FLEETS and company car drivers are to continue to reap the benefit of 'falling' new car prices and improving vehicle specification into the millennium, according to the boss of Vauxhall. Simultaneously the choice of new cars in the UK market will continue to divide into two sectors - established model trims such as LS and GLS for fleets, while special editions will be increasingly targeted at retail buyers.

That division of the UK new car market helped illustrate why retail customers were not subsidising fleet discounts as had been claimed recently by consumer groups and members of the House of Commons Trade and Industry Select Committee, said Vauxhall chairman and managing director Nick Reilly.

Meanwhile, fewer and fewer manufacturers are taking part in the traditional January and August round of new car price rises as new model enhancements occur throughout the year and not just to coincide with the two peak buying months. Reilly said Vauxhall and other manufacturers had been able to keep any price rises to a minimum - well under the rate of inflation and therefore falling in real terms - in recent years due to massive efforts to cut costs internally and improvements in productivity.