Inside the industry with Michael McAleer.
VW APPOINTS NEW DESIGN HEAD: Volkswagen has appointed Murat Guenak, currently responsible for design at Mercedes passenger cars, as head of design for its VW, Skoda and Bentley brands. Europe's largest carmaker said Guenak would take over in April. Guenak (44) is seen as one of the rising stars of car design and has worked on models including the SLK roadster and the recently launched Maybach limousine.
VW's wide range of brands was acquired under former chief executive Ferdinand Piech, who was criticised by some analysts for his "platform strategy", which saved production costs by building several models on the same basic framework but diluted the identity of some of the individual marques. New VW boss Bernd Pischetsrieder, who took over the helm in April, has made it one of his goals to cut out overlap in the group's brand portfolio. Before moving to DaimlerChrysler in 1998, Guenak, who was born in Istanbul, spent four years as head of design at Peugeot, where he worked on a range of products including the small 206 hatchback.
A CLEAR-OUT BY DON: Don Johnson is clearing out his garage. He is selling six vehicles from his stable of cars, including a silver Ferrari Testarossa he received from Enzo Ferrari in the 1980s when he was playing Sonny Crockett on the Miami Vice series. Johnson drove a Ferrari on the show. The actor is also selling cars from his old Nash Bridges TV show - including the yellow 1970 Plymouth Barracuda convertible and a 1949 Ford pick-up truck he received from ex-wife Melanie Griffith. Johnson's cars are among the expected 800 vehicles on sale for a week from January 15th at a classic car auction in Arizona.
FORD'S CAPITAL EXPANSION: Winfield Motors, the Rathmines-based Ford dealership has acquired two long-established outlets in south Dublin - Crawfords of Sandymount and Dun Laoghaire, which hitherto held the Opel and Honda franchises respectively. The move represents a significant strengthening of the Ford dealer network in the capital. With dealer principals Seamus Byrne and Martin Mannion at the helm, Winfield Motors in Rathmines has been a top performing Ford dealership for many years.
WORLD CUP WINNERS: Hyundai, who sponsored the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan, will again be official automotive sponsor of the FIFA World Cup in 2006 in Germany. Hyundai's footballing ambassador, Dutch soccer legend Johan Cruyff, helped seal the deal.
PEUGEOT'S BEST DEALER: Doyle's Garage in Courtown, Co Wexford, main Peugeot dealer has for the second year been awarded the Peugeot Dealer of the Year award at the annual Peugeot dealer conference in Dublin. Doyle's Garage also took the Peugeot award in 2000.
SEAT SPORTS ITS FIGURE AGAIN: SEAT will make its come-back to International motorsport next year by entering the European Touring Car Championship (ETCC). SEAT Sport's two Toledos will be driven by Spanish driver Jordi Gené (32) and Frank Diefenbacher (20) from Germany.
DAEWOO MOVE: Daewoo Ireland has moved premises from Tallaght to Daewoo House on the Kylemore Road, Dublin 12, in the motoring heartland.