| Inchcape soars to record profits
Car dealership Inchcape has posted record profits as the group outperformed a "very challenging" UK market. Despite fears of a slowdown, the company boosted underlying pre-tax profits 10% to £235.1 million in 2007, beating forecasts. Like-for-like sales across the group, which sells marques including Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz, rose 3.4%. UK revenues jumped 58% after acquisitions, although comparative sales were also 5.2% higher than last year. Inchcape's chief executive Andre Lacroix added that the group was "well placed to deliver continued organic growth" this year, lifting shares almost 5%. Inchcape has fared better than rival dealerships as it is less exposed to the UK market, where margins on used cars have been tighter. While the overall domestic market is expected to decline by 2.5% this year, it expects premium marques to perform more strongly although bigger discounts may be needed to tempt hard-pressed shoppers.
Posted by: Gail Edmondson on June 01
When an automaker's reputation for quality crashes, it takes a painfully long time to convince car buyers the problem is fixed. But a recent customer satisfaction survey of 18,000 British drivers by consultancy J. D. Power and Associates rated Mercedes the "most improved" brand. The survey weights vehicle quality and reliability at 30% and ownership costs at 19%, among other factors such as general satisfaction. Ok, in total points Mercedes ranked only 12th, below guess who — Lexus — as well as Honda, Toyota, Audi, Mini, Volvo and BMW, and others. But it's moving in the right direction. "Mercedes-Benz has made impressive strides over the past two years, with major improvements in vehicle quality and dealer service making a strong impact on satisfaction with overall ownership," says Frank Parisi, director of European automotive research at J.D.
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Feb 18, 7:56 AM EST
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- One down, one to go for The Captain. Roger Penske picked up his elusive Daytona 500 victory, a $1 million bonus and a new challenge - pairing the race he just conquered with the one that means the most to him. Ryan Newman gave Penske his first Daytona 500 victory in 24 years of trying, a frustrating span for a car owner accustomed to dominating big events: He's won the Indianapolis 500 a record 14 times. Now he wants one more. Matching victories in two of motorsports' most sought after bounties. "Comparing it to the Indy 500, as Ryan knows, we've been open-wheel guys and coming down here has been tough," Penske said following Sunday's victory. "This has got to go to the top of the charts here, this win. What I'm going to try to do this year is have them back-to-back, have one in May, too.
Belkin TuneTalk Stereo for iPod with video
The prevailing wisdom was that the iPod was a media playback device rather than a recorder, so the release of new iPod firmware to support the first microphone - Belkin's $50 Voice Recorder (iLounge rating: B) - was a breakthrough. But as noted in our review back then, older iPods were only decent recording devices: Apple limited the iPod to recording 8KHz, 16-bit monaural WAV audio files - one minute of recording per Megabyte - which was space-consuming, low-fidelity, and as suggested by Belkin's accessory, suitable basically only for voices, and not for music. Nearly three years later, a lot has changed. iPod 3G- and 4G-ready voice recorders are physically incompatible with fifth-generation models - a shame - but to compensate, Apple has substantially improved the latest iPods' recording abilities.
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