GENERAL Motors has announced a major initiative that will support its fleet and product management activity across 10 countries. The company has appointed automotive business intelligence company EurotaxGlass’s to supply ‘strategic consultancy services’ with a team from the company based at GM’s fleet sales headquarters in Germany.

Announcing the move, a GM spokesman said: ‘The collaboration between the two companies focuses on residual value forecast and management. It also includes two car-to-market studies where EurotaxGlass’s will provide a detailed prediction of the future market performance of vehicles at an early stage in their design and development.’

The EurotaxGlass’s Market Intelligence Unit (EGMIU) operation within EurotaxGlass’s will be responsible for delivering the data, market commentary and consultancy services to GME. Services provided will be based on a pan-European database of automotive information which is continually update.

The agreement will last for a minimum of one year, during which the EurotaxGlass’s international experts will provide a monthly residual value assessment across 10 West European countries. It will also provide a residual value tracking facility in those same markets for selected GM models and key competitors. Andy Higgins, GME’s head of remarketing, said: ‘We can only act if we understand the impact we can have on residual values and EurotaxGlass’s provides valuable input for us to support residual values wherever possible.’