International Fleet World May 2013

MAY 2013

internationalfleetworld.com

INTERNATIONAL

FLEETW RLD Essential Business Information for International Fleet Decision Makers SE AT.COM

THE NEW SEAT LEON Technology to enjoy

SEAT FOR BUSINESS Average consumption: 3.8-6.0 l/100 km. Average CO2 mass emissions: 99-139 g/km.

ENJOYNEERING

The all-new BMW 3 Series Gran Turismo

www.bmw-ics.com

INNOVATIONS KEEP YOUR BUSINESS RUNNING. AND DRIVING. A revolutionary concept: the all-new BMW 3 Series Gran Turismo brings together head-turning aesthetics with the most spacious interior ever in a BMW 3 Series.

An innovation, which combines opposites – even when it comes to performance and economy: in fact, the powerful BMW 318d Gran Turismo* with its 143 hp boasts stunning CO2 emissions of just 122-119 g/km. In other words: saving resources has never been more fun. Find out more at www.bmw-corporate-sales.com

BMW CORPORATE SALES. BMW 318d

4.6 l /100 km 105 kW (143 hp)

* BMW 318d Gran Turismo: EU fuel consumption: 4.6-4.5 l/100 km (combined), CO2 emission: 122-119 g/km (combined)

Sheer Driving Pleasure

MAY 2013

internationalfleetworld.com

INTERNATIONAL

FLEETW RLD Essential Business Information for International Fleet Decision Makers SE AT.COM

ENJOYNEERING

Average consumption: 3.8-6.0 l/100 km. Average CO2 mass emissions: 99-139 g/km.

Publisher Ross Durkin ross@fleetworldgroup.co.uk Editor John Kendall john@fleetworldgroup.co.uk Deputy Editor Natalie Middleton natalie@fleetworldgroup.co.uk Motoring Editor Alex Grant alex@fleetworldgroup.co.uk Editorial Assistant Katie Beck katie@fleetworldgroup.co.uk Sales Director Anne Dopson anne@fleetworldgroup.co.uk Sales Executive Darren Brett darren@fleetworldgroup.co.uk Circulation Manager Tracy Howell tracy@fleetworldgroup.co.uk Head of Production Luke Wikner luke@fleetworldgroup.co.uk Designers Tina Ries tina@fleetworldgroup.co.uk Samantha Hargreaves sam@fleetworldgroup.co.uk

Published by Stag Publications Ltd, 18 Alban Park, Hatfield Road, St Albans, Herts, AL4 0JJ tel +44 (0)1727 739160 fax +44 (0)1727 739169 email ifw@fleetworldgroup.co.uk web fleetworld.co.uk

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THE NEW SEAT LEON Technology to enjoy

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VIEWPOINT

CONTENTS

Following the International UK CV Show we have more coverage than usual of the CV sector in this issue, so forgive me for taking a bit more space to discuss a new European Commission proposal.

Anyone who has attended a commercial vehicle show in the past 20 years will be familiar with one of the many concept vehicles that have been displayed showing revolutionary aerodynamic designs. If the Commission has its way, they may at last become a reality, offering the potential to reduce fuel consumption and perhaps improve allround visibility, improving safety for pedestrians and cyclists.

The Commission is proposing to allow exemptions to some vehicle length restrictions to improve aerodynamics, by shaping the cab and adding aerodynamic flaps to the rear of trailers. It won’t change permitted gross weights or allow for North American style cabs, but could revolutionise European truck design.

As a note of caution, the cab is the most expensive part of any new truck, which is why they tend to remain in production for up to 20 years. If the proposal is accepted, it could be some time before we see the new designs.

They might also add weight to vehicles, which would reduce available payload, which haulage operators would not welcome. This could be an opportunity to make a weight allowance for the changes and also hybrid and alternative fuel systems on trucks. Then the proposal could start to make a significant difference.

04 News Analysis 10 EV news analysis 12 Fleet strategy European residual value confidence.

14 UK Commercial Vehicle Show We pick out the stars of the show.

16 Technology Fuel cells are closer than you think.

18 Technology How technology can help aid fleet cost control.

22 INTERVIEW ...with Claes Nilsson, CEO of Volvo.

24 INTERVIEW Alphabet. 500,000 cars and growing.

26 Industry Analysis Where have all the EVs gone?

27 2013 fleet calendar 28 Risk management Online driver profiling.

32 FLEET FOCUS: Australia.

36 FLEET PROFILE: Fiat.

43 Launch Report BMW 520d GT / Honda CR-V / Kia Carens / Mercedes-Benz Atego / GM Europe new engines.

50 Fleet in figures Analysing the latest ACEA sales charts.

16 22 36 46

John Kendall Editor

To subscribe to Fleet World visit: fleetworldsubscriptions.co.uk

IFW May 2013

03

news analysis

Cadillac plans another European return Cadillac is planning to try and re-establish itself in Europe yet again as part of its global expansion plans.

The American luxury brand's CEO, Bob Ferguson, wants a return within three years.

Cadillac still sees Europe as the global capital for luxury-car sales, and believes it has to be involved if it is to have worldwide credibility.

It currently has 35 ‘stores’ in the European Union, mainly in the north. Cadillac is presently inactive in Portugal, Spain and Norway, and has a token presence in the UK. Last year it sold less than 200,000 cars throughout the world, 75% of which were in America and 30,000 in China.

But under its Global Cadillac programme it wants to grow sales to unspecified levels and to more than treble business in China to 100,000 units a year. Europe is next on the list. ”We want a presence in Europe that is consistent and meaningful and with a portfolio that appeals,” says product director, Hampden E Tener. ”The first sign of how serious we are was the appointment of Bob Ferguson as global vice-president. We have never had a global head of the Cadillac brand before.”

There is currently no time-line for when the return to Europe is likely to begin, but Tener says Cadillac will begin ”spooling up” its dealer networks and market presence ”six months to a year before the first major product launch.”

Initially the return will be based on the new models recently introduced in America, the smallest of which is the ATS, a BMW 3 Series-sized saloon powered by a 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo engine.

But Cadillac knows that to succeed in Europe it will need diesels, low-CO2 powertrains and right-hand drive – and also even smaller models. ”We have recognised an opportunity with smaller cars,” says Tener. ”For Europe it jumps out. But at the same time we have to look at the Cadillac brand image. The higher segments are where we have got to start. But we know where to put money for the stage after that.”

Cadillac will not develop its own diesels but is likely to rely on Vauxhall-Opel, although General Motors’ agreements with Peugeot-Citroën offer another possibility.

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Kia held back by capacity restraints Kia’s prospects of continuing its meteoric sales growth in its leading market, America, are going to be stifled this year by lack of spare capacity. ”This will be a year of moderate growth,” admits Michael Sprague, the company’s North American vicepresident for marketing. ”Globally we are now at capacity.

All markets are clamouring for more.”

Kia has just enjoyed an 18th successive year of increased sales in the US, finishing 2012 with a best-ever total of 557,000 for a market share of 3.85%. That was a 14% increase on sales of just under 485,500 in 2011.

The Korean brand had three models that sold more than 100,000 units in 2012 – the Optima, Sorento and Soul. Two of those cars, the Optima and Sorento, are made at Kia’s US plant in West Point, Georgia, which despite operating three shifts has reached its capacity of 360,000 units.

An all-new Soul and a refreshed Sorento were the centrepieces of the company's stand at the New York Show.

Sprague believes the Optima would be able to challenge the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord for market leadership in the US if it was not ham-strung by supply, even though it is currently out-sold by them at the rate of more than two to one. ”We have a compelling product,” he said. ”The first model was revealed at the New York show in 2010 and people were just blown away. It has done a fantastic job for us.”

The first-generation Soul has also far exceeded expectations. Annual sales of around 100,000 in America are two-and-a-half times Kia's initial forecasts. ”We thought 40,000 would be its limit,” says Sprague, ”but it has connected with consumers in a way we never expected. It just blew us all away.”

Its three major competitors – the Scion XB, Nissan Cube and Honda Element – have either disappeared or are about to be withdrawn from sale and it now competes with compact cars like the Ford Focus, says Sprague, especially as the new version is slightly larger and roomier than the original.

for the latest news, visit internationalfleetworld.com

Kia Soul – MINI challenger?

Kia’s Soul, which appeared in second-generation guise at New York, has the potential to become the Korean brand’s equivalent of the MINI, says the man who headed the design team that created it. ”It might be tough to make it that story at this stage because we don't have the heritage,” says Tom Kearns, the chief designer at Kia's American studios in California. ”But it’s already an iconic vehicle for us. Maybe in 40 years’ time the design team will be looking back at the original Soul and trying to re-create it.”

The new Soul retains the original's street-cred design but offers more space, a much more upmarket interior and full connectivity.

But Kia will need more than that if Soul is to even begin to emulate the MINI. Kia has already shown a couple of ideas about how it might expand the range with the three-door Track’ster and convertible Soul’ster concepts, and Kearns says there have been more and they are being seriously considered. ”Kia has a pretty good track record of producing a lot of its concepts and we are thinking about some of those other possibilities with Soul,” said Kearns. ”At least one or two are very serious. For the new Soul we have already taken a lot of elements – internal and external – from the Track’ster.”

Kearns believes Soul is the model which has the greatest potential to change Kia’s profile from that of a rational brand to an emotional one. ”I think we have already elevated ourselves to the point where we can be taken more seriously,” he said. ”When we are designing cars we look at a lot of other models which are not direct competitors – not Ford and Toyota but Audi and BMW.” The new Soul goes on sale in America this autumn, but it will be early 2014 before it makes it to Europe. It will be joined by a refreshed Optima saloon, which was also on view in New York, three years after the debut of the original model at the same venue. ”We wanted to stay ahead of the competition, but the changes were also driven by some of the new technology available,” says Kearns. ”A larger touch-screen became available, plus the front-end LED daytime running lamps and fogs. The Optima has been very strong for us right from the start and design is one of its major strengths.”

Citroën strengthens Chinese presence

Following the launch of the DS Line in 2012, Citroën is planning to launch three new C-line models, the C4L, new C5 and C-Elysée. The company is operating in China through two joint ventures. Dongfeng is the partner for C-line models and Changan for DS Models.

DS models are being sold through a dedicated DS network, currently with 27 sales outlets in cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Canton and Shenzhen. The plan is to introduce 60 DS stores in 50 cities, by the end of 2013.

DS5 production is due to begin at the Shenzhen plant in the coming months. The first DS World dedicated showcase has just been opened on Nanjing Road in Shanghai.

The latest DS concept, Wild Rubis was shown at the recent Shanghai Show.

224,000 C-line models were delivered by Dongfeng Citroën in 2012, 2.5% more than in 2011. 120,000 of these were of the re-styled C4. Reflecting local preferences, a C4L model was launched earlier this year. These models are built in the Wuhan plant and over 9,000 were sold by the end of March. 56 C-line sales outlets were added in 2012, bringing the total to 404 sites.

IFW May 2013

05

news analysis

BVRLA appoints new chief executive The British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA) has appointed former Volvo senior vice president, Gerry Keaney as its new chief executive, with effect from 1 May. Outgoing chief executive, John Lewis, who has led the organisation for 13 years will take up the new part-time role of director of external affairs.

MINI production to begin in India BMW will start MINI production outside Europe for the first time later this year when production starts at Chennai in India. The first models to be produced will be the Cooper D Countryman and One Countryman. The first five MINI Showrooms were opened in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore last year. 302 cars were sold there between March and December 2012.

The Chennai plant was built in 2007 and BMW produces the 3 Series, 5 Series, X1 and X3 models there. Global MINI sales rose 5.8% in 2012 to 301,526.

The MINI Countryman will start rolling off production lines at Chennai in India later this year.

Qoros makes China debut New China-based car manufacturer Qoros has made its debut in China at the Shanghai International Auto Show, soon after making its first appearance at the Geneva Show in March. The Qoros 3 Sedan is due to go on sale in China in the second half of the year, with sales in Europe due later in 2013.

The Qoros range will be manufactured in a new assembly plant in Changshu China. Following the Qoros 3, other models are planned to follow at intervals of 6 to 12 months.

US Networkfleet introduces automated fleet maintenance Automatic maintenance reminders and service records integrated with Networkfleet’s GPS fleet tracking are at the heart of the company’s new Lifecycle Service Management product, aimed at commercial and government fleets. Using the online system, fleets can set reminders for oil changes or tune ups for any number of vehicles.

Maintenance reminders can be configured according to engine hours, mileage, date or a combination of these.

Fleet managers can also create service records that include information on maintenance performed, by which technician and when completed.

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interview Barb Samardzich Vice President, Product Development, Ford of Europe

Ford rolls out the global Transit brand Ford has turned its strong selling Transit light CV into a brand with four new models, What’s the plan, asks John Kendall?

T

he UK CV Show brought the global launch of the Ford Transit Courier (right), the last model to be unveiled in the new Transit line-up, before it goes on sale in spring 2014. IFW asked Barb Samardzich, Vice President, Product Development, Ford of Europe, how the company will roll out the Transit brand across Europe.

“First you have to have a product portfolio that fully supports that brand intent,” she begins. “With the rollout that we’ve got here at Birmingham, we absolutely think that we’ve got that now. So now that we have all that product available, we have a full offering of vans for our customers. So if you think about a fleet owner that doesn’t have just one need, they don’t simply need a Transit Connect. They need a couple of 2-tonnes, they need some regular Transit Customs and then maybe they would like some Couriers for some of their local work. That provides them with an opportunity for a one-stop shop for all their brand needs.

“We’re also looking at how our dealers address and approach our customers. We’re working with over 700 dealers to make them commercial vehicle centres of excel-

lence. So I think it’s a combination of having the product, then having the dealer network that supports everything that the customer will be looking for, on the service and sales side of the business.”

That could be extended hours of operation or out of hours servicing and other ways of catering for business van users. The plan is for a smaller number of Ford’s total dealer network to become van specialist dealers.

The team that has been responsible for bringing 4 new van model lines to market inside two years is based at Ford’s Dunton research centre in the UK. “We’ve got a lot of commercial vehicle expertise here in Dunton,” says Ms Samardzich. “We’ve built it up over years and years. They have the expertise to understand what the customer is looking for and how to prioritise the attributes for the customer. Then, technically, we’ve also been leveraging global Ford. We’ve been able to leverage some of the work because we’ve got so many derivatives of the van and it’s also the first time that the 2-tonne Transit is going global. It’s going to be in North America and we’ve been leveraging some of our North American engineering team to help

Transit Courier with certain derivatives, particularly derivatives that are unique to North America like a lower roof van, fitted to US-size garages, as well as petrol engines which are so important for the North American market place.

“What I see happen very often, if we take the Transit Courier as an example, is that right now it is destined only for Europe and Turkey and some US markets, but once the product is out, suddenly South America picks up on it, Asia Pacific, and suddenly everybody has an interest in it. The great part about being global is that we’ve designed it so that it will work in any of the regions that may want to take that product, so if they do see a customer need, we’re ready to support the product in that region.

