'RESEARCH conducted with many manufacturers' used car managers has revealed that, just about without exception, all of these disposal people are now involved in the decision as to what goes on the fleet in the first place.

The main benefit is that this helps to make their job so much easier. This has been happening at some manufacturers for a few years. Others are just catching up and have just begun being involved in the process of new car 'speccing'.

Most manufacturers now have set policies with colour, specification and options at the top of the list of things to get right. Having too many cars of the same colour or a majority that have too many options (notwithstanding those that just have the wrong options) will prove a problem.

Back in the not too recent past it was sometimes normal operating procedure to let, for example, the rental companies have all the poor colours such as white or doom blue. Invariably, these cars eventually stood around in compounds for many months.

This has been changed by using the knowledge of the internal disposal teams. As a result many vehicles are now the best spec, with good colours and options that have end-user appeal.

I've also had a lot of discussions recently about the rising number of diesel sales.

Diesel's share of the UK new car market rose to more than 24% in 2002 while the average share during 1997 to 1999 was about 15%. In Europe, the diesel share has continually risen from 1997 to 2002 (in 1997 the market share was low-20%, now it is 40%.) As a result the UK diesel market share continually underperforms the European market. This is partly due to fuel duties and tax/fiscal anomalies, but the gap is actually wider than before. However, the pattern of retail new diesel purchases remains inconsistent, which points to differences beginning to exist between the value performance of individual brands/models.

Finally, I was in a Jaguar showroom last week and was surprised to see a white X-type. It looked good but was still for sale.

Was it a brave move by the sales manager, or was a wrong button pressed on the ordering system? One thing is for sure, it will end up as a used car one day. Who knows, as I have said before, white could end up being the new silver, as it is in America, and selling a used white Jag could be the easiest thing you have ever done.'