News - Page 2174

BMW has joined the growing row over diesel by attacking the Government for its negative stance on the fuel. As the German manufacturer launches its new 3-series diesel, Kevin Gaskell, managing director of BMW GB, joined Ford, Peugeot, Citroen and Volkswagen, which have already entered the fray over diesel.

CHARTERED Trust is to combine its two largest contract hire and leasing businesses - ACL and Autolease - into a new Birmingham-based company called ACL Autolease. The new millennium transformation will see ACL relocate from Chartered Trust premises in Cardiff and Autolease, which is already based in Birmingham, relocate to new premises close to Birmingham Airport.

THE new Lord Mayor of London is taking the driving seat in setting fleets an example on how to reduce emissions and guarantee future access to town centres. Clive Martin dispensed with a Bentley used by last year's Lord Mayor in favour of a liquefied petroleum gas-powered experimental TX1taxi, registration T12 GAS.

GOVERNMENT plans for road user charges and workplace parking spaces will not reduce car usage, according to surveys by Lease Plan. The surveys, following last week's Queen's Speech which revealed a Transport Bill containing the two measures to be published before Christmas, found that 72% of 140 Lease Plan staff at its Slough offices would continue to use their cars to travel to work.

MANY district nurses and midwives could be out of pocket when driving on work journeys because National Health Service Trusts are using six-year-old mileage re-imbursement rates. The rates are based on the allowances laid down by the Whitley Council in July 1993, and trusts have not updated them, despite swingeing increases in fuel costs.

LEX Vehicle Leasing has withdrawn from new business in the small fleet market, and will rely on Lex Vehicle Partners to win sub-20 vehicle accounts. The move has resulted in the loss of 50 jobs. Lex Vehicle Partners is the former Lombard Contract Hire, a network of third party distributors, that accounts for about 20,000 vehicles on Lex Vehicle Leasing's fleet.

ROAD-user charging and workplace parking charges were savaged this week as 'confusing' and 'damaging', and the Government attacked for passing the buck over tough decisions, following this year's Queen's Speech. As the dust settled following the announcement of a packed programme Government legislation totalling 28 Bills for the next Parliamentary year, fleets honed in on the implications of the Transport Bill for their companies and drivers.

WORKPLACE parking charges have met with almost universal criticism from the fleet industry and business leaders who questioned whom will have to pay for a parking space and how the policy will actually reduce congestion. A survey by London First, in conjunction with the Transport Studies Group at the University of Westminster, on London commuter parking found that in central London 13% of businesses would pass the charge on to all staff while 35% would pay the charge on their behalf.

THE Government has abandoned controversial plans to introduce charges for motorway users, despite planning trials of electronic charging systems. The plans are politically, and potentially electorally sensitive because motorways are the responsibility of central Government via the Highways Agency.

LEGISLATION for road-user charging and workplace parking charges may be pointless as local authorities will shy away from increasing taxes on motorists. Research by the Local Government Association shows only 6% of authorities would introduce congestion charging, discouraged by its cost and unpopularity.

VOLVO has released the first picture of its new large estate car but is remaining tight-lipped about details of the model, which is due to go on sale in the UK in January. Built on the same platform as the S80, and sharing some of the saloon's design features, the estate will be available with two engine options at launch - the 2.3-litre 250bhp five-cylinder turbocharged unit from the T5 and a 2.5-litre five-cylinder turbodiesel unit.

CAP Motor Research is hoping to boost used vehicle trading on the internet by launching a new service early next year which will give true comparisons between cars for the first time. It is converting two of its industry standard reference tools for new cars - New Vehicle Prices and Options and Standard Equipment, Colours and Trims - into used car research systems which can be bought and installed on computers.

A RADICAL restructuring of Emap, which owns - among others - Fleet NewsNet, Fleet News, Fleet Car Business, Automotive Management, Sewells International and Autotrade will see the titles become part of the company's new Automotive Network, which embraces all of Emap's other car and bike activities, from Wednesday, December 1.

