The Amazon and Ford backed Rivian pure electric pickup may be built in Britain at a new energy park planned in the West Country. The proposed Gravity Park a few miles north east of Bridgewater and adjacent to the M5 has been earmarked for the potential £1 Billion investment, reported Sky News. The project is being courted by German and Netherlands Governments as well so there is no guarantee it … [Read more...]
Welsh company joins Ford project
Welsh specialist Ford Pro commercial vehicle converter MS-RT has joined the vehicle maker with a £4M centre at Dagenham from 2022. The Pontypool company’s styling business will continue and the expansion is purely to meet soaring demand for their models across the UK and Europe with up to 120 new jobs created in Essex when full production is reached after 2022. "We are delighted to be building … [Read more...]
£100M electric models going to Ellesmere Port
A £100M investment is going into Ellesmere Port, Cheshire vehicle plant of Vauxhall parent Stellantis to build pure electric vans and people carriers in 2022. It lost the next Astra car project but has secured the new investment to build models for Stellantis brands of Vauxhall, Opel, Peugeot and Citroen and will be exporting most of the production to Europe. Announcing the plan, Stellantis paid … [Read more...]
First drive: Suzuki Jimny LCV
One of Britain’s most eagerly awaited new models hits showrooms on Monday and it’s almost certainly going to lead to a “brown market” price war. The Suzuki Jimny LCV will be limited to about 400 sales this year and they are expected to be snapped up even more quickly than the Jimny lightweight 4x4 SUV two years ago. Priced from about £16,700 before VAT as a commercial vehicle the Jimny LCV will … [Read more...]
Fleet price rises “almost inevitable” warns supplier
Price rises for a range of popular fleet cars and vans is “almost inevitable” over the next few months, FleetCheck is advising. Andy Kirby, customer success director at FleetCheck, said that a range of factors from rising raw material costs to much slowed production would all create upwards pressure. He said: “Through our sister company, Fleetfind, we help our client base source vehicles, and … [Read more...]
HMRC is out of step with modern cars, say fleets
The Association of Fleet Professionals and the BVRLA have jointly called upon Government to ensure that the Advisory Electricity Rate for electric vehicles is fit-for-purpose. The industry bodies share concerns that the current 4 pence per mile rate, which remains unchanged since 2018, is no longer reflective of real-world conditions, and have written to HMRC to make the following … [Read more...]
Vans will have to carry more miles, warn ATS Euromaster
Fleets will need to keep their new vans in service for longer than planned because of the component shortages affecting vehicle production across the board from cars to heavy trucks. With van production slowed or suspended thanks to lack of microprocessor chips, lack of available product means fleets will not be able to replace vehicles that would normally be de-fleeted during the coming … [Read more...]
Fleets expressing RV concerns over petrol & diesel models
Customers are already beginning to express residual values fears over buying new diesel or petrol cars and vans thanks to the prospect of rapid electrification, FleetCheck is reporting. Through its sister Fleetfind operation, the fleet software company helps its client base source vehicles, and says that buyers are concerned about the prospects for internal combustion engine (ICE) models in the … [Read more...]
Real range of EVs tested with surprising results
A new report from sustainable mobility specialist Arval UK revealed the real-world ranges that fleet operators can expect when they adopt electric vans. The real-world range figures in the eLCVs – Electric fleet transition powered by real-world data report from Arval helps fleets to plan with confidence when running battery-electric commercial vehicles. Until now, independent real-world data on … [Read more...]
Supply not demand the issue with van sales
Following a series of exceedingly strong months of used sales performance, April recorded a drop in the number of LCVs sold, said Rupert Pontin, Director of Insights at Cazana. It is of interest to note that the volume of new retail listings during the month has also dropped by -11.9% which suggests that the problem here is not demand but a lack of supply of used product to satisfy demand and … [Read more...]