New Citroen Berlingo

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is acquiring 160 Citroen new Berlingo and Dispatch vans. These are going to be the first of the new models in the 500 strong fleet which already features mainly Citroen vehicles.

The RSPCA is standardising the new Berlingo for most of its transport work whilst using the Dispatch for larger animal rescue projects. Both these Citroen vans should have a 5 year or 100,000 mile service life.

Following the UK Government’s plan to cut car and van speeds on A-roads to 50mph, the Road Haulage Association wants the A-road speed limit for trucks hiked to 50mph – presently they’re stuck at 40 mph. 

The RHA wants trucks to match the UK Government’s proposed 50mph speed limit for cars and vans on A-roads, meaning that “traffic could flow at the new limit.”  It says its idea would cut tailbacks by having cars and trucks travelling at the same speed. 

“The present 20mph speed separation between trucks and other road users means cars and vans can safely overtake trucks.”  But the proposed 10mph difference is “not enough of a cushion to allow safe, legal overtaking,” says Roger King, RHA chief executive.

Stewart Whyte , Managing Director of Fleet Audits, has been highly critical of the new scrappage scheme. My Whyte thinks the UK Government should have renewed its own fleet rather than offering the scrappage scheme. The scrappage scheme was launched in last week’s Budget and the Government is putting up £300 million with a similar amount coming directly from the manufacturers.

Mr Whyte said ” I do not think the scrappage scheme is the best use of £300m of public money, particularly because there is no encouragement within the scheme for consumers to buy low-emission vehicles. The total of £600m could have been used to buy some 45,000-60,000 new low emission cars and vans to refresh and rejuvenate some elements of the fleets in Government departments and agencies”.

Mr Whyte went onto say ” Our fleet experience suggests that the majority of such bodies have for many years been restricted in vehicle replacement opportunities through budget caps. This has generated a sizeable pent up demand for vehicle replacements. A temporary lifting of these budgets caps could have created a more effective and targeted demand which UK-built cars could go a long way to fulfil”.

Mt Whyte highlighted that this strategy has already been adopted by the Obama administration to help the United States motor industry.

British Gas orders 5,300 VW Caddy vans

Volkswagen is supplying the 5,300 VW Caddy vans to British Gas. Following a rigorous tender process Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles won the contract (their largest ever fleet order) to supply the vans with bespoke racking and a 70mph speed limiter. Each British Gas engineer travels on average 12,000 miles per annum and this fleet of VW Caddy vans will cover over 254 million miles during their four year life. 

Colin Marriott, General Manager Fleet at British Gas said ” We are committed to our vehicle replacement programme to ensure our fleet operates to the highest safety levels and that we continuously take advantage of the very latest vehicle technologies that reduce our impact on the environment.

The Volkswagen Caddy van is the most compact model in the Volkswagen range (of Caddy, Caddy Maxi, Transporter and Crafter models), with a 3.2 cubic metre load volume. Volkswagen Business contract hire prices are available on the whole range.

New MD for Peugeot UK

Jonathan Goodman has been appointed as the new MD of Peugeot UK. The new appointment is effective from the 1st June and he replaces Pierre Louis Colin, who returns to France to run a new Division for Peugeot dedicated to the next generation of electric and hybrid vehicle development.

Jonathan is an experienced member of the Peugeot senior management team and has worked for Peugeot since 1985. Eleven years were spent at Peugeot UK plus some time in Europe. He is 45 years old and married with two children.

The SMMT has reported that car production has more than halved in March to bring quarter one volumes down by 56.6%.  Commercial vehicle production fell by 63% in the first quarter, after a steep fall again in March.

Paul Everitt, SMMT chief executive said ” The figures show that urgent action is necessary to kick start demand in the motor industry and the introduction of a UK scappage incentive scheme is an important first step”. Mr Everitt went on to say ” The motor industry has an essential role in the UK’s economic future, but it will be some months before we see any significant increase in output”.   

Ford Transit ECOnetic panel van

Ford is adding their low CO2 ECOnetic technology to the Ford Transit. The new Transit van will be based on the front wheel drive Transit 280 panel van with short wheelbase and a 2.2-litre 115PS Duratorq TDCi diesel engine. The targeted combined fuel mpg is 39.2mpg and a CO2 figure of 189g/km.

