News - Page 2160

CIVIL engineering contractor W J Harte has taken delivery of a further 12 LDV Pilot and two LDV Convoy vans, taking its total on the fleet to 67. The firm, from Bothwell, Scotland, has taken on more than 200 Pilot vans in the past 15 years, through Motherwell dealer Taggarts.

INDIAN van manufacturer TATA has upgraded its Loadbeta range with a more dynamic look and various interior and underbonnet improvements. Fared-in headlights and indicators improve the vehicle's aero-dynamics and there are new composite moulded grey front and rear bumpers.

MORE than 50 of the UK's leading contract hire and leasing companies are being invited to a pre-Budget 'CO2 Workshop' being organised by fleet consultancy Fleet Audits on Thursday (March 2). The Budget takes place on March 21, when Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown is expected to announce long-awaited details of the Government's plans for carbon dioxide-based company car tax to be introduced in April 2002 and graduated Vehicle Excise Duty to come into effect in the autumn.

ROVER has launched a simplified version of its residual value guarantee scheme for the 75 after contract hire companies branded it 'unworkable'. Companies said the conditions Rover attached made it impossible to apply.

FUEL prices are set to break through the £4 a gallon barrier by 2003 as a result of the rising cost of crude oil and likely increases in fuel taxes. With Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown's Budget less than four weeks away, speculation is mounting that he will increase fuel prices by around 3p a litre/13p a gallon.

VOLVO has launched a limited edition of 500 S/V40 models featuring £2,170 worth of extra equipment for a £1,000 price premium.

SUZUKI'S new generation Wagon R+ city car will make its world debut alongside its General Motors stablemate the Vauxhall Agila at the Geneva Motor Show in March.

NISSAN has increased the specification level on its Primera S model for a limited period at no extra cost. Primera S saloon, hatchback and estate buyers get alloy wheels and six-disc CD autochanger worth £950 until July 31. Prices range from £14,900 to £17,800 on-the-road.

FORD will launch two new Mondeo hatchback models on Wednesday (March 1) - an entry-level 113bhp 1.8-litre Verona and a 128bhp 2.0-litre Zetec-S.

MITSUBISHI'S all-new Shogun makes its debut at next month's Geneva Motor Show. Available with a choice of 200bhp 3.5-litre V6 direct injection petrol or 162bhp 3.2-litre direct injection turbo diesel engines, deliveries of the new Shogun are expected to start in April.

AUDI is writing to 2,430 UK TT owners offering to retro-fit an electronic stability programme (ESP) because of continuing doubts over the model's high-speed stability.

THE used car market is 'on fire' according to Honda corporate sales chief Nicholas Phillips as private buyers flock to buy ex-company cars instead of new vehicles preferring to hold-out for new car price cuts. Last week auction companies reported a buoyant start to the millennium and Phillips says fleets which extended replacement cycles last year in anticipation of price cuts were now returning to the marketplace.

IAN Richardson, fleet manager of English Nature, said he would not be changing his buying pattern for his 100 cars and 100 4x4 vehicles in the wake of price cut claims. 'We bought last year and we keep vehicles for five to seven years so we won't be changing our buying,' he said.

FLEET buying of W-plate cars looks set to break March records, with few corporate fleet chiefs saying they are postponing traditional replacement cycles in anticipation of massive falls in new car prices. However, some manufacturer fleet chiefs report large fleets demanding upfront discounts or volume-related bonuses which, if given, means European-style acquisition prices are being achieved without fleets resorting to buying abroad.

IF you believe the hype, car manufacturers are not only ripping off British motorists but they are also laughing all the way to the bank. The Consumers' Association's 'Great British Rip-Off' campaign has portrayed manufacturers as arrogant money-making machines who don't give a second thought to the motorist.

PEUGEOT has won the largest yet single order for electric vehicles in Britain, highlighting the growing commitment of fleets to investigate alternative fuel technology. The Coventry-based manufacturer has signed a £500,000 deal for 32 106 cars and vans and Partners with customers under the Nottinghamshire Millennium Electric Vehicles Project, which aims to promote greener motoring around the county.

