News - Page 2212

CAR industry experts are being asked to help SEAT's next new models make deeper inroads in the fleet market. Companies which specialise in providing vehicle running have all been approached for advice in the run-up to the launch of the next-generation Ibiza and Cordoba ranges in September. SEAT UK officials think input from industry influencers holds the key to the success of the heavily-revised hatchback, saloon and estate cars in Britain's fast-growing user-chooser sector.

AVIS Rent A Car Inc is to buy Cendant Business Answers (Europe), parent of PHH Vehicle Management, for £1.1billion in a deal that will create a one-million-vehicle fleet.

COMPANY car drivers are putting themselves and other road users at risk by driving on bald and illegal tyres, according to findings of a major survey. The study of almost 5,000 car and van tyres was carried out by inspectors at STS Stapleton's Tyre and Exhaust Centres to examine the condition of private and company drivers' tyres against legal requirements. About a quarter of the sample were vehicles supplied by leasing or rental companies.

A HIGH-performance version of every SEAT passenger car model is to be made available in Britain as part of a plan to boost sales. Cupra badging is to be given prominence as the company seeks wider acceptance in sports motoring circles in a bid to boost its share of the UK market. The 'go-faster' treatment will be central to a move to upgrade the image of the brand and will even include the Arosa supermini and Alhambra multi-purpose vehicle, said SEAT UK product marketing manager Carlos Lopez.

THE crisis in Kosovo is having a knock-on effect in delaying fleet 'greening' initiatives at the Ministry of Defence. A project to roll out ultra-low sulphur diesel to the military fleet has been hindered while the bombing raids are under way. The MoD is responding to a deadline set by John Prescott in his integrated transport White Paper which said all Government departments must implement green transport plans for main buildings by March 31 and for other buildings by March 2000.

AUDI has unveiled its 225bhp 3.3-litre V8 TDI engine in Vienna but Audi UK says it has not yet been decided which models the new powertrain will go in or whether it will come to Britain. The manufacturer says the engine's arrival follows 10 years of class-leading developments, from the launch of its 120bhp 2.5-litre TDI in the Audi 100, marking the first direct fuel injection engine designed specifically for use in a passenger car.

MULTI-MILLION pound road traffic accident costs and the escalating number of road death and injuries in the region led Cambridgeshire County Council to act to reduce the number of corporate car collisions. In 1997 there were 59 fatalities and 636 serious injuries, and the total cost of dealing with these was £150million. The council decided to act following research by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents which estimated that between 20 and 25% of fatalities on the roads involved drivers classed as 'at work'.

DRIVER safety pays - and that's the message fleet managers must take direct to their finance directors if businesses are to reap the benefits of a safety culture. Dr Will Murray, from the transport and logistics research unit at Huddersfield University, told a conference entitled Driving Business Risk Down: 'Transport safety is an organisational culture and management issue. All the driver training and assessment in the world will not improve safety if the company and management culture is not focussed on safety issues.

CONTRACT hire and fleet management specialist Fleetlease has reported a 35% increase in pre-tax profits for the year to March 31, 1999. The Hitachi Credit-owned company achieved pre-tax profits of £3,228,000 (1998: £2,392,000) on turn-over up 20% to £54.473million (1998: £45.289m). Managing director Rob Whalley said: 'We have achieved another healthy financial year despite 12 months of difficult market conditions.'

NEWCOURT Automotive Services has won a contract hire deal with Webb Electronics. The deal is initially for four cars and seven vans, which will be run on a three-year term - 105,000 miles for vans and 60,000 for the cars - and Newcourt says there is potential for more vehicles.

DIXON Motors has launched a nearly-new car leasing package to provide small to medium-sized fleets with 'hassle-free low-cost motoring'. By insuring and buying in bulk, the dealership group says it can offer pre-registered and nearly-new cars at low monthly rates over fixed two or three year contracts.

ESSEX County Council has launched an initiative to woo more than double the number of staff to its new car scheme. The authority wants to see take-up rocket from 680 drivers today to about 1,600, all of whom qualify for the scheme because they drive more than 4,000 miles on business a year. This mileage threshold represents the break-even point for the council where it is cheaper to provide a lease car and then reimburse staff for business mileage at reduced levels rather than pay higher mileage rates to drivers who use their own private cars for business.

TLS has won a £5million solus contract hire deal with East Anglian Ambulance Trust to supply emergency and patient transport vehicles. The company is supplying 100 vehicles as part of a five-year deal. Half, for the accident and emergency service, are wheeled coach modular bodies mounted on a Mercedes chassis cab. The others are Renault Master vans, converted by Wensum Motors of Norwich, for patient transport services.

