News - Page 2139

A STRENGTHENING yen and fluctuating global currencies have been blamed by Honda for a 20.1% decrease in consolidated income before tax for the year ended March 31, 2000 compared with the previous year.

A CLEAN Fuel Workshop is being held by the Government-backed Powershift organisation at the Kings Hall Conference Centre, Belfast, on June 19.

DUMFRIES and Galloway Constabulary is looking for a fleet/procurement officer following the departure of Gareth Armstrong, who has been in post for the last eight years. Armstrong will join Northern Constabulary based in Inverness at the end of the month as fleet manager.

COMMUNICATIONS company Telewest is recruiting a group fleet manager for its fleet of around 4,000 company cars and light commercial vehicles.

DRIVER training specialist Drive & Survive has moved its Derby operation to a new office on the Wyvern Business Park. It will now be able to hold driver safety seminars from Derbyshire, Berkshire and Scotland.

SEAKING Automotive will handle 6,000 Proton cars a year after winning the contract to handle Proton Cars (UK)'s imported vehicles at a dedicated operation in Portbury, Avonmouth.

HENDY Lennox has acquired Ford dealership Doves of Fareham, in Hampshire, from Summit Motor Group.

MOTORISTS could be banned from using mobile phones while on the move if they don't voluntarily stop, the Government has warned. The world's most comprehensive review of the possible health effects of mobile telephones has just been published and among its conclusions was that use of a mobile phone while driving - whether hand-held or hands-free - was dangerous.

FLEET managers are refusing to be tempted by cheap cars from the continent sourced via the internet. Issues surrounding benefit-in-kind taxation and the impact on residual values means fleets are turning their back on internet-based offers, despite claims these sites can save thousands of pounds off the UK list price.

A SERIES of high profile alliances have boosted rentals at Connect Car Rental Network by 25% in the past year. Bookings topped 75,000 last year, up 26.3% on 1998 at the firm, which has deals with Ski Cocktail, British World Airlines, Monarch and European Air Express and calls at the firm's Luton-based centre have reached 1,500 a day.

ASCOT-based Burgundy Cars is planning a large scale expansion during 2000 to consolidate its position as one of the UK's largest suppliers of executive car and chauffeuring services direct to the corporate market. This year the company estimates it will exceed sales of £12 million following the £2 million merger with London-based Safe and Secure Carriage and the £250,000 acquisition of London Chauffeur Services last December.

CENTURY Car Rental, formerly Century International, says it is eager to take on the daily rental market following a series of management changes. Century International went into administration earlier this year and was sold in March, starting an overhaul of senior management.

CREDIT hire companies face losses of £200 million after a landmark House of Lords legal ruling said thousands of bills sent to insurers need not be paid. Insurance firms claim the windfall could lead to lower premium costs for fleets, but many credit hire firms face an uncertain future as they consider how to replace the lost income.

COLIN McLean, former chairman of the BVRLA, has set up a specialist management system for the automotive industry. McLean, who established the business up in partnership with Kim Brown, was managing director of Highway Vehicle Management and former chief executive of Swift Rent-A-Car.

LEGAL problems have held up the launch of Volkswagen's fleet running cost guarantee, which is designed to dispel the view that its cars are expensive to run. The manufacturer stands to lose tens of thousands of pounds under the guarantee, which is based on CAP Motor Research figures for servicing, maintenance and repair over three years/60,000 miles, according to calculations carried out by Fleet NewsNet.

CALOR Gas and Shell have formed a joint venture company, Autogas, to help roll out liquefied petroleum gas at Shell forecourts in the UK. The fuel companies say the move shows they are taking the lead in encouraging use of the fuel and they promise to have opened 200 fuel pumps on forecourts in the next 18 months, to meet a target set in 1998.

ZENITH Vehicle Contracts, the Leeds-based provider of fleet management services, is launching Premier Network to offer high quality repair and service to customers.

AN INNOVATIVE system for measuring vehicle pollution looks set to give the alternative fuel market a huge boost - and blacken diesel's reputation - when it goes public in June. The system goes much further than focusing on carbon dioxide, which is central to the 2002 benefit-in-kind car tax and 2001 Vehicle Excise Duty regimes.

FLEETS are being urged to target their market when disposing of liquefied petroleum gas vehicles to ensure the best residual values. Jonathan Murray, programme manager of Powershift, said the majority of Powershift grants had been for vehicles which were between two to five years old, illustrating that there is a market for older converted vehicles as well as new vehicles.

FLEETS are being urged to choose the right alternative-fuelled vehicles which most suit their working conditions. The call comes from Jonathan Murray, programme manager of Powershift, the Government funded initiative which provides grants of up to 75% towards the costs of using clean fuelled vehicles.

A NETWORK of liquefied petroleum gas servicing franchises is being set up by LPG Autocentres to improve the LPG infrastructure. The LPG conversion company plans to have 25 franchises by the end of the year.

AMBER Valley Council is re-educating its staff in a bid to make its fleet more environmentally friendly. An environmental strategy was drawn up by the Derbyshire borough in January 1999 which saw its fleet decrease from 162 to 147, including 10 liquefied petroleum gas vehicles, electric pool van and an electric bike.

WESTMINSTER City Council's five-year programme to clean up its fleet and encourage its contractors to use clean technology helped the authority win the Green Fleet Award 2000. The council began by looking at its 120-vehicle fleet calculating its emissions, and providing more environmentally friendly alternatives such as electric, compressed natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas.

HOPES that Rover will develop a car to compete in the upper-medium sector - the heartland of fleet - look set to have been dashed by new owner, Phoenix. Fleet managers have repeatedly said the lack of a competitor to the Vauxhall Vectra and Ford Mondeo meant they were unable to strike deals with Rover.

ROVER has lost a decade-long supply contract with TNT UK following crunch talks with the beleaguered manufacturer - Vauxhall will take over the supply deal. No more Rovers will be taken on at TNT UK in a decision which the firm says was 'on the cards' before BMW announced its decision.

FLEET managers have given a lukewarm welcome to Phoenix's acquisition of Rover but say the company has a long way to go before confidence is restored. Over the last five years while the fleet market grew by around 100,000, Rover fleet sales fell by nearly 100,000 slumping to an all-time low last year of 46,934 units - capturing just 4.63% of the fleet market.

REACTION from the leasing industry to the Rover announcement was swift, with one firm which had decided to abandon the brand welcoming it back with open arms. Interleasing decided during Rover's negotiations with Alchemy to block quotations on the manufacturer's vehicles until certainty returned to the firm's future ownership.

THE rental industry is offering a warm welcome to Rover if it uses the market as a key to maintaining volume production at Longbridge. Phoenix is hammering out plans to save jobs at the plant by keeping production levels above 200,000 units a year and daily rental could offer an important outlet for the cars, but the move would need a change of heart from Rover.

ROVER will continue to struggle to survive unless a long-term strategy is adopted by the Phoenix Consortium. And even that could see it ultimately bought by another manufacturer if the company become profitable, according to leading motor industry academics.

PHOENIX'S aim of bringing new models to the market in an alliance with another manufacturer has suffered a blow, with the one company named by Rover's new owners as a key contender rejecting all suggestions of involvement. On future models, Nick Stephenson, Phoenix Consortium member and John Towers, joint chief executive of Rover, said that, with its aim of having a 'positive cash flow' within 14 months and being in profit within two years, other manufacturers 'will be knocking at our door' to form development alliances.