News - Page 2231

VAUXHALL is axing its Sintra MPV in the UK in anticipation of huge demand for its new seven-seater Zafira. Last year the company sold only 4,000 Sintras, compared to a 1999 sales forecast for the Zafira of 15,000 vehicles, rising to 25,000 next year - about half of which will be into the fleet market.

COMPANY car drivers are suffering permanent hearing damage and even deafness as the result of an airbag inflating, according to new research. Graham Buckley, a consultant head and neck surgeon at St James's University Hospital, Leeds, says that hearing damage and tinnitus can be caused by the noise of an airbag going off.

FLEET drivers are shunning cash alternatives to the company car, according to a comprehensive survey of the company car market. The report, Monks Company Car Policy UK 1999, examined the fleet policies of 164 companies, covering a total car parc of 126,728 cars and found that nearly three quarters of the firms questioned offered a cash for car allowance.

FLEETS can train their drivers for as little as £1 per week thanks to a new agreement between BSM Fleet Training and BCH Vehicle Management. The Bristol-based contract hire and fleet management firm will give its customers the opportunity to include fleet risk management consultancy and driver training costs in monthly lease rentals.

VOLVO has announced prices for the three new versions of the S80 to take the range up to five models, adding two entry-level models and a diesel.

RENAULT has widened its Alize trim level from the Megane to the rest of the model range in time for the new T-plate on March 1. All of the new Alizes have air conditioning as standard.

SEAT has launched a new top-of-the-range Alhambra 20V T to coincide with the arrival of the T-plate.

A NEW sporty Saab 9-3, known as the Viggen, is to go on sale in the UK in May. Prices are to be announced nearer the date.

THE Government has issued thinly-veiled threats that Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown is planning to increase company car tax in his March Budget. Leaks from key Government ministers during the last week have indicated the Treasury is looking to scrap business mileage tax breaks.

THE Department of Trade and Industry has shied away from calls to 'name and shame' fleets which achieve huge discounts on new car supply deals. Responding this week to the House of Commons' Trade and Industry Select Committee's 'Vehicle Pricing' report, the Government focused on the Office of Fair Trading's enquiry into a complex monopoly in the motor industry which is due to conclude in April.

FLEET News is to hold a Budget Breakfast for fleet chiefs to find out from fleet and tax experts the impact on their businesses of Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown's March 9 Budget. The Breakfast will be held on Tuesday, March 16 at the Hilton National, Cobham, starting at 8.30am and will last for about two hours.

ROVER has slashed the price of models in its 200 and 400 range by up to 16% in an attempt to sell a surplus of cars before the arrival of the T-plate. With prices dropping by almost £3,000 in some cases, the range is now priced where many experts thought it should have been in the first place, with the 200 competing with the likes of the Ford Fiesta and the 400 priced against the Ford Focus and Vauxhall Astra.

INTERNATIONAL food service company Compass has awarded a fleet management contract for its 1,000-plus vehicle fleet to c.2K. The deal consolidates on a contract hire agreement covering the fleet won by c.2K under its previous name - Evans Halshaw Fleetcare - last year.

LEADING telecommunications supplier Ericsson has appointed Lease Plan to manage the maintenance of its 700-vehicle fleet. Lease Plan will also fund Ericsson vehicles via its Open Calculation product, as one of two suppliers of vehicles to the phone firm - the second has yet to be chosen from an unnamed shortlist of two.

THE Department of Social Security has embarked on a huge overhaul of the running of its 3,200-strong fleet, shifting its centre of operations from London to Newcastle. The changes will see the departure of departmental transport manager Gwilym Anthony.

POWERMARQUE has launched the first stage of a multi-million pound buying programme with the purchase of Internet-based contract hire company Calleva Contracts for an undisclosed sum. Berkshire-based Calleva was the first company in the UK to launch Internet trading for the provision of contract hire and has built up a fleet of 2,000 vehicles.

THE Government has been lambasted for its continuing 'two-faced' attitude to the environment after the Inland Revenue issued a £500,000 tax bill to Boots for supporting a bus service for staff. Tax officers are demanding six years' back taxes from the leading high street store because it pays bus services to come on to its massive production site near Nottingham, where 6,500 people work.

THE head of an international consultancy group has forecast the end of the used car market, saying the value of second-hand cars will go the same way as second-hand washing machines. Michael Jackson, chairman of Jackson Consultancy Group, said used cars were killing the UK's motor industry and should be phased out. But residual value forecasters and major auction houses have condemned his ideas.

THE Department of Trade and Industry has joined the fleet industry's battle to end car clocking by setting up a new database to contain all vehicle mileages. Cars will have their mileages recorded at every service or MoT test and these will be filed on a database at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, where it will be available to future buyers.

UNISYS has agreed a two-year pan-European deal worth more than £20 million with Avis Fleet Services for the running of its 2,800-strong multinational fleet. Discussions have started to review the potential of extending the scheme from Europe to Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

GOVERNMENT departments are cutting it fine to meet their deadline for publishing green transport plans designed to get civil servants out of cars and on to bicycles and public transport. By the end of next month the departments should have a fully prepared green transport plan, but the vast majority are still a long way from finalising their proposals.

THE vast majority of Government departments are lagging well behind the Department of the Environment, Transport and Regions in introducing green transport plans. While many are still preparing plans for next month's deadline, the DETR has already begun implementing schemes.

MEMBERS of Parliament are to continue to benefit from free car parking at the House of Commons into the new millennium, despite being branded hypocrites for their 'double standards' by Liberal Democrat environment spokesman MP Norman Baker.

THE 1999 Fleet News Awards is a sell-out with 1,030 people from across the fleet industry scheduled to attend the annual fleet industry night of the year at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London, on March 17. A total of 24 awards - the fleet industry 'Oscars' - will be presented to the fleet managers, fleet industry suppliers and vehicle manufacturers.

HOME Office minister Paul Boateng has praised the role the British Vehicle Rental & Leasing Association's Security Awards have played in combating car crime. His comments came as the BVRLA presented its 1999 Awards in London.

TRAFFIC in 1998 was 1% higher than 1997 according to Department of the Environment, Transport and Regions provisional figures in its latest statistical bulletin.

MAZDA's contender for the fast growing mini-MPV market, the Premacy, is to make its world debut at the Geneva Motor Show on March 9.

FLEET management software company Car Fleet Control has launched a redesigned website address at www.carfleetcontrol.com.

COMPANY car drivers who make their vehicles difficult to trace by failing to fit correctly displayed registration plates will have them permanently withdrawn.