News - Page 2195

NATIONAL Car Rental has signed an exclusive agreement with food, drink and leisure company Whitbread for the annual supply of 13,000 vehicles over three years. National secured the agreement by creating a 'unique' business package for Whitbread which is based on the rental firm's 'working in partnership' scheme and involves the development of cost-saving initiatives benefiting both parties.

EUROPCAR has passed exclusive management of its van rentals to commercial vehicle rental specialist Northgate Motor Holdings. Europcar will continue to offer van rental to its customers, but through this strategic alliance will be able to offer an increased portfolio of vehicles and a more flexible product range.

THE radical shake-up within the Colt Car Company, official importer of Mitsubishi vehicles to the UK, which only recently saw more than 50 jobs axed at its head office, has continued with the sudden departure of two directors. Piers Skelton, director of after sales and information services and Tom Harris, director of finance, have both terminated their employment with Mitsubishi.

FLEETS are facing rocketing fuel costs following a hike in unleaded petrol prices of 10p a gallon last Friday, and predictions of a similar increase this week. This sees the average price of a gallon of unleaded petrol increase from £3.23 (71.03p per litre) last Thursday to £3.41 (75ppl) to date.

DAEWOO, the South Korean conglomerate with debts estimated at £36 billion, is being stripped of all but its automobile and related operations under a restructuring plan announced by creditors.

FIRST Mutual Contracts has secured its second acquisition of 1999 with the takeover of Northampton-based Hazelwood Vehicle Management Services for an undisclosed sum. Hazelwood runs a fleet of 2,700 vehicles - half of them on contract hire and the remainder on fleet management - and its acquisition takes FMC's fleet above the 10,000-vehicle threshold.

CHEAP European imports are unlikely to find their way on to the UK's biggest vehicle fleets, according to fleet managers. Hassles such as the difficulty in establishing trusted contacts in order to source cars reliably and consistently means cars from the continent are likely to be options only seriously considered by the private buyer and managers of only the smallest fleets, according to members of the north-east branch of the Association of Car Fleet Operators.

DEPUTY Prime Minister John Prescott has turned on MPs for criticising his transport policies. He claimed they had failed to recognise the 'substantial progress my department has made towards delivering real improvements to the quality of life in this country'.

FLEETS are paying the price for company car drivers 'posing' and driving fast on the road with a surge in demand for low profile, performance tyres and larger wheels which is driving up vehicle running costs. A new report from Kwik-Fit Fleet has shown that high-performance tyres and low profile variants has soared in the past four years, mainly through fitment as original equipment to new cars.

THE Inland Revenue is moving away from its fast-cycle policy for upper medium cars on its 1,600-strong fleet because sharp depreciation has made the scheme uneconomic. But the organisation will continue its 11-month holding period for cars with engines smaller than 1.4-litres, because second-hand demand for these cars remains high.

MITSUBISHI'S 2000 model year facelifted and better specified Galant range sees the introduction of a new entry-level model at almost £1,000 cheaper than the current version. Air conditioning is now standard across the range, as are electric windows, electric heated door mirrors and remote central locking.

MINI enthusiasts will be treated to a world debut this weekend when Rover gives them a sneak preview of the new Mini in its final production form. The car is still undergoing final tests, and will not go into production at Rover's Longbridge plant until 2001.

VAUXHALL has launched an aggressively-priced pseudo sporty Vectra to compete head-on with Ford's Zetec Mondeo. Priced only slightly above the entry-level model, the new 115bhp 1.8-litre Vectra SXi at £14,995 on-the-road is more than £400 cheaper than the Ford Mondeo 115bhp 1.8-litre Zetec.

HONDA has taken control of more than a quarter of Everards Brewery's 40-strong fleet from volume manufacturers Ford and Vauxhall. The company has placed 11 Accords with the Leicester-based company, and the manufacturer says it now expects to further increase its fleet presence as more vehicles come up for replacement.

A GROUP of new arrivals has started at a children's nursery - 11 Toyota Picnics, which are part of an order for new fleet vehicles worth up to £1.6 million. The Leapfrog Day Nursery, a new venture company based in Burton-on-Trent, runs a network of day care centres throughout the Midlands and West Yorkshire.

A FACELIFTED version of Nissan's flagship Skyline GT-R coupe will go on sale in October following its UK debut at the London Motor Show. First deliveries of the updated 280bhp 2.5-litre model will be in January next year.

PRICING has been announced for the two new Audi TT Roadster models ready for their on-sale date in the UK at the end of this year.

MITSUBISHI Motors has launched a dedicated Carisma website to coincide with the launch of the second generation model.

THE Driving Standards Agency has launched a website. The site gives access to other Government departments connected with the driving industry, as well as a variety of DSA information.

BMW has been presented with the 'Safe Car of the Millennium' Award by the International Brain Injury Association in recognition of its pioneering inflatable tubular structure airbag which reduces the risk of head, and therefore brain, injury in a car accident.

MERCEDES-Benz is to launch a flagship to its CLK coupe range next month, with the AMG model. Powered by the 5.5-litre V8 petrol engine it develops 347bhp and gives a limited top speed of 155mph.

BRISTOL has got its first public liquefied petroleum gas refuelling station.

DIESEL-engined vehicles dominate Arriva Automotive Solutions' new Company Car Comparison Guide as the most cost-effective cars to operate over a typical three-year/60,000-mile fleet cycle. The guide takes into account all factors that affect the wholelife cost of a company car.

FLEET chiefs facing the threat of invalid warranties should their drivers fail to comply with the strict service requirements laid down by manufacturers have criticised the increasing trend among car makers to increase the intervals between vehicle check-ups. They claim they are merely marketing ploys leading to higher repairs bills that distort true wholelife costs and threaten driver safety.

LEASE Plan has fought off stiff competition from 10 other leasing companies to win a sole supply contract with Freemans. The mail order firm is abandoning its solus Rover deal for its 260-strong fleet in favour of a wide range of models from BMW and Vauxhall.

A MOVE away from low margin fleet sales, residual value pressures and a shortage of skilled staff have contributed to a slump in pre-tax profits for motor retailer and accident repairer Perry Group. The 'difficult trading environment', said chairman Richard Allan, had led to a fall in pre-tax profits to £3.1 million, a 36% slump compared to the first six months of the previous year (1998: £4.9m), with turnover down to £241.9 million (1998: £269.9m).

FRANCHISED dealerships are at the mercy of manufacturers amid the current storm surrounding UK car pricing, warns Perry Group's new finance director Neil French. He says that across the industry there is widespread acceptance that new car prices in the UK are higher than most other countries and a manufacturer wishing to snatch a large slice of the market could take drastic action.

VEHICLE technology company Toad has seen a dramatic turn around in its financial fortunes having reported six-month gross profits up by 48% to £6.9 million. The company is on course to achieve its ambition of massive expansion in Europe through its alliance with Autoglass.

FORD will launch its first factory produced bi-fuel petrol/liquefied petroleum gas fuelled cars in the UK at the end of this year after the successful introduction of alternative fuels to its van range. The Ford Mondeo and Focus will be the first models to be converted in-house to run on LPG.

TOYOTA has clinched a 50-car solus fleet deal with the Charles Manson Group, which is scrapping its former arrangement with Vauxhall. All of the vehicles are on contract hire for a three-year term, with the sales force taking the Avensis GS 2.0-litre turbodiesels - replacing Vectras -and the 12 branch managers driving the 2.2-litre Toyota Camry saloon.