JUNE NEWSLETTER

A number of days of heatwave has certainly been good for business with lots of visitors to the showroom, and has nicely diverted conversations away from the rather tedious talk of elections, Brexit and politicians, to something far more stereotypically British, the weather and how long before it changes!

At the beginning of this month, we showcased some rather gorgeous Morgans at the annual car show in our local shopping centre in Milton Keynes. An excellent event, with lots of attention generated, and many envious glances from the 'competitor' stands (given the choice between looking at a Morgan or a Hyundai i10, what would you do...?).

The next event to look forward to is the Silverstone Classic, from 28 - 30 July. Spectacular historic racing, over a 100 car clubs featuring more than 10,000 classic cars, not to mention air displays, live music, and plenty of trade and craft stands, what's not to like? We'll be assisting on the Morgan stand, and also enjoying the Lotus club stands. This is one of the UK's top motoring events, and to find out more, see www.silverstoneclassic.com

It's an on-going theme, but we're still looking out for more cars for the showroom, as we're selling faster than we can replace. So if you're thinking of selling your car - Morgan, Lotus or other interesting sports car - we'd love to hear from you.

For more news read on...and hope you enjoy this latest newsletter!


NEWS FROM MORGAN

At the Geneva Motor Show earlier this year, Steve Morris, MD of Morgan, announced a record trading year with a 14% revenue growth year-on-year.

Continuing the positive momentum in the business, and as part of a long term strategy, Morgan has now hit another milestone in a record year, with the re-acquisition of Factory land.

In 2006, the Morgan Motor Company had sold the land on which the Factory is built to fund product development in a 'sale and lease-back' deal. This raised funds that enabled the company to develop new vehicles and implement new technology.

However, after a sustained period of successful trading and consolidation, Morgan has now re-purchased the main Pickersleigh Road site and also bought the adjoining Morgan Visitor centre. The inclusion of the Visitor Centre in the land purchase secures its future as a popular tourist attraction with over 30,000 visitors a year (which must sow the seeds of owning a Morgan in more than a few minds!)

This land purchase is the first of many positive steps planned in a long-term strategy for the Morgan Motor Company under the guidance of Steve Morris, the Morgan family and recently appointed Chairman Dominic Riley.


LOTUS NEWS

The ownership of Lotus has changed (and not for the first time in its history!) with Chinese company Geely, buying a 51% majority stake in Lotus.

And in case you're wondering who exactly Geely are, the company was founded in the Zhejiang province of China in 1986, as a refrigerator manufacturer! The firm's diversification into automotive products began with motorbikes before it started making cars in 2002. Geely Automobiles has a major presence in the Chinese car market, and expanded internationally in 2010 after buying Volvo from Ford. They also purchased The London Taxi Company in 2012.

A quote from Donghui Li, the executive vice-president of Geely Holding Group, says:

“Reflecting our experience accumulated through Volvo Cars' revitalisation, we aim to unleash the full potential of Lotus Cars and bring it into a new phase of development by expanding and accelerating the rolling out of new products and technologies.”

With Volvo, Geely has pumped many millions of investment into the company, whilst adopting a fairly hands-off approach and letting Volvo management get on with the running of the company. The results have been impressive. If the same can be achieved for Lotus, then interesting times indeed...!

So fingers crossed for Jean Marc Gales (Lotus CEO) and his team working with Geely to turn Lotus into the company it's always deserved to be.

Then on the model development front, Lotus recently announced the latest version of the Elise, the Elise Cup 250. This is described by Lotus as "the fastest, most focused four-cylinder Lotus sports car ever." For full details see www.lotuscars.com/news/corporate/purity-power-new-lotus-elise-cup-250


RUN FOR THE HILLS

'Run For The Hills' is the Morgan Motor Company's main event for 2017. It's being held on the 27th and 27th August, and promises to be a memorable weekend of entertainment for all the family.

It's expected to attract hundreds of Morgan owners and fans from around the world to the beautiful Malvern Hills, home of Morgan and the venue for the event, the Malvern Three Counties Showground.

Run for the Hills will be held in association with the Morgan Sports Car Club, and features an action packed schedule of entertainment and attractions.

During the day there'll be displays of historic Morgans, artisan food and craft stalls, fairground and carousel, motorcycle display team, parachute and biplane display, exhibitions by Morgan craftsmen, and plenty more!

Then Saturday evening hosts a Gala dinner, whilst Sunday evening is a concert and fireworks.

To read more, including a link for booking tickets, please see https://allonwhite.co.uk/run-for-the-hills


CARS FOR SALE

As always, we have an interesting mix of cars for sale in our showroom.

On the Morgan front, we have a variety of pre-owned cars, including a limited edition 70th Anniversary 4/4 and a brace of 3.7 litre Roadsters. Or if you fancy a new Morgan, we have in stock and ready to go, a choice of either a 4/4 or a Plus 4.

Alternatively we can offer a rather fine Lotus Elise S complete with hard top, or a real classic British sports car, an Austin Healey 100/4.

Due in soon is a 'project' Morgan, a Lotus Esprit, possibly a classic Lotus Elan, and we're discussing a number of other Morgans.

