotive industry.
CarProof is also the only online reporting service that is
connected "live" to the Canadian insurance industry
to report real time vehicle accident damage. In addition,
CarProof accesses U.S. vehicle history information from a
database consisting of 20 billion records through its partnership
with Experian Automotive. CarProof also recently took steps
to add another layer of protection for their customers, adding
a national stolen record search of the Canadian Police Information
Centre. All CarProof Verified and Claims reports will now
include data used by law enforcement and government agencies
across Canada to identify stolen cars. "We believe providing
this tool to our members, one that will generate the most
complete information available, will allow our members to
show their consumers that they have taken great care to sell
pre-owned vehicles that are accident-free and have clean
histories," said Geoff Wilkinson, Executive Director
of the OADA.
Mercedes-Benz to supply armoured trucks to the Canadian Army
Canada's Department of National Defence has awarded its Armoured
Heavy Support Vehicle System (AHSVS) contract to Mercedes-Benz.
The contract provides for 82 armoured heavy support vehicles,
with an option to procure an additional 26 AHSVS of various
variants. Mercedes-Benz won the competitive selection process
against two other truck manufacturers with its Actros heavily-armoured
cab, which will be used by Canadian forces deployed in Afghanistan.
The four-axle, 8x8 all-terrain armoured Actros is based on
the company's series production truck; over 450,000 are currently
in use in various sectors, as well as in logistics operations,
with over 50 armies worldwide.
Dealer profile: Joe Serra, Serra Automotive Group
Satisfied
employees create satisfied customers. Sarah Webster of the
Detroit Free Press has a nice profile of
Michigan mega-dealer Joe Serra. Joe Serra never wanted
to be a car dealer, but his father convinced him to join
the family business, and now the 47-year-old is the second-largest
independent auto dealer in Michigan and fast approaching
the No. 1 dealer. In all, Joe Serra now owns 33 auto franchises
in 20 locations in six states and he's growing his business
fast. For 2006, his business was ranked the 21st largest
dealership group by Automotive News, selling 20,715 new
and 10,283 used vehicles. Overall, his dealerships brought
in more than $800 million in revenue. And as president
of the Detroit Auto Dealers Association, Mr. Serra is also
slated to head up the 2009 North American International
Auto Show in Detroit. As Joe Serra prepared to graduate
from Albion College in 1982, he was interviewing at accounting
firms and thinking of going into the world of computers.
When his dad pulled him aside to talk about joining the
car business, Joe had an explanation for why he didn't
want to work there. "I wanted to make my own mark," Joe
Serra said. "I knew if I did this, I'd always be 'Al
Serra's son.' I didn't want to lean on him." But Al
Serra said, "I could really use some help,' " Joe
recalled. "That was the killer line. ... I'm glad
he did it." Nearly two decades later, Joe Serra bought
out his father and began running Serra Automotive, expanding
the empire with a philosophy of decentralization. Serra
finds a new franchise to buy or develop and takes trusted
longtime employees and gives them the opportunity of a
lifetime. He'll put up the capital to give them their own
store to run, and they get to own a minority interest in
the business. "I have partners in each store," he
explained. "I'm an investor." Joe Serra gives
the children of each of his employees $1,000 a year when
they are enrolled in college through a scholarship program
named after his dad. And he also believes in providing
his employees with a great working environment, with modern
new facilities that all have wireless Internet access.
Whatever his formula for success, Serra's reputation with
employees and his performance in the marketplace are attracting
some of the best and brightest in the industry.
Toyota encouraging dealers to add more service capacity
Number of units in service has risen dramatically while
Toyota has added relatively few new dealership points.
Toyota is asking dealers to make big investments in service
bays, even though some say their service areas are underused,
according to a release from the American International
Automobile Dealers Association reported by Automotive News.
It's part of the company's growing pains as more Toyota
vehicles in operation demand more service. "Some guys
are having to triple the size of their service departments
because it's 50 percent of what it should be," said
Mark Johnson, a dealership mergers and acquisitions consultant.
Nancy Davies, vice president of retail market development
at Toyota says the extra capacity is desperately needed
because the number of Toyota vehicles on the road has risen
dramatically. In the past five years, annual sales have
grown from 1.5 million to 2.2 million. In that time Toyota
added just 25 dealers. The average U.S. Toyota dealer has
23 service bays. The company expects that to grow to 30
by 2012.
Pennsylvania dealership closes doors, sues big bank over
handling of loan
Dealer claims lack of floorplan audits enabled a $1.5 million
embezzlement that led to the store’s failure. A dealership
near State College in central Pennsylvania has closed its
doors indefinitely and filed a $4 million lawsuit against
M&T Bank in which it accuses the bank of failing to
meet the terms of loan agreements to provide car financing,
according to a report in the Centre Daily Times. The claimed
damages include $1.5 million in losses stemming from embezzlement
by a former dealership employee that occurred when the
bank allegedly financed more than 300 vehicles without
verifying the collateral or receiving any documentation,
such as vehicle titles or invoices, according to a lawsuit
filed in U.S. District Court. The balance of the lawsuit's
claim is estimated business losses from the closure. "They
had data available that they ignored," attorney Alan
L. Frank said. "The results were quite dramatic and
devastating." Mr. Frank said the dealership stopped
selling vehicles -- primarily Chrysler, Jeep vehicles.
The bank has taken possession of the dealership’s
inventory. But the closure may not be permanent. According
to the court filing, the dealership first signed an agreement
with M&T Bank for floor plan financing in June 2003.
A second agreement was signed in December of 2006, before
the financial problems were discovered. Less than a month
later, the dealership was contacted by the bank about an
increase in its inventory, which was more than double each
of the three prior years, the complaint states. A complete
listing of loans was provided. "It was at this time
that (the dealership) first determined that M&T had
funded 300-plus vehicles that it never had and that it
had financed both new and used vehicles in excess of the
limits contained in the loan agreements," the complaint
states. About that time, it was discovered that beginning
in or about 2005, an office manager manipulated, falsified
and altered the inventory and financial records to show
inflated inventory and accounting entries, the complaint
states. It states that because the bank failed to provide
monthly floor plan audits, the office manager falsified
and inflated the inventory by about 400 cars throughout
2006. The suit also says the office manager significantly
overvalued used cars, and M&T provided financing based
on those inflated numbers. The office manager was confronted
by the dealership and, according to the complaint, admitted
to the in consistencies and said that funds were "in
part diverted to her own personal use." The office
manager admitted to paying off one vehicle, inflating her
paychecks, taking unauthorized commissions and forging
checks, police said in the affidavit. An investigation
is ongoing.
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