Roy Botterill led the MBO

Roy Botterill, a partner at law firm Harvey Ingram, has led a management buyout of Standard Motor Products Europe Ltd from its US parent SMP Inc.

The move comes after SMPEU moved to new purpose-built headquarters at Sherwood Park in Annesley, near Nottingham.

Under the deal, all jobs are safeguarded and the company now plans to expand its services across Europe, the Middle East and Australasia.

“[SMPEU] is in great shape, with a very ambitious and forward-thinking management team,” said Botterill.

SMPEU group finance director Suky Chahal added: “It’s a very timely move and creates a superb opportunity for us to press ahead with our on-going expansion plans.

“The company is an extremely good position to increase the range of products and services we offer the automotive industry.”

The VRM look-up has new functionality

Users of TecDoc can identify components on the system more quickly after the VRM search tool was updated to display vehicle chassis number and engine code.

The update has impressed TecDoc customer Alan Russell, IT manager for Premier Components UK, which recycles parts before a vehicle is crushed.

He said: “The system is very fast so it speeds the process and increases productivity, but the biggest gain for us is the accuracy of the system.”

Shaun Greasley, commercial director of TecDoc UK and Eire, added: “Many businesses have experienced directly attributable cost saving benefits as the number of wrongly specified parts, which have then needed to be returned, has shrunk as a result of using TecDoc’s VRM option.”

Comline's Malcolm Rosher (second right) takes his customers on tour

Comline Auto Parts hosted its first overseas customer visit in January to thank them for contributing to a record turnover of £12 million in 2009.

The trip to India allowed export customers to explore the Allied Nippon brake pad factory in New Delhi and attend the Delhi Autoparts exhibition.

The five day trip, which also took in the Golden Triangle in Delhi, the Taj Mahal in Agra and Jaipur, was attended by braking product customers from Hungary, Iceland and Bulgaria – all areas where the business has seen record growth over the past 12 months.

Comline plans to repeat the exercise in the autumn for valued UK customers.

“At a time when the automotive industry is suffering, we have achieved exponential growth through dogged determination, hard work and a flexible business strategy,” said Malcolm Rosher, Comline’s sales and marketing director.

“We would not have reached such heights without the support of our ever growing export distribution network.”

The Electric Car Corporation's four-seater Citroen C1 evia

Motorists will be encouraged to buy electric vehicles with a £5000 carrot, the Government announced on Thursday.

It has set aside an incentive pot of £230 million – the Plug-In Car Grant ­– which will entitle motorists to a 25% discount up to the value of £5000 from the list price of electric, plug-in hybrid or hydrogen fuel cell car.

The incentives will be available to consumers at the point of sale from January 2011.

The Government also announced plans to roll out a £30 million fund for a network of electric vehicle charging hubs called Plugged-In Places.

The first Plugged-In Places will be London, Milton Keynes and the North East where 11,000 vehicle recharging points in car parks, at major supermarkets and retail centres will be installed during the next three years.

Welcoming the scheme, Paul Everitt, chief executive of the SMMT, said: “Manufacturers develop and produce new technology where demand exists. This incentive will encourage international investment in the UK as well as helping motorists cut CO2 emissions.”

2m cars are taken off the road every year

Millions of scrapped vehicles could be coming back from the dead because unauthorised scrap yards are reselling cars earmarked for destruction.

That’s according to Bluecycle, an online auction house for car salvage, which says that hundreds of unregistered scrap yards are cashing in at the expense of reputable recycling plants.

It claims that up to a million vehicles a year that are taken off the road are avoiding destruction illegally due to insufficient resources available to enforce legislation governing their recycling.

Bluecycle is calling on the Government to step up local enforcement of the European End of Life Vehicles directive.

Figures from the DVLA show that approximately 2 million cars a year are taken off the road, generating some 3.5 million tonnes of scrap.

This figure has been boosted by approximately 0.5 million tonnes as a result of the Government’s scrappage scheme, which finishes at the end of March.

The number of Certificates of Destruction issued by the UK’s 1558 Authorised Treatment Facilities, however, is closer to the 1 million mark, according to Andy Latham, Bluecycle’s reputation manager.

“It is a legal requirement for ATFs to issue a Certificate of Destruction to prove that a vehicle has been correctly destroyed but the DVLA does not require one to confirm that it has been taken off the road,” he said.

“We’re caught in a  ‘Lazarus effect’ where something like 50% of vehicles scrapped don’t get a Certificate of Destruction. They’re quite literally coming back from the dead.

“Until the audit trail is tightened up and more unauthorised sites are closed down, we cannot expect this figure to reduce by much, which flies in the face of the original legislation and more importantly, could put someone’s life at risk if a car finds its way back onto the road.”

(L to R) JMC’s Barrie Robinson and Stephen Lyons, Cassie, JMC owner John Cavill and Denso’s Alan Povey

J Motor Components enjoyed a visit from Denso girl Cassie as the winners of the supplier’s first monthly Win a Workout prize.

Cassie and Denso Aftermarket Sales UK training manager Alan Povey spent a morning at the Poole-based motor factor before visiting six of JMC’s garage customers to deliver product training.

JMC owner John Cavill said: “We’ve done many workouts over the years but this was by far the best.

