The week in brief
New models help to bolster Audi profits to the tune of 30 per cent
Audi has announced its profits jumped 30 per cent last year because of new models and sales growth in China and Eastern Europe.
Net income increased to €2.21 billion from €1.69 billion in 2007, the Ingolstadt, Germany-based car firm said. Revenues rose 1.7 per cent to €34.2 billion. “We managed to grow against market trends and are now much better positioned than competitors,” said chief executive Rupert Stadler at a news conference in Ingolstadt.
Audi’s sales increased 4.1 per cent last year to a record 1 million vehicles, the 13th consecutive annual increase. Stadler reiterated at the Geneva Motor Show last week that the brand plans to expand its line-up to 40 models by 2015.
Industry trade journal calls time on print edition
THE PRINT edition of Automotive News Europe, the fortnightly trade bible of the auto industry, has become a casualty of the global recession. Publisher and editorial director, Jason Stein, says the disappearance of its largest advertising category, the automobile component suppliers, was the primary factor behind the decision.
“This sector has been under immense pressure in recent times and it no longer makes economic sense to sustain a print model which sells about 20,000 copies in 32 countries,” he said.
He added that subscribers will continue to receive ANE content through its website and minute-by-minute breaking news service. This includes the paper’s Irish subscribers, who number around 1,000.
Now in its 13th year, ANE is part of US-based publishing group Crain Communications. Its sister publication, Automotive News, has been in existence for 80 years and has over 73,000 paid subscribers. ANE’s sister publications Automobile Woche, published fortnightly in Germany with 39,000 subscribers, and Automotive News China, which commenced trading two years ago and has 21,000 subscribers, are unaffected by this decision, Mr Stein said.
UK proposes speed cuts
BRITAIN IS considering cutting its national speed limit from 60mph (100km/h) to 50mph (80km/h) on rural roads and increasing the use of cameras that monitor average speed between fixed points, rather than capturing the speed at a single moment.
Jim Fitzpatrick, the UK road safety minister behind the proposals, believes a national reduction in speed limits would be supported by “the vast majority” of UK drivers.
Although cars are safer than ever, Fitzpatrick quotes AA statistics showing that 3,000 people die on UK roads annually, the majority on rural A-roads which would be affected by the new proposals.
The government is also being guided by data from Speed Check Services – the company that makes average speed cameras – who claim accident rates on roads where their traps are used have fallen by 60 per cent.
The proposals have come under fire. Conservative ministers dismissed the idea of blanket speed limits as lazy and misguided.
The British department for transport is expected to take the proposals forward and will work out how “acceptable they would be to the public”.