News - Page 2144

STELIOS Haji-Ioannou, the founder of easyJet, has launched his new internet-only daily rental venture easyRentacar.com with an attack on rivals for being 'outdated and overpriced'. At the launch of his first London site, one of two in the UK, he said he was targeting fleets as much as retail customers with cut-price rental.

SMALLER manufacturers could pull out of the fleet market altogether and fleet discounts could be slashed if recommendations in the Competition Commission's New Cars Inquiry report are given the green light by the Government. At a conference on the report, organised by Automotive Management, a print sister publication to Fleet NewsNet aimed at dealerships, industry leaders warned of potentially damaging fall-out for fleets from the report.

RESULTS from a secret Fleet Show survey are helping Honda line up a new bid for a greater share of the company car market. Executives from the Japanese firm mounted a clandestine operation at the Birmingham event as part of a major research programme involving the next-generation Accord range.

A CONSORTIUM led by former Rover chief executive John Towers promises to maintain the brand's position as a volume manufacturer following BMW's sell-off - and see a commitment to the fleet market. But the plan hangs in the balance as Towers and the Government works to persuade BMW to give the consortium more time to put its offer together.

RENAULT is to launch a one-stop support shop to serve the needs of fleet and contract hire customers - and free up fleet account managers' time to build stronger customer relationships. The centralised call centre will go online in June to administer fleet contracts, process tenders and provide increased support for the manufacturer's 42 dealer-based business centres.

FLEETS will see the new Renault Laguna in October, four months before it goes on sale. Due to be launched here in the first quarter of 2001, the new Laguna is to be built on the platform used for the Safrane and Espace and will appear at around the same time as the new Ford Mondeo, Vauxhall Vectra and Citroen Xantia hit the market.

REACTION to Renault's Avantime luxury coupe has been mixed, but the majority of fleet buyers like it, according to the manufacturer. Shown at Fleet Show 2000 the grand tourer, due to go on sale here in October, got the thumbs-up from nearly three-quarters of corporate decision makers.

BRITISH business chiefs, including operators of some of the UK's largest fleets, have told the Government more than £200 billion must be spent on the crumbling transport system over the next 10 years just to bring it up to scratch with the rest of Europe. More billions will be needed to give Britain a road, rail, sea and air infrastructure with a competitive edge, according to the Confederation of British Industry, which has sent a salvage charter to Transport Minister Lord Macdonald.

FORD has denied its Dagenham plant is to be closed and says there is no planned change to the February 18 announcement that single-shift working would be introduced at the Essex plant in August and the loss of 1,320 jobs. The reduction of Fiesta and Courier output was ordered as part of a review by Ford's European management team to 'address the imbalance between supply and demand' but has led to speculation Dagenham was facing the axe.

NISSAN has warned its UK suppliers of drastic cost-cutting measures that could force the Japanese company to source more components from overseas in a bid to remain competitive. Managing director John Cushnaghan says the strength of the Pound against the Euro over the last three years has eroded gains made in productivity by the UK workforce at Nissan's Sunderland factory - the most productive car plant in Europe for the last three years.

THE new London mayor faces a bitter battle to convince the company car driver to switch to public transport, after new research shows the car is still the quickest way to travel in the capital. The four main candidates in the mayoral election, which will be decided on Thursday (May 4), have made tackling congestion a crucial target in their manifestos.

COMPANY car and van safety is to be discussed at a conference organised by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents on Wednesday (May 10) at the NEC, Birmingham, in association with Scottish Power and British Energy. Rosalind Roberts, of the Health and Safety Executive, will outline the Government's thinking on fleet accident prevention.

FLEETS are being reminded that Road Safety Week 2000 begins on Monday, May 1. More than 1,500 companies are planning events as part of the week, which is organised by road safety organisation Brake.

RENAULT is poised to secure a 70% stake in Korea's third largest car maker Samsung Motors and confirm a new truck alliance with Volvo.

ALAN Hines has been appointed as the new chief executive of the Retail Motor Industry Federation.

OFEX-listed credit hire and accident management operator The Ellen Group has reported pre-tax profits of £719,955 for the year to March 31 (1999: £124,364) on turnover of £6.41 million (1999: £2.8 million).

MITSUBISHI has squeezed 10% more fuel economy out of its GDI direct injection petrol engine and is set to launch revised 1.6-litre and 1.8-litre units in its Lancer range in Japan.

GENERAL Motors saw profitability in its European division increase to $221 million in the first quarter of this year (1999: $174 million) due to sales increasing 6%.

VAUXHALL has won a deal to supply 200 vehicles to Manchester-based industrial products distributor BSL.

ASSOCIATES Fleet Services has won a deal to supply and manage sales staff cars for specialist coatings and flooring systems manufacturer Liquid Plastics.

AROUND 400 fleet industry service companies and vehicle manufacturers have received letters this week from Kwik-Fit Fleet and Fleet News inviting them to join in the fleet leg of Britain's biggest charity run - the Island Race. Hopes are high that hundreds of people from across the fleet industry will support the 'company car' leg of the run on June 6 covering 43 miles from Woodham Ferrers, near Chelmsford, to Purfleet with the aim of raising £100,000 for charity with 50% going to BEN.

FORD has added a 1.3 litre Ghia model to the new Fiesta line-up, giving engine options of 1.3, 1.25-16v, 1.4-16v and 1.8 diesel.

FLEET drivers remain the most disgruntled and critical motorists in Britain. And according to the latest JD Power and Associates' UK Car Customer Satisfaction Study of R-registered vehicles, franchised dealers are largely to blame.

RAISE standards or lose market share, car manufacturers have been warned by the founder of the JD Power and Associates' Study. Now in its seventh year in the UK as an annual evaluation of private and company car drivers' satisfaction, the 2000 study's top three places have been awarded to Subaru, Jaguar and Skoda in a field of 31 R-registered brands.

ANALYSTS at JD Power claim to have identified the principal factors governing car badge choice. The wish list thrown up by the 2000 Study shows some marked differences in brand perception between private and fleet buyers.

GREY imports have been included in the JD Power and Associates' Car Customer Satisfaction Study for the first time, reflecting the growth in sourcing vehicles abroad. One of the gripes from personal importers was the treatment they received when they took their cars in for repairs or servicing at UK franchised dealerships, suggesting they were viewed as second-class customers by some garages.

EX-Ford and Mazda European marketing strategist Jim Tyrrell has been appointed managing director of Mitsubishi importer the Colt Car Company. He will officially join the Cirencester-based firm on May 22, but will be meeting UK dealers at an informal dinner arranged for the launch of the new Mitsubishi Shogun on May 5 in Bristol.

THE rapid rate of growth in e-commerce over the internet could force a radical shake-up of FleetNet, the voluntary organisation under which the rental and leasing industry has developed its standards for online trading. Established a decade ago, among the primary aims were the adoption at low cost of message standards, ranging from contract hire quote request forms to goods credit notes, and standard service and vehicle identification models codes to help unscramble data transferred between FleetNet members and accredited suppliers using different software systems.

ELECTRONIC data interchange (EDI) is poised to be overtaken by a new internet language hailed as fleet e-commerce revolution. The latest buzz phrase is XML - eXtensible Markup Language, a development of hypertext markup language (HTML) standard web coding and tags but which is said offer the benefits of EDI without the costs and limitations.

FLEET bosses have been told to 'wake up' to the possibilities of e-commerce or face having to adapt computer codes developed to describe vegetables when ordering cars, parts or services over the internet. Peter Minter, chairman of FleetNet, which campaigns for common online trading standards, said the industry was being presented with cheap, simple means of getting connected to save administration costs and improve efficiency.