News - Page 2104

A consulting company asked by the European Commission to prepare a report into the future of block exemption has recommended an entirely new system of regulation.

Ford of Europe has fitted out a Transit van with £350,000 (568,000 Euros) worth of ground-to-satellite broadcasting equipment to highlight the versatility of the vehicle.

RADICAL plans for a car security grading system based on the European New Car Assessment Programme crash tests are being hammered out by a Government-sponsored task force. Mike Wear, Ford fleet operations director and chairman of the Vehicle Crime Reduction Action Team which is working on the proposals, has called on the fleet industry to show its support for the scheme, which could alter the shape of company car choice lists.

THE seismic effect of Government plans for carbon dioxide-based company car tax on high mileage fleets could see footwear manufacturer Stylo scrap its 110-vehicle fleet because of the new system. The firm is working with drivers to save them from tax bills which could increase by more than £10,000 over a car's three-year life by offering drivers cash-for-car schemes instead.

THIRTY one exhibitors have signed up to this year's Fleet Show with Mitsubishi the latest manufacturer to book to attend the May 1-3 Alexandra Palace, London, event and a further four major car makers are expected to sign shortly. Already Jaguar has revealed it will use the show for the UK debut of the X-type, while fleet decision-makers will be able to use the show to gather information on a vast array of issues - including 2002 company car tax changes.

SHREWD fleet managers should be able to find a place for luxury and executive cars on their fleets, despite changes in company car tax rules next year. Thinking has it that drivers of larger cars will pay a heavy penalty from April 2002 when benefit-in-kind tax changes to being based on carbon dioxide emissions.

A ROW has broken out between the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders and environmental groups over attempts to slash carbon dioxide emissions from company cars. Cutting CO2 emissions is the cornerstone of the Government's taxation policy for cars because it claims the emissions are harmful to the environment.

THE battle for business in the leasing industry has entered a new phase after Lex Vehicle Leasing revealed plans to burst through the 100,000-vehicle barrier as part of a bid to become a 'world class' company by 2005. The drive will see the firm's fleet size rocket to 150,000 units in five years from about 90,000, and pre-tax profits more than double to between £40 million and £50 million.

A NEW survey claims rising fuel prices and soon-to-be-introduced carbon dioxide emission tax policies are having little effect on fleet policies. It is the latest in a number of surveys suggesting ignorance over fuel bills and the impact of the introduction of carbon dioxide-based company car tax.

MERCEDES-Benz has announced a new retail strategy which could see it ditch nearly half of its existing car dealers. The company, which began 2001 with record orders in the UK, has developed a new sales network, including Mercedes-Benz Experience Centres, in the metropolitan areas of London, Birmingham and Manchester.

SAVE, the independent road fuel retailer, has hit back at fleet operators' demands that petrol firms should be investigated for charging high prices. Finance director John Murgatroyd said fleet managers' comments simply 'hit the wrong target'.

FORD's European chief Nick Scheele says Britain must embrace the Euro by 2006 and that a failure to do so would be a cause for concern for car manufacturers. Ford joins the list of vehicle makers with UK operations calling for Britain to join the single currency.

BRITAIN'S biggest commercial vehicle rental company is set to increase its fleet size to between 50,000 and 55,000 by 2004 as it doubles its number of outlets. Northgate broke the news when - despite the fleet industry's concern over falling residual values - it announced a jump in profits with its turnover increasing by 25% to £153.5 million (1999: £123.1 million) for the six months to October 31, 2000.

FORD bosses have vowed never again to produce another large executive model carrying the blue oval, but chiefs at rival car maker General Motors say the Vauxhall Omega will be replaced in 2003. The conflicting strategies were reconfirmed at the North American International Auto.

PRODUCTION of Ford-badged cars will reach the end of the road in Britain when output of the Fiesta finishes at Dagenham in 2002, company president and chief executive Jac Nasser has confirmed. 'We will not return to the manufacture of cars with the blue oval in the UK,' said Nasser at the North American International Auto Show.

VOLVO will launch a 4x4 sports utility vehicle in the UK within the next two years based on the Adventure Concept Car (ACC) unveiled at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The Ford-owned Swedish company denied it was treading on Land Rover territory, and said the ACC-based vehicle will have driving characteristics similar to those of a 'well-balanced' car.

FORD is to fit tyre pressure sensors on all its sport utility vehicles, starting later this year with 2002 model year Explorers. The initiative, announced at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, will eventually see sensors fitted to 4x4 models sold in the UK and across Europe by Ford and its sister companies.

ASTON Martin's next new model will be the first 'collaborative' car to be developed by companies in the Ford Premier Automotive Group. Due out in three years' time, the roadster destined to drive the specialist manufacturer's annual output to 5,000 units will be a team effort involving development experts from Volvo, Lincoln and Jaguar.

FORD is recalling thousands of new rear-wheel-drive Ford Transits to replace wheel nuts to prevent possible loosening and check a joint in the steering system. For the wheel nut action the affected vehicles - 20,000 in the UK - include those from initial production to September 4, 2000.

MINORPLANET, the Leeds-based supplier of vehicle management information systems, is planning its first major move in the United States of America.

DIXON Motors has been named top performing Volkswagen fleet dealer in the UK after winning the Volkswagen Distinction Programme. Dixon VW Bradford won the fleet sales manager league and claimed first, second and third places in the fleet sales executive league, winning the entire programme outright.

MG Rover Group is finalising a deal which will use First National Motor Finance as the source of retail finance for its 300-strong dealer network.

LEX has put nearly a third of its 130 Autocentres on the market and is negotiating their sale.

RAC Business Services' warranty business has joined forces with Motorway Direct in a strategic partnership aimed at the mechanical breakdown insurance market.

MONDIAL Assistance, the automotive customer services group, has won a contract to provide administration services to both Jaguar's 'New Warranty Programme' and the 'Approved Used Car Warranty Programme'.

GENERAL Motors will announce which European plant will produce the new Vauxhall/Opel Vectra within the next five weeks - and hopes are high that Ellesmere Port will win the battle. The Merseyside factory is vying with General Motors' Antwerp plant, home to the Astra and Zafira, to produce the Vectra replacement, codenamed Epsilon, following the decision by the world's leading manufacturer to shut its Luton factory, in March 2002.

VAUXHALL chairman and managing director Nick Reilly says the decision to close Luton was regrettable - but not a resignation issue. 'If I had personally failed in some way that would be different, but it was not that,' he said.

COMPANY car drivers will be able to get behind the wheel of a BMW for between £12,000 and £13,000 when the German premium manufacturer launches its all-new small car in 2004. And BMW AG chairman Dr Joachim Milberg told Fleet NewsNet that the company's future was as an independent manufacturer investing in its product portfolio of BMW as its core brand with MINI and Rolls-Royce at the lower and upper end of its premium brand strategy.

VAUXHALL is to launch a series of innovative models outside its traditional vehicle heartland as it seeks to capitalise on the success of the Zafira MPV and the potential success of the VX220. General Motors chief executive Rick Wagoner said the manufacturer was focusing on product and innovation and he admitted that in Europe Vauxhall/Opel had to strengthen its product portfolio 'outside our traditional comfort zones'.

THE spate of vehicle manufacturer takeovers which dominated the late 1990s and the turn of the millennium is over, according to industry chiefs. Although General Motors continues to hold talks with Daewoo in a bid to rescue the cash-strapped Korean vehicle maker, chief executive Rick Wagoner said there were no takeover discussions taking place with other manufacturers.