NEWS

TOYOTA has appointed Ewan Shepherd as general manager of Toyota and Lexus fleet and remarketing services. The promotion comes as previous incumbent, Mark Roden, leaves the company to become MD at Westlands Toyota Group. Shepherd reckons there’s a lot of immediate potential for him to work on, once he starts his new job on 1 [...]

NMG Kia has secured a 40-car fleet contract with blue chip company Anglian Home Improvement. Sales reps from the home improvement firm will now be driving Kia cee’d 1.6 CRDi EcoDynamics. NMG Kia says being able to market the car’s green aspects, including ISG start-stop, helped it win the deal. MD Grand Long said: ‘Introducing [...]

RENAULT will add to its Paris Motor Show new product blitz with a facelift for the Mondeo-rivalling Laguna. Following facelift tradition, the refresh introduces a new look for the front end, both on hatch and Sport Tourer estate variants. Interior quality has also been driven up, while Renault says there will also be further boosts [...]

FLEET sector market improvements will be driven by an increase in leasing deals for new car acquisition. Companies will move to this from the more traditional route of outright acquisition of new cars. It will begin to skew a trend that was, until the start of the recession, pretty evenly split between outright purchase and [...]

1LINK Disposal Network has a new national sales manager for the epyx-developed e-commerce platform. Former AA and Lombard man Jon Juxon has joined 1Link because he has noted just how many big leasing companies are signing up. This, he reckons, means it it set to be a significant future player in the ex-fleet car disposal [...]

FLEET sales are indeed seeing big rises, say industry experts epyx, confirming sales analysis stats published by the SMMT. However, dealers should be warned the business of company car sales is highly erratic on a day to day basis. Orders are up 50 percent on last year, said head of business development Ken Trinder. That’s [...]

CAR fleet experts predict the industry is going to hasten big-number orders to beat the January 2011 VAT rise. ‘I would anticipate a ‘pull forward’ of orders to 2010 so that the higher VAT bills associated with the purchase of new cars are avoided,’ said ACFO chairman Julie Jenner. However, the type of cars that [...]

SEAT says it has helped its dealers buck the recession by consistently growing retail market share. Fleet is next. The firm commands 1.64 percent of the UK market so far in 2010. This is up from 1.5 percent in 2009 and 1.38 percent in 2008 – and, thus far, it has largely been driven by [...]

CAR dealers should be putting big efforts into winning fleet sales as the sector shows signs of a revival. Many dealers have steered away from fleet sales because it has been in the doldrums but now is the time to refocus on it. Network Automotive reveals that fleet sales are going up month by month. [...]

CAMBRIA Automobiles is celebrating a massive £5m 200-vehicle fleet deal with Easi-Drive this weekend. The cars sold included models from Citroen, Ford, Fiat and even Aston Martin! Accident Management specialist Easi-Drive has one of the most varied hire fleets in the UK, and the deal increases its size to around 900. Michael Higginbottom, national accounts [...]

INDEPENDENT car garages have a prime opportunity to win profitable fleet contracts says one expert. Network Automotive reckons extensions to fleet car cycles is leading to many more 4- and 5-year-old company cars. Independents are perfectly placed to take up the reigns of maintaining these motors and ensure firms fulfill Duty Of Care laws without [...]

BMW will sell 70 percent of its new 5 Series to corporate buyers – who are hooked on diesel models! 90 percent of 5 Series sales are diesel-powered, and over 6 in 10 of these will be the 520d oil burner. Such margins of sales superiority come within a sector that brand manager Michelle Roberts [...]

CAR dealers should target company car fleets with information about their service offers to drive extra business. The trend towards keeping cars on fleet for longer means some firms may be unaware of the extra maintenance demands required. If they fail to keep close tabs on these, warns software firm CFC Solutions, both condition and [...]

FERRARI F1 driver Fernando Alonso has taken delivery of his new road car in a PR move that will delight Maserati dealers. Twice World Champion Alonso is now the proud fleet driver of a graphite grey Maserati GranCabrio. It’s the perfect way for UK Maserati car dealers to flag up the launch of the new [...]

CHEVROLET is upping its fleet car sales drive with the appointment of a new boss and a new sales operation. Keith Jones is the new Chevrolet national sales manager for the value-priced brand. He heads up a brand new independent fleet sales operation, that will see fleet customers deal directly with Chevrolet. It brings structure [...]

COMPANY car fleets are retaining their cars for longer rather than replacing them with new models. As a consequence, leasing companies have seen medium term lease renewals double in recent times. It is the recession that is causing this trend. Leasing firm Equalease says that leases between 3 and 12 months used to represent less [...]

SKODA has appointed a new authorised franchise in Surrey with the opening of Colbornes Skoda Woking. Formerly a retail and servicing specialist for VW and Audi, Colbornes is hoping to snare many new customers with the addition of Skoda. ‘We wanted to be able to offer our customers a complete range of cars,’ said head [...]

MAZDA reports 2010 will see an increase in sales from fleets as firms and the economy start to recover. Car dealers are well placed to benefit from the company’s competitive pricing and CO2 rates, says Mazda’s head of fleet. Peter Allibon added this will become even more important in a few months’ time. ‘Company car [...]

FLEET experts are expecting car firms to begin a company car charm offensive to drive 2010 sales. The BVRLA says that, without scrappage, it will be hoped fleets will pick up the slack. Indeed, there could be a double bonus for car firms and dealers. Whereas scrappage sales have driven small, cheap cars, fleet buyers [...]

COMPANY cars account for half of all new cars sold in the UK every year and the PBR has pleased some buyers… But not all! Richard Lawton markets fleet car website fleetdirectory.co.uk. He described the Chancellor’s green company car move as ‘unusable, nothing more than an easier headline grabber from the Chancellor. ‘If the Government [...]