News - Page 2201

BREWING, leisure and retail giant Scottish & Newcastle is overhauling its fleet choice list, with Toyota and Volkswagen replacing Ford and Nissan in a deal worth £2.5 million. Only Rover remains untouched on the three-make choice list, a position it won with Ford and Nissan in 1996.

FORD is recalling almost every Ford Focus sold in the UK since launch because of an electrical fault. Three out of every four Focus's built need to be returned to dealers to have the alternator checked.

RENAULT is keeping camera and optical technology company Minolta in the fleet picture after renewing its £2 million solus contract with the company. After studying other vehicles in the market, Minolta, which also operates Scenics for its merchandisers nationwide, renewed its deal for 130 Lagunas all run on contract hire through Hartwells.

FORD is declining to comment on stock market reports that it is looking to buy more UK-based dealer groups following its £23 million takeover of Dagenham Motors. The company was bought by Polar Motor Investors, a joint Ford/Jardine Motors venture earlier this year.

FUEL prices fell last month by an average 1.2p a gallon/0.26p a litre, according to the latest monthly PHH Vehicle Management national fuel price report.

TRANSPORT Minister Glenda Jackson says legislation to ban the use of hand-held mobile telephones by drivers of vehicles which are on the move was 'not desirable' at the moment. In a House of Commons reply she said publicising the dangers of using a mobile telephone while driving was preferred.

AN independent assessment of potential millennium bug problems with motorways and trunk roads has confirmed the sector as 90% blue - 'no risks of material disruption' and 10% amber - 'some risk of material disruption but agreed containment plan to rectify shortcomings'.

TOYOTA sold a record 299,600 cars in Europe in the first six months of this year, 4% up on last year. UK sales are 4% up year-on-year at 47,900.

ATS Euromaster has signed a tyre supply deal with Renault UK which will see tyres supplied to UK dealerships within two hours via one of 552 ATS Euromaster Centres.

VACUUM cleaner manufacturer Numatic International has taken delivery of the first of six Citroen Berlingo Electrique vans. They are to be used by the company's maintenance team within the factory boundaries and for work within 10 miles of the site.

VOLKSWAGEN has axed its one-year warranty in favour of a three-year/100,000-mile warranty for its entire factory-produced commercial vehicle range. This permanent increase is accompanied by a temporary offer for free servicing on all LT models for three years/100,000 miles if purchased before the end of the year.

FLEETS will form the backbone of a drive to clean up vehicle emissions, according to the first report from the Government's Cleaner Vehicles Task Force. The task force is co-chaired by Ford of Britain chairman and managing director Ian McAllister, and brings together Government, industry and special interest groups, published its report on Tuesday with recommendations on how climate change and air pollution can be tackled.

VOLVO dealership Hildenborough, near Tonbridge, Kent, has won a prestigious deal to supply cars to a chauffeur firm in the heart of London. Miles & Miles Chauffeur Drive, based in Kensington, has decided to take on a fleet of 60 Volvo S80 saloons, to replace an existing fleet of Vauxhall Omegas, over the next two years to join its fleet of 20 stretched limousines.

SUB-100 fleets are being targeted by c.2K Automotive Solutions following the creation of a new specialist telesales team. Smaller fleets are being encouraged to look at contract hire rather than use outright purchase, so removing the administrative and financial difficulties of buying and disposing of fleet vehicles.

THE introduction of road pricing systems to solve traffic congestion chaos across Europe should result in fair, efficient and transparent systems with users 'paying for what they get and getting what they pay for', according to European Union Transport Commissioner Neil Kinnock.

TAKE-OVER fever is gripping daily rental companies as residual value losses and cut-throat pricing - with Ford Mondeos available for as little as £12 a day - hit the limited resources of smaller operators. Falling new car prices have hit the nearly new-car market hard as manufacturers including Ford and Rover have wiped thousands of pounds off their price lists, which has a direct knock-on effect on the values of six-month-old cars.

THE potential cost and environmental benefits of running its vehicle fleet on liquefied petroleum gas is to be investigated by Milton Keynes Council. It is advertising to replace five diesel-powered Ford Fiesta cars in its waste and energy management department with dual-fuel vehicles.

SEAT has vowed to continue developing and producing diesel engines for the UK market despite uncertainty over future demand for 'oil-burners'. Fleet diesel sales dropped for the sixth month in succession in June despite manufacturers ploughing billions of pounds into launching new diesel engine technology.

CAMELOT, the National Lottery operator, turned out to be the winner when Dial 'handed over' a cheque for £58,520. It represented the total savings on its 250-vehicle fleet since the vehicle finance and management service company was awarded the solus contract in 1994.

FORMER Avis Rent a Car director of purchasing Steve Maltby, who took early retirement last year, has been appointed fleet and operations director of Europcar. He said: 'I have been in this industry nearly all my life and my new role will be to streamline the business and introduce new working practices which will help to improve levels of customer service and profitability.'

KENNING Car, Van and Truck Rental has awarded a contract for a new fleet management software system to Car Fleet Control. Kenning has signed up to a new 40-user version of the Eurofleet system in the biggest deal this year so far for CFC.

AUCTION houses are fighting back against alternative forms of disposal by spotlighting the unique and efficient service they offer to fleets. Although attention has turned towards growing new services, including Internet sales or fleets running in-house forecourts, auctions say their vital role in disposing of large numbers of vehicles and providing value added services cannot be ignored.

PHH Vehicle Management system support analyst Mark Harris has a place booked at next year's Monaco Grand Prix after his team won the first Autoglass Fantasy Football SuperLeague. He selected his 'Harry's Hackers' team after studying players' statistics and listening to football gossip in the PHH office in Swindon.

NATIONAL Car Rental has signed a one-year deal to supply vehicles to the production team of the television drama series Casualty.

HERTZ is offering discounts in leisure and business rental to 40 million members of a pan-European benefit scheme run by AA Europe.

CONNECT Car Rental has set up a new sales and reservation office in Saudi Arabia as part of a business expansion in the Middle East.

PRACTICAL Car & Van Rental has taken 75 Fiat Puntos from c.2K Automotive Solutions. The hatchbacks, all on short-term contracts, will be used throughout the UK during their time on the rental company's 3,000-vehicle fleet.

FLEET sales increased 2.7% year-on-year to 88,049 last month (June 1998: 85,745), taking fleet sales for the first six months of 1999 to 545,631 - 2.1% behind last year's halfway figure of 557,358.

THE deepest and most wide ranging investigation into fleet business in the industry's 30-year history looks set to leave fleet discounts alone. In an exclusive interview with FNN sister title, Fleet News, Denise Kingsmill, chairman of the Competition Commission's New Cars Inquiry, said discounts were a standard function of a competitive market. 'It's normal that, if you buy large numbers of a product, you expect discounts,' she said.

ROVER will play a crucial role in the future of a 'totally independent' BMW, more than 300 of Britain's top fleet chiefs have been told. Rover Cars managing director Jim Macdonald and Dr Henrich Heitmann, BMW board member responsible for Rover and BMW sales worldwide, called the fleet bosses and Rover dealers to a briefing on the future of the troubled car manufacturer in Birmingham.