News - Page 2266

ELECTRICITY network provider National Grid has become one of the first fleet customers to trial a service providing a part-time driver for exhausted company car users who need to take to the road.

PARTS for the new Toyota Avensis are 41% cheaper than the Carina E it replaces, according to the manufacturer.

RUMOURS of merger talks between BMW and Fiat have been dismissed as total invention.

THREE-year/60,000-mile replacement cycles are a long distant memory for fleet driver Roger Harris, who has clocked up a mammoth 450,000 miles in his Ford Mondeo.

BUYING British has been superseded by value for money as the driving force behind fleets' company car policies.

BP is to make the break into alternative fuels, installing four liquefied petroleum gas pumps on forecourts within the next couple of months.

GAS power could soon be freely available to environmentally-minded fleets wanting to fill up in the Cambridgeshire area.

NEW calls for Government incentives to dramatically increase the fleet use of gas-powered vehicles - perhaps through the vehicle excise duty system - have been made in the House of Lords.

FLEETS look set to lose thousands of pounds when gas-powered ex-company cars reach the second-hand market when compared to their petrol-engined equivalents.

DAEWOO's new small car, the Matiz, will go on sale in the UK in September costing £6,320 on the road for the entry-level model and £7,020 for the hi-spec version.

RAC members are expected to vote in favour of the organisation's Motoring Services division being sold to the giant American Cendant Corporation at a meeting on August 12.

FLEETS are set to save money servicing Ford vehicles following the manufacturer's decision to revise schedules.

CONTRACT hire specialist ACL has acquired Motorent, the last of the major independent contract hire and fleet management companies, for an undisclosed sum.

SHELL UK has given a massive boost to the liquefied petroleum gas market with the announcement that it is to invest £10 million to make LPG readily available to 80% of British motorists by 2001.

ROYAL Mail has bought more than 400 rough terrain underbody protection kits for appraisal with its fleet of Vauxhall Combo vans.

THRIFTY Car Rental has launched a dedicated commercial vehicle rental business to raise its profile in important sales areas and build profits.

VOLKSWAGEN is pumping £1 billion into a transformation of the commercial vehicles side of its empire in the UK.

NISSAN has announced prices for its new Pickup range, which adds two new cab designs to the model line-up.

REG Vardy, the fast-expanding motor group, has agreed a £5.5 million deal to buy four new dealerships.

CAR dealer Lookers has acquired the Toyota and Daihatsu business of Rylands in Belfast for £3.3 million.

CALEDONIA Motor Group has launched a major expansion programme to increase its dealership network.

SEAT has launched Britain's first diesel sports coupe - the £14,445 on the road Cordoba SX TDi.

THE UK importer of SsangYong vehicles has issued a writ for more than £10 million against Daewoo Corporation and its British arm Daewoo Cars in a wrangle over supply and marketing.

AUTOMOTIVE parts supplier Unipart has launched a new mobile tyre company as part of its continued battle for more fleet business.

THE new owner of dealer group Appleyard has sold the firm's Peugeot and Mercedes dealerships in Peterborough, Cambs.

CALLS for a 'super performance' luxury car to compete with the likes of the BMW 7-series, Mercedes S-class and Audi A8 have been brushed aside by Fiat Auto chief executive Roberto Testore.

THE AA has pledged a major investment in vehicle-location systems technology and in-car traffic and route information as a fundamental part of its bid to become the premier roadside assistance organisation in the UK.

LEADING newspaper and magazine distributor Surridge Dawson has taken on National Tyres and Autocare to provide a tyre management service for its 400-strong van fleet.

MALE company car drivers are far more likely to have an accident than their female counterparts.

A PILOT project, costing about £14 million, is set to slash the number of accidents on roads in a northern county if funding gets the all clear.