News - Page 2217

FORD has launched a global crackdown on a worldwide counterfeit parts industry thought to be worth almost £2billion a year.

FLEET managers will face increasingly tough penalties if they return company cars in a poor condition at the end of their contract. The warning was given at the ACFO Midlands regional meeting by vice-chairman Malcolm Beresford-Dutton, who said fleets could expect to pay not hundreds but thousands of pounds in penalty charges.

PERSONAL contract purchase schemes are set to change the shape of the fleet industry as more and more fleet drivers opt out of receiving a company car, says Richard Pepper, chief executive of BCH Vehicle Management.

MOTOR distributor European Motor Holdings has reported a 'disappointing' drop in pre-tax profits following five months of poor sales from October 1998 to February this year.

NISSAN has rewarded the architect of its acclaimed British car plant with a top job in the dramatically slimmed-down management team which has been charged with steering the troubled Japanese giant to a better performance in key global markets.

THE European Commission has moved to quell fears over the future of the £150million deal struck between the UK Government and BMW to safeguard the future of Rover's Longbridge plant.

LEX Service and Ford are heading for a motor industry showdown following six months of acquisitions and widespread rumours that the vehicle manufacturer will shortly buy the AA and possibly Arriva Automotive Solutions.

THE Renault Megane Scenic won the Motor Manufacturer Award at the first Fleet Show Motability Awards, held at the National Motorcycle Museum and attended by about 360 people. But, while acknowledging that no single vehicle could meet everyone's needs, Motability director Noel Muddiman said: 'Manufacturers don't design vehicles with the elderly and disabled in mind.

TRACKER Network, the stolen vehicle location equipment company, has announced record turnover and profits, and also revealed that its board has reached agreement on a £39.2million buy-out offer.

RESTRUCTURING at Colt Car Co, the UK Mitsubishi importer, has resulted in the departures of long-serving marketing director Colin Peirce and director of sales Andrew Wenzel.

NEW car sales last month could be as much as 18% down year on year, according to early motor industry indications. Early this week, April new car sales had yet to be published but last year's 171,690 figure is unlikely to be beaten.

SIGNIFICANT discounts offered by manufacturers on new cars and emphasis by Dixon Motors on a quicker stock turn on used vehicles continued to put pressure on both new and used car margins, chairman Donald Driver said at the company's annual meeting.

A NEW tougher and longer driving test was introduced in the UK on Tuesday. The new £37.75 examination is seven minutes longer and includes, where possible, more driving on dual carriageways and rural single carriageways.

THE condition of the road network in England and Wales has deteriorated further, according to the 1998 National Road Maintenance Condition Survey, although the structural condition of motorways improved slightly.

UNIPART, the automotive parts group, has announced a £178.9million agreed offer for Partco.

FORD vehicles in the UK will be distributed from this week by AutoLogic Holdings following the forming of a joint venture with the Axis Group.

FLEETS are being offered a chance to take advantage of cheaper new car prices on the continent. Suffolk-based Christchurch Asset Finance has launched a new funding initiative, contract hire on imported cars, and claims that on a mid-range vehicle - which costs £2,000 to £3,000 less overseas than in the UK - customers can save between £50/80 per month over a three-year contract term.

ATS Euromaster has announced a £9 million investment in a new customer service centre which will revolutionise the way it handles corporate customers. The state-of-the-art facility on the Aston Expressway, north of Birmingham, is the essential ingredient in ATS Euromaster's new Fleet Master management system.

FLEET decision-makers were treated to a double world debut at this week's Fleet Show with Land Rover unveiling its Freelander commercial vehicle and Peugeot taking the wraps of its 206 van. Neither is due to be launched for several months, but the manufacturers said the NEC event was the ideal platform for the vehicles to make their first public appearance.

BRITAIN'S fleet managers have been urged to 'save the planet' and do even more to 'green' their fleets by Transport Minister Dr John Reid. He underlined the 'critically important' role the company car must play in the nation's health.

RENAULT announced a £5 million van contract at the Fleet Show on Tuesday - the largest deal ever signed by the French manufacturer's light commercial vehicle department. The deal, which could last up to five years, will involve the supply of about 200 Kangoo 865D 65bhp 1.9-litre diesels every year.

THE Inland Revenue has called for fleet reaction to five key areas of the new company car tax system due to be introduced on April 6, 2002. Sara Woollard, policy adviser to the Inland Revenue's Personal Tax Division, has confirmed that major issues concerning the new environmentally-driven regime are still open for debate.

THE Government-sponsored Cleaner Vehicles Task Force (CVTF) will next month unveil plans for an awards scheme that recognises fleets and leasing companies which achieve cuts in vehicle emissions. The voluntary Green Fleet Certification Scheme could be up and running by next year if there is enough support from companies, and a detailed development paper is already being circulated.

THRIFTY Car Rental announced a multi-million pound supply agreement with Vauxhall to supply 700 vehicles over the next two months. The deal, announced at the Fleet Show, extends an agreement between the two firms which has seen Vauxhall supply the daily rental firm with more than 1,000 vehicles over the past two years.

FIVE months before the significantly facelifted Nissan Primera goes on sale in the UK, the manufacturer has taken its first order for 200 vehicles. Contract hire and leasing company Axus UK, which also has its own short-term hire operations, has committed to buy 200 new Primeras in September.

KWIK-FIT is to expand its network into Europe's fastest growing fleet market, it was revealed at the Fleet Show. Last year the Irish Republic's fleet market grew by 17% to around 250,000 vehicles from a parc of 1.2 million cars and in response to this growth Kwik-Fit is to increase its number of centres there from 19 to more than 40 in order to capitalise in the business potential.

VAUXHALL is revitalising its fleet driver training initiative provided in conjunction with BSM Fleet Training, offering customers a £750 reduction on the usual £1,000 price of the package. For a limited period, the manufacturer is offering individual driver evaluation for two decision-makers within a company for £250 and the choice of a company safety audit or fleet safety seminar for up to 10 people.

CONTROVERSY surrounds the sacking of Paul Williams from his position as managing director of Daihatsu UK. Fleet NewsNet has learned that staff at Daihatsu UK are unhappy with the dismissal decision by Inchcape, the parent company.

THE Conservative Party's shadow Treasury team is heading for a showdown with the Government over the Vehicle Excise Duty charged on gas-powered cars. In the run-up to the Commons debate on the 1999 Budget, John Whittingdale MP (Con. Maldon) has asked the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions to estimate the cost of reducing VED on gas-fuelled vehicles to £20.

THE second car to be built at Ford's Dagenham, Essex, plant in the new millennium looks set to be the Ka. This week, Ford announced that it had signed a new agreement with the trade unions which would see capacity rise from 272,000 units a year to 300,000 and that the plant would become the sole Western European source for a second model - the plant is the home of Fiesta.