MARTIN Ward, CAP’s manufacturer relationships manager, scours the globe for the week’s insider fleet intelligence

Tuesday

JEAN-Martin Folz, chief executive officer of PSA Peugeot Citroën, and Sergio Marchionne, chief executive officer of Fiat, joined forces to unveil their new family of LCV’s. They are the Peugeot Expert, Citroen Dispatch and Fiat Scudo. This was an unusual occasion, having all three brands together. All the vans will be built at the Seval Nord plant in northern France. Everything was very friendly, but how long will that last once sales start?

I spoke to David Fildes, our commercial vehicle editor, used values, and he reckons that historically in LCV terms, there’s almost nothing between the three brands image-wise, they all sell about the same numbers, they’re all equally reliable, priced closely and get similar RVs. So which one you go for could come down to loyalty or outstanding fleet deals.

Wednesday

DROVE down to Cirencester, the home of Mitsubishi, to see managing director Jim Tyrrell and Andy Wertheim, manager fleet and used car sales, to have a look at the new Outlander.

This all-new mid-size five-seat or seven-seat 4x4 will get a 140bhp diesel engine, produced by Volkswagen.

The current Outlander has not had much success, mainly due to the lack of a diesel engine and it’s important that the distinction is made between the old and new one, so it’s likely the forthcoming car will be called Outlander 2.

A completely new vehicle in all respects, the new Outlander will form part of Mitsubishi’s eclectic line-up.

The firm has to work hard for fleet sales. It doesn’t have core lower and upper-medium offerings to get on company car choice lists, so most of its fleet business is with four-wheel drive cars through blue-light deals, the Highways Agency and other specialist fleets.

But the combination of the UK firm’s independence from Mistubishi and its small size means it can move very quickly in getting conversion and bespoke specs for customers.

For example, Andy tells me that the L200s specified for the National Grid are converted using a bespoke back which, because workers are often operating miles from anywhere, are fitted with a microwave and wash basin alongside the racking, lighting and winching systems they need.

Thursday

STUTTGART saw the world premiere of the all-new smart fortwo. It was a bizarre event, held on top of a multi-storey car park in the biggest specially-built marquee I’ve ever seen.

A double act – Ulrich Walker, president of smart, and Dr Dieter Zetsche, head of Mercedes Car Group (pictured right, from left) – gave the presentation about the new, bigger car and it’s obvious they’ve seen the MINI’s US success and want a piece of the action there.

The new, bigger version of the two-seater is due on sale in the UK next September. Walker said smart was working on a cost basis almost 50% lower than previously, with production times reduced by 20% and manufacture costing 25% less. So does that mean the new fortwo will be cheaper? We’ll have to wait and see.