“Between new market entrants for us as well as growth in the CV segment, we expect to see at about 400,000 units of Transit sold by 2015. That doubles what it is today.”

IFW May 2013

07

With distance function, park assistance function and role model function.

The new E-Class. Efficiency in top form.

A Daimler Brand

The new benchmark for efficiency. With a combined consumption of just 4.1 l/100 km, the E 300 BlueTEC HYBRID has CO emissions of only 107 g/km. That makes it one of the most economical models in its class and the ideal vehicle for any fleet. www.mercedes-benz.com/fleet

Fuel consumption urban/extra-urban/combined: 4.2–4.1/4.2–4.1/4.2–4.1 l/100 km; combined CO emissions: 110–107 g/km.

Figures do not relate to the specific emissions or fuel consumption of any individual vehicle, do not form part of any offer and are intended solely to aid comparison between Provider: Daimler AG, Mercedesstraße 137, 70327 Stuttgart

different types of vehicle. The vehicle shown features optional equipment.

EV news analysis

Ghosn: Nissan targets EV market lead in China Nissan is planning to be the largest electric vehicle manufacturer in China, according to president and chief executive Carlos Ghosn, with plans for localised LEAF production and increased public charging infrastructure over the coming years.

Speaking to students and electric vehicle owners at Kansai University in Japan, Ghosn said only manufacturing the LEAF in Japan had left the company vulnerable to fluctuating Yen values. With the LEAF now an established part of its range, Nissan is working towards reducing the manufacturing costs, while offering a range including light commercial vehicles and a city car in collaboration with Alliance partner Renault. ”I believe this is going to be a very important market for electric cars,” said Ghosn. ”We are going to localise the LEAF in China, but it's going to be under a Chinese brand that is managed, by the way, by our company in China. And we want to be in the leadership position in China. ”When the government has said that they want two million electric cars in 2020 in China, we will do everything we can in order to be in the leadership in this important position. This means you can expect to see the new electric cars in Nissan to be localised very soon.”

Nissan has already localised production of an upgraded LEAF to plants in North America, Japan and the Sunderland factory in North England, which will build cars for the European market. Electric versions of the NV200 light

commercial vehicle and the first battery-electric Infiniti will also be built in Europe.

Globally, the carmaker is pushing to reduce the costs of its alternative drivetrains. A low-cost, high efficiency hybrid system has been unveiled at the New York Auto Show in March. Shown in the Pathfinder SUV, the carmaker said this should make its hybrid technology applicable to a wider range of models.

Carlos Ghosn, president and chief executive, Nissan

Mitsubishi begins battery investigation in Japan Mitsubishi is investigating the cause of two electric vehicle battery packs overheating while charging in Japan, one of which caught fire at its facility in Mizushima, where the i-MiEV electric city car is built.

The first incident involved a drive battery for an i-MiEV electric vehicle, which overheated in an inspection room at the Mizushima plant and caught fire an hour later, with no injuries or damage to the facility as a result.

Although investigations are ongoing, Mitsubishi said it could stem from a change in the manufacturing process for the battery. If so, it affects 68 i-MiEVs in use with fleet customers in Japan and a further 45 units shipped as spare parts.

The carmaker is already contacting customers to arrange vehicle testing.

Also in March, an unregistered Outlander Plug-in Hybrid battery overheated following its first full charge at a dealership in Yokohama. Damage was limited to a third of the cells in its battery pack, but while Mitsubishi said it had received no reports of cars doing this on the road it has advised drivers to avoid external charging until the investigation is complete.

The Outlander Plug-in Hybrid has been on sale in Japan

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since last December, and launches in Europe at the end of this year. European versions of both cars are unaffected.

for the latest news, visit evfleetworld.com

Tesla upgrades Model S as sales exceed targets Tesla Motors has reported a better-than-anticipated first quarter, exceeding its 4,500 sales target for the Model S electric executive car by 250 units and announcing free upgrades for existing and new customers.

The California-based carmaker, which is launching a European operation based out of Amsterdam and targeting fleet sales for the Model S, said it had amended its Q1 guidance to full profitability as a result, following the mid-February shareholder letter.

Demand to date has dictated a change in the Model S range. The car was to launch with three battery options, offering between 100 and 500km to a full charge. Less than 4% demand for the least powerful battery means customers will now be given the mid-spec battery with extra performance but with its range electronically limited. Customers will be able to upgrade to full range at a later date, via a software update, if they require.

GE Mexico begins Chevrolet Volt pilot programme General Electric has become the first corporation in Mexico to trial the Chevrolet Volt, as part of a pilot project run with General Motors and the Comisión Federal de Electricidad.

A fleet of 20 of the extended-range electric vehicles has already been deployed in Mexico City, Querétaro and Monterrey for use by GE employees. The vehicles will be charged using GE’s WattStation internet-connected charging posts.

Ernesto M.Hernandez, president and CEO of General Motors of Mexico, commented: ”This triple alliance allows us to trace the path to the electrification of the automobile. The feedback from executives and employees of GE, who are the first people in Mexico to know the benefits of our extended range electric vehicle Chevrolet Volt, will enable us to understand the conditions of use, and the economic infrastructure needed to market it in Mexico in the future.”

Porsche announces 71g/km Panamera plug-in hybrid Porsche has added a plug-in hybrid drivetrain to the refreshed Panamera, which goes on sale in Europe this July, announcing CO2 emissions of 71g/km for what will be its most efficient model.

Unveiled at the Auto China Show in Shanghai, the drivetrain combines a 3.0-litre V6 petrol engine and electric motor, offering a combined output of 416hp and 3.1l/100km on the NEDC plug-in hybrid test cycle. The battery offers an electric range of 36km at up to 135km/h, and charging can be controlled remotely using a smartphone app. Pricing varies by market, but is similar to the Panamera 4S.

in brief...

City of York to get UK’s first PAYG EV charging network York is to become the UK’s first city with a network of pay-as-you-go electric vehicle charging points, allowing drivers to pay for usage via phone or text message similar to conventional inner-city parking spaces. The existing network of 12 public access points will be joined by a network of fast chargers, installed by the city council, over the coming months.

Diesel-hybrid Range Rover Sport due in 2014 Land Rover has announced its second generation Range Rover Sport will include a diesel-electric hybrid due to launch in 2014 with CO2 emissions of 169g/km. The car’s lighter new platform is designed to accommodate four-cylinder engines and a hybrid drivetrain, with the latter likely to use the new TDV6 engine and expertise gained from the Range_e plug-in hybrid test car.

Electric Volkswagen up! to launch in Q4 2013 Volkswagen’s first electric production car will launch in selected European markets at the end of the year. The e-up! will make its public debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September, four years after its concept car namesake was shown at the same event, and uses an 82hp electric motor with a 150km range from a single charge.

Renault Kangoo Z.E. joins Center Parcs fleet Center Parcs has taken delivery of a fleet of 22 Renault Kangoo Maxi Z.E. electric vans, which will be distributed across its five holiday villages in the UK over the coming months.

The vehicles replace a number of light duty Aixam and Modec vans and trucks, and will be used for food and drink deliveries and the technical services and maintenance division.

IFW May 2013

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fleet strategy

2013 sees UK forecasted residuals soar as optimism grows UK Forecasted RVs may be on the rise, but for most other European countries, the story is not so encouraging, reports Experteye.

UK contract hire and leasing companies have reported a dramatic +10.7% increase in forecasted residual values (RVs) since the start of 2013. The encouraging figures follow a year when the UK showed a +2.8% rise in anticipated RVs, bucking the trend in other European countries where forecasted values fell.

The igures from the Experteye European Leasing index re lect mixed opinion across Europe on the strength of the future used vehicle market. In the last 12 months, the Portuguese leasing sector has shown a -5.6% downturn in residual values, with Italy reporting a -4.2% drop, Spain -2.8%, Germany -0.8% and France -0.5%.

Since the turn of the year, Spain is the only country to share the UK’s optimism, yet with only a marginal +0.6% rise in RVs. France and Germany both report a -0.4% fall, Italy -1.3% and Portugal remains least positive with a -2.5% reduction.

The Experteye survey tracks forecasted residual values (RVs), servicing, maintenance and repair (SMR) costs and rental rates in six European countries using data supplied by major leasing companies.

In the past year, SMR budgets have luctuated quite dramatically with Portuguese contract hire and leasing companies increasing theirs on average by +8.6% at a time when Spanish leasing customers have seen a -9.4% drop. French SMR budgets rose by +5% from April 2012, Italy +4.7%, the UK +0.6% and Germany fell by -0.2%.

Yet, apart from in France where French leasing rates have risen by +3.9% over the course of the 12 month period, leet operators across Europe have seen very little change in their rental costs.

Portuguese customers have seen a +0.7% rise, Spain +0.4%, the UK has remained static (0%), Germany -0.9% and Italy -1.9%.

Market summaries – 3 and 12 months to March 2013 FRANCE: French fleet operators have suffered the greatest increase in their rental rates of all nations surveyed. In the last twelve months, leasing costs have risen by +3.9% and by +7.5% since the start of 2013. During the last quarter France has also seen SMR budgets rise the most with a +4.9% increase. This follows a year in which the SMR element of lease costs rose by +5%.

Forecasted residual values have remained fairly stable with a -0.5% fall for the year and -0.4% for the quarter.

GERMANY: Germany has remained relatively stable compared with some of its European counterparts. Since April 2012, forecasted RVs have shifted down by -0.8% with a -0.4% fall in the last three months.

SMR budgets have hardly moved with a -0.2% fall for the year and +0.1% rise for the quarter. Rental rates have fallen by -0.9% during the last 12 months, and by -1.3% since the turn of the year.

ITALY: Italy has seen its forecasted residual values fall by -4.2% in the last 12 months, with SMR budgets rising by +4.7%. Yet rental rates have fallen by the largest percentage of all nations surveyed, with a -1.9% reduction. During the most recent quarter the trend continues, albeit less dramatically. Forecasted RVs are down -1.3%, SMR budgets up +1.6% and rental rates down by -0.6%.

PORTUGAL: Portugal has consistently reported a pessimistic outlook of late and this continues with a -5.6% fall in forecasted RVs since April 2012, and a -2.5% drop since the start of 2013; both annual and quarterly igures are the largest of all nations surveyed.

SMR budgets have shot up by +8.6% in the last year, but settled with a -0.6% fall in the last three months. After a year that saw leasing costs rise by +0.7%, rates have fallen in the latest quarter by -1.9%.

SPAIN: Spanish SMR budgets have seen a -9.4% drop in the past year, the largest reduction of all nations in the Experteye survey.

This has steadied in the last three months with a negligible -0.1% fall. After a year that saw forecasted residual values come down by -2.8% they have risen by +0.6% since January 2013. Average rental costs went up by +0.4% from April 2012 but have fallen by -0.6% in the last three months.

UK: UK forecasted residual values have shot up since the start of 2013, with a +10.7% increase during the last quarter. This follows a year when they went up by +2.8% making the UK the most optimistic of all nations surveyed. SMR budgets rose in the last 12 months by +0.6% but went down very slightly during the quarter (-0.1%). Rental rates have remained static (0% change) for both the year and the quarter.

CHANGES IN RV FORECASTS, SMR COST FORECASTS AND LEASE RENTALS Forecast Service, Maintenance Current Rental Rates and Repair Costs 3-month change 12-month change 3-month change 12-month change 3-month change 12-month change -0.4% -0.5% +4.9% +5.0% +7.5% +3.9% -0.4% -0.8% +0.1% -0.2% -1.3% -0.9% -1.3% -4.2% +1.6% +4.7% -0.6% -1.9% -2.5% -5.6% -0.6% +8.6% -1.9% +0.7% +0.6% -2.8% -0.1% -9.4% -0.6% +0.4% +10.7% +2.8% -0.1% +0.6% +0.0% +0.0% Forecast Residual Values

France Germany Italy Portugal Spain UK

Notes: • The comparisons are for vehicles with a contract duration of 36 months/90,000km.

• Twelve-month comparisons show change since April 2012.

• Three-month comparisons show change since January 2013.

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• Rental rate changes compare the rates in effect at the time of the survey with those in effect three or twelve months ago.

• RV and SMR changes show the change in participating leasing companies’ forecasts of residual values and maintenance costs over the period.

motor show review UK CV SHOW

New vans and trucks at the UK CV Show The UK CV Show gained international status this year and saw the launch of new models from DAF, Ford, Mercedes-Benz, and Volvo Trucks.

> Ford With one new light CV now in all Ford van showrooms, Ford is gearing up for another wave of new products, which will follow later in the year. The Transit Courier, Ford’s new small van to rival the Citroën Nemo, Fiat Fiorino, Mercedes-Benz Citan Compact and Peugeot Bipper, made its global debut at the show. It’s based on Ford’s B-car platform shared by the Fiesta, B-Max and EcoSport compact MPV. It won’t come to market until spring 2014 and will share the range of Fiesta petrol and diesel power options, including 1.5-litre 75hp and 1.6-litre 95hp diesels and Ford’s 100hp 1.0-litre EcoBoost petrol engine. Ford quotes a load volume of 2.3m3 and equipment including a standard full-height bulkhead. The load length loor measures 1.62m long and can be extended to 2.59m with a folding passenger seat. It will carry a gross payload of 660kg. Standard equipment will include ESC. The heavier two-tonne Transit model made its UK debut at the show. Power will come from the 100hp, 125hp and 155hp Transit 2.2-litre diesel engine, similar to that in the Transit Custom but with both front and rear-wheel drive options.

More detail is yet to come, but we know that it will offer load volumes up to 15.1m3 and will be available with two wheel-

Ford Transit Courier

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Ford Transit Connect

base options and three roof heights and there will be a 4x4 model. There will also be double-cab options for Kombi, bus, chassis cab and chassis cowl models. Sales are expected to begin in spring 2014.

The Transit Custom is now available across most European markets. A variety of models were on display on Ford’s CV Show stand, including the Transit Custom SportVan and the long wheelbase, high roof model, which made its debut.

The Transit Connect also made its UK debut at the CV Show.

It is not built on a dedicated van platform, but will share the same underpinnings as the Focus, Kuga, and C-Max cars and will offer a single roof height and two body lengths. Production moves from Turkey to Spain. The van will offer load volumes of 3.0m3 and 3.4m3 and can carry up to three people in the cab.

Power options will include 75hp, 95hp and 115hp variants of the Ford/PSA 1.6-litre diesel and the 100hp 1.0-litre EcoBoost.

Ford’s 150hp 1.6-litre EcoBoost engine will also be on offer paired with a six-speed automatic gearbox. Diesels will include an ECOnetic version of the 1.6-litre 95hp diesel.

Equipment will include active city stop emergency braking and tyre pressure monitoring.

Mercedes-Benz Atego

> Citroën

> Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz used the CV Show to give the new Atego light truck its global launch. Spanning 6.5 tonnes gross vehicle weight to 16.0 tonnes GVW, the latest Atego comes with new four and six-cylinder diesel engines that meet the new Euro6 emissions limits. The 5.1-litre four-cylinder engines will be available with power outputs between 156hp and 231hp.

