News - Page 2114

RANGE-topping silver and gold Toyota RAV4s have been delivered to interior design company Nice Rooms. Fifteen of an initial batch of 18 2.0 VX manuals have been delivered on a one-year/18,000-mile contract hire replacement cycle.

ZENITH Vehicle Contracts has won outsourcing contracts valued at about £1.5 million.

VAUXHALL is calling for a line to be drawn under the pricing row in the car market after announcing a range of cuts for its Vectra and Omega range. Vauxhall slashed Vectra prices by more than £1,600 in some cases in a bid to take the car pricing battle to Ford following major price cuts on the Mondeo.

FLEET managers are wiping out their chances of taking part in innovative cost-cutting schemes by failing to monitor their fleet's total mileage and fuel use.

THE majority of cars will continue to be bought from dealers despite the explosion of internet-based car trading companies, according to Peugeot managing director Tod Evans. He followed Rover and Glass's Information Services in predicting the demise of the e-commerce traders which have sprung up on the back of the new car pricing debate.

THE Government has been urged to call a halt to its interference in the new car market at the launch of this year's Fleet News FN50 - the industry guide to the country's largest contract hire firms.

A ROW is looming over claims by Lex Vehicle Leasing that van manufacturers are costing fleets millions of pounds because they fail to take light commercial vehicle security as seriously as they do when producing cars.

VEHICLE manufacturers face an impossible conundrum in balancing UK new car prices with continental new car prices due to massive currency fluctuations, Peugeot managing director Tod Evans told fleet managers at the third Fleet News Editor's Lunch.

SIMPLE action by fuel companies could save fleets tens of thousands of pounds a year through ending the misery of drivers mistakenly putting the wrong type of fuel in their cars, according to a leading fleet.

FLEET manager David Percival has lost his job after Morris Material handling decided to outsource its 123-strong car and commercial vehicle fleet to VELO. Percival, who has been made redundant, left the Loughborough-based company at the end of October.

BCA is claiming its online Auction View service has received a record number of hits as customers try to keep up-to-date with rapidly moving prices.

CORK International, one of Britain's biggest merchandising companies, has switched to a solus badge policy for its 200-strong van fleet with Toyota and has started moving a large proportion of its 120-strong car fleet to the Japanese marque. The Nottingham-based company specialises in supplying non-food items to supermarkets and other retail outlets including Tesco, J Sainsbury, Safeway and Boots as well as department stores, fuel stations and pharmacy chains.

SEAT has slashed more than 17% off the price of some of its most popular models until the end of the year for small fleets and retail customers.

SKODA has axed its three years/45,000 mile free servicing offer on both its Fabia and Felicia ranges and, consequently, has cut prices by £299 on all Fabia models and £199 on the Felicia range. The manufacturer says the move completes the company's new car pricing changes and brings the Fabia and Felicia package into line with the new Octavia which went on sale at the end of last month.

CHANCELLOR of the Exchequer Gordon Brown will spell out the future of diesel in the company car market next Wednesday as he offers key tax concessions on diesel and alternative fuel vehicles in his pred-Budget speech. The controversial 3% levy on diesel to be introduced when the CO2-based benefit-in-kind tax comes into force in April 2002 will be lifted for vehicles that meet key emission requirements.

USED values for three-year-old fleet cars will fall by up to £300 on average next year, prolonging the residual value misery. Glass's Guide is predicting a 7% fall in used car values, while CAP Motor Research is predicting falls of between 4% and 6%.

TODAY sees the publication of the annual Fleet News 50 - an in-depth analysis of the UK contract hire and leasing industry.

CAR manufacturers are prolonging the agony of falling residual values and chronic oversupply in the car market by not revealing the whole truth about new car pre-registration figures, it was claimed this week.

A CRUNCH decision on the future shape of the new car market comes a step closer on Monday with the publication of an EC report into block exemption. A 127-page report has been drafted by the EC and is widely expected to be critical of the system, which allows manufacturers to organise a network of tied dealerships for the distribution of vehicles.

A GREEN fund of £500 million a year should be created to promote alternative fuels and remove dependence on petrol and diesel, the RAC Foundation has claimed. The call comes a week before the arrival of the 60-day deadline from fuel protesters demanding action on diesel and petrol taxes, on Monday, November 13.

COMPANIES which bus staff into work as part of a green travel plan will be exempt from road user charges to be introduced in London from 2003 and tariffs for van drivers have been reduced, mayor Ken Livingstone has announced.

DEALERSHIP group DC Cook is to launch a new web-based vehicle management service aimed at drivers who have opted out of their fleet cars.

UNCERTAINTY in the used car market cut pre-tax profits at Fleetlease, the contract hire and vehicle management division of Hitachi Credit (UK), by 27% to £1.2 million in the past half year. But the firm, which had a turnover of £31 million for the six months to September 30, down 3% year-on-year claims it has weathered the worst of the storm, and has increased its fleet by 14% to more than 19,000 vehicles.

HONDA has postponed plans to build its new small car at its Swindon factory and instead will source the vehicle from Japan. The manufacturer blamed currency rates and the strength of Sterling for Tuesday's decision.

ORGANISERS of this year's British International Motor Show were claiming three new records when doors closed on Sunday at the NEC, Birmingham, event. Despite disruption caused to visitors who travelled by train, organisers claimed £30 million had been added to the West Midlands economy by exhibitors and visitors.

THE Institute of Car Fleet Management's annual members conference will be held on Tuesday, November 14 at The Vauxhall Recreation Club, Luton.

MG ROVER has failed to stem a tide of uncertainty over its future, despite a forceful denial of claims its owners are ready to sell the ailing manufacturer. Last week, two non-executive directors, Brian Parker and Terry Whitmore, stepped down from Techtronics, the company that acts as a supervisory board for the Midlands car maker, but MG Rover denied this showed signs of a rift.

MANCHESTER-based dealership group Quicks has told the City it expects this year's results to be 'significantly' below the board's previous expectations following third quarter trading both below expectations and last year's pre-tax profits of £3.4 million.

BP has opened a new liquefied petroleum gas refuelling site at Bloomfields Service Station, Camberwell, London, targeted directly at local fleet operators.

LEASEPLAN has become the world's largest vehicle leasing and fleet management company with the acquisition of United States-based Consolidated Service Corporation (CSC) <I>reports FNN sister title Fleet News Europe.</I>