News - Page 2185

VEHICLE repair network Acoat Bodyshop Services is about to launch an drive to expand its network from 107 members closer to the 135 bodyshops it envisages for optimum national coverage.

NISSAN was the only car maker to receive a 1999 Global Protection Award from the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

MONDIAL Assistance has won the contract to supply pan-European roadside assistance to Chrysler Jeep.

LONDON-based Chartoak Car Rentals is claiming phenomenal interest from fleets wanting to rent the Audi TT Coupe - the first time the vehicle has been available for short-term hire in the UK.

AUTO Indemnity, which provides a range of services for drivers who have had non-fault accidents, has entered into a 'memorandum of understanding' with Millennium Plc, a company which has interests from car dealerships to mining operations.

VAUXHALL has made a number of price and equipment changes to its car range, which includes a £1,000 reduction on Tigra. Vehicles affected by the alterations are the Corsa, Tigra and Frontera 2000 model year ranges. Corsa GLS models have an enhanced equipment package and are now £150 cheaper. CDX models gain alloy wheels with no increase in price (£10,545- £11,195), while the SXi can be specified with air conditioning as a cost option.

USED car sales fell by almost 300,000 units to 7.5 million last year - the first decline of any substance since the early 1990s, according to the 1999 British Car Auctions' report 'The Used Car Market'. However, the value of the used car market increased by £1 billion to £29.2 billion due to a continuing shift away from older, lower value private transactions to higher value, late year, low mileage cars sold by dealers.

FORMER Toyota fleet operations director Simon Elliott will take over as the new director of Chrysler Jeep in the UK from January 1, 2000. Elliott will succeed Richard Mackay, who will relinquish his role as managing director of Chrysler Jeep Imports UK after eight years to remain with Inchcape, which is preparing to transfer ownership of the business to the newly-formed DaimlerChrysler UK at the end of the year.

FIAT has a future as an independent marque, although the Italian manufacturer has not ruled out forming long term alliances. Amid frequent speculation - last heard at September's Frankfurt International Motor Show- that Fiat will be the next manufacturer to be swallowed up by one of the so-called 'big boys', UK bosses say the company can 'go it alone'.

PUNTO has been pivotal in the growth of Fiat Auto UK in the last five years and with the manufacturer's Alfa Romeo brand opening fleet doors with the 156, the Italian company is attracting corporate attention. In 1994 Punto sales totalled 22,826 and grew to 52,159, making it the fourth best-selling supermini in the UK.

SKODA will not be at the London Motor Show because it could not get the size of stand it wanted.

THE fleet industry's attempt to reclaim as much as £15 billion in VAT levied on company cars since 1972 has failed. In a landmark judgement, the European Court of Justice has ruled that the UK's treatment of VAT on business cars was correct. Allied Domecq, Royscot Leasing and TC Harrison had challenged the UK's VAT rules from tribunal in 1995 to the High Court in 1996, then the Court of Appeal, and finally the ECJ.

WORLD launches from Rover, Mazda and Hyundai will take centre stage at next week's London Motor Show. Rover will reveal its replacements for the 200 and 400 - the 25 and 45 - in public for the first time, claiming the two models represent 'a milestone' in the evolution in the mark.

FORMER transport minister and London mayoral candidate Glenda Jackson MP and shadow secretary of state for the environment, transport and the regions John Redwood MP are set to engage in a war of words at this year's London Motor Show - and in cyberspace. For the first time in its 176-year history the Oxford Union will stage a debate outside Oxford on the motion 'This house would force motorists to use their cars less'.

FLEET diesel sales are down 13.2% this year in a new car diesel market down 13.1%, according to sales figures for the first nine months of 1999. Total new car diesel sales are 245,992 (1998: 282,919), while fleet diesel sales total 139,060 (1998: 160,267). Predictably last month diesel sales were buoyant compared to September last year due to the launch of V-plate cars. Total diesel sales were 49,512 (September 1998: 26,441) of which fleet sales were 28,206 (September 1998: 15,208).

TOYOTA says its fleet sales are 4,500 better than reported in the latest batch of statistics released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. According to SMMT figures Toyota fleet sales in the first nine months of this year are 22,029 - 26.6% down on last year's nine-month tally of 29,994.