Alternatively there are three 7.7-litre six-cylinder options with power ratings between 238hp and 299hp. Mercedes claims fuel consumption reductions of up to 5% with the new engines, while some will also gain extended service intervals.

Standard transmission will be 6 and 8-speed automated Powershift 3 gearboxes, with the option of 6 or 9-speed manual transmissions, featuring optional power assisted gear shifting.

Stability Control Assist – an electronic stability control (ESC) system, will also be standard equipment. A two-stage high-performance engine brake and all-round disc brakes also feature. A wear-free permanent magnet retarder can also be speci ied.

The Citroën Berlingo Electrique made its debut at the Hanover CV Show last year and was shown in the UK for the first time at the CV Show.

The new model is powered by an electric motor packaged under the bonnet in place of the conventional engine, with a lithium-ion battery pack located beneath the load floor, ensuring that the load volume is not affected. The 636kg payload is similar to that of a diesel powered Berlingo.

The electric van has a range of up to 160km. A complete recharge will take around eight hours from a domestic power point. The van can also be quick charged to 80% of capacity in 35 minutes from a dedicated quick charge point.

Power comes from a 49kW electric motor. Drive is delivered to the front wheels through a speed reducer and a single ratio gearbox.

Features include eco-driving information, including an energy consumption/regeneration indicator, an instantaneous energy consumption gauge and an auxiliaries consumption gauge. Other features include a deceleration and brake energy recovery system and electric heating system with eco-mode to limit energy consumption. All Berlingo Electrique models will feature hill start assist and ESP electronic stability control.

Citroën Berlingo

Volvo FM

> Volvo Based on the existing Volvo FM range, the new model will be the irst Volvo truck to be itted with the company’s dynamic steering system, which adds an electronically controlled electric motor to the existing power steering system. It’s designed to make manoeuvring easier and also compensate for crosswinds, which need constant steering correction in a truck. Using a mobile phone app it will be possible to control and monitor some functions remotely such as the cab heater, which can be programmed via a phone. It will also be available with Volvo’s I-See system, paired with the I-Shift transmission which will record the topography of regularly used roads and with cruise control activated, optimise transmission and accelerator settings for the best fuel consumption over the route.

> DAF Following the launch of DAF’s XF heavy truck range, revised for Euro6 last year, the revised CF middleweight and LF light truck ranges DAF LF were unveiled at the CV Show, along with the new PACCAR MX-11 11-litre engine that will also be used in Kenworth and Peterbilt trucks in North America. Both truck ranges feature a range of revisions. Apart from new engines, the cabs have been redesigned to accommodate greater engine cooling, while inside both are itted with new instrument panels. The chassis have also been revised to accommodate the new cooling pack.

IFW May 2013

15

technology

THE FUTURE Hyundai’s ix35 FCEV ready to go on trial

Are FUEL CELLS closer than we think?

Hyundai is putting 1,000 fuel cell-powered ix35 models into a fleet trial around Europe and is optimistic that the remaining technological issues can be addressed as Alex Grant reports.

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This is a technology which could finally provide a viable alternative to fossil fuels

I

n February, Hyundai claimed a world first when it began assembly line production of its first hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle, the ix35 FCEV, at its plant in Ulsan, South Korea. Manufactured on the same line as the conventional ix35, these first 1,000 vehicles will be leased to European fleet customers as part of on-going plans to ready the technology for mass-market commercialisation, expected in 2015.

Hydrogen fuel cells are an entirely different technology to the hydrogen-fuelled internal combustion engines, which several manufacturers have tested in the past. The cars are technologically closer to the growing battery-electric and

plug-in hybrid sector, but offer an ownership experience not dissimilar to a petrol or diesel car.

Like a plug-in car, power is supplied to the wheels using an electric motor. But a hydrogen fuel cell car doesn’t require a large battery, which has to be recharged from an external source. Instead, the electricity used to drive the car is generated on board.

The chemical reaction used to generate the electricity is similar to a reversed electrolysis. Compressed hydrogen is fed from the tank into the car’s fuel cell stack, where it expands and is separated into positive and negative ions using a catalytic membrane. The negative ions pass through an external circuit, where they generate the electricity used to drive the car, before being reunited with the positive ions and oxygen from the air, creating pure water as the only by-product.

This also offers a much more familiar ownership experience to the long recharging times of plug-in cars. Take the ix35 FCEV to a hydrogen refuelling station and it takes a few minutes to refuel, offering a range of up to 525km with nothing but water vapour coming from the tailpipe. Hydrogen can even be produced using renewable energy, so the fuel station of the future could gather rainwater and use either wind or solar energy to power the electrolysis used to separate the hydrogen and oxygen.

But there are problems. The technology is still expensive to manufacture, and hydrogen refuelling stations are scarce.

Hyundai’s irst leet customers in Europe, which include the Municipality of Copenhagen and European Union of icials and policymakers who have begun year-long trials in Brussels, will be providing invaluable real-world usage data, which could shape the way the supporting infrastructure develops.

In the meantime, Hyundai is investing heavily in the groundwork, which it hopes will allow the technology to become commercially viable. The carmaker is part of the governmentbacked UK H2Mobility consortium in the UK, which will generate an action plan for refuelling station roll-out over the coming years, and alongside Nissan, Toyota and Honda it is supporting the development of a Nordic recharging network too.

By the time the first batch of 1,000 cars has been manufactured, Hyundai expects to have sufficiently reduced manufacturing costs and to have enough of a refuelling network in place to bring its second-generation production fuel cell car to market. Once the infrastructure develops to support it, this is a technology which could finally provide a viable alternative to fossil fuels.

IFW May 2013

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technology

Technology aids cost control Controlling costs for fleets has probably never been more important and technology can help, says Steve Banner.

I

f you happen to be Australian then you will almost certainly have eaten one of Goodman Fielder’s grocery products at one time or another. The Sydney-based food giant’s catalogue encompasses everything from frozen pizzas and cake mix to vinegar and cooking oil: and one of its biggest volume sellers is bread.

Distributing loaves bearing names such as Wonder White and Helga’s to 14,000

outlets daily across a country the size of Australia from a nationwide network of depots quickly, efficiently and cost-effectively is a major challenge, which is why the company decided to invest in a planning, mapping, routeing, scheduling and optimisation software package sourced from UK specialist MapMechanics. It has resulted in major progress being made in Goodman Fielder’s efforts to cut expendi-

ture, says the company’s national supply chain business analyst, Paul March.

“We’ve been able to optimise the number of vehicles used, we’ve reduced mileage and fuel costs and we’ve provided more sustainable earnings for the independent contractors who do our inal deliveries and merchandising, reinforcing their commitment to our business,” he states.

The contractors are all small, local irms. “A

Agrokor, Croatia's largest food and retail organisation uses Paragon's routing and scheduling software to help manage 1,500 deliveries daily.

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while back we realised that we had to make delivery routes more sustainable for them, ensuring that they all had an optimal mix of larger and smaller customers and were using the right types of vehicle,” says March.

“Unfortunately we simply didn’t have the time or the necessary information to make informed judgements,” he continues. “We needed the right tools to help us make strong commercial decisions.”

The tools supplied by MapMechanics included GeoConcept, a mapping and geographical information system, and NAVTEQ street-level digital mapping.

They helped Goodman Fielder look at customers differentiated by size and type and map out territories.

It was also able to map traf ic lows. Using features such as GeoConcept’s ‘ ind nearest’ and travel-time calculations it was able to re-balance territories and even out the distribution load between contractors.

The delivery lists were then passed to TruckStops, a routeing and scheduling package, to verify and produce viable delivery rounds with the best possible mix of customers. “We were able to set up TruckStops to weigh all the main factors, including merchandising times, and come up with an overall best solution,” March says.

One key bene it is that when the contractor has to use relief drivers to cover for absence due to sickness or holidays, they can be provided with ready-made route plans that are known to be viable.

MapMechanics founder and sales director, Mary Short, contends that fleets that invest in routeing and scheduling systems can benefit from fuel savings of anywhere from 10% to as high as 30%. There are what she refers to as ‘soft’ savings to be enjoyed too, she adds.

“You make fewer mistakes, and the cost of correcting mistakes can of course be expensive for a business,” she observes.

“Putting a schedule together takes fewer man hours than doing it all manually and you may discover that you can extend the cut-off time for accepting orders.

“It helps you plan strategically as well, allowing you for example to work out whether you would bene it from setting up an additional depot.”

Another food company on the other side of the world from Australia is using transport planning software from another UK supplier to boost ef iciency and reduce costs.

Dairy products group Glanbia Consumer Foods Ireland has used a package from Paragon Software Systems to help it cut 106,000kms annually from its delivery routes across the Republic of Ireland, reduce its routes by 10%, improve vehicle utilisation by 15% and reduce its yearly CO2 emissions by over 100 tonnes thanks to the fuel savings made. Service levels have improved at the same time says Glanbia.

The dairy operation runs six days a week between 6am and 10pm from Glanbia’s Ballitore, County Kildare, distribution centre supplying major retailers plus 145 local agents who are subcontracted to deliver products from the company’s Coldbox locations.

It faces some tough time constraints, with retailers demanding deliveries within a twohour 6am to 8am time slot. With the Coldbox depots the delivery window is considerably wider, at from 4pm to 6am the next day.

Having gathered all the information needed on retailers, agents, depots and so on in order to model the current routes and costs, Glanbia was able to experiment with a variety of different scenarios with an eye to improving ef iciencies. It discovered that the best approach was to standardise Coldbox time windows at a regional level and combine Coldbox deliveries with time-constrained direct store deliveries.

“Paragon has provided us with a very powerful strategic tool,” says national logistics manager, Denis Conway. “It allows us to test all the potential delivery scenarios offline without affecting our real-world routes and by using the routes it designs we can easily recognise where improvements can be made and implement them.

“With the constant increase in fuel costs and the drive to reduce our transport car-

Our software can also help you determine whether you are using the right size and number of vehicles for the job Will Salter, UK managing director, Paragon bon footprint, we have been able to make signi icant reductions in usage and emissions while improving the ef iciency of our delivery operation.”

Paragon takes factors other than time windows into consideration, stresses UK managing director, Will Salter.

“If you are delivering in and around London, for instance, we can also take into account everything from locations that are awkward to access and may take the driver more time to get into and get unloaded, to the need to minimise the number of congestion charge payments the operator has to make,” he says. “Our software can also help you determine whether you are using the right size and number of vehicles for the job concerned.”

Even the best-planned delivery schedules can of course fall apart if a major accident on a main highway results in its closure for several hours leading to traf ic jams on all the roads in the surrounding area. If that occurs then leet managers need to know what it is happening immediately so that they can warn customers that drivers are held up or having to depart from their usual routes, and deliveries may be late as a consequence.

With this sort of scenario in mind, UK

IFW May 2013

19

¡

technology

Technology aids cost control... ¡

fleet optimisation, modelling and routeing software specialist Route Monkey has joined forces with telematics specialist CMS SupaTrak to develop EcoPlan.

Integrating planned routes with actual journeys taken, it allows data to be transmitted to in-cab telematics units including CMS SupaTrak’s recently-launched SDA 2.

Drivers can see and follow the planned routes but are at the same time able to record any delays so that the information is immediately available to traf ic managers back at home base. CMS SupaTrak can give operators the ability to re-schedule deliveries in real-time in response to events occurring while their vans are already out on the highway and despatch the revised schedules to drivers, says sales and marketing director, Alex Harper. “The new schedule can be sent to a PDA or a ixed in-cab device,” he says.

If reports generated by the tracking package regularly show that the delivery times allowed by the routeing and schedule software are at odds with reality then times can be amended accordingly. Paragon has forged links with a number of tracking companies including Microlise, Isotrak and Navman. “They too allow leets to see how delivery runs are progressing compared with the schedule and do a quick re-plan if needs be,” says Salter.

Paragon has over 2,300 routeing and scheduling systems installed in more than 750 client sites in 45 countries and in a variety of different languages. Customers range from irms running ten vehicles from a single warehouse to companies with hundreds of vehicles operating from several depots.

Aside from Glanbia, users include Swedish food retailer ICA, which has linked what Paragon has to offer with its R-Com (Blue Tree Systems) vehicle tracking and temperature monitoring system. Gases and engineering group Linde now employs Paragon’s package throughout much of the

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world, while last year saw Agrokor Group, Croatia’s largest food and retail organisation, extend its use into the company’s meat and cooking oil business.

It employs it to help organise deliveries of over 1,500 orders daily to outlets all over the country. “Instead of the old-fashioned and restrictive black-on-green computer interface that we’d been using for years, we now see routes detailed accurately on digital maps,” says Marko Pevec, enterprise resource planning consultant with Agrokor’s IT division.

“It also provides full visibility of loads so that we know which orders make up each vehicle load, all of which can be viewed on screen.”

Routeing and scheduling systems are applicable to almost every country on the planet, assuming that decent maps are available.

Limitations may be imposed on the uses to which such maps are put however, says Salter.

“We have street-level maps of every province in China – we’ve now got a Chinese version of our package – but the authorities will not allow us to take them out of the country and all the development work done on them has had to be done over there,” he says.

“We’re not even permitted to bring in our own laptop to work on them,” he adds.

“Instead we have to use a local laptop that

has to remain in the country.” The South Koreans take a similar attitude he says.

Routeing and scheduling software does not come cheap. As a consequence any business that uses a vehicle tracking system should be aware that it can use the data the system already holds to make major improvements to its delivery arrangements without spending money on an expensive software package, contends Martin Davies, joint managing director of tracking provider RAM. “The most important aspect of tracking is its ability to report: its ability to tell you how long it took for a van to get to a particular destination and how long it spent there,” he says. “You can compare that with how long you thought the driver would take then ind out why there is a difference between what you thought would happen and what really happened.

“One thing we can do is display all the routes your vans are taking on a map in different colours,” he continues. “That way, you can soon see if you’ve got three vans travelling down the same route at the same time and determine whether that’s a sensible use of resources.

“You can also see if a driver is deviating off his route to make a special delivery to premises that another driver is already passing on his regular run,” he adds. It would probably be more sensible and cost-effective to let the latter driver handle the delivery.

RAM has an operation in Canada as well as the UK. Davies says that Canadian fleets seem particularly willing to mine the data their tracking systems hold in order to hunt down cost savings.

“Perhaps the reason is that Canada suffered a severe economic downturn some years ago which made operators realise how vital it is to get a proper grip on costs,” he observes. Still mired in recession, some leets in other countries may yet have that lesson to learn.

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interview

MORE

TO COME Volvo Trucks launched the heavily revised FM truck range at the UK CV Show in April (see pg15). What else does the company have in store? President and CEO, Claes Nilsson, told John Kendall.

V

olvo Trucks launched its new flagship FH tractor range at the Hanover Show last September, the comprehensively revised FM range was launched at the UK CV Show and the FMX model, designed for construction work, also made its debut recently. What of the remaining models in the truck range? “We’re still missing the FL and FE from the European programme and that will be revealed not too long from now,” says Mr Nilsson.

