News - Page 2204

CONCEPT, the used vehicle retailer, has begun a strategic merger with troubled used car supermarket Carland. This will see the creation of a new group with a combined turnover of more than £250 million and more than 600 staff.

AN order for Vauxhall Vectras and Corsas worth more than £1 million has been delivered to non-fault accident insurance company Helphire Group. The delivery is intended to meet the growing demands for credit car hire and replacement vehicles among its customers following road traffic accidents.

MITSUBISHI's heavily-facelifted Carisma which is due to go on sale in September, is to be the first product to feel the impact of the shake-up within The Colt Car Company.

THE Metropolitan Police is to fit black box data recorders to its 500 rapid response cars following trials earlier this year. The devices are expected to be fitted 'some time in this financial year', a spokesman said, at a cost of £250,000.

JAGUAR has become the first car manufacturer to give financial support to Brake, the road safety organisation and organiser of Road Safety Week. The car company has become one of the organisation's 'corporate partners'.

A SERIES of meetings started on Wednesday between the Government and the European Commission aimed ensuring the Government's £152 million aid package for Rover's Longbridge plant meets EC approval.

A SPECIAL edition Open Air BMW 316i Compact featuring a full-length electric sunroof has gone on sale. Also featuring leather upholstery, sports seats, alloy wheels and air conditioning, the car costs £20,495 on-the-road.

JAGUAR is recalling 106 non-supercharged XJ8 saloons and XK8 sports cars which were sold in the UK between August of last year and March of this year, out of a total of 414 worldwide. The recall is for the replacement of the automatic transmission after it was found to lock-up at low speed.

SPECIALIST van maker LDV has built the 50,000th of its current range of Convoy and Pilot vehicles which was launched in 1996 following a complete facelift of the company's previous model line-up.

NATIONAL Tyres and Autocare has launched two free summer initiatives this month for company car drivers.

THRIFTY Car Rental UK has created a new commercial division based in High Wycombe. The division is headed by Mark Brandom who has been appointed as commercial director from operations director.

NEW car sales reached an all-time June high last month with 196,442 vehicles registered - 15.7% up on June 1998's 169,789 total.

CAR manufacturers have promised that diesel cars have a long future in the company car parc, despite the likelihood of the Government penalising diesel-engined cars under the proposed carbon dioxide-based company car taxation system. Peugeot, the leading supplier of diesels to fleets, has accused the Government of failing to keep pace with innovations in engine technology that by 2002, when the new taxation system is introduced, will leave its 'get tough' on diesel policy redundant.

ANYONE who thinks charities are run by well-meaning amateurs who are a soft touch when it comes to cost control is gravely mistaken. Charities employ highly professional staff to minimise their operating costs and ensure that as much revenue as possible from grants, donations and other enterprises, is devoted to the charities' core purpose.

A NEW study of company car drivers has discovered a generation of 'nomadic workers' whose occupational risks must be addressed by employers, car makers and mobile phone firms. The research into the lives of fleet drivers, entitled 'Meet you at Junction 17', was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and carried out by academics at Glasgow University.

THE RAC is hitting back against a survey which marked down the standard of service from its operators and dispatchers with its own survey which shows customers, including fleets, give it top marks. A JD Power & Associates survey, called '1999 UK Roadside Assistance Study' rated the RAC second to the AA .

THRIFTY Car Rental has acquired BMG Rental from the Sanderson Bramall Motor Group for an undisclosed sum. The deal covers six rental locations in Milton Keynes, St Albans, Letchworth, Thame, Northampton and Peter-borough, and will see BMG's corporate business and operations staff transfer to Thrifty branches, while the BMG branches will be rebranded in Thrifty colours.

COMPANY bosses have criticised the Government's strategy of attempting to reduce car dependency through road tolls and workplace parking as unjustifiable and unfair. Conscious of the latest announcement that congestion trials will start in Edinburgh and Leeds towards the end of next year and of the increasing attention being given to the taxation of workplace parking spaces, fleet managers based both in rural and inner city locations have hit out at the inadequacy of public transport and their dissatisfaction at new tax-raising policies without viable alternatives to the company car being provided in return.

COMPANIES are being advised to take greater responsibility in reducing the disproportionate amount of accidents involving agency and temporary drivers. The recommendation comes in a report produced by University of Huddersfield's transport and logistics research unit.

WHOLELIFE cost calculations proved crucial in non-profit-making Midlands Foster Care Association switching its expanding 150-car fleet to Toyota. The independent Bromsgrove-based fostering agency is switching from Peugeot with some Nissans to Toyota with about 100 vehicles expected to be ordered in the first 12 months of the new full maintenance contract hire deal.

A NEW repair system developed by Ford looks set to considerably reduce the amount of time fleet vehicles needing repairs spend out of action. The manufacturer has brought into service the world's first fully operational worldwide diagnostic system (WDS) which has gone into service at Stormont Ford, in Tonbridge, Kent.

FLEET managers are being urged to invest in better seats in order to curb the loss of more than £5 billion a year through sick leave associated with back pain. Company car drivers are one of the most vulnerable groups because of the amount of time they spend behind the wheel.

SAAB has unveiled the new 9-5 Aero as its sporting flagship for the saloon and estate ranges. Due to go on sale in the UK in late September, the Aero will make its public debut earlier that month at the Frankfurt Motor Show.

THE causes of whiplash and how to avoid it is the subject of research being carried out by the Thatcham, the Motor Insurance Repair Research Centre, and experts from manufacturers' research and development departments. Up to 60% of motor insurers' personal injury claims are for whiplash and every year hundreds of thousands of car occupants are suffering this condition as a result of road accidents.

IFM, the corporate division of Volkswagen Financial Services (UK), has won a deal to supply a mixed fleet of 60 vehicles to Northampton-based Prime Time Recruitment.

A LIFESTYLE soft-top version of the Suzuki Jimny off-roader is to be unveiled by Suzuki GB at the London Motor Show in October. The car will be built only in Spain at a government-owned former Land Rover assembly centre where it is expected 40,000 Vitara, Samurai and Jimny models will be produced this year.

COMPANY car drivers are the target of an Auto Windscreens summer months road safety campaign to cut the number of accidents due to poor visibility. The windscreen replacement company says fly stains, dust and dirt create a hazard for motorists when sunny days and dry roads result in faster driving conditions than the rest of the year.

DEALER Group H R Owen's newly acquired Buckinghamshire Volks- wagen dealership has handed over its first fleet delivery of the recently launched Bora, also making it the first corporate handover for the outlet under its new name, Citygate Chalfont.

VOLKSWAGEN is offering special deals on the Polo through the summer with all L and CL models gaining a sunroof for free - usually it's £415 - until August 31.

MITSUBISHI Motors has opened a new Motorline dealership in Canterbury following a £250,000 refurbishment of the premises which used to occupy the site.