News

Bosch has opened the gates on its Boxberg proving ground to racers taking part in the prestigious Formula Student competition. The supplier welcomed 21 race cars and more than 200 students to its Boxberg facility last week, altogether paying host to 35 teams from both the Formula Student Electric and Formula Student Combustion disciplines.

Power steering component supplier Electro Steer has been bought by Belgium company Car Parts Industries (CPI) for an undisclosed sum. The Yorkshire brand, which forms part of larger firm PSR Direct, will be set up as a new company when it joins CPI.

FPS is hoping for an Olympic win with its sponsorship of young hurdler Alex Pozzi. The automotive distributor first started helping Pozzi through an association with his local athletics club in Bath, also the location of FPS' main office. The company agreed to help fund Pozzi's traveling costs, provided him with a car. and employees at the FPS have been keeping up to date with his success.

Exhausts manufacturer Bosal will have to pay more than £500,000 plus costs to workers who have won court action against redundancy packages paid to them in 2007. The Lancashire Evening Post (LEP) reports that 55 former workers launched legal action against Bosal for breach of contract after they did not get their full redundancy pay when the Bamber Bridge plant was shut in 2007.

It's the fourth of July and that means only one thing, it's Independent's Day. No, we've not spelt anything wrong, we're re-naming July the fourth as Independents' Day here in the UK. We feel the UK independent automotive aftermarket needs to be celebrated and be proud of its achievements in the past year.

Last month saw the good looking and popular Ford Fiesta put under the microscope, giving us plenty of opportunity to discuss fault finding and diagnosing common issues. This month our friends in the market have turned their attention to the equally popular Vauxhall Corsa.

Just 58 percent of independent garages are using a website to promote their business, a study by the Independent Garage Association has found. The report, says the IGA. shows that while the aftermarket is slowly beginning to take advantage of online business the uptake is still slow.