News - Page 2163

The Budget date has been announced as March 21, 2000. Further information will be provided as it becomes available.

FLEET discounts should be capped at 20% below list price to level the playing field between private and corporate buyers, a leading industry figure has demanded. Alan Pulham, franchised dealers director of the Retail Motor Industry Federation, made his controversial call as the Competition Commission's 1,400-page report on its New Cars Inquiry was handed to the Department of Trade and Industry this week.

DEPUTY Prime Minister John Prescott believes the Women's Institute knows more about cars than the fleet industry. This week, the Motorists' Forum was launched to give motorists a voice in Government, but fleets' worst fears have been confirmed since the industry will have no direct representation.

FLEET NewsNet publisher EMAP Automotive is heading into Europe with the launch of Fleet News Europe, a new monthly magazine covering the pan-European fleet market. Fleet News Europe will provide high value, in-depth news and analysis of the issues facing the burgeoning number of fleets and suppliers that are developing pan-European strategies.

P&O Stena Link has slashed its vehicle acquisition costs by tens of thousands of pounds by buying abroad. And the move has been so successful, P&O has launched its own import scheme.

A NEW venture from Provecta Car Plan also aims to exploit the chance to purchase cheap cars abroad with lower monthly leasing rates for structured personal leasing scheme users. The firm was formed to provide vehicles which exploit the tax-efficient method of vehicle acquisition that allows employees to effectively own their vehicles, removing their benefit-in-kind tax liability.

WITH the Competition Commission's long-awaited report into UK new car prices now delivered to the Department of Trade and Industry, a consortium has claimed that the 'rip-off Britain' argument is 'so flawed as to be meaningless'. Independent economics consultancy London Economics' new report, 'Rip-off Britain - myths and realities' for the British Retail Consortium, states consumers cannot expect prices to be the same across Europe and the USA while obstacles to competition and free trade remain in place.

EUROPCAR has switched affiliation for servicing customers in the USA from Dollar Rent a Car to Budget Rent a Car. The agreement, which goes live from March 1, is said to be the first in a number of joint venture schemes between Europcar and Budget.

A SLUMP in new car sales across Europe - including the UK - contributed to Ford announcing massively reduced profits for its European division, despite the global company posting record results for a car maker. Ford Motor Company reported after-tax profits of $7.23 billion in 1999 - more than any other automotive company in history. On a like-for-like comparison 1998 profits were $5,939 billion. Turnover last year was a record $162.56 billion (1998: $144,416 billion).

LAND Rover has become the strongest growing brand in the BMW Group, achieving record sales for the seventh year running, while Rover headed for a record low. During 1999, the 4x4 marque increased sales in the USA by 37%, by 28% in Germany, 39% in Eastern Europe and by 15% in Western Europe, contributing to a worldwide total of 178,000 - 16% up, and spearheaded by the Freelander range.

ONE of Britain's leading 'green' fleet managers has warned car manufacturers that their position within his radical '21st century fleet policy' will be at risk unless they stay at the forefront of emissions technology. Simon Boggis, group fleet purchasing manager for TNT UK & Eire, and winner of numerous Fleet News Awards, including last year's Fleet Environmental Award, has put carbon dioxide emissions at the heart of his vehicle choice list.

FORMER Chrysler chairman and chief executive Robert Eaton is to quit as co-chairman of DaimlerChrysler next month. Appointed with ex-Daimler chief Juergen Schrempp to jointly oversee the companies' merger, he had been expected to retire in 2001.

A DETAILED design for the Government's ambitious Greener Fleet Certification Scheme is nearly complete and a spring launch is pencilled in. The tender to run the Cleaner Vehicles Task Force scheme has been issued and expressions of interest are invited from companies with experience of the fleet industry.

VISITORS to Fleet Show 2000, at the NEC, Birmingham, from April 4-6, will be able to take advantage of a new 'dating' service. The service, which makes appointments for visitors to meet 'the right people at the right stand' at a predetermined time, has been introduced after research showed certain show visitors did not visit with a pre-set agenda and were wasting time by being unable to make relevant contacts.

THE Government has published a new guide aimed at helping companies establish green travel plans. It has also presented awards to two businesses for their pioneering work in tackling car dependency.

NISSAN'S Sunderland factory is the biggest car plant in the UK for the second year running, producing 271,157 Micras and Primeras during 1999.

ATS Euromaster has opened a new £9 million customer service centre which will form the cornerstone of future expansion throughout Europe. Billed as the most important development in the 33-year history of the firm, the 60,000sq ft building, in Birmingham, will provide the focus for the company's business development plans for the UK and Europe in the car, van and truck fleet sectors.

MERCEDES-BENZ is to import right-hand drive versions of the ML55 AMG model from September.

CITROEN has launched a range of special edition Xsaras and Xantias offering air conditioning, ABS brakes and four airbags at prices starting from less than £10,000 on-the-road. The Xsara Forte comes with a choice of 1.4- and 1.6-litre petrol engines and hatchback or estate body styles, priced from £9,995 to £10,995 on-the-road.

VAUXHALL has announced a new family of aluminium ECOTEC petrol engines, ranging from 1.8 to 2.2 litres, designed to offer lower fuel consumption and minimal maintenance.

TWO major changes have shaped the future of Practical Car & Van Rental in the new year - the departure of its co-founder and chairman Harold Williams and the launch of a new logo.

ROVER Cars has recommended Audatex (UK)'s computerised estimating system for its approved bodyshop network.

SAFETY-conscious fleet managers have backed the prospect of the Government taking a tougher stance on driver training and believe they are ready for health and safety laws to be extended to the company car. The Government's increasing alarm at the number of company car drivers involved in accidents culminated last year in an unprecedented attack by Roads Minister Lord Whitty, who said businesses were failing to take any interest in a safety culture.

COMPANIES which reduce car usage by their staff through 'greener' travel strategies should be given tax concessions, according to the RAC. At the launch of the 'RAC Report on Motoring - 2000', Sir Trevor Chinn, chairman of Lex Service, of which RAC Motoring Services is now part, said that while workplace parking was far from being a satisfactory solution to reducing traffic congestion, if measures were introduced then companies which tackled car dependency should be rewarded.

THE phase-out of leaded petrol could bring a recovery in the residual values of ex-fleet cars as demand for vehicles running on unleaded fuel increases. Drivers trading up to a vehicle which runs on unleaded are likely to leap several generations to three-year-old cars, according to Glass's Information Services.

THE new Rover 45 has gone on sale to be met with improved residual value predictions over the old 400. This is the result of Rover repositioning the majority of the range out of the upper medium segment.

FLEETS have just weeks left to consider safety improvements before publication of the Government's road safety strategy, which could drastically alter the way they operate. A spokesman for the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions said the report was expected to be released 'within weeks'.

VAUXHALL has introduced a revised Astra line-up featuring a new turbodiesel engine, new models and extra equipment as standard. Prices rise by between £100 and £300, although certain models are reduced in price, including the CDX 1.8i 5-dr which falls by £485.

SIX hundred Subaru Legacy estate cars, worth more than £12 million at UK showroom prices, are to go into service with Italian traffic police.

ROLLS-Royce has signed its largest-ever deal to supply 31 cars to the Dubai government. The 31 Silver Seraphs, worth around £4.9 million, will be used as raffle prizes by the government during the country's annual shopping festival in March.