“We had such a lot of positive feedback from the garages. They hit Alan with a barrage of questions and problems, and he solved every one!

“We’ve already put a date in the diary to do some more.”

The Win a workout prize is part of Denso’s recently launched Millionaire’s Club promotion.

Motor factors have until the end of March to register and build their order books, with the prospect of winning prizes ranging from a case of bubbly to F1 Grand Prix tickets.

More than 19k vehicles worth a total of £423m have been recovered using Tracker devices

South Yorkshire police hit gold when a homing device in a stolen Land Rover led them to a clutch of hot vehicles in the process of being stripped down by thieves.

Police on the trail of a stolen Land Rover tracked the vehicle using the TRACKER signal emitting from the stolen vehicle using the South Yorkshire police helicopter.

Officers on the ground then tracked the vehicle to the driveway of a private house under renovation.

Further searches of the property uncovered two more Land Rovers and a partially stripped Suzuki 650 motorcyle, all stolen.

PC Wood of the South Yorkshire police said: “If it hadn’t been for the TRACKER device fitted to the Land Rover we may well have not found that vehicle or the other stolen vehicles.

“One man has been arrested and our enquiries are on going.”

Team Klarius: David Cheetham, Tony Wilson, Andrew Jones and Paul Hannah

Exhaust and catalytic converter supplier Klarius has acquired Quinton Hazell for an undisclosed sum, the company announced this afternoon.

The company bought the £260 million turnover parts manufacturing firm outright, a spokesman told CAT magazine.

In addition to its existing brands, Klarius Group now controls:

• Quinton Hazell
• Lip (Lipmesa)
• Wix
• Commercial Ignition
• Krooklok
• Moprod

as well as the distribution of Wix (Big X in Germany) filter products and FTE Automotive products in Europe

Quinton Hazell is headquartered in Leicester, England, with manufacturing and distribution assets in France, Germany, Italy and Spain. The purchase boosts the Klarius Group’s annual turnover to over £350million.

Further planned and as yet unnamed acquisitions could soon see its turnover accelerate to over half a billion Euros.

With the QH portfolio on board, Klarius says it now offers over 100,000 parts and has the ability to supply over 40,000 parts every day, to more than 5000 delivery points in 136 countries.

“This acquisition is ideal for both companies as Quinton Hazell products are largely complementary to the existing Klarius range – with very little crossover,” said Klarius chairman Tony Wilson.

Andrew Jones, Klarius Group MD, added: “We plan to optimise Quinton Hazell’s production and logistics facilities with the same lean manufacturing techniques that have proved so successful at Klarius.”

Chicane's Gary Barak and former launch editor John Stanton at the CAT Awards

The CAT Awards, held on January 22 at the Lensbury Hotel and Conference Centre, were not just a success for those companies and individuals lucky enough to win a prized trophy.

Industry charity BEN also benefited hugely.

In total, the 100 or so invited Awards attendees donated a very creditable £842.

CAT publisher Jim Foster commented: “We were delighted with this figure: especially seeing as we didn’t actually tell anyone in advance that they would be able to donate to BEN during the lunch!

“CAT will continue to support BEN in any way it can, including at the 2011 Awards where we will think up some kind of genius way to make more cash for them.

“I think our aim next year will be to smash the £1000 barrier.

“Maybe we could have a charity auction too, where people could bid for the services of key aftermarket individuals for a day… I wonder how much I would get for my services?!”

The independent garage sector now has a new representative body after the ADF reformed to become the Independent Automotive Aftermarket Federation.

The move, which has been in the pipeline for over a year, was confirmed this afternoon by the organisation’s president, Tony Sackett and his predecessor Quintin Cornforth.

In his opening statement to the media, Sackett said that the ADF was responding to what it believes is a lack of lobbying available for independent garages.

The IAAF, which hopes to sign up 4500 independent garages within three years, is offering garages:

• Lobbying and representation with Governments in the UK and Europe
• A technical helpline and regular bulletins in partnership with Mototek
• Online technical support
• MOT support, including help with VOSA appeals through the MOT Club

The Federation has new branding, a new website and a new structure, made up of three sections dedicated to:

• Distributors
• Garages
• Lobbying

Each will be governed by its own Council and headed up by a dedicated Chair. A series of appointments is expected to be announced within the next two to three weeks.

Tony Sackett said: “The ADF has moved almost organically from its roots as the Motor Factor Association to be much more of an umbrella organisation, encompassing the industry’s major suppliers, buying groups and campaigning organisations.

“The new IAAF formally recognises these developments and will progress from there. Its structure is designed to allow for expertise to be channelled into the appropriate area to maximum effect and, with the setting up of the Garage service and repair division, brings the crucial missing element into one independent unified body.”

Quintin Cornforth added that the new Garage Section is “absolutely not” intended to replace any existing garage schemes or sector initiatives.

“We embrace any initiatives that are dedicated to raising garage standards and we will be active in campaigning on these issues, on improving skill levels and, of course, fully support the Right to Repair Campaign,” he said.

“We firmly believe that the inclusion of the service and repair sector into the IAAF will give us greater, more effective lobbying leverage as we will have the voice of the whole industry behind us – not just suppliers and distributors.”

The joining fee for independent garages is £20 per month, with a special offer in 2010 of £10 per month as the new organisation establishes itself.