News - Page 2152

HONDA will create more than 1,000 new jobs with the opening of a second new car plant near Swindon which will add the capacity of 100,000 units a year. It will bring Honda's UK output to 250,000 Civics, Accords and, from autumn 2001, a new generation Logo supermini.

VOLKSWAGEN and BMW are denying the planned changes of Rolls-Royce ownership are at risk as a result of increasing losses at the prestige-brand subsidiary.

GENERAL Motors is to buy Nissan Motor's entire stake in Fuji Heavy Industries - the company which makes Subaru cars. The sale, which is expected to go through on April 11, will give GM a 20% shareholding in FHI, which was announced earlier this year.

TOWN & Country is to operate a new accident management service being offered by Arval - previously Ryland Multifleet - which will see 7,500 vehicles go on to accident management during the first year of operation.

NEW car pricing controversies and tumbling residual values - resulting in dealership group William Jacks axing its contract hire and leasing arm AutoMotive Strategy - contributed to the company reporting pre-tax profits for the year to January 31 of £1.91 million (1999: £2.7 million) on turnover of £159.77 million (1999: £139.2 million).

ALAN Noble, executive deputy chairman of Darlington-based Northgate, which runs the UK's largest rental light commercial vehicle fleet with 31,000 units has received the North East Businessman of the Year Award from Prime Minister Tony Blair.

CREDIT hire and accident management company Ellen Group has bought a 30,000sq ft building in Manchester which it will use as a 200-seat call centre due to open in June.

RECORD UK new car sales last year of 21,738 (1998: 20,5684) contributed to Skoda announcing record results for 1999 of pre-tax profits up 17.8% to £45.9 million (1998: £39 million).

THE return of the Formula One Grand Prix season also marks the return of Autoglass's internet-based Fantasy Formula One Championship for the fleet industry. The weekend saw the second Formula One race of the 2000 season in Brazil, but budding Schumachers, Coulthards or Hakkinens in the fleet industry can take part without leaving their desks by visiting www.autoglass.co.uk/formula1.

FLEET business grew as Ford dealerships to Burger King Restaurants group Gowrings saw pre-tax profits before exceptionals rise 22% to £1.96 million (1998: £1.6 million) on turnover up 16% to £102.1 million (1998: £87.7 million) last year. The company's motor division comprises three main Ford dealerships in Wokingham, Newbury and Bracknell and three bodyshops in Newbury, Wokingham and Swindon to cater for its expanding insurance-related repair business.

A U-TURN on Government plans to allow local councils to introduce workplace parking charges has been demanded by the Institute of Directors. The IoD says businesses would be damaged by the charge - some have put the cost at £2 billion a year - and Ruth Lea, head of its policy unit, has written to members of the House of Commons Standing Committee presently considering the Transport Bill to call for a change of heart.

WORKPLACE parking charges and urban tolls are not anti-car or anti-business, the Local Government Association has claimed. In a staunch defence of Government plans for the introduction of the two charges, LGA transport chiefs have urged the Government to take tough action to combat congestion in towns and cities.

BODYSHOP and accident management expansion is to take place at Perry Group, alongside the development of more profitable used car operations, which are less vulnerable to price concerns and more profitable than new cars. The group announced a drop in pre-tax profits from £8.6 million in 1998 to £4.9 million last year on a 12% fall in turnover to £446.5 million (1998: £510 million).

PEUGEOT replacement parts prices have been cut by up to 40% in a new move by the manufacturer to reduce fleet ownership costs and fend off competition from alternative equipment suppliers. Exhausts, exchange radiators, exchange driveshafts, clutch kits, oil filters, shock absorbers, brake pads and wheel cylinders are among items reduced, and exhaust systems, excluding catalytic converters, now carry a two-year warranty.

RENAULT is planning to embrace the diesel revolution with a series of new engines, including plans to rival BMW by launching a sporty, high-speed diesel version of its mainstream fleet model, the Laguna. With up to 140bhp under its bonnet, the next-generation dCi Laguna will compete with the German company's new 320d saloon, which recently went on sale in Britain.

THE offer by Rover's new owner Alchemy Partners of cut price cars is failing to tempt fleet managers - although some fleet chiefs are staying loyal to the brand. Alchemy Partners has taken ownership of five months' worth of unsold Rover stock at depots as part of the buyout of the brand from BMW.

ROVER dealers have given a spontaneous display of nationalistic fervour by rolling out British flags at their dealerships. After the announcement of the purchase of Rover from BMW by venture capitalist Alchemy Partners, Rover dealerships throughout the country have reaffirmed their British roots - and their faith in the future of the dealer network.

ROVER dealers met with BMW bosses on Friday to seek assurances about their future. Additionally, the 10 dealer representatives successfully pressed that the BMW Group arrange a meeting with Alchemy Partners, Rover Cars' new owners.

A ROW is brewing over the ownership and use of historic Rover Group names such as Triumph, Riley, Austin, Morris and Wolseley. Fleet NewsNet's understanding is that BMW has agreed that Alchemy Partners can use the Rover name for seven years, while the MG badge has been transferred in perpetuity.

ALCHEMY Partners has named the management team charged with turning around loss-making Rover when its sale by BMW is complete.

BMW has pledged to meet its commitment to create 1,500 jobs with the construction of an engine plant at Hams Hall, Warwickshire. The site is already under construction at a cost of £400 million and will be the production centre of four-cylinder and 'V' engines when production begins later this year/beginning of 2001.

A BIRMINGHAM millionaire has confirmed he is putting together a bid to scupper Alchemy Partners' ambitions to buy Rover. John Hemming, Birmingham city councillor and software tycoon, is negotiating with a number of Midlands business figures in a consortium called 'Rover Future'.

GENERAL Motors and Ford remain tight-lipped about their interests in buying parts of the dissolved Rover brand from BMW.

VOLKSWAGEN has merged and renamed its fleet operations to give fleets a single point of contact. The new Volkswagen Fleet Services department was launched in January and incorporates the fleet sales and after sales departments.

HONDA is looking to triple its car sales to Government, Ministry of Defence and emergency service fleets. Last year the manufacturer sold about 100 of its cars into public sector fleets.

CARS and light commercial vehicles made by Renault and Nissan will be using standardised engines and transmission units by 2010. But each company will have to make the most of individual underbonnet packages in the meantime as research work is shared between engineers at both companies

THE one millionth Renault Scenic has rolled off the production line at the Georges Besse plant in northern France, just over three years after the vehicle went on sale.

THE M4 bus lane is reducing congestion and accidents, benefiting all road users as well as passengers on buses, coaches and taxis, the Highways Agency said.

THE 1999 Castrol Institute of the Motor Industry Gold Award has been presented to Max Mosley, president of the FIA and chairman of the Euro NCAP, which is responsible for crash testing vehicles.

FORD has negotiated a 'secret' deal to buy a transformed Rover Group within the next three-to-five years, it was claimed this week. Professor Peter Cooke, head of the Centre for Automotive Industries Management, Nottingham Trent University, believes BMW has already laid the foundations for the future sale.