News - Page 2227

AUTOGLASS has denied rumours that it is to be the subject of a £400 million management buy-out.

SHAREHOLDERS in Volvo this week gave a unanimous go-ahead to the Ford buy-out of its motoring arm for an estimated £3.7 billion. The shareholders' meeting on Monday was attended by Jacques Nasser, Ford chief executive, who expects the addition of Volvo to raise luxury car production at Ford and its subsidiaries to one million units in the new millennium.

BRITAIN'S largest timber and builders' merchant Jewson is to replace 700 of its 1,000 company cars in the space of a few weeks.

THE 500,000th British-built Honda - a right-hand drive Civic 1.6i LS 5-door - has rolled off the production line at the manufacturer's Swindon plant.

KEVIN Flynn has quit Lexus GB as general manager only weeks before the launch of the IS200 sports saloon, which is expected to be the company's biggest fleet seller to date.

PEUGEOT has launched the £12,745 on-the-road manual and £13,645 automatic 206 Roland Garros with a unique all-glass roof.

MOTOR and bus group Arriva has bought the Vauxhall dealership in Haverhill from Keith Brown for an undisclosed sum.

THE ex-chief executive of National Car Auctions, Ron Leader, has joined former rival British Car Auctions to head its Dutch and Belgian operations. BCA Autoveiling's appointment of Leader as managing director comes almost a year to the day since Independent Car Auctions acquired National Car Auctions.

DORSET Vauxhall retailers Tice and Grand Parade Motors have merged to form the UK's largest Vauxhall dealership.

AXUS UK has appointed Brian Taylor as its new managing director to replace Philippe Op de Beeck who has been promoted to sales and marketing director of Axus International.

THE absence of driving at the 1999 Fleet Show is having virtually no impact on fleet decision makers' intention to attend the industry's leading trade event.

A SERIES of major fleet environmental initiatives has helped Britain's largest contract hire and leasing company to achieve environmental quality standard ISO14001. After taking up the 'green' gauntlet thrown down by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, Lex Vehicle Leasing spent more than six months evaluating and then acting upon the environmental impact of running its business in the UK.

ARRIVA has denied claims that it is planning to sell its franchised dealership and car hire divisions. The transport giant revealed last week that it had put Arriva Automotive Solutions back on the market, having aborted its first attempt to sell the contract hire and fleet management company last December.

BODYSHOP to burger bar group Gowrings has announced an 11% growth in turnover to £87.7 million - and pre-tax profits up 22% to £1.6 million - helped by a fifth consecutive annual rise in turnover and profits for its motor division.

INCHAPE has announced a £78 million slump in annual pre-tax profits, with part of the drop blamed on the current dive in residual values affecting its leasing division. The company made a pre-tax profit of £106.1 million to the end of December 1998 (1997: £184.1 million) on turnover down 17% to £5,506.4 million (1997: £6,650.9 million). But this year exceptional charges of £403.7 million - caused by a write-off of goodwill and lower asset valuations on businesses sold during the year - resulted in a final loss before tax of £297.6 million.

SEAT is revising its Arosa range for the T-plate models, offering improved specification with a £200 price increase on the base model, but £500 reduction on the mid-range vehicle. The Arosa line-up has also increased from four to six models, with a choice of three engines, the 1.0-litre petrol, 1.4-litre petrol and 1.7-litre SDi diesel.

LEO Pharmaceuticals is hoping a new software package will improve the smooth running of its fleet and cut down on administration. The Buckinghamshire-based company has been using several systems for different functions, and getting reports from PHH Vehicle Management, which handles vehicle acquisitions, disposals and maintenance of its 175-strong car fleet.

THE name of SsangYong has ceased to exist in the UK car market. Daewoo, which acquired a 53.5% controlling interest in the fellow Korean motor company in January, has made it clear that it will take over both its existing UK models and refine and rebadge them.

GE Capital Fleet Services is to distribute a new stolen car location security system following a £1 million deal with Integrated Transport Information Services.

A SERIES of acquisitions and careful handling of plunging residual values has seen the Sytner Group record an increase in both turnover and pre-tax profit for its first year as a public company. Turnover has soared 35% to £294.5 million for the year end December 31, 1998, compared to £217.8 million for the same period in 1997, while pre-tax profits jumped 25% to £8.26 million from £6.6 million.

DAIHATSU has become the latest manufacturer to extend service intervals on its petrol-engined cars and vans. Previously, after a 600-mile check and oil change servicing was needed every 6,000 miles. Now servicing will only be required at 12,000 miles.

TWELVE back office staff are to lose their jobs at Stanmore-based Motorent following the decision of new owners ACL to eliminate duplication of some functions with its Cardiff headquarters.

DAEWOO is seeking someone who 'likes a challenge' to lead its fleet sales team. The Korean manufacturer is looking to recruit a head of fleet operations to replace Stewart Wright who left earlier this year following a 'fundamental difference in opinion'.

CHANCELLOR of the Exchequer Gordon Brown launched a cynical back-door attack on the UK's company car users in Tuesday's Budget.

NEW car sales - both fleet and retail - plunged as expected last month, but manufacturers and dealers remain optimistic that last week's launch of the T-plate will see sales surge. Consequently it is expected that new car sales figures for the first three months of this year will be little different to last year's first quarter tally of 622,562 units of which 291,404 were fleet.

THE March registration letter change and Budget uncertainty fuelled significant falls in van sales last month, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. Light van sales dropped to 3,042 last month from 6,128 in February last year taking sales of under 1.8-tonne vans to 9,023 this year (1998: 12,912).

DIESEL sales dropped in line with the overall new car market last month, according to figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. Total new car diesel sales last month were 11,607 (February 1998: 28,804) - 59.7% down - of which fleet diesel sales totalled 7,471 (February 1998: 16,996) - down 56%. Diesel sales to date this year are now down 42.6% year-on-year to 37,830 (1998: 65,853) of which fleet sales are down 38.3% to 23,001 (1998: 37,274).

FLEETS, leasing companies and dealerships can see huge savings through paperless transactions, either through the internet or electronic data interchange, an open day organised by FleetNet, the organisation set up to work for common standards in the industry, heard last week.

PEUGEOT is to launch common rail diesel engine versions of the 306 in the UK next month, it was revealed at the Geneva Motor Show yesterday. The 306 will feature a 90bhp version of the 2.0 110bhp HDI (high pressure direct injection) already in the 406.

NISSAN unveiled a prototype of its new compact multi-purpose vehicle for Europe - the Almera Tino - at the Geneva Show with its versatility the key theme. The European Tino will be part of the new four-model Almera range to be launched throughout Europe next year.