News - Page 2145

USED vehicle leasing could account for nearly a third of the Lex Vehicle Leasing fleet in two years as the firm pushes to persuade fleet managers to rethink their company car acquisition policies. A focus on potential areas of growth has highlighted used car leasing as a minefield of new contracts that is under-exploited because fleet managers do not understand the benefits.

CONTRACT hire companies have greeted the arrival of the Competition Commission's New Car Inquiry report as potentially good news for the entire industry. The report sets out proposals which could radically alter the way new cars are sold in the UK and seeks to create a level playing field between fleets and dealerships by ordering manufacturers to offer them equal buying terms.

FLEETS must look past the price tag and check the quality of service when choosing a contract hire supplier. Leasing companies are encouraging higher standards among their service suppliers with awards for the best performers each year and say this should be recognised by fleets.

THE inclusion of company car tax as part of the running costs equation for cars has led Birmingham-based contract hire firm Interleasing to claim a unique point for its Company Car Comparisons product, mailed out on request quarterly, free of charge. The Windows-based system calculates the annual cost of running a car derived from contract hire rental, an allowance for insurance, the cost of fuel, plus employer's National Insurance contribution minus corporation tax relief.

PEUGEOT has effectively cut the price of its LX specification 306 by up to 13% by offering fleets Meridian special edition versions of the medium segment hatchback and estate. Originally designed for the retail market, the 306 Meridian range is available with 1.4, 1.6 and 1.8-litre petrol engines and a 2.0-litre HDi diesel and has around £1,200 worth of extras compared with LX.

GENERAL Motors is to take advantage of the growing market for big 4x4s by launching the Chevrolet Tahoe in Britain this autumn. Expected to cost from £32,000, the 5.3-litre V8 petrol-engined four-door station wagon holds the title of Europe's largest off-roader and has already gone on sale in Germany, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.

HONDA is to axe its six/seven-seater Shuttle this summer but is keeping quiet on a replacement. The 2.3-litre petrol-engined MPV has been selling about 2,000 examples in the UK a year from the four-trim range, priced from £18,305 to £22,620 on-the-road, since its launch in 1996.

INDIAN vehicle manufacturer TATA plans to sell 1,000 examples of its new seven-seater Safari 2.0 TDi 4x4 in the UK in its first full year, following its launch next month.

A $1 BILLION joint venture between PHH Europe and Arval Service Lease has created Europe's biggest fleet management and leasing company. The mega-alliance, announced on Tuesday, creates a colossal pan-European fleet of 545,000 vehicles under management or lease with a further 450,000 units in North America.

FLEET discounts worth tens of millions of pounds are under threat as manufacturers consider how to react to the Competition Commission's New Cars Inquiry report. Car makers are warning that current fleet discounts are 'unsustainable' and 'insane' and must be cut or manufacturers will 'run out of money'.

NATIONAL fleets fear small franchised and independent dealerships will be forced out of business or will be bought by larger groups following the New Cars Inquiry report by the Competition Commission. With manufacturers being ordered to offer dealers the same volume discount terms as enjoyed by fleets, fears are growing that smaller dealerships will be unable to compete on price and so will close.

A SERVICING crisis could be created for fleets by recommendations in the Competition Commission's New Cars Inquiry report which, it is feared, could wipe out part of the country's dealer network. A call in the report for dealers to receive the same bulk buying discounts as fleets would discriminate against small dealerships, which would be unable to compete on price against larger, city-based sites.

MANUFACTURERS have shunned suggestions that they might buy up their dealership networks to keep control of their outlets following publication of the New Cars Inquiry. One of the main thrusts of the commission's report was to loosen the ties between manufacturers and dealers in a bid to encourage more competition and drive down prices.

CO-OPERATIVES may be the way to save smaller, rural dealerships from extinction as changes brought in by the discount structure required by the Competition Commission's New Cars Inquiry take hold, Renault suggests. Keith Hawes, director of fleet and commercial vehicle operations, agrees big groups will have a major buying power advantage over minor players, although he believes price is a less sensitive issue in rural areas and customers will still need local services.

