News - Page 1935

TOM Madden, director, customer affairs at BCA, argues that fleets should concentrate on simplicity in their efforts to maximise success at auction.

GENERAL Motors is drawing up plans to make its Vauxhall subsidiary an upmarket brand.

MAJOR changes at Kwik-Fit, including its fleet division, are paying dividends for the company's fleet customers, with improved services and a rocketing demand for business, according to a senior executive.

SKODA has launched a Euro IV-compliant version of the Superb 2.5 TDI, with increased power and torque but lower tax liability.

STAFF working for a Scottish NHS Trust responsible for an area of 10,000 square miles in the Highlands are using a new fleet of Vauxhall Corsas.

DRIVE & SURVIVE's Andy Neale has resigned from his position as managing director and has accepted a role as consultant on driving events for the group's principal clients.

THE biggest cause of accidents is the attitude of employers towards managing risk, but fleet managers can be the catalyst for change, the Fleet News Hit for Six Conference heard.

THE Inland Revenue is asking fleets, companies and key figures in industry five key questions as part of a review of the carbon dioxide-based company car tax system.

YORKSHIRE Building Society expects 10% of its fleet to be powered by liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) by the end of this year.

FLEETS currently offering free fuel to company drivers are being urged to reconsider the policy immediately.

COMMUNICATION with employees is essential if companies are to successfully move their drivers into cash-for-car schemes, the Hit for Six conference heard.

CASH for car expert Gary Hull, director of human resource services for PricewaterhouseCoopers, highlighted a number of reasons why a fleet might want to provide its drivers with a cash option.

FLEETS should issue an outright ban on making any phone calls while driving, even if employees are using hands-free mobile phones.

THE used car market is unlikely to cope with a surge of diesel models coming up for sale in three years' time, delegates heard.

KEN Davis, managing director of Automotive Management, has won a Mazda RX-8 for a weekend.

CHANGES to Block Exemption could save fleets hundreds of millions of pounds a year on their leased vehicles.

WITH the new Crossfire already proving a runaway success, Chrysler Jeep managing director Simon Elliott is looking forward to some sparkling sales successes in the coming year.

Average fuel prices in the UK.

The latest appointments in the fleet industry.

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A MAJOR conference held in Poland has shown that its emerging fleet industry is hungry for basic fleet management expertise.

A PUBLIC hydrogen filling station has opened in the Swedish city of Malmö.

HUNDREDS of European cities closed their roads to traffic for a day – giving fleets a taste of the future.

KIA has secured a 1% share of the European new car market for the first time.

PREPARATION is proving increasingly important if fleets want to sell their end-of-contract cars the first time they are offered at auction, according to BCA.

MANHEIM Auctions says demand for prestige cars going through its Wimbledon site signals positive signs of an economic recovery.

USED car volumes look set to increase over the coming weeks but the market will become tougher during November and December, making for a competitive year end, claims Manheim Auctions.

'RESEARCH conducted with many manufacturers' used car managers has revealed that, just about without exception, all of these disposal people are now involved in the decision as to what goes on the fleet in the first place.'

THE fleet industry will be forced to pay the Treasury a massive £100 million extra a year following Gordon Brown's fuel duty hike, imposed yesterday.

TRANSPORT Minister David Jamieson and former Chancellor of the Exchequer Kenneth Clarke are two of the confirmed speakers at the Fleet News Industry Conference 2003.