News - Page 2200

MITSUBISHI has announced changes for its upper-medium sector Carisma, with increased specification and prices, along with exterior and interior modifications. The manufacturer claims the price rise is outweighed by increases in specification, which it says amounts to an average 2.9% drop in price in real terms.

CONTRACT hire companies and fleet customers are being left 'to work in the dark' by the Government as they try to prepare for the new carbon dioxide-based company car tax regime in 2002. Although the fleet industry has been told that a carbon dioxide-based tax will arrive, fleets and their service suppliers are still waiting to hear how it will work.

INDEPENDENT contract hire firms are fighting for their future amid predictions that they will soon fall prey to banks and car manufacturers. Major independents have already been sold, including BCH Vehicle Management (bought by a division of Deutsche Bank) and last month Arriva Automotive Solutions was sold for £513 million to General Motors Acceptance Corporation.

TANGRAM Computer Systems, a software supplier targeting the contract hire and daily rental industry, has been re-named Bynx UK as part of a major European expansion programme which includes the appointment of a new managing director. Chris Mottram will lead the push for sales among contract hire, fleet management and daily rental firms in the UK and Europe as managing director.

TOSHIBA Information Systems has scrapped its arrangement with four contract hire companies for the supply of its fleet vehicles in favour of a solus contract for its 160-strong fleet with Lease Plan.

LEX Vehicle Leasing has re-launched its internet services and is rolling out a new dedicated site for leasing customers as part of an investment of hundreds of thousands of pounds in electronic commerce. Users of the updated site will be able to find real-time price quotes for vehicles based on ideal monthly costs, preferred mileage or contract length, using a pricing system the firm has been offering on its site for the past two years.

in what it claims is an industry-leading initiative, British Car Auctions is to check the history of every car offered for sale using Experian Car Data Check . The exclusive five-year contract also sees further post-sale checks for sold cars with the Nottingham-based global information solutions company.

CAR makers' efforts to harmonise their prices across Europe have been undermined by the strength of Sterling, according to the latest European Commission car price report. This has revealed that the UK has the most expensive pre-tax prices for 62 of the 75 best-selling cars in the European Union.

DAILY rental prices will feature in the Government's new International Price Comparison survey, amid concerns that British customers are paying more than consumers in other countries. The survey will be published in January 2000, and will compare the prices of 100 products and services, including a week's car hire, across the UK, France, Germany and the United States.

PROVIDING Britain with a modern congestion-free transport system will be 'a long haul' with no fast lane to success, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott admitted on the first anniversary of his much-heralded integrated transport policy white paper.

TACKLING traffic congestion and pollution and making travel in the UK fairer and more accessible are the key issues facing the new Commission for Integrated Transport. The Commission's two-year work programme is aimed at helping to deliver solutions to some of the UK's major transport issues.

GREEN travel plans by employers, teleworking, home deliveries from shops and car clubs supported by Government action and funding are vital if Britain is to rid itself of traffic congestion, according to Transport 2000.

THE first anniversary of the integrated transport policy white paper was accompanied by a scathing dossier of Labour's transport inactivity in 10 key areas by Shadow Transport Minister Bernard Jenkin.

PRIME Minister Tony Blair is under fire from Friends of the Earth for not backing Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott with either the money or Parliamentary time required to put his road traffic reduction plans into practice. A survey of all 149 highway authorities in England by Friends of the Earth claims that local councils back the traffic reduction policies contained in the year-old Integrated Transport Policy white paper.

A NEW agency called Roadtrack - the counterpart of Railtrack - should be established to run and manage Britain's road network and control road user charges which would be introduced to replace part of the current road tax regime, according to a new report by Cambridge University academics.

THE Government must strengthen the powers of transport supremos in its departments to ensure the most environmentally-friendly fleet and travel policies are pursued, according to Liberal Democrat MP Tom Brake. He is investigating the efforts made by Government departments to reduce their staff's car dependency, and exposing the shortfall between what Ministers said in Opposition and what they have done in power.