The FL is Volvo’s city distribution truck range and the FE the model designed for regional distribution, “We have Euro 6 soon and for that we will also come with an upgrade of the FL and FE. With that we will have a completely new programme,” he continues, “It’s not just new engines, it’s really major upgrades and completely new trucks. The FH is completely new and most of the components on the FM are new, either from the FH or completely dedicated to it.”

Like vehicle production of any kind today, shared componentry is the key to building a modern truck and there are shared chassis, modular cab construction and shared electronic architecture. Driveline components, such as engines and gearboxes are also shared across the range and in Volvo’s case with its Renault Trucks subsidiary. Some will also be shared with Volvo Trucks North American products,

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“Maybe not so much on cab and chassis, but more on the driveline components and electronics,” says Mr Nilsson.

The coming Euro-6 legislation could be affecting buying patterns, “We see reactions from some customers, who are saying, ‘Now is the time to replace my truck with a new Euro-5.’ They don’t see the benefit of paying for the extra cost of Euro-6. Some countries have different types of incentives, everything from investment incentives to tax

incentives to move them quicker to Euro-6.”

The last major North American emissions round was in 2010. There was a slight lift in the US truck market last year, “Actually from a long term prospective, it has been relatively low for maybe 10 years or so, really sluggish,” says Mr Nilsson, “Now we have adapted our activity to the market and we’re not sitting and waiting for a fantastic boom to arrive.”

The company is also active in other parts of the world, “Volvo Trucks has sold in China for a long time, maybe 1,000 trucks a year,” continues Mr Nilsson, “Now we have announced that the Group has the intention to start a joint venture with Dong Feng, which would be a completely different ball game. It’s still under discussion.

The hope is that out of that joint venture we can export more, that we could find components at a lower cost, or that we could integrate maybe in the European products.

“The Chinese market is interesting enough to be involved in one way or another.

It’s by far the biggest market in the world.”

Volvo Trucks has also been active in South America. Brazil has been an important market for the company. In Eastern Europe, the company has a plant in Russia, “We’re in a reasonably good position but there is still much more we can do,” says Mr Nilsson, “We sold almost 7,000 trucks in Russia last year.

“Then of course we have a lot of hopes for Africa and the Middle East. The Middle East has been strong for us for a long time.

Now of course, many countries in Africa are starting to develop in interesting directions and we are there to explore all kinds of opportunities.”

The Chinese market is interesting enough to be involved in one way or another. It’s by far the biggest market in the world.

Claes Nilsson, CEO, Volvo Trucks

IFW May 2013

23

interview

500,000 & GROWING

Alphabet handed over its 500,000th car in Munich recently. Joint CEOs, Eijnden and Frederiks, talk to John Kendall about changing mobility.

Smart phones and social media are changing how we work and that is changing how customers need to use cars for business. The trick for fleet business suppliers is to forecast what customers will need tomorrow. Alphabet believes that developments such as Skype and cloud computing need to be incorporated into mobility needs. People are picking employers, the company reckons, not the other way round, and people will now choose the work they are good at and not just restrict selling their services to one company as an employee.

Fleet management is not about finance or managing the car any more, says Alphabet, it's about managing mobility. It won't just be demand for cars in the future but for mobility, and information technology (IT) developments will permit that. “Financing the car is part of the solution we offer,” says joint CEO Norbert van den Eijnden, “But most of our customers could finance the car by themselves if they want to. That’s not the main reason to come to our leasing company – they could go to a bank. The main reason is because they want to have their fleet managed and they want advice on how to develop. It’s already ‘Old School’ to talk about total cost of ownership. Now we are moving to total cost of mobility.”

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AlphaCity is currently the company’s corporate car sharing scheme, combining city cars and telematics. “Now, car sharing is something to manage your pool cars better. We think that in 10 or 15 years, company fleets will be more flexible,” continues van den Eijnden. “That means of course there will be those that have a oneto-one connection to a car. But there may be others who have – if there are 300 people, 300 cars from which they can choose for various reasons, for instance electric cars that do not have the range for the weekend or whatever. There may be other solutions in which 300 to 1,000 people share 200 or 300 cars. Because they are flexible workers as well and living in a mega-city, they do not want to have a car of their own, because of the parking or congestion problems. It won’t happen tomorrow, it will be a shift over a number of years.”

Flexibility could also include adapting schemes so that both business and private use can be included, “With a product like AlphaCity, we’ve found that you can change the scheme and make private use possible as well,” continues Mr van den Eijnden, “This means that you can book the car for a business trip during the day and in the evening as well or at the weekends.

“So it means that as a company, you can offer a pool of cars that can be used on a

private basis as well. And we see with AlphaCity that a lot of the cars are booked at the weekend, because people like to use the car on Friday for a business trip, then return it on Monday and use it at the weekend.”

“And this is a win-win on the financial side as well”, says Alphabet co-CEO Ed Frederiks. “Also, employees can ask themselves: ‘When do I really need the car and when don’t I?’ and use the employer’s car if it is available, or perhaps if they need add-on mobility, for example, to move house by themselves.

These are things that can become possible but it has to get into the mindset.”

So how far can these schemes replace existing methods of acquisition? “For me that’s an easy question because I’m a banker,” says Mr Frederiks, “If a banker provides credit, you have a fixed amount of money that is always needed in a company.

So this is my fixed amount of cars for operational leasing that you will have anyway, because in the end, operational leasing will be cheaper than car sharing, because you need an add-on for administration and so forth. Then you have the mid-tier for 3 to 9 months. That would be a kind of rental or mid-term leasing product and will have all the flexible stuff around it. And that will be car leasing.”

The

Zafira tourer

SaveS fuel, not performance.

Convinces with new 1.6 Turbodiesel engine and only 109 g/km emissions.

Impresses with 136 horsepower.

www.opel.com Fuel consumption 4.1 l/100 km; CO2 emissions 109 g/km (according to R/EC No. 715/2007).

industry analysis

The hype has gone Where have all the EVs gone, asks Dieter Fess of BF Forecasts.

E-vehicles? Do you remember the hype? International motor shows in Frankfurt, Detroit, Paris, and Tokyo... you name it! Everywhere we went: e-mobility all over the place. All the manufacturers were trying to convince us that the future is supposed to be here and now. And today? Let’s take a walk around the Geneva Motor Show and take a close look to see if there is a growing E-segment.

Our first impression is that there is a huge trend for muscle cars sometimes with, sometimes without, the fig leaf called Hybrid. LaFerrari 963 HP, Lamborghini Veneno 750 HP, McLaren P1 916 HP, the new RR Wraith 632 HP, the new Corvette and the new Alfa 4C – all these cars are highly emotional and barely rational, just like in the good old days.

Should we welcome this trend? Well, first of all, cars are predominantly based on emotions and it should stay that way. The lesson some manufacturers have to learn though is that nice design and low CO2 emissions do not necessarily have to be a contradiction in terms.

Pure e-vehicles? As we pointed out long ago – besides the high prices for these cars – the infrastructure has to

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be installed first. The charging times must come down as drastically as their prices. Is this mission accomplished?

No! Absolutely not! Are governments all over the world keen to establish this kind of infrastructure? No! Is the industry willing to invest large sums in e-mobility when almost nobody is able to afford these cars? No! These facts undoubtedly lead us to the conclusion we’ve already quoted in this very magazine. If there is no pressure from the market and/or no pressure through governmental directives (just like it used to be in California), the future is on the side of rangeextenders. Not range-extenders that are only capable of coming up with a

range of 25km, but range-extenders, at least of the sort of an Ampera, which may have a range of 80km and even more. Within the next two years we will see a large variety of these cars coming from the premium makes and sooner or later being offered by almost every manufacturer, in order to save emissions and show high residual values.

But we will also see a renaissance of LPG powered cars, as a result of substantially increasing fuel prices.

Meanwhile, hydraulic fracturing may have the reverse effect, in the US particularly. Due to this the driving force for change in the automotive industry, the high petrol prices, will decrease at least in the States. But because the US is still one of the most important markets in the world this will have an impact on the speed of development with regard to future engines.

So, the technological landscape will change significantly, and rapidly, in the next couple of years and where there is change there is also risk. As manufacturers struggle ever more desperately to gain market share, which ones will back the right horse, to mix our metaphors? After the hype is before the hype!

2013/14 fleet calendar International Fleet World’s guide to what’s happening in the fleet industry in the coming months – when, where and how to find out more info...

May 11-19 Barcelona International Motor Show, Spain (PC, LCV) www.firabcn.es 22-26 Autopromotec 2013, Bologna Trade Fair Centre, Bologna, Italy (PC, LCV) www.autopromotec.it 31-2 June International Kyiv Auto Salon 2013, Ukraine (PC) www.sia-motorshow.com.ua June 4-5 The Blue and Amber Light Fleet Exhibition, Telford International Centre, Telford, UK (Emergency services) www.napfmevent.org.uk 15-23 Sofia International Motor Show, Bulgaria (PC) www.svab.bg 20-30 Buenos Aires International Motor Show, Argentina (PC, LCV) www.elsalondelautomovil.com.ar July 11-14 Seoul Auto Salon 2013, Hall A COEX, Seoul, South Korea (PC, LCV) www.seoulautosalon.com September 10-14 Moscow Auto Salon COMTRANS, Russia (LCV, CV) www.oar-info.ru 10-22 Frankfurt International Motor Show, Germany (PC) www.iaa.de October 4-13 Bucharest International Motor Show, Romania (PC, LCV) www.siab.ro 18-27 Johannesburg International Motor Show, South Africa (PC, LCV, CV) www.johannesburgmotorshow.co.za November 2-10 Athens International Motor Show, Greece (PC, LCV) www.seaa.gr 14-17 COMVEX Istanbul Commercial Vehicles, Buses and Components Expo, Turkey (LCV, CV) www.osd.org.tr 22-1 December Los Angeles Auto Show, USA (PC) www.laautoshow.com 23-1 December 43rd Tokyo Motor Show, Japan (PC, LCV, CV) www.tokyo-motorshow.com 27-2 December Riyadh International Motor Show, Riyadh Exhibition Center, Murooj Area, Olaya St, Riyadh Saudi Arabia (PC), www.recexpo.com January 2014 15-26 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), Detroit USA (PCV) www.naias.com 17-19 Memphis International Motor Show, Memphis Cook Convention Center, Tennessee, USA (PC, LCV, CV) www.motortrendautoshows.com/memphis February 8-17 Chicago Auto Show (provisional), Chicago, USA (PCV, LCV) www.chicagoautoshow.com March 6-16 Geneva International Motor Show (provisional), Switzerland (PCV) www.salon-auto.com KEY: PC – passenger cars // LCV – light commercial vehicles // CV – commercial vehicles

IFW May 2013

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risk management

Cracking the system

Is online profiling a miracle cure for company car driver risk or just an easily manipulated gimmick? Natalie Middleton puts a number of web-based systems to the test.

A

bout 1.24 million people die each year as a result of road traf ic crashes, equating to some 3,397 people a day, the World Health Organisation has reported. While there are many factors that can cause such crashes, driver actions play a major role in over 90% of collisions, according to reports.

And the UK’s Cran ield University – a leading research institution – adds to this by saying that drivers often hold distorted beliefs about their driving skills; believe

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they are less likely to be involved in a crash compared with their peers and may not consider they are at risk.

Across the globe, there are now many organisations offering driver risk pro iling solutions to ind out which drivers have potentially risky driving traits so that they can be targeted for subsequent onroad driver training, saving the organisation both time and money compared to putting all its company car drivers through such training.

On the face of it, this is a very compelling argument. But can such tests really provide an insight into whether your drivers are more likely to be found in the inside lane, cruising at under the speed limit (weather permitting) or hurtling down the outside lane at high speed, shouting obscenities at anyone who gets in the way?

Or are these programmes just another gimmick designed to part you and your company funds?

It was hazard perception tests that proved to be my Achilles’ Heel, with me ending up as ”medium risk”

THE SCEPTIC’S VIEWPOINT

So I approached this test with a great deal of scepticism. Can psychometric testing really evaluate your mindset to driving and also test your onroad skills without so much as an amber traf ic light in sight?

BESPOKE APPROACHES

To assess the overall bene its of such technology, we put ive systems available in the UK to the test: Virtual Risk Manager from Interactive Driving Systems, the Mac On-line Driver Pro iler from MAC GB Ltd, Roadmarque from Imagitech, the ‘doc diagnostics’ system developed by A2om and offered by Fleet21, and the E-Training World system offered by Northgate Fleet Management.

The idea wasn’t to benchmark the systems – although in testing them I did notice some interesting ways in which the various technologies were differentiated – but to see if they all worked in broadly the same way and gave me the same results, thereby proving that risk pro iling works.

I have to admit to having had some scepticism prior to the test, having previously tried out team-building exercises, such as the Four Colour Personality Test, whilst working for a previous employer as part of a move to encourage a better working environment. Such systems seemed heavily reliant upon employee honesty and, to be honest, never had long-term effects.

It was around eight years ago when I irst tried a leet road risk test at an exhibition; although I came out with a top score for knowledge and attitude, my annual leet mileage of just under 30,000 miles (48,000km) meant I was instantly categorised as ‘high risk’ and would have been lagged up for further training. And at the time hazard perception had to be carried out by actual onroad testing, with no ability to sit at a computer and assess your skills.

From my personal point of view it was interesting to see just how much the risk pro iling industry has advanced in recent years, all to the bene it of the leet itself.

Although some of the systems that I tested were more in-depth than others – and all were structured in different ways – most of them took basically the same approach: assessing my overall driving/ knowledge, looking at my practical skills and inally hazard perception – either through clicking on the potential problems in actual video footage or a static image.

There were some interesting touches too.

I liked the way that the Virtual Risk Manager system from Interactive Driving Systems made the employee sign the Driver Safety Pledge, whereby I agreed to ‘Ensure that I am it to drive, well rested, and not under the in luence of alcohol or drugs before reporting to work or driving for work purposes’ amongst other items. This system also explored other vehicle areas in detail, putting the driver on the spot with such questions as how often their car is serviced, whose responsibility it is, and even about its Euro NCAP rating.

Meanwhile I also thought that it was an excellent idea that the Roadmarque system from Imagitech makes you give your licence details in order for a full licence check to be carried out. And this programme also includes a coordination test where you had to keep the mouse in the centre of a moving circle whilst typing in answers to arithmetic questions in a set time – a good indicator of a driver’s ability to multi-task (thankfully I came out ‘average’).

The other three systems I tested – the Mac On-line Driver Pro iler, the ‘Doc Diagnostics’ system offered by Fleet21, and the E-Training World system offered by Northgate Fleet Management in the UK – all seemed to have particular strengths in

hazard perception. In particular, the latter test highlighted that it’s a knowledge and skills-based system, not a psychometric one, with this practical approach extending to useful footage of a professional leet driver trainer who explained prior to the test how hazard perception works, even down to pointing out the importance of noticing horse muck on the road as a sign of a possible impending problem!

