By Grant Collinson, Jonathan Minter, Steffen Müller and Peter Johnstone
A round up of the week’s fleet news featuring GE, VW, German fleet, 100 Citroëns, BVRLA brokers, Hertz, Lex, industry guides, Burnt Tree, Fleet Alliance, BYD and Mia.
Go deeper with GlobalData
GE Capital: 15% emissions cut saves fleets 6bn
Company cars have cut their CO2 emissions by 15.2% over five years and saved businesses running fleets 6.2bn, according a report from GE Capital.
The Key Solutions CO2 Assessment from GE Capital EMEA analysed emissions from new company cars in 11 European countries between 2008 and 2012 and emissions had been cut by 15.2%, as much 13.1m tonnes of CO2 in the last two years alone – as much as is produced by a coal power station over three years.
Key Solutions, the fleet consultancy unit of GE’s finance arm, used the data to estimate that, had fuel efficiency remained at the 2009 level, the fleet sector would have incurred an additional fuel cost of more than 6.2bn between 2010 and 2012.
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By GlobalDataAlex Barbereau, EU Accounts and Consultancy Director, GE Capital EMEA, said emissions reduction was reflective of improved fuel efficiency in new vehicles as well as a trend towards greener car policies.
"However, when our previous European CO2 Assessment was published in 2011, fuel accounted for 21% of the Total Cost Ownership and today this figure stands at 26%," said Barbereau. "Therefore, fleet managers have both an environmental and commercial incentive to achieve further reductions."
The two fleet markets with greatest cumulative reduction in emissions were Germany and UK, with a calculated fuel saving of 2.27bn and 1.31bn respectively. The German market cut emissions by the greatest percentage at nearly 17% although the study reports this was from a higher level than most western European markets. UK fleets, which cut emissions by just under 12% over the period, were highlighted as having consistently lower emissions than the European average across all five years.
VW attempts MAN takeover
German car manufacturer Volkswagen (VW) has begun an attempt to buy the 25% of German truck maker MAN it does not already own.
VW has raised capital with a 1.2bn (£1bn) bond sale and used this to help offer other MAN investors 80.89 per MAN share in its takeover bid.
VW also controls Swedish truck maker Scania, and is competing with Daimler and Volvo to become Europe’s largest truck maker.
German fleet market back on wrong track
The German fleet market for passenger vehicles declined 11.7% year-on-year in May with 7,000 fewer registrations than in the same month the year before, according to business information firm Dataforce.
Adjusted to the number of working days, May’s figures still show a decline of 9.4%. This comes after last month’s first year-on-year monthly growth since June 2012 and the highest monthly volume since April 2008.
The construction vehicle market in May performed even worse, with a decline of 19.6% in new registrations, with the trading and the rental segments also seeing double-digit drops in May.
Total new registrations across all German passenger car market segments in May stood at 261,316, down by 9.9% year-on-year.
100-van deal in the pipeline for Citroën
Citroën Vans has signed a deal to renew the fleet for plant and pipeline maintenance firm Furmanite.
The company will be replacing its 100-strong LCV fleet with a combination of Dispatch, Relay and Berlingo vans, on four-year contracts, with maintenance, through Lex Autolease.
Susan Berriman, director of HR at Furmanite, said: "While we already run Citroën vans, we went through a rigorous re-evaluation of a wide range of other manufacturer’s LCV products before we placed the order with Citroën. Our engineers are very happy with the Citroëns – we wouldn’t have considered replacing like-for-like if they weren’t."
BVRLA celebrates 10 years of broker business
The British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA) held its first Leasing Broker Lunch this week to celebrate the 10th anniversary of fleet leasing brokers joining its membership ranks.
The event, sponsored by Arval, Lex Autolease, Network and Ogilvia Fleet, was held in London and attended by 70 guests including leasing brokers, vehicle manufacturers and other industry representatives.
The BVRLA currently has around 130 leasing broker members and is working to recruit the remaining 10 to 20% of the mainstream broker sector that are not yet in membership.
Paul Huxford, managing director of PHVC Vehicle Management and chairman of the BVRLA Leasing Broker Committee, said that the last 10 years had been a very successful partnership: "We have worked really hard to raise standards of professionalism – embracing the BVRLA Code of Conduct and conciliation service and sharing best practice within the industry."
Hertz UK acquires CCL Vehicle rentals
Fleet rental company Hertz UK has acquired national accident management and credit hire market insurer, CCL Vehicle Rentals.
The move gives Hertz a foothold in the UK’s car and van insurance replacement market, estimated to be worth £1bn.
In a release, Hertz said CCL will operate as a wholly-owned Hertz subsidiary, and its customers will benefit from "the car rental provider’s extensive fleet and network of locations across the UK."
Lex wins Glasgow housing tender
Lex Autolease has been selected by Glasgow’s Queens Cross Housing Association (QCHA) as its sole vehicle supplier and fleet management provider.
As well as vehicle acquisition, the sole-supplier tender includes the customisation and maintenance of the fleet.
The vehicles, including Ford Transit LCVs, will be used by the housing association to replace its ageing maintenance and repair fleet, to improve fuel efficiency and dramatically reduce vehicle downtime.
Lex was recently reappointed by the UK government’s social housing procurement consortium Procurement for Housing as a nominated supplier for vehicle contract hire, daily rental and fleet management services.
Updated industry guides published
Fleet industry consultant Professor Colin Tourick has published the second edition of Managing Your Company Car in Nine Easy Steps (MYCCNES) along with an updated companion book Company Car and Van Tax 2013-14.
MYCCNES is a scaled-down version of Managing Your Company Cars, the guide to fleet management and fleet leasing edited by Tourick, and has been updated to reflect changes in the market since the first edition was published in 2008.
The book is published in association with Ogilvie Fleet, ARI, CAP Automotive, Alastair Ames, carbon heroes and Driverconnex.
Company Car and Van Tax 2013-14, published in association with ALD Automotive and KMPG, has been updated since the 2012-13 edition to reflect changes in the UK budget and covers all tax law.
Both books are published by Eyelevel Books and are available at www.tourick.com.
Appointment and commendation for Burnt Tree
UK independent vehicle hire company Burnt Tree has appointed Mark Howell, formerly of Ryder Group, to head the company’s Contract Hire Division.
Meanwhile, Charlie Bailey, a group fleet engineer at the company has been awarded second place in the Commercial Recycling Champion category of the 10th anniversary Awards for Excellence in Recycling and Management.
Fleet Alliance bike ride raises £4,700 for charity
A team from Fleet Alliance has raised more than £4,700 for Glasgow’s Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice by completing the Five Ferries Challenge around Scotland’s west coast.
Over six-and-a-half hours, the seven-strong group, including directors Martin Brown, David Blackmore and Grant Boardman, cycled more than 50 miles around North Kintyre and the Firth of Clyde, as part of the company’s Fleet Alliance Loves corporate social responsibility programme.
In the same week, the company was voted one of the top five best places to work in the UK, following a survey by the Great Place to Work Institute.
EVs enter UK market
French and Chinese EV manufacturers Mia-Electric and BYD, respectively, have launched their first models in the UK fleet market.
More than 50 Chinese BYD e6 EV cars, boasting a range of 186 miles, are due to go on trial with fleet operators over the coming months, while Mia-Electric has signed with Venture Automotive Holdings to import its model in anticipation of rising demand as the CO2 exemption threshold is reduced for the London Congestion Charge.
This week, the first retail sale of a Mia-Electric, arranged on finance by Car Loan 4U, was announced in the UK.
Further comment regarding the future of the EV finance market in the UK will be published in the June issue of Motor Financemagazine.
