Ted Roberts and I so often count our many blessings. We truly love what we do at Fleet Management Weekly and we warmly thank our insightful columnists, advertising supporters, and our readers who make our publication possible.
I do want to give a special nod of appreciation to our newest editorial team member, Mark Boada. We are pushovers for excellent writing and over this past year he has delighted us with an impressive body of work.
And to our fabulous associate editor, Connie Shedron, who keeps us all on track. We couldn’t imagine doing this without you!
Our Fleet Management Weekly team wishes you all the happiest of holidays and a sensational New Year!
Janice Sutton
Editor in Chief
Matthias Müller, the chief executive of Volkswagen, suggested that the German government should look at the subsidies that encourage Europeans to buy diesel cars, and begin phasing them out.
Until last year, more than half of all cars sold in Europe were diesels, which were marketed as being not only economical but also environmentally friendly until the widespread cheating on emissions tests drew attention to the health hazards of diesel exhaust.
"If diesel were taxed at the same rate as gasoline, Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, a professor at the University of Duisburg-Essen said, the German government would collect 8 billion euros, or $9.4 billion, more in revenue."
Read more of the original article at The New York Times.
PARS announced the hiring of Teri Ross as Vice President of Sales & Client Relations, reporting to Lori Rasmussen, President and Chief Operating Officer. Ross replaces Terry Langness, who announced his retirement effective January 31, 2018.
Ross, an accomplished fleet industry professional, has over 20 years of experience in business development, strategic planning, sales and marketing, contract negotiations and project management within the fleet industry.
First in a series on global fleet electric vehicle prospects
By Mark Boada, Senior Editor
As some industry observers predicted, the time for electric vehicles (call them “EVs”) to become a significant component of fleets is rushing toward us faster than anyone anticipated just a few years ago. This is particularly true in Europe, where a number of initiatives, both public and private, are bringing the future of the all-electric fleet closer to today.
There could be no better indication that fleets on the continent should be preparing now to dive into EVs than the announcement last month that LeasePlan N.V. has launched a pilot electric vehicle leasing program for large fleets in 10 countries. The program was slated to be available beginning this month in Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and the U.K., and to be expanded to include Italy, Spain and Sweden early next year.
Driving Dynamics Inc., announced today it has been named as a 2017 award recipient in the twenty-ninth annual Awards for Publication Excellence (APEX) competition.
The company was honored with its 10th APEX award in the Electronic Media Education & Training category for the redesign and quality of writing of its driver safety microlearning library which currently includes 33 safety tip videos.