E-book readers, 3D TVs and tablet PCs compete to be top dog of 2010 January 10, 2010 HYPE and prototypes dominated the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas last week. From the Ford car that lets you send Twitter messages while driving, to the scuba diving mask that can shoot high definition video at depths of 130 feet, the vast majority of products on display will not hit the mainstream. The [...]
Car sales to fall as scrap scheme ends January 7, 2010 SALES of new cars in the UK reached almost two million last year, which was the lowest level since 1995, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said yesterday. Full-year sales fell 6.4 per cent from 2008’s total to 1,994,999 vehicles, despite the boost provided by the government’s £2,000 scrappage trade in scheme on [...]
Ford cheers investors as sales surge January 5, 2010 US CARMAKER Ford yesterday posted a 33 per cent sales gain for December, ending a crushing 2009 on an upswing as it recorded its first full-year market-share gain since 1995. The Ford sales surge ran beyond the expectations of analysts and sent the company’s stock sharply higher. Ford shares powered above $11 to hit their [...]
Ford cheers but low home sales concern January 5, 2010 THE S&P 500 and the Nasdaq rose yesterday as better-than-expected factory orders and a surge in vehicle sales at Ford provided more evidence of an economic recovery. But a big decline in pending home sales, which fell in November for the first time in nine months, increased concerns about the housing market, capping the broad [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS December 21, 2009 Persimmon The housebuilder has hired Jonathan Davie as a non-executive board director, effective from 1 January. Davie, 63, is chairman of financial spread-betting firm IG Group, and is also currently a non-executive director of Portland Gas and chairman of First Avenue Partners. He has previously held roles as vice chairman of Credit Suisse and chief [...]
Up the hatch December 15, 2009 WE’VE tested some super-hot hatches on these pages, most recently Honda’s Civic Type R Mugen and earlier in the year Ford’s Focus RS, both of which are stunning performers. Here we have another. The preceding version of this car, the Renault Clio 197 Cup, had brilliant agility and grip and was a riot of fun, [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING December 2, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES CIC IN €800M OFFER TO APAXChina Investment Corp, China’s sovereign wealth fund, is offering to invest as much as €800m (£723m) into Apax Partners’ €11.2bn private equity fund in a groundbreaking deal.The move, which would see CIC acquire a small stake in the management company of one of Europe’s biggest equity funds, shows [...]
Carmaker Geely seeks $1bn loans to buy Volvo December 1, 2009 Geely, the Chinese carmaker picked as the preferred bidder for Ford Motor’s Volvo unit, is seeking at least $1bn (£602m) in loans from Chinese banks to finance its $1.8bn bid, sources said yesterday. Geely, which means “lucky” in Chinese, is hungry for modern and innovative technologies from the Swedish brand to upgrade its car line [...]
A gripping drive December 1, 2009 THE LAST time I drove a Civic Type R, I found the ride quite brutal. So I have to admit to being slightly wary of having this one to test on UK roads, but it had to be done, because just 20 of them are destined for the whole of Europe. First things first, this [...]
Time to put the bags away November 30, 2009 SO, here we are, back to that fortnight in the calendar where the players can finally hang up their golf bags and visit their families after a long, hard season. The golfing year seems to get more and more demanding on the tour professional these days and the players have certainly earned their closed season [...]