News - Page 2203

GE CAPITAL Fleet Services has relocated its UK corporate headquarters from Salford Quays, north Manchester, to Old Hall Road, Sale, in south Manchester. The new complex will be 'home' to the company's UK businesses - Avis Fleet Services, Leasecontracts, Cochranes Fleet Services and GE Fleet Logistics.

NORTHGATE Motor Holdings' vehicle rental company Don Valley Self Drive has moved to new premises on a two-acre site at Sheffield Airport Business Park.

NEW car price manipulation by manufacturers and dealers is resulting in a bonanza as fleet and retail sales raced ahead of expectations. The SMMT predicted that the impact of the twice-a-year registration plate change would see new car sales decline year-on-year following the launch of the T-plate in March before peaking again with the arrival of the V-plate in September. However, new car sales in April, May and June were up, culminating in a massive 15.7% rise last month.

FLEET sales surprisingly increased 2.7% year on year to 88,049 last month, taking the total for the first six months of 1999 to 545,631 - 2.1% behind last year's halfway figure of 557,358. Ford led the fleet chart despite a 4.2% year-on-year drop in sales and, in Focus, it had the top-selling fleet model with 5,849 sales. Ford's total fleet sales are fractionally down after six months against last year.

RENAULT has ruled out introducing a particulate filter on its new common rail diesel engine as too expensive despite the pressure manufacturers are coming under to tighten up on urban emissions.

RENAULT has admitted it has taken a massive gamble in buying debt-ridden Japanese manufacturer Nissan and that failure could lead to it being swallowed up by a competitor within the next few years.

PHOTOCARD driving licences only are being issued from this month by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, so marking the end of the old-style paper licences. The full-scale launch of the new licence coincides with the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association calling for a campaign to make sure motorists understand the two-part licence.

MERCEDES-Benz has announced a major face-lift for its E-class range, increasing specification with no price rise and adding a new estate model, new engine and two new transmissions to the line-up. With an all-new E-class not due until 2002, Mercedes has modified more than 1,800 parts on the current E-class to make it more competitive against the likes of the new BMW 3-series and Lexus IS200.

COMPANIES across Britain have been urged to take up the battle against road congestion by European Union Transport Commissioner Neil Kinnock. The former Labour Party leader said: 'The only serious anti-car policy is to do nothing about the current conditions. If we do nothing, we will soon be able to buy cars but will not be able to use them.'

MANUFACTURERS claim to have beaten the millennium bug - but they have been attacked for leaving fleets in the dark over their achievements. A survey of the major vehicle manufacturers in the UK has shown that all say they have taken action to beat the date-change problem. But although manufacturers say they are certain their vehicles will start on the first day of the year 2000, the fleet industry says it is not being kept informed.

ROAD-user charging must not be given the go-ahead by Government unless it is based on an electronic scheme, according to an influential think-tank. The Adam Smith Institute has issued the warning as one point in a four-step checklist for success, which it says must be followed if charges are ever going to work.

A NATIONAL helpline has been set up offering independent vehicle inspections following stark warnings that some used cars are 'coffins on wheels'. It is not only aimed at improving customer confidence but also at bolstering residual values for fleet cars being sold through forecourt sites.

THE Competition Commission will scrutinise fleet discounts and the high specification of company cars in the second phase of its investigation into the UK's new car market. The former Monopolies and Mergers Commission has provisionally concluded that a complex monopoly exists, and will now interrogate manufacturers and importers, before publishing its conclusion in December.

ROYAL & SunAlliance has become the first UK-headquartered company to sign a global fleet deal, in an arrangement that will cover 5,500 company cars in 55 countries. The insurance giant has appointed General Motors as its sole supplier, and now has the opportunity to source Vauxhall, Opel, Saab, Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac and Holden vehicles in their respective markets.

THE results of the European New Car Assessment Programme crash tests are of secondary importance to fleet managers, behind wholelife costs, it was claimed this week. Their comments follow the latest round of tests that exposed the failures of some MPVs to protect drivers and passengers adequately in frontal impacts.