If you'd like to find out more about our current stock, please visit:

Morgans for sale - https://allonwhite.co.uk/used-morgan-cars-for-sale-uk

Lotus for sale - https://allonwhite.co.uk/used-lotus-cars-for-sale-uk

Other makes for sale - https://allonwhite.co.uk/used-sports-classic-cars-for-sale

Our used cars come fully serviced, HPI checked, have a new MOT (if applicable), and if sold for use in the UK have a 3 month warranty.


SATURDAY BREAKFAST CLUB

Our very successful Breakfast Clubs have now been running for 5 years. They take place on the first Saturday of the month, kicking off at 9:30am with bacon rolls and hot drinks, followed at 10am by what's normally a motoring themed talk or activity.

For our next breakfast club on Saturday 1st July, we'll be discussing what's involved in restorations or carrying out major project work on cars, utilising some 'work in progress' examples we have at our dealership.

With the significant rise in classic car values over the last few years, more and more people are considering 'project' cars, and it's something we're asked about a lot. So come along to find out more...!

All are welcome to our Breakfast Clubs - no need to book, but just turn up on the day. Or for more information, visit our website at https://allonwhite.co.uk/saturday-breakfast-club-events


DRIVE 7TENTHS

Continuing on from previous newsletters, Neil Furber from DRIVE 7TENTHS carries on in his role as our 'agony aunt' for all things driving related. To find out what he's advising on this month, read on...

---------------------------------------------

Dear Neil

I have recently updated my car and the salesman was very keen to tell me it had ABS, DSC, TC and, no doubt, a whole load of other abbreviated terms that would mean I would be safer on the road. What do they all mean and do I really need them since I didn’t have them until now?

Thanks

Queen of acronyms


Dear Queen of acronyms

Let’s start with what these three terms mean and what they do.

ABS stands for Anti-lock Braking System. It is a computer controlled system that prevents a wheel locking during heavy braking. The principal purpose is to maintain steering control during an emergency stop situation.

TC stands for Traction Control. This is another computer controlled system which senses when the driven wheels are starting to rotate faster than the speed of the vehicle through excess throttle application. It will certainly cut the throttle by limiting how much of the throttle pedal travel is applied to the engine and is easy to implement with modern electronics that replace the traditional throttle cable with a sensor and actuator. Some systems also apply the brake on the spinning wheel to bring it back to the correct speed faster than throttle cut alone.

DSC stands for Dynamic Stability Control but is often known by many different names among different manufactures (VSA, PSM, VSC are other common names). This system integrates the ABS hardware and TC system to control engine power outputs and apply brakes on individual wheels to help control and neutralise a skid situation during cornering. The skid could be caused by any number of reasons but the system will use the relevant option to prevent the car travelling too far off the desired line or spinning out of control. The most important thing to remember is that the system requires grip to work effectively. The more grip in reserve at the tyres the better it can work. Throwing a car hard into an icy bend may prove too much for the system!

Do you really need them? Sadly, I can’t give you a definitive answer to this question. Personally, although I enjoy the challenge of driving a car on a circuit without ABS I would prefer to have this on a road car when it is standard equipment. Certainly, looking well ahead and driving to the conditions far more than most drivers, will mean the system is very unlikely to be needed, but if a real emergency occurs the added control can only be a good thing.

In my opinion, TC and DSC are really about motor manufacturers protecting their customers to protect themselves. Driving sensibly and to the conditions will mean the systems never come into play and only a rare occurrence would lead to them activating (diesel on a damp roundabout?).

The danger of having the systems is that drivers start to lean on them and get away with driving at full throttle through bends or driving erratically. It breeds a loss of skill and inflates egos so these systems will now be here to stay. I personally don’t like the systems on my cars but actually would prefer my partner or my mother to have the systems just in case. Some performance cars are now tuned for the systems to be used in various ‘track’ settings which enable the car to do things it couldn’t do otherwise in order to be faster around a lap.

Regards

Neil


If you'd like to find out more about the driver training Neil's company can offer, or some general tips and comments, please visit www.drive7tenths.com


SPORTS CARS WANTED!

We continue to be exceptionally busy on the car sales front, and as a result we're on the look out for yet more cars for our showroom!

So if you're thinking of selling your car - Morgan, Lotus or other interesting classic or modern sports car - please do get in touch with our sales manager, Phil, and he can chat things through.

We buy cars outright, take cars in part exchange, and sell cars on behalf of their owners. We're very flexible as regards the solution that's right for both sides.

So if you would like to talk more about selling your car, then please give Phil a call on 01234 750205 or email phil@allonwhite.co.uk



CONTACT US

If you want to talk to us on any sports car related issue, please contact Allon White Sports Cars by:

Phone: 01234 750205

Email: sales@allonwhite.co.uk

Website: www.allonwhite.co.uk

Kind Regards

John

Allon White Sports Cars Ltd

119 High Street, Cranfield, Beds, MK43 0BS


This email was sent to [email address suppressed].
If you are no longer interested you can unsubscribe instantly:
http://allonwhite.createsend1.com/t/j-u-uhlkdul-l-x/