SOLUS fleet contracts could become history as a result of company car tax changes and the potential motor industry shake-up following the Competition Commission report. Fleet solus deals direct with manufacturers have been a fundamental part of the industry since the 1980s recession.

THE European Council for Motor Traders and Repairers (CECRA) claims the European Commission has no immediate plans for radical changes to Block Exemption. CECRA said that the EU's Competition Commissioner Mario Monti had acknowledged it would be 'unfair and harmful' to dealers for the legislation simply to cease on September 30, 2002.

COMPANY car tax could be based on 'suggested retail prices' and not 'recommended retail prices' following the Competition Commission-inspired shake-up of the UK motor industry, it was claimed this week. And there are also fears that a 'two-tier' pricing structure could be introduced which would effectively see separate pricing for retail and fleet customers.

FLEET managers' worlds have been 'turned upside down' by changes being imposed on them by Government. The Association of Car Fleet Operators' southern meeting heard from its chairman Sue Tonks, fleet manager of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, that new CO2-based taxes and future issues facing fleet managers were a real challenge.

DAILY rental firms fear the result from the Competition Commission's report could be a dramatic fall in their already slim profit margins. Norman Donkin, director general of the British Vehicle Rental & Leasing Association, said concerns were raised because rental firms feared their discounts would be cut as manufacturers made up for having to provide larger discounts to dealers.

THE Government must have 'breathed a huge sigh of relief' on publication of the New Cars Inquiry report, according to Professor Garel Rhys, director of the Centre for Automotive Industry Research at Cardiff University Business School. He claimed that although the report may mean a rethink of the fleet industry's approach to cars, it did nothing to undermine the car industry in the UK - a vital point to maintaining economic stability.

NEW car prices are continuing to fall, with lower and upper medium sector cars leading the way, according to latest figures from CAP Motor Research. The latest CAP Index of new car prices shows that list prices this month are down 1.5% on April last year - continuing a trend which began nine months ago.

THE Competition Commission report has cast doubt on the future viability of Europe's biggest single fleet, Motability Finance. MFL runs more than 360,000 vehicles on behalf of disabled charity Motability and benefits from major discounts to make the cars affordable to people in receipt of the higher rate of the mobility allowance.

ORDERS for BMWs worth £1.2 million at showroom prices have been cancelled by a West Midlands-based firm in a show of support for beleaguered Rover. South Staffordshire Water Group has also decided to sell all BMWs on its fleet and where possible replace them with Rovers.

INNOVATIVE sales arrangements to dispose of thousands of stockpiled Rover 25, 45 and 75 models are being drawn up by Alchemy Partners, the venture capital firm hoping to buy the ailing manufacturer. However, the MG marque - and not Rover - looks set to become the focal point of Alchemy's plans to transform the company if it buys Rover from BMW.

BMW'S treatment of Rover has been slammed as 'chaotic, incomplete and incoherent' by the Trade and Industry Select Committee. The committee's report concluded: 'The chaotic, incomplete and incoherent way in which BMW sought to disengage from Rover strongly suggests that it may not have devoted as much care and attention as it could and should have done.'

ROVER dealerships are gearing up to launch legal action against BMW if its sale of Rover goes ahead. Dealerships' owners claim they will demand repayment for the costs they have incurred.

ROVER'S fleet boss has welcomed the bid for the company from its former chief executive John Towers, which was submitted to BMW on Friday. The offer from the 'Phoenix Consortium' unites Towers, chief executive of the Concentric Group, with Midlands-based software John Hemming and is understood to include a number of dealer groups.

ROVER has denied that temporary shut-downs at its Longbridge and Cowley factories is related to the takeover bid from Alchemy Partners. Production at Longbridge, which Alchemy wants to take over, stopped on Friday for two weeks and at Cowley for four weeks.

CONFUSION surrounding Rover's future has led Glass's Information Services to stop producing wholelife costs for its cars.

CONFIDENCE in the used car market among dealers has dived, prompting warnings that fleets must reassess residual value expectations. Although sales continue to show 'a healthy improvement' over the same period last year - up 9.4% - according to the latest 'Used Car Confidence Index' from CAP Motor Research, considerably fewer used car dealers are optimistic about the future.