SINNER OR SAINT? However, it was such hazard perception tests that proved to be my Achilles’ Heel, with me ending as up ‘medium risk’ in every single one of the tests apart from one where I was designated ‘high risk’. Although I did ind it much harder to take in everything that was going on whilst sitting at a computer rather than in a car, it showed that my attention to road signs and other hazard pointers is something to be worked on.

The actual psychometric questions were straightforward – most seemed to have moved on from the idea of double negative sentence structures to catch drivers out and just posed questions outright, like asking the tester to benchmark whether they get angry over other drivers’ bad behaviour, with answers ranging from ‘strongly disagree’ to ‘strongly agree’. I have to admit here to getting confused on two of the tests, which both asked if I altered my driving as a result of other drivers’ behaviour.

Looking at my results, it became apparent that ‘strongly agree’ was the wrong answer although my thinking was that if I didn’t alter my behaviour if someone, say, did an emergency stop, it could be rather risky...

I also found that the questions such as the ones on driver speeding were heavily dependent on driver honesty, although the companies involved said that most drivers do recognise the need for truthful answers.

There were also some questions that, to me anyway, seemed blindingly obvious or even quite comic – such as the one asking whose responsibility it is to keep the vehicle clean, with one of the choices being the driver’s family (which I was quite tempted to tick).

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risk management

THE SYSTEMS...

¡ THE RESULTS

So have such systems altered my perception of psychometric testing and, more importantly, would I recommend their usage? In a nutshell, yes. While all tests had a psychometric element, they seemed to strike a good balance between balancing that with a driver’s day-to-day driving pro ile, history and actual hazard skills to assess the areas where they need work.

And with all tests offering effective ways of testing drivers’ hazard perception without them even needing to venture out to the car park, they provide a far more costeffective alternative than widespread driver training and are also far easier to it into an employee’s working day.

All of the companies I spoke to were also impressively principled when I asked what percentage of drivers would be recommended for further training, saying that they wouldn’t believe in pushing a set number through just for the purpose of money making. And when I asked the operations director at Mac GB about what their recommended course of action would be for me, he explained that no further training would be needed but they’d advise my employer to supply advice and guidance throughout the year by conducting several Driving Campaigns.

And I think this is the crux of the matter for campaigns. Firstly they should be targeted in the right way, with questions appropriate to the individual/department, for example on LCVs if they’re part of the company leet or on eco-driving if the company is looking to promote this. Of course, for a multi-national leet, such tailoring to it in with local rules and regulations would be essential too.

It’s also important that the training itself and any immediate interventions required are followed up in a fresh and interesting way, maintaining driver engagement, possibly with a competitive element such as a league table or incentives, to ensure that the effects of the training are not just short-term.

As for my results, well I know now that my driving history and attitude are pretty good, with an all-round ‘low risk’ score.

But with some higher risk scores for both my hazard perception and general driving knowledge, I now at least know my weaknesses – and am already taking action to work on them.

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1. Virtual Risk Manager from Interactive Driving Systems RoadRISK is the online risk assessment element of virtual Risk Manager (VRM) and is made up of three elements: RoadRISK Pro ile, which focuses on the participant's driver, vehicle and journey based exposure levels, in line with the HSE/DfT Driving at Work document requirements. It provides section and overall risk ratings.

Road Risk Defensive Driving focuses on the participant's attitude, behaviour, knowledge and hazard perception. It provides section and overall risk ratings. The Pro ile and Defensive Driving risk ratings are then combined into an overall risk rating.

RoadRISK Feedback provides instant feedback to the participant on all the risk factors. www.virtualriskmanager.net

2. Mac On-line Driver Profiler from MAC GB Mac’s on-line profiling system is a valuable tool for evaluating the potential accidentrisk of a driver. As a result, it can be used to determine which drivers are most in need of an eco and defensive driver training day, and can also help an instructor to tailor driver training to the specific needs of the driver in question. In addition to this, the resulting report highlights risk in the five personality areas (Attitude and Aggression, Alertness and Concentration, Stress, Anticipation and Violations). www.macdrivertraining.com

3. Roadmarque from Imagitech The Roadmarque independent risk and driver management system includes a risk management element that features a driver survey combining the factual information provided by the driver with the results from the licence check to compute a risk pro ile – and risk score. There’s also an Aptitude Assessment offering up to eight tests (scope selected by the employer), each test produces a valid numerical score that can be interpreted as a risk level. www.roadmarque.com

4. ‘Doc Diagnostics’ developed by A2om and offered by Fleet21 The Fleet21 driver risk assessment and e-learning tool is delivered through the company’s partnership with a2om technology. It examines employees on driving knowledge, skill and, perhaps more importantly, their driving attitude. It only takes around 20 minutes to complete, highlighting any areas of weakness that need to be addressed so that these risks can be minimised quickly. www.fleet21drivertraining.com

5. E-Training World system offered by Northgate Fleet Management This is a knowledge and skills-based system. It is incredibly comprehensive, easy-to-use and drivers understand why they’re being asked certain questions, and tested on speci ic topics.

The key things the drivers are judged on are attitude, knowledge, concentration and observation, and hazard perception; the results of this give a balanced view on how the driver will behave/perform on the roads. www.e-trainingworld.com

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fleet focus AUSTRALIA

BIG COUNTRY, CARS IN CRISIS? The Australian car market is undergoing a transformation.

Will the strength of the Australian Dollar change Australian car manufacturing for the worse? John Kendall reports.

BEST SELLER The best selling car in 2012 was the Mazda3 with 44,128 sales

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Australia is the world’s sixth largest country by total area, covering some 7,682,300km2. The 2011 Census records a population of 21,507,717, estimated by the Australian Bureau of Statistics to have risen to 22,991,584 at the time of writing. This gives a population density of approx 3.0 people per km2, among the lowest in the world. Such a large land mass and low population density may have been significant factors in Australia taking to the road early last century. Ford was the first large scale manufacturer to open in Australia, with a factory at Geelong in the state of Victoria in 1925. The company still maintains a plant in Geelong and another in Melbourne.

Arguably the best known Australian manufacturer is Holden, which became a GM subsidiary company in 1931 and won the hearts of Australians with the 1948 48-215 or FX, a car designed specifically for post-War Australia. For many years until recently, the Holden Commodore was the best selling car in Australia, but times and the economy are changing.

Toyota is the third manufacturer to build cars in Australia, where it has had a presence since 1958. Today the company has seven manufacturing plants in Australia and a vehicle production capacity of 150,000 per year.

In early April, former Ford president, Jac Nasser, forecast the demise of car making in Australia. Mr. Nasser, who is now chairman of mining giant BHP Billiton, pointed to an Australian exchange rate at a 30 year high, excess capacity in the worldwide motor industry, a weak Japanese currency as well as the weak Euro. “When you put that mix together,” he said, “It’s difficult to expect a relatively small but talented Australian auto industry to work its way.”

Mr. Nasser said it was difficult to predict when vehicle production would end in Australia, but said he thought that if one of the three manufacturers decided to close its Australian operation, the weakened supplier base would swiftly make it unviable for the other two to remain.

Nasser’s comments came less than a week aftern Holden chairman and managing director, Mike Devereux, announced that the company would shed around 500 production and development jobs. He blamed the decision on the high exchange rate for the Australian Dollar. Most of the job cuts are expected to be made at Holden’s Elizabeth plant near Adelaide, with a further 100 in Victoria state.

As the best seller list shows, the top ten best sellers in Australia in Q1 2013 were a mix of cars and pick up trucks, or ‘Utes’ as

they are known in Australia.

BEST SELLING VEHICLES – Q1 2013 The popularity of the Ute is partly because of the strength of the mining sector in Model 2013 Australia and partly because of the high proportion of Mazda3 10,509 unpaved roads in the country.

Around 61.3% of roads in Toyota Corolla 9,630 Australia are unpaved, although the Australian govToyota HiLux 9,193 ernment is taking steps to pave many of these roads.

Nissan Navara 7,618 Sales figures for 2012 show that Australian car sales rose Ford Ranger 7,355 10.3% on 2011 to 1.112 million and SUV and ute sales Hyundai i30 6,656 both showed strong growth.

Holden Cruze 5,702 The best selling car in 2012 was the Mazda3 with 44,128 Mitsubishi Triton 5,499 sales and as our Q1 2013 list shows, the trend has continHolden Captiva 5,242 ued this year. It was the Mazda3 that ended the Ford Focus 5,187 Holden Commodore’s 15 year reign as Australia’s best sellSource: Car Advice magazine ing car in 2011. For 2012, the Commodore had slipped to 4th place with 30,532 sales – BEST-SELLING BRANDS – Q1 2013 a drop of over 25%. As our Q1 table shows, the Com% compared Manufacturer 2013 modore is not currently in to 2012 the 2013 top 10.

Toyota 48,045 +1.4% The Commodore’s fortunes show a trend in the AusMazda 26,752 +0.9% tralian market. Buyers are opting for small cars, as the Holden 24,777 -14.4% success of the Mazda3 shows.

The Toyota Corolla, Holden Nissan 23,868 +20.0% Cruze, Hyundai i30, Toyota Yaris and Ford Focus all Hyundai 22,723 +4.6% posted top ten figures – five of the cars in the top ten list – Ford 20,746 +2.5% and if anything, small cars – have increased their hold on Mitsubishi 15,605 -0.9% the market in Q1 2013. Perhaps predictably, there are Volkswagen 12,323 +2.8% four Utes in the top ten in Q1.

Honda 11,575 +80% SUVs are as popular in Australia as they are in Europe or Subaru 10,429 0.0% North America and perhaps with more reason than in Source: Car Advice magazine Europe for instance.

Looking at the best selling brands for ruption to industry. Holden took the 2013, the big gains were made by Toyota biggest sales tumble in the top 10 in 2012 (+20.1%), Mazda (+17.6%), Nissan (-9.1%) and that decline appears to be con(+17.4%) Subaru (+18.2%) and Honda tinuing in 2013, with registrations down (+18.9%) and reflect the resurgence of 14.4% in Q1. Meanwhile the Japanese Japanese brands elsewhere around the revival seems to be continuing in Q1 with world as they recovered from the effects of Toyota up 1.4%, Nissan up 20% and Honda the tsunami which devastated parts of the soaring away with an 80% gain. country, causing much loss of life and disWhat of the business car market? We

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fleet focus AUSTRALIA

Big country, cars in crisis... ¡

turned to Chris Carey, managing director of Fleet Partners corporate business in Australia, which has teamed up with ALD Automotive. Fleet Partners operates 60,000 vehicles in Australia and turns over some 10,000 a year. “The number of new cars sold in Australia last year was over one million.

Of those, approximately 450,000 were for business use,” explains Chris. “There’s probably another 300,000 to 400,000 light commercials on top of that, but then if you put all that together you end up with an addressable market of business users of about 400,000 to 450,000.

“Then if you look at that, there’s about 300,000 businesses in Australia that have got less than 20 cars in their fleet, then you’ve got another 15,000 businesses that have more than 20 cars in their fleet. Most of the cars in the 300,000 would be for single users, like a plumber who’s got a van.”

Looking at Toyota’s leading position in the Australian market, Chris reckons that much of that position is due to the popularity of the Hilux pickup with the mining industry. “It represents a very significant amount of vehicles,” he says, “Some of the big mining companies run 5,000 Hiluxes.”

But Toyota is not having things all its own way in the business Ute sector, even though the Hilux has a comfortable lead in the sector overall in Q1 as Chris explains: “Probably the big issue in that sector is the safety rating. The Hilux is only rated as a four star Ute and all the mining companies are moving to five star units. What that means is that Toyota is out of the game at the moment and has been for probably the last

six months, in relation to light commercial and mining. It’s been the Ford Ranger and the Holden Colorado and the VW Amarok that have all got the five star rating.”

The downsizing effect in the Australian market appears to have been quite sudden and to a degree unexpected for a country which has had a long love affair with large cars and has large distances to cover.

“The Japanese Yen has been depreciating against the Australian Dollar significantly, to the point where the yen four months ago was about 70 Yen to the Australian Dollar and is now 107 Yen to the Australian Dollar,” explains Chris, “That’s pretty close to a 30% downshift in the Yen’s value relative to the Aussie Dollar. Plug that in to the small car market and suddenly you’re seeing Japanese manufactured vehicles at very, very compelling prices, which just means the big Aussie sixes and V8s are just not in the same ball park.”

For companies, particularly large mining operations, running vehicles on an operating lease means they can move those vehicles off the balance sheet, but Chris has a different perspective, “It’s very efficient for them to get their assets off their balance sheet because it helps them to more highly gear those assets than if they take cash.

“You start talking to customers and its never about ‘off balance sheet’, it’s about the risk mitigation and the supply chain efficiencies that leasing can bring to the company. Off balance sheet is like an added benefit, it’s really not the driving force for doing the deal.

“I think most business vehicles now are

being financed by bank loans. People will say they’re paying cash but they’re normally funded by bank loan or hire purchase or finance leases – a good proportion on fully maintained operating leases, but it’s nothing like Europe. It’s probably half what you have in Europe from a penetration point of view.”

So what of the future? Chris told IFW how he expects the business vehicle sector to develop over the next few years. “What I’m seeing at the moment is a real shift from what we call ‘Old Fleet’ to new fleet thinking. The old fleet thinking is about the price of the vehicle or the price of the rental. It’s a real procurement driven strategy. So the way the market has panned out is that we’ve turned it into a commodity.

Everyone is bashing it down on price.

“The approach we’ve taken is more about demonstrating to the customer that the rental is probably the lowest expense you have on a vehicle. It’s all the other costs, the supply chain, it’s the maintenance, it’s the disciplines that you put across the process for the maintenance, for the repairs, for the accident management.

“If the customer says we need to get a 10% or 15% saving across the board on what we’re spending, that’s when we can show the real value of our proposition. We break the fleet down into eight ‘pillars’ and each of those ‘pillars’ can provide individual savings for a company. Once we look at each of those and get a 10% saving across them all, the quantum of that is so significant that it doesn’t matter if my rental is $50 a month dearer.”

Ford Ranger was the fourth best selling pickup in Australia in 2012 and has a five-star ANCAP safety rating.

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remarketing

TRANSPORT AND ENVIRONMENTAL COST REDUCTIONS ARE DRIVING ONLINE REMARKETING BUSINESS IN AUSTRALIA, RECKONS AUTOROLA nline remarketing company, Autorola, launched a new service for the insurance industry two years ago where salvage cars, commercial vehicles, plant and machinery were offered for sale to online buyers, rather than being collected and transported to physical auction sites.

Due to the enormous distances that vehicles were being transported in Australia, the cost of collection and delivery to a physical auction far outweighed the salvage value of the vehicle, which is why the Australian insurance industry is starting to switch onto the benefits of online remarketing. ”If a car or commercial vehicle is written off in the outback, it could be transported 1,600km before it reaches a conventional auction site for onward sale. The salvage value of the vehicle may only be €400 but the transportation costs have been €1,500 – €2,400, which does not make economic sense for the industry,” said Autorola Australia managing director, Philip Browne. ”But if the vehicle stays where it is, pictures are taken and then backed up by other provenance information such as service histories, the vehicle can be offered for sale immediately to our online buyers.”