SALES of both car-derived and panel vans leapt last month but year-to-date sales remain behind 1998 figures, according to Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders statistics. Business in the sub-1.8-tonne category, where 11,531 vehicles were registered, increased 76.1% on September 1998's total of 6,547. Meanwhile, sales of 1.8-3.5-tonne vehicles increased 59.6% to 20,303 last month from 12,723 in September last year.

VOLKSWAGEN and Vauxhall are the two most successful fleet manufacturers this year, increasing sales by 57.9% and 11.3% respectively, according to Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders figures. The only other top 10 fleet manufacturer to increase sales this year is Renault, which has seen business increase 1.4% year-on-year from 75,307 after the first nine months of last year to 76,383 units with the final quarter of this year to go.

FLEET sales look set to fall for the first time since 1991, with car manufacturers predicting three months of uncertainty ahead largely due to hopes - which are unfounded - of a sharp drop in new car prices. Following the boom in September, new car sales due entirely to the launch of the V-plate, 1999 fleet sales are 3.4% down on last year at 818,201 units (1998: 847,211). Last year fleet sales reached a record 1,055,816 and it is possible that this year sales will not break the one million mark for the first time since 1997.

INFLATION in the leasing market has hurt suppliers' profitability and led to rate rises for fleets, according to the British Vehicle Rental & Leasing Association's 1999 Industry Review. Contract hire companies identified the state of the used vehicle market as their primary concern during 1998, and blamed the depressed state of the used car market for the squeeze on margins.

THE Competition Commission has fired a warning shot across the European new car distribution system but reserved judgement on the prices of new cars in the UK. The commission's New Cars Inquiry this week issued a remedies statement which asked for views on matters which may 'operate against the public interest'.

FLEETS have called for a voice at the heart of Government through the new Motorists' Forum announced by the Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott at the Labour Party Conference. The forum is designed to allow road users' concerns to be heard in Whitehall.

FLEET operators will face unnecessary costs if the Government continues to refuse to come clean about its future taxation strategy for both company cars and Vehicle Excise Duty, according to PHH Vehicle Management. The claim from Britain's biggest fleet management company comes six weeks after the Association of Car Fleet Operators called on fleet managers to bombard their MPs and the Government with letters calling for tax clarity.

VAUXHALL has won its two largest single orders for the supply of dual-fuelled vehicles in the UK. Yorkshire Water has placed an order for around 130 liquefied petroleum gas/petrol vehicles and Arnold Clark in Scotland has made an initial order for 100 vehicles for its daily rental operation and in time take a further 100, with another 100 due to be delivered later.

ROVER is claiming this month's London Motor Show, which will see the unveiling of its 200 and 400 model facelifts, represents a 'historic milestone' in the evolution of the marque. The appearance and technology of the facelifted cars, to be known as the 25 and 45, will echo many features of the award-winning 75.

NEW car sales figures for September are expected to be below the 400,000 plus the motor industry had predicted. The motor industry had hoped that last month's launch of the V-plate would result in September sales perhaps topping the 425,000 mark.

ROVER will break even by 2002, according to Joachim Milberg chairman of parent company BMW Group. In a German newspaper, he said: 'Customer confidence in Rover products has improved and will continue to improve and we're therefore convinced we'll post black numbers in 2002.'

SAINSBURY'S Bank has launched a new personal contract purchase scheme which aims to give its customers the benefits enjoyed by company car drivers. Speculation has been rife that supermarkets would move into car retailing, but Sainsbury insists it will not start putting cars on show in its stores.

DRIVE & Survive has been contracted to supply a driver training programme for SGB, the access products and services group. The programme is being co-ordinated internally by SGB Fleet Services, which is responsible for the procurement and running of the group's 1,500-strong fleet.

ONE of the Government's leading advisers on transport policy has called for motorists to be made to pay more through targeted congestion charging rather than road tax and fuel duty. Professor David Begg, chairman of the new Commission for Integrated Transport and director of the Centre for Transport Policy at Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, believes road tolls would be a fairer system.