FORD has completely revised its Mondeo range with price cuts of up to £1,450 on some models and price rises of up to £1,150 on others, plus specification improvements throughout the line-up. Every Ford Mondeo now has air conditioning as standard, plus a body-coloured radiator grille and door handles, Quickclear heated windscreens, wide-angle driver's door mirror and rear door pockets.

FLEET managers must go back to basics if they are to fend off falling residual values, CLM Fleet Management has warned. Residual values comparisons do not give all the answers to a buying process and companies should open their eyes before opening their wallets.

BRITAIN'S biggest motoring organisation, the Automobile Association, is to be bought by energy, home services and finance supplier Centrica for £1.1 billion. The joint announcement by the two organisations ends months of speculation as to the future ownership of the 94-year-old 'mutual' AA and comes midway through the biggest shake-up in the history of the UK's vehicle breakdown and recovery industry.

A QUESTION mark has been thrown over the future management of the AA's fleet following its proposed purchase by Centrica. Both the companies run large car and van fleets, many of them for staff working in the field, and the vast increase in buying power from merging the two operations cannot be ignored.

THE announcement of the AA deal with Centrica will focus all eyes on the final member of the 'big three' breakdown companies to go under the hammer - Green Flag. In just six months, a flurry of buying has changed the face of the breakdown market, with RAC Motoring Services the first to fall to Lex Service and now the AA following suit with its proposed sale to Centrica.

DAILY rental specialist Budget UK has purchased the assets and goodwill of Jasmor Rent A Car for an undisclosed sum. Jasmor operates a 95% Ford fleet of over 2,400 vehicles from 14 locations, and its acquisition will boost Budget's 134-strong branch network and 14,000 vehicle fleet.

FAST-expanding dealer and contract hire group Reg Vardy has bucked the trend of rival motor distributors and reported record pre-tax profits for the 12 months to April 30 of £27.2 million - up 39% on 1998's £19.5 million on turnover up 43% to £1.182 billion from £824 million.

LEXUS has banned retailers' names from its new chain of stand-alone dealerships in an attempt to strengthen its brand image against the likes of BMW and Mercedes. Stuart McCullough, who was promoted from sales operations director at Lexus to its general manager in April, says he wants both corporate and retail customers to focus solely on the Lexus brand name at dealerships.

THE chairman of the House of Commons Trade and Industry Committee has backed the Consumers' Association's campaign to end the 'Great British Rip-Off', whereby UK motorists pay more for their cars than their continental counterparts. Martin O'Neill MP (Labour, Ochil) said he had seen motor manufacturers do nothing to address the charges levelled against them in the damning report compiled by the DTI select committee on vehicle pricing which he chaired last year.

MANUFACTURERS believe the Euro NCAP crash tests will raise the importance of vehicle safety in the minds of car buyers, but not lead to changes in buying decisions. All the makers of the MPVs made more play of the work done by their own safety engineers, suggesting that when the dust settles on the latest round of tests, vehicles' individual safety features will be more important than their comparative performances in the crash test.

GLOBAL daily rental giant Hertz is considering the re-acquisition of multi-marque leasing and fleet management firm Axus International. Hertz owned Axus, then known as Hertz Leasing, until 1995 when it sold the company to Ford.

HONDA has announced the pricing for its new five-door hatchback Accord, which it says will double its sales in the upper-medium sector. The five-door model, which goes on sale in September, will cost £150 more than the equivalent four-door model of the same specification.

THE company car will remain a key element in UK plc's methods of winning and retaining top employees, according to many of the top fleet manufacturers. NatWest's announcement that it was scrapping its 5,000-strong perk fleet and offering drivers cash compensation of between £3,600 and £7,500 prompted scare stories that it would signal the 'death of the company car'.

THE Colt Car Company, official importer of Mitsubishi vehicles to the UK, has axed more than 50 jobs at its head office during the first stage of its company restructuring which has also seen a new general manager group formed. This comes after months of upheaval within the management of Mitsubishi UK.

FLEET managers remain too complacent about the need to ensure their drivers' safety and as a result will be singled out in the new road safety strategy being drawn up by the Government, Roads Minister Lord Whitty has revealed. Speaking at the launch of the second annual Road Safety Week, organised by Brake,he said that while the Government recognised that some companies were beginning to acknowledge the importance of risk management, many more were doing too little.