Nissan Sunderland

The Nissan Sunderland Plant has won a contract to assemble a new petrol engine next year securing production on Wearside. Nissan worked with One North East, their local Regional Development Agency. 

The new 2.0-litre engine, codenamed ” MR” will safeguard up to 130 jobs at the plant with possibly 200 more jobs being created by 2013, subject to market conditions.

Trevor Mann, Nissan Senior Vice President for Manufacturing in Europe said,” This is excellent news for Sunderland Plant, in particular for our Engine operation and I would like to thank One North East for their vital support”.

The new engine will be used in the Qashqai and Qashqai +2 which are also produced in Wearside and will comply with Euro 5 and 6, car CO2 emissions regulations.

Lexus IS-F in police kit

The Humberside Police force has taken delivery of a Lexus IS-F after evaluating a number other vehicles to replace the existing Subarus. The Subarus have been extremely successful in tackling organised criminals in the area and the Lexus IS-F was chosen after a subsequent 12 months evaluation.

The car has a 5.0-litre V8 engine capable of reaching 0-62mph in only 4.8 seconds and a limited top speed of 168mph. It was chosen after the vehicle proved to be capable of remaining stable in high speed pursuits despite carrying the extra £30,000 worth of computer and navigations equipment needed.

Sergeant Mike Peck of the Humberside Police said “The final product provides a most formidable package and is undoubtedly one of the most advanced police vehicles in the world which in turn enables my officers to deal with the cirminals who use the roads for serious and organised crime”.

The Lexus range does have many other variations and contract hire prices are available off the site.

David Hughes

Total Accident Management, the repair and claims management subsidiary of Helphire Group Plc, has appointed David Hughes as their new Operations Director. Mr Hughes joins Total having worked at Threadneedle Investments, Credit Suisse and Allied Dunbar Insurance in a broad range of operational leadership and change management roles.

He will report to Penny Goodman, MD of Total, who said,” Our business has more than doubled in growth in each of the last two years and David brings with him a fresh approach to operations in the automotive and accident management sectors”.

Total Accident Management has also recently agreed to work with Comparecontracthire.com ( the contract hire price comparison site) to offer their unique 1-Call accident management service to SMEs. This service is normally only available to larger fleets but now brings the benefits of accident management to any small to medium sized business, provided they are comprehensively insured and with a low excess.

Peugeot 207 Economique

The Peugeot 207 has gone even greener with a new 207 Economique and Economique+ model being launched. Both cars emit only 99g/km CO2 emissions and will be available in October 2009. Standard specification includes a styling pack, 15-inch steel wheels with “Aero” trims, black instrument dials, ABS EBFD (Electronic Brake Force Distribution), EBA (Emergency Brake Assist) plus many more accessories.

Peugeot 207 Economique

The car is powered by the 1.6-litre HDi diesel engine and offers 90bhp and a Euro 5 rating. Colour options are Bianca White, Thorium Grey and Inari Blue with one interior trim, Savana cloth. A new audio system includes an MP3 and WMA compatible front loading CD player, Bluetooth connection with hands-free phone capability and three-tuner radio with RDS-TMC traffic info.

The SMMT (Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders) has reported that the pace of decline in car output is slowing with June’s shortfall being the smallest this year. Commercial vehicle output however is still a concern with a 60.4% fall in June.

The latest data courtesy of the SMMT

“The UK motor industry is weathering the global recession and beginning the long road to recovery”, said Paul Everitt, SMMT chief executive. “As production volumes and registrations begin to stablise, government must help to sustain consumer confidence and encourage banks to deliver the credit industry needs”.

Mr Everitt went onto say, “UK commercial vehicle production remains extremely low. This reflects the difficult economic conditions and fragile business confidence in key markets, particularly the road haulage and construction sectors”.

Citroen C5

Citroen has upgraded the new Citroen C5 with a new colour satellite navigation system as standard in the VTR+ model. The new car range is now called VTR+ NAV and features Citroen’s fully integrated MyWay navigation system with its 7-inch colour screen.

You also get European mapping, voice guidance, Bluetooth hands-free connectivity and live traffic information from Trafficmaster PLC. MyWay also provides auxillary connectors in the glove box to allow portable media players to be plugged into the audio system.

Nissan 370Z

Two places are up for grabs and more details are available at the Nissan Race Academy website.

Jeep Wrangler

Jeep is teaming up with Lloyd Scott MBE for a charity Monster walk with a Tyrannosaurus Rex, in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust. Lloyd is planning to walk from Land’s End to John O’Groats accompanied by a life size T-Rex which was made in the Phillipines and hopes to raise £500,000.

The T-Rex is over 13 feet high and nearly 30 feet long and the charity walk is expected to take about 70 days and starts on the 19th July at Land’s End. Nigel Land, Marketing Director of Chrysler UK Ltd, said “To be honest this is the first time I have been asked if I had a vehicle that could tow a T-Rex!. The Wrangler has a reputation as a “Go Anywhere, Do Anything” vehicle and the Jeep will Go Anywhere in the UK and as for Do Anything, well this is the first time it has towed a life-size dinosaur!”. 

Lloyd Scott approached Jeep earlier this year and the Monster walk will stop off at main towns on the way but also at areas that are off the beaten track, so the Jeep Wrangler is ideal. Lloyd said “I would like to say a big thank you to Jeep for supplying the Wrangler and look forward to walking alongside two great legends- the Jeep Wrangler and the Tyrannosaurus Rex”. Contract hire prices on the Jeep Wrangler are also available off the site if this iconic 4×4 is off interest.

New 1.6-litre TDI engine

Audi has reduced the CO2 emissions of the successful Audi A3 by adding a new ultra-efficient 1.6-litre TDi common rail diesel engine to the hatchback, sportback and cabriolet range. This replaces the 1.9-litre TDI engine in the A3 TDIe and A3 Cabriolet TDI models.

This super efficient engine offers a remarkable 109g/km CO2 output and up to 69mpg on the combined fuel cycle. The car utilises the Audi automatic stop-start function which cuts engine power at idle (and when the gear lever is in neutral) and restarts the engine, in two tenths of a second, when the clutch is depressed.

The car only comes in a five speed manual transmission and offers much improved economy and low CO2 emissions without comprising perfomance.

The new Honda Accord is the most reliable car according to the latest 2009 Which? Car survey. It scored a remarkable 99% in the survey results. The report surveyed 84,000 motorists and asked them about breakdowns, faults and niggles to show which cars were the most reliable and gave trouble free motoring.

Honda Accord

Japanese cars did particularly well with seven cars in the top 100. The Honda Jazz also scored well at 98% and the Diahatsu Sirion came third. Honda is promoting an exceptional contract hire offer on a high specification vehicle at the moment. The Honda Accord Diesel Saloon 2.2i-DTEC EX has a manufacturer list price of £24090 yet the rental offered by Honda Finance is only £317.00 per month exclusive of VAT.

CO2 emissions are at 150g/km with 49.7mpg on the combined fuel cycle. The offer is based on non-maintenance business contract hire over three years at 10,000 miles per annum. The rental payment plan is a three month initial rental followed by 35 subsequent payments. Personal contract hire prices on this special offer are also available on request from Honda Finance.