News - Page 2295

GOVERNMENT ministers are set to decide whether to grant van maker LDV £40 million of state aid to enable it to enter into a joint van-making venture with Daewoo. A Department of Trade and Industry advisory board met on Thursday to consider the application. The advisory group's recommendation, which has not been made public, will now be passed on to ministers for a final decision.

THE largest corporate fleet in the Republic of Ireland has signed a £120,000 order for a new fleet software system with Stevenage-based FCS Computer Services. Telecommunications company Telecom Eireann will use FCS's DRIVE fleet software to manage its fleet of more than 4,500 vehicles and 700 mechanical aids.

ROVER Group is considering the introduction of longer warranties with the launch of its Discovery replacement later this year. The manufacturer denied there were any concrete plans to extend its one-year warranty, but confirmed that the issue was on the agenda for the future.

COMPANIES which take draconian measures against drivers involved in crashes may never be able to determine their true accident record. Accident management specialist Automanagement says that taking a tough line with drivers can mean that only serious shunts are ever reported, with minor scrapes and scratches going unnoticed.

COMPETITION for places on the first RAC Scholarship Awards scheme - the £50,000 fleet industry training initiatives supported and funded by the RAC and run in conjunction with the Institute of Car Fleet Management - is hotting up. With a month to go before the cut-off date for applications - February 20 - a total of 46 fleet managers have now expressed interest in applying for one of the eight places available on the first 16-month training programme leading to an RAC Scholarship Award, an ICFM diploma in car fleet management and probable election as an ICFM Fellow.

FLEET sales will be central in boosting Britain's car parc by 10% over the next five years despite warnings of worsening congestion and air pollution. The latest Lex Report on Motoring predicts continuing strong growth in the car market despite an economic slowdown and increasing concern over the environmental impact of the car.

A NEW survey which reveals that 82% of people expect to be driving gas or electric cars by 2010 should boost fleet interest in alternative fuels, according to Powershift - the Government-funded clean fuel vehicle initiative run by the Energy Saving Trust. The survey of 912 drivers, carried out by Powershift at the London Motor Show, found that 62% would consider moving over to alternative fuels within five years, and 77% within 10 years.

ONE of the world's leading car rental industry consultants and authorities has announced a major global expansion of its business with the opening of new offices in the UK and Japan. Abrams Consulting International was launched in 1994 as a subsidiary of Neil Abrams Associates, founded by Neil Abrams in 1982 following six years as a senior executive with Hertz Corporation. Now US-based Abrams has appointed leading rental industry experts to head up new ACI offices in the UK and Japan.

PEUGEOT has become the third of the big four manufacturers which did not attend the 1997 Fleet Motor Show to confirm it will be exhibiting at this year's event at Donington Park. Confirmation by Peugeot that it will be exhibiting at the show to be held from May 11-14 follows similar decisions by Vauxhall and Rover. All three manufacturers, along with Ford, did not attend last year's show at Silverstone.

FIRST National Vehicle Contracts has bought Whitechapel Corporate Services, designer of the much-discussed Car Ownership Scheme, for an undisclosed sum from Sedgwick plc. The acquisition will see Abbey National subsidiary FNVC promote both the established Whitechapel scheme, and also a new version which includes the option of funding, fleet management and residual value and maintenance risk.

THE Department of Trade and Industry has given the green light to PHH Vehicle Management Services' takeover of Harpur UK. Several major leasing companies - led by GE Capital Fleet Services - had challenged the $186 million deal, claiming it would deliver a virtual monopoly of the multi-brand fuel card market and two-thirds of the total fuel card market to the merged PHH-Harpur.

FLEET managers are putting drivers at risk and denting residual values by allowing non-authorised bodyshops to carry out accident repairs, according to British Car Contracts. BCC says a worrying trend has emerged, with fleet managers attempting to cut costs by having vehicles repaired outside dealer networks and officially approved bodyshops. It warns that some of the bodyshops used may fail to meet the standards required by manufacturers, with safety implications for drivers.

FURIOUS fleet and motor industry chiefs are to protest to the Government at a proposal to introduce a £25 fee on first registration of all new cars, vans and trucks. The 'out of the blue' proposal was announced this week by Transport Minister Gavin Strang and was immediately condemned as 'monstrous' by the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association and a 'further burden on business' by the Association of Car Fleet Operators.