Added as an option, a closed-loop, coated Diesel Particulate Filter (cDPF) enables the Transit ECOnetic to satisfy the Euro Stage V emission standards. The van features the Durashift six-speed manual transmission (VMT-6) offering a wider range of available gear ratios over the previous five-speed transmission.

Standard equipment includes ESP (Electronic Stability Programme), including Hill Launch Assist (HLA), Ford Audio 6000 unit, load box safety equipment,full steel bulkhead and solid tie down hooks. The Transit ECOnetic offers 1,097 kg gross payload and the same load box volume of 6.5 cubic metres.  

Ford ECOnetic technology

The new Ford Transit ECOnetic will be available in the Autumn and Ford contract hire prices shortly after.

Volvo C30 DRIVe R-DESIGN

Volvo has just strengthened its DRIVe car range by combining the DRIVe technologies with the sports credentials of the R-DESIGN bodykit. This will extend to the C30, S40 and V50 R-DESIGN models. The new 1.6D car models all boast a CO2 figure of 119g/km and a combined mpg of 62.8mpg across all three models.

Volvo S40 1.6D DRIVe R-DESIGN

The R-DESIGN models feature a special DRIVe wind deflector and a R-DESIGN badge at the front, plus DRIVe badges on the rear to announce the green credentials. The bodykit includes front and rear spoilers, lower door trim and side skirts, 17-inch five spoke alloy wheels, as well as roof and lip spoilers. Inside the interior has upholstery in cream leather and off black Flex-Tec, R-DESIGN centre stack and blue instrument dials.

Ford Fiesta Van ECOnetic offers 98g/km CO2

Ford is going greener with the launch of the new Ford Fiesta Van ECOnetic later this year. The new van will offer the same Fiesta style with lowered suspension, low rolling resistance tyres and a specially calibrated 1.6-litre Duratorq TDCi for an ultra-low CO2 output of 98g/km. The car-derived van will also offer 76.4 mpg on the combined cycle and Ford claim that over a range of 12,428 you will use 35 gallons of less fuel saving you money.

Some of the extra features include:

- Aerodynamic spoiler

- Lowered suspension

- Optimised rolling resistance tyres and low friction oil

- Green shift indicator

- Modified engine calibration

- Transmission final drive ratio changed from 3.37 to 3.05

Steve Kimber, commercial vehicles director, Ford of Britain said ” Many operators are prepared to be green -but still want comfort, performance and an affordable price. The low running costs of this ECOnetic van are bound to make more people consider the “green” option. It’s a great package”.

Fuel Duty

As announced at Budgets 2007 and 2008, and also confirmed at the 2008 Pre-Budget Report, main fuel duty rose by 1.84 pence per litre on 1 April 2009. The main fuel duty rate is therefore now 54.19 pence per litre.

To contribute towards the consolidation of the public finances, the 2009 Budget announced that the main fuel duty will increase by 2 pence per litre on 1 September 2009, and by a further 1 penny per litre in real terms each year from 2010 to 2013. Duty on rebated oils will increase in proportion to main fuel duty increases on the same dates. This will also help to reduce polluting emissions, saving 2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year by 2013-14.

Company Car Tax

In response to advances in vehicle technology and falling new-car CO2 emissions, Budget 2009 announced that, with effect from 6 April 2011:

-The CO2 emissions thresholds for main CCT bands will be shifted down by 5g CO2 per km; This reinforces the Government strategy to reduce carbon emissions and incentivise drivers to go green. It also emphasises how important choosing a car with a low CO2 will be if you are looking to save money.

- The £80,000 cap on company car list prices, for the purposes of calculating company car benefit, will be abolished, to ensure that drivers of the most expensive company cars pay a fair amount of tax

- Outdated discounts for early-uptake Euro 4 standard diesel cars, higher-emitting hybrid vehicles, gas-powered and biofuel-capable cars will be abolished, in favour of a system that simply rewards lower tailpipe CO2 emissions.

New car and van scrappage scheme

For a temporary period, consumers will get a discount of £2,000 on a new vehicle if they scrap a vehicle more than 10 years old and that they have owned for more than 12 months.

Further details can be found @

 http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/bud_bud09_press01.htm