The success of cars and commercials has now been extended to plant and machinery. Remarketing a large bulldozer or digger that has been written off at physical auction makes even less financial sense, due to the costly specialist truck and trailer combination needed to transport it. The savings of using an online remarketing platform such as Autorola’s can run into thousands of dollars.

Over 100,000 vehicles are written off each year in Australia and Autorola has gained around 10% of the market in that time, a figure that is steadily increasing.

But one other major benefits of online remarketing for insurers, in a country where preserving the environment is becoming ever more important, is the reduced emissions from removing the need for a physical vehicle movement before it is sold. ”We have had sustainability consultants, Impact Sustainability, look at three months’ worth of data from our business’s current client base and they reckon that by eliminating the need for 2,000 truck journeys we have reduced CO2 emissions by around 184.16 tonnes,” said Browne. ”And that’s before we consider the actual raw materials being saved that go to refining and manufacturing diesel and the relevant fuel cost savings. ”This reduction in CO2 and fuel use has proven very popular with major corporates who are now much more aware of their business’s impact on the environment,” he added.

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fleet profile FIAT

Fiat extends global footprint Fiat has been transformed since the arrival of CEO Sergio Marchionne and the chain smoking Canadian-Italian hasn’t finished yet, as Mark Bursa reports.

f all the major automakers, Fiat has undergone the greatest changes since the start of the seemingly unending global recession in 2008. The Italian company has bene itted from the strong hand of CEO Sergio Marchionne on the tiller, and while Fiat’s survival has not been without problems, its Italian-Canadian boss has played a blinder.

Central to Fiat’s performance has been the shrewd acquisition of a controlling 59% stake in American automaker Chrysler in 2009. The US market has rebounded reasonably well, while Europe has continued to struggle, with the result that Marchionne has been able to use the pro its from Chrysler to counterbalance the losses at Fiat.

Chrysler reported a 21% rise in US sales in 2012 compared with 2011, well ahead of the 4.7% increase in US sales at Ford and 3.7% at market-leader General Motors. Chrysler’s strong performance in its home market has bought Marchionne some valuable time to sort out structural problems in the European operations, principally major overcapacity in Italy – Fiat built fewer cars in Italy last year than Nissan built in the UK.

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The US market has rebounded reasonably well, while Europe has continued to struggle.

EUROPEAN MARKET DECLINE In 2013, European sales continue to fall, and Marchionne concedes that the US auto market cannot fully balance the losses in Europe.

“There’s no certainty when Europe’s sales crisis will end,” he told reporters at the Geneva Show. “I don't see any glimmer of hope for a European market recovery this year.” European car sales fell to a 17-year low in 2012.

According to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), total registrations in the EU in 2012 reached 12.1m units, down 8.2% from 2011.

The worst hit countries were those suffering from the biggest economic dif iculties arising from the broad economic woes of the Eurozone, with Italy suffering a year-on-year fall in registrations of 19.9%, worse than France (-13.9%) and Spain (-13.4%). Marchionne said he saw the Italian car market falling to below its 2012 level of 1.4m units this year, equivalent to 1979 levels.

Disastrous sales in Italy will impact Fiat’s performance in the leet sector. Recent data from Unione Nazionale Rappresentanti Autoveicoli Esteri (UNRAE), which represents distributors and dealers in Italy, claims business cars made up 36.22% of the new cars sold in 2012, a total of 510,622. Just under half of this total is accounted for by rental business, representing 17.84% of the total new car market. The business car market fell by 13.8% compared with 2011.

According to data from the Italian Automobile Industry Association, ANFIA, the Fiat/Chrysler Group registered 415,018 cars in the Italian market in 2012, representing a 29.6% market share. This meant Italy accounted for more than half of Fiat/Chrysler’s European Union sales.

Fiat Group’s pan-European sales fell 16.1% in 2012, according to ACEA, to 779,606 from 929,551 in 2011. Of this, Fiat brand sales fell 15.2% to 570,980 (673,401 in 2011), and AlfaRomeo sales dropped sharply from 125,924 to 86,858, a fall of 31.0%. Chrysler/Lancia sales fared better, falling 9.5% to 92,446 from 102,122 in 2011, while Jeep brand sales bucked the trend, rising 15.6% from 22,211 in 2011 to 25,673 last year.

Analysts began 2013 by forecasting a decline of 3% in the European car market in 2013 after a fall of 8% in 2012. These forecasts may need to be revised after a dismal start to 2013, when

sales fell 9.5% in the irst two months, and a 5% drop is now being predicted for the year.

Fiat’s European operations are expected to record a loss of €700m this year amid a plunge in car sales, which forced the carmaker to cut its 2014 trading pro it forecast by a third to €5.2bn. A return to pro itability is not expected until 2016.

FLEET STRUCTURE Fiat Group Automobiles offers a multi-brand leet service to international customers via its Corporate Fleet Solutions (CFS) organisation, which has a consolidated international structure allowing it to operate as the sole contact for Fiat, Lancia/Chrysler, Alfa Romeo, Fiat Professional, Abarth and Jeep brands.

CFS employs a total of about 100 international Key Account Managers across Europe.

These managers provide support to international clients as a single point of contact for all the levels of leet management, including acquisition, management, and aftersales support.

Finance for leet customers is provided via FGA Capital, operating in 14 European countries, offering customised inancial packages and insurance services for private buyers, small enterprises and large corporations. FGA Capital, established in 2006, is a joint venture between Fiat Group Automobiles and leading French banking group Credit Agricole.

Corporate Fleet Solutions has signed global agreements with major corporations, including operations in the US and Latin America as well as Europe. CFS recently completed a panEuropean supply deal for Fiat Professional with Kone Corporation, a Finnish-based global producer of elevators and escalators.

The agreement is for the supply of 700 Fiat Fiorino vans in 2013 to Kone subsidiaries in France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Fiat is also well positioned with leets that increasingly demand low CO2 cars. According to research organisation JATO Dynamics, Fiat has the lowest average CO2 emissions of any automaker in the European market, of just 119.8g/km across its nine-model range. Fiat puts this down to modern MultiJet diesel and TwinAir petrol engine technology. In the past six years, average CO2 emissions of Fiat’s leet have fallen by 13% from 137.3g/km in 2006.

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fleet profile FIAT

¡ TURNAROUND PLAN

Marchionne’s turnaround plan includes the introduction of 16 up-market niche vehicles, including a small Jeep SUV, to be built in Europe, further expansion of the Fiat 500 sub-brand, along the lines of BMW’s MINI, an Alfa Romeo SUV, a Mazda-built Alfa sports car and a major expansion of the Maserati range. Fiat wants to grow its sales of Maserati nearly 10-fold to 50,000 in the next three years, and to almost quadruple Alfa Romeo sales to 300,000 cars a year.

Much of this extra volume is likely to be put through Fiat’s troubled Mira iori factory near Turin. The factory can build up to 300,000 cars per year but recently it has only been running for a few days each month.

Union sources told Reuters last week that the car maker planned to build Maserati and Alfa Romeo sports utility vehicles at Mira iori, though Marchionne said he was not yet ready to announce the company's investment programme.

Fiat’s traditional strength in small cars has

seen it perform well in the private sales sector but limited its ability to penetrate the leet sector. Marchionne’s strategy aims to address this by focusing on premium segments.

Marchionne describes the European car market as “bi-polar”, with pro itable premium carmakers and loss-making volume brands. To address this, premium brands such as Alfa Romeo, Maserati and Jeep will be promoted, while Fiat will sell a reduced range centred around the Panda and 500 models, including a host of new 500 derivatives.

Production of Fiat-brand cars would be pared back to variants of just three models: its 500 and Panda small cars and the Chrysler-developed Freemont small sportutility vehicle. There is no news of a replacement for the Punto, currently eight years old and declining in sales, or the Bravo, a stopgap C-segment hatchback developed largely

by MagnaSteyr. These models may not be replaced, as the Fiat 500 is now seen as Fiat’s core B-segment offering, especially as the

new 500L gives the range a ive-door option.

The plan involves investment of more than €1bn at Fiat’s modern Mel i plant, opened in 1993 to build the original Punto.

This is situated near Naples in the Basilicata region, one of the poorest in Italy. The Mel i investment was described by Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti as “a rebirth of relations between Fiat and Italy”, following acrimonious exchanges between Fiat and Italian unions. Marchionne had earlier suspended investment in Italy under former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi amid concerns about political risk.

The investment will turn Mel i into a multimodel plant with a total production capacity of 1,600 vehicles a day. It will add two new models from 2014, including a small Jeep SUV that will be produced only at Mel i and which will be sold worldwide. The factory will also produce the Fiat 500X, an SUV derivative of the Fiat 500 that is even larger than the new 500L compact MPV. This will share the same platform as the small Jeep.

THE BRANDS...

FIAT PROFESSIONAL Fiat separated its light commercial vehicles from its cars, under the Fiat Professional brand in 2007. The vans are now sold largely through dedicated Fiat Professional dealers, and are an increasingly important weapon in gaining leet sales. Fiat sources its two small vans, Fiorino and Doblo, from Tofas, based in Bursa, Turkey. Fiorino is part of the ‘minicargo’ JV with PSA Peugeot Citroen, and it is largely similar to the Peugeot Bipper and Citroen Nemo. A second-generation Doblo was launched in 2010. This vehicle is also available as a small pick-up called the Doblo Work Up. Larger vans are sourced from the Sevel JV, also with PSA. The large Ducato models are built in Italy, while the mid-range Scudo is assembled at the Sevel Nord plant in Valenciennes, northern France.

Fiat has announced plans to exit this JV, and it will be replaced by Toyota in the partnership. The Scudo is being replaced by a long-wheelbase, high-roof Doblo Cargo XL model.

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FIAT 500 SUB-BRAND Fiat 500 is effectively becoming a sub-brand within Fiat. The car has been a massive success in ive years, with more than 1 million units produced between 2007 and the end of 2012. Most 500s are built at Fiat Auto Poland’s Tychy plant, extensively refurbished in 1991 for the Cinquecento model. Production capacity is 200,000 units a year.

The 500 launch followed the successful pattern of the BMW MINI, offering a very stylish retro car to a younger, hipper audience. One problem with the 500 model has been a lack of upgrade path. Around 60% of 500 buyers move on to something bigger, usually outside the Fiat range. So, as with MINI, Fiat is expanding the ‘Fiat 500’ nameplate into a sub-brand with a range of models.

The irst of these is the Fiat 500L, a ive-door compact MPV. Although it shares its name and many styling cues with the 500, it is a completely different car, built on the GM-Fiat small car platform at the former Zastava factory in Kragujevac, Serbia, which Fiat acquired in July 2008.

Fiat has invested €700 million in return for a 67% stake in the former state-owned company, plus an additional €300 million of investment from the Serbian government.

The original plan to build a small, Smart-sized ‘Topolino’ city car there was shelved in favour of the 500L. Fiat’s joint venture factory in Serbia, founded in 2008, could produce up to 180,000 500L units this year for export to the US and Europe, which would be close to the plant’s capacity. Last year the former Zastava plant produced about 30,000 500Ls after build started in July. Total capacity at Kragujevac is 186,000 units per year, but how quickly production is ramped up will depend on market conditions, said plant director Nunzio di Bartolo. The 500L will only be built there, and will be exported to more than 100 markets.

As well as the 500X, future Fiat 500 derivatives include the 500 Trekking, a two-wheeldrive crossover type vehicle that uses Fiat's traction+ system, and was unveiled at the Geneva show in March. Electric versions of the 500 have also been launched.

US MARKET RELAUNCH The 500 is also built at the Chrysler plant in Toluca, Mexico, for North American markets, and in 2011 Fiat used the 500 to re-enter the US market for the irst time since 1984, selling the cars via Chrysler dealers. Toluca-built 500s are also shipped to Brazil and Argentina.

Fiat said it is on track to reach 100,000 sales of the 500 in North America, two years after its launch there. North American chief, Tim Kuniskis, projected Fiat's total North America sales will hit the 100,000 benchmark in April or May, after selling 26,290 cars in 2011 and 55,600 units last year. “The rate of growth is pretty substantial,” he said. The 500 electric car is being launched in April 2013, followed by the 500L in June.

Toluca production may be only temporary. Fiat could make Tychy the sole production base for the nextgeneration 500 model, due in 2015.

The Polish plant has spare capacity following Marchionne’s decision to move Panda production out of Tychy and back to Italy.

Production of the third-generation Panda started in the last quarter of 2011 at the Pomigliano d'Arco Plant, which had been earmarked for closure, but was spared following an agreement between Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti and Fiat not to close any Fiat factory in Italy. ¡

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fleet profile FIAT

¡ CHRYSLER/LANCIA

Lancia and Chrysler are now effectively one company. Chrysler cars are sold as Lancias in all European markets apart from the UK, where the Chrysler name has been maintained as Lancia’s poor reputation for rusty cars in the 1980s is still considered a millstone.

Nowadays the Lancia range comprises just one Italian made car, the Delta, which will inish production this year. From 2014, there will be no Italian-built Lancias – apart from the Polish-built, 500-platform Ypsilon, all other Lancias will be made in the US: Thema (Chrysler 300C), Voyager and Flavia.

And while European sales are relatively low at 92,000 units in 2012, global combined Lancia/Chrysler sales topped 400,000 last year.

ALFA ROMEO Sergio Marchionne is adamant that Alfa Romeo will play a major role in rebuilding pro itability for Fiat, by expanding its range from the current core models of Mito and Giulietta. Nevertheless, rumours that the brand is for sale refuse to go away.

US publication Ward’s has recently reported that discussions between Fiat and VW Group over the possible sale of Alfa Romeo have surfaced yet again, claiming there have been talks about the transfer of the Alfa Romeo brand to VW Group’s Audi division, as well as a possible transfer of Fiat's Pomigliano plant to Audi.

Fiat and Audi have both denied that any talks have taken place, though VW has stated a desire to own Alfa Romeo. In 2010, VW Group supervisory board chair, Ferdinand Piech, had said VW wanted to acquire Alfa. When Fiat latly rejected the idea, Piech responded that VW was ready to wait for it.

One sign that Fiat is not ready yet to relinquish Alfa is a new deal with Mazda Motor Corporation for Mazda to produce a new Alfa Romeo Spider roadster at its Hiroshima plant in Japan, starting from 2015. The roadster will be based on the next generation MX-5 and developed for global sale.

"The agreement foresees for both Mazda and Fiat to develop two differentiated, distinctly styled, iconic and brand-speci ic roadsters featuring rearwheel drive," Mazda said. "The Mazda and Alfa Romeo variants will each be powered by speci ic proprietary engines unique to each brand.”

