Audi A3 diesel Sportback

The most popular cars that customers have asked to lease in 2009, has featured many makes and models, however German brands still favour highly for small businesses. Having strong residual values, these manufacturers will have attractive contract hire rentals, as the residual value set by the leasing company is the biggest factor in how the leasing rental is set.

Diesel cars are also very popular as you can see from the list below due to their fuel economy and lower CO2 emissions.

The top models for SMEs in 2009 are as follows

The UK’s top car leasing companies, operating nearly 900,000 cars have voted the BMW Group as the most reliable manufacturer. The survey was conducted by Fleet News and financial consultants Grant Thornton and covered 840,000 cars.

The car leasing companies were asked to assess the reliability according to the number of breakdowns per model on their fleet. BMW had three entries in the top ten cars namely BMW 3 Series (2nd), BMW 5 Series (5th) and the MINI (8th).

FN50 survey results

Most reliable car manufacturer according to FN 50 car leasing companies

1. BMW
   
2. Honda
   
3. Audi
   
4. Toyota
   
5. Volkswagen
   
6. Mercedes-Benz
   
7. Ford
   
8. Mazda
   
9. Nissan
   
10. Skoda
    

New Mazda CX-7

The new Mazda CX-7 Sports Crossover is available in Mazda car showrooms from the 1st November. This new model features a turbo-charged 2.2-litre diesel engine which generates 173ps and offers low fuel consumption and low CO2 emissions.

The vehicle has an electronically controlled Active Torque 4-wheel drive system and numerous features as standard vehicle options including leather seats, climate control air-conditioning, cruise control, electric driver’s and front passenger heated seats, a BOSE sound system plus integrated satellite navigation with Bluetooth technology.

The car comes in choice of five colours namely Brilliant Black, Aluminium Silver Metallic, Copper Red, Galaxy Grey and Stormy Blue Mica.

Land Rover Defender Hard Top

What Car? readers have voted the iconic Land Rover Defender as the top car in the What Car? Reader Awards 2009. Over 20,000 readers voted the Defender above 387 other models covering 52 brands.

The Fiat 500 was top of the supermini category, while the Jaguar XJ topped the Executive and Luxury Cars category. The Audi A5 was top coupe and best Open-Top-Car was the Mazda MX5.

The Skoda Octavia picked up the small family car category and Ford also picked up two awards, one for the Monedo (best estate car) and one for the C-Max (top MPV). The results are below and all models will be available for quoting if you are looking at leasing your next car.

Mazda CX7-Sports

Mazda has launched their new Mazda CX-7 “Sports Crossover” which is on sale from the 1st November.

The turbocharged 2.2-litre diesel engine powering the vehicle delivers 173ps and 400Nm of torque.

Coupled to this is the Active Torque 4-wheel drive system and Zoom-Zoom sportscar handling which gives you an exciting package that stands out from the usual SUVs.

The CX-7 is only available in one model, the highly equipped Sport Tech Diesel, in a choice of five colours. It is packed with loads of safety features including ABS, Dynamic Stability Control (DSC), Electronic Brake Distribution (EBD), Emergency Brake Assist (EBA) and a new Emergency Stop Signalling (ESS) system which automatically activates the hazard warning lights when braking heavily. Mazda car leasing prices will be loaded shortly.

Mazda CX-7 / Performance & Economy

Mazda CX-7 / Price List – October 2009

Kiyora concept car

Mazda is set to unveil their new Kiyora concept car at the 41st Tokyo Motor Show which starts on the 24th October 2009.

As well as showing off their new concept car Mazda will also unveil eco-friendly and powerful new “SKY-G” (direct injection petrol) and “SKY-D” (clean diesel) engines plus a new Sky-Drive Automatic transmission.

The Tokyo Motor Show will be held at Makuhari Messe on Chiba Prefecture and Mazda’s theme for the show is “The Mazda SKY concept- Providing driving pleasure and environmental and safety features for all customers!”. Mazda has a long term goal of reducing average fuel economy by 30% before 2015, compared to 2008 levels.

Mazda Pilots

The Team Mazda UK (British Aerobatics Team) is ready for the start of the World Aerobatics Championships at Silverstone from the 20th -29th August. The six members of the Mazda team are favourites for title as well.

The pilot manouvres apply forces up to plus and minus 10G on the pilot’s body and has been compared to be like ”fighting Mike Tyson in a spin dryer!”

More details can be found at www.mazdaaerobatics.co.uk

Mazda proving popular in Scotland

Mazda has leaped to 6th place in the Scottish sales charts taking a 8.2% market share and moving ahead of Honda and Nissan. The Mazda3 in particular was also the sixth best-selling, car north of the border, just behind the Vauxhall Astra.

Mazda UK sales and marketing director, Mark Cameron said ” This great performance proves that Mazda’s unique combination of distinctive design and fun driving dynamics,reliability and quality, is attracting more and more customers”.

Mazda has reported that demand from contract hire fleets and especially those companies with “user chooser” fleets increased by two thirds in 2008.

Peter Allibon, Fleet and Remarketing Director for Mazda said “ Mazda2 outperformed our expectations month after month in 2008 in both the retail and corporate markets due to driver downsizing, strong residual values and affordability”.

The Mazda strategy for delivering cars with very competitive whole life costs, strong future resale values,low benefit-in-kind tax bills and class leading specifications seems to be working.

A convertible icon available at a rental that is really competitive. Contract Hire a Mazda MX5 1.8 2 Door Convertible from £228.01 excl VAT at Compare Contract Hire.com. Compare Contract Hire is the UK’s first contract hire price comparison site for small businesses and consumers.

Contract terms are non maintenance contract hire , 3 years, 3 rental initial payment followed by 35 subsequent rentals, at 10,000 miles per annum.

Co2 output is 174 g/km and combined MPG at 38.7.

See www.comparecontracthire.com for all Mazda models or quote online on any other make and model.

Personal Contract Hire prices are also available