News - Page 2348

PROTON has unveiled the first in a series of niche market vehicles - a two-door coupe based on the Compact - in Malaysia, just weeks after a ground-breaking deal saw the company soar into December's UK fleet sales top ten.v

THE Ministry of Defence has named a total of five approved suppliers of short term rental cars in a contract potentially worth £8 million a year. Avis Rent a Car, British Car Rental, United Kenning, Smith Self Drive and Arnold Clark are the named companies, although the deal does not exclude business with other hire companies.

FILM has been removed from speed cameras in some areas because the police cannot afford the administrative cost of prosecuting speeders, it has been revealed.

REGIONAL newspaper publisher Trinity International Holdings has formed a new group fleet operation to run the company's expanded fleet of more than 1,400 vehicles.

THE importance of the company car to British business is to be stressed by Association of Car Fleet Operators' chairman Tony Leigh in forthcoming meetings with both the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats.

HSS Hire Service Group's safest drivers have been rewarded for their skills in a competition to find the HSS Driver of the Year. The winner Ron Taylor, of Rochester, is now planning a trip to Mauritius with his prize of £1,000-worth of holiday vouchers.

HONDA is preparing to bring gas or electric powered vehicles to the UK within the next 12 to 18 months. In a speech at the launch of the new Prelude, Honda UK managing director Toshio Ishino said the manufacturer would introduce clean air vehicles worldwide next year.

LOOKERS Group has lost its Ford franchises following a major re-organisation of dealer networks by manufacturers. Despite the loss and the revealing of 'disappointing' motor division profits in the second half of the company's financial year, according to figures released last week, the company is optimistic about the future.

A FLEET management company has been set up by a Dublin-based vehicle maintenance and repair group with the help of Car Fleet Control software. Central Motor Group was established in 1975 and has grown over the years to become one the city's biggest garages. Its decision to move into fleet management came as a result of fleet customers asking for a more extensive service.

FORD'S European operations have reported losses of $291 million (£180 million) during 1996, compared to a profit of $116 million in 1995. Ford puts the drop down to the highly-competitive nature of the European markets, which have seen a shift to low-end cars and increasingly high incentives from the majority of manufacturers.

A TRIO of Ford's strongest dealerships have joined forces to form a new retail group which will be among the UK's top 50. Heartlands Ford of Birmingham, Atlantic Ford of Wilmslow and Brunel Ford of Bristol have effectively bought themselves out of Ford's dealer development programme with the help of former dealer development manager John Briggs. Briggs joins the managing directors of the three dealerships on the board of the new holding company - Quartic Motor Group.

MASTERDRIVE helped parent company Dutton-Forshaw increase operating profits to £10 million on turnover of £426 million. The contract hire offshoot's fleet grew by 12% in its fifth consecutive year of profit growth.

THE Metropolitan Police has decided to outsource the maintenance of most of its 4,500-vehicle fleet after a major review of operations. Covert vehicles will continue to be maintained in-house and core vehicles such as patrol cars, traffic cars and senior officers' vehicles will still be managed in-house, but more peripheral activities will be contracted out.

TOYOTA has given an assurance that there are no plans to cut back its British operation, despite president Hiroshi Okuda's warning that the car giant will look to invest elsewhere if Britain does not join a single European currency.

ONE of Europe's largest logistics and hire companies, Transport Development Group has launched TDG Vehicle Rental. From Saturday (February 1) TDG's rental company Swift and its 1995 acquisitions UK Vehicle Rentals and Adrian Truck Hire have been trading as TDG Vehicle Rental, with all vehicles carrying the distinctive juggler logo.

STOCK market excitement in Ryland Group shares subsided last week following an announcement that it had terminated discussions about a possible takeover.

PEUGEOT has increased its car prices by an average of 1.66%, but dropped some 806 prices. Price increases varies across each model range. A limited edition 806 seven-seater 1.9 Turbo Diesel Eden Park has also been launched.

LLOYDS Bowmaker and United Dominions Trust have taken a step closer with the appointment of a joint managing director. UDT managing director John Davies has stepped down and Bowmaker managing director Peter Hook has been appointed to develop the future strategy of both companies, owned by Lloyds TSB.

SOFTWARE company VRS Europe has launched an all-new fleet management system called Vehicle Cost Manager.

PEUGEOT has rationalised its 306 range by deleting two trim levels and enhancing specification at the lower end of the line-up.

TEACHING union representatives voted for Vectra after holding a ballot to determine their preferred choice of company car. Regional representatives from the NAS/UWT chose a dozen Vectras as their transport to visit teachers at schools across the country.

CHRYSLER, which launches its world best-selling MPV Voyager in the UK in March, is confident it can buck the predicted trend for heavy drops in residual values.

PLANS to drive cars out of towns and city centres have been dismissed as 'useless' by motoring organisations. A private member's bill - The Road Traffic Reduction Bill - sponsored by Liberal Democrat MP for Bath Don Foster - was given its second reading in the House of Commons on Friday.

TOYOTA'S upbeat message to the UK and European car industry came just days after Nissan announced it was creating 800 new jobs at its Sunderland plant and thousands more in the component supply industry following its decision to build the Almera replacement in the north east in addition to the Micra and Primera.

CALLS have been made for fleet managers to rigorously check driving licences of all drivers and staff using their own vehicles for business after it was revealed that more than one million company car drivers have never had their licences checked.

FLEETS are being warned to check their computer systems now to avoid potential chaos at the turn of the century. Some older systems cannot deal with dates beyond 1999 and fleet operators could face major problems if they have older software or systems which have been developed in house.

FAST fit specialist ATS has launched a new tyre control system which will offer leasing companies a fleet-wide tyre policy for a fixed monthly sum. ATS claims the initiative will revolutionise tyre management, bringing absolute predictability to one of the most significant areas of maintenance budgets.

FUEL card wars have broken out, with Britain's second largest card company launching a major new offensive as fleets turn to fuel cards to control rocketing bills.

SINCE its launch in July last year Fleet News on the Net has vastly increased its content, broadened its scope, and gained a large number of avid users. Six months on it's time to reinforce the title's unique identity.

AIR conditioning in lieu of a sunroof is to become available on all Nissan Primera models, excluding the five-door entry level Equation from Saturday, February 1.