News - Page 2253

VAUXHALL is denying reports that its brand name could be axed in the UK as part of a business shake-up at US parent company General Motors. As part of a move to speed up the decision making process, General Motors has been carrying out a review of its management structure in the US and considering future business strategies.

CHANGES have been announced at the top within Leasecontracts, GE Capital Fleet Services' niche leasing business. Richard Bennell has been appointed general manager in succession to Tom Stephenson, who is to head a new product development department being set up within GE Capital Fleet Services' Salford Quays headquarters.

THE Royal Bank of Scotland has renewed its Fixed Cost Fleet Management agreement with Leasecontracts, covering its 2,500-strong fleet and has negotiated a preferred supplier agreement with three manufacturers. Leasecontracts took over the management of the fleet four years ago and the renewal is for a further two years.

FLEET insurance bills could soar as NHS trusts recoup up to £100 million they are owed each year for treating innocent road accident victims - hammering home the importance of driver training for fleets to keep down premiums. Specialist firms have begun targeting hospitals to help them claim back millions in care costs and fleets which have a poor accident record are being warned this could lead to their insurance premiums surging to cover the bills received from victims of poor driving.

THE AIB Group (Allied Irish Bank) has set up a joint venture with PHH Vehicle Management to offer a full portfolio of fleet services in Ireland. Allied Vehicle Management will offer vehicle acquisition, funding, maintenance, fuel management, and disposal for AIB's customers in Ireland.

CAR Fleet Control's Eurofleet fleet management software package has been taken on by Birmingham-based Southall Hygiene Services to manage its vehicles. The software replaces a paper-based system the firm is using to control its 240-strong car fleet.

ROVER has signed a £14 million a year contract with Birmingham-based van maker LDV to provide steel and aluminium panels for the new Land Rover Discovery. LDV will supply more than 100 different pressings for the all-new off-roader, including the main floor, rear bodyside inners, wheel arches and rear tailgate inners.

BRITISH Car Auctions has increased its European network through a new partnership with a Portuguese auction company. Autoleiloes will act as a BCA licensee, and use BCA branding on its purpose-built premises near Lisbon.

SUBARU has announced a series of price increases for its Legacy and Impreza and the cost of its new Forester Turbo. The 2.0S Forester Turbo with manual five-speed gearbox starts at £21,750 and comes with cloth trim, ABS, twin front and side airbags, electric sunroof, air conditioning, front fog lamps, windscreen wiper de-icer, heated front seats and mirrors, rising to £22,950 if leather is added.

WORLD launches from Jaguar, Rover and Lexus are set to steal the limelight at next week's Birmingham Motor Show in what is being billed as the most exciting show for 40 years.

PROFITABILITY concerns are plaguing dealerships, with the majority of franchises indicating falling profit potential over the past 12 months. The latest Dealer Attitude Survey by the Retail Motor Industry Federation found only Saab and Land Rover franchises had increased their profits over the past 12 months - clear evidence that throughout the new car market margins, bonuses and rebates have fallen.

SHELL is to take on the supermarket service stations in making its own ultra-low sulphur diesel readily available in urban areas. The fuel, which has a sulphur content at least 90% lower than standard diesel, will initially go on sale at 140 service stations in the M25 area.

LEXUS'S launch of the IS200 will see it make huge inroads into the fleet market and mark its total separation from Toyota as a brand. The Japanese manufacturer has announced that by the time the IS200 goes on sale at the end of May next year there will be a network of 55 new solus Lexus dealerships, not connected to Toyota.

FLEET drivers are in line for a best-of-both-worlds offer when Citroen rolls out its new range of advanced-diesel Xantia models at next week's British International Motor Show. In a bid to boost UK sales, executives at the French company have decided to make their high-economy 2.0 HDI power unit available in a car with lower-level trim aimed at the fleet market.

VOLVO has launched a 1.6-litre £14,745 on-the-road addition to its V40 line-up which the manufacturer claims undercuts rivals from BMW, Audi, Ford, Rover, Vauxhall and Volkswagen. Air conditioning, ABS brakes, SIPS side impact protection and side airbags are all standard on the V40 - sister car to the S40 1.6.