ALLEN Fleet Services has launched Allen Car and Van Rental, expanding the range of fleet management services offered by the Wolvey-based operation. Elaine Swan-Martin, rental controller, says that through an advanced computer network with access to 100,000 vehicles in the UK at 700 locations, Allen Car and Van Rental can arrange vehicle delivery anywhere in the country.

PORSCHE has launched a new finance company offering fleet customers a bespoke service through its nationwide network of dealerships. The manufacturer, with 'backroom' support from Capital Bank, has unveiled Porsche Financial Services GB, which it says will offer the user-chooser fleet customer a more flexible service.

LEASE Plan has launched a new division to target the small fleet sector, including the courtesy car market. Business Direct will focus on fleets that run fewer than 30 vehicles and offer a product that in most instances can be managed and conducted over the telephone.

SMALL to medium-sized fleets are leading a move away from traditional 'mainstream' manufacturers by offering their company drivers a varied multi-badge choice list. Leasing companies say they are increasingly finding sub-200 fleets giving drivers a wide variety of vehicle choice while the 200-plus operations continue to operate solus badge fleets and benefit from discounts offered by the major manufacturers.

HOLIDAY vouchers worth £1,000 have been presented by Cars Direct following the results of its competition staged during the Fleet Show. Bob Foster, used car disposal manager for Ryland Multifleet, won the holiday vouchers after making the most accurate prediction on what an R-plate Vauxhall Tigra Bermuda with 8,800 miles on the clock would fetch at auction. In fact, he predicted the exact figure - £9,139.

MANHEIM Auctions has launched a new certified vehicle warranty designed to boost confidence in buying and selling vehicles through auction. It is also hoped that the initiative will help to steady residual values. Manheim Certified provides an auction guarantee to buyers and sellers, offering a 32-point check covering engine condition, transmission, brakes, steering, bodywork and mileage verification.

FLEET disposal channels could find a new outlet with the launch of a company which intends to make the purchase and ownership of used cars a much easier process. Bournemouth-based One Stop Car Shop aims to offer everything a customer needs to find, buy, insure, fund and care for a used car under one roof. Its first location is due to open on June 5 in Bournemouth with more following later in the year.

SALES generated through inquiries to the c.2K Automotive Solutions web site exceeded those from traditional phone and fax methods for the first time in April.

ELECTRICAL and engineering giant Siemens has sold its UK fleet to First National Vehicle Holdings and is transferring drivers on to the Whitechapel Car Ownership Scheme, under which staff technically own their company cars.

FLEETS are being advised to 'steer clear of grey imports' without lengthy checks on warranties, servicing and residuals in the light of a Government decision to abandon import restrictions from the end of next year. The warning, from the Association of Car Fleet Operators, adds to an atmosphere of uncertainty in the fleet market over the effect of an expected flood of grey imports coming into the country. Some official importers and manufacturers have said their networks will not service, repair or supply spares for such vehicles.

OUTRIGHT purchase fleets could be prevented from recovering VAT on pre-disposal refurbishment costs and auction fees following a new VAT treatment of cars which comes into effect on September 1.

AN INFLUENTIAL Labour-dominated select committee has savaged the Government's plans for integrated transport, branding them 'under-funded and inadequate' and proposed even more swingeing taxes for fleets. The environment, transport and regional affairs select committee has set itself is for some of the most unpopular charges proposed in John Prescott's White Paper on integrated transport to be extended.

A GOVERNMENT backbench MP has broken ranks to reveal serious concerns about the Government's plans for encouraging alternative transport. Fabian Hamilton (Labour, Leeds North-East) says that, although the Government's intentions are to be welcomed, efforts to get people out of their cars will fail unless public transport is given massive investment immediately.

BOSSES have been told that rewards rather than punishment were more likely to get drivers with poor accident records to drive more safely. Julian Clarke, company safety adviser at computer company IBM, told delegates at a RoSPA conference: 'One person in my company has had three accidents in two years but he has sold something like £7million of computer equipment. That salesman is keeping us in a job.'

A TOTAL of about 40 36-foot racing yachts are set to take part in the 1999 Fleet News Regatta off the Isle of Wight, based at Cowes on June 23 and 24. So far, more than 25 boats have been booked but there is still time for you to book your yacht and entertain both staff and clients in the unique environment of Cowes and race on the Solent.

RESIDUAL values for car-derived vans are being hit hard as fleet buyers turn to purpose-built vehicles of the same size, allowing manufacturers like Renault and Citroen to attack Ford's domination of the commercial vehicles market. Total sales volumes for CDVs have dropped in three of the past four years as new entrants to the purpose-built market lure away buyers of car-based vehicles with better comfort and increased specification.

RAZORBACK, a van with a cargo bed that drops to ground level for easy loading, has been launched into the UK market. Developed by Razorback Vehicle Corporation in partnership with Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, the Razorback conversion is exclusive to the Volkswagen Transporter.