BRITISH Car Auctions is claiming a record start to 1998 with the number of vehicles being sold through its centres nationwide at all-time high volumes. The company says that in the first week of 1998 the number of vehicles sold was the highest on record for the first week of a New Year. BCA also says conversion rates were high and the demand for stock was strong across the board in the UK. However, BCA declined to reveal its record-breaking figures.

ENGINEERING and construction giant Kvaerner has re-signed Europcar as its primary supplier for car and van rental in the UK and North America for a further two years. Kvaerner is one of Europcar's top 10 corporate accounts, and the rental company was understandably delighted to retain the business, although it declined to reveal the value of the contract.

A NEW daily rental company called Jasmor is setting out to win corporate business, and bears more than a passing resemblance to Alamo's arrival in the UK at the start of the 1990s. Jasmor is the new name of established hire company RVR, owned by MSF Motor Group, which has about 1,500 vehicles based at 15 locations.

BCR Car & Van Rental is saving hundreds of man-hours a month by using a mobile servicing facility to maintain its cars on site. The daily rental specialist is using Hometune - 33% owned by Kwik-Fit - to service its Rover fleet according to manufacturer schedules.

VOLVO is gearing up to launch into the UK light truck market with the arrival of the Canter range. The company is already an established player in the HGV sector, but as Fleet NewsNet reported last year, the Canter - badged as and built by Mitsubishi in Portugal - marks its first foray into the LCV sector.

VAUXHALL will be adding a new van to its model line-up in January next year.

CITROEN has added new cars and made some minor cosmetic changes to the Saxo range, along with some price realignments. For the first time Citroen is offering the option of automatic transmission with a 1.4-litre petrol engine in the Saxo, and this model will replace the 1.6 auto.

MITSUBISHI has followed up a £1.2 million order for Carisma GDIs with a contract hire deal for a further eight vehicles from office equipment company the Sharples Group. Sharples confirmed an order for 87 Carismas powered by the 1.8-litre Gasoline Direct Injection engine at the London Motor Show, and has now ordered additional vehicles through leasing specialist JCT 600 Contracts.

DRAFT guidance to local authorities in England and Wales on strategies to reduce traffic on local roads has been published. Junior transport minister Glenda Jackson said the measures which will be undertaken as part of the Road Traffic Reduction Act 1997 would turn environmental awareness into action.

A report into air quality published by a Government committee has revealed that although peak levels of ozone in the atmosphere are falling, average levels are still on the increase. The Photochemical Oxidants Review Group found that ozone levels frequently exceeded safe levels throughout the UK in summer and substantial reductions would be needed to meet the National Air Quality Strategy target of 50 parts per billion.

CAR Fleet Control has been chosen to supply a new fleet management software system for Staveley Industries' 1,800 vehicle fleet. The international technical services group will use Car Fleet Control's Eurofleet package to replace an in-house system written several years ago.

BRITISH Car Contracts has signed a 135-vehicle sale and leaseback deal with wallcoverings, fibres and home products manufacturer Readicut International. It will also supply a further 105 Vauxhalls, Fords and Rovers, on contract hire. Yorkshire-based Readicut previously bought vehicles, but wanted a cash injection plus the fixed monthly payments of contract hire with maintenance.

BMW'S US chief has confirmed that the German manufacturer will build an upmarket off-road vehicle at its American factory. Speaking at the Detroit Motor Show, BMW USA chairman Henrich Heitmann offered few details about the new vehicle, but said it would hit the market in 1999.

NINE of the 10 UK dealers which will sell Cadillac and Chevrolet models when they are launched in the spring were named this week. The new cars received their UK public debut at October's London Motor Show.

CLAIMS that personal contract purchase schemes could become the widespread alternative to the company car if Budget changes in the spring result in significant benefit-in-kind tax changes have been dismissed by Masterdrive Leasing and Rental Group. While acknowledging that PCPs perform 'a valuable role as a niche product' the company has warned that PCPs are not 'the panacea they have been made out to be'.

THE Government has confirmed its commitment to improving air quality after a new report suggested poor air could be responsible for hastening the deaths of up to 24,000 vulnerable people a year. Responding to the report, which was published by the Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants, the Government said the findings justified its stance on air quality and pledged further measures to tackle vehicle and industrial emissions.

THE SMMT is predicting that 1998 will see 2.1 million new car registrations - just down on 1997. Chief executing Ernie Thompson said factors such as building society windfalls, which had helped boost sales in 1997, were unlikely to be repeated in 1998.