SIR Richard Branson is planning to move into the fleet market via internet and direct phone operations with cheap cars, contract hire, finance, insurance and a swathe of aftersales services, including disposals. Virgin Cars, to be launched at the end of April, says it will offer vehicles with on-the-road prices up to 30% lower than those through UK dealer networks - achieved by negotiating direct with manufacturers and importing from European dealers and agents.

THIS year's Fleet Show - to be held at the NEC in Birmingham from April 4-6 - is taking the lead on environmental issues by becoming climate neutral. The damage done to the environment by producing power for heating and lighting at the show will be offset through an initiative with environmental specialist Climate Care, which operates a fund to invest money in projects which reduce emissions.

CAR manufacturers are calling on the Government to ignore the 'rip-off' Britain campaign and concentrate on tackling the 'real issues' behind price discrepancies. These, they say, are the strong pound, high interest rates and the massive differences in taxation rates across Europe.

THE cost of hiring cars and vans in Britain compared with those in Europe was dropped from research commissioned by the Department of Trade and Industry. A total of 100 products, including the cost of car hire, were due to be compared in the 'rip-off Britain' report, but only 56 price comparisons were eventually published this week.

PHH Vehicle Management and vehicle rental firm Ryder are joining forces in the UK to offer a vehicle management package which has reduced running costs of the Ministry of Defence's white fleet in Germany by £9 million each year. In 1996 the two companies united to win the fleet services contract for British Forces Germany which combined the strengths of each to manage a fleet of 2,500 and has resulted in a 27% reduction in vehicle management costs.

FLEET managers are being warned not to be blinded by confusion over the future shape of company car tax and use the information available now to help drivers pick tax-efficient fleet cars or risk facing increased costs. As the Government once again seems to be changing its stance on the shape of the new carbon dioxide-based tax, Fleet Management Services has issued a company car tax calculator as a guide for 'responsible' fleet managers.

THE arrival of CO2-based company car tax in 2002 will lead to a surge in demand for company cars as the attraction of a cash alternative is reduced, according to fleet management specialist Godfrey Davis. New tax rules will scrap the mileage-based system in favour of one focusing solely on carbon dioxide emissions, so there will be no financial penalty for users of perk cars with low mileages.

A COMBINED BMW Group corporate sales operation offering fleets BMW, Rover, Mini, MG and Land Rover products has moved a step closer as hundreds of Rover Group staff prepare to relocate from Birmingham to BMW headquarters in Bracknell, Berkshire. Both BMW and Rover stress that brand identities will be retained and that for the foreseeable future the corporate sales departments will be run as separate operations.

BMW has vigorously denied that it is in talks with Volkswagen over a new Longbridge rescue plan. Industry speculation is that VW remains prepared to buy its Bavarian rival or enter into a partnership in the wake of the European Union decision to make a full investigation of the UK Government's £152 million revitalisation aid package to BMW.

FLEET managers are making desperate efforts to provide their drivers with guidance on the tax bills they could face under CO2-based company car tax. Forward-looking decision makers are struggling to provide even basic information to drivers to warn them that high CO2 figures could mean higher tax bills.

LONG term Association of Car Fleet Operators director Jim Thorn has died after a brief illness. The former Barnardo's transport officer had joined ACE Vehicle Deliveries as corporate development manager in April 1997 and was due to retire.

BRITISH Car Contracts says it is 'business as usual' following parent company NatWest's £21 billion acquisition by the Royal Bank of Scotland. The protracted bidding war for NatWest, whose subsidiaries include Lombard North Central's British Car Contracts, the 12th largest contract hire company in the UK with a fleet of 35,000 vehicles, was concluded on Friday.

LONDON companies are opposed to Government plans to introduce workplace parking charges, even if the money raised is ring-fenced for investment in transport, according to a Confederation of British Industry survey. Sixty-six companies out of 303 responded to the survey, of which 68% said they were against a parking tax.

FORD has said it 'expects to submit a bid' for ailing Korean car maker Daewoo Motors, despite General Motors remaining the favourite to buy the company.