News - Page 1942

ONE of the most familiar cars in Europe was singled out as the surprise star of Volkswagen's line-up of new models at the Geneva Motor Show.

CHRYSLER design chief Trevor Creed enlisted the help of some unusual props when he unveiled the Airflite concept car at the Geneva Motor Show.

GM Daewoo is to introduce a renewed focus on winning fleet business in the next year backed by the launch of the new Nubira.

ALFA Romeo will launch a four-seater coupe based on the 156 at the end of this year.

THIS is the car that will become Mazda's newest entrant in the high-volume lower-medium fleet sector by the end of this year.

DIESEL dominated the stand at Skoda, when it launched its new Fabia vRS sports model powered by a heavy-oil engine.

KIA is intending to grab a slice of the company car market this year with the appointment of a new fleet manager.

SAAB revealed its new 9-3 convertible at the show in the latest stage of the biggest product offensive in the company's history.

SUZUKI has extended its Ignis range with the addition of a Sport model.

CAR manufacturers are currently involved in a high stake game of 'keeping up with the Onassis's', with many of the major companies launching top-end brand product at the Geneva show.

PAUL Taylor has been appointed head of sales at AA Tyre Fit.

Average fuel prices in the UK.

NEW European car sales in February look set to show a selling rate barely in excess of 14 million units a year and were 4% lower than the same month last year.

EPYX has made two new appointments to help with the development of the software developers' 1link product range. Richard Phipps and Jolyon Wharton both have extensive experience in the IT industry, Phipps since the age of 16, while Wharton has been an independent developer for the past eight years.

Average fuel prices in the UK.

'BE prepared' should be the motto of every fleet decision-maker. To help companies assess the impact of future tax changes, Catherine Bowden and Graham Oven of the Automotive Sector Group, Deloitte & Touche, summarise the key challenges ahead.

INDUSTRY leaders are to hold talks with the Government on proposals to impose tough new limits on the number of hours van drivers can work in a week.

MIDLANDS electricity company Aquila Network Services is taking delivery of 60 Ford Transit Connect vans complete with racking equipment from Bri-Stor.

A VAN driver who killed a pedestrian with a plank of wood which was sticking out of the side of his vehicle has been jailed for 18 months for causing death by dangerous driving.

VAN sales in January were 12.1% head of last year. Panel van sales were up 13.5% while light vans rose by 5.3%.

MG Rover it is to enter the commercial vehicle market with an all-new van adapted from the 25 platform, including a model it claims will be the fastest on the market.

A NEW guide has been launched by the TransportEnergy Best Practice programme giving advice to van fleet operators.

TELEMATICS provider Minorplanet has launched a new system aimed at the home delivery, engineering and service industries. The system is based on Minorplanet's Vehicle Management Information (VMI) system.

HOW new windscreen technology is helping the fight against van thieves.

TO the outsider, the world of van manufacturing must seem a crazy place indeed. Take the Nissan Primastar, for example. Designed by Renault and Vauxhall, built in Spain and bearing a Japanese maker's badge, it appears to be a rather curious conundrum.

WITH so many new vans around on the roads, it seems inconceivable that a manufacturer could – in one fell swoop – create a whole new market segment. But that is exactly what Ford has done with the new Transit Connect.

FORD'S Transit may be top of the sales charts in the UK but if you want to find the mother of all vans, it must surely be the Volkswagen Transporter.

THE CV Show at the NEC, Birmingham, from March 18-20, is the biggest display of commercial vehicles and associated services in Europe. Here we present a round-up of some of the exhibits.

THE gap between new car prices in the UK with those in the rest of Europe is closing, a new study has found.

A MAJOR new survey has shown that 40% of garages and 63% of tyre dealers in key European markets are still unaware of changes to the car distribution block exemption.