News - Page 2164

FIVE hundred 'baby' Shoguns will be available on the Avis Rent-a-Car fleet by the end of next month, after the daily rental company signed a £7 million deal with Mitsubishi Motors.

VAUXHALL MasterHire's first signing of 2000 was a 12-vehicle solus supply deal to West Midlands based tools manufacturer Boko Machine Tools.

INTERLEASING has won a two-year contract worth £1.5 million to supply technology company Ingram Micro with a fleet of 90 new vehicles.

LEASE Plan has been awarded a 230-vehicle fleet management contract from construction and mining equipment supplier Atlas Copco. Atlas Copco previously used a number of different fleet suppliers across its divisions.

PHH Vehicle Management has retained the three-year contract to manage South West Water's 1,000-strong fleet of cars.

EXPRESS delivery company TNT Sameday has signed its largest vehicle supply deal with Northgate Motor Holdings for 300 small vans for its team of sub-contracted drivers.

A 'CLEAN up or pay up' ultimatum is facing fleets which ignore repeated Government demands to take action over emissions. In a 10-point clean-up plan revealed as part of a new national Air Quality Strategy for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the lack of progress made by fleets after more than five years of Government campaigning is made clear.

LEX Vehicle Leasing is fighting to avoid a predicted fall in fleet size which could threaten its position as Britain's largest contract hire company. Meanwhile, there were renewed claims this week that amid the residual value crisis being faced by the contract hire industry, some companies 'had given up and were for sale at knockdown prices'.

MORE than 80 companies, including 20 manufacturers, have booked space at Fleet Show 2000, to be held at the NEC, Birmingham, from April 4-6. The show, sponsored by Fleet News and sister monthly magazine Fleet Car Business, has seen Peugeot, Mitsubishi, Mercedes-Benz and Chrysler UK become the latest manufacturers to book stands at the biggest fleet event of the year.

IMPROVEMENTS in the safety and environmental impact of company cars must be actively encouraged by the Government as part of a seven-point transport action plan launched by the RAC. The 'RAC Report on Motoring - 2000' says: 'The Government should encourage companies to attach greater importance to fleet management with a view to improving employees' driving skills and their accident rates as well as reducing fuel consumption and harmful emissions from vehicles. Companies should conduct reviews of business travel needs and purchasing strategies and underpin fleet management with a thorough risk management strategy.'

CHARGES on trunk roads and motorways in England, which could cost fleets £1 billion a year, would be one of the most effective ways of cutting congestion and pollution, a new Government report has revealed. A charge of 2.5p per mile on congested motorways and 1.2ppm for A-roads would slash congestion by more than a third, with emissions of CO2 slashed to 10% below 1990 levels.

BUDGET Car and Van Rental has expanded its fleet by more than 2,000 vehicles through the purchase of Woods Car Rental, one of the largest privately-owned daily rental operations in the UK. The purchase, for an undisclosed sum, includes 13 rental sites belonging to Reigate-based Woods Car Rental, giving Budget more than 150 locations in the UK and 18,000 vehicles.

VELO has rebranded and is to expand its daily rental subsidiary as the first move in the development of the company following its change of ownership late last year. This week the fleet management and leasing specialist, which was bought by newly-formed holding company The Motor Group from Desdner Kleinwort Benson revealed that LMR car rental would now be called VELO Rental Management.

A LEADING dealer group is calling for fleets and retail buyers to be treated equally when buying cars to end the long-running and damaging row over UK car prices. Private buyers are staying away from forecourts, spurred on by a Consumers' Association campaign attacking UK 'rip-off' car prices and a Competition Commission investigation into pricing.

INNOVATIVE American-built models are to play an increasingly influential role in Chrysler increasing its range and sales in Britain. Chrysler's existing Neon-only car line-up is to be boosted later this year with the launch of the PT Cruiser.

A BREAKTHROUGH in rollover accident safety was claimed by Ford with the launch of a new curtain airbag system at the North American International Auto Show. But the company's move to make the injury-saving equipment optional on US-produced sport utility vehicles was soon eclipsed by an announcement by General Motors just a few hours later.

KEVIN McNally has been promoted to the role of Nissan Motor GB's fleet sales director to replace Simon Carr, who moves over to the marketing department. McNally joined Nissan from Rover in 1991 as contract hire and leasing manager before becoming fleet sales operations manager in 1994.

ROVER'S repositioning of its 25 model into the supermini segment and price reductions against the axed 200 has seen it return strong residual value forecasts. The January issue of CAP Monitor - Future Residual Values shows the £8,715 on-the-road 25 1.1i 3dr will retain 40% of its value after three years/60,000 miles - costing £1,746 a year in depreciation.

RECORD earnings in 1999 have been reported by General Motors, the world's largest vehicle manufacturer, although earnings in Europe were diluted due to intense competition despite record sales. General Motors, which includes Vauxhall in the UK, saw after-tax profits from continuing operations reach $5.69 billion last year (1998: $3.32 billion).

THE new Chrysler Voyager was unveiled in Detroit as the Chrysler Town and Country minivan. The MPV is due to be launched for the 2001 model year in September.

COMPANY car drivers who use mobile phones while driving are being targeted in a new £350,000 advertising campaign launched by the Government.

FORD'S Fiesta sports flagship - the 102bhp 1.6-litre Zetec-S - will cost £11,350 on-the-road when it goes on sale next month.

MITSUBISHI and UK 'extreme sports' brand Animal have launched a special edition version of the five-seater Double Cab - the Animal Cab 4x4 - priced £20,695 on-the-road. The vehicle, the result of the manufacturer's first tie-up with another brand, is based on the '4 Life' Double Cab, launched in 1998.

KIA has launched a revised Sportage off-roader featuring new front and rear end treatment and two-tone paintwork at prices from £12,995 to £14,995 on-the-road.

A REVAMPED Mercedes-Benz SLK range goes on sale in March featuring a mild facelift, a six-speed manual gearbox and two new engine options.

SUZUKI has launched a three-door estate version of its Grand Vitara GV2000 range priced from £13,495 on-the-road.

AUDI'S high performance flagship model, the A4-based RS4 Avant quattro, goes on sale in the UK around October offering a 155mph top speed and storming acceleration from 0-62mph in 4.9 seconds.

SAAB has launched a new flagship 9-5 model, the turbocharged Griffin estate, priced at £34,995 on-the-road.

BMW is firmly committed to Rover even though a senior director has admitted that the troubled manufacturer should have launched the replacements for the 200 and 400 models before launching the luxury 75. Meanwhile, a plan to drive high-volume Rover cars back into the United States market is being studied by BMW.

AN independent brand to develop and sell a wide range of environmentally-friendly vehicles has been set up by Ford. Based on the innovative Norwegian Th!nk city car producer acquired by the US firm 12 months ago, the brand will begin marketing battery-powered cars and bicycles later this year.