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JEEP Jeep is arguably the brightest star in the Fiat-Chrysler galaxy. Last year the SUV brand sold a record 701,626 units worldwide, up 19% on 2011 and on course for a goal of 800,000 units by 2014. New models are planned, including a European-built small Jeep SUV, as well as expansion into new markets such as China and India, which could propel Jeep beyond 1m units by the end of the decade.

POTENTIAL FOR GROWTH...

CHINA Fiat has had dif iculties inding a partner in China. It used to produce passenger cars in partnership with Nanjing Auto, but left that loss-making joint venture after Nanjing was merged with SAIC Motor.

Then an August 2007 agreement with Chery for a 50:50 joint venture intended to build 175,000 Fiat, Alfa Romeo and Chery cars a year fell through in 2009.

Finally, in 2010 Fiat entered into a 50:50 joint venture with Guangzhou Automobile Group (GAC) to create GAC Fiat Automobiles Co. A new factory has been built in Changsha, and this started production in 2012, initially producing a localised version of the Dodge Dart sold as the Fiat Viaggio. The JV also distributes imported models such as the Fiat 500, Freemont, and Bravo in China.

In February 2013, this JV was expanded to include Chrysler Group, and a new framework agreement to expand the cooperation on passenger car manufacturing and sales in China was signed.

According to the framework agreement, the joint venture between GAC, Fiat and Chrysler Group InterJOINT VENTURE The Changsha-built national will expand its operations to allow the localiFiat Viaggio is produced by GAC. sation in the coming years of more models from the Fiat portfolio to be introduced in the Chinese market.

The JV will also build Jeep brand SUVs in China for the Chinese market. This would resume Jeep output in China, which dates back to the mid-1980s via a JV with Beijing Automotive (BAIC) but which ended several years ago after Daimler and Chrysler split, with Mercedes-Benz keeping the partnership with BAIC.

RUSSIA Fiat-Chrysler is extremely weak in Russia, with a very small 0.29% market share. The group sold 7,867 cars of all brands, down 56% on 2011 following the ending of a car-making JV with local automaker Sollers at the end of 2011.

Only Jeep performed well in 2012, up 125%, and accounting for 60% of Fiat-Chrysler sales in Russia. If Fiat decides to re-enter manufacturing in Russia, it is likely to be with Jeep SUVs.

INDIA

MERCOSUR Outside Europe, Fiat’s most successful ventures are in Mercosur, where it has factories in both Brazil and Argentina. Fiat Automoveis began making automobiles in Brazil in 1976 at its major factory in Betim. A wide range of cars are produced there, many of them still based on the Project 178 Palio/Siena ‘world car’ platform developed in the 1990s.

Fiat is market leader in Brazil, and has been for 11 straight years, taking 23.06% of the market in 2012. If Chrysler, Dodge, Ferrari, Jeep and Maserati are included, market share rises to 23.26%, or 845,337 units, up 11.3% on 2011.

The result in terms of units means that Brazil is Fiat-Chrysler’s second largest market after the US. In 2012 Fiat launched new Siena, a restyled Punto, a minor update of old Siena/Palio Weekend, and upgraded versions of Bravo and Uno, which is still made as an entry-level car.

Argentina has been more problematic as a result of a luctuating economy, but Fiat’s current manufacturing plant in Cordoba opened in 1996, making Siena and Palio models. Production was suspended in the early 2000s, but resumed in 2008. Fiat built 73,000 cars in Argentina last year, but that was down signi icantly – 35% – on 2011.

As with China, Fiat has a patchy record in India, despite a long history in the country. Now Fiat has set a new agenda for the Indian market, focusing on niche and specialist sectors rather than challenging small car market leaders Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai.

Fiat ended a ive-year distribution deal with Indian industrial giant Tata in 2012, though it will continue to build engines and cars locally with Tata. However the Punto hatchback and the Punto-based Linea saloon have not caught on in India, and Fiat chief executive, Sergio Marchionne, has admitted that the company had not got the product offering right.

Meanwhile Fiat has set up its own dealer network in India, currently with 57 dealerships, but scheduled to reach 112 by year-end. These will focus on fast-growing areas such as SUVs, including Jeep Cherokee and Wrangler models, as well as sporty Abarth versions of the Fiat 500 and Punto models. In total, Fiat-Chrysler plans to launch nine new or refreshed models in India in the next two years.

Fiat is timing its move well – LMC Automotive forecasts that India’s car market, currently around 2.6m vehicles, will grow to about 6.9m in 2017. Fiat is targeting a 1% share of the market in 2013, and is aiming for 5% in the long term.

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UK registered charity no 1072105. Patron HRH The Princess Royal.

launch report BMW 520 GT p44 Honda CR-V 1.6D p45 Kia Carens p46 Mercedes-Benz Atego p47

The low consumption and emissions should make this the most tax-efficient CR-V yet... p45

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launch report

BMW 520d Gran Turismo Efficient entry-level diesel makes this a niche car with value for money up its sleeve, reckons Alex Grant.

SECTOR Executive PRICE €54,600 FUEL 5.3l/100km CO2 139g/km Next to the excellent 5 Series range, and the equally desirable X5 and X6 SUVs, the 5 Series Gran Turismo may seem like an unnecessary niche to fill. Certainly it represents a sizeable price hike against its sharper-driving saloon and Touring siblings. But arguably it’s one of the most unrecognised bargains in the BMW range.

It’s possibly a victim of slightly confusing badging. This is 100mm longer in wheelbase and 41mm wider in track than the 5 Series Touring, and that’s important because both of those are figures which dictate interior space, and both are identical to the 7 Series. So rather than positioning this as a luxurious 5 Series, think of this more as a 7 Series fastback with coupe-style pillarless doors and suddenly it doesn’t seem quite so expensive.

Especially now it’s got an efficient diesel at the entry point to the range. The 5 GT has traditionally suffered from a range consisting of large, 7 Series derived, engines. At the end of last year, it grew to include the same very capable 2.0-litre, four-cylinder diesel, which has worked so well for BMW in almost all its smaller models. In the 5 GT, it has brought CO 2 emissions down to 139g/km, fuel consumption down to 5.3l/100km and signif-

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icantly it’s introduced the entry-level 520d GT SE at €48,700.

With the M Sport package, as tested here, the 520d GT costs €54,600, which adds sports styling, subtle M badging and sports front seats. While that’s almost €3,400 more expensive than a 520d Touring in the same spec, it’s €8,200 cheaper than the equivalent 530d GT, which in turn is €18,400 cheaper than a 730d M Sport.

If you can live with the looks, and downsizing to a smaller engine, the 520d GT offers 7 Series luxury for almost €27,000 less than the M-styled entry point of BMW’s largest saloon car.

There are reasons why people haven’t sat up and taken notice, though. This is an ungainly-looking car from the outside, especially viewed from behind, but that fastback shape offers a few advantages.

With the seats folded flat there’s more storage space than in a 5 Series Touring and the powered tailgate makes even the largest loads easy to get inside. This can also be opened like a stubby saloon boot, though only using a button on the key fob, which sounds like a gimmick but is quite useful for stopping the contents of your boot getting wet when opening a sizeable hatch is the only alternative.

The Gran Turismo weighs in at around 300kg more than the Touring, and it shows on the road. It doesn’t feel quite as tight to drive as either the saloon or Touring, but claws some of its disadvantage back with sublime high-speed comfort and refinement. The four-cylinder engine doesn’t blunt this much, either, happily hauling its two-tonnes around and returning 6.5l/100km on long trips. There’s a little bit of diesel noise at low speeds and high throttle loads, but it’s otherwise unobtrusive, helped by the eight-speed automatic gearbox.

Actually, that’s the most important point. The 5 Series Gran Turismo may not be the best looking of BMW’s large executive line-up, but behind the wheel you’re unlikely to care too much. This offers a sprinkling of class-above motoring for a considerably lower price, and with this new diesel engine it now has the right drivetrain for the corporate market too.

verdict Tax costs and residual values are a little behind the equivalent 520d Touring, but the Gran Turismo represents surprising value for money if you can live with the way it looks.

Honda CR-V 1.6D Small diesel meets large car – recipe for success asks John Kendall?

SECTOR Medium SUV PRICE TBA FUEL 4.49l/100km CO2 119g/km We knew it was coming. Honda unveiled the CR-V with 1.6i-DTEC diesel engine at the Geneva Show in March. Just the same, the waiting is not over yet, as this model is not due on sale until Autumn 2013, close to a year after the new CR-V was launched.

Like other CR-V models, it will be built at Honda’s Swindon plant in the UK. It’s not simply a matter of fitting Honda’s impressive 1.6-litre diesel, launched in the Civic early this year, under the CR-V bonnet.

The car will only be available with frontwheel drive and manual transmission, so if you want the CR-V’s all-wheel-drive capability, you will have to stay with the larger and more powerful 2.2-litre iD-TEC diesel, or the 2.0 i-VTEC petrol engine.

150hp from the 2.2-litre engine plays 120hp from the 1.6, but torque – pulling power is probably the more noticeable factor for SUV drivers and here the 2.2-litre engine delivers 350Nm to the 1.6-litre’s 300Nm. It may be a noticeable difference, but the point is that 300Nm of torque is a healthy output and the front-wheel-drive CR-V will be carrying less weight around than the fourwheel drive model with a bigger engine, so the difference in performance is less than you might think. Honda claims the 1.6-litre diesel is the lightest diesel engine in its class,

weighing 47kg less than the 2.2-litre diesel.

In practice, the CR-V’s performance was far more impressive than I was expecting, in more ways than one. Firstly, that torque ensures that the 1.6-litre engine doesn’t give that much away in performance. Peak torque is available from a predictable 2,000rpm, which means that there’s plenty of pull for stop/start traffic and the car also offers reasonable highway cruising ability. The 1.6-litre diesel’s refinement is impressive too with low levels of engine noise and a smoothness in delivery that would surprise those not familiar with modern diesels.

The car has not yet been through the European emissions test/fuel consumption cycle but Honda’s own CO2 emissions test figure of 119g/km looks promising for countries with emissions based vehicle tax ratings. This equates to a combined fuel consumption figure of 4.49l/100km, which is impressive for an SUV of this size.

We shall have to wait to see how the car performs in official testing.

It will be helped by equipment such as the Honda ECON mode, standard on all CR-V models. Pressing the ECON button re-maps the accelerator pedal response and the air conditioning settings to

reduce fuel consumption. Eco Assist also gives drivers feedback on how driving style is affecting fuel consumption, by changing the colour of the dashboard dials from white to green when more efficient driving is logged. Idle Stop automatic engine Stop/Start will also be standard equipment with the engine.

Otherwise the CR-V 1.6 i-DTEC comes with the same equipment and features as other models in the CR-V range. Generous boot capacity ranges from 589 to 1,648 litres, even though the latest CR-V is 5mm shorter and 30mm lower than the previous model. Despite that, the load area is 140mm longer than before at 1,570mm, while the load lip at the rear is 25mm lower. The Easy Fold-Down 60/40 split rear seats make folding down the rear seats a simple, single-handed operation meaning it’s easy to take advantage of the full load area when its needed. All three rear seats can be folded at the pull of a handle.

verdict First impressions are good. Refined and with impressive performance the low consumption and emissions should make this the most tax-efficient CR-V yet.

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launch report

Kia Carens Kia is hoping that design will bolster the desirability of the latest Carens. John Kendall takes a look.

SECTOR MPV PRICE TBA RANGE 4.7 – 7.2l/100km CO2 124 – 166g/km C-segment MPVs may not be the most glamorous models on the road, but that is entirely in the hands of the manufacturers.

The problem is not a new one. Larger MPVs offer good accomodation, particularly for adult-sized passengers, but they are large vehicles that use more fuel than smaller cars and take up more space. Maximising space in C-segment MPVs tends to mean ‘squaring the box’ – which might be good for interior space but might give designers less to work on. The result has been a flattening of the market – Kia quotes Dataforce figures to show that the C-MPV segment grew from 430,000 units in 2010 to 450,000 units in 2011 and fell back to 440,000 units in 2012.

Expectations are that the sector will grow to 600,000-700,000 units by 2016. The data applies to 12 Western European countries.

Meanwhile C-SUV sales have grown from 290,000 in 2010 to 460,000 in 2012.

Kia’s answer has been to turn the Carens from a conventional looking five-seat MPV into a sleeker, more sculpted design with the option of seven seats. It looks more like the cee’d hatchback than a conventional MPV, measuring 4,525mm long, on a wheelbase of 2,750mm and standing 1,610mm tall. It’s longer, lower and wider

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than a VW Touran. Yet Kia claims to provide among the best in class head and legroom in the front two rows. The rear seats and the front passenger seat will fold flat to maximise luggage space. With seven seats occupied, it offers 103 litres of space, or 536 litres with five seats up, to a maximum of 1,694 litres. There are underfloor compartments in the boot and for the second row, to keep valuables out of sight.

Kia will be offering a range of petrol and diesel engines. Diesels are based on Kia’s 1.7-litre common rail unit producing either 115hp or 136hp, offering either 4.7l/100km or 4.8l/100km respectively with corresponding CO2 emissions of 124g/km or 127g/km. Alternatively there is a choice of 1.6-litre or new 2.0-litre direct injection petrol engines offering 135hp or 166hp respectively. Combined consumption is either 6.4l/100km or 7.2l/100km with CO2 emissions of 149g/km or 166g/km. Sixspeed manual transmissions are standard, with a six-speed automatic available with the higher power diesel and petrol engines.

Out on the road, the diesel engines impressed with their refinement and flexibility both in town driving and on the open road. A brief drive in the petrol models showed good refinement but predictably, the

1.6-litre engine needed to be worked harder than the diesels to extract performance. For fleet buyers, the diesel is likely to be the attractive option with lower CO2 emissions.

The Carens also handled well with good ride quality and manoeuvrability. Inside it feels spacious – second row occupants benefit from individual seats, which can be easily folded away when not needed. Typical of C-segment MPVs, third row space is limited and the seats are best suited to children.

Optional equipment includes touch-screen sat nav and Kia is offering map updates for seven-years. Other options include a heated steering wheel, heated front and rear seats, ventilated front seats and an extending front passenger seat, so front row passengers can relax if the seats behind are not occupied.

Perhaps Kia’s biggest problem will be the appeal of the Sportage for its style conscious family customers, even though it lacks the Carens’ seven-seat option. The Carens will be on sale in Europe during Q2.

verdict The Carens is an appealing C-MPV and shows again how quickly Kia products are developing from one generation to the next. The diesels would be our choice.

Mercedes-Benz Atego How has Euro-6 helped to revise the Mercedes-Benz Atego light truck? Ian Norwell reports.

SECTOR Light/medium truck GVW 6.5 – 16.0 tonnes ENGINE 5.1-litre; 156hp, 177hp, 211hp, 231hp and 7.7-litre; 238hp, 272hp, 299hp In the last three years, Daimler trucks has been on a product offensive like no other, with a complete renewal of the range.

Starting at the top, they have now reached the smallest of their trucks, the Atego.

