News - Page 2382

BMW has revved up the Compact and 3 Series Coupe with the offer of a sparkling new 1.9 litre multi-valve engine. The engine is the same as the one which will appear in the Z3 Roadster when it comes to Britain at the end of the year. It offers more torque and improved refinement than the outgoing 1.8 litre unit.

FLEXIBLE rental specialist Global Self Drive has relocated to new premises in Peterborough as part of a new drive for expansion in East Anglia and the East Midlands.

A £250,000 deal will put the whole national Surridge Dawson van fleet under the watchful eye of the Securicor TrakBak security system. The vehicle tracking system is to be fitted to all Surridge Dawson's 320-strong fleet.

TOUGH new guidelines have been issued to car makers by the Government in a new bid to crack down on car crime.The Home Office this week issued new guidelines encouraging car manufacturers to cover all aspects of vehicle security and allow 'attack testing' to see how long it takes to break into vehicles. New guidelines include:

DAEWOO has added air conditioning as standard to every car in its line-up starting with the entry-level £8,795 Nexia GLi three-door without increasing prices. At the same time the company, which following its launch in the UK last year has expanded to take a 1% slice of the total new car market, has also announced the addition of a six-disc CD autochanger to the range-topping £12,995 Espero 2.0 CDXi at no extra cost.

A YEAR after being appointed supplier of contract hire and related fleet management services to Sussex-based Fisher Rosemount, Automotive Leasing has delivered the 100th vehicle to be supplied on contract hire. Fisher Rosemount, part of Emerson Electric, design, manufacture and market control valves, instrumentation and digital control systems.

NEWCASTLE-based Home Housing Association has switched its 120-strong fleet to contract hire from outright purchase following the August 1, 1995 VAT changes which cut the cost of leasing.

NEW motor finance figures reveal a further shift away from hire purchase towards leasing in the business sector. Figures for March from the Finance & Leasing Association reveal that in the first quarter of 1996 demand for hire purchase dropped 10% to £771 million while leasing rose 25% to £867 million on the strength of last August's VAT changes.

ROVER is recalling 21,634 Rover 600 Series cars built between December 1994 and December 1995 to check a potential steering rack fault. The manufacturer has identified a few incidences of the rack mounting bolts working themselves loose leading to a rattle and a feeling of imprecision in the steering.

NISSAN has announced price increases on its Almera three and five-door models, Primera, QX and 200SX ranges. Almera prices have increased by 1.7% across the range, although prices of the recently launched four-door model remain unchanged. At the same time alloy wheels become standard on SLX and SRi models.

FLEET operators can still save thousands of pounds per vehicle by operating diesel cars as the dispute over diesel residual values intensifies. British Car Contracts stepped into the debate this week claiming that a company operating 750 Rover 600 diesel cars could save more than £1.5 million a year on a one-year contract against their petrol-engined equivalents.

THE Association of Car Fleet Operators' campaign against car delivery charges could succeed before the autumn. This has been one of the best planned and best resourced ACFO campaigns, and manufacturers have paid close attention.

VAN sales are up slightly year-on-year, according to figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. The drop in sales of vans up to 1.8 tonnes - down from 25,565 in the first four months of 1995 to 24,804 this year - is compensated by a rise in sales of 1.8-3.5 tonne vans to 41,537 (39,999).

THE April sales boom was reflected in the fleet diesel market, which recovered from a period of year-on-year sales reductions, to increase by 12.5%. Fleet diesel sales last month were 17,659 compared with 15,701 in April last year in a total diesel market up 3.7% at 29,992 (28,933).

THE April fleet market was up 17.7% at 82,135 from 69,793 in April last year. For the year to date fleet sales stand at 345,326 - up 7.9% from 320,174 in the first four months of 1995.

VAUXHALL is hoping to woo company car user-choosers into the Vectra after more than 18,000 people drove the car during a series of 10 driving days in April.

THIRTEEN company car drivers were responsible for 99 insurance claims in 12 months, highlighting the importance of concentrated driver training, according to VELO Insurance Services.

THE most popular method of obtaining company cars is contract hire, which has risen dramatically in the past year at the expense of outright purchase, according to the new Company Car Survey Report from Monmouth-based Alan Jones & Associates.

UP to 20 Conservative MPs have been given a tax amnesty over parliamentary perks, some of which relate to company cars. National newspapers this week claimed the amnesty amounted to £400,000 but the Inland Revenue told Fleet NewsNet it did not know where that figure came from and it had not issued any figures.

A BATTLE for total control of Central Motor Auctions is under way following the recent surprise £11.9m bid for the company from its smaller rival Independent Car Auctions. It has been revealed that integrated Transport Systems, the holding company for the UK's largest auction company ADT Auctions, has almost doubled its 9.9% stake in CMA.

THE fleet industry has lost its £15-£25 billion company car VAT recovery battle with HM Customs & Excise. The High Court, on appeal, ruled against the three companies which brought the test cases - motor dealer T C Harrison, Allied Domecq and RoyScot Leasing. The High Court's decision not to allow a further appeal to the European Court, where a final ruling would have taken up to two years, could see the end of the battle.

USED car buyers will no longer pay a premium for diesel cars, according to one of the UK's leading car retailers. Richard Lownsborough, who heads up Reg Vardy Group's used car buying division, said the price advantage which diesel had enjoyed was no longer there.

GUARDIAN Royal Exchange insurance has clinched the deal to buy RAC Insurance Brokers, the insurance broking arm of the RAC.

VAUXHALL has launched the Vectra Premier to celebrate its sponsorship of the Euro '96 football championships. The £13,500 car marks a hat-trick of football-themed limited editions for Vauxhall, joining the Corsa Premier and Astra Premier which were introduced earlier in the spring.

RELAUNCHED following a management buy out late last year, Southalls Hygiene Services has chosen Swan National to provide and manage its 160-strong fleet. The fleet - mostly Vauxhall Astra estates - will initially form a sale and leaseback deal.

BRITAIN'S £10 billion man John Brown has retired after a 46-year career in the finance industry. Brown, director of NWS Bank, part of the Bank of Scotland Group, was instrumental in arranging big ticket leasing deals worth more than £10 billion. He has also pioneered many of the practises considered de rigueur in today's leasing and finance industry.

COMPANY car drivers have given Lex Vehicle Leasing's One-Call service the thumbs up six months after its nationwide launch, according to the company's own research. Following a pilot scheme in the Manchester area early last year Lex One-Call was launched nationally six months ago.

RENAULT has decided to offer fleet operators a warranty extension to three years/60,000 miles - but it will only cover the clutch. The company denied this week that the offer resulted from customer worries about the component, saying: 'It is simply a small expression to create confidence in the product. It goes no further than that. Warranties are in demand and we thought, why not?'

THE Ford Maverick and Nissan Terrano are to get a July face-lift with changes including revised bodywork and an intercooler for the diesel engine to boost power by 25%. A small price rise is being predicted for both vehicles which currently range in price from £15,465 for a Terrano 3 dr LX to £21,470 for a range-topping five door Maverick.

VAUXHALL fleet chiefs have heralded the Vectra's auction debut as proof positive that the manufacturer leads the pack in the wholelife costs stakes.