CAP's manufacturer relationships manager Martin Ward scours the globe for the week's insider fleet intelligence

Monday

To Daventry for a presentation from Audi’s fleet team and to have a look at the new A4 Allroad which made its world debut at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this month.

Audi’s head of fleet sales, Iain Carmichael, revealed he expects sales in the UK to be down from the 100,000-unit mark in 2008 to just under 90,000 this year.

He quoted the manufacturer’s global leader, Prof Dr Martin Winterkorn, who recently said this year would be brutal and the most difficult in the company’s history.

The A4 Allroad is based on the A4 Avant, but has a raised body height of 37mm, aluminium scuff plates and protectors, black plastic wheelarch surrounds and 18-inch wheels – much in the same way as the A6 Avant becomes the A6 Allroad.

The interior remains the same as the saloon and Avant, but the Allroad costs £1,860 more than the equivalent Avant, so will be bought by those who want something a bit different but don’t want to pay the price for a full-scale SUV such as the Q5.

It does have some nice styling cues and should sell in the limited numbers Audi UK expects to achieve – 450 this year and 900 in 2010.

Thursday

To Santander in Spain to the GM Europe press and fleet test drive of the Chevrolet Cruze saloon, the replacement for the Lacetti.

Sometimes you go on these events expecting the worse, and sometimes you are pleasantly surprised – this event was definitely one of the latter.

The quality in the Cruze is superb, while the design is brave and bold.

Santander at this time of year is as different to Spain as you could imagine – wet and windy with intermittent snow, and basically just horrible, but the Cruze proved to be a great drive in all conditions and so quiet, despite it being battered by the elements.

The Cruze is 4,597mm long so it sits fair and square in the lower-medium sector, with Chevrolet saying its main competitors will be the Skoda Octavia, Mazda3, Renault Megane, Mitsubishi Lancer and Ford Focus, most of which, like the Cruze, are available as four-door saloons.

The Cruze will not be available in either hatchback or estate versions.

Despite the poor weather we found the new Chevy to be very competent in all departments: it’s comfortable, quiet, has good road holding and strong brakes.

The Cruze will be on sale in the UK in July with a choice of three engines (two petrol and one diesel) and three trim levels.

Prices and specification were not announced at the launch event, but Chevrolet said the likely starting price in Germany and Spain will be from 15,000 euros and up to 21,000 euros for a top-of-the-range 2.0-litre diesel, which we thought was OK for the expected level of specification and quality.

But on our return home I received the UK prices and was pleasantly surprised to find they start at £11,545 for a 1.6 S.

My pick of the range, a 1.6 LS, costs £12,595 and the top-of-the-range 150bhp 2.0-litre diesel LT costs £15,195.

Chevrolet may be on to a winner with this car, and the new Astra from sister company Vauxhall is going to have to be exceptional to beat it in terms of styling, price and quality.

The problem is that there will only be 800 Cruze models imported into the UK this year and 1,750 in 2010.