News - Page 2159

SEAT could become the first manufacturer to offer a choice of service intervals on its cars this year when it launches the new Leon, a key model in the Spanish vehicle maker's bid to double UK fleet sales. The initiative currently under discussion would allow fleet managers to specify whether they wanted shorter or longer service intervals, likely to be 10,000 or 20,000 miles, on each vehicle order form.

AUTOGLASS is launching a massive review of its glass replacement network to provide 90% of its services through its mobile fleet in response to customer demand. As part of the review, the Bedford-based company is to reorganise its 180-strong branch network and 900-vehicle fleet.

ROCKETING increases in tax on free fuel for private mileage will spell the end of the perk for thousands of fleet drivers this year, causing a major headache for employers and fleet managers. In the March 1998 Budget, the Government signalled its intention to end, over five years, any benefit which nearly one million company car drivers gained from free fuel for private motoring.

FLEETS, contract hire and leasing companies are facing a residual value catastrophe if they decide to import cars through 'unofficial' channels from the Continent. Experts are warning that savings made from buying the cars abroad will be wiped out on the secondhand market - with the European-sourced vehicle selling for as much as 25% less than an equivalent UK model.

NEW bosses at three of the UK's biggest contract hire and leasing companies have revealed dramatic expansion plans. The most radical plan is by First National Vehicle Holdings, which is aiming to double its fleet size in the next three to five years to catapult it into the top three.

FLEET News is to hold a Budget Briefing for fleet chiefs to find out from fleet and tax experts the impact on their businesses of Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown's March 21 Budget. This year, there will be a significant impact on both fleet operations and company car drivers, as Brown is expected to announce details of the carbon dioxide-based company car tax system due to come into effect in April 2002 and the graduated Vehicle Excise Duty system due for launch in the autumn.

FLEET managers are rejecting new cut-price car buying schemes through the internet and on the Continent because they are already being offered better discounts from manufacturers. Coupled with concerns over residual values, vehicle specification, warranty cover, parts availability and servicing, fleet managers say buying abroad is not an option.

LEASING companies are taking advantage of buying prestige cars from Europe with better savings on offer than in the UK. The discounts offered on prestige models such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Land Rover are proving too attractive to ignore but are only being bought in small numbers.

THE Direct Line Group is the latest company to announce the launch of its own car buying website. The company is putting £50 million into the as yet unnamed project, to be launched in the summer.

CUT-THROAT new car deals and the residual value crisis are expected to prompt a huge surge in companies outsourcing their fleets to leasing companies. With the crisis creating tough economic conditions, the work of dedicated fleet managers is coming under pressure as companies whose core business is not vehicles are moving into outsourcing.

PEUGEOT is to cut on-the-road prices of its diesel-engined cars in a bid to reverse the continued decline in oil-burners' sales and force the Government to rethink its diesel policy. The process of realignment closer to petrol equivalents is to start with the 607 executive saloon when it goes on sale in the UK in June. Prices will be announced in May.

PAUL Willis has left Rover, three months after taking the position of head of UK sales and marketing operations, to become director of Volkswagen Cars UK. The appointment, which came into effect from Monday, means Willis takes over the post from Robin Woolcock, who is now managing director of Volkswagen Group.

FORD is cutting 1,320 jobs and moving to single shifts at its Dagenham body and assembly plant from August as part of a major European restructuring. The job cuts are designed to solve the over-capacity in the car industry which continues to blight Ford and all other manufacturers.

ENVIRONMENTALLY friendly Postman Pat-style vehicles are the latest addition to the Royal Mail's 36,000-vehicle fleet. The battery-powered Carryall vehicle has been built by Cambridgeshire-based specialist producer John Bradshaw.

MOTABILITY will be holding its second awards at the Fleet Show in Birmingham on April 5. The awards are again being held in conjunction with Fleet News at a gala dinner at the National Motorcycle Museum. The Fleet Show is at the NEC Birmingham on April 4-6.

BP Amoco has launched the country's biggest driver training programme for its 19,000 UK staff, including fleet and private car drivers. The move comes just weeks before the launch of the Government's road safety strategy, which is expected to contain tough measures to push for a better attitude to safety among fleets.

A HANDFUL of tables is left for the 2000 Fleet News Awards - the fleet industry's 'Oscars' - which takes place at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London, on Wednesday, March 15.

A RADICAL reorganisation at troubled dealership group DC Cook has involved shedding nearly half its outlets to limit damage caused by hefty residual value losses and an expansion programme which backfired.

SOCIETY of Motor Manufacturers and Traders deputy chief executive Roger King has been appointed chief executive of the Road Haulage Association. The former Tory MP for Birmingham Northfield and joint chairman of the All Party Motor Industry Group from 1990-92 takes up his new post on April 3.

UK car production rose by 2% year-on-year in January to 145,658 units - 50,572 for the home market (up 5.2%) and 95,086 for export, the latter a 0.3% rise.

FORD'S Fiesta has missed out on the latest round of supermini crash safety tests conducted by Euro NCAP. None of the seven cars in the first test in 1997 gained the maximum four-star rating. Fiesta and Volkswagen Polo scored three, while Vauxhall Corsa, Renault Clio, Fiat Punto and Nissan Micra achieved two points.

SPECULATION continues to mount that DaimlerChrysler may attempt to broaden its small car line-up by acquiring Fiat. John Lawson, motoring analyst at Salomon Smith Barney, said the possible acquisition of Fiat or Peugeot 'would be the quickest move to plug the gap' in the manufacturer's range'.

A NEW Mazda Demio is to go on sale in May. Four models will make up the new compact MPV range for the UK.

PROTON is aiming to increase its dealer network by 50% - to 60 dealers - this year as part of a new drive to secure franchise representation in all significant areas of the UK.

LONG-term car finance may become a thing of the past because of a crisis in the industry caused by the residual value downturn. Trade newsletter Sewells Used Car Dealer, a sister publication of Fleet NewsNet, has identified the massive increase in car buyers bailing out half-way through long-term finance deals because their cars never move out of negative equity.

RAILWAY contract and maintenance company GrantRail has signed a major new deal with Lex Vehicle Leasing for the supply of 150 Ford vans. The vans come complete with ply lining and racking.

LEX Vehicle Leasing, the UK's largest contract hire company, added more than 2,000 vehicles to its nearly-new fleet last year. In 1999, the firm delivered 2,180 vehicles, taking the total fleet to 3,629.

LCV sales are set to expand by 1% this year, according to experts at Glass's Guide. In the latest edition of its Commercial Vehicle Values booklet, chief editor George Alexander says the growth will come in the panel van, car-derived van and pick-up sectors, while above this weight, sales are expected to fall by 5%.

THE Commercial Vehicle Show at the Birmingham NEC on March 28-30, has its own dedicated website. The show incorporates the old IRTE and Tipcon exhibitions and is the biggest of its kind to be held in the UK. www.cvshow.com gives visitors a guide to everything to do with the show, as well as providing an A-Z listing with links to exhibitors' websites.

VOLKSWAGEN has been busy clinching deals in the LCV market. The AA has acquired 260 new Transporter vans in its bid to provide a single source completion, where one repair vehicle attends the customer and is able to complete the work without having to call in help.