LEADING fleet manufacturers boycotted en masse the Competition Commission's open hearing in its new cars enquiry, spurning the chance to defend the company car in public in the face of fierce criticism. With fleet and small businesses accounting for about 75% of all new car sales in the UK, inquiry chairman Denise Kingsmill regretted their absence.

FLEETS and leasing companies are failing to take account of the rising cost of tyre bills in their running cost budgets. The problem is created by the growing tendency of car makers to enhance the specification of the tyres they fit as standard to mainstream fleet models.

BCH Vehicle Management's figurehead and leading industry commentator Richard Pepper has resigned from the company, sparking a major management reshuffle. Pepper, who has been involved with the firm since 1970, has left to 'pursue other interests outside the company'. The Bristol-based firm said it had been preparing for Pepper's departure for a month.

ROVER Group has thrown down the gauntlet to mainstream manufacturers with plans to bring three-year/60,000-mile warranties throughout its range in a battle to win back fleet business. The standard warranty package, already announced for Land Rovers and the Rover 75, will next be seen when the facelifted MGF goes on sale next month.

FALLING European sales and market share, particularly for the Ford Fiesta and Mondeo, contributed to the giant global manufacturer seeing profits on the continent slump in the second quarter of this year. Ford of Europe profits fell from $310 million in the first quarter of 1998 to $89 million after a $125 million charge related to the acquisition of Volvo in March. Excluding the one-off charge profits were $214 million.

UP to 90 of the 450 staff at contract hire firm Swan National will lose their jobs as part of a major restructuring.

RENAULT is trying to keep one step ahead of growing competition for its Scenic mini-MPV with the launch of a heavily facelifted version next month. Overall, there is a slight rise in prices, but enhanced specification means buyers get better value for money, the manufacturer claims.

PRESSURE for a complete overhaul, or even the abolition of official new car list prices threatens to undermine both the current company car tax regime and the new system scheduled for 2002. The Inland Revenue expects the new regime to use list price, as now, as a basis for calculating company car drivers' benefit-in-kind tax, with the tax charge graduated by a car's carbon dioxide emissions.

HUMAN resource departments face the unenviable task of explaining to staff why company car drivers with the newest cars are in many instances paying lower benefit-in-kind tax bills. A spate of cuts in official car list prices has left some company car drivers high and dry, depending upon when they took delivery of their new car.

THE new Scottish Executive is to introduce road tolls and workplace parking levies to combat congestion and raise cash to fund transport alternatives to the car. In recognition of the worsening congestion problem in Scotland's towns and cities, the executive, just weeks after taking power, has spotlighted transport as a prime target for action.

THE new Integrated Transport Commission has promised to hold the Government to account every two months on its progress towards improving the UK's transport system. Professor David Begg, chairman of the ITC, promised the commission would not pull its punches in appraising the Government's performance.

THE head of Rover Cars UK has given his assurances that, in partnership with parent BMW, the company will strive to meet all fleet requirements and fight to regain its place as one of the top five manufacturers in the sector. Jim Macdonald, Rover Cars managing director,said after hosting a conference, 'Rover Group: the future', to almost 1,000 main dealers and fleet customers of his optimism for the future of the company based on a range of new products for the next century.

THE UK's largest defensive driver training organisation, Drive & Survive, has withdrawn from the Fleet Driver Training Association after losing patience with the association's lack of progress. Drive & Survive was one of the founder members of the FDTA, and continues to support the association's initial remit to establish consistent quality standards among training companies and instructors.

VAUXHALL has announced its second major Movano van deal in a month - a £7 million 400-vehicle contract with Cannon Hygiene, part of the OCS group, the largest privately-owned international property support services company in the UK. This renews a two-year single badge contract and follows hard on the heels of a 500-van contract with rental and contract hire company TLS for 500 Movanos worth £9 million at showroom prices.