VOLKSWAGEN has improved the specification of the Passat to bring the car more into line with its upper medium competitors. The entry level 'S' trim level will now come with a sunroof as standard, and this can be upgraded to air conditioning for an extra £415.

NATIONAL Car Rental will supply Scottish Hydro Electric with around 40 vehicles a day after securing preferred supplier status. The agreement, through Scottish Hydro-Electric's travel contract with Carlson Wagonlit, will see vehicles such as Ford Fiestas and Vauxhall Vectras hired to company sites throughout Scotland and England to transport engineers, technicians and consultants on business.

INTERNATIONAL Fleet Management, the 10-month-old multi-marque leasing division of Volkswagen Financial Services, has contracted the RAC for accident services. With the RAC already on board as provider of roadside assistance, IFM consulted its customers on the services they most wanted to see as part of an outsourced fleet management operation.

A FURIOUS row has broken out over the accuracy of the monthly new car sales figures amid claims that they are sending out 'the wrong signals as to the real health of the market'. So-called 'false' registrations are a feature of each month's new car sales figures, but for the second month in succession Mitsubishi has launched an attack on the accuracy of the figures.

VAUXHALL was the leading fleet make last month - the first time the Luton-based company has topped the best-selling manufacturer's chart since November 1996. The manufacturer's fleet sales totalled 14,099 in September putting the company ahead of Ford (13,338) and Peugeot (7,666), according to Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders figures.

PANEL van sales continue to keep commercial vehicle sales above 1997 levels, according to new sales figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. September's results reveal 12,723 vans in the 1.8-3.5 tonne sector were registered last month - up from 11,316 in September last year, taking sector sales for the year-to-date to 111,989 (99,067).

FLEET diesel new car sales increased year-on-year for the first time in five months, according to September's new car sales figures. Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders figures reveal that last month's 1% year-on-year rise in fleet diesel figures to 15,210 (September 1997: 15,060) was the first rise since March.

THE Government's tax treatment of green commuter schemes is in a desperate mess, and actively hinders all environmentally-friendly transport plans, according to a new report from the Open University's Faculty of Technology. 'There are no examples where 'green' measures receive a preferential tax treatment over a 'non-green' alternative - indeed the opposite is so,' declares the report, 'Tax and Green Transport Plans'.

LEASING and rental companies could create a new one-stop shop total mobility concept for corporate travel which would change the face of today's fleet industry. Companies would only be charged for actual usage on a monthly basis with employees being able to choose the most suitable mode of travel for their journey from a menu which could include car, bus, train and plane, Automotive Congress Europe heard.

SELF-owned fleets have been attacked as administratively costly and inefficient, by the European chief of the world's largest fleet services company. While many could see the attack on fleet managers by Dan Farrar, president and chief executive officer of GE Capital Fleet Services Europe, as self-interested his views are not dissimilar to those of the Association of Car Fleet Operators and the Institute of Car Fleet Management and they also won support at a 'Future of the Company Car' briefing held by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

FORD has aggressively priced its new Focus which will cost from £12,850 to £15,850 on the road when it goes on sale on October 15. The range comprises four bodystyles - three and five door hatchbacks, and from January a four door saloon and an estate which will command a £500 premium over the five-door hatchback.

NEW car prices are under fresh scrutiny by the Office of Fair Trading in a new investigation into the relationship between manufacturers and franchised dealers. The OFT believes a complex monopoly may be adversely affecting competition in the motor industry, unduly inflating new car prices.

TRAFFIC congestion in London costs more than £10 billion a year, according to the RAC which has launched a new campaign to entice Londoners out of their cars. The average motorist spends five days and five nights sitting in congestion, according to the campaign which also has the backing of London Transport and the Association of London Government.

THE fleet industry is to play a key role in the Government's fight to cut the UK's annual £3 billion vehicle crime bill by 30% over the next five years. Ford's director of fleet operations Mike Wear has been appointed chairman of the Vehicle Crime Reduction Action Team, the task force which will be drawing together experience from the Government, police, and motor and insurance industries.

GOVERNMENT fleets should follow the lead of local authorities on how to adopt 'greener' fleet motoring initiatives Paul Burstow, Liberal Democrat MP for Sutton and Cheam, has spent the last few months quizzing ministers on the size of Government department fleets, fuels used and future plans.