PEUGEOT has won one of its biggest light commercial vehicle contracts following a deal with the Royal Mail worth about £8million.

THE Vehicle Certification Agency's New Car Fuel Consumption and Emission Figures guide could be published monthly on the internet in the new year. The move would answer one of the main criticisms of the guide in that it is only published twice a year.

THE new UK importer of TATA vehicles has announced that it will introduce passenger cars to its range for the first time. Motor Vehicle Industries Ltd, which acquired the franchise from Inchcape, will introduce a sports utility vehicle, currently on sale in Spain and Italy, during the second quarter of 2000, followed by a supermini at the end of next year.

CAMDEN Motors is to spend more than £2 million developing a new Toyota franchise in Dunstable and refurbishing the company's existing Volkswagen franchise in Luton.

FORD, Vauxhall and Volkswagen shared four awards in this year's Association of Car Fleet Operators' Fleet Vehicles of the Year Awards.

BUDGET UK has bought the Canterbury and Ramsgate licensed operations from the current licensee, Invicta Motors.

VAUXHALL Fleet provided 10 Fronteras for 40 staff from Peterborough-based Thomas Cook Global and Financial Services to make their annual Beaujolais Challenge run and in the process help raise £10,000 for NCH Action for Children.

BMW Group and Burmah Castrol have signed a long-term global partnership agreement which will see every new BMW and Rover car being filled with Castrol oil as it leaves the production line.

MITSUBISHI'S Carisma has won the Institute of Transport Management's Fleet Car of the Year Award for the second year running. The institute makes three awards in the automotive sector each year and the award for fleet range of the year, which Mitsubishi currently holds, will be announced in January.

PUBLIC confusion over new car pricing issues has led two major dealer groups to issue profits warnings. Both Pendragon and Sytner Group have issued statements that reveal a significant slow-down in new car sales since September.

FLEET managers must 'adapt or die', a leading industry academic is warning as the pressure to become 'total mobility managers' who co-ordinate all forms of transport for employers becomes a key issue in the new millennium. An audience of public sector fleet managers at a First National Vehicle Contracts conference, Agenda for Action, heard that fleet bosses had to proactively manage employees to choose the best transport for each journey, instead of relying on a single transport policy such as fleet cars.

THE Government is more car-friendly than fleets think and understands the essential transport role it plays in business, delegates at the First National Vehicle Contracts conference, Agenda for Action, heard. Peter Snape, Labour MP for West Bromwich East and chairman of bus company Travel West Midlands, who is a company car driver, said: 'The debate we have on transport has got to include the company car.'

PUBLIC sector fleets revealed differing experiences and attitudes to the Government's call to curb car use or adopt cleaner fuels. Ian Miller, corporate services manager for Severn NHS Trust, has said: 'How can a district nurse do the job on public transport when having to move between patients?'

CONTRACT hire firms have condemned a new buy-back deal for the Rover 75 as 'unworkable' in many instances. The deal offers a residual value guarantee above current industry forecasts, but the contract hire industry claims that the conditions the manufacturer is attaching make it impossible to apply.

NEW car prices will collapse by 15% in the next year, sending shock waves through the nearly-new and used car market, the First National Vehicle Contracts conference, Agenda for Action, heard. Peter Cooke, professor of automotive studies at Nottingham Trent University, told delegates at the First National Vehicle Contracts conference the price cuts would cost the industry at least £3 billion in lost revenue.

A HEAD-to-head battle for supremacy in the non-fault accident assistance market has sparked a flurry of stock market flotations which will transform their service to fleets. Firms are using millions of pounds raised by selling share stock to fund national expansion in a bid to dominate a market expected to rocket in size in the next few years.

ALPHA Accident Management is raising £3.8 million by floating on the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market. Cash raised will be invested in an acquisition drive to pick off rivals with the potential to grow.