MARKET LEADER Even though the death of the 7.5 tonne truck has been over-reported for some years, its popularity is diminishing with fleet operators. They are either deciding to avoid the administrative headaches of operating a truck at all, by dropping below the 3.5 tonne weight limit and taking a big cube van, or they’re moving higher up the weight range in the search for increased productivity.

Either way, this gross weight has been the heartland of the Atego since its launch in 1998. It has also been one of the most popular buys with European truck fleets, with one in three of the 6.5t – 16t sector going to that single model in 2012. With weight always an issue for this truck, the challenge of taking on all the added EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation) emissions control equipment has been an issue for production engineers. However, they’ve done exceptionally well to escape with a modest weight gain of between 50kg and 90kg on the 7.5-tonne and 12-tonne chassis respectively.

HOW NEW IS IT? The ‘new‘ tag is more than justified because although the ‘body-in-white’ cab structure remains unchanged; doors, front panels and grille are new, as is the interior and the driver’s work station. With new Euro6 engines and new gearboxes, yes, we’d call it a new truck.

The technology we have already seen in Mercedes’ bigger truck engines is used here too. The added weight of the aftertreatment package has been mitigated with new, lighter designs of wheels, springs, fuel tanks and many other details.

But the big news is that an AMT (Automated Manual Transmission) is available in the Atego at last. The transmission has previously represented too high a percentage of the chassis price, but economies of scale within Daimler trucks now make it a realistic proposition. In this weight class, an AMT will offer more benefits to the driver than further up the weight range, so it should be widely welcomed. Fleet managers in the rental sector will also breathe a sigh of relief as it should put an end to arguments about who pays for a prematurely worn clutch.

It comes with the fuel saving EcoRoll coasting function, and manual transmissions are still available as options.

POWER PLANTS The Atego’s two new engines, the OM934 4-cylinder 5.1-litre, and the OM936 6-cylinder, 7.7-litre, have seven power outputs between them and improved torque levels. The smaller engine offers between 156hp and 231hp, with the larger unit offering from 238hp to 299hp.

New to Atego’s engines are two composite overhead camshafts, a cross-flow cylinder head, ignition pressure of more than 200 bar, a common rail system with an injection pressure of up to 2,400 bar, and an adjustable exhaust camshaft. They may be small engines by truck standards, but they have adopted the technological advances of Mercedes’ larger truck engines and packed them all into a smaller space. With new bespoke telematics packages, the promise of a 5% boost in fuel economy and the added functionality of the automated transmissions, the latest Atego looks set to at least keep its leading share of this sector in Europe.

verdict Combining a familiar cab with substantial revisions, new engines and an automated transmission option will help to keep the Atego fresh and high on fleet choice lists.

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GM Europe has given more details of the new engines that will be launched over the next four years and IFW was among those to drive some early prototype models.

T

here has been plenty of support for GM’s European operation in the past year or two, and there is no doubt that the announcement by the GM board in early April that it will invest €4bn in its European operations between now and 2016 will bolster confidence in the future.

Part of the investment will fund the powertrain renewal programme that the company announced over a year ago. Three new engine families, covering 13 new engines will be introduced by 2016, renewing 80% of Opel engines. These engines are due to be built at GM’s Szentgotthard plant in Hungary, which can build both petrol and diesel engines on the same assembly line.

We will have seen 23 new Opel models by 2016 too. There will also be new and revised transmissions to go with the engines and IFW has driven a sample of the prototype new engines and transmissions.

The new engines will follow the now familiar trend for downsizing, a process Opel began a few years ago by replacing some naturally aspirated petrol engines with smaller, turbocharged engines.

This process will eventually carry through to a new family of small 3-cylinder turbo petrol engines, of 1.0, 1.2 and 1.5litres, jointly developed with SAIC of China.

They will be used in a variety of models from the Corsa and ADAM to the Chevrolet

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Cruze, but new larger petrol and diesel engines will appear first.

We have already had a glimpse of the new petrol engines in the Cascada, in the shape of the new 1.6-litre Spark Ignition Direct Injection (SIDI) engine. So far, the car has been equipped with the 170hp Eco Turbo variant, but there is also a 200hp Performance Turbo version that will be rolled out across the car range. In addition there will be a 1.8-litre variant of the engine, but this engine is likely to appear without turbocharging for quite specific applications, including hybrid drivetrains.

The 1.6-litre SIDI engine will be available with counterbalance shafts to help smooth the engine, but Opel says that the decision to use these versions will be taken in individual markets.

We sampled a prototype 200hp version in an Astra, around a mixed road route. The engineers working on the project stressed that these were prototypes and development work is continuing. Just the same, the engine seemed smooth, to the extent that at the end of the drive, I asked if this version was fitted with counterbalance shafts. It was not. On the other hand, direct injection engines develop more combustion noise than conventional petrol engines and there was a background noise level, typical of other direct injection petrol engines that

can sound coarse when accelerating. Hopefully this is one area where development is continuing. Although petrol engines cannot match the torque output of equivalent sized diesels, the 200hp SIDI engine pulled cleanly in 6th gear from around 1,000rpm without problems.

GM reckons that the SIDI engines will emit 10% less CO2 – equivalent to around 10% lower fuel consumption and produce around 30% more torque than the current 1.6-litre MPFI turbo petrol engine, while generating 2dB less noise.

Fleets have been very focused on diesel engines, particularly in Europe, where there are CO2 emissions incentives to use diesel, but there are reasons why this might change.

GM has engineered the new 1.6-litre CDTI diesel for Euro-6 emissions. This means that more powerful variants and those in heavier cars such as the Zafira Tourer or the Insignia will be equipped with emissions control systems similar to those used in heavy trucks. To control nitrogen oxides (NOx) in the exhaust, the exhaust gases will be treated using an additive called AdBlue or in North America, Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF). It’s a urea-based solution that reacts with NOx to break the gases down into nontoxic gases and liquids.

A few cars from other manufacturers are already using the additive, which has to be

carried in a reservoir on the car. For the Zafira Tourer that we drove with the engine, the reservoir will hold 8-litres, to avoid carrying too much extra weight. GM estimates that AdBlue consumption will be between 0.5 and 1.0l/1,000km. This means that a full tank of AdBlue will last between 4,000 and 8,000km, so drivers will have to get used to topping up their AdBlue tanks.

The filler will be near the fuel filler on the Zafira Tourer and Opel dealers will stock bottles of AdBlue with a filler pipe to ensure that re-filling is as clean as possible.

Under EU emissions regulations, the driver will get a warning when there is only enough AdBlue left to cover 2,400km. If the warning is ignored, the car will eventually go into a ‘limp home’ mode, reducing the power output. If the AdBlue supply runs out, the regulations state that the engine control system must prevent the engine from being started again, until more AdBlue is added.

In Germany, AdBlue currently costs around €0.46/litre. A driver covering

20,000km per year could use up to 40 litres of AdBlue in addition to diesel, so add up to €18.40 to annual running costs, or €1,840 for a fleet of 100 cars. As some fleet management companies have already suggested, fleets will need to factor AdBlue consumption into their operating costs.

Obviously this will affect all Euro-6 diesel cars using this technology.

GM will also use a lean NOx system for lighter and less powerful diesel models, which will not need the AdBlue additive.

Other manufacturers are likely to adopt similar systems.

If the turbocharged petrol engine was impressive, the new 136hp 1.6-litre diesel was even more so. The engine was fitted to a Zafira Tourer and is made from aluminium to reduce weight. Like the petrol engine it is packed with design features to reduce friction and as a result, fuel consumption and emissions. In the Zafira Tourer, fuel consumption is reckoned to be 4.1lit/100km and CO2 emissions 109g/km. It is capable of

NEW 1.6-LITR

E SIDI

taking the Zafira to a top speed of 193km/h.

Engine noise was very muted and even pulling away with 1,000rpm in top gear did not induce excessive noise, or the vibration that older diesels would have produced.

Performance is impressive too. There is more work to be done, but we look forward to its arrival in production cars.

Other highlights include a new 8-speed automatic transmission for the Insignia, new five and six-speed manual gearboxes for a range of models and a new five-speed automated transmission. There are dual-clutch automated transmissions to come too.

The manual transmissions have been designed with reduced friction to improve the gear change quality and help to reduce fuel consumption. The five-speed manual we tried was a vast improvement over the current five-speed GM manual transmissions in terms of reduced gear change effort.

Opel has shown it can build better quality cars, now it looks as though they will get engines to match.

1.6-LITRE SID I FIRST DEBUTED IN CA SCADA

NEW 1.6-LITR

E CDTI

If the turbocharged petrol engine was impressive, the new 136hp 1.6-litre diesel was even more so.

IFW April 2013

49

¡

fleet in figures

European registrations still falling after 18 months The European decline continues, but elsewhere, the markets are buoyant, reports John Kendall.

The new Renault Clio has seen registrations rise +13.6% to 75,474 in Q1.

Western European registrations appear to be set on a continuing downward trend, with new car registrations falling for the 18th consecutive month. More disconcerting is that the markets – mainly the Baltic States and some former Soviet Eastern European countries, that saw healthy growth last year are mostly following the wider European trend.

Overall, passenger car sales across the European Union fell by -10.2% in March compared with March 2012 to 1,307,107 and by -9.8% in the first quarter of 2013 (Q1), compared with Q1 2012 to

50

internationalfleetworld.com

2,989,486. The only major European market to buck the trend was the UK, where registrations rose by +5.9% in March compared with March 2012 to 394,806.

For Q1, registrations rose +7.4% compared with Q1 2012 to 605,198. Part of this rise can be attributed to the UK’s biannual registration plate change, which takes place in March and September. It tends to lead to reduced demand in February while customers, both private and fleet, hold back for the latest date-related plate. Even the arrival of the ‘13’ plate for the March to September 2013 period has

not dented registration growth. JATO Dynamics also points to an increase in private new car sales in the UK. In percentage terms, Estonia enjoyed the highest growth in Q1 with registrations up +16.2% to 4,678, around 10% of the registrations recorded in France during the same period.

German registrations may be declining, having held up initially in early 2012, but now the decline seems to have taken hold with registrations down -17.1% in March to 281,184, and down -12.9% for Q1 to 673,957. That total is still greater than the

Q1 total in the UK by almost 70,000, but it’s around 100,000 less than the German total in Q1 2012.

As the European Automobile Manufacturer’s Association (ACEA) points out, most major European markets recorded double digit declines in Q1. Apart from Germany, registrations in France declined by -14.6% to 433,882, in Italy by -13.0% to 354,931 and in Spain by -11.5% to 180,724.

Looking at individual brand performance, Volkswagen recorded the highest number of registrations in Q1 at 379,012, -12.7% compared with Q1 2012. Second placed Ford recorded the largest fall, down -20% to 228,552. BMW was the only brand to record an increase compared with Q1 2012 – a slight rise of +0.5% to 158,520. JATO attributes this to increasing 3 Series sales in Belgium and 1 Series sales in the UK. The Renault Nissan Alliance budget brand Dacia may be benefitting from the European downturn as buyers seek out value for money. Dacia registrations rose +14.9% to 63,507 in Q1, while Honda enjoyed a +16.3% rise to 40,499.

Despite interest in the new Auris, Toyota registrations fell by -16.5% in Q1 to 122,672 and the boost that Lexus received last year following the launch of the CT200h, appears to have run out of steam.

Registrations were down -37.5% to 5,155.

Elsewhere, Jaguar Land Rover is still buoyant. Land Rover registrations rose +11.5% in Q1 to 33,827 and Jaguar by +21.5% to 8,279.

The VW Golf maintains its grip on the European market, despite a Q1 decline of -8.5%, but it’s the rise of two new French cars that stands out. The impressive Renault Clio has seen registrations rise +13.6% to 75,474 in Q1, although the 2012 figure relates to sales of the previous model. Similarly the Peugeot 208 saw 66,809 registrations in Q1. The BMW 3 Series also performed well, with registrations up +30.9% to 48,161.

Scotiabank has downgraded its European 2013 forecast by -5% from its original full year estimate to 11.17m registrations compared with 11.76m in 2012.

The bank says that lending for vehicle purchases in the Eurozone fell in February more quickly than at any time since data collection began in the late 1990s.

TOP 10 BRANDS Mar 2013

Mar 2012

% Change Mar

Volkswagen

157,433

185,089

Ford

112,056

Opel/Vauxhall

Mar YtD 2013

Mar YtD 2012

-14.9%

379,012

433,982

-12.7%

132,868

-15.7%

228,552

285,615

-20.0%

99,650

111,155

-10.4%

209,143

227,884

-8.2%

Renault

78,726

93,485

-15.8%

194,527

226,404

-14.1%

Peugeot

77,080

89,303

-13.7%

189,746

218,527

-13.2%

Audi

76,618

83,910

-8.7%

170,259

180,569

-5.7%

BMW

70,776

74,021

-4.4%

158,520

157,669

+0.5%

Mercedes-Benz

66,762

67,903

-1.7%

151,339

152,583

-0.8%

Fiat

63,417

58,702

+8.0%

154,123

154,407

-0.2%

Citroën

61,882

76,429

-19.0%

156,885

191,029

-17.9%

Make

% Change YtD

Source - JATO Dynamics

TOP 10 MODELS Mar 2013

Mar 2012

% Change Mar

Mar YtD 2013

Mar YtD 2012

% Change YtD

Volkswagen Golf

157,433

185,089

-14.9%

379,012

433,982

-12.7%

Ford Fiesta

112,056

132,868

-15.7%

228,552

285,615

-20.0%

Opel/Vauxhall Corsa

99,650

111,155

-10.4%

209,143

227,884

-8.2%

Renault Clio

78,726

93,485

-15.8%

194,527

226,404

-14.1%

Nissan Qashqai

77,080

89,303

-13.7%

189,746

218,527

-13.2%

Ford Focus

76,618

83,910

-8.7%

170,259

180,569

-5.7%

Volkswagen Polo

70,776

74,021

-4.4%

158,520

157,669

+0.5%

Peugeot 208

66,762

67,903

-1.7%

151,339

152,583

-0.8%

Opel/Vauxhall Astra

63,417

58,702

+8.0%

154,123

154,407

-0.2%

BMW 3 Series

61,882

76,429

-19.0%

156,885

191,029

-17.9%

Make

Source - JATO Dynamics

REST OF THE WORLD Elsewhere, the outlook for car sales seems bright. Scotiabank points to a 19% rise in registrations in China during January and February and the bank forecasts that Chinese registrations will rise to around 11.79m units in 2013 from 10.68m in 2012.

In North America, Canada appears to be cooling with a slight weakening in demand for the past few months, but Scotiabank predicts a recovery in the spring. Strong sales in the United States appear to be con-

tinuing. Scotiabank suggests that on a daily sales rate basis, March was the best performance since August 2007. If European makers are having a bad time at home, they are doing well in the US – Scotiabank points to a 7.45% year on year advance, which it says is roughly double the overall industry rise.

The Russian market continues to make modest gains and the situation is similar in India, Mexico and Brazil.

IFW May 2013

51

